School decision help?

[ZemD]

Hi TC, sorry I was unclear. Parents were NOT notified of this lesson. They had no option to opt their kid out of the lesson.

My friend was given the material, she did not create the plan on her own. I meant it was not a suggestion for her to include it, she was told she must teach it. She didn’t refuse to do it though, you are right about that.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[TC3033]

Parents were NOT notified of this lesson. They had no option to opt their kid out of the lesson.

Can I ask what state you’re in?

I meant it was not a suggestion for her to include it, she was told she must teach it.

OK, that is completely different then what was initially posted.

I’m still a bit surprised that she didn’t know that the curriculum existed.

 

[ZemD]

We are in NY, upstate specifically.

I just texted her for clarification. It was not part of the curriculum. The lesson was made by “welcoming schools” program.

 

[TC3033]

Ok, two points then:

It was not part of the curriculum.

Then she should not have taught it.

Parents were NOT notified of this lesson.

Then the school/school leadership are riding a very…very…very slippery slope. NY is an opt-out state. This school legally needs to notify parents of ANY sexual education and they be given an opportunity to opt out.

 

[ZemD]

@tc3033 Wow, that is good to know! Thank you for the information. Even more alarming that it happened!

Does that statue apply to school activites as well?

 

[rosejmj]

In my opinion the public school seems like the best option, at least for elementary school. My family sent my siblings and I to public school for elementary school because the school in our area was good and there was a good community even if it was more progressive. They all seem fine and have had great moral and religious formation at home and in a good Catholic high school which seems to be the best time as that is the time peer pressure becomes more present and more moral issues come up(sexuality, drugs and alcohol etc, abortion). Having a strong foundation in ethics and moral theology as well as friends who believe and follow similar morals is most important as they begin to grow into independent adults and are able to understand those issues.

Also, because it’s elementary school there isn’t a ton of sex Ed and that type of thing that may teach your child things contrary to your faith, although it depends on your school district. You could also use that those years of no tuition to save up for a Catholic middle school or high school if there are good ones where you live and you think it’s a good decision. From what I have heard from friends though, parochial schools aren’t much better than public when it comes to instilling Catholic or Orthodox values into your children, although the education is sometimes of a slightly higher quality. As long as you provide strong formation at home or at your church, I doubt the Catholic school will be a much better influence

I would not recommend homeschooling unless you had a strong community of homeschoolers near you who you could meet up with a few times a week. A social life is so important for a child’s development and it’s especially hard to get that as an only child homeschooling without a group. You can teach them religious education at home

 

[TC3033]

Does that statue apply to school activites as well?

, I doubt it. I’m not sure what activities are going to have a “sex ed” component to them though.

 

[RuthAnne]

Would you homeschool an only child?

I would homeschool if it were one or one hundred. I don’t need the state to do my job.

 

[Rosalie]

We can opt out of sex ed, anyway, but we’re in an abstinence only state, even if we’re in a progressive part of it.

 

[TC3033]

I would homeschool if it were one or one hundred. I don’t need the state to do my job.

Sorry you feel that way about us “slackers”. Our kids go to public schools by choice.

If you decide to homeschool, that’s cool. However, I wouldn’t put down those who make different decisions.

 

[RuthAnne]

Sorry you feel that way about us “slackers”.

What did I say about “slackers”? I only spoke of myself. I feel it’s my job to raise my kids and I certainly don’t trust the state to do it.

 

[Rosalie]

What? My parents sent me to (private) school and they still raised me. By that logic almost no one is raising their kids. Even my godmother, the only person I know at the moment who homeschools, is only doing it for elementary school.

 

[Rosalie]

Wow, yikes.

 

[Anicette]

I agree with you, but “instruct” would be a prefered word over “raise”. The goal of a school is to instruct the children, not to educate and certainely not to raise them.

Yet I agree that sadly, the schools and educative communities do more and more “education” because of practical reasons (relations between students and teachers and students tend to become more and more complicated) and political reasons (the governements want more and more “raised” the children youngers and youngers with progressive values).

 

[RuthAnne]

Yes but I think it goes beyond instruction. A few examples:

The state would decide that my kids get vaccinated. Homeschooled kids don’t have to be vaccinated and none of mine have ever been.

The state would decide what my kids eat or when they eat. We don’t have breakfast in our house and we don’t eat garbage foods like grains.

The state would decide how my kids dress. My kids go to school in their pajamas or swimsuits if they choose.

The state wants my kids to blindly obey authority. My kids are taught to question authority.

Just a few things that transcend “instruction”.

 

[Anicette]

Okay, but you have to ackowledege that when you are in home for instruct your kids it is not the same thing than being in society.

If children in school need to get vaccined, it is for everyone security, not only their.

You can choose to be in pyjamas at home- I am used to be in night clothes until the afternoon- but you have to be dress in normal clothes for going outside.

Of course sadly, the children cannot choose when they eat, but it is up to the parents to give them what they want, if they make them eat at home, instead of in school.

In a class we cannot have children who constantly discuss authority if we want to learn something. But yet, the actual tendancy is to not obey the teacher whatever but to contest or discuss authority.

 

[RuthAnne]

If children in school need to get vaccined, it is for everyone security, not only their.

It’s for my children’s safety that we don’t get them vaccinated.

 

[Anicette]

We have to balanced the small risk for our children with the big risk for everyone if not almost all the population is vaccinated against some diseases.

I agree that for some diseases, in particular for thoses who are transmitted by blood or sexually, we can have valid reasons to contest.

If the children should not be vaccinated because of specific health reasons, I don’t think that the school can refuse to enrolled them. (but maybe it is not the case where you live).

 

[RuthAnne]

We don’t worry about it. We just don’t vaccinate and there’s nothing else said.

 

[TC3033]

I feel it’s my job to raise my kids and I certainly don’t trust the state to do it.

I do raise my kids. They aren’t “wards of the state”

The state would decide that my kids get vaccinated.

My kids are all vaccinated, both for themselves and for those who they could come in contact with. They would be vaccinated whether they went to public school, private school, home school or school abroad.

The state would decide what my kids eat

I’m guessing that you don’t live in the US. This is patently false.

We don’t have breakfast in our house

What does this have to do with school.

garbage foods like grains.

Grains aren’t a “garbage food”, but that’s a whole nother thread.

The state would decide how my kids dress.

You mean they’d actually have to get dressed everyday??

The state wants my kids to blindly obey authority.

Again, patently false.

It’s for my children’s safety that we don’t get them vaccinated.

Hmmmm, do they have some sort of medical condition?