Rlly wish the near 16000 ppl whove reblogged that home education post would stop to talk to some ppl who were actually home educated. Bc it's literally saved my and several other HE kids who i knew growing up lives. None of us had super religious families. (i do know literal dozens of ppl who were in mainstream school and have trauma inc religious trauma from schools however....). Grades and physical and mental health improved dramatically. Learned about what we were passionate about. Still took exams. Still socialised. Please don't spread misinformation that will result in good parents being hounded by social services and kids who are happy at home being forced back into traumatic environments that don't actually provide a good education anyway.

Social Privilege and Homeschooling

Homeschooling has become a popular option for many parents who are unhappy with the prospect of public schools. However, parents must also recognize that their own access to private education does nothing for less fortunate families. Read more:

I was homeschooled growing up and would honestly consider my own education a success. Still, I’ll be the first to acknowledge that there are a lot of problems that persist in the community. There are feelings of superiority instilled in children resulting in ego problems when they get older. Even parents who socialize their kids tend to do so in a secluded environment resulting in many…

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Does anyone have any info on secular homeschooling that's accredited? That's not Epic or Epic adjacent. Just thinking over a Plan B. Thanks!

In the homeschool co-ops I went to, class sizes were about half the size of what they are in public schools. We didn't meet every day, and the homework was mostly filling in the gaps for stuff we didn't have the time to schedule into the classes. We had a lot of science labs and a lot of discussion in English, which people actually participated in.

We also didn't strictly segregate by age. I was in class with people 3 or 4 years older or younger than me. I was friends with people 3 or 4 years older or younger than me. That was normal.

Most of the people there were Jews, Unitarians, Episcopal, or secular cultural Christians. We had one family who were devout Christians who didn't believe in evolution, and everyone thought they were weird as hell and didn't teach to their standards. Part of why my mom homeschooled was that when my older sister was in kindergarten she couldn't get it through the teacher's head that my sister would not be coming in on Rosh Hashannah.

I got extremely sick when I was 14, and it took me a year to recover. I did half as much work the next year, so I was able to physically recover. None of my teachers ever gave me shit about using the bathroom; I don't recall even ever asking permission to go.

It wasn't perfect; there were definitely times when my neurodivergence wasn't well accommodated, and I still got into trouble for talking back to the teachers. But if you'd put me into a public high school, I sincerely doubt I would have survived, and I 100% would not have graduated. And I was able to be reasonably well accommodated without getting a formal autism diagnosis that would hinder me as an adult.

the stereotype of the homeschooler who doesn't know social cues and has no friends is one I've been hearing since I could walk. I was homeschooled because I was AutHD, not the other way around. Correlation is not causation.

And I firmly believe that right now, banning homeschooling is just going to end up failing millions of disabled, neurodivergent, and minority kids. We need to massively overhaul the public school system instead of taking away the best outlet kids like me have.

while everyone has the right to raise their child with the ethics they so desire, i do think it’s hilarious when xtians INSIST they aren’t indoctrinating or brainwashing their kids but also refuse to put them in public school (or even private xtian school), only socialize them within xtian circles like youth group or their church’s homeschool co-op, and rigorously vet any secular media so their kids doesn’t “reject the faith.” like uh. if your faith is so weak you have to hide your kids away from anybody on the outside so they never even think to question it…….. it doesn’t exactly sound legit

Burning Butch is the courageous story of a trans / non-binary butch on a quest to survive conservative, religious, American culture while questioning if there is room in their heart for the traditional faith they were raised with, and what it means to come home again. When divorce moves young Rebecca Mertz away from rural Pennsylvania and their abusive father, Mertz and their mother find a new life in a conservative Catholic subculture outside of Washington, D.C. There, Mertz's adolescence is dominated by fundamentalist Catholicism. Life becomes God, saints, and babies – except, of course, for the showtunes they latch onto, voices that permeate their childhood boundaries, singing about different worlds. Mertz spends their childhood split between Pennsylvania, and Maryland – between mother and father, between Catholic homeschooling and secular Americana, between safety and violence, between their real life and the "world" they keep being warned against. It’s in homeschooling that Mertz learns what good, Catholic values are: anti-feminist, pro-life; anti-queer, pro-Jesus. The more babies, the better, so as to prove a stronger devotion to God. In an attempt to get away from their father, to interrogate their faith, and to repress the growing feelings Mertz has about a woman in their community, Mertz chooses the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a conservative Catholic school in Ohio. As Mertz comes of age at an oppressive, gender-dependent Catholic college in the early aughts, they grapple with attractions, sexual encounters, and relationships with friends and teachers – men and women whom they trust and admire, who romantically engage with them while in the same breath renounce the sacrilege of Mertz’s identity. Ever the outcast during their college years despite their affinity and aptitude for poetry, Mertz is forced to face their sexuality and what it might mean within the confines of their strict faith. As Mertz struggles to navigate this repressive environment, and questions what role they could play in this community, the vulnerable identity they create begins to threaten the life they know in potentially irreversible ways.

