Showing posts with label home school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home school. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Reason 15,893 to Home School



The NEA among others have come out with new guidelines for teaching sex education to our children.  While the report doesn't specifically say this, I doubt that this will be opt-in.

Lets begin with what will be taught to your 5-7 year-olds:

They should be able to properly name both male and female anatomy, they should be able to talk about all different types of families, and show respect for these families.  They also need to be able to talk about and demonstrate how media influences how boys and girls think and act.
7-10 year-olds:

They should be able to define sexual orientation, and be able to name parents or adults that can help them understand sexual orientation.

Apparently, the worry is that right now, only about 3.1 hours is spent talking to elementary school children about HIV/Aids, pregnancy, and STD prevention.  Silly me, I didn't think I needed to talk to a five-year old about STD prevention.  I am so out of it.
Here is one of my favorites:
By completion of the eighth grade, the report says, students should be able to “[d]ifferentiate between gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation,” “[e]xplain the range of gender roles,” and “[d]efine emergency contraception and its use.”
Upon completion of middle school, students should be able to “[a]nalyze external influences that have an impact on one’s attitudes about gender, sexual orientation and gender identity”; “[a]ccess accurate information about gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation”; “[c]ommunicate respectfully with and about people of all gender identities, gender expressions and sexual orientations”; “[e]xplain the health benefits, risks and effectiveness rates of various methods of contraception, including abstinence and condoms”; and “[d]escribe the steps to using a condom correctly.”
I am not naive enough to think that kids don't have questions about sex or are not tempted to experiment.  Their bodies are changing and many kids hit puberty in the eighth grade and they start to have sexual feelings.  I get that.  I also get that kids are much more advanced in many areas then I was at that age.  But I will tell you, the very last thing I wanted to talk about, let alone participate in at that age was the down and dirty details of sex.  I was horrified whenever anyone brought it up.  I wasn't ready at that age, plain and simple.  I get that not all kids will be like that, but there will be children who are just not ready for these types of conversations and to force it upon them is abusive.
And by the time they graduate from high school students should be expected to “[d]efine emergency contraception and describe its mechanism of action” and “[a]ssess the skills and resources needed to become a parent.”
Also included in the guidelines are the following: “Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of abstinence and other contraceptive methods, including condoms”; “Access medically-accurate information and resources about emergency contraception”; “Compare and contrast the laws relating to pregnancy, adoption, abortion and parenting”; and “Describe potential impacts of power differences (e.g., age, status or position) within sexual relationships.”
Well, at least they are willing to talk about adoption over abortion and abstinence.  I guess I should take some comfort in that.  But never fear, the NEA, in all of its infinite wisdom, has partnered with Planned Parenthood and GLSEN to help write these guidelines.  Thank heavens, they contacted the experts in giving our children moral guidance.  /sarc.

You can read the report here to get a gander at the glossary they provide.  Ooh, can't wait.   Bedtime reading.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Reason 12,834 to Home School


Virginia just can't seem to keep out of the news lately.  The latest outrage is a bunch of third graders wrote a little diddy they performed in October.  Now, if I am not mistaken a third grader is about 8 or so.  The school says the kids came up with these lyrics totally on their own:



Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent
I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt
I lost my money
Lost my pride
Lost my home
Now I’m part of the 99
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent
I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied
’Cause I really have enough
Though I lost my yacht and plane
Didn’t need that extra stuff
Could have been much worse
You don’t need to be first
’Cause I’ve got my friends
Here by my side
Don’t need it all
I’m so happy to be part of the 99
Yeah, I really buy that a group of eight-year-olds came up with this, all by their lonesomes.  On their website, Kid Pan Alley has songs from previous engagements that they have had around the country, some of the songs are named, Christmas in Tennessee, Stinky Socks, Bouncing of the Bottom, and Whispering in Spanish.  So normally these songs take on the silliness and innocence of childhood, yet this particular class wanted to write about the 99%.  
Our public school system should not be a place to push a political agenda.  No matter who is pushing it.  At the age of eight children should be learning how to think and at this point basic information about math, science, improving their reading and writing skills.  Instead the public schools have become a place where parents are forced to entrust their children to people who have an agenda, and to heck with the fact that some parents may not agree with that agenda.  Why are they teaching young children about class warfare?  There is a time and place for these discussions with young children, and a public school is neither that place nor the time in which to engage young, impressionable children about concepts they can't possibly understand at such a tender age.  
Values should be taught at home.  The fact that the school is defending this is reason enough to home school if at all possible.  

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