Home Schooling North Idaho style (off roading included)

[EagleMark]

Found an old video I thought I'd share.

Was done in 2007 when my kid was 13. We had enough with public schools and took him out at 12 and all the kid brought home was issues and no education! So we home schooled. School district said we could not pull him out of school at that age! Man did they pick the wrong guy to start that with and ended up with several lawsuits to laws they broke and reason we pulled him out of school... there were another 50 or so family's involed.

Although we did reading writing and arithmetic based on what GED needed, he passed practice test at 15, but they would not let him take test till 16? Could not get in collage without GED? Talk about holding up a kids education! Anyway he was done with his first year collage before his peers were out of high school.

Here's a video of one of his classes, covered geography, history, nature, GPS navigation, reading maps, driving and event planning. :thumbsup:


http://youtu.be/29N1VCBXp4U

[Playtoy_18]

We are contemplating unschooling our kid as well.
In Oklahoma we can homeschool with no issues,it is a right in the state constitution.
We have taught our kid more at home than he's ever learned in school.
We are gathering info and stuff now and currently haven't any plans for him to attend next year.
He will be 8yo in june,and is already way ahead in most areas.
Hell,we even read some of the same books (he's into DanielX series/novels now) and currently need to expand our library to fit his stuff (he reads at least 50 books a year).
He got his blue belt in Taekwondo when he was 6 as well.
Our views on parenting are a bit different than others,but anyone that meets him agrees we're doing something right.

Interested in any and all links,musings or experiences you want to post up.

[EagleMark]

He seems like a real smart kid! Mine was just normal... :laugh:

Public school is going to hold him back, and it's not what he's not learning, it's more the bad habits he learns from what is acceptable in public schools.

To give an example of how a young man should grow up and act with proper parenting (or best I could), my son worked four summers at Silverwood theme park (mini Disney world) till 17, was always a first hire after first year. He was the youngest person to ever work for O'Rielllys Auto Parts and lead sales most every month for the 1 1/2 years he was there, finished 2 of four management classes and just left for a job that pays double with full paid benefits... he'll be 20 next month...

I attribute all this to growing up with adults and not being poisoned/ruined in public schools.

[Playtoy_18]

We really don't like the institution of it.
Everything about it is discipline and do what I say the way I say it etc..
To me it seems just like it is,an assembly line for what is believed to be a socially acceptable adult with no regard to talent,skill or anything other than what a committee thinks is basic knowledge.

Our argument was always socialization,our kid goes ALOT of places all the time but we thought he needed to be around alot of kids etc..
Then I listend to a dayna martin interview and rethought about my school days and currently.
if anything socialization is discouraged in schools today as well as learning (yeah,learning is discoruaged).
Always walk in line,don't talk,you can only talk/play with friends at recess,don't talk about X or you'll get in trouble blah blah.

We are pretty opposite at our house,we try to never say no.
I have a firm belief that the only thing holding most kids back are their parents,however well meanin.
We will advise and guide,but have to constantly catch ourselves from saying "He's too young for that".
Now,we just give him guidance on whatever it is so he can do it,try it,learn it in a controlled manner.

For instance,we woke him up when our cat had kittens a few weeks ago on a school night.
He watched her give birth and helped etc.. While we explained everything.
Early the next morning we found one died,so we woke him up and showed him and explained what we could. Then me and him dug a hole and buried it.
At the same time,another cat had kittens in my shop so we began caring for them.
He makes a comment about breastfeeding and laughing about boobs.
So we go online and I explained how breastfeeding works and showed him some boob pics (clean) and by the end of the conversation he's not laughing everytime I say boob.

We have always just answered his questions and tried to not say no if he wants to do something.

The above story even continues on to include a tomcat massacre and feasting of the shop kittens and a 2hr late night hunt to kill offender.
Regardless of the gruesome nature,we showed and explained all to him.

At home,I am at least confident that he is not being held back because they only allow him to learn on a "x" grade level at the rate of the slowest kid.
For instance,I made a video yesterday "relays for dummies by dummies".
Earlier I asked him to watch it and give me his opinion. Afterwards he told it was great and we went over a couple things to see if he understood and he had a decent enough grasp on the subject.
Just gotta treat em like they are small ignorant adults,not stupid children.
If they don't know something,it is just because they haven't been taught and not because their age.
(we do explain when he doesn't grasp something because of experience).
AND I have never lied to him,regardless of question.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/588de301162e7f9a68100ad8cfc68536.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/90bf56edbabcc2782af3f981bc2ad7bd.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/100_0253.jpg

[EagleMark]

Cute kid! But you'd better teach him how to hold a gun before he pulls trigger... :laugh: They never like shooting after a black eye from a scope.

