There is a common tendency among homeschoolers to bash public schools and all their shortcomings. I personally have never participated in this bashing since I believe that every family must pray about their school choice and follow God's leading for their family.
As our first year with Zac and public school progresses, we are continually encountering new experiences we haven't dealt with before. Earlier this week, I received a phone message that the "Growth and Development" videos would be shown for parent's approval tonight at 8pm. I attempted to keep an open mind all week, even though I questioned the timing of the showing. A Friday night at 8pm was suspect even before I found out that it was homecoming night for the school district! I was even more shocked when I arrived and discovered 4 other sets of parents there. In Zac's school alone there are 350 7th graders and there are 5 middle schools in our district. It is appalling to me that more parents were not either communicated effectively with or concerned with what their children were being taught.
I won't even get into my issues with the two videos which were on AIDS and "abstinence". Two of the middle schools had already shown the videos without the parents' knowledge. Fortunately, Zac's wasn't one of them. I went tonight with the intent of reporting the content as best as I could to Kevin, then making an informed decision. But, after finding out they would be watching these in mixed company and seeing the content, I will be calling the school first thing Monday morning to see what day Zac needs to have a family day at home.
Sorry for the rant, but I felt the need to vent and since Kevin's still not home, you were the victims!
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4 comments:
I just had to say that this post made me laugh. Mainly because I could just picture you saying these exact words. How you would stand, what gestures you would make...I'm still giggling thinking about it, and I know it wasn't meant to be funny!
I'll forgive you. I have to admit I felt better after broadcasting my frustrations to the world even if only 10 people ever read this. Maybe I should just move to the other side of the earth and send my kids to your international school. hmmmm
I just had to have the talk with Anna Grace. One of her friends told her about it, and she used some very interesting words to tell me what she knew. I haven't even had the talk with Will or Jacob yet! I asked Will if he knew how babies were made and he said, "kind of", then I told him that if he had any questions he could ask daddy. He said "no, that's ok!" It was pretty funny!
We had a similar issue with our oldest son in St. Louis in middle school. The content they were going to discuss in a co-ed class and the information in the videos and one particular letter from a former student in the district that they intended to read out loud was appalling. We also went to a meeting with about 8 other people in the room. I had many "conversations" by email with the school and the district, but it ended up with us deciding he was going to "opt-out" of the class. We were given the basic book that they used and we went through it at home.
I was all prepared for the same in middle school down here in Florida with boy number 2, but we were so pleasantly surprised. Our district down here is soooo different. It makes a huge difference to have a superintendent over the whole district that is a Christian, the school board president a Christian (and pastor's wife!), the principle of the school a Christian, and the science teacher a bold Christian!
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