I was homeschooled very briefly for the beginning of first grade for explicitly political reasons and the fantasy of every young republican mother to raise her own Von Trapp family. Then when I was asked who I wanted to invite to my birthday party I started naming characters from books. I was hurriedly re-enrolled in public school.
The experiences of this person do not shock or even appall me anymore, they just make me sad and angry.
These people believe they are being good parents. What does it matter you can prove to them they are raising hatemongers and white nationalists? That they are seeking out sources of 'information' that outright deny provable physical reality? Their family and church tells them this is the right thing to do.
Home schooling is neglect at best outside of incredibly fringe circumstances.
- I’m still in South Carolina. A couple comes to the booth. They were here yesterday, and I talked to the wife. Yesterday, her husband stayed silent. Today he sees B and gets excited.
“Here’s a guy,” he says. “He is ready to answer all of my questions.”
I side-eye B while welcoming the couple back. I talk to the wife, and they wander over to look at our product.
A few minutes later, the husband walks over to B.
“My wife doesn’t know the story of Rosie the Riveter,” he says. “I’m gonna tell her, but I need you to fact-check me.”
B glances my way.
“Actually, Heather is the one who wrote the biographies.”
“Yeah, I know, but check me,” he tells B.
No one else is in the booth, so the husband stands in the middle. Center stage. He spreads his legs wide, slightly bending his knees, and his wife preps for the show.
“OK, he and I...” he begins. With both arms, he dramatically gestures to B and himself, a platoon of two. “We are off fighting the war. You and her —” he indicates us girls — “stay home and support us by making airplanes. We —” another swing of the arms to indicate the platoon — “use the airplanes to win the war and come home.”
He looks triumphantly at B. “Is that right?”
I am baffled by this 10-second World War II reenactment. An awkward giggle escapes me. B looks at me and I shrug my shoulders. B’s on his own with this guy.
He clears his throat and says, “Well, there’s more to it than that, but yeah, I guess.”
The couple buy the curriculum and tell us they are opening a co-op school.
I was not homeschooled very briefly but I did attend in a school district that, at the time, was considered in the top two or three in the nation and you know what? We had homeschoolers. They have never not been about religious indoctrination, and that religious indoctrination has always been more important than education or socialization. ALWAYS. Homeschooling first gained traction as an alternative to desegregation, grew under James Dobson and the Moral Majority and exploded under the End Times dipshittery of Tim LaHaye and company and as the rise of charter schools and the deprivation of public schools hit full steam, normie parents could squint at it and go "maybe" but there has never not been a time when homeschooling wasn't about white Christian nationalism. Here's a different perspective: She opens her mouth. Half-words and phrases stumble and tumble around. A few talking points from news sources fall out. Finally, she sighs. “I don’t know. Just tell me again what you write.” See, kids, back when the Jesusfreaks were ascendant they could guide their flock clearly and easily. They were against communism, homosexuals, premarital sex, women's libbers, drugs and godlessness and everyone was aligned. Fast forward 40 years and: - Communism has been dead 30 years and Socialism is that thing that meant your aunt in Denmark didn't have to pay for her cancer treatment - Homosexuals give you fashion tips - Marriage has cratered, without premarital sex there'd be no sex - Households cannot function without two incomes - Marijuana has been legalized in 40 of 50 states and nobody is into recreational fentanyl - The only time religious leaders make the news anymore is because of graft or scandal "we are against 'woke'" works for just long enough to wonder what 'woke' is and discover that there aren't actually catboxes at kindergarten. The old rallying cries of the conservatives were about "we want to live differently" while the new ones are basically "we reserve the right to hate everyone loudly and violently" and there's less room in that tent. IT AIN'T EMPTY - far from it. but there are a lot more people filtering out than filtering in. "Liberal educator discovers what a shitshow homeschooling is" feels pretty good to the lefties, I'm sure but holy fucking shit it's got nuthin' on the past. And in the present? This is a story about home-schooling parents trying to validate their culture and failing. That's nothing but good news.The experiences of this person do not shock or even appall me anymore, they just make me sad and angry.
“What do you mean, ‘woke’?” I ask.