The tone got very aggressive for some, and while the first round battle was won, I’m not entirely sure it helped the real issue any, namely that of the general public’s perception of homeschooling.

I think a more measured and calmer approach would have been more appropriate…and that isn’t criticizing everyone who wrote a letter.

Maybe I am just old and grumpy, but life is rich beyond measure, and -way- to short besides, to invest anything into what Subway wants to do with their money. Actually, now that I am batting an eye, I only think it is great they are offering money ! Cool. If they want to benefit some public school with big bucks for equipment, great. Why should I have a problem with that ! I have great appreciation for Principled Discovery blog coming into my inbox. Breath of fresh air, thank you ! Ah ! enough appreciation to move and put my remarks about this issue here.

The richness of our family’s (home)learning life goes on ! I even say all this without having 2 cents to rub together in the past (and most of the past) of our family’s home education years.

Crips, it IS getting embarrassing, I agree ! What will state legislatures and the public think of the wailing masses of home educators across the U.S. ?

Maybe, if society went back to paper and pen……
calm reason and the outlook of “life is not about everything being fair” would prevail. A ‘thank you’ to my mother who taught me that outlook, it has served me well and kept me focused with my energy on issues big enough to address.

Regarding the Great Subway Debate - Scratchy has spoken.

Phil - Is a “Meh” anything like a “Mais?”
‘Cause I have to say, this topic is screamin’ for a “Mais.”

(Re-inserting fingers into ears. “LA-LA-LA.”)

Then when I saw that other people were getting upset, I still couldn’t bring myself to care.

Now I’m absolutely excited about it because it’s like a clown show at the circus. Kinda fun to watch. What will happen next? Something hilarious, I hope.

It means that you get to crunch Cheetos in their hair and upload the video to YouTube!

And Sunniemom, I think you are exactly right. And it is important to think through that I think, at least if the defenses of those in the other comment thread are serious that the reason they don’t boycott General Mills is because they do offer their box tops program to organized homeschool groups.

And the messages stopped, so joining my lists likely won’t help you much. Sorry. I’ll put you in my address book and start forwarding you stuff that is forwarded to me, K? Except that likely won’t work well, because I will forget, not being the forwarding type. So I’ll just rant about it occasionally here, for the “benefit” of everyone.

The Subway contest also excluded Canadians, but their reasoning behind that was probably a legal issue, not one of hatred or bigotry. It doesn’t make sense that Subway excluded HSers because they hate us or have a chip on their shoulder about home education. It does make sense that they assumed that HSers could not participate because of the purpose of the contest- to award a large prize to a large group of kids. I doubt they understood that they could have worked it so that HSers could participate, but if one is going to get up in arms over Subway’s contest, then one should, to be consistent, be finding every single academic competition and protesting those as well.

I see the real problem is one of needing to provide ‘proof’ that education is taking place. Most contests that I saw are only open to traditional schools and/or accredited homeschool groups. IOW, it doesn’t take a village, it takes an organization that has received a pat on the head from the state. Why aren’t independent HSers allowed to participate if they submit a copy of their Notice of Intent or whatever other paperwork the state requires, and then in states that don’t require HSers to play Mother May I the parent merely submits a signed letter stating that they are a legally operating homeschool? But no- only ‘accredited’ agencies can verify whether a child is being educated.