I am Kathy, I have six children and we’ve been homeschooling since 1998. My oldest daughter would have started kindergarten then, but since I was working in the schools, I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t like the way the kids were taught to be followers instead of leaders. I didn’t like how they downplayed the importance of families. I didn’t like how filled all the curriculum was with governmental propaganda and the social agendas being pushed upon the children.
So now- we homeschool.
Finding information about secular homeschooling resources is difficult, and nonreligious homeschoolers have a lot on their plates. Dealing with adversity and “fitting in” with local homeschoolers might be an issue. I just wanted to write so that maybe my experiences will help someone.
We just recently started going to a UU church. They’re not religious. In fact, I recommend you try it, if there’s one in your area. They’re mostly about enjoying life. In ours, we frequently discuss environmental issues. There’s definitely no group prayer going on.
Anyway- I hope you find something of value here. If you are an atheist homeschooler, be sure to add yourself to my blogroll by clicking on the “Atheist Blogs” at the top of this page.
I apologize in advance if I go off on a wild rant cursing about things, this may be the only place I can do that.
My name is Steve Hargadon, and I’m the co-chair (and founder) of the Homeschool+ online conference (http://www.homeschoolconference.com).
I’ve been running large-scale online conferences in education for five years, with 100,000 attendee logins annually. The full list of my events is at http://www.LearningRevolution.com.
The 2014 Homeschool+ Conference is to be August 4 – 8, 2014. The event is free to attend, and I’m hoping you might consider promoting or publicizing it. If you are a non-profit or a non-commercial organization, you can sign up for free to have your information listed on the sites “partner” page; anyone can also join to be a member of the conference advisory committee.
If you are a commercial organization and would be open to a conversation about sponsoring the event, please respond and we can set up a time to talk by phone or online. We greatly appreciate our conference sponsors, and work hard to give them visibility before, during, and after the event.
All of the conference proceedings are recorded and available (also for free) online. The keynote and regular sessions from last year’s inaugural event can be found on the site and at the conference YouTube channel. Last year’s keynote speakers were David Albert, Clark Aldrich, Cindy Gaddis, Peter Gray, Jerry Mintz, Pat Farenga, Elliot Washor, and Yale Wishnick. Confirmed this year as keynote or distinguished speakers are Clark Aldrich, Blake Boles, Bernard Bull, Pat Farenga, Jackie Gerstein, Jamie McMillin, Scott Nine, Carlo Ricci, Ocean Robbins, Luba Vangelova, Elliot Washor, and Yale Wishnick. And we have several other invitations still outstanding.
As an FYI, this year we are also doing something new (and fun) in association with the conference: an alternative ed film festival. The following films will be available online all month, and then we’ll be doing an interview with each of the directors (both live and recorded). Sponsors will also be recognized as a part of this program.
The War on Kids
Class Dismissed
Unschooled
Grown Without Schooling
Schooling the World
La Educación Prohibida
Building the Machine
Thank you for your time and attention!
Steve Hargadon
Co-Chair
steve@hargadon.com
http://www.stevehargadon.com
http://www.learningrevolution.com