I agree with so much of what you said.

Is that a cast on foot? I had them on both feet till four years old and some braces too! Learned to walk just before kindergarden at 4 1/2... My kid had to have a surgery on one foot at 12 as he didn't grow out of it...

[gregs78cam]

Cute kid! But you'd better teach him how to hold a gun before he pulls trigger... :laugh: They never like shooting after a black eye from a scope.


Looks like .22 = no recoil, :thumbsup:

[Playtoy_18]

Lol,the gun comment feeds into the cast comment actually.
He is holding it as correctly as he is able considering he must shoot a right handed gun left handed while being right-eye dominant.
Trying to find a left handed .22 is actually pretty damn hard,I plan to customize one for him when I find it.
(he knows how most all guns work and function in our house,the only thing keeping him from using most is physical strength. We figure the best safety is education,he knows what will happen if he does X so he doesn't screw around and will ask for help. Very important considering there are locked/loaded weapons laying out openly in our house regularly.)

look close in the pic and you can kinda tell he has very little of his fingers.
He was born with clubfoot,syndactyl and amniotic band syndrome.
His first surgery was when he was 3mos old,and until he was prob 3 he had another every 3mos or so.
They would do surgery on one leg,then the other etc.. Back and forth.
He actually learned to walk at least 2-3 different times. He took to learning the different straight and bent leg casts easily enough. The first time he had all of them off and no casts though it took a full two weeks to relearn he was so nervous.

His hands got started later,they had to be seperated first and then slowly over the past few years they would cut back the webbing on what he had left to make the fingers longer and more useable.
it was a long process because they can only do one every other webbing because of blood supply and tried not to have noth hands casted and bandaged.

As of now we did the last planned surgery for awhile last fall. Any new ones will only be because of scar tissue maybe or a complication.

His fingers on his right hand go to maybe first knuckle,fingers on his right hand are a bit longer and is the more useable of them.
He is ambidextrous so it doesn't bother him at all for the most part and doesn't really affect much.

His legs have been straightened and fine,he does always wear a brace on his right foot but mainly because it isn't flat and more of a ball almost. They've cut,broke and flattened/reformed the bone but it's at the limit of what they can do now so he wears the brace for balance but can walk fine without.


He also only has three two toes on his other foot,a big toe and a barely noticeable pinky toe. The rest is just straight across blunt end sorta.
But it is otherwise fine thanks to surgery.

Most people have no clue he has anything different with feet,and his hands don't hold him back one bit.

I attribute his down to earth attitude to all the stuff he is endured in hospitals over the years.
His older sister is also severaly disabled,so I imagine it plays a bit into his worldview as well.

closer pics that might help illustrate.
Firstborn,can't tell but his tib/fib's are actually curved. (Hung like a 3yo :) )
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/PicsOfBen012.jpg
Left before
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/DSCF0148.jpg
left after seperating (many more after that)
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/100_1382.jpg
Right before
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/DSCF0152.jpg
Right after
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p275/edwinleahy/FamilyPics/100_1381.jpg

[EagleMark]

Well you've sure had your share of stressful issues. He's doing great though! At his age and condition it may be a good thing to get him out of school for all the reasons we have talked of and know about... but kids get meaner in a few years and it makes it harder!

My feet were a little worse off then his at birth but no toe issues, hands were not effected. No surgeries either back then or not needed, but I did get new casts every week for many years, then corrective shoes on a brace and adjustments for the rest of years till 4 1/2. Almost got my feet perfect, no one can tell even me, but I think that had a lot to do with development and strength of my back not walking till that age. Always had back issues but made it, high school I started varsity football in sophomore year and was athletic, bench pressed over 300, and then started back surgeries at 32, had three so far, still need one more but getting by...

Keep him busy! Seems like nothing is going to get in his way!... except school and other kids... we found a great bunch of kids and parents that did a lot of home schooling at Skate Plaza in winter time and at BMX track in summer time, Cub Scouts, Church is always a good place too. It's all in where you choose your environment to be!