Lesa McMahon-Lowe

Well, then, I think it may be time to boycott Oprah! Let's start a letter
writing campaign!

Lesa

-------Original Message-------

From: sahm2cody
Date: 02/03/06 10:48:19
To: [email protected]
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] re: show on cnn - Oprah

" I think
though that more people will be educating themselves on what
unschooling
really is though and who knows...maybe Oprah will do a segment on
it..."


I wouldn't hold your breath on getting a fair representation from
Oprah, either. Don't get me wrong, I love her. However, on another
board about 2 days ago, there was a post about her essay contest for
her newest book club selection, and the fact that homeschooler are
NOT eligible to participate in the contest. Here are some exerpts:

"Oprah's essay contest excludes homeschoolers
Host taken to task for requiring 'state accredited' education

"Contest open to all legal residents of the U.S. who are currently
enrolled full-time (and in good standing) in a public or state-
accredited private or parochial school, grades 9-12," states the fine
print on a page explaining the contest on Winfrey's website.

Despite the restriction, a letter from Winfrey announcing the
contest, which will judge essays on the book "Night," says it is
open "to high school students across America."

Michael Smith, president of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association,
or HSLDA, wrote an open letter to Winfrey protesting the policy.

"We contacted your show to see if homeschoolers could be included and
were rebuffed," wrote Smith. "While we do not believe that your show
willfully excluded homeschoolers, the fact that homeschoolers were
excluded in the first place is troubling."

Ian Slatter, a spokesman for HSLDA, told WND he spoke to an Oprah
representative about the policy.

"We asked whether or not they could make an amendment to the rules to
allow homeschoolers to participate, and they were not willing to do
that," Slatter said.

According to Slatter, the Oprah organization would not commit to
allowing homeschooled students to participate in future contests."

~Carri Ann~
mom to Star Wars/lego obsessed 10 y/o









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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

>>Well, then, I think it may be time to boycott Oprah! Let's start a letter
writing campaign! >>

I'd be more inclined to try to gently educate her about unschooling and homeschooling in general. I don't think she's coming at this with malice towards those who keep their kids home, but rather from a lack of information and exposure.

I was just watching a fabulous show on PBS that did geneology research on various black families back to the Civil War and before. One of the families was Oprah Winfrey's. They were sharing the results with her on the show and it was a fascinating glimpse into how she reacts to the topics of education and schooling.

From her history, and that of any poor or oppressed group, education was "the" way out of poverty and dependence. Well that and hard work. One of her anscestors maintained a town school for black families after the war so that they could learn the most basic skills that we take for granted. He was an ex-slave telling the others that they had to learn to read and write in order to protect themselves and whatever property they could obtain.

So I don't think she's setting out to discriminate against homeschoolers. I just think she comes from a history that believes in education and a situation where school was the only place to get it. Maybe she needs enlightenment on what the school system has become and how it differs from what her great-great- grandfather so nobly started.

--
~Mary

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
alive."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Lesa McMahon-Lowe" <lesajm@...>





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Joanne Watson

Absolutely - very nice comments here! I think that I'd be hard-
pressed to find fault with anything Oprah does as she is sort of a
demi-God to me. There is wisdom surrounding all of this somewhere,
and I'd rather find out what the scoop is than try to boycott her.
There are so few forces for true goodness in our culture. For
goodness sake, let's not pick on Oprah. There is so little else that
is truly impressive in American culture. She is the real deal and I
can't help but appreciate her compassion and authenticity. Joanne
On Feb 3, 2006, at 3:04 PM, zenmomma@... wrote:

>>> Well, then, I think it may be time to boycott Oprah! Let's start
>>> a letter
> writing campaign! >>
>
> I'd be more inclined to try to gently educate her about unschooling
> and homeschooling in general. I don't think she's coming at this
> with malice towards those who keep their kids home, but rather from
> a lack of information and exposure.
>
> I was just watching a fabulous show on PBS that did geneology
> research on various black families back to the Civil War and
> before. One of the families was Oprah Winfrey's. They were sharing
> the results with her on the show and it was a fascinating glimpse
> into how she reacts to the topics of education and schooling.
>
> From her history, and that of any poor or oppressed group,
> education was "the" way out of poverty and dependence. Well that
> and hard work. One of her anscestors maintained a town school for
> black families after the war so that they could learn the most
> basic skills that we take for granted. He was an ex-slave telling
> the others that they had to learn to read and write in order to
> protect themselves and whatever property they could obtain.
>
> So I don't think she's setting out to discriminate against
> homeschoolers. I just think she comes from a history that believes
> in education and a situation where school was the only place to get
> it. Maybe she needs enlightenment on what the school system has
> become and how it differs from what her great-great- grandfather so
> nobly started.
>
> --
> ~Mary
>
> "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
> green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
> alive."
> ~Thich Nhat Hanh
>
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "Lesa McMahon-Lowe" <lesajm@...>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

PAULA PARMENTER

It is very disappointing to learn that she (of all people) would discriminate against anyone, including home schoolers. I really like her and have read quite a bit about her. Oprah does set a lot of store in "getting an education". It is a shame she equates "education" with "school". I don't know that we could ever change her mind. I am only a year younger than she is and it took a little to show me that with all the resources out there now days (for example T.V., Libraries, Computers - all the stuff our ancestors did not have), why make children go to a traditional school unless they chose to go? Does anyone have an address where we could send her letters? Can you contact her via her website? I could not boycott her because of all the good she does do in this world...

