I... what?

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

New Hampshire judge declares bright, sociable homeschooled 10-year-old too mature, too intelligent, too religious, orders her to attend public school to remedy this.

The judge's opinion makes it clear on Page 7 that academic performance is not an issue: "it is clear that the home schooling Ms. Voydatch has provided has more than kept up with the academic requirements of the Meredith public school system."

It goes on, on the same page, to make it clear that the agenda is not the student Amanda's education, but her "socialization." Apparently our education system has the dual role of social engineering... It does not matter that this child already takes some classes–including theater–at the local public school, providing her more than adequate social interaction with others... she "must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of [religious] belief and behavior and cooperation in order to select, as a young adult, which of those systems will best suit her own needs."

In New Hampshire! I bet this gives the Free State Project people some gray hairs. If the state can do this to homeschoolers, it can do it to students attending private and parochial schools, too. Scary, scary.

Comments

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

This article is a hypocritical oxymoron in and of itself. I became a socially mature and overall mature individual when I began to focus more on my education and my work rather than focusing on being "socialized." Amanda does NOT need public school. She needs to join the Girl Scouts.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

I understand your point, though I would never let my daughters (if I had any) join the Girl Scouts. It partners with Planned Parenthood and is run wholesale by extreme left-wingers.

This kid doesn't really need anything - she sounds like she's doing fine - and the judge has no business ordering her to do anything of the sort.

[arkadelos.livejournal.com]

Oh! Learn something new every day.

[hitchhiker-42.livejournal.com]

Have your hypothetical daughter join the American Heritage Girls, or the Boy Scouts' Venturing Program instead. My younger sister and I did Venturing, (actually, she still does, having not aged out yet) and we both feel it is an amazing program and definitely beats selling cookies and earning home ec merit badges. (Not that I have anything against home ec, but why should I be limited to getting merit badges for things my mom already taught me how to do? Moar camping, plz!)

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

Sadly, girl scouts is now run by politically correct uber-liberals. Try campfire girls instead.

[scarletumbrella.livejournal.com]

UGH!

[regalpewter.livejournal.com]

The judge would've said 'too personally responsible', but he didn't want to be racist......

Actually, for socialization I'd suggest the Rainbow Girls.

YIS,
WRI

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Suggestion is one thing, judicial mandate is another... :)

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

I was homeschooled and is there any proof that the girl was anti-social or is it just the judge's opinion about homeschoolers? I personally think it's probably the latter...95% of Homeschoolers I know are even more socially competent than their public school counterparts because they're not afraid to ask questions or speak on the level of an adult. The only ones I have met who are socially backwards their parents keep them away (sequester) from other homeschoolers or social events. I don't know about the rest of the U.S. but where I live there are TONS of homeschool groups that plan outings and stuff together. If you're socially backwards as a homeschooler you're a pretty rare find and not the norm as the public school system would have you believe.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

In the brief, the judge cites "evidence" that the girl "lacks youthful characteristics" typical to a public-schooled child her age, specifically an incident in which she challenged her rabidly anti-Christian guardian ad litem to read certain Bible passages by their next meeting. The guardian ad litem agreed, but then didn't, and the little girl got mad at her. She's a serious, articulate, "overly mature" child (judge's words) and apparently this is a legal problem.

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

WHAT? That is just bull crap. I wish more kids (and others under the age of like 30) were "overly mature"...

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

BTW I am a homeschooling parent and do not agree that relative isolation breed social awkwardness. Behavior psychology indicates social intuition is largely an inborn trait. You're either outgoing and interested in other people, or you're not. I've met plenty of socially awkward public school students that bear this out. :)

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

I think that there is an inborn trait to either swing towards being and introvert or extrovert and like you one cannot "force" someone to change that inborn trait. However, social interaction can help shape someone into being more introvert or extrovert than what they would normally be.

I used to be extremely extroverted but when I went to a private school (that lasted less than 3 years) and when bullies began to pick on me I turned into an extreme introvert. Now that I have grown, I am almost back to what I used to be but in certain settings I return to being an introvert.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for your experiences, but from a behavioral psychology standpoint, I would still disagree with you. The desire to seek social fulfillment from either the company of others (extroversion) or from yourself (introversion) is an inborn trait. Some behavioral psychologists have even suggested that they're traits independent of behaviors that can be described as "shy" and "outgoing." For example, I'm an extremely outgoing person who nevertheless prefers her own company - I am an outgoing introvert. It's also possible to be a shy extrovert. Shyness and outgoing behavior are just that - behaviors - which can indeed be learned, while introversion and extroversion are innate and cannot be learned. What you're describing is (understandable) social insecurity; this probably can result from a certain amount of social isolation, although in my experience, even very socially sheltered homeschoolers do fine in social situations. They haven't had anyone to tell them they're wrong or must conform, so they tend to speak their minds much more freely than their public schooled peers, who have years of social indoctrination.

