DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Jack's House
HTML https://jackshouse.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Updates 2025
*****************************************************
#Post#: 16660--------------------------------------------------
Nick Mintz
By: Jack Date: December 28, 2019, 4:38 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Nick Mintz is Joe's little brother. His father, whom I normally
just call Mr. Mintz, is my partner in the Pumpkin Patch and our
Christmas Tree Farm.
I've known Joe for nearly eight years now, since he was 12-years
old. For a long time, our house was an exclusive for Joe, but
Nick eventually did start visiting.
It sounds like Nick is having a lot of trouble at home right
now. In the first place, his two older siblings are both
working now, so Nick is the oldest at home, and he's caught a
lot of the chores these days. For another, he's homeschooled,
except 'not really'. His mom does this thing called
unschooling. She once said to me that school 'doesn't make
sense, because does an adult ever spend 12-years preparing for a
job they don't even know they want?' I explained to her that,
no, adults don't do that because they do it when they're kids.
I managed not to call her a freaking idiot when I replied, but I
think it was kind of implied.
Mrs. Mintz and I aren't the best of friends.
However, with the older two kids working and other things going
on, their Christmas traditions kind of went down the tubes, and
Nick was really upset about it. From what his dad said, Nick
managed to talk himself into a trip to the barn and a talk with
the strap yesterday for pretty much straight up disobedience on
top of a lot of disrespect.
So, I'm going to have Nick for at least the next week- and I
mean solid week. His Dad dropped Nick off with a week's worth
of clothing, and he wont' be going home at least the next 7
days. Nick and Kenny aren't exactly bosom friends, but they get
along, and he's closer in age to Craig, Jake, and Dylan. While
Kenny's party is boy/girl, hardly anyone is actually coming in
pairs, so Nick won't through things off much. If he gets to
feeling like a duck out of water, he can always come talk to me.
While his parents' schedule didn't allow him to join us full
time, he was trying to keep up with our reading group over the
fall, and we're going to talk books and work on his reading a
bit while he's here.
And yes, he was reminded that I 'whupped' Joe well past 13, and
that I certainly have permission to whup him if he needs it.
#Post#: 16662--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: Adric Date: December 28, 2019, 4:54 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Jack link=topic=1666.msg16660#msg16660
date=1577572697]
His mom does this thing called unschooling. She once said to me
that school 'doesn't make sense, because does an adult ever
spend 12-years preparing for a job they don't even know they
want?'[/quote]
Ugh! Poor kid.
Much homeschooling could just as easily be called unschooling.
Guarantees kids are always less educated than their parents.
Carried over generations, that is a spiral down to total
ignorance.
#Post#: 16669--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: Jack Date: December 29, 2019, 6:33 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I've talked about homeschooling elsewhere in the past. I'm not
going to say there aren't times for it. I've homeschooled in
the past myself. However, there is a reason they don't just hire
random people off the streets to be teachers. What's worse to
me is people who homeschool for religious reasons. To me,
that's simply admitting that your indoctrination of your child
is so fragile that any conflict ideas could free them - and
that's a really bad thing to be saying about your child and your
religion.
#Post#: 16670--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: db105 Date: December 29, 2019, 6:58 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I agree, poor Nick. Is he 13 now?
Here school is compulsory from 6 to 16. So how does
homeschooling work? I mean, if you homeschool a kid, are there
any controls or exams to show you are teaching him the basic
stuff?
#Post#: 16673--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: kalico Date: December 29, 2019, 7:12 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Aww poor nick but I’m happy he at least gets a little break and
was able to come stay with you
Hope the week goes good for all involved
Hugs kal
#Post#: 16674--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: Zyngaru Date: December 29, 2019, 8:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
From the way you wrote Nick's piece, it sounds like he feels he
is being dumped on, which I can understand.
From being the youngest and just doing a few of the easier
chores to being the oldest at home and doing all the chores
including the hard ones. I can see how he could feel like a
slave. I can see how he could think his parents only had kids
to do their work for them. History shows this used to be true.
Farmers had lots of kids to work the farm. So I can see where
Nick is coming from.
Hopefully his week with you and possibly longer, can help him
weigh things and see things with a clearer perspective. This
time will also give you the opportunity to evaluate his
education level. Just as a side.
Hoping for the best for Nick.
#Post#: 16676--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: Jack Date: December 29, 2019, 4:42 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=db105 link=topic=1666.msg16670#msg16670
date=1577624308]
I agree, poor Nick. Is he 13 now?[/quote]
Nick is 13. I think his birthday is in February, somewhere
around Van's, but you can imagine I have trouble keeping them
all straight.
[quote author=db105 link=topic=1666.msg16670#msg16670
date=1577624308]
Here school is compulsory from 6 to 16. So how does
homeschooling work? I mean, if you homeschool a kid, are there
any controls or exams to show you are teaching him the basic
stuff?
[/quote]
It's the same here basically (on the ages, I mean). It's hard
to explain how it works if you have much sense or give it much
thought. HOWEVER....
