Sandra Dodd

Sometimes people's unschooled kids end up in a class, writing their
first report at the ripe age of 16 instead of buidling up to it with a
dozen years of assigned book reports or "reports" on the rivers of
France or the primary exports of Brazil, or whatever.

Someone sent me a link to a "Writing and homework site for home school
Moms" but that's not what it's really about. As another resource for
exploring the internet, it's got good potential:

http://www.shmoop.com/

My first thought was how and whether teachers at high schools and
universities will try to make it "illegal" or against the rules to use
the site. The site creates footnotes for reports. So I wouldn't be
surprised if some professors look for that format and count off
because the student didn't create the citation stroke-by-stroke by hand.

Here's the edge of the world as we know it. As surely as the fear of
falling off the edge of the world, what happens when "writing a
report" turns to internet research with advanced tools? Will schools
block internet access to this, or flag it? It says it's about "making
the grade," and not about learning. Learning looks easy and
inevitable, though!

And on history, I'm going to look and see whether they're doing the
Jr. High curriculum versions (glorify U.S. decisions and simplify
motives), the high school version (admit when the U.S. screwed up, but
then justify it all so the unit can end neatly on a Friday) or the
college version. Oh wait--undergrad history, or graduate school
history? <bwg>

Very cool thoughts.

Sandra