By R.L. Stollar, HA Community Coordinator
For the first time since we started our topical series, we are going to announce two series at once. If you are interested in writing something, you are welcome to do so for either one (or even both, if you desire).
February Series: Let’s Talk About Sex (Ed)
For many Christian homeschoolers, sex education is one of the top reasons why we were homeschooled — specifically, so that we would either not get any or get a very religious version of it. It remains a motivating factor to this day, which makes sense since “religious or moral instruction” is still the most common reason parents choose to homeschool their children.
For the “Let’s Talk About Sex (Ed)” series, please feel free to submit any stories and thoughts you have about homeschooling and sex ed. Ideas could include (but should be not limited to):
- What your sex education (or lack thereof) consisted of
- How better sex education could have helped you
- How you received a good sex education and how that helped you
- How you received a bad sex education and how that harmed you
- What your sex education (or lack thereof) communicated to you about body- and sex-positivity
- How a lack of sex education kept you silent about abuse
- Some variation of “What I Wish 16-Year-Old Me Knew About Sex and Sexuality”
- How sex education (or the lack thereof) that focused only on straight sexuality alienated or harmed you as an LGBT* individual
- Humorous, embarrassing stories as you went about educating yourself about sex
- Resources for others on sex education
Deadline for submission for Sex Ed series: Thursday, February 13, 2014.
Please put “For Sex Ed Series” as the title of the email.
As always, you can contribute anonymously or publicly.
If you interested in participating in this, please email us at homeschoolersanonymous@gmail.com.
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March Series: Media Memories
Being homeschooled makes you part of a cohort. You share a common language and culture with other homeschooled individuals that seems like a foreign language to others outside that cohort. It’s like a variation on the “third culture kid” concept.
As Christian homeschoolers, we also are a part of the larger “American evangelical” cohort. We are the Jesus Freaks: the children of the flannel graph, raised on a healthy diet of Psalty, Veggie Tales, Donut Man, and Carmen.
That culture we were raised in? Many of us (though not all) have mentally burned it to the ground. Yet we find ourselves circling back to where it burned and sifting through the ashes for memories to redeem. Inside that whole culture’s remains — homeschooling in particular, American Christianity in general — we have found solace, peace, and transformation. Maybe you found hope for your depression in Jars of Clay’s Much Afraid; maybe you found stress from the “seriousness” of the church in Veggie Tales; maybe, maybe not.
But for the “Media Memories” series, we want to remember those pieces of media — whether videos (Buttercream Gang, anyone?), music, TV, books, etc. — that were a part of our culture and impacted us deeply. Consider this nostalgia week, basically. Pick something that you loved, or hated (maybe even hated vehemently), or (probably most commonly) have a love/hate relationship with, and talk about it. It can be a song that got you through hard times, a book that helped you break free from the culture, a movie that prompted a new stage in your recovery process — or a creative conspiracy theory about Psalty.
Or even just something you remember lightheartedly with a smile.
Deadline for “Media Memories” submission: Saturday, March 15, 2014.
Please put “For Media Memories Series” as the title of the email.
As always, you can contribute anonymously or publicly.
If you interested in participating in this, please email us at homeschoolersanonymous@gmail.com.
Homeschoolers Anonymous 
adventures in Odessey!!
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You know I’m on this!
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Also, no Jesus freak here. Jesus freak was disrespectful to God or something.
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these are both going to be interesting to read, but i have absolutely nothing to contribute to either because my sex education consisted of my questions being answered frankly as i asked them (except when i asked what rape meant when i was 4) and my adult sex life is healthy and unscarred. i never partook of christian media either. i absolutely hated it when they would show clips of veggie tales or whatever in sunday school, and why they did that in jr/sr. high sunday school i will never know. i always thought it was incredibly juvenile, dumbed-down and vapid. i’m convinced that stuff like that is intended to actually make people stupider, which would serve it’s purpose in the christian realm quite well…
i doubt this exists and this is nor a great place to be asking, but does anyone know if there are any groups akin to HA that are aimed at secular homeschoolers? i’m finding myself feeling less and less at home here because my experiences growing up and now are so different. i love reading the posts here because ultra conservative, fringe chriostianity has always been an interest, but it’s hard for me to participate.
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I do not know of anything, unfortunately, but I hope you can find some such forum. However, I would love it if you would submit a story to HA (not as part of a series, but separately) about your secular homeschooling experience. I think more stories about that would be fascinating… particularly for those of us who grew up in the fundie homeschooling world and never saw the other side of things and have no idea what it might have been like.
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i submitted a story to the self-injury theme and started writing a general “autobiography” to send in, but i opted not to because i realized i feel a little uncomfortable with having my personal writings out there on a site that i don’t moderate and i didn’t really like the way my paragraphs were broken up to emphasize things because it changed the flow of my original composition and put emphasis on things i didn’t intend to stand out. that’s totally fine, it’s the editor’s discretion and if i don’t like it, i can simply not submit stuff. i also believe if i wanted something taken down in the future, my request would be honored, but i just don’t feel great about submitting stuff here. i’ve since started a blog chronicling my experiences, past and present with religious settings and some of my homeschooling will end up being discussed, but still, i don’t think a community for failed secular HS experiences exists and i should probably be the first to understand why that is and i think i kind of do, but whatev.
if anyone wants to read my blog, i think it’s linked in my commenting profile here, but you can find it at christbaitrising@blogspot.
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Great series ideas, I’m looking forward to reading them!
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This is probably a strange request, but I have a post I wrote on my dreamwidth account that I would like to share, but am unable to send due to being seventeen and still under my parents’ control when it comes to e-mail. Would anyone be able to submit it if I posted a link to a finished version here?
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Go for it.
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May I gently suggest Gmail?
And also, be careful. Some parents have keystroke loggers and/or URL trackers, so they can see exactly what you typed (passwords, rants, etc) or what websites you are visiting. And be sure to clear your history, etc.
*HUGS*
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I speak from experience, so….
❤
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You know I can! Send it over to me. 🙂
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Are there guidelines for how softened or explicit phrasing should be for these pieces? For instance, in reference to clinical terms for genitalia, etc.
I have a whopper of a story and have already started writing, but some help with term guidelines would be fantastic.
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We aren’t particularly interested in dictating what phrasing you can or cannot use. If there’s something specific you’re wondering about, feel free to email us (homeschoolersanonymous@gmail.com) and ask. Or you are welcome to send a story draft in a couple days before the 13th and we can let you know if there’s anything we think should be modified.
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