Read a story from Sandra in a book last night
[email protected]
Last night I was flipping through a book at B & N and spotted Sandra's name.
I read the story about Sandra's sister and Homeschooling her own children. How
Sandra's had finally gotten to the point where she needed to tell her you
know what I am going to Say! Maybe not exact words (sorry Sandra) but it really
hit home for me because I have a sister who keeps calling me with school
issues.
I dont mind, I want to hear them.
I told her yesterday when the school called and suspended (last day of
school) her daughter for *play* fighting with a friend that she knew what I was
going to say. Then she told me her son was suspended Monday for missing 64
detentions. 64! Evidently most of them for being late for school.
So then her son tells me today that he thinks its great that he is glad they
did so can do his Drivers Ed faster. Brilliant kid too bad the school is
ruining
She tells me she cant HS cuz she works and the kids will get into mischief. I
just don't know what to say to that.
What do you say to that statement?
So anyway I thought it was pretty cool that Sandra's name was in the book. I
wish I could remember the name of it. It was a question and answer book on Hs.
Laura D
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I read the story about Sandra's sister and Homeschooling her own children. How
Sandra's had finally gotten to the point where she needed to tell her you
know what I am going to Say! Maybe not exact words (sorry Sandra) but it really
hit home for me because I have a sister who keeps calling me with school
issues.
I dont mind, I want to hear them.
I told her yesterday when the school called and suspended (last day of
school) her daughter for *play* fighting with a friend that she knew what I was
going to say. Then she told me her son was suspended Monday for missing 64
detentions. 64! Evidently most of them for being late for school.
So then her son tells me today that he thinks its great that he is glad they
did so can do his Drivers Ed faster. Brilliant kid too bad the school is
ruining
She tells me she cant HS cuz she works and the kids will get into mischief. I
just don't know what to say to that.
What do you say to that statement?
So anyway I thought it was pretty cool that Sandra's name was in the book. I
wish I could remember the name of it. It was a question and answer book on Hs.
Laura D
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
That's in Linda Dobson's Homeschool Book of Answers.
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761513779/103-5015182-3221437?vi=glance">
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761513779/103-5015182-3221437?vi=glance</A>
Interesting! There are critical reviews at Amazon from people complaining
that it's too radical or too unschoolingish.<g> (Positive reviews too, though.)
The article itself about my sister's kids is here:
<A HREF="http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice">http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice</A>
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761513779/103-5015182-3221437?vi=glance">
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761513779/103-5015182-3221437?vi=glance</A>
Interesting! There are critical reviews at Amazon from people complaining
that it's too radical or too unschoolingish.<g> (Positive reviews too, though.)
The article itself about my sister's kids is here:
<A HREF="http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice">http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice</A>
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 6/7/2003 2:15:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:
school being optional to principals in the past. It causes problems, BIG
problems.
In fifth grade it was brought to my attention for about the fifth time that
my child had TOO many absences. This was in Feb. and she had missed about
sixty days or so and they felt they were going to HAVE to report me to the
"proper" agency if she missed even one more day. I asked them WHY? They (five
people) went on to spin a tale of how it was adversely affecting her school life
and just simply wasn't good for her and wouldn't be tolerated any longer. I
said open up the grade book, she had not one mark that was lower than
outstanding. So I pointed this out and asked EXACTLY how it was affecting her so
adversely. They couldn't say anything other than the "party line" that it was
detrimental to learning if she was only there one day a week or sometimes none or
sometimes three. They reiterated that school was NOT optional and attendance
was required to pass to the next grade.
I guess I didn't seem "moved" enough by their pleas to do what was BEST for
my child, so next report card, to get my attention and my child's, they put
failing grades on EVERY subject. My child cried all the way home and all
evening. No matter how much I tried to tell her it didn't matter. I went in for the
obligatory conference and indeed she had still done "outstanding" on her work
and nothing was "missing" but they felt they needed to "make a point!"
I tried to make MY point that if she could stay "caught up" by attending only
one day a week more or less what did it say about their school system or more
clearly her classroom? There wasn't anything more challenging for her to do
and they didn't try to make anything more challenging. So we did LOTS of
things on our own on the days she didn't attend school, something's that she
brought back and shared on days she was there and other students then got to
experience through her.
They had no answer for being able to attend once a week more or less and
still be on target with the rest of the class. The only thing I could figure out
was that she didn't really need to be there at all.
Took a while longer to convince DH that school was not necessary and even my
daughter LIKED the once or twice a week interaction with the kids and even the
teacher but we didn't like being told what was BEST for her.
She LOVES being home all the time now, she said sometimes she does miss the
social aspect of it but she still goes to ball games and dances and stuff, but
I think she'd like to meet more kids her age and not have to actively seek
them out.
Anyway, back to the topic of telling you that I really enjoyed reading the
story of your sister and how things naturally fell into place for her and her
children.
glena
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
SandraDodd@... writes:
> The article itself about my sister's kids is here:Sandra, I read this article and I loved it. I've also made the comment about
>
>
> <A HREF="http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice">http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice</A>
>
> Sandra
>
school being optional to principals in the past. It causes problems, BIG
problems.