Just my $0.02.

[modernelegance.livejournal.com]

I see what you're saying (from that viewpoint) but that brings us to the never ending debate of nature vs. nurture filled with extreme case studies from each psychological standpoint and a can of worms I am not willing to open at the moment LOL.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

;) Either way, it doesn't have any bearing on this particular case - the little girl was highly sociable. Too sociable; apparently being a 10-year-old that's able to trump your idiot bigot guardian ad litem is completely unacceptable social development.

[zansa-san.livejournal.com]

As a former homeschooler (just started my first semester of college, yay!), I was always - always - highly amused by the fact that whenever I went on social outings w/my publicly educated girlfriends I was usually the only one in the room who even made contact with the outside world. I was always the first one to make conversation with people outside of the group. I was also the only one who would readily engage in conversation with an adult, not just parrot back small talk. Craziness, those homeschoolers being able to function outside of the house ... ;)

[dbroussa.livejournal.com]

The odd point here is that this is happening because the Father does not want his daughter to be home schooled, and the parents (since they cannot agree on this without the courts intervention) have to go with a court approved parenting plan. The court appointed a Guardian ad Litem who then serves as the arbiter of the parenting plan. It is this Guardian ad Litem that has made the recommendation that the daughter must attend public schools, and that her religious views are unhealthy. The judge should have limited this and removed the court from the issue, but they did not and they are being justifiably hammered over it. Still, one wonders why the Father is so against seeing his daughter receiving such a high quality education.

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

one wonders why the Father is so against seeing his daughter receiving such a high quality education.

I've seen this happen repeatedly in divorce cases among homeschooling families. The mother is often the one who was all gungho about homeschooling in the first place, so the father goes for the jugular and tries to outlaw homeschooling in the divorce proceedings as just another way to make his ex-wife miserable.

He was obviously fine with homeschooling for the first five years of her education.

[dbroussa.livejournal.com]

Yep. Divorce is a very nasty thing. I saw a couple that divorced and the Mother was pagan (technically a Wiccan). So the Father filed for divorce in a rural county and proclaimed to the Judge that his wife was a witch and that he should have sole custody. He won and she gets to see her two sons for less then 2 weeks a year.

[eajou.livejournal.com]

They shouldn't even be allowed to do this to homeschoolers. ):

Live Free Or...Don't

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Another outrageous attack on the right to homeschool by another know-it-all imperialist judge. Even the Ninth Circus here in CA upheld the right to homeschool. Between this and a Congress critter having a town hall attendee arrested last weekend, New Hampshire may as well change its name to "Massachusetts, Jr.."

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

and no matter what i think of the religion in question. (since it apparently doesnt involve hurting anyone) this is something ANYONE who may be outside of the mainstream needs to fight.
Wiccan? if this can happen to them.. it can (and has/will) happen to you
Atheist well they get it all the time, frankly.
Catholic? could easily happen in a non Catholic majority town
non Catholic Christian .. well see the article..
Jewish? OY! lets not even think of how bad that could get
Muslim? i think you can see the issues
etc.

so as stated.. no matter what you think of the religion..... this needs to be fought and fought HARD

[ohinternets.livejournal.com]

Agree with you 100% - this is what they don't see, that if this is a viable legal precedence AGAINST Christianity, it can also (as dbroussa has already pointed out) be a viable precedence FOR Christianity and lose leftists and atheists and people of non-traditional religious beliefs their civil liberties, too.

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

You should see the homeschooling sites. Whatever religious persuasion the poster has, we're all uniformly in agreement regarding which orifice the judge spoke from.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

Creepy. I plan to homeschool my eventual children, and I certainly don't want the government telling me a damn thing about what is suitable for my child(ren). I will make that decision.

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but which system is likely to socialize a child better: the "lord of the flies" public school system or the guidance of a caring adult?

I just want to slap a bitch sideways.

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

*brain explodes* Wait, the kid's being homeschooled because she's NOT immature, ethically confused, and morally ambiguous?! WHAT THE HECK?!

[guardians-song.livejournal.com]

Brain really DID explode. I meant "the kid's being PULLED OUT OF BEING homeschooled because [...]". *HEADKEYBOARD* Brain really did fry.

[ainu-laire.livejournal.com]

That is bullshit.

Well, it's possible to survive public school. Here's for hoping she does.