While homeschooling began with diverse founders, it was ultimately Rushdoony’s vision that dominated. White evangelicals were desperate in the 1980s for a way to teach their children in the ways they wanted: free from secular and non-white influences. Thus they flooded the homeschooling movement. By the mid-1980s, white evangelicals had solidly commandeered the movement, becoming the most dominant group to choose homeschooling. This transformed the movement from a revolt against the institutionalization of schooling into a project to build a parallel, Christian society.

R.L. Stollar

"Mom, Dad, this is Mira. She's really important to me, and I'm glad you're meeting her. Mira, this is my mom and dad."

"It's a delight to finally meet this girl, Farris! He's been telling us all about you, Mira, and we have just been desperate to meet you."

"Thank you so much for inviting me over, ma'am. Farris has told me all about you and your family and I'm so excited to spend the 4th of July with you."

"Well, I hope we don't disappoint. Anyways, let's get out of the rain, I'd hate for that pretty dress of yours to get wet. Vivienne and Warner are watching a movie in the living room, so let's go have a seat in the dining room. Farris, you go put Mira's bags in the guest room, and then come join us."

"So, I've heard you and Farris met at the Bible study group he organises, which is awfully nice. Have you always been religious, or is this a new thing from the university? I do know they let in secular students now, it's all very modern."

"Oh, I've always been religious, it's how I was raised, ma'am. My dad met my mom evangelising, and he really led her back into her faith, and then they fell in love and got married. My mom and dad have always been my biggest inspirations, they're wonderful people and I really admire their faith and relationship with one another."

"That's wonderful to hear, Mira. You know, I was thinking Farris might bring back one of those really fun-loving girls, especially with them letting secular folk in now, so it's good to see that you seem to have the proper values. Do you want to tell us more about your family? They seem so sweet."

"Thank you ma'am! I really do try to come across properly, my mom is originally from here and she really taught us kids all about manners and respect. But about my family, we lived up in Brindleton Bay until I was 8, because my parents got married pretty young, and we lived with my grandma. You see, my mom was in foster care for a while, and my grandpa unfortunately died young, so my dad was raised as one of six kids to a widow, so they didn't really have much money. But my dad got a job in the military, serving our country, and he's done really well in that with all his hard work. We never had to go on welfare because of him. My mom was able to stay home with me and my little sister, and we were homeschooled. And then when I was 8, we moved into our own lovely house out in Oasis Springs, since my dad was stationed there. And then they had two more kids, my little brother and my littlest sister. We all went to Skyward Palms, well, Carter still goes and Charlotte is joining next year, and that's a fee-paying Christian school, and I was lucky enough to be able to go to Britchester, so we've really done quite well, considering where we started."

"You see, all you need is hard work and traditional values, then you can make it, not government handouts! Mira, I'm going to tell that story to all the young hippy folk I meet at work, who want us to pay for everyone else's children and housing. If everyone was like your parents, there would be no need for these ridiculous taxes, and good, honest, folk would still be able to do well for themselves!"

"I absolutely agree, sir!"

