...when they are on their bikes and scooters. Its driving me nuts!! These kids are little! I had to vet this somewhere, now I feel better!

As long as this is an opinion editorial.... I think safety is good, but being overprotective is not. I grew up in the country - rode bikes with no helmet, broke some mean horses, baled hay, was towed behind a pickup truck with sleds by the drunk neighbor, swam in the creek, etc. I always wear seat belts and mororcycle helmets. If all the sidewalks are steep hills and such, helmets might be a good idea. I believe parents have a right to raise their kids in their own way as long as there is no abuse. So refrain from calling CPS, and that really bothers me that it was even suggested.

Edited April 16, 20188 yr by Sosewsue61
Corrections

Big Buffer you are so right. I grew up in the era of scool spankings. No I never received one but one of the things,that stopped me and my friends from silly muggy tricks? The knowledge,that if we received one at school we would receive another at homebody,having shamed the family. Now. I know physical,violence has left the,schools and b that's mostly a good thing. But,in my day (swore when i was young I'd never say that!) we did have a sense of family pride. You never committed an act,that would reflect badly on you, your parents and your entire family. It just never was done and we all knew it.?

51 minutes ago, Frustr8 said:

Big Buffer you are so right. I grew up in the era of scool spankings.

I'm going to assume you meant me, speaking of school spankings...

I got spanked at school twice. In one day. I remember it was during 7th grade Algebra. I don't remember what I did for the first one, I just remember I deserved it. It was pitiful; I came back to class chuckling. My teacher asked if I learned my lesson and I said quite plainly that my mother spanked me a helluva lot harder than the principal did and he was obviously a wussy. lol, he did a much better job the second time.

I did Big Viffer, this crazy phone doesnt behave too well at times, it auto corre ts words I put in correctly. Sorry#

I survived an entire childhood riding a bike without a helmet. Hell, I'd be up and out the door in the early morning and only come back for Kool-Aid until dark. Maybe they are trying to raise children that aren't complete pansies?
As for homeschooling, it is a growing trend, and for good reason. And I am not talking about what passes as "bullying" in the school system. Testing results are consistently higher for home schooled children. Learn at the pace most natural to the child, take tests when you are feeling physically optimal and mentally focused.
The only thing I don't like about homeschooling is the social interaction that is missing. I don't mean seeing friends, or participating in extracurricular activities; they actually have sports and clubs usually with the other home schooled kids. But learning to work with groups of people whom you may not like or find difficult to work with. You know, real world adult situations. Many of these kids will be ill prepared to deal in those situations.

You got cool-aid! We had to drink from the hose and don’t come inside until the street lights come on. Seriously the first time I let my kids drink from the hose in front of my husband he almost had a heart attack. He was sure they were going to die of some illness. Never really thought about it since I had done it my entire childhood. Also, if there was an injury DO NOT bleed on the carpet!

Wasn't everyone's Kool-Aid made with hose water? You just had to let the water run until it was clear first!

OMG Big Viffer I had forgotten about that! What memories that brings back! And FYI I just had to fight my phone, it still,eants to call you Big Buffer, I had to force it not. to correct back, I forced Viffer in and pushed "touch again" to keep it in the phones memory?

Oh, and along the same lines, I got a .22 rifle for my 12th birthday! I'm still a darned good shot.

