Christine Masloske
I'm pleased to see mention of homeschooling and depression. I believe that
depression is quite common in women and, as I'm trying to connect with
others who experience this, I'm finding that there are many depressed hs
mothers.
Clinical depression and the cycles of it can be unpredicatable, but it
normally is not how people who experience depression are 24/7/365. If we're
in this unschooling for the hundreds of reasons that my family chooses it,
it is not the driving force behind our decisions. Yes, it does play a part.
At times, it IS life for us.
We live in a through away society that seems to lack respect for human life
and all of the conditions of it. Isn't part of our hs experience to teach
our children how to love, grow and nurture in a variety of "real-life"
situations? I feel confident when I say that my 3 children have developed a
great deal of compassion and understanding when Mom is depressed. They are
amazing and loving people who know that we all have good days, bad days and
some in between.
Who knows how many public school or private school teachers or
administrators suffer from this disease? I'd be interested in a statistic.
Or for that matter, Sunday school teachers, Scout leaders, intramurals
coaches, etc.?
Depression has such a bad rap. And speaking from a lifetime of experience,
it truly is a horrible, debilitating disease that can take a life or destroy
a family. The advice being given on the message boards, I believe, is right
on the money; love and compassion, time, help and understanding can make a
world of difference for the whole family. I'd also like to say that there
are many other debilitating diseases and conditions out there, but people
who suffer from them should not be labelled possibly "unfit" or "unable" to
hs their children.
I have to laugh at the question, "Is it unschooling or laziness?" I ask
myself that very thing regularly. It is just so incredibly different than
the model of schooling most of us know. I'm pretty sure that most people I
know would consider unschooling shear laziness. I always say "the proof is
in the pudding". It is a shame that there are hs families out there that
are seen as raising uncontrollable children or not educating them properly.
Take a look at their ps counterparts; uncontrollable? uneducated? I would
suppose that's part of the reason we all choose to unschool.
I have to bring up the phone call I received from a very close friend last
night. She wanted to know if I was watching 20/20 Downtown because there
was a homeschooling family featured. She wasn't sure, but she thought that
the gist of the story was going to be something crazy happening with the
father of the homeschoolers. Curiousity got the better of me and I tuned
in. What a piece of pointless (in terms of homeschooling) journalism. The
father was allegedly outrageously abusive to the children and when the
authorities where called by a public school teacher, that's when the father
took them out of ps and homeschooled them. I quickly phoned my friend to
see if maybe somehow I missed the point of this piece. I laughed about the
reality of our society is that practically all of the abusive or unfit
parents send their kids to public school, not the other way around! Yes,
yes, yes there are exceptions to every rule, as we all know.
Thanks for hearing me out and letting me get some of this off of my chest!
Peace and blessings,
Chris
(depressed, yet wonderful mother to Jason (7-1/2), Angela (6), Daniel (3)
and expecting #4 in March!)
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depression is quite common in women and, as I'm trying to connect with
others who experience this, I'm finding that there are many depressed hs
mothers.
Clinical depression and the cycles of it can be unpredicatable, but it
normally is not how people who experience depression are 24/7/365. If we're
in this unschooling for the hundreds of reasons that my family chooses it,
it is not the driving force behind our decisions. Yes, it does play a part.
At times, it IS life for us.
We live in a through away society that seems to lack respect for human life
and all of the conditions of it. Isn't part of our hs experience to teach
our children how to love, grow and nurture in a variety of "real-life"
situations? I feel confident when I say that my 3 children have developed a
great deal of compassion and understanding when Mom is depressed. They are
amazing and loving people who know that we all have good days, bad days and
some in between.
Who knows how many public school or private school teachers or
administrators suffer from this disease? I'd be interested in a statistic.
Or for that matter, Sunday school teachers, Scout leaders, intramurals
coaches, etc.?
Depression has such a bad rap. And speaking from a lifetime of experience,
it truly is a horrible, debilitating disease that can take a life or destroy
a family. The advice being given on the message boards, I believe, is right
on the money; love and compassion, time, help and understanding can make a
world of difference for the whole family. I'd also like to say that there
are many other debilitating diseases and conditions out there, but people
who suffer from them should not be labelled possibly "unfit" or "unable" to
hs their children.
I have to laugh at the question, "Is it unschooling or laziness?" I ask
myself that very thing regularly. It is just so incredibly different than
the model of schooling most of us know. I'm pretty sure that most people I
know would consider unschooling shear laziness. I always say "the proof is
in the pudding". It is a shame that there are hs families out there that
are seen as raising uncontrollable children or not educating them properly.
Take a look at their ps counterparts; uncontrollable? uneducated? I would
suppose that's part of the reason we all choose to unschool.
I have to bring up the phone call I received from a very close friend last
night. She wanted to know if I was watching 20/20 Downtown because there
was a homeschooling family featured. She wasn't sure, but she thought that
the gist of the story was going to be something crazy happening with the
father of the homeschoolers. Curiousity got the better of me and I tuned
in. What a piece of pointless (in terms of homeschooling) journalism. The
father was allegedly outrageously abusive to the children and when the
authorities where called by a public school teacher, that's when the father
took them out of ps and homeschooled them. I quickly phoned my friend to
see if maybe somehow I missed the point of this piece. I laughed about the
reality of our society is that practically all of the abusive or unfit
parents send their kids to public school, not the other way around! Yes,
yes, yes there are exceptions to every rule, as we all know.
Thanks for hearing me out and letting me get some of this off of my chest!
Peace and blessings,
Chris
(depressed, yet wonderful mother to Jason (7-1/2), Angela (6), Daniel (3)
and expecting #4 in March!)
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com