- Paula

Azure 13


--
___________________________________________________
Play 100s of games for FREE! http://games.mail.com/

Lesa McMahon-Lowe

I'm having a hard time with Oprah lately. She doesn't seem as humble to me
anymore and almost with everything good she does there has to be a camera
around. It's like she's saying "Hey, look at me. Look at all the good
things I'm doing." I don't like it. And since when does Oprah
discriminate! Jeez!

Lesa

-------Original Message-------

From: Joanne Watson
Date: 02/03/06 19:39:01
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Oprah

Absolutely - very nice comments here! I think that I'd be hard-
pressed to find fault with anything Oprah does as she is sort of a
demi-God to me. There is wisdom surrounding all of this somewhere,
and I'd rather find out what the scoop is than try to boycott her.
There are so few forces for true goodness in our culture. For
goodness sake, let's not pick on Oprah. There is so little else that
is truly impressive in American culture. She is the real deal and I
can't help but appreciate her compassion and authenticity. Joanne
On Feb 3, 2006, at 3:04 PM, zenmomma@... wrote:

>>> Well, then, I think it may be time to boycott Oprah! Let's start
>>> a letter
> writing campaign! >>
>
> I'd be more inclined to try to gently educate her about unschooling
> and homeschooling in general. I don't think she's coming at this
> with malice towards those who keep their kids home, but rather from
> a lack of information and exposure.
>
> I was just watching a fabulous show on PBS that did geneology
> research on various black families back to the Civil War and
> before. One of the families was Oprah Winfrey's. They were sharing
> the results with her on the show and it was a fascinating glimpse
> into how she reacts to the topics of education and schooling.
>
> From her history, and that of any poor or oppressed group,
> education was "the" way out of poverty and dependence. Well that
> and hard work. One of her anscestors maintained a town school for
> black families after the war so that they could learn the most
> basic skills that we take for granted. He was an ex-slave telling
> the others that they had to learn to read and write in order to
> protect themselves and whatever property they could obtain.
>
> So I don't think she's setting out to discriminate against
> homeschoolers. I just think she comes from a history that believes
> in education and a situation where school was the only place to get
> it. Maybe she needs enlightenment on what the school system has
> become and how it differs from what her great-great- grandfather so
> nobly started.
>
> --
> ~Mary
>
> "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
> green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
> alive."
> ~Thich Nhat Hanh
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Joanne

I take Oprah in small doses. I like her topics but I don't care for
her sometimes. I remember a show a while ago (I forgot the topic)
but a white woman said something about her husband talking mean to
her and she said "Oooo, the sisters in the audience are saying 'not
me! We don't take that from our men!". Insinuating that black/brown
women stand up to their men and white women don't.
I thought that was uncalled for and as the mother of a brown skinned
girl AND a white girl I would never want them to think that skin
color determines how we are treated in a relationship.

~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (7), Shawna (10) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 30, 2003
http://anunschoolinglife.blogspot.com/




--- In [email protected], "Lesa McMahon-Lowe"
<lesajm@...> wrote:
>
> I'm having a hard time with Oprah lately. She doesn't seem as
humble to me
> anymore and almost with everything good she does there has to be a
camera
> around. It's like she's saying "Hey, look at me. Look at all the
good
> things I'm doing." I don't like it. And since when does Oprah
> discriminate! Jeez!
>
> Lesa
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: Joanne Watson
> Date: 02/03/06 19:39:01
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Oprah
>
> Absolutely - very nice comments here! I think that I'd be hard-
> pressed to find fault with anything Oprah does as she is sort of
a
> demi-God to me. There is wisdom surrounding all of this
somewhere,
> and I'd rather find out what the scoop is than try to boycott
her.
> There are so few forces for true goodness in our culture. For
> goodness sake, let's not pick on Oprah. There is so little else
that
> is truly impressive in American culture. She is the real deal and
I
> can't help but appreciate her compassion and authenticity.
Joanne
> On Feb 3, 2006, at 3:04 PM, zenmomma@... wrote:
>
> >>> Well, then, I think it may be time to boycott Oprah! Let's
start
> >>> a letter
> > writing campaign! >>
> >
> > I'd be more inclined to try to gently educate her about
unschooling
> > and homeschooling in general. I don't think she's coming at
this
> > with malice towards those who keep their kids home, but rather
from
> > a lack of information and exposure.
> >
> > I was just watching a fabulous show on PBS that did geneology
> > research on various black families back to the Civil War and
> > before. One of the families was Oprah Winfrey's. They were
sharing
> > the results with her on the show and it was a fascinating
glimpse
> > into how she reacts to the topics of education and schooling.
> >
> > From her history, and that of any poor or oppressed group,
> > education was "the" way out of poverty and dependence. Well
that
> > and hard work. One of her anscestors maintained a town school
for
> > black families after the war so that they could learn the most
> > basic skills that we take for granted. He was an ex-slave
telling
> > the others that they had to learn to read and write in order to
> > protect themselves and whatever property they could obtain.
> >
> > So I don't think she's setting out to discriminate against
> > homeschoolers. I just think she comes from a history that
believes
> > in education and a situation where school was the only place to
get
> > it. Maybe she needs enlightenment on what the school system has
> > become and how it differs from what her great-great- grandfather
so
> > nobly started.
> >
> > --
> > ~Mary
> >
> > "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on
the
> > green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling
truly
> > alive."
> > ~Thich Nhat Hanh
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>