Teri's 30 days of "First Day of School"

[HCB]

Didn't Teri write once she got so overwhelmed teaching the kids Steve locked the kids in their rooms for a few days until she came around?

DAYS?!

[SPHASH]

DAYS?!

Just during the school day.

[Maggie Mae]

The school district I grew up with still has Nov 15 (first day of rifle deer season) also dubbed as "high holy day" It has everything to do with low student AND teacher attendance.

The district we are raising our kids in doesn't do it but a neighboring district has "fair day" it's the day the county fair is showing all the animals, so the district has it off because it is a farming district and too many kids are at the barns showing their animals.

I don't find anything wrong with these types of days off, it shows the districts know their community and willing to support some activities outside of the school.

I agree. The US is really big. We are culturally and geographically diverse. A "one size fits all" approach just doesn't make sense. Schools in my state wouldn't really benefit from policies created in Washington DC by people who don't understand our unique needs. For example - village schools will close for hunting. We also have a public boarding school. And even kids in the cities are sometimes pulled out early to go back to a village and help with the fishing.

In my old life, there were different religious holidays that closed schools. And Spring Break... That was always an issue in the school system I grew up in. Families want to travel, but high school break was a different week than elementary school.

In my world, I'd like to see more of the summer break spread out over the year in most places. Even here, it would be nice to change summer break to May 1 through July 31. And give them more time off in the winter. Of course that changes things like Pop Warner football and adult recreation as well. But I suspect that our summers will continue to get warmer and drier, and crap environment policies will reduce fish yields and winter will continue to suffer from no snow. In which case, none of that will really matter anyway.

[Maggie Mae]

Actually, summer vacation was created in the 1950s, so that people suburbanites could take vacations. Fun fact of the day! :)

ETA: I went to find a source for this, but I can't seem to find one... I recently read an article for one of my classes that cited this, but now of course I can't find it!

Do you mean spring break? Summer "vacation" really wasn't "vacation" for lots of people in Midwest and Plains states until agriculture became industrialised. It's pretty well documented about how the boys always left school in April and the schools closed until after fall harvest. Cuz who wants to just teach girls, right?

[nastyhobbitses]

Does she realize how school works at all? When I taught, the first WEEK (so two classes -- I taught 6 classes that met twice a week) was devoted to going over my expectations for the class, the structure of each class, what we would be learning, getting to know each other, organizing notebooks, and generally getting into a rhythm for the rest of the year. All of that is vital for keeping your class in control and on track. It is categorically NOT falling behind. You need to build up that structure so that once you start lessons, everyone knows what you expect, where their stuff is, how the schedule will go, and where on the syllabus or in the book they need to be. This is especially important for younger kids. You can't just jump right in and expect them to learn right then and there.

[anjulibai]

Do you mean spring break? Summer "vacation" really wasn't "vacation" for lots of people in Midwest and Plains states until agriculture became industrialised. It's pretty well documented about how the boys always left school in April and the schools closed until after fall harvest. Cuz who wants to just teach girls, right?

ITA. My grandfather talked about it a lot - he was raised on a farm in Nebraska. His school was a one room school house (different than the one my grandmother taught at though :D). All of his siblings worked on the farm in the summer, and if the school didn't let them out, his father would have taken them out. Though, that included the girls - Grampa said his older sister worked harder than he did sometimes at the house helping their mother, who Grampa always called a workhorse.

Even today, a lot of kids in rural areas spend the summer working on the farm. It's a necessity.

[anjulibai]

You know, looking at the ages and dates over the years, Teri never had more than 5 kids actively homeschooling at any one time. And even then, that was after Sarah graduated, so yes, Teri had someone that could be a devoted full time assistant for her. I could see homeschooling being somewhat stressful when there were babies and toddlers to deal with, but I just can't imagine it being that time consuming when she had her older kids to help her out.

Seriously, she should never have been homeschooling.

[upkacrane]

Just during the school day.

WTF???????????? This MUST be illegal! Is there a thread about this or maybe someone remembers whether it was written in a mom's corner or something? I mean, locked in their rooms! What if they needed to go to the bathroom? Did they just call their jailer, aham, Mom or did they have to wait like good little dogs till spmebody could be bothered to walk them in the park? Oh, c'mon, there simply must be a law against locking children in their rooms for hours on end....surely?

[thoughtful]

Completely agree that Steve must have insisted on having more kids.

Oh, we know he did. I think FloraDoraDolly's point might have been that his reason for doing so was to keep her from leaving (correct me if I'm wrong, FDD).