Burning Butch by R/B Mertz

goodreads

When divorce moves young Rebecca Mertz away from rural Pennsylvania and their abusive father, Mertz and their mother find a new life in a conservative Catholic subculture outside of Washington, D.C. There, Mertz's adolescence is dominated by fundamentalist Catholicism. Life becomes God, saints, and babies – except, of course, for the showtunes they latch onto, voices that permeate their childhood boundaries, singing about different worlds. Mertz spends their childhood split between Pennsylvania, and Maryland – between mother and father, between Catholic homeschooling and secular Americana, between safety and violence, between their real life and the "world" they keep being warned against. It’s in homeschooling that Mertz learns what good, Catholic values are: anti-feminist, pro-life; anti-queer, pro-Jesus. The more babies, the better, so as to prove a stronger devotion to God. In an attempt to get away from their father, to interrogate their faith, and to repress the growing feelings Mertz has about a woman in their community, Mertz chooses the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a conservative Catholic school in Ohio. As Mertz comes of age at an oppressive, gender-dependent Catholic college in the early aughts, they grapple with attractions, sexual encounters, and relationships with friends and teachers – men and women whom they trust and admire, who romantically engage with them while in the same breath renounce the sacrilege of Mertz’s identity. Ever the outcast during their college years despite their affinity and aptitude for poetry, Mertz is forced to face their sexuality and what it might mean within the confines of their strict faith. As Mertz struggles to navigate this repressive environment, and questions what role they could play in this community, the vulnerable identity they create begins to threaten the life they know in potentially irreversible ways.

Mod opinion: I haven't heard of this memoir before, but it sounds interesting.

Kinda wanna watch Dixieland kinda wanna avoid a cry fest cause it reminds me of home and my baby when we first met, and how we went on to make it out of our home town to better things. Reminds me of how my baby thought I could never love a mf like him. I don't want the movie to end badly with them not making it or the main guy getting his head popped...its literally the same reason I can BARELY ever listen to Preacher's Daughter because its too real for me its like describing my life back to me and making me look dead at it as it claws my eyelids back. I can't listen unless I need a good cry lol. I got the early homeschooled and insulated years right beside all the chaos, then I got out to "secular" school and my desire pulled me straight into the pure chaos and wildness of small town NC, from 13 onward. Still in church every Sunday, high as kite and no longer virgin white. Anyway, now I'm just reminiscing.

Secular education: Latin, the lute, cursed blood, Eunuch Studies

Religious homeschooling: piles of skulls, rats teacher can't control (?)

obnoxious seculars who act like you’re disgusting and selfish towards the planet if you want to have kids at any point vs. radtrad Christians who act like you’re literally betraying Jesus if you don’t make it your goal to pop out 12 kids and homeschool them all on an abandoned farm

"Michael, uh, I need to talk to you."

"What is it now? It's clearly not about you losing weight, because everyone with eyes can see that it's not working."

"No, no... I was just thinking, could we maybe add on to the house? The girls are just so packed into their room, Meredith is still sleeping on a cot next to our bed, Mason and Mitchell are always fight... it would be so nice to have a dedicated bedroom for us, and another room for the girls, and make our old bedroom into the homeschool and playroom..."

"Have you lost your mind? Do you know what that will cost?"

"But you just paid, what, §3,000 for Mason's new laptop without even flinching."

"That's different!"

"And we donated so much for the new church building..."

"That's also different, we can't look poor to the congregation, if we do, the comments about me having a job at a secular company will never end! And we just had to donate more than Jacob and Alyssa...!"

"I just think it would be good for the kids..."

"You know what would be good for the kids? A mother who knows her place and knows that she needs to shut up and be meek and quiet. I know what I'm doing! I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"

A few days later...

"Mommy, mommy, there's someone at the door!"

"Someone from church?"

"No, they called themselves a debt collector! Does that mean we get to do bankruptcy, like in our lessons?"

"Get Meredith and go to your room, Miranda, I'll handle that."

something that’s insane is trying to explain to people how isolating and bizarre it is to be homeschooled in a chr*st*an setting1️⃣. you try to say something about having a weirdly knowledgeable relationship with something pop culture related and people are like oooh my g-d. you’re just sooo special because you were homeschooled 🙄…. and you try to explain that knowing about secular bands actually had your mom trying to put the handle end of a knife through the base of your skull and they’re like omg you’re so dramatic. because you were homeschooled.

From Tamara Fleming's Simtube Video: 'Raising Teenage Boys'

For many mommas intending to raise Watcherly children, the thorn in their side, their test is the teenage stage. Here is where the Watcher tests us all! These kids are growing up, they want to be independent, they want to do all the things the secular media has told them are "cool".

I remember I was a pain for my mother, fiercely rebellious and foolish girl I was. I wanted to cut my hair short, wear makeup and stilettos going on about how I'm equal to men! It's harder with teenage boys, who are some of the most vulnerable to sin in their youths.

So how can you raise teen boys?

Training them up for Adulthood

One of my favourite verses has always been Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. I often come back to now as a momma of seven children. It is important at any age, crucial as our boys become men.

