Jun 8, 2007 Uncategorized
.:mood:. Dumb
.:itunes:. Mezzo by The Seventy Sevens
As a home-schooling parent, this is one of the reasons why we send our kids to public school in second grade. No offense to anyone out there who home-schools all the way through, of course.
Two words:
Brilliant and Awkward
Of course, it wasn’t the world’s greatest journalism either, so it’s not all the kid’s fault. I suspect he has double the IQ of the woman interviewing him.
(via Hot Air)
Hi, I'm Noel and I'm a recovering hypocrite. I spend the majority of my time pastoring and teaching at Riverview, surfing the internet on my iPhone, being obsessed with Jack Bauer, and hanging out with my smoking hot wife and four wildly talented children. I plan on spending the rest of my life figuring out how to vicariously plant hundreds of churches without ever leaving my church.
Oh, and even though I work for Riverview, everything here is my personal opinion and nothing more.
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June 8th, 2007 at 10:37 am
I love “Evan O’Dorney, a man of few words, but when he utters them, he spells them correctly.”
Suzanne and I were at the park the other day and accidentally sat next to a bunch of home schooled kids. They were weird and they smelled funny. I swear I wasn’t like that when I was home schooled.
June 8th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
This reminds me of how Chris, Aaron & I would play “Homeschooled or Not?” at HSLT 2001 while watching the “SIP Survivor” videos before we went on stage.
June 8th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Check out the spelling bee kid on Jimmy Kimmel. I thought of you and Mike homeschooling when i saw this kid.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Dan - No you smelled like petulie oil, you hippie freak.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Hmm, not sure how that comment could NOT be offensive to someone who chooses to homeschool all the way through.
There may be some “odd ones” who homeschool, but not all homeschoolers are “odd”…(same goes for parents of public & private schoolers — trust me, I have experience in all 3 arenas — they ALL have their issues!).
Also, I believe this boy has either Aspergers or Autism.
Anyway, may I just encourage you to watch the generalizations? Not sure how that serves to edify brothers & sisters who work hard & choose to educate their children this way. Eph. 4:29. Thanks.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
I absolutely agree that there are “odd ones” in every schooling system. We attend functions with both our public school children and our home school child.
In the same way that something is only funny when it carries a hint of truth, I think “generalities” help us learn about strengths and weaknesses in systems…in fact, this is inspiring in me a podcast. I think I’ll record it now and slap it up to continue this conversation in that forum…
I wanted to get a podcast up today anyway. This just gives me the content.
Back in a few…
June 8th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I think I get your point. Well, I don’t think that generalities are ever a good idea, so I don’t get that
…but I get your point that we can learn from the strengths and weaknesses in each system. I just think there’s also something to be said for being gracious in the way we do it — and acknowledging the strengths as well as the weaknesses.
That post just hit me as a big fat slam on long-time homeschoolers. I’m not a homeschooler or even a parent of a born child yet, but I know and love alot of hardworking parents who are doing a great job in educating their kids, and they already get a bad rap in most of the culture, so if I feel like they’re getting a bad rap from other Christians - it hits a nerve.
Also - sort of related thought - and in all fairness to criticize myself — I’ve even felt challenged lately to not cast such a quickly critical eye on the people who really do fit the “stereotypical homeschooling” mold (you know, 18 kids, long hair, denim jumpers). While they are the minority these days, it can be easy (for me, at least) to judge them based on the outward appearance — it can be SO easy to look down on them because of their “counter-culturedness”. But, I realized something - It’s not wrong to wear denim jumpers or have lots of kids. If they are raising their families in the way God has called them to — more power to ‘em.
Sorry, this is a long comment & I don’t even know you. Thanks for reading.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
You are welcome anytime Nikki, especially since I see that you are an Apple user. You must be brilliant, artsy, and sophisticated. Oh, crap, I guess that’s just a generalization about Apple users.
Of course it’s true.
Oh…and I am rendering my podcast on this topic even as we speak.
June 9th, 2007 at 12:33 am
As a long term home schooler (all the way through to college. I was also a spelling bee champ) I can say that this kid cracks me up! He reminds me so much of all my home school buddies. We were all socially retarded. Smart, but not able to carry on a conversation. We were not put into social situations that would help us become well adjusted. My parents helped me out by getting me involved in sports, and music. I turned out allright I guess. But I’m not offended when people make generalizations about home schoolers because for the most part they are true!
June 9th, 2007 at 8:45 am
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.
June 9th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Kudos, Jimmy, for your post.
Joel, great point about the subculture.
June 9th, 2007 at 10:42 am
[...] 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. [...]
June 9th, 2007 at 10:46 am
[...] Noel: Kudos, Jimmy, for your post. Joel, great point about the … [...]
June 9th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
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!!!!
June 12th, 2007 at 6:25 am
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.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:57 am
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. ; )
June 20th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
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.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
you fucken suck
August 1st, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Ambien addiction….
Ambien. Ambien online….