I remember posting quotes from Steve's article about it recently -- went and found it again:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=26550&start=120#p990647

[VodouDoll]

WTF???????????? This MUST be illegal! Is there a thread about this or maybe someone remembers whether it was written in a mom's corner or something? I mean, locked in their rooms! What if they needed to go to the bathroom? Did they just call their jailer, aham, Mom or did they have to wait like good little dogs till spmebody could be bothered to walk them in the park? Oh, c'mon, there simply must be a law against locking children in their rooms for hours on end....surely?

It was a mean and manipulative thing for him to do. Just plain cruel, honestly, shutting little Nathan, Christopher, and Sarah in their rooms alone for days until Teri felt so bad for them she agreed to go back to homeschooling just so he'd let them out. I imagine they could go to the bathroom, but yeah, Steve is a monster. They write all about it here: titus2.com/media/products/samples/schools.pdf

The relevant section is called "When It Crashed In," but really the whole thing is appalling. Teri's letter to her parents in the beginning about how she wasn't even sure she loved her children shows just how deeply depressed she was.

[Jana814]

Never heard the story about Steve doing that to the kids. But it dosen't surprise me at all.

[thoughtful]

It was a mean and manipulative thing for him to do. Just plain cruel, honestly, shutting little Nathan, Christopher, and Sarah in their rooms alone for days until Teri felt so bad for them she agreed to go back to homeschooling just so he'd let them out. I imagine they could go to the bathroom, but yeah, Steve is a monster. They write all about it here: titus2.com/media/products/samples/schools.pdf

The relevant section is called "When It Crashed In," but really the whole thing is appalling. Teri's letter to her parents in the beginning about how she wasn't even sure she loved her children shows just how deeply depressed she was.

What a guilt-mongering, conceited, Jesus-using creep that man is. I don't even know what to quote to show how smarmy it is -- it all makes my gorge rise.

I highly recommend reading it to have some real insight into Steve's self-image and ability to manipulate, using God as his excuse.

[princessmahina]

What a guilt-mongering, conceited, Jesus-using creep that man is. I don't even know what to quote to show how smarmy it is -- it all makes my gorge rise.

I highly recommend reading it to have some real insight into Steve's self-image and ability to manipulate, using God as his excuse.

Ugh, what a creep. It doesn't seem like they were actually locked in their rooms though. Surely they had the freedom to go to the bathroom when need be.

[thoughtful]

Ugh, what a creep. It doesn't seem like they were actually locked in their rooms though. Surely they had the freedom to go to the bathroom when need be.

I was so busy being disgusted with Steve's general attitude that I didn't even look for that. There is nothing about the doors being locked. So maybe they did it with guilt and fear. Or maybe the kids were thrilled to have some time alone!

If I'm reading it right, they were in there for the length of Steve's workday, including commute, it was only one day, and Steve never actually did any homeschooling. The guilt that Teri felt all that day, and wondering what she was going to do with herself all day, prompted her to say she'd try homeschooling again the next day.

He did tell her to feed them, :roll: so I figure bathroom privileges were included, but Steve is too holy to talk about that.

[Coconut Flan]

They were to be playing in their rooms while Teri "babysat" or kept them safe. It was to stop the bickering so it doesn't sound as bad as locked in. They were still possibly together for meals. It's still ridiculous that Steve was dead set on homeschooling with someone for whom having three kids at home in the summer was a challenge. I can't imagine Teri's life over the years with being stuck doing almost everything the reverse of what was her nature.

[DowntownAbbey]

Steve ends that section with "Let you think too highly of me..." Trust me, Stevie, we don't.

This is not a guidebook on homeschooling/schedules. It's a book on how not to deal with depression, stress, and mental illness.

[Rubaiyat]

I only have two and I'm sort of panicking about teaching them both at the same time soon.

You can do it!!! Just give yourself the room that you gave yourself the first year you started out. The first year is all muppet flailing (in my humble experience...although, come to think of it, a lot of my years are like that :lol:) but it sorts itself out rather nicely after that.

Also, we've started taking most of December to play with "educational" toys as units (catapult fights, car tracks, stuff that gets lit on fire in science, crafts, etc...,) with a bare minimum of math and whatever else we need. It's so fun, and keeps us happy with each other. The teacher loves it. :D

[Palimpsest]

Dear Lord. Epic Fail from Teri, yet again.

Genuine question, where is it written in the Bible that all children (including home-schooled children) have summers off from book learning so they have to have a first day back at school? Answer: it isn't. Summer vacation is actually the result of an agrarian society that needed child labor at that time. Most elementary school teachers I know abhor the fact that children forget basic concepts and their reading levels go down overall during the long summer vacation.

