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Secular Thursday

What is Secular Thursday?

Secular homeschoolers have long been the black sheep of the homeschooling world. We’re in the minority in most homeschooling forums (no one is warning religious homeschoolers away from our threads with “SC” for “secular content”) . We have fewer co-ops, clubs, and other organizations than the religious homeschoolers. Finding secular curricula that meets our children’s academic needs can be difficult, and almost impossible in some areas (ever tried to find a secular logic and rhetoric curriculum below the collegiate level?). In short, sometimes it can be tough to be a secular homeschooler.

Secular Thursday was created to give secular homeschoolers a day to share the difficulties and benefits of secular education and/or secular lifestyles. It’s a day to vent frustrations — at the isolation secular home educators can experience, of the sense of being marginalized by the homeschool community, at the pervasiveness of religion in curricula (or the oppressiveness of some religions and their followers in society). It’s a day to celebrate the positives — finding a great curriculum that perfectly fits your needs, discovering a friend (or a whole community) to offer support and advice, finding a way to bridge differences with members of the religious homeschooling community. It’s a day to review curricula, recommend websites, talk up favorite blogs, or just talk share a day in the life of your particular flavor of secular homeschooler.

So, why Thursday? After all, Secular Sunday would be a lot more alliterative, and that sort of think generally appeals to me. Declaring Sunday the official day for secular blogging, however, seemed a little too “in your face” to the Christian homeschool community, and the goal is to create a feeling of kinship among secular homeschoolers, not alienate Christian homeschoolers (at least, not all of them, and not from the very outset). I didn’t reckon that Thor would mind sharing his day with a bunch of secular educators — I can’t imagine a thunder-and-lightning crashing, enchanted hammer-wielding Norse god would be that threatened by us. After all that profound and careful thinking, Secular Thursday it is.

How do I participate in Secular Thursday?

The greatest part of being a secular homeschooler is that we so rarely require ritual sacrifice in order to be a part of our group. Also, no chants or hymns, which is good, because most of us can’t carry a tune, either. Oh, and no books you’re required to read or verses to learn. Public humiliation, yes, but ritual sacrifice, chants, hymns, books, and verses, no.

Participating in Secular Thursday is easy. All you have to do is:

  • Blog about a topic pertaining to secular homeschooling every Thursday (or as many Thursdays as you can realistically manage).
  • Tag your Secular Thursday post with “Secular Thursday” and/or “secthurs” to help this phenomenon grow.
  • Add one of our Secular Thursday buttons to your SecThurs posts or to your blog’s header, footer, or sidebar. Link that icon back to this page.
  • Let us know that you’re participating in Secular Thursday, so you can be added to our list of SecThurs Bloggers. We’ll help spread the word and generate traffic to your blogs.
  • On Twitter? Tweet about Secular Thursday with the #secthurs hashtag! We can also add you to our Friday Follow (#FF) list.

See? So simple, even a child could do it. In fact, if you can’t manage, have your child do it for you, as s/he’s probably more computer savvy than you are.

Who are the SecThurs bloggers?

We’re a (very) small group, but hopefully growing! Join our ranks and get your name on the list to blog (and Tweet) along with:

  • Smrt Mama at Smrt Lernins @smrtlernins
  • Patchfire at A Little Rebellion @patchfire
  • Rational Jenn @rationaljenn
  • Cara at Peanuts are EVIL… @nolamom76
  • Bobbi at My Little Soapbox @mylittlesoapbox
  • Sarah at Raising Three Thinkers @raisingthinkers
  • Lesa at Free K-12 Education @SimplisticLivin
  • Renae at Home Education Family
  • Luna at Spiral Goddess Home School @lunaskye
  • WildIris at By The Way
  • Crunchy Mama at The Diosa Dotada Endeavor

Where can I get one of those snazzy Secular Thursday buttons for my blog?

Right here! Use any or all of the following, but don’t forget to link them back to this page, so that all your secular homeschooling friends can join in the fun.

Trackbacks
  • Friday’s Hardwired Homeschool Hints: Secular Homeschooling « Topsy-Techie says:
    February 12, 2010 at 8:53 AM

    [...] Secular Thursday – – new and growing group of secular homeschoolers who blog about… what else…secular homeschooling on Thursdays! [...]

  • The Diosa Dotada Endeavor » Blog Archive » Saving the Good Stuff for Thursday says:
    March 1, 2010 at 5:41 PM

    [...] I’m saving that other entertaining post for a new venture I’m going to try out called Secular Thursday hosted by Srmt Mama. It’s just too terribly appropriate for that venture. The writer in me [...]

  • The Diosa Dotada Endeavor » Blog Archive » First Secular Thursday: It’s A Dino-Doozy! says:
    March 4, 2010 at 10:15 AM

    [...] I’ve decided to join the Secular Thursday madness, I figured my synopsis of Athena’s first year with Odyssey of the Mind would be a [...]

Comments
  • Topsy-Techie:

    I’d love to promote this on the site! Could you email me if you would give me permission to use this as an article (with all linkbacks here, of course!) info@secularhomeschool.com Thx!!

