posted on June 24, 2008 05:56:10 PM
This, believe it or not, is a (censored) message picked up today by my husband at our museum office. At first I thought it was a spoof--but it is not.
"Hi My name Is Jennifer XXXXX, I was a resident probably around 1968-71. I was a little girl name Jennifer XXXX with my twin brother XXXX, and my mother name was XXXX she was the with 11 children's. We were home school and My other siblings we the XXXXX( XXX, XXX, XXX, XXX 4 others of 11 living in XXXX st the time). Do you have any history, photograph and knowledge of us. There was a brother and sister that were home school too. Their names were XXXX and XXXX. The two houses I can describe in some deatails, The first house I think is a Realestate which I drove through about 20 years ago. Also the back yard has a cross we put there because our dog died. The other house was a tree that was bent curve with two tunks on the ground. I don't know if that is tree still there.."
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posted on June 24, 2008 09:02:12 PM
Roadsmith, the message leaves me with so much sadness. A real mystery as to why the children were so isolated and had so few clues to their history and so many questions.
posted on June 24, 2008 09:49:41 PM
Bill: I applaud you; you're using what I hear is the finest in home schooling materials. And I've noticed how many home-schooled kids are winning those national spelling bees.
Pixi: It's interesting how many people e-mail museums looking for information about their families. This is one of the more pitiful ones, I believe. People lose track of their ancestors and just know they spent time in Idyllwild at some point. We have tons of material in our museum, most of it retrievable, and since my husband is writing a photo book about historic Idyllwild, he's been through all of our museum's archives and has a photographic memory, thank goodness. He's sort of the go-to guy for questions like that.
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posted on June 25, 2008 09:40:46 AM
The Calvert system is first rate, if only more parents who want to keep their kids home would use it. The unfortunate reality has been in my experience that kids will enter school in 5th or 6th grade after having been "home schooled" and are woefully behind in basic skills. Not only that, they have no idea how to survive and prosper in the classroom environment. Social skills are often non existent. It's the rare kid who will enter public school ahead of the game after having been home schooled. Most states have virtually no oversight in how or what home school kids are taught.
If we really want "no child left behind", those home schooling parents should be required to have their kids show up at local schools during testing weeks and take the same grade level standardized tests that are hung over the heads of every other kid.
Many home schoolers don't know that public schools are required to accept home schooled students for testing if parents request it.
posted on June 25, 2008 06:01:33 PM
Boy, this thread came along at the right time. I decided to "home school" my son this summer- I gave him his choice of that or real summer school. Thanks to Bill and Profe, I ordered 2 Calvert workbooks today - the ones I got at Barnes & Noble just don't cut it.
Every parent should experience the pleasure of sending their children to school for a few precious hours five days a week. Oh, the joy, for mothers and fathers and children too!
Although I understand your goal, Pixiamom, I don't believe that full time home schooling is the best option for most children. Based on what you have written, it's clear that you recognize the fact that parents have a critical responsibility to take part in the education of their children at home whether they attend public school or not. I admire your dedication in that respect.
The job of educating my children was number 1 on my agenda too. They were read to before they could crawl and attended private schools at age four so that when they were enrolled in public school kindergarten they were able to read before reading was a part of the first grade curriculum. Such "home schooling" in preparation for public education and parental involvement throughout a child's public education is essential.
Thanks, Profe! Since you are a professional educator and someone whose opinions I admire, it means a lot to me that you agree.
Helping my children succeed throughout school has been the most fun and rewarding aspect of my life. So we all benefited. Now, they can teach me a thing or two.
posted on June 27, 2008 12:00:40 PM
I think some of us must have gotten a strange message from I forget who, and it's not here in the thread anymore. It sounded like code for something.
Helen: Having taught English in a past life, I too wanted to supercede whatever h--l the school district might implant in my children. I taught all of them to read phonetically before they reached kindergarten, and I've never regretted it. I feared the see-and-say approach, having had a friend who learned to "read" that way and was almost functionally illiterate as an adult. She'd ask me how to spell a word, and I'd tell her it's spelled just the way it sounds--but that didn't help her at all.
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posted on June 27, 2008 12:18:11 PM Roadsmith, you said, "I too wanted to supercede whatever h--l the school district might implant in my children."
I never had the need to "supercede" or question the school's curriculum or have any undue concern about what the school district might "implant in my children".
If you review my post you will see that you are mistaken in that belief.
posted on June 27, 2008 01:20:28 PM
I see your point, Helen. Sorry to misquote you!
About that mystery message--it came to my computer, and I erased it right away because it made no sense. When I looked for it here in this thread, it was gone, and, oddly enough, I can't find it any longer in my e-mail trash! Martians? God? Meg Whitman?
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posted on June 27, 2008 02:11:44 PM
Well, since Bill K asked the original question about "code speak", maybe he remembers the remark that instigated his question.
posted on June 28, 2008 10:02:23 AM
Helen, I'm not sure Bill K is being rude. He and I seem to be the only ones to have received that one-line cryptic message. It had about 20 words in it that might have made sense--to someone--but not to me, or it appears not to Bill K.
I *wish* I could remember it (and perhaps Bill can't either), but, as I've said, I can't find it in my trash or anywhere else in my e-mail. It was like a phantom, and I wouldn't have thought twice about it but then Bill asked about it, too.
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posted on June 28, 2008 10:42:09 AM
roadsmith, I don't understand how something that came in email is pertinent to this forum. Do you access this forum through email? What am I missing?
posted on June 28, 2008 10:49:38 AM
Everyone: I get Vendio e-mail replies to threads I'm participating in. I do not know what happened here, and as I've said, if Bill K hadn't also gotten a strange message through the home schooling thread, I'd not have thought of it again. First time this has happened--and that message is NOT in this thread and I cannot find it in my trash any longer. It's just a mystery. If Bill still has it in his e-mail, perhaps he'll come in here and tell us what it said.
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posted on June 28, 2008 10:51:43 AM
My point, and maybe Bill's too, is that the message was *not* pertinent to this thread; in fact, it made no sense. When Bill asked about 'codes' I realized he must have gotten the same message in his e-mail.
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posted on June 28, 2008 11:00:28 AM Profe, at the bottom of the message space there are two options that may be chosen. One is Email notification when anyone replies to the thread. The other is to show a profile signature.
Roadsmith, It's a rare poster here who relies on a spokesperson to clarify or attempt to clarify or discuss their question. You have already posted that you can't clarify Bill's question because you don't remember who wrote the post or the content of the post that you received by email. We don't even know if the "post" that you received by email appeared in thiis thread or on this board.
So if I were you, I wouldn't continue to attempt to make explanations for Bill K. expecially when you don't have any relevant data.
posted on June 28, 2008 12:19:39 PM
Okay, Helen. I'll back out of this discussion at your request. One last thing: The coded message came into my e-mail FROM VENDIO round table, "Home schooling at its finest." That's how I knew it was in this thread originally.
posted on June 28, 2008 03:13:32 PM
Helen, I think I'm reading into your posts what's between the lines, or at least what appears to be between the lines. I sure don't mean to misread your posts.
You said, "So if I were you, I wouldn't continue to attempt to make explanations for Bill K. expecially when you don't have any relevant data." I DID have some relevant data to add, and I definitely get the impression that I'm irritating you here.
Rather than get into a little spat, I'm backing out for now, hoping Bill K comes in at some point to clarify for you.
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