I think the legality of homeschooling comes down to a
combination of freedom of religion and distrust of government,
both of which are common in the US. Technically, in Texas, here
are the requirements...
The only requirements to legally homeschool in Texas are that:
The instruction must be bona fide (i.e. not a sham); The
curriculum must be in visual form (e.g. books, workbooks, video
monitor); The curriculum must include the basic subjects of
reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and good citizenship.
The problem is that there's little to no oversight on it, which
is also how you end up with someone like Zeke who had been
'homeschooled' and ended up with almost no education. What
happened to Zeke was illegal, and something did eventually
happen, but not early enough to help him.
I am going to say that there are a number of courses for parents
who are interested that are accredited, and if everything is
done properly, the kids can turn out with a degree. There is
also the option of getting what's called a GED (General
Equivalency Degree, I think) which is generally not as good as a
high school diploma, but it's better than nothing.
[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=1666.msg16674#msg16674
date=1577630046]
From the way you wrote Nick's piece, it sounds like he feels he
is being dumped on, which I can understand.
[/quote]
I've had a chance to talk to Nick now, and I think it's more
accurate to say he feels like he's being dumped, than dumped
upon. Joe is one of the paid employees of our business, and
that business takes up a lot of the work that Joe once had to do
as a chore, so the work is lighter than it used to be. Also,
he's really not having to do a lot more work than Joe did
(probably less, actually). Because there is 7 years or so
between them, Nick wasn't much help on the chores when Joe was
doing them.
The real problem is that the household is changing, with Joe not
living at home and the older girl (second child, between Joe and
Nick - I don't think I've ever used her name) working away from
home now, and Dad's contracting business and partnership with me
taking up more of his time, the family dynamic feels much better
than it did, and Nick is a kid who likes tradition and family
stuff.
[hr]
Nick has been hanging around over here pretty much sense his mom
thought he was old enough to get away from her for longer
periods of time, so he knows the rules and everything. When he
and I talked, I told him I knew he and his mom especially had
been having trouble recently, but I wasn't making any judgements
on if that was someone's fault or who's fault it might be.
Instead, I reminded him that he knows the basic rules like
asking permission, minding, and respecting others. Because he's
basically going to be living here for a short while, he'll have
some chores, but they will be basically helping with meal stuff
and cleaning up after himself. I assured him that as long as he
does those basic things, everything will be fine. If he doesn't
do those things, I'll be happy to put him over my lap and wear
him out. it's been a while since I've spanked him, but he
remembers it well enough he's not anxious to repeat it. He was,
however, happy to have a few hugs and some snuggle times.
I do think one particular problem he's having is that, while Joe
is happy to be a contractor, and while his older sister is
becoming a horse trainer, he's a bit more academically inclined.
The problem is he kind of knows his education is uneven right
now, but he can't get his mom to understand that or maybe she's
just not sure of the type of help he needs, so he and I are
going to sit down and explore a few ideas that maybe we can
present to (her, but most likely his dad, so Dad can just agree
and tell Mom it's done).
#Post#: 16679--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: db105 Date: December 29, 2019, 5:20 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
That's really nice, to try to help Nick like that. You do play a
social role in Bransom.
#Post#: 16685--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: Zyngaru Date: December 29, 2019, 8:57 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Jack. That sounds like a reasonable plan for Nick.
The good thing, about homeschooling, there are programs out
there that cover just about anything a person is interested in
learning. So where ever he feels deficient, he will more than
likely be able to find what he needs to become efficient.
As a side note. Indiana is slowly moving toward online schools
and doing away with brick and mortar schools. So essentially
they are moving toward state regulated homeschooling. They
aren't there yet, and may never get there, but they are working
toward that goal.
HTML https://www.connectionsacademy.com/indiana-online-school
#Post#: 16688--------------------------------------------------
Re: Nick Mintz
By: Jack Date: December 30, 2019, 7:11 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=1666.msg16685#msg16685
date=1577674654]
So essentially they are moving toward state regulated
homeschooling. They aren't there yet, and may never get there,
but they are working toward that goal.
[/quote]
That.... sounds like a really terrible idea.
The benefits are that it saves money on building schools.
I suppose one could argue it allows more of a class choice.
However, I can't help but feel that the book learning one does
in school isn't the most important thing one does - it's not
even in the top three I'm pretty sure. By going to online
schooling, they'll be giving up the socialization kids learn,
the ability to get out of the house and learn to function in new
environments, and the ability to learn to adapt to schedules and
the importance of timeliness and coordination with others.
I suppose in really rural areas where a lot of kids have to
spend a lot of time on buses, there might be arguments to
counterbalance those. I'm just afraid this is another of those
ideas like 'open classes' from the 70s, 'back to basics' from
the 80s (where they started cutting all kinds of
extracurriculars), and the standardized testing craze of the
'00s, where they chase after something that sounds great without
really having a clue how it's going to effect the kids in the
long run.
*****************************************************
DIR Next Page