    Reply February 6, 2010 at 9:02 PM
  • Sarah:

    Sign me up :) My blog address is up there and I’m @raisingthinkers on Twitter.

    Reply February 6, 2010 at 11:45 PM
    • Smrt Mama:

      Awesome! I’m adding you to our list.

      Reply February 7, 2010 at 11:13 AM
  • Cara Z:

    I just wanted to give you honest feedback – feel free to delete, i wont get upset. I am a secular home school blogger, who lives in the capital of the south. I avoid places (and message boards) which are full of the kinds of christains you talk about. I am on at least 6 yahoo home school groups, and never have felt opressed. I have found plenty of like-minded people near me, some christains who simply are open-minded (and one islam mom, too). While I like the idea of having more places to find similar-minded people, i find the tone of this whole thing to be overhwelmingly negative. That turns me off from wanting to participate.

    Reply February 7, 2010 at 8:48 AM
    • Smrt Mama:

      You’re welcome to your opinion and your experiences are your own, but in my blog, I’ll share my opinions without worrying if someone else finds them negative. If you had read back through the Secular Thursday posts from me and Patchfire, you’d see they are far from overwhelmingly negative, but feel free to draw whatever conclusions you want. Obviously, not all secular homeschoolers feel the same way. I don’t presume to speak for all of them. I’m perfectly comfortable, however, speaking for myself and offering an opportunity for like-minded secular homeschool bloggers to be a part of something I started.

      Reply February 7, 2010 at 11:12 AM
    • Kash:

      Out of curiosity, what are you considering the “capital of the south?” I know where I would consider to have that distinction.

      Reply February 7, 2010 at 11:54 AM
      • Smrt Mama:

        I know where I’d consider the Capital of the South, and I’m pretty certain the two of us live in it, Kash.

        Reply February 7, 2010 at 11:57 AM
    • Sarah:

      I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience with another homeschooler, religious or not. But I already post on Thursdays about the stuff we have done that week and since we are secular homeschoolers I wanted to jump in. I didn’t get the impression that you had to vent frustrations, but that you could if they came up. Otherwise, it’s just nice to see other non-religious homeschooling families doing what they do.

      Reply February 7, 2010 at 5:19 PM
      • Smrt Mama:

        You definitely don’t have to vent, but it’s a nice day to do it, if you need to. ;)

        Reply February 7, 2010 at 10:53 PM
  • Lesa:

    Add me to your list. :)

    Reply February 8, 2010 at 2:39 AM
  • Lesa:

    Oh, my twitter name in @SimplisticLivin. I forgot to add that above.

    Reply February 8, 2010 at 2:40 AM
  • Renae:

    I would very much like to be included in this. I’m very new to homeschooling and am very happy to find a secular area.

    Reply February 15, 2010 at 4:40 AM
    • Smrt Mama:

      We’d love to have you on board, Renae! How would you like to be listed on our rolls? Renae at Home Education Family? Do you have a Twitter you’d like listed?

      Reply February 16, 2010 at 5:03 PM
      • Renae:

        Ummm. I just noticed this reply. Renae at Home Education Family is perfect. Sorry.
        I don’t use twitter.

        Reply March 4, 2010 at 6:08 PM
  • Luna:

    Add me to the ranks.

    Reply February 20, 2010 at 4:13 PM
  • Crunchy Mama:

    I’d love to get in on this! Now to figure out the whole button, link back, tagging thing. I must be the least techno-saavy secular homeschooling blogger ever. Or something like that.

    Reply February 28, 2010 at 10:56 PM
    • Smrt Mama:

      Absolutely! Are you on Twitter, too? I’ll be happy to add you to the list. Welcome aboard!

      Reply February 28, 2010 at 11:09 PM
      • Crunchy Mama:

        Nope- not on Twitter. Thanks! Looking forward to blogging with you fine ladies!

        Reply March 1, 2010 at 12:23 PM
  • WildIris:

    So I must have missed something, how do I add my blog to your Secular Thursday list? Oh, I think I see how to do it. Use the Secular Thursday icon and link it back? I’ll give it a try. Thanks. I always feel a bit ignored for being a secular home schooler.

    Reply March 1, 2010 at 12:09 PM
    • Smrt Mama:

      All you have to do is leave a comment w/ your blog and twitter information to be added to the list. :)

      Reply March 1, 2010 at 12:34 PM
    • WildIris:

      Can you add me to your list of secular blogs:WildIris at http://bluemoonwaltz.blogspot.com/

      Reply March 1, 2010 at 12:41 PM
      • Smrt Mama:

        On the list now! :)

        Reply March 1, 2010 at 12:58 PM
  • AskTracy:

    I’m so glad I found your blog! Your views crack me up! : ) We’re pretty open minded here in Southern California, not too many people giving me the “look”. I can surely understand the feeling of being an outcast, but to be an outcast of an already outcast group (homeschoolers) is just too much. You just gotta laugh!

    Reply March 9, 2010 at 12:49 PM
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