There is no need for homeschoolers to adhere to secular/public school vacations, is there?

Teri, why is bribing with candy necessary for school and especially homeschool? We are looking at an adventure in learning here. A lot of children, properly prepared, really look forward to schooling (even public school) and learning.

Children are actually little learning sponges. They desperately want to learn. They are soaking up knowledge with every step they take. Perhaps not for the sake of knowledge for its own sake (although some children do want that) but because most small people want to outstrip big people's control over them and be like those big people.

Learning is fun, unless adults tell children that learning is a nasty chore that they should resist, and portray schooling as dull.

Yes, some learning is a bit dull. Memorizing basics by rote is very dull unless you have a teacher who makes it fun. And it can be fun with a good teacher.

Believe me, I'm a very big fan of planning, schedules, and consistency, but I really don't make an idol out of them. Nor do I have to flip my lid if my schedule goes a bit squiffy. As a good planner, I've already built in extra time for when my plans don't quite pan out. Sometimes for reasons that are out of my immediate control.

Teri makes an idol out of schedules and then falls all over herself in self-congratulation at the realization that her (and probably Steve's) overly rigid and unrealistic schedules might need some adapting. Such a novel concept.

OMG, Teri just discovered flexibility and is touting that amazing discovery to the leghumpers.

Teri, give me a break. Please!

[thoughtful]

Children are actually little learning sponges. They desperately want to learn. They are soaking up knowledge with every step they take. Perhaps not for the sake of knowledge for its own sake (although some children do want that) but because most small people want to outstrip big people's control over them and be like those big people.

I think Steve did know that, which explains a lot about how Teri homeschooled.

And they did have that obnoxious "if you truly love an activity and are skilled at it, you must give it up lest it become an idol" policy.

Total control, all the time.

:borg:

:angry-banghead:

[catlady]

It's absolutely due to low attendance.

I haven't finished the thread yet, so pardon my tangent, but in northern Maine in the 1980's, many rural high schools closed for a week in the fall so the kids could get jobs on the potato harvesters.

[nastyhobbitses]

WTF???????????? This MUST be illegal! Is there a thread about this or maybe someone remembers whether it was written in a mom's corner or something? I mean, locked in their rooms! What if they needed to go to the bathroom? Did they just call their jailer, aham, Mom or did they have to wait like good little dogs till spmebody could be bothered to walk them in the park? Oh, c'mon, there simply must be a law against locking children in their rooms for hours on end....surely?

If they had no food or access to a bathroom, then yes, that would be abuse/neglect (also, with Teri's alleged teaching philosophy, gee, I wonder why your kids were bouncing off the walls and totally unfocused), but considering how often I locked myself in my room for hours because my parents DIDN'T UNDERSTAAAAAAAAAAAAND, I think a blanket law banning kids being locked in rooms would have Child Protective Services drawing a bead on my parents ten years ago.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

My overall feeling after reading about Steve and Teri's approach to home schooling is once again, Religion Fails. Steve is sure the Lord has told him something. He is sure the Lord has told him to home school. So no matter what Teri tells him, Steve is obstinate as a mule-- home schooling will be done one way or another.

Any other person would see that Teri did not have the ability to cope with home schooling and they would have begun to doubt that home schooling was right for their family. But not Steve "Jehovah spoke clearly in my ear" Maxwell. Gah! The man is mental. Either Steve just wanted his own way no matter how Teri felt (selfish prick!) or he really did hear God speak to him (deluded prick!)

[rosalitta]

I think Steve did know that, which explains a lot about how Teri homeschooled.

And they did have that obnoxious "if you truly love an activity and are skilled at it, you must give it up lest it become an idol" policy.

Total control, all the time.

:borg:

:angry-banghead:

I guess it's a good idea that Teri hated homeschooling her children. I wonder where they draw the line about enjoying activities. If Sarah were to profess her love for ceiling fan cleaning would she be allowed to continue?

[princessmahina]

I guess it's a good idea that Teri hated homeschooling her children. I wonder where they draw the line about enjoying activities. If Sarah were to profess her love for ceiling fan cleaning would she be allowed to continue?

Well, she professed her love for bean burritos, and she's still permitted to eat them. I suppose if it benefits Steve and doesn't irritate him, a child can continue with something they like.

[rosalitta]

Well, she professed her love for bean burritos, and she's still permitted to eat them. I suppose if it benefits Steve and doesn't irritate him, a child can continue with something they like.

Makes sense. Liking something can't be viewed as an idol when the ultimate idol in the family likes it too.