Atheist Homeschool

I can only imagine what kind of country we’d be living in if children were respected, and not criticized and condemned at every turn. As infants, most parents (except the Ezzo and Babywise variety) understand that an infant knows when he is hungry or tired. The fastest way to a peaceful relationship with an infant is to trust their expressions of what they need and go with that flow. In Babywise, Ezzo and his crazy religious freaks have decided that infants are trying to manipulate their parents by placing their own needs first. According to these nuts, parents must take control of the situation and force their baby into an arbitrary schedule, and enforce it. It makes me sad to think of all the babies who learned that their needs don’t matter, that they will not get what they need, and that they can’t trust their caregivers to actually take care of them. No wonder we’ve got issues

On wife swap yesterday there was an extremely religious woman who was very strict with her children. They’d wake up and do their chores, and they’d earn little coins for doing them cheerfully and correctly. With those coins, they could buy privileges, the most popular one being the change to listen to a radio show. These radio shows were chosen by their mother, and were like 50 years old. They had no television, internet or video games. They weren’t allowed to date. The oldest one was 19. Their parents believed that by sheltering them in this way they were guaranteeing that they’d turn out godly. I find it sad that God gave them brains and they’re not allowed to use them. This woman was the most closed minded and judgemental person I had seen on the show. At the end she said “There’s absolutely nothing I want to take home from this experience.” She could have embraced so many great things from the other family, but she couldn’t see past her own judgements. It was really sad. And her kids were even sadder to watch. The other mom asked the one little boy what he would do with time to himself and he couldn’t think of anything. He’d never been allowed to manage his own time before. He’d never been allowed to choose, it broke my heart. The other mom insisted the teenage boys go on a date. The two boys met two girls out for pizza. They had never spoken to girls before. In the end, they had a nice time and were open to doing it again, but their parents didn’t allow it. I think they believe in arranged marriage. I just can’t believe that in 2008 families like this exist. Of course they were homeschoolers. Where did they find these people?

I think it’s nice to welcome a baby into the family and the community in an official way. But I remember when I was about or six years old, going to my cousin’s baptism. I asked my mom what it was all about, and she explained that the baby is being cleansed from their sins, so that they can have a place in heaven with Jesus. I thought that was stupid. How can a baby sin? As I got older, I became more and more indignant at the idea that someone could be born guilty of sins they didn’t commit. I think this one single premise is at the root of so much disrespectful treatment of children and really a sad sad thing.

While living in a small town, I’d go to MOPS meetings to interact with other mothers. I stopped bringing my kids, though when I heard the Moppetts volunteer reading a story to the children. She pointed her finger at each one of them as she went around the circle and said “You’re a sinner and you’re a sinner and you’re a sinner…” WTF? I can’t even begin to express how psychologically screwed up that mentality is.

It amazes me to think these people believe this load of garbage. How can anyone find comfort in a mode of thinking that seeks to destroy them at the same time? It reminds me of battered wive’s syndrome. “But he loves me.” I just don’t get it.

There was an article in Scientific American about why people have a hard time letting go if the idea of an afterlife. They theorize that it’s just human nature to believe in something existing after death, that our own nonexistence is simply incomprehensible. Even people who claim to “know better” still have a psychological tendency to believe that something lives on. We’re not talking about the energy that has been described as out soul, we’re talking about our thinking mind. What do you think? Is our thinking mind likely to continue to exist, in any form, after our death? It’s different form the idea of our energy melting back into the realm of the unseen. This is the human mind we’re talking about. I just don’t see how ti can happen, but presumable, I’m psychologically probably lying about that. Who knows. Who cares. Knowing changes nothing, right?

by Greek Philosopher Titus Lucretius is nice, it’s poetic. I wonder how it can be, since it was probably written in Greek and I am reading it in English. Don Quixote did that, too in places, I wonder what is lost in translation so that we keep the rhyme and rhythm. It could have a whole different meaning. I guess the rhyme and rhythm isn’t always kept, is it? Anyways, the Ancient Greeks seemed a bit miserable, and very contradictory. Don’t fear death, it seems to say. Then, it says that death is a miserable, horrible, rotten thing, but don’t be afraid of it. Sound familiar? I wonder if he says, later on, that death is fun if you’re good. Like if you please the mystical Gods then your death will be hmmm, like heaven? Anyhow, it’s interesting, these old philosophers.

Are they harmless little stories, like fables, that our kids should be hearing for the sake of cultural literacy, or they evil brainwashing tools of an oppressive society? Can we teach about religion, and leave out the insanity? Should our smaller children be protected from some of the more horrible stories? Is there any value at all in telling our children these stories? Can it hurt them? These questions are being addressed in next week’s AtheistHomeschool.com newsletter, so be sure to pop over and subscribe. Kathy has hired a new writer to help her with it, so she’ll be putting out newsletters more often. If you want to write for the AHS newsletter, send an email to Kathy@atheisthomeschool.com and she can talk to you about it.

 Should an atheist family lie or neglect to tell the local members of their community that they’re not Christian? Especially in a community that is overwhelmingly religious. Do we have a duty to be “out there” and shining examples of good people who simply don’t happen to be religious? Or does it even matter? I think the answer depends more upon your personal comfort level with conflict. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t mind the criticism, then go for it. If you just want breezy, superficial relations with people so your kids can play, then it’s probable best not to mention it. Middle school and high school aged kids enjoy debating things, though, and the subject is sure to come up eventually. Children who have been taught to believe in religion, in spite of logic, are often quite confused and angry to hear another perspective. You’ll likely get some angry phone calls. And you might go to hell;)

Highlighted in the first issue of the Atheist Homeschool newsletter is a curriculum called “Different Drummers” and it’s about people who didn’t fit the mold of their culture at the time. Revolutionary individuals who thought outside the box and made history. You can go to the AtheistHomeschool.com website and find their first newsletter to read the review of that curriculum, it’s mostly biographies. Or you could just download it. Different Drummers: Nonconforming Thinkers in History

The organization is called “Teaching About Religion” and focuses on free thought.  They have a lot of great resources.  Enjoy.

As if being an atheist and a homeschooler isn’t counter-culture enough, we don’t teach our kids about nutrition in the same way that the rest of the country does.  Surprise, we’re not obese either. There’s a youtube video out there that shows the government food pyramid and then it reshapes it to show how much money the government spends subsidizing the production of each food group. Fresh fruits and vegetables need a LOT more love from our government. Ironically, the foods we’re supposed to be eating the most of are funded the least. Junk foods get more funding. I like this article for how to teach nutrition in a holistic way.  And here’s that video, enjoy.

I just learned that the coding for the video doesn’t work in all browsers, so if you want to see it, you need to go to youtube, sorry.

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We used to be into the classical education. Raising deep thinkers by deliberately exposing them to classic literature and thoughtful books written a long time ago. I wondered, occasionally, if they would be unprepared for the modern world. Luckily, they didn’t take to well to forced literature, they ended up choosing their own books to read. We still had deep discussions about the characters, their moral standpoint, their world views, the authors and the setting of each book and after reading A Thomas Jefferson Education, I can see that we were doing it right all along. Even though that book is written by an author with some extremely silly religious views, the information and suggestions for mentoring an education are worthwhile, and reaffirm the fact that constant loving communication, and being respectful of the child’s ideas and perspectives is important.