Feral Fridays: Letters to Prisoners

This post is written by our special guest, Wanda Vesana, the guru of the phenomena known as the Feral Homeschooling movement.  Wanda is the mother of two spectacularly accomplished and charming children, son Silas and daughter Verna.  You can read more about her here.  She shares her wisdom with her eager disciples frequently on "Feral Fridays". 

There are endless numbers of articles on the internet debunking the ridiculous assumptions adults and kids have about homeschoolers.  It's not hard to imagine how misconceptions could happen.  After all, homeschoolers are definitely a minority.   And supposedly many of us keep our kids locked in closets at all times, to prevent their interaction with the heathen masses.  Homeschoolers who are fairly normal, logically blend in more with their surroundings, whereas the ones who are true oddballs are more likely to command attention and create stereotypes.  And try to think of a pop culture reference to homeschooling... there are practically none. So wacky notions of homeschoolers result, and who could expect otherwise?

But how about the other side of the coin?  What ideas do homeschoolers have about school kids?  This is a really invisible topic.  And the reasons are many. First of all, homeschoolers have good reasons to have a pretty accurate idea what schools and school kids are really like.  Many homeschoolers tried school first, and therefore have direct experience with it.  Most of their neighborhood kids go to school.  Most  homeschooling parents attended school themselves, of course, and many (more than you would think!) have actual teaching experience. There are frequent references to school in popular culture, in everything from books to movies to popular songs.

An article on what homeschoolers really think about school kids would seem to be a losing proposition.  If the homeschoolers have an accurate picture, that would make for a dull article.  And if the homeschoolers really have no clue, they would likely be shy about contributing their thoughts, and therefore reflecting badly on homeschooling.  I've also noticed that homeschoolers are far more hesitant to offend school kids with stereotypes than the other way around.  Well, Feral Homeschoolers are utterly fearless!  So we will boldly go where no homeschoolers have gone before!  

The most important thing you must know about how Feral Homeschoolers view school kids is that we view them with compassion.  When it's a beautiful day, our children are thrilled to be outdoors, romping around in sunlit groves, cavorting with chickadees and fawns. We know they are trapped indoors, filling out worksheets and standing in line for scoliosis checks.  When our children are tinkering around in our labs, learning all about chemistry, genetics, and how to create a praying mantis/kitten hybrid, we know they are confined to their desks, trying to decide if it's safe to ask permission to use the bathroom. When our children are busy learning practical skills like the deadly arts needed to resist the Zombie Apocalypse, we know they remain in ignorance,  woefully unprepared.  And our families are truly saddened.  

Our local public school.

This is why our Feral Homeschooling Pack came up with the idea of starting a "Letters to Prisoners" program of our own, as a special service learning project.  We spoke to the warden of our local public school, and requested the names of some students who liked the idea of receiving cheerful, uplifting messages of hope from our pack.  Of the dozens of buoyant messages sure to bring solace to those special school kids who were designated to receive them, I've gotten permission to share a few with you.

I know just what you're thinking, and yes, the cigarettes were dairy, gluten, and soy free, fair trade organic cigarettes.  And Will proudly purchased them himself, after creating a fake ID with the document forgery skills he learned at summer camp at the National Museum of Crime and Justice.