My standards for my boys is to be good, watcher-honouring men now so they can be good husbands and fathers. In your teenage years, what you are taught sticks, as I know. So, me and Xavier are training up Asher, and getting Benji ready for their adulthood.

Since I homeschool my children, it is easier than those who are reliant on the system. After all, it is hard to block your ears with all the time and still graduate! But nonetheless, Asher spends his time wildly. As much as the secularists would say our religious education is worthless, he learns more they do with their gender junk!

He helps out with Sunday School, supports our veterans and our unborn brothers in the Watcher. Since my husband's workplace put its faith in the Watcher's plan, he also helps out a couple days a week.

I know, already, I will get some comments about how teaching is a feminine job. I see you people. The holy men taught. A pastor teaches his flock. Teaching in the ministry of the Watcher is masculine! Plus, Asher will be a dad one day I hope, he must provide and occasionally providing as a father does mean teaching your sons and daughters in His way!

Hobbies

You might say, "woah, Tam, you pack your son busy with work". You're right! He's a busy young man. But if you work hard, you deserve to have hobbies. Watcher-honouring hobbies.

He goes to the library a lot. His current favourite is Russian Classic literature, specifically Dostoevsky. Not to mention the Bible! I think my sister has a rival for highlighting. He also works out, Xavier encourages him to take to weightlifting, but he's more interesting in climbing wall! One day, he wants to go Mt. Komerobi, maybe even take the gospel with him.

I still make him do his school work, don't fret! He has a knack for numbers like I did in my youth in between all the feminist garbage I was spoonfed.

Standards

I mentioned before about standards. *cheesy rewind effect* My standards for my boys is to be good, watcher-honouring men now so they can be good husbands and fathers. In order to train them up well in the way of Proverbs and Ephesians, there must be standards like good, Watcherly Moses!

For my sons that means:

No grave sins - no sex, no drugs, no rock'n'roll.

Honour and obey their parents. If Xavier says no. It's a no, that's the law of the land.

Must earnestly pray and surrender their hearts to the Lord

Must attend church every Wednesday and Sunday. In proper, modest attire. No shorts in the house of the Watcher!

Champion being a courteous, amiable person, especially to those struggling with the Watcher. And those less fortunate - the old, the poor, women and youngling.

Devote themselves to the Gospel and its command of evangelism

Media Access

Now, I know some people would call me "extreme" but one place where I'd probably get flack from my colleagues, even within my own church here in Oasis Springs - media access.

I allow Asher to use our home computer for whatever. Schoolwork, writing for our newsletter, spreading the word. He's also allowed his own phone since the Watcher has blessed us with abundance in this season of life. There's two catches there before anyone accuses me of leaving my baby so exposed to sin!

Passwords, give them to me! If he signs up to any website, I get the password just to check for anything sinful. I also check his phone semi-regularly (though he doesn't know when) for the same reason! Teenagers are sneaky - I was one.

Xavier discovered this software called Custodian, it monitors any web access and blocks anything too illicit. He and Asher are accountability buddies. My husband says that's his domain and of course I defer.

I think your idea of making a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas is honestly genius. Like, I have no clue why, but I'd never thought of that before. At my homeschool group when I was in school, we used to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus at Christmas events, but we never officially did a cake or anything. And I love how you really want to make each Christmas the best birthday ever for Our Lord, it's just. Like. A simple, adorable, but also very pious thing to do that, for some reason, lots of people don't think of! I feel like that would definitely help anyone take the emphasis off of the commercialization and idk somewhat selfishness I guess of the way the secular world celebrates Christmas. And instead place the emphasis back where it belongs, on Jesus. So yeah, awesome idea, good work, I love you lots, and and and yeah.

Awe, thank you, I love you too 😊 I have no idea who in my family started it but it's been a tradition since I was a kid. I love of course celebrating Jesus' birthday like I do for the rest of my family with a cake and candles and singing but it's also such a good way to teach kids what Christmas is about because like you said, it's so easy to get lost in the presents and the lights and the glittery happy songs when yeah all that is good and I enjoy it a lot, but that's not what it's about. There's a few lukewarm people in my family and now with my nephew born I really wanna make sure that every year I hammer it in that we're not celebrating ourselves, but Jesus. I think this year I'm going to make a spice cake with cream cheese frosting that may or may not have frosting poinsettias on top (depends on how stressed I am that day, I may just do little stars instead)