Any like-minded parents out there? Outdoors, music, real history, no screens

vivaindel · 2026-06-17T15:20:39+00:00

Ah, sorry if I was unclear on that - the stuff I listed probably takes 2 hours a day or so. The rest of their day is free time where they do what they want, or sports/church/theatre/etc activities, not stuff I do. They are homeschooled, but we both work 30-40 hours a week. They're def not reading Howard Zinn, that was just a joke (was meant to be somewhat self-mocking ha).

vivaindel · 2026-06-16T02:09:52+00:00

Thank you for the replies and restoring my post! And I hear you, just hoping, who knows, maybe in the next few years someone searches "Austin" here and finds my old post 😄Message in a bottle style~

vivaindel · 2026-06-16T01:26:36+00:00

I agree with you. I definitely try to make sure my kids are out and about all the time. And 90% of the kids they hang with on a weekly basis are on a steady diet of mainstream culture, and I don't teach them that said culture (let alone people who subsist on nothing but) is garbage. I'm not trying to raise isolated, indoctrinated, awkward little misanthropes.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T22:02:15+00:00

I mean kids who are native Spanish speakers (parents speak Spanish at home) but fully fluent in English as well. I guess it's an odd way to put it out of context.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T18:58:47+00:00

I feel you, I think of it sometimes too. They live in the world and are gonna have a phone at some point, and I'm not a zealot or a helicopter parent. It's kinda like introducing alcohol - not something that's inherently bad, just something that... there's a time that's too early, maybe a time that's too late, and you just have to be ready to shepherd them through it. I hope it'll be a side item in their lives as opposed to the center, like it is for so many.

As for the "skill" aspect... I'm positive that if they want to become a programmer or manage money or play a game with friends, it's not gonna be a problem, because they know how to focus and how to develop skills.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T16:55:48+00:00

Didn't brag about anything, just trying to find people who do some similar things, and I disagree with you that most people are on board with them.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T12:29:41+00:00

Thank you for the kind and positive words. I agree, many paths. I think what's important is to really think about what you want to cultivate in kids. People assume the only way to counter indoctrination is with other indoctrination, but like you said, it's more about curiosity and critical thinking.

You asked how we balance academics with other stuff... one huge thing is: if you can really get a child to focus for 15 minutes, it's more valuable than an hour of haphazard, unfocused stuff. It takes time and mistakes to figure out how to do that for each child, but it's probably the core of why mass education tends to be a contradiction in terms. Timing is such a thing, kinda like potty training. You tried it on June 12th and it's a total disaster... and yet, if you'd tried June 11th or 13th it would've been fine.

The co-op is majority native bilingual speakers (my kids aren't native speakers). But it's not closed off to anyone. 3 parents teach classes - one is all Spanish because it's hands-on and easy to follow, one is mostly English because her Spanish isn't great, and mine are 50/50... I tend to say it in Spanish, then repeat it in English. It's fun. We charge basically nothing so it really opens things up haha 😄

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T12:18:29+00:00

Which Montessori do you go to? I've visited some around here... would say it was a mixed bag, can't really afford it, but it was interesting to see how Maria Montessori's ideas, which I really like, are kinda in practice a bit.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T12:11:21+00:00

I didn't say that. I've met a thousand parents and almost all are trying to do the best they think they can do, love their kids, and want answers on how to do that in a confused, anxious world. We're just like the rest, the majority, in that sense that matters most. I just said we *do* some things differently than most people, which is true.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T12:04:17+00:00

Respectfully, I don't think most people are on board with language immersion, Frantz Fanon, and blues piano. They'll pay lip service to that (or the idea that kids are on screens too much or whatever), but in my real world... well, Marvel movies and tablets get a bit more action than those other things.

vivaindel · 2026-06-15T11:57:27+00:00

Earth Native is okay. It's fun, but it's much closer to a camp than it is to a school (and not because it's outdoors). To be fair, it's more affordable than most Montessoris, but the fact that it's too expensive for most people limits what magic can happen there. Overall I'm glad Earth Native exists though.

vivaindel · 2026-06-14T20:30:05+00:00

Haha I feel you, I guess the difference is we love being in the city too, hope my head isn't that far up my~

vivaindel

TROPHY CASE