Home education online groups now full of conspiracy theorists?

[MyopicBunny]

Has anyone else noticed this? It seems that there are now a lot of people in HE groups telling others that they have no place in the group if you vaccinate your child or follow other mainstream guidelines.

I HE because my daughter is autistic and not really compatible with MS.

It's a bit exhausting the amount of anti science people who think the world is run by satanic pedophiles. Are there any groups that aren't full of paranoia?

Oh wow, I didn't see those comments but that is par for course with MN. Extremism and conspiracy has been spreading for awhile now in the general population across the globe, so it makes sense you'd see it in a community that is more prone to it anyway. But honestly it's scary what might happen with the next election in the US, with everything going on in the world. Some people would rather bury their heads in the sand! I wish I could pretend this isn't happening.

Why are you on the group? Home educating parents have a cross section of views like any other group and there will be those with extreme views just like there are intense views among some parents of school going children. I don't know why you're watching and criticising when you're not even home educating.

so, according to you, I'm not allowed to have an opinion about something that I used to do(!) Even though my dd is still HE technically and I have to check in with her HE officer every year.

Why did you bother commenting on my thread? People are going to discuss things on a forum whether you give your permission or not.

But honestly it's scary what might happen with the next election in the US, with everything going on in the world.

I agree. I am praying that Trump never sets foot in the WH again.

OP to answer your question, no not ‘full of’ no. Not where I am.
Im an ex teacher turned home educator (5 years and counting) and our FB groups have nothing at all like this on them.
In person I meet a tiny minority of people like this at HE groups but most parents have views on a spectrum, as in life in general.

Just came across this thread. There are definitely some people like this in my local HE community.

So much cloak and dagger behaviour around meetups and paranoia that new home educators are secret spies for the LA.

It's definitely location specific, as the FB group for another town nearby has a completely different tone - friendly and open.

Historically our city LA has been known to be especially overbearing so there are lots of families trying to stay off their radar - I think this has influenced this culture...but I just hate it and it would gladly give up HE if I didn't have an autistic child.

Coming late to this too but I've definitely noticed a rise in conspiracy beliefs in groups. They're is a solid group of people in my area who are conspiracy theorists and try to start debates about neurodivergency. A lot of us others avoid them now so it's not so much of an issue, but it's frustrating when they are driving away new to home ed families so we're actively trying to organise things that are very open to all and actively shutting down the theorist talk.

This.

I don’t know why people think OP is making this up.

The HE parents I know, and I know quite a lot, are definitely more likely to be anti vax, pro alternative everything, and yes, pro gender ideology.

This is not a massive surprise, surely.

@Sturnidae what is their issue with neurodivergence?

Is something like thinking it is caused by vaccines...or not wanting ND people in the home ed community?

As an ND parent to an ND child I am struggling so much with building social connections to help my child have a social life via the local home ed community. Some of the parents seem actively suspicious of me.

It's the vaccines aspect, apparently we're all vaccine damaged 🙄 one of the other ND parents had an anti vaxxer mother herself, so asked how she is adhd in that case and was told it came from the food or was passed down from her mother's vaccines or some other rubbish.

It took me a while to find my group after I moved but we have found a good few families who are mostly ND as well, both parents and children, and we're all on a similar wavelength (probably considered gentle parents, actual-science-minded, ND-affirming, outdoorsy, mostly self directed, etc) but it's taken a while. I run groups as well which helps me mould things to what suits my family.

It's always been the same. At least it was when I mixed in those circles 15 years ago. I'd go as far as saying 99% of home educators are neurodiverse, and ND folk tend to be more susceptible to conspiracy/anti science as they don't follow the status quo automatically, often that means being forward thinking and ahead of the curve with new ideas and having better critical thinking, but it can mean being sucked into anti science. In my experience though, ND parents are more likely to be anti science/conspiracy thinking when they have very young children following natural parenting, and then mellow and see the error of their ways and become more science based in their reasoning once their children are older and more experienced. That goes for myself and my acquaintances too, and I still work alongside a lot of home educators so see it play out time and time again.