OT: Home Schooling

Brenda Lewis wrote in news:sHMme.8434$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:

History is admittedly my weak point, as I was the victim of too many lousy history classes in school that seemed like pointless meaningless history trivia games, "Who ascended to the throne in the year XXXX, what was his wife's middle name, and why was he assassinated, and what was the blood type of the relative who succeeded him..." or at least that's about as relevant as it seemed. We used biographies from the public library to learn history in the primary grades, and then I used a standard graded history curriculum. We have recently been using curriculum from

Nobody is going to have complete representation of everything. Any subject is going to be seen through one person's eyes. I did proofreading and QC for a typesetting company that typeset textbooks for colleges and public school publishers for a number of years and saw how the editors changed the books to present their own ideas, like the math series where whenever someone was doing something like baking a cake, it

Are you so sure that home schoolers are more likely to abuse children than your average parent? Somehow I don't think so.

Thank you Brenda !!! For writing exactly, what i saw, coming out from Melinda`s elaborate writings. I am sure her she means well, but even in this correspondence, which seems to be done in great care, by her. The historical and sociological facts seem a bit One track minded. In a school with more than one teacher , at least the childrenwill hear a more elaborate point of view.

-- Brenda

Melinda ! i really am not aware, how much you know about Muslim countries, Muslim traditions etc, Besides The one Neighbouring family you allowed your kids to meet. You brought in the example , of Muslim Girls in France Forbidden to wear their scarves, They were Not forbiden to wear their scarves tottaly , The were forbiden to wear their scarves into the State Paid Schools. At the same time all other religious signs as JewisH boys Sculcaps and Big Crosses for Christians were forbiden WITHIN SCHOOL BOUNDERIES,,, Not to show Disrespect to any religion, just to make kids more equal.

Now you bring most Muslim countries , into it .....The call for Control, over the population isn`t done by the woman , it is done by the community as a whole. The new Immigrant Community wants to impose Their rullings on the Local Hosting Country.

Wearing the head scarf Has NOTHING to do with their Faith. It is a Cultural [quite new and stengthening in the last years with rising fundemantelism] . When somebody walks in Hot climate it is natural to cover face and hair. More survival than religion. After the First wars of the Prophet Muhamad, he married several wives, amongst other a war widow, so that he can support her. His believers would come for talking with him, and knew in which part of the compound he was. One day By mistake , one man entered and saw one of the wives not completely dressed. Thus the Prophet said that A woman should be behind a curtain [while not dressed completly]. He did never say she should Wear the curtain . All the other habits of covering face , hair etc... come from this chapter in the Koraan. I live in Israel since

The first great Muslim waves that came to Europe,also girls didn`t wear headkerchefs to schools [ i know from my Dutch and Belgian friends and relatives who taught in such schools at the time, and from official reports and surveys. As i told you the headkerchief has NOTHING TO with Practicing a faith.

It has become and is used as a sign for CONTROL over the population , a struggle for political power. Ps What is Menarche ???????you mentioned above.

France is not a religious country, France By LAW seprates Church and Government. Because of Historical reasons, and it Roots in the Napoleon`s Codex. Which By the way Gave Freedom of belief to all, since He conquered countries with various Christian Churches.

You are trying Distort my words. All kids can go to State provided schools, [ In France]. But if their parents wants tham to have a Relious schooling, they can and are allowed to send them to religious oriented schools according to their choice. Since Religion is a private matter, State provided schools can`t and won`t provide this. > Either you are

With all Due Respect to Shakespear, How come you quote him suddenly. The diversity all over the world, in matters of State education With or without religion , is enormous. Cultural diffrences are immense. It seems that you base your understanding about Other religions than your own , about having met 2 families [1 Muslim , 1 Jewish] . And by talking to them , you assume that you know `what their faith Demands` of them, and you bring your children up with this limited knowledge. All faithes have Various groups who interepret their Traditions , in more than one way.

What kind , or rather Which parts of history do you teach your children ? and which parts do you Omit ???? mirjam

Melinda! I am seriously and honestly trying to understand your ideas. That is why i keep asking you, to learn, what made you Do such a serious Action that will Mark your children`s life. But i ask my questions, with my background in education and in social working. Hence my questions. AAnd of course living in multy cultural enviroments.

I tottaly belive you , that you live in a hard up social neigbourhood, But since you time and again write that Your kids are Ok , and that you manage to eep them out of trouble. I am think that you are not the only parent there who manages to do this, and thus maybe you just don`t know those parents. If you aren`t aware of those other parents , maybe they aren`t aware of you , and hence both you and them Think that the other`s kids aren`t as nice as their own kids.

I did not say that your kids weren`t nice, i relate to your constant writing , that All other kids in your neighbourhood are bad influence, and that you manage to keep your`s out. I assume that you are not the only parent who manages to do so . But since you don`t acknowledge such a parent Being as successful as you are , i conclude that maybe thois other successful parent might think that your`s aren`t as nice as his , just like you think about his kids.

i wasn`t making a statement, i was asking a question, with all my respect to you i think that there might be more successful parents like you around .

They might think of you , the same thoughts that you think about your neighbourhood kids !!!!!!

You sure could kid me in yoyr former letters., You didn`t sound so hilarious about it . ..

???????????/

Good for you !!! Now you answer a former letter of mine where i asked you , why you don`t do something for the general benefit of all the neighbouring kids !!! Well done ,,, but please Study a bit more history ... mirjam

Define "first". The Vikings supposedly came over around 1000. The Spanish were in Florida in the 1500s. There was an English colony in Jamestown in 1607. The Pilgrims didn't land on Plymouth Rock till 1620. Although everyone previously had established a colony, the Pilgrims managed to keep their colony going and growing -- the Vikings, after an undetermined period, disappeared.

