{{Suzi & mom}} I hope you both have a better day.

My DH has a friend whose wife homeschools their four kids. The kids are weird - polite, but automatons - which I don't blame so much on the homeschooling as the wife.

There was one homeschooled kid in the class I taught last summer. Probably the most socially "adjusted" kid there -- popular with other kids, polite with but not scared of adults, and probably the only kid I never saw throw a "that's not FAIR" tantrum when he lost a game. (Kids were ages 11-13.) I heard stories of homeschooled kids with pretty horrible social skills from some of the other instructors, though, so I guess there's as much variation there as with any other kids.

I think you have to be really together as a parent, to homeschool your children in a way that does right by them. I am not that together. It sounds to me like unschooling is something I ought to be doing a lot more of, in the hours that my children aren't at school. It's so easy to get lazy.

I read a wiki article about Indigo Children [link] and it gave me a wiggins. I'm seriously creeped out, right now. I don't know why.

I think what makes me think of the kids as weird is that they're all so similar despite the 6 year age spread-- same games, same clothes, same movies -- there's very little showing of the obsessions/passions that kids get for dinosaurs or princesses. Last time we were there one of them was telling us about a Pooh video she liked and her mother jumped in to say, "No you didn't" and kept insisting until the girl dropped it. Controlling!

Home-schooled children have drifted in and out of Brendon's gifted classes. I was going to home school him after he was kicked out of 2 pre-schools. It was only my great good fortune that he had an enthusiastic kindergarten teacher. It was her first year and she was working on her Master's. Her boyfriend used to come on field trips to help. He was the only student that could read so he read stories to groups while she worked with other groups. When he was overly hyper she would have him do multiplication because she knew he counted it out as he walked in circles around the perimeter of the room. She was great.

Some of the parents go back and forth. Home school works for a time, then they go back into the school system, then that stops working, so back home again. Figuring out what is right and what works for your child is tough. And when you get it figured out for one, the next one doesn't respond to any of the tricks in your bag. Tricky tricksters.

Last time we were there one of them was telling us about a Pooh video she liked and her mother jumped in to say, "No you didn't" and kept insisting until the girl dropped it.

Eeep. I can't imagine telling either of my boys what they liked. It wouldn't work anyway.

My kids would argue right back with me, if I told them they didn't like something they liked. In this skill, I have home schooled them well.

Last time we were there one of them was telling us about a Pooh video she liked and her mother jumped in to say, "No you didn't" and kept insisting until the girl dropped it.

That creeps me out more than Indigo Children.

Happy birthday, beth!

I just read that Indigo Children wiki. Honestly, the first description of them generally makes them sound like uncontrolled spoiled brats.

She creeps me out for a lot of reasons, and I have a lot of complaints about the way she treats her husband, my husband, etc. She does it all with one of those fake smiles on her face, too, that my DH can't see through. That may be the #1 reason why I despise the woman.

My last word on the subject: Goddess bless your messy, opinionated, naughty, sweet, adorable, affectionate and normal children, Bitches!