Monday, January 10, 2011

Spanking Strangers::.

Homeschooling? What do you guys think??

The Husband & I were talking about maybe trying homeschooling with Haven (6) and Ashton (almost 4). Which is weird, because my opinion used the be that homeschooled children become weirdos. Well, now that I have children...I see that they're already weirdos...and I love every second of it! They're curious, smart, funny, polite--and that's a minority around here. We live in a community with lots of crackhead moms, jobless lazies, and abuse--drug and domestic. That's the school district anyways. We actually live close to 10miles out of town. When we bought this house, we were under the impression that we were in another, better funded, school district. So thanks to said crackheads, lazies and abuse there are little fuck-head delinquents running around sharing all sorts of colorful words with my 6 year old. Not only the language just the disrespect in general that most of these kids have. It's awful. I'm sick of explaining to my kids that some people just to know how to treat others and to not be offended by douche-bags.

Yesterday was the last day of Eagle Days, so we took the kids down to The Lodge the view the bald eagles. We hopped around the lake to different displays and sighting spots. (It was really cool (and muther-spanking-cold) and I'll post a few pics at the end. If you make it that far....) After all that fun, we took the kids to lunch at Mcdon's (barf.) to eat and play in the playplace.

They ate first, because I'm a jerk like that, then they were set loose. They aren't perfect, by any means--there are times I would rather duct tape mouths than listen to the arguing--but in normal circumstance, they carry respect. RESPECT. The only rule in our house. "Carry respect for yourself, beliefs, opinions and things, as well as respect for other people, their beliefs, opinions and things."  After a few minutes of play some crazy demon-trapped-in-an-8yr-old-boy's-body entered the play zone. He went through his first round where I see in the tubes that he's climbing over and kicking my kids. It's pisses me off, but a foot to the face is expected in those things. Settle Mama. He comes down the slide and shouts, "Ugh, I HATE those kids!!!" The dad? Says nothing. The mom? Says nothing. I'm completely flabbergasted. My kids are looking at me like, "What the fuck is this douche talking about? We're the weirdos? Look at that kid climbing under the slide where it obviously NEVER gets swept. Does this kid have brain damage?!" Maybe I read in a little too deep, but that's my translation. I'm looking at the parents waiting for some sort of apology of sign of discipline or even embarrassment.... nothing. I didn't really say anything, but it was probably aware that I wanted to punch an 8yr old. I let it go. My two are in the trampoline part and the heathen and his sister joined them. There's clear walls, and from where I was sitting I could see perfectly inside. Haven leaves the room heading to a tunnel and the sister follows. Ashton goes to follow and that little mutha-chucking-shit-face pushed my 3yr old son! A OH!-NO-HE-DIDN'T moment took over. I was pointing my mom finger before I even knew I was on my feet and at the play equipment. "DON'T PUSH HIM!" I got a look that said 'a little pee came out.' I wanted to pull his hair (stopjudgingme). I turn and flashed one nasty fucking look to Mommy-Mindless and Daddy-Weenie-Hut-Jr. Before I could get to my seat I see Kyle pointing at Haven who was now swatting at the shit because he was in her face. SO...I look over. Nothing. These people need a parenting lesson. Here we go bitches, take note. It went like this:

Me: "HAVEN! Do. Not. Hit."
Haven: "Mom! He's hitting me and Ashton!"
Me: "I'm NOT his mother, but YOU. Will. Not. Hit. That is not how WE treat people. Move away from him."

FINALLY Mommy-Mindless pulls him out to have a "talk." That didn't help really, but my kids managed to keep distance.

It was frustrating and it got me thinking about the kids that go to the same school as my kids. Then I quickly started thinking about homeschooling. I've done some research and read a few blogs and it seems like something that would work with our schedule and maybe managed in the budget with LOTS of adjustments. Of course:

  • dance class, karate class, music lessons, and whatever else we find would be a encouraged options. 
  • they would still be able to participate in summer sports.
  • they are young enough that they wouldn't be missing friends or connections they've made.
  • we can teach things that gear a person for life--not just tests. 
  • AND they wouldn't be vulnerable to shit-head kids. 



I don't know--it's A LOT to think about. Weigh in and give me your thoughts... Do any of you homeschool your kids? Do any of you know someone home-schooled that struggles with interaction, or does more than fine with interaction? Were any of you home-schooled?

As promised...

















3 comments:

  1. Wow... so sorry you had to deal with all of that. I too can't stand it when parents just don't seem to give a flying shit what their kids are doing. Homeschooling, umm... I guess I am chicken cause I wouldn't dream of trying to home school my youngest. My oldest maybe but she seems to enjoy school.

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  2. I think homeschooling is for insane people. I, for one, need a god damn break for my kids and if the public school system does that for me, I'll happily pay my taxes! :) HA!

    BUT, I think you did the right thing. I will frequently yell at kids at the park who are doing something bad, whether their parent is there or not. And a few times I've actually said something to the parent. Hi- if your kid is a sociopath at age 5? You need to know about it and I'm going to tell you about it. I say be very active in their schooling and get to know the teachers. Make it clear from day one if a problem arises that you need to know about it and expect action immediately. I think the problem is that people rely on the schools to parent their kid AND educate them and that's not their job. So as parents we need to be proactive because our kids learn from that.

    Now, my neighbors homeschool because they think school is too horrible for kids. Well, I get it.. but kids also need to learn how to work with other people who aren't great. Because when they get to the real world? They'll have the asshole bully co-worker, fellow college student, friend of a friend, etc. You don't learn these skills as an adult (my hubs if proof of that), you learn them as a kid and get tough and mean (I'm proof of that). So yeah. That's my 2cents. HA!

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  3. I've been thinking along the same lines. Where we live isn't soo bad, but it's almost there. I hate our schools and I don't want my kids to deal with it. But like Sara said, kids also need to learn how to work with other people who aren't great. My 5 YO is in school now, (K4) 3 days a week, and starts kindergarden next year. We participate in story time and a play group, but theres not a lot of kids there his age. He did soccer and football last year, and wants to do football again, so he'd see other kids there....

    I'm not sure where we are on the whole thing, but hopefully I'll figure it out soon. :/

    Keep us updated on what you and your husband are thinking!

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