Comments on: Spelling Bee Champ

By: Ambien.

Ambien. — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:00:55 +0000

Ambien addiction….

Ambien. Ambien online….

By: dreiling

dreiling — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:36:31 +0000

you fucken suck

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:00:20 +0000

Watching this video makes me wonder what is wrong with Evan’s parents. He has a high functioning form of autism called Asperger’s Syndrome and his parents let him go on tv and basically make a fool out of himself. If you’ve seen the Jimmy Kimmel thing, it’s sad. Let the kid be amazingly smart and home schooled, just don’t subject him to media interviews!

Although there are many home schooled children out there that have no social skills, there are also plenty of them that are very smart, well educated and quiet social. In fact a good many of my close friends were home schooled all the way through high-school and are some of the most social and intelligent people I know. All of them come from families with social parents though. I think the social capabilities of a home schooled child highly reflect the parents in most circumstances.

By: Hank

Hank — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:57:58 +0000

I agree, I’ve also observed children’s social skills to be highly correlated with thier parents.

. . . but I have to speak up for the defenseless. It’s not fair to compare someone negatively to the Amish in an on-line. The Amish have no on-line presence and can’t speak up for themselves ihere. ; )

By: lindajanek

lindajanek — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:25:41 +0000

Having home schooled my children since 1984, I feel that I speak with some understanding of what the home schooling culture is like. On one hand, I, like you, know home schooling families whose children present themselves in a socially awkward manner. But, most home schooling families that I have encountered have very civil and well-socialized children.

I have noted that the children who are socially awkward tend to come from families (parents) that are likewise socially awkward or very legalistic. These children would most likely be that way to some degree, whether they had stayed home, gone to a private school or gone to public school. And, no one can tell me that a public school environment necessarily produces a well-socialized or civilized child.

We do think similarly in regard to letting our children experience being “in the world” while being in our home. The difference being that we didn’t feel that the children were ready to take on the world until they had had some time to mature in their faith, reasoning, and ability to withstand peer pressure—so, our kids all went to school at some point in high school.

Evan O’Dorney, obviously, is ‘different’ and marches to his own drummer. The child probably isn’t the way he is because he is home schooled. He is a prodigy—many of whom, we know, do not function socially like the rest of us ‘normal’ people. It is probably a very beautiful thing that this particular child has the freedom to be home schooled, where he would be less likely to be ridiculed for his oddness–at least up to this point, where it seems the entire country is making a spectacle of him.

I appreciate your posts, Noel. They’re always interesting and challenging–and often hilarious. Thanks for letting me put in my two cents.

By: juleen76

juleen76 — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 19:07:20 +0000

I actually used to teach at a school where the kids were home-schooled two days a week and were in a “regular” classroom three days a week. It was a very interesting environment, and I thought it was a great idea.

But really, all I wanted to say was THAT WAS THE WORST BIT OF JOURNALISM I’VE EVER SEEN!!!!! Ha ha ha!!!!

By: .:hay’kin’en:. » Daily Jeezit Podcast: Schooling

.:hay’kin’en:. » Daily Jeezit Podcast: Schooling — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 15:46:01 +0000

[...] Noel: Kudos, Jimmy, for your post. Joel, great point about the … [...]

By: .:daily jeezit podcast:. » Schooling

.:daily jeezit podcast:. » Schooling — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 15:42:55 +0000

[...] In this episode, I chat through the strengths and weaknesses of home-schooling, public schooling, and private schooling. I also talk about why my wife and I have chosen to do a hybrid of home and public schooling. This is in response to a recent conversation on my blog. [...]

By: Noel

Noel — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 13:51:55 +0000

Kudos, Jimmy, for your post.

Joel, great point about the subculture.

By: wjoelsmith

wjoelsmith — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 13:45:15 +0000

I was homeschooled through 5th grade before entering public school. There’s a big difference between kids who just happen to get some/all of their education at home…like myself, and like your kids Noel….and that subculture that probably gets mislabeled as “homeschoolers,” but which is actually just a lot of extremely socially conservative Christians who basically decide that being quasi-Amish is a good idea. To each his own I guess, but I do find it hard to understand how such people can claim to be “in the world but not of the world…” in fact, they’re not even IN it.