And the question still stands...if you were so suave, eloquent, sophisticated, and on top of your game at 12 that you feel you have a right to trash this kid...
What the happened?![]()
Everybody calm down. It's one nerdy kid.
And the question still stands...if you were so suave, eloquent, sophisticated, and on top of your game at 12 that you feel you have a right to trash this kid...
What the happened?![]()
What about what DR said could be construed as trashing?
The video posts and the ensuing commentary more excited my compassion than my disdain. And not primarily for the kids.
Evan O'Dorney looked awkward and doofus-like, and there were a lot of awkward pauses in the conversation, but all of his responses that weren't edited out made sense. Whereas the reporter was unprepared to administer her very own spelling bee. She mispronounced the word, then had trouble answering questions about its origin. When asked to repeat the word again she pronounced it various ways, but never very clearly. She then declared Mr. O'Dorney's misspelling correct, and congratulated him for spelling it wrong in precisely the manner he had predicted.
Who's the dummy again? Who made it more awkward than necessary?
That other spelling champ was a weird girl and had some weird takes -- there shouldn't be any spelling bees? -- but she was honest, good-natured and guileless and who among us can say as much?
ing creeps.
Last edited by Winehole23; 04-03-2009 at 12:13 PM. Reason: comma splice
hey...whoa... hold on.....do you not understand that you are our beacon of civility?
leave the trash talking to me.![]()
I occasionally have trouble containing myself, and as may you gather, my own remarks here are subject to extensive revision, but I think I'll let that one stand.
civility. Picking on weird kids walks on my fighting side.
i have a little kid. i agree with you.
i hope this kid and his family have no idea about what's being said on the interwebs.
No offense, but what you said made no sense.
You posed a question. If I were so suave, eloquent, sophisticated and on top of my game at 12 that you feel you have a right to trash this kid....
???
What? That wasnt a question. To be honest, Im not the grammar police and I understand and commit the same error of typing too fast in front of my thoughts, but I cant even discern what point it is youre trying to make with that statement.
I could guess, I think.
First off, I never "trashed" the kid. I said he is socially inept. Yes, thats true. There is a difference between the kid too insecure to talk and is considered a weirdo or excessively shy by his peers and the kid who cannot hold a conversation with an adult in any cognitive, congruent manner.
So, yeah. Thats that.
Maybe he is slightly autistic. It would exlplain a lot. Dont know and really dont care. He won the Spelling Bee. Thats a pretty huge accomplishment so congratulations.
It came as no surprise to him. Kid has a little swagger.
I was home schooled from kinder all the way through 12th grade graduation.
One of the advantages to home schooling is the ability to specifically cater the study material to the student- his style of learning, his interests, and his academic level- in every subject.
Also I never had to deal with getting lost in a lecture or bored in one. If I easily grasped the material, I moved ahead in the book. When needed, mom would give me extra tutoring.
Since I was the only student, my mom could stop immediately if I was struggling to comprehend and work with me until I understood- a luxury not available to public students due to the number of students per class.
When I was in junior high I could not grasp certain geometry for the life of me.
I was growing quite frustrated and discouraged.
So my mom gave me a whole semester off from math, replacing it temporarily with another literature course- something I excelled at.
When I took up the math class again, I felt clear headed from the change of pace, encouraged from my success in Literature, and was able to succeed in the math class.
That kind of flexibility would not have been available to me in public school- where teachers are preparing lessons for twenty plus kids.
It is true that as a home schooled student, you are not exposed to many of the social situations that public school students grow up dealing with- school bullies, threats of school violence, drugs, peer pressure etc.
But those are things that I think we all agree we wish no kid had to deal with.
And I had trauma of my own to deal with a homeschooler. For example, my mom could cut short Christmas break and put school back into session if she wanted, and sometimes she did.
I was stuck at home alone with mom all day during a time in which I was going through the worst of adolescents and she was going through menopause. It was during eighth grade. Neither mom nor I was happy much of that year.
