What? Two posts in one week?! Umm. Yeah. Why not?
So here's the deal. I'm ditching my local homeschool group.
It started last year when my husband realized who I was supporting with my dues. The Family Academics in the Home (FAITH) Homeschool group is a local group, sponsored by a local Baptist church.
Now, mind you, this is not your mother's Baptist church. MY mother's Baptist church was grounded in scripture study, questioning authority, searching for God's mission here on Earth, serving the faithful, and generally trying to enrich church goer's lives.
This generation of Baptists -- at least in Florida -- believes in new earth science, the tea party, and general judgemental behavior. Seriously, I had to sign a "statement of belief" before they would let me teach a co-op class. They have a dress code that requires me to wear a swimsuit that "covers the cleavage and cleavage area". I had no idea they still made turtleneck swimsuits.
Anyway, this isn't the worst of it. In order to join, you pretty much have to pay membership in the Florida Parent Teachers' Association (FPEA). Their mission statement seems pretty harmless, right up until you go their annual conference and find that the seminars include topics such as "Teaching History from the Biblical Worldview" and "Homeschooling and the Obama Administration: National Issues Affecting our Freedom". I have YET to meet a homeschool speaker who doesn't spout this nonsense. You can't revise science and history to meet your worldview. Of course, they'd probably say that we've already re-written it, so they're just fixing it back to the way God made it. Or something.
Then the political emails from FAITH start. Support X candidate, they're pro-life and have been good to the homeschool movement. Sure enough, I look them up, and there's nothing about homeschool on their website. They're just tea party members. Out to make the world a better place for True Christians.
Now, that would be bad enough, but when you join FAITH, then FPEA, you're also supporting the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). These are people who are supposed to be our legal defense team if we get in trouble with The Man. They lobby in Tallahassee for homeschoolers' rights. Sounds good, right? Oy Vey. These people are also lobbying against House Bill 7115 and Senate Bill 1198: Minor Can Keep Abortion Records Confidential- Even From Parents Heh? What the hell does that have to do with homeschool rights? About as much as this I guess.
Anyway, they're tea partying, moral majority, xenophobic, homophobic, historical revisionist, creation science extremists who want to make sure that my husband is still in charge of my house.
Man, is it late at night.
Anyway, as much as I needed these women for support in my first two years, I really don't want to bend my neck to their yoke anymore. This year, they say that they're going to focus more on their proselytising, I mean, outreach and mission. Bad sign.
Of course, I should start a secular homeschool group, but the problem is that there are too many styles of secularism for this to work for long. The range goes from crunchy hippy unschooling moms, to classical athiest moms, to liberal Episcopalian moms who homeschool out of necessity and are only doing the best they can to get by some days.
I just don't need the drama.
2 comments:
Huzzah for avoiding drama! I am lucky to have a choice of several secular groups in my area (in addition to the myriad religious-based ones where I also refuse to sign any sort of statement of faith because *urp*). I hope you've got some good local friends who understand the way you roll, because I love it!
Awesome post!! I say start an inclusive group that requires no statement of faith and already recognizes that everyone is out there doing it differently. That way you still get the support, but no one needs step on anyone else's toes. Go for it!!
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