In fifth grade it was brought to my attention for about the fifth time that
my child had TOO many absences. This was in Feb. and she had missed about
sixty days or so and they felt they were going to HAVE to report me to the
"proper" agency if she missed even one more day. I asked them WHY? They (five
people) went on to spin a tale of how it was adversely affecting her school life
and just simply wasn't good for her and wouldn't be tolerated any longer. I
said open up the grade book, she had not one mark that was lower than
outstanding. So I pointed this out and asked EXACTLY how it was affecting her so
adversely. They couldn't say anything other than the "party line" that it was
detrimental to learning if she was only there one day a week or sometimes none or
sometimes three. They reiterated that school was NOT optional and attendance
was required to pass to the next grade.
I guess I didn't seem "moved" enough by their pleas to do what was BEST for
my child, so next report card, to get my attention and my child's, they put
failing grades on EVERY subject. My child cried all the way home and all
evening. No matter how much I tried to tell her it didn't matter. I went in for the
obligatory conference and indeed she had still done "outstanding" on her work
and nothing was "missing" but they felt they needed to "make a point!"
I tried to make MY point that if she could stay "caught up" by attending only
one day a week more or less what did it say about their school system or more
clearly her classroom? There wasn't anything more challenging for her to do
and they didn't try to make anything more challenging. So we did LOTS of
things on our own on the days she didn't attend school, something's that she
brought back and shared on days she was there and other students then got to
experience through her.
They had no answer for being able to attend once a week more or less and
still be on target with the rest of the class. The only thing I could figure out
was that she didn't really need to be there at all.
Took a while longer to convince DH that school was not necessary and even my
daughter LIKED the once or twice a week interaction with the kids and even the
teacher but we didn't like being told what was BEST for her.
She LOVES being home all the time now, she said sometimes she does miss the
social aspect of it but she still goes to ball games and dances and stuff, but
I think she'd like to meet more kids her age and not have to actively seek
them out.
Anyway, back to the topic of telling you that I really enjoyed reading the
story of your sister and how things naturally fell into place for her and her
children.
glena
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
unolist
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
choice</A>
edition, which is just as good as the newer) on the discard/sale
shelf at the library. I got it for 50 cents. I didn't know it was so
unschoolish, and gobbled it up as I started to read. I didn't realize
the same Sandra that I had read at unschooling.com was in this book
until I was reading it.
I remember when the link to the schoolchoice article was broken, and
I emailed sandra asking was it the same as the one in my book. When
the link was fixed, I printed it out, and it took me awhile to get
it. Now it's my fave. The book is also one of my faves, and I put it
on my recommended reading list for unschooling. I think it makes
unschooling approachable to folks who wouldn't go out and read the
Unschooling Handbook.
Such fond memories <<g>>
ang
> That's in Linda Dobson's Homeschool Book of Answers.HREF="http://sandradodd.com/schoolchoice">http://sandradodd.com/school
>
> The article itself about my sister's kids is here:
>
>
> <A
choice</A>
>AH! my favorite article! I can remember finding this book(the first
> Sandra
>
edition, which is just as good as the newer) on the discard/sale
shelf at the library. I got it for 50 cents. I didn't know it was so
unschoolish, and gobbled it up as I started to read. I didn't realize
the same Sandra that I had read at unschooling.com was in this book
until I was reading it.
I remember when the link to the schoolchoice article was broken, and
I emailed sandra asking was it the same as the one in my book. When
the link was fixed, I printed it out, and it took me awhile to get
it. Now it's my fave. The book is also one of my faves, and I put it
on my recommended reading list for unschooling. I think it makes
unschooling approachable to folks who wouldn't go out and read the
Unschooling Handbook.
Such fond memories <<g>>
ang
[email protected]
In a message dated 6/7/03 6:17:57 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
rubyprincesstsg@... writes:
fine, regardless of putting a child's whole self worth at risk. This is a prime
example of why children learn not to trust adults. This was clearly an adult
battle where the system hung the child out to dry. She's lucky to have you for
a mom though.
Good luck,
Rhonda
P.S. Sandra: your article was great!!!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
rubyprincesstsg@... writes:
> I guess I didn't seem "moved" enough by their pleas to do what was BEST forPerhaps their point was that lying for the benefit of the school budget was
>
> my child, so next report card, to get my attention and my child's, they put
> failing grades on EVERY subject. My child cried all the way home and all
> evening. No matter how much I tried to tell her it didn't matter. I went
> in for the
> obligatory conference and indeed she had still done "outstanding" on her
> work
> and nothing was "missing" but they felt they needed to "make a point!"
>
fine, regardless of putting a child's whole self worth at risk. This is a prime
example of why children learn not to trust adults. This was clearly an adult
battle where the system hung the child out to dry. She's lucky to have you for
a mom though.
Good luck,
Rhonda
P.S. Sandra: your article was great!!!
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