Other people? It’s called the Southern and Midwestern U.S.

let alone of thinking for themselves?

Bah. Independent thought is Satan’s Doorway!

How can I make you understand this country of mine… Never mind, I can’t, I don’t understand it myself. When we have universities that teach religious dogmatic curricula, how can any other modern country take us seriously? Heck, I’m not sure I take us seriously anymore.

That explains it a bit,
As does the internet I almost can’t remember how anyone lived without the internet.

I gotta move before Little Man reaches Kindergarten.

Yes, the twisted history is shocking isn’t it?

I take your point that not all homeschoolers are crazy. (Nor do I think that normal schools are necessarily great.)

I think the thing that really disturbs me is there is no protection for those kids who have the bad luck to be brought up by the most ignorant bigots. They would be better off if they were raised by wolves.

Angie
You sort of contradict the horror of Christian cult homeschooling though, by ending up by being so articulate and bright and open-minded.

Although, just being homeschooled so young may not count. Phew.

Of course, I was only home schooled for Kindergarten and first grade, which basically consisted of watching PBS (educational cartoons) and doing phonics workbooks. I come from a bright family though, and one of readers so there were always books around. I think even if they hadn’t “taught” me I would’ve learned most of what I needed to know.

However, I used to babysit a lot of homeschooled kids and I knew nine year old that couldn’t freaking read. It’s abusive, or at least neglectful. I think there needs to be governmental oversight and minimum standards for home schooled students and their parents, just like their are for public and private schools. If mom or dad can’t pass a basic literacy/competancy exam, then the kids ought to be in public school for their own good. Illiteracy is a cruel thing to do to a child. I used to give free tutoring in reading for other little girls in my cult. (I was all subversive and snuck them reading material not approved of by their parents – once they had something *interesting* instead of Bible shit, they picked up pretty quickly.)

This made me gag: “World History Made Simple: Matching History With the Bible.” The warning that went along with “The Story of the World” was gag-inducing too.

To be fair, I’ve known some people – Christians even – who have home-schooled their children pretty well. I just hope they’re typical and not the exceptions to the rule.