And I was really a basketball star, yeah I was, even on the district traveling team. In my day (there I go again) there were 2 varieties of basketball, girl ruled and boy rules. As soon as the PE teacher turned her,back me and my team buddies would go to boy style. Faster paced and a whole lot more fun, this was about the timebteams went,from zone to man-to-man and Oh God howvweloved that! None of my boy cousins would play. b')ball with me, cause, I could beat their scurvy,little tushies into the ground at Horse. Now I have 2 knee replacements, mostly from weight, but basketball and the fact my position in softball (and baseball with boy cousins) was catcher. Shoot,they had to let me play, I was pretty good at that position and I was the only one except the pitcher that had a strong enough arm to get the ball where it needed to go.
Orchids and Dragons **got a gun story for you. My daddy got me my own gun, why? Because I was an only child, I wanted one and Daddy didn't have a son. Okay , took it to our friend Ken Eyster who was a gunsmith and had it custom-painted ,pink camo 22. Mostly we went squirrel hunting, I can make a mean Brunswick, Stew also. Years passed,, I got married and having boasted,I was a fair shot we went deer hunting, him with his big fancy,rifle and with my G.D. Candystick, his words, not mine. After 4 hours I uttered those words no man wants to hear "when are we going home?" He hands me his big burly macho rifle and says Shoot Something, why don't you? 15 minutes later who should show up,but Mr 10 and half point deer? Aimed and dropped him,with a heart shot. Big Precious proceeds to turn the air blue with cursing. The printable portion of the conversation, "We've been here all day , nothing. I give you my gun and you shoot the D Fool Deer!" I said "Shut up and help me field dress him,and I'll let people think you shot him". I still have a picture of me holding the deer.. Never ever took me hunting again, and best he ever shot in his whole lifetime was an 8 point. And that's my,hunting story!,???

On 3/29/2018 at 9:19 AM, BigViffer said:

Testing results are consistently higher for home schooled children.

Not true, dude.

The only test results we see from homeschool parents....are the good ones who are proud of their efforts and how their kids are doing. There is no registry of test results for all home schooled kids. In some states, you don't have to do any testing or even let anyone know you're homeschooling.

So much of the "data" about how well homeschoolers are doing...is generated only by parents who volunteer their kid's information...and this is not a good look at how homeschoolers are doing overall.

Don't get me wrong. I homeschooled my kiddo through seventh grade. Then, she sat me down and told me she needed a best friend and a boyfriend and a math teacher and wanted to go to dances, be in plays and try real school. LOL. So, I let her try it....and by her senior year she was Salutatorian of her class. So yeah...I think homeschool is great. We loved our experience with it. We also loved our experience with the public schools here.

That said... When my kiddo was re-entering public school there were two other homeschooled girls re-entering with her. In seventh grade...those two other girls couldn't READ. Like seriously could not read beyond a first grade level. I was a "room mother" for my kid's class for a while, and I worked with one of the girls. She wasn't remotely learning challenged....she simply hadn't been taught.

There are awesome homeschoolers out there...and there are folks who are horribly neglecting their kid's educations...it's a very mixed bag... and I'd be cautious about painting all homeschoolers with the same brush.

Edited April 18, 20188 yr by Creekimp13

I'm really dating myself here, but I remember when helmets weren't required and saw the grisly result of what can happen. A boy was riding his bike down our street and hit one of the sewer lids that had been paved over very unevenly...the result was he flew through the air and landed in our driveway and cracked his head wide open. I had never seen so much blood and watched as the paramedics came to his aid. He survived but I doubt if he ever did that again. Things are so much different now, it's a wonder we survived childhood

Man I grew up in the 90s and helmets were encouraged but not required yet. One day I was riding down this big road in my neighborhood on a bike when the breaks failed the road was soaked ok no problem I'll just keep my feet along the road slow myself down yeah I hit like some gravel went flying skidded about 200 feet on just my chin it was knarly did not need stitches but man was that painful

Sent from my SM-T380 using BariatricPal mobile app

I homeschool my boys that are 6 and 7. My boys don't have helmets for their bikes and their pediatrician is aware of it. I too was raised without helmets and I saw a kid hit a brick wall going down a steep hill. He had brain damage and lost an eye. I practice Buddhism and I chose a Christian curriculum. The education is as good as private school, but cheaper. I'm a recovering addict with tattoos all over. I don't look like the typical homeschool mom. My 7 year old is ADHD and OCD. He gets one on one attention and learns quicker than he would in public schools. The education in public schools is a disgrace. I want my boys to be boys and know that sometimes life hurts, but get up and don't give up.

oh and testing is mandatory for 5th grade and 9th grade.

oh and testing is mandatory for 5th grade and 9th grade.

Not in all states