Welcome to a different kind of blog! The Hoosier Homeschooler is another way to Help Hoosiers Homeschool, brought to you by the Indiana Home Educators' Network

I really don't like blogs. It starts with the name. Blog sounds like a B-movie creature from another planet. Cousin to the BLOB... only not as scary. Just the same, blogs can eat you up, consume you, and leave you feeling like it really wasn't worth the price of admission; your time and thought cells.

I want to publish pieces that are worth the price of admission. I would rather publish one thoughtful piece of writing by a Hoosier Homeschooling Parent, than ten self-absorbed comments on a comment on a comment.

I want The Hoosier Homeschooler to be slower and more thoughtful than the blog publications people are used to. I would like to showcase good writing, rather than a plethora of random thoughts that have context only because someone else is blogging about the same random thought.

I have a hunch that you want to read thoughtful, yet occasionally intense, creative ideas from the minds of real Hoosier Homeschoolers; parents who maybe have a lot of advice to share but don't want to get overly involved in the technical aspects of publishing one's words in a bloggish fashion.

So fear not. This isn't just another Blog from Planet Seven!

Part journal, part digest, part notebook, part magazine... maybe even part gallery — The Hoosier Homeschooler will be different, I assure you. We'll just have to see what happens as we grow.

One thing is certain — just like our statewide network, IHEN, our motto will always be "Helping Hoosiers Homeschool."

What are we going to cover this quarter?

Among other things, we hope to discuss some disturbing practices by some public schools in Indiana. In varying degrees, parents are being told the public school that promises a free education for their children, is breaking that promise. Some parents are outright being told to leave and homeschool their children. Many more parents are simply giving up hope and leaving in a frustrated huff. HH02.000

Interestingly... not a lot of complaints about parents jumping the public school ships to homeschool. Could the public schools benefit somehow? We postulate the up side for the public schools. HH02.002

We'll talk more about signing "Zee Paperz." What does reporting the enrollment of your children in your homeschool to the IDOE mean... if anything?

When you homeschool, what you're really doing is learning in the real world; free range, so to speak. When people see children out and about on a "school day", all they see are students. People never ask, "How old are you?" they ask, "What grade are you in?" The fact is, homeschooled kids are rarely at home most days. Many parents will tell you they feel like they're Carschoolers, rather than Homeschoolers We'll see if we can't publish some essays on free range learners — homeschoolers out and about, learning in the real world. HH02.001

Speaking of the real world, we even have a homeschooling related Police Blotter report. Vandalism in the Dining Room. HH02.003 Be on the lookout.

What do I do now?

Well... to get the notices of new material posted to the web site, you should subscribe to the HoosierHomeschooler YahooGroup. We'll use this broadcast e-list to let diehard subscribers know when new material is out and up on the web site.

Want to get in on this? Absolutely possible!

Just write to the list owner address: HoosierHomeschooler-owner@yahoogroups.com or directly to the editor, Ben Bennett, and ask about submitting an essay, a good e-list post you came across or even wrote... anything you think would be of value to more than a hand full of Hoosier Homeschoolers. Read our Hoosier Homeschooler Guidelines Page. We'll see if we can get it out there: From the heart of Hoosier Homeschoolers.

Here's to good writing, and thoughtful reading!

- Ben Bennett
Editor, The Hoosier Homeschooler
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hoosierhomeschooler/
http://www.hoosierhomeschooler.org/

Post #2.000: Go Away! We Don' Wan'na Teach You No More – What some public schools in Indiana are doing to some kids and their parents should be illegal. Oh... wait... I think it IS! Ben Bennett rants and raves again at what he sees as the excommunication of undesirable students from Indiana's public schools. Go Away!

Post #2.001: Fieldtrippin': Homeschoolers in the Real World – What kind of chaos would you expect when the largest tour group of kids ever, comes to your place to visit? Oh... and they're HOMESCHOOLERS!! Tracey Rollison describes the looks on the faces of people who experience Homeschoolers in the Real World.

Post #2.002: ExSchoolers Part Two: Motives... or Why Superintendents Support Homeschooling - Ben Bennett keeps the rant from Post #2.000 going with a postulation on the motives public schools might have for excommunicating certain students from their schools, and tossing them into the homeschooling community.

Post #2.003: Police Blotter: Art Vandal Strikes in Dining Room – Even homeschooling families aren't safe from art vandals. Susan VanNess reports on a recent case. Be on the lookout.

Write to the Editor