Learning as we go…

Valerie over at HEM News and Commentary blogs about Jesus Camp. A documentary was made that has received several awards. (I am too lazy right now to fill in the details.) Valerie links to a newpaper article called Controversial Camp. It seems evangelicals inculcate (using that word because I have seen it used before by a politician regarding homeschooling) their children with specific beliefs, while liberals are not absolutists and allow their children to come to their own beliefs. I don't think it's all so cut and dry. We all inculcate.

There was an observation that the children being observed and written about by the film makers. The concern is that this documentary will further fuel anti-homeschoolers Apple and Reich and make life harder for us as homeschoolers. Apple and Reich believe that the state should keep parents from inculcating their children with narrow-minded, ultra-conservative, non-American ways. (I am using that latter term, not R and A (best I know), but I think it is implied by anyone who is trying to enforce their view of what America should be like as a whole- I love how that term or the implication of it is used (and sometimes seemingly successfully) to control people's opinions.)

I'm a liberal and a bit of a libertarian. I'm a green liberal libertarian. Think I got that order right. (Sheesh, I think I'm a conservative, too...oh well.) I inculcate my children by WHO I AM. Schools inculcate children. School culture inculcates children. Popular culture (Brittany Spears?) inculcates children. My children also know NOTHING of Brittany Spears (She is irrelevant to their lives.) The authors were actually surprised that the children they documented did know of BS and Lindsay Lohan~OK. My children don't know those people! They know about about life in general, tons about nature (they know Jeff Corwin, but they don't worship him), themselves, their own ideas and thoughts and interests.....and mine. They are exposed to my thoughts, ideas and interests. I hope not to actively, purposely inculcate who I am onto them, but I do catch myself at times. I do inculcate my beliefs about the environment, for example.

I do allow my children to think for themselves, to believe what they NEED TO BELIEVE TO FEEL WHOLE AND INTEGRATED as best I can as a mother who is a human being. We all influence each other, and as a parent I have sway just because I am. I try to be aware of the power I hold as a mother to my children and to use it with honor.

I was spiritually abused as a child and quite frankly I think Camp Jesus is appalling. I think children need to grow into their spirituality and I think Jesus (as I choose to understand him) would be appalled, as well. But then I think Camp School can be pretty appalling. "We" do not question Camp School, it's messages, the control that it exerts upon the lives of our children because Camp School is as it should be, for the most part; Camp School is socially acceptable and beyond question as an institution.

I do not think the state should be in the business of controlling whose right is right. John Holt wrote about this, and when I have more time and the inclination, I will look that up and include it in this post. I refuse to send my children to Camp School or Camp Jesus.

I also think if we feed this fear of Reichey people and Appley people using this kind of stuff against us; we feed that energy. We lose the energy we have to create a REAL view of who we are. So there is a Camp Jesus. It happens. Camp School. Camp Jesus. Camp Brittany Spears. OK. Sad. Do we make laws against them all?

I was pretty much inculcated in sick religious right fundamentalist dogma as a child, and I did attend public school. What do R and A propose about super religious fundamentalist churches all together? Abolish them? What about addressing spiritual abuse? Oh, that's right, there is this thing called separation of church and state. Seems that should cover Camp Jesus, as well. People are free to spiritually abuse their children whether they homeschool or not. My guess is that school is supposed to provide a break from the abuse~ another potentially toxic exposure?

There is inculcation (as in the schools, cultures) where people see other realities (sometimes from afar~look at what the schooled folk think of those homeschooled folk) and there is in-home/small group/churchy inculcation like where you are locked in a room and know no other reality at all exists. I feel for those children who have mom's and dad's fears rammed down their throats and forced into their beings.  

But, what's the logic with the anti-homeschoolers? Where do they draw the inculcation line? Wouldn't that be a form of inculcation?

(Revised and "to be" revised, as usual.)

<p>A lot of interesting conversation going on here lately….. </p>

<p>I like to catch up on the news now and then, and 9 happened by and sat down next to me. She started watching the images of bombs going off in Lebanon. She started asking questions. </p>

<p>I like the idea of her coming into awareness when she is ready. I also like the idea of her being empowered to signal when she has had enough information. I believe this not only keeps me from force feeding her information she is not mentally ready for, I think this also keeps me from over taking her own natural walk into her life learning path. She really has that under control and knows what she is doing almost instinctively. It also keeps me from invading her psychological and emotional space. She knows what she is ready to hear and what she is not ready to hear. When information is too much, she turns off. When I acknowledge that, I give her charge of her own life. I give her charge of her own mind and her own mental, psychological and emotional space. She learns that she can trust herself. </p>

<p>Back to the conversation on war and Israel and Palestine. I do not know all the facts, but I know enough to know that I have more questions. I know (and if anyone wants to fill us in, please do) that two groups of people are fighting over land and that no one is ever 100% right in my experience. Spirit doesn’t understand why the two cannot just accept their differences and feel free to be who they are and live together. This is good to me. She is thinking and has fertile ground in her mind based on her values and desire to see people live peacefully. She will come back to this issue one day. </p>

<p>Other recent topics of conversation: </p>

<p>Money &amp; Time (6 is now using the calender on the computer to countdown days to his next installment of money so he can buy a new Webkinz, which he has to budget.)</p>

<p>Gas mileage and comparing dad’s new car to old one with gas mileage (saving money and the environment) </p>

<p>The Environment (What is the ozone layer and why don’t we use cars that run on water as was seen on a TV program?)</p>

<p>Genes &amp; Antigens (I am reading Eat Right for Your Blood Type and that was our reading last night for some reason). </p>

<p>I read somewhere (was it John Holt?) that sometimes children (people) need to graze. They need to ask questions without fear of being bombarded with and forced more information that they want, need (to process) or can handle at that time. They need to feel free to ask a question, nibble here and there and allowed to process life as they need to. We have learned (from how we were raised) to fear a very natural process. Sometimes children are learning that anything worth learning must be taught to them (in a specific way and at a specific time) as if they are not capable of being naturally in their own skin, in their own minds, in their own lives.</p>

<p>Again, I think it was Holt who talked about hunches and how children (people) need to feel free to play out hunches without fear of being made wrong or fear of being wrong. A hunch is a vital personal step into life and learning. It is sacred in that way in my eyes. Learning to gage how much information I need and want from you at this time is based on a similar concept in my mind. I am learning to navigate my own life in that sense. I am learning what I want and need and feel, and I am learning to set my personal boundaries that define me and my space with you. This is an extremely valuable life tool in my mind.</p>

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