I'm with you there Brenda. I believe there was undesirable coercion at the start of the One Child policy but it was soon relaxed where rural families were concerned. From what Chinese friends tell me, One Child is more a way of life now because they understand their population growth at the previous rate was unsustainable.

My pro-choice feelings do not include forced abortions or anything close to that. They are simply that women be allowed to choose that which they feel is best for themselves and their body and that they receive no hassles and bludgeoning by people who feel they should decide what that woman should do, based on what they, rather than the actual person who is pregnant, believe.

Wow, miracles DO happen!! LOL

Gillian

Mirjam Bruck-Cohen wrote:

"Melinda Meahan - remove TRASH to reply" wrote in news:Xns966668D35B028mmeahanatsonic@208.201.224.154:

Except when they were slaves.

Also, interracial marriage was illegal until 1967 and the famous Loving case. 42 states had laws banning interracial marriage, and the arguments were much the same as the ones against gay marriage today.

It truly saddens me to realize that your children are receiving such a biassed view of history.

K wrote in news:Xns9667607F7C64Enotmenotherecom@199.224.117.11:

Oh, they aren't. Further up in this thread I already explained that history is my weak point and I have leaned heavily on standard curriculum and the like for them to learn it.

At any rate, I have taught them that any view of history is going to be biased according to the writer of the text and that you can't necessarily be confident that any one view of history is entirely accurate as to what, exactly happened, except that if you are reading primary source documents you are at least reading about something that actually did happen, because so many people have tried to put their own spin on history. My oldest is the history nut. I'm more a math, science, and foreign language/language arts person, so I employ the same methods that moms who don't know math well farm out math/algebra instruction to farm out history instruction. And it's easier to supervise a history course than an algebra course, because at least the answers are in clear and easy-to-understand English.

At this point I think this thread has wound down enough that I am bowing out of the conversation, and I am entirely sorry that I ever came over here (I generally hang out on RCTS and alt.sewing with occasional forays into RCTQ) at the request of someone who reads here regularly to share home schooling resources that have been helpful to me with someone who was asking for help.

And I'm very glad you did. Thank you for taking the time and interest. And especially thank you for adding to my depth of knowledge. It was not a waste of your time. Dianne

"Melinda Meahan - wrote

Why are you sorry you came?? A few people disagreed with you, but a number of people engaged in, and learned from, a civil exchange of ideas. Dawne

"Dawne Peterson" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Because I felt like I came into a group where I hadn't participated before and stirred up a hornet's nest, and I loathe creating conflict.

Dianne Lewandowski wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net:

Thanks. I just sorta felt like people might have thought I was a troll or something, and I'm not.

While I certainly haven't agreed with all of your opinions, I haven't thought of you as a troll. You do read replies carefully and answer thoughtfully. Trolls don't do that. I'm curious--have you read any of the on-topic threads in this group while you've been visiting? Do you do any needlework?

FWIW, I do support home school> Thanks. I just sorta felt like people might have thought I was a troll

-- Brenda

Brenda Lewis wrote in news:RT2ne.53$iu.14 @tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:

Yeah, I have read some of them. I don't enjoy doing needlework personally right now because it goes too slow for me and takes too long to finish, and I tend to get very impatient. I even have a knitting machine because I'm too impatient to knit by hand! But I do enjoy reading about fiber arts of any kind, starting about 10 years ago when I found a knitters' mailing list that had a lot of spinners on it as well. Those were the days before the advent of free mailing list software, and I'll tell you, that list had a TON of traffic -- several hundred posts a day, and all downloaded at 2400 bps!

I tried cross-stitch a long time ago and got rather frustrated with it and ended up farming the few projects I had left that that I wanted to give people for special occasions out to someone else who had more time and inclination for it than I do. But I did give it a good shot. I have one UFO left -- a cross-stitch wall hanging for my best friend commemorating the birth of her first grandchildren (twins), who are now almost 3-1/2 -- and I wanted to do that one myself, but at this point I don't know if I will ever finish it because it's so late. I do like making designs on graph paper, though. I designed the one for the above- mentioned UFO. I don't have software to design stuff but that would be fun, too. Then again, I have pattern-drafting software, and it's one of my favorite "computer games." LOL

Maybe when I am an empty-nester and have lots more free time (my youngest is 13) I won't mind the time it takes to create something, if I'm not too busy singing with the local ladies' barbershop chorus, getting back up to speed on my piano playing after having shattered my wrist a few years back (I can no longer reach an octave with my right hand but am trying to keep hope that with practice it will improve), playing viola again in community productions and orchestras, and trying to apply to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (some of which I had to set down in order to supervise my children's education and all of which I would like to do in full force after I'm done raising children). I love the results of needlework; I just have pitifully little time to see success on an individual project right now. Or maybe I will limit it to embellishing garments that I make, because that will be manageable. I have dreams of taking simple fabrics and embellishing them with motifs and having gorgeous clothing.

P.S. This is exactly why we started -- my oldest doesn't do well in classroom settings and is a slow learner -- and by the time it was time for my second to start school, we were sort of hooked. My oldest has learning disabilities and such, but my daughter just finished her first semester of college and made the honor roll despite being sick for a week and getting behind on her classwork and having her grades on some of those papers downgraded as a result. But she, along with my youngest, are the kind of child who have their compass pointed very strongly before they are born and they sort of automatically follow it. The other two have needed more guidance/support/whatever.

Brenda Lewis wrote in news:RT2ne.53$ snipped-for-privacy@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com:

Thank you melinda , for opening for us a window into your life , I hope you too , got some new ideas from us. best of luck mirjam