[HSList] Reporting to school authority
VLJensen
In a message dated 98-03-28 17:28:07 EST, you write:
<< hey were pretty upset when I pulled her out, but it sure felt good to tell
them we were leaving! And, by the way, her test scores went up after she left
school even though we spend way less time on "official at the desk"
schoolwork. >>
Have you been tempted to take those test scores back to the principal and let
him see how ineffective public education is? (Letting him know, of course,
that you never "do school" on sick days and spend way less time getting it all
done on other days.)
VJ
TIM BANDY
In a message dated 3/30/98 4:49:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, rriskus@ez-
net.com writes:
<< at once this year because he caught the flu, his asthma aggravated it, and
he got a bronchial infection. His next report had a D on it because of
"incomplete work." >>
Fortunately colleges are smart enough to ignore public school grades when SAT
scores are above average. Given the dismal state of public education, they
know the GPA does not mean much. A major education issue of Fortune and
Forbes magazines contained articles about college administrators complaints
that college expenses have increased over the past ten years in part due to
the need to provide remedial classes for college undergraduates who have good
GPAs. The complaint is that the high schools are not doing their job. If I
were you, I would consider buying some Princeton Review books and have you
high school student work on them. The best to get: Vocabulary, Reading
Comprehension and Math Smart. Anyone who has college bound public school high
students should consider taking them to a good tutoring school (Sylvan Centers
are good) and enroll them a 12 week reading comprehension program. The
schools are doing a really poor job of teaching basic reading skills.
Language Arts skills in general are the basis for performance in everything
else, including capacity to master math skills.
Jean Riskus
----------
> From: TIM BANDY <TIMB...@aol.com>
> To: homes...@efn.org
> Subject: Re: [HSList] Reporting to school authority
> Date: Friday, April 03, 1998 6:07 AM
>
> If I
> were you, I would consider buying some Princeton Review books and have
you
> high school student work on them. The best to get: Vocabulary, Reading
> Comprehension and Math Smart.
Where do I get these books?
> Anyone who has college bound public school high
> students should consider taking them to a good tutoring school (Sylvan
Centers
> are good) and enroll them a 12 week reading comprehension program. The
> schools are doing a really poor job of teaching basic reading skills.
> Language Arts skills in general are the basis for performance in
everything
> else, including capacity to master math skills.
I agree. My son is an A & B student. It's his reading class that's keeping
him from being an honor student. Perhaps his ADD has something to do with
that, and again maybe not. I told him, though, that unless he improves, I'd
have to take him out of school next year. I've asked him to bring his
reading book home so I could help him, but he says he's not supposed to and
they do all the assignments in class. If I could find the books you're
talking about, I could tutor him on weekends. As far as the tutoring school
goes, we're on the brink of our budget now.
Thanks for the information.
Jean
Linda Kerr
At 07:27 PM 3/31/98 EST, Delean <Del...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> What I read (that you have written) astounds me. You are a cop out and
>settle for so much less than your child may achieve. Sometimes they need to
>learn more than they want to. No one wants algebra but it is a discipline
>that needs to be mastered.
On the contrary. I was so excited about the prospect promised by algebra that I checked a math book out of the school library to teach it to myself well in advance of "having to" take the class. As you might observe from that statement, I was not homeschooled. I was, however, encouraged by my family to believe in myself, to approach every challenge with the attitude that I would triumph, and to be interested in everything. (I was also encouraged to be helpful, humble, forgiving, etc., in case you wond
ered.)
I am appalled at what I read and hear about public education as it now is presented, as are most of the folks posting to this group, and hope that the homeschooling trend grows. One thing I see in many of these posts is very encouraging in light of my own childhood experience, and that is to affirm self-reliance and personal responsibility. Without these foundation blocks there is little to be gained from any method of teaching, and with the foundation it almost doesn't matter what teaching method is us
ed.
My two-cents-worth could be summed up as this: help your children understand the relatively unbounded possibilities they have in whatever directions might open up for them in the course of their lives, and the joy of not only exploring and developing their own skills and talents but also helping others do the same. They will then indeed have a good day for the rest of their lives.
Some very interesting conversation getting posted here lately!
Linda