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-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]

Anyway, I thought this was all very interesting, and somewhat
amusing. I tend to assume these "imposters" were unschoolers, but it
did make me wonder if there are people who "use homeschooling laws"
just to be negligent, or if that's even possible to do.

I also wondered if it was common for traditional homeschoolers to
view unschoolers as being negligent, or imposters, or "not really
homeschoolers," or something similar.

-=-=-=-

In SC, we have to be a member of an Accountability Association in order
to homeschool. NOT that's it's very accountable!!! I run one now---and
know first-hand that there's NO accountability going on. Which is *JUST
FINE* by me---I can't figure out *why* accountability is necessary in
the first place. The *schools* aren't even remotely accountable, and
yet we expect the parents to be? To whom??? It's crazy!

ANYWAY...

There are plenty of people who join an association and say they
homeschool just so they don't have to fight with their
children---usually teens---about going to school. It's not about doing
the work or getting the grades---it's simply about *showing up*! They
can no longer *make* their kids go to school; so rather than fight with
them (and it's not the fight that is the issue: it's being *truant*
that's the problem. The parent is responsible!), they just say they
homeschool.

They are *certainly* not UNschooling---not by *my* definition, anyway.

Paraphrasing Holt (because I tried to find the quote, but kept getting
side-tracked and spent 50 ennjoyable minutes googling Holt quotes!
<g>): Better to sit back and do nothing than allow the harm actively
done in school.

So if a parent wants to pull a child out of school and "let him
be"---to me, that's preferable than forcing him in school. It's NOT
unschooling---even by a long shot, but it'll be less damaging.

~Kelly
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Sandra Dodd

-=-So if a parent wants to pull a child out of school and "let him
be"---to me, that's preferable than forcing him in school. It's NOT
unschooling---even by a long shot, but it'll be less damaging.
-=-

Ideally, or in the average-to-above-average range, I agree.

If those teens are out inflicting damage on the world while the moms
are ignoring them and thinking "Gosh, I love homeschooling!" then
it's not as good.

The difference between being a dropout and a homeschooler, for kids
over 15 in some states, isn't so different.

My kids couldn't be drop outs as they'd never dropped in. <g> But
the drop outs I've known in my life have tended toward shame (ashamed
of themselves for "being failures" or ashamed of their circumstances)
or anger (angry with school, parents, life).

My kids aren't ashamed or angry.

And in states where it's no longer even legal to drop out of high
school, homeschooling is the legal way to drop out.

Things will keep changing. They're changing now and can't stop
changing. I don't know what will finally happen, but I do know that
what I do, what I write, is part of the bigger flow of change.

I think even with teens, though, parents can and should pay attention
to what they might not know. That goes for parents of teens in
school, though, too!

If one of my kids seems never to have heard of something, I give a
little information about the thing and maybe leave a book out--
still. Always have (probably always will). If they're behaving in a
way that others might be cringing about or that's potentially a
problem, I'll mention my concern and my reasoning. Sometimes they
care right then and sometimes not. Sometimes they change later when
I'm not looking.

Some parents figure the kids will learn somewhere, someday, things
like table manners and how to use a phone book. Without lessons or
rules, they can still be coached to be smoother in the world.

Sandra




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