Replies (47)
It's not my favorite solution, but you might be able to talk people into using NextCloud, and that would cover a lot of those bases.
Homeschooling needs to turn into a proper movement instead of it just being a parental or household decision bubble that is often misunderstood as isolating a child from society. When in reality it’s a move against a terrible school system.
Good luck, cheesey. This is a massive effort.
Facebook won over here too. I don't mind, it's the best solution for already busy mums. I had to renew my account, because my theatre is using fcb group exclusively and doesn't share materials elsewhere, that's a pain. It's interesting to see how it evolved towards groups more than anything else.
This... here's to finding one person who wants to change so that they can find one person who wants to change and so on...
mrecheese 🧀
We're homeschooling. We want to socialize our child by connecting with other local homeschoolers.
- There are literally zero local groups who maintain a current website of any kind.
- They use Facebook groups exclusively.
- They use GroupMe chats to organize and discuss goings-on.
- All signups for co-op classes or activities are done with Google Forms.
- All documents that are shared are through Google Docs.
- Photos from activities are shared on Facebook.
- Nobody involved knows that any of this is a problem.
I am completely lost on how to regularly participate without undoing all my hard work. Right now my plan is to duplicate their privacy-violating services with FOSS and self-hosted options, then try to find a few who will consider using those instead. They're tolerating me currently, but one is already obviously frustrated that I can't just be found and added to groups with the app.
I was blindsided by the ignorance of the homeschool community. There's very little thought present of freedom or sovereignty, in privacy or money. Everything is permissioned, centralized, and doxxed.
I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. We'll keep on keeping on, but it would be nice to have some switched-on locals to supplement the good Nostr crowd.
@GHOST Curious to hear your thoughts or suggestions on this, also.
this sounds like a battle you can win.
1. test and establish working alternatives to all regularly used tech.
2. present a compelling argument to the group as to why using big tech puts the children at a long term disadvantage and exposes them to mass surveillance, manipulation, and teaches them to be dependent on untrustworthy corporations rather that becoming self sufficient.
3. demonstrate that alternatives exist and work.
I see the same with homeschool groups where I live. I grew up homeschooled. We had a very large homeschool group get together at our church once a week and did outings together on occasion. We even had a group that would go on vacations together! No Internet at all...All it takes is one or two people willing to coordinate it all, no Internet needed at all. Technology kills human interaction sadly. My suggestion would to just be the coordinator over forcing others to adopt a new platform. It will require more work though.
If I had to guess it's not about not caring about privacy, it's just a lack of education on how those systems compromise your privacy and monitize your data.
Most people don’t see a problem because they’ve never had to notice one. They’ve normalized total exposure in exchange for a sliver of convenience. No threat model. No critical lens. Just “tap to join.”
Your plan to mirror their infrastructure with FOSS is solid but don’t expect mass adoption. Build it for the one or two who do wake up. And if no one bites, you’ve still kept your dignity intact and your child’s data out of Zuckerborg’s archive.
Stay the course. Keep planting seeds. Some won’t sprout. Some will. Meanwhile, Nostr has more signal than most realize. There are other families out there quietly opting out. They're just not loud yet.
The problem you'll face with that is that Google / FB obviously work better. I selfhost Nextcloud and I like it, but unless people are made aware of why you shouldn't use centralized, Big Tech stuff all they'll see is a subpar alternative.
Why get a NC account when everybody has FB / Google already and it offers a beautiful garden? Most people don't know that the garden is walled, but of those who know or are made aware only a small fraction will care.
I'm in homeschooling groups. I haven't tried to descentralized or FLOSSify them. I had little success with friends and family in the past and I'm jaded...
That being said,
@mrecheese 🧀 if you plan to create some sort of homeschooling platform based on free software, I'd be happy to help.
I agree. I highly recommend Alpha Omega (aom.com) for software curriculum. They offer many great products and decent customer service as well. We have used them for both our kids, and one is in college, while the other is graduating soon.
I would say that it is now a movement in many areas in the US.
Dude, this is such a kick to the nuts as a homeschooling parent. I hate it.
TheRe R sO mAnY hOmEscHoOl gRoOps yOu shOuLd juSt joiN oNe.
Yeah, theyre all normies ass "crunchy moms" that clearly arent getting it
Texas is now doing school vouchers, so the homeschoolers will possibly get $2k back for that. Maybe more people will elect to split from the public system. It won't help the normie problem, but it's something.
Lots of Karen energy and no dudes around, also. It's very strange to walk into the middle of that.
I agree. I'd like to see if maybe a couple will add in some more private or FOSS options just to try. I definitely have no delusions of switching anyone completely. It'd be nice to coordinate with a few people directly instead of blasting it on some big tech platform.
That's sort of the plan. I'm going to have Snikket and Nextcloud cued up for chat and file sharing to start. Ente for photos, I think. I can show them that we use this stuff daily, and it works without much drama.
"For the children" is becoming my icebreaker. Nobody ever wants to say they don't care about privacy because their KIDS "have nothing to hide."
