up in arms...

So unfortunately some of the homeschool community is "up in arms" about a comment from Bill Nye "The Science Guy". A homeschooler asked if he would be willing to put together a curriculum for secular homeschoolers, his reply was:  Use your judgement. The rest of us out here, want your kids to appreciate society and the importance of working together in school and in life. A person working alone will probably not build the future 797 airplane, for example. It takes people who can work with and around people. Carry on.


While saddened to see his uninformed response I am not surprised by it. Most mainstream people are unaware of what homeschooling is in reality. They have heard the myths but have never looked into it far enough to educate themselves on the homeschooling world. Instead of the original homeschooler posting about how she thought he was open minded (personal attack) I would probably have looked up the many stats available on how well socialized, educated, involved, (both in the community and in team building activities) and just sent him links. Being married to a scientist giving them fact based information tends to go a lot further than individual antidotes. I'll be posting some of those links to his site in a bit though. But back to the original problem..copied from another post. Why are we (homeschoolers in general) so up in arms about this particular question/answer thing. Instead of name calling and personal attacks...Go back to the beginning of your homeschooling journey, how many of us had to deal with this same idea/attitude when we first considered homeschooling and that was our family/friends/relatives idea about homeschooling! How many of us had to deal with this exact same attitude day in and day out until we were able to "prove" that homeschooling was actually working?! Why would we expect a public figure who does so much to try and keep "good" science in the public school system and has probably never had much if any interaction with the homeschool community to automatically "know better"? I'm really sorry if this sounds harsh, but in reality, most people unless there is a reason to be upset with their current public or private school situation have never looked farther into homeschooling than what they have heard...and that's normally the "myth" surrounding homeschooling. Let's educate, not exile those in a position that if they had the actual facts could be come a great resource for the homeschool community.
He always says to "show him the proof" so instead of telling him he's closed minded and that we thought he should "know better" let's give him the proof.

Mr. Nye, 

In regards to your response about developing a curriculum for secular homeschoolers, I wish to educate you on your misconceptions in regards to the homeschooling community.  I will add many links to the bottom of my letter so that you may see the "proof" of how well homeschoolers are performing at all levels and that we are not "out there". That we (homeschooled kids)have much to add to the community as a whole and not just in a classroom of our peers. Many homeschoolers unlike our public school peers have time to: join clubs, volunteer in our community, apprenticeship
with professionals in all areas of employment. We have time to follow and explore area's of interest including the sciences.

Many famous public figures and scientists have been homeschooled such as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Woodrow Wilson, Reid Barton, Francis Collins, just to name a few. Please don't discount us just because we are "homeschooled". We have a lot to offer and just so you can see some of the "results" for yourself.

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=91
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/01/homeschooled-students-wel_n_1562425.html 
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/07/Report-Growth-in-Homeschooling-Outpacing-Public-Schools 
http://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling.html 
http://www.home-school.com/Articles/homeschoolers-win-win-win-win.php 
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/01/25/20090125futurecity0126.html 
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001/HomeSchoolAchievement.pdf 
http://www.rachelgathercole.com/page6.html 

and because you have a history with building airplanes you might find this interesting...
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10336018/#.UvkzfPbn3Zs - 

All we ask is that you educate yourself on the homeschooling community before helping to spread the myths that we face day in and day out.  

Thank you.