Throughout school, I had an active social life. I was a member of a city wide choir, took dance at church, and was in a drama club with fellow homeschoolers. I was in 4-H. Also AWANA.
9-12 grades were a little different for me scholastically speaking.
In high school, I did a correspondence course with a high school in Illinois. They assigned all my textbooks and assignments and their teachers graded my work.
When I graduated, I was issued a diploma from that school.
My first real experience with consistent classmates was when I went away to Bible College at age 17. I did this immediately after graduating 12th grade.
The Bible College was a small one. The campus only housed about 300 students.
So college wasn't the huge shock to my system for me that I can imagine it would be for homeschoolers who attend a large, secular school.
I was studious and so enjoyed school. I found out after the fact that most everyone considered me a nerd but a likeable one.
I never had any serious trouble with anyone or with adjusting.
While it is true that I was sheltered and am sometimes to this day shocked at some of the things I hear people talk about and/ or do, I spent my time as a homeschooled student educating myself and deciding what I believed.
I have adjusted my views some based on age and information that I have gained through life experience.
I don't view my being home schooled as something that handicapped me. Rather I feel it allowed me to be a kid and to be a student, to develop without unnecessary scrutiny or criticism and emerge as an intelligent, competent adult.
True there were a lot of things I had yet to face as a newly graduated 17 year old, but I had been taught an abundance of information, was shown skills, and had developed character which enabled me to handle all I have since encountered.
The only reason I would not homeschool my own kids is I worry I don’t have the patience and creativity it takes to be a teacher.
That was my first thought as well.
Kind of reminded me of the kid in this book:
![]()
Yeah, a little. To be clear, I am not making fun or "trashing" this kid. I am not even laughing at him as if this had some comedic value.
It actually kind of pisses me off, if anything. His parent's are to blame. Theyve created a barrier in this boys life that didnt need to be there in the first place.
Like 101A said, maybe hes slightly autistic. Also, what someone else said, homeschooling isnt what it used to be. They have remedial sports with other homeschooled kids, gatherings, field trips, etc.
But it doesnt *seem* this young man has had much social interaction outside his family circle. Thats the way it seems...doesnt mean Im right, just my snap observation. Could be wrong, could be waaaaay wrong. I hope I am wrong about his social skills, I really do.
where was graduation? the backyard? pwnt!
I bet it did.
WH23 salutes your confiding spirit of self-disclosure (brava!) and respects your personal testimonial.
Cheers.![]()
just wait, she'll post something completely ing bonkers.
Home schooling should be part of any child's upbringing. My kids go to public school but they get plenty of home schooling as well but I do feel the social skill part is needed to develop a well rounded child.
I didn't think so. I was more pissed off at the OP's for pushing these kids forward as some kind of example of homeschooling.
You don't get to choose your parents. And there's no license required to have a kid. Too bad.
I just thought he was an odd duck. Who knows? I've seen people grow out of this. I went to school with a kid who couldn't stop soiling his pants at school; he went on to be a very successful engineer.
It's hard to tell from such a short interview. I wonder what got edited out as untelevisable.
I know, but it costs nothing to be nice, and she did contribute a new angle to the thread. A first hand view.
Last edited by Winehole23; 04-03-2009 at 02:11 PM. Reason: edited for style
Hey, I was made fun of in high school. I see no reason to stop the tradition of kids being made fun of in high school.
I can sure as say I was more suave than THAT kid though lol.
that. Picking on weird kids is an American tradition. Let social Darwinism rule!![]()
ROTFLMAO
I was thinking this, but didn't want to say it. Glad somebody else was the .
![]()
The tradition sucks, and social darwinism is merely the default philosophy of bullies.![]()
I'm getting so tempted here.....
get thee behind me johnsmith
I didn't want a ceremony and so did not have one.
I was stupid to not have a party though. I could have banked.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)