This is all true, for sure. I'm setting a goal of 1. If I can get that, I'll call it a win. I can probably offer a class on basic privacy and security at the co-op to gauge interest. Open it to the kids and adults.
you could lead a class in online privacy!
Yep, I'm going to try.
If the group has that much administrative overhead, it must be large. Don't try to change the whole group. Instead, find a family or two that also isn't into it (privacy may not even be their reason) and branch off. All you really need is your encrypted messaging tool of choice and a good family to partner with. Keep it simple.
Perhaps, I am not ever hear about it here and not in mainstream. I don’t believe it has reached critical mass.
This is the sort of reason I wish we could get a private group thing on nostr, but thats just not how it works I guess.
I'm currently in the process of de-googleization. In a case like yours it would probably make sense to use a google account only for homeschooling since it is the most prevalent platform for 'normies'. Then maybe you can develop a quick start guide to privacy for the co-op or volunteer to teach a class on digital identity management for the kiddos (age dependent). You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink.
Its frustrating, not only homeschool groups, but all aspects of society. Whenever i mention alternative ways to do things in groups, people give me blank stares.
Do the vouchers come with over site on how you homeschooled and picking an approved curriculum? I am in a state that give parents 100% sovereignty to homeschooled anyway they choose with absolutely no over site or need to register or anything.... But most parents opt for the vouchers that come with enrolling in a district and meeting particular requirements. Homeschooling independent from the system has become so rare and radical that I'm afraid they will take the option away once someone remembers its there. In the 80s and 90s all homeschoolers were independent from the system and now almost none.
Same same same. The community is only accessible with google and Facebook
the state schooling system cost me getting a CS degree, and sent me right off the track, because they were so outrageously, egregiously corrupt.
and they funnel people into this meat grinder. it's not for nothing that Pink Floyd analogises school system to a sausage factory.
Yeah.
Just sharing the photos from activities publically on Facebook is a huge problem on its own.
Good luck on this.
You might find better groups if you search for "unschooling" playgroups instead of "homeschooling"
The parents who practice unschooling are far more likely to take this seriously.
Uh, nice 👌
We are doing homeschooling/unschooling this year while traveling south from Norway through Europe this winter, might go as far as Morocco.
View quoted note →Hey, thank you very much for the message. Can you tell me what kind of features etc you would need on a homeschooled webpage. Is would be glad to help out
I think nostr is a good starting place to build infrastructure that is not only better in terms of privacy, but also just better: better features, easier onboarding, better communication.
Ya I don’t think this is going to help true homeschool families who aren’t following a curriculum of the states choosing. I’m happy to be wrong but when I looked, they had carved out language that favored true homeschoolers
Exactly. How dissapointed I was when the nearest kindergarten turneě out to be just a club for uvaxxed kids with the parents wishing that there should be new laws made to make everyone accept unvaxxed kids.
Best quote: I'm not going to use another app (email). Let's just use facebook. (like everyone else).
Not sure. I suspect the final version will be compromised somehow. As it is, the vouchers will go to "those who need it most" first, followed by a lottery.
Don't forget the tin foil hat eye roll. 🙄
Yeah, no way a big change will happen. I'll probably start with Snikket if there's any interest. I'd settle for one. Maybe they'll know one more, and so on.
GroupMe? Everything you said sounds like Utah culture. Are you in Utah?
Nope. Let's just say that if I told them they weren't allowed to bring their guns, they'd lose their mind.
Land of the free, home of the pwned.
I'd be interested to know how you present the info and how well its received. I have really had trouble with people thinking I'm crazy.
Good post. Very telling what you said about homeschoolers....my kids grew up in a computer environment and you cannot trust Signal and they only use Linux and their own servers to communicate. Teach them Linux and they will take care of you.....
BTW our homeschooling group was created by a 3x5 card pinned up at the public library. It said, "If you want to meet other homeschoolers, meet up at P*** Park at 11:00 am, Thursdays, bring a picnic basket, your kids and I will be sitting off to the side on a red blanket and I have short blond hair." That's all it took for a gradual growing homeschooling group that lasted for years! If you can avoid gossiping women, it could work. Eventually as the kids and group aged, people fell out, picked sides rich vs poor etc, and I gradually left the whole group. But there was lots of fun for at least 7 years. And the kids learned a lot. There were camping trips, parties, A group Boy Scout type group called the "Trackers", soap making, mud fights etc. The ones who grew up best had a moral background like with their church. The free range kids grew up pretty wild. One even embezzled a medical company out of millions and left for Jamaica. But most ended up good citizens, and were smart...smarter than what comes out of High School for sure.
Oh I'll be ranting about it periodically, I'm sure. 😆
That's a lot closer to what I'd like. Just a calendar somewhere. Show up or don't. Our kid has grown up on Linux and GrapheneOS, also, so he's never been exposed to all this centralized social crap.
https://npub1dphqaq2ffuvphy5pqtkvf5wsxfqyer7fz9xmnarqcrk4hfvrggmq54l65e.nostrde
what do you think about the concept ? Of course a prototype, but does it somewhat correspond to your needs ?
