Homeschool Curriculum Fair

[entirelysonja]

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Maryland State Homeschool Curriculum Fair near Frederick. It was kind of a ridiculous trip -- someone called me wanting breastfeeding help shortly before I was going to leave, and I decided to take the call; in the end, I didn't get to the fair until well after 4:30. The traffic was miserable.

I did think it was worthwhile to have gone, though. I managed to avoid buying anything despite finding several books that I'm pretty sure I want to have. I was able to examine all of the materials I had wanted to see, along with a few others, so I now have a better idea of whether or not certain materials fit in with how I think I want to homeschool.

Someone from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association tried to persuade me to join, but I said that while I appreciate the work they do on behalf of homeschoolers, I'm not comfortable with all of their beliefs. (They support defining marriage as between a man and a woman, something I am vehemently opposed to, and view as having nothing to do with homeschooling.) To the credit of the nice woman I was speaking with, she didn't try to persuade me further.

I also spoke with someone who believes in biblically-based math education. I asked her about that, and she explained that since math has been developed to describe the world, and God created the world and the rules of nature, math is essentially a way to appreciate God's creation. OK, I can see how that follows. Obviously, as an atheist, I'm not on board with it, but it does make sense if you're the sort of person who believes in creation.

Oh, and I had a chance to read a young-earth creationist explanation of what's wrong with macroevolution. Amazing that people actually buy that argument...

Comments

[pthalo]

That's kind of the way I view math, but it's not something I spend too much time thinking about, and it's not really how I'd put it (probably since I'm not Christian). But (probably because it's my own belief), I think it's one of the more sensible ways to go about being religious: God made the universe according to mathematical and scientific laws, and therefore we should study math and sciences and things to better understand the world God gave us. (As opposed to "science is evil. Everything I need is in my holy book") I think the atheist position is quite similar, just minus the God bit. "The universe was made according to mathematical and scientific laws, and therefore we should study math and sciences (if we're interested in them) to better understand how the world we live in works, because we live here and it's nifty."

And I agree with you, marriage has very little to do with homeschooling. I imagine homeschooling is easier when there are two parents in a family that can afford to have one parent stay at home while the other works, but I imagine it's doable under other circumstances as well, and I don't think gender has much to do with it. Both men and women can be good teachers and good with kids, so it doesn't matter which gender the person is that is doing the homeschooling and which gender the person that's going to work, and whether they're the same or different.