This is what I really think

Now that I got that off my chest... nearly stepping in a half-chewed Tootsie Roll, I mean.
Why is this blog awards thing so important, I wonder. Bear with me while I figure it out.
My initial response was that it's very out of character, especially for the unschooling types, to be quibbling over awards. After all, we don't heap gratuitous praise on our kids, don't decorate little charts on their walls with gold stars, don't exclaim "good job!" every time they manage to lift their forks to their mouths without dropping a morsel of food on the floor... Why should awards for grown-ups be any different? Why would we want them?
While I am relatively new to homeschool blogging, I have been blogging in other spheres a little longer. One of those spheres is real estate (see sidebar). Real estate, as many of you doubtless know, is an intensely competitive business. Gold stars, ratings, awards, trophies, million-dollar clubs, "top producers" are par for the course. Self-promotion, and even aggrandizement, are common. Self-effacement and modesty are not. One reason blogging is appealing to some realtors (why it was appealing to me, for example), is that it allows you to express the real you, which in real estate (ha, ha!) is very hard to do. The general public sees the smiling face on your business card, "Top Producer" emblazoned on your yard sign, and they think they know all about you. You're just like all the other realtors they've ever met, or heard about, or think they've heard about.

But you are not. And if you have a blog, you can give a glimpse of the person behind the sign. You can show that you have your own subjective and unique views, that may surprise your readers. Some readers may not like to be surprised, but others may find they have more in common with you than they thought was possible. The blog allows the reader to see you not as a type of person (a "realtor"), but as a unique individual, you.

Earlier today, I was talking to my friend and employee about a person she knows who equates "homeschooler" with "right-wing Christian fundamentalist". "Is that what you think?" my friend said to this woman, "That I work for some right-wing Christian fundamentalists?!"
This person, whom I have only met once in passing, thought she knew all about who I was. Not only that, she had already made up her mind what she thought of me. Never mind that she may have heard/had some opinion of me previously, but once she heard "homeschooler", her mind was made up. How did that make me feel? Well, mostly, defensive.
I have been involved in Chicago's homeschool community, specifically through the Northside Unschoolers Group, for nearly a year and a half. While I suspect that Chicago may have some right-wing fundamentalist Christian homeschoolers, I have not met any of them. I have met a larger than expected, fairly diverse group of people, many of whom I have found to be open-minded, intellectually curious, socially liberal, politically engaged, scientifically inclined, informed about current events, concerned for the environment, and, if religious, then pretty private about the whole thing.
How could anyone with half a brain describe this group ad "right-wing Christian fundamentalists"? They couldn't. IF THEY MET THEM. But, most people don't get to meet a lot of homeschoolers. What they know of homeschooling is from snippets they pick up from the media, often second- or third- hand. And the media have not of late been known for their in-depth and insightful analyses of social phenomena. They tend to focus on catchy lines, zero in on a bit of controversy, and draw their conclusions from that. And since both right-wing Christian fundamentalists  and homeschoolers can be seen as somewhat controversial, why not put the two of them together?

The homeschool blog awards debate, has less to do with awards than with identity. Many homeschooling families don't want the term "homeschooling" to be co-opted for the exclusive use of a group whose views they don't share. At it's core, the word "homeschooling" says nothing about the individuals faith, politics, parenting philosophy, familial arrangement or sexual orientation. The only thing these diverse homeschoolers have in common, is that they have decided to see to their children's education at home.
It is up to us to choose whether we let "homeschooling" become a divisive, or a unifying concept.

Comments

[Doc]

It's not the award I give a crap about. It's being excluded. It's that I bristle whenever I read the words "family friendly", because, when a Christian utters those words, it means something entirely different than when I do. It's not a positive thing, and it relegates MY family to something akin to garbage.