--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00051Date: 05/11/96 From: THERESA MERKLING Time: 06:31pm \/To: DONNA RANSDELL (Read 0 times) Subj: Evaluation -=> Quoting Donna Ransdell to Theresa Merkling <=- > report for me . I've got her signed up for our > homeschool group's presentation night on June 3. They'll DR> What does she have to do that night? June 3....gee, that sounds so DR> "early" compared to the schedule here....Escondido schools are out on DR> the 14th but Poway isn't out til the 20th! ACK! They have diplomas for all the "graduates". There's also a talent show, but I didn't sign her up for that. I believe our ps are out around this same time. They began back in August and have had short breaks. I sure am eager for summer vacation . Our homeschool will be completed May 31 for 1995/6 school year! Yeah! DR> I think that would be the hardest for Jennifer, especially after this DR> year (she represented her class in the school spelling bee, and had DR> several solos in the school choir). But after hearing that CFS hosts DR> both a spelling bee *and* a talent show, she felt a lot better. I have a tough time pursuing extra curricular events for the girls. I personally get the feeling that many parents spend so much time running their kids here and there they don't get to be together, which would probably benefit them more. Maybe once we get moved I'll look into more activities for them. DR> SMART MOVE! I hated the accident, of course, but haven't missed that DR> Aerostar at all. Love my TransSport! The Oasis reminds me of my DR> neighbor's van. I'd like that van if it would tow our tent trailer, DR> but alas, it doesn't. I didn't hate the Aerostar - it was an Eddie Bauer - naturally I liked the luxury, but with the potential recall plus a dripping radiator, well, lower payments are acceptable. We would have gotten a new Windstar, but they couldn't come even close to the $$ we had to use. TTYL! Theresa ... Homeschooling: Better civilized than socialized. --- GEcho 1.11+ * Origin: The Red Dwarf BBS - (904)744-8144 (1:112/74) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00052Date: 05/11/96 From: THERESA MERKLING Time: 07:18pm \/To: CATHY HETTINGER (Read 0 times) Subj: Bill Nye,science guy book? -=> Quoting Cathy Hettinger to Donna Ransdell <=- CH> Donna, I was wondering if anybody had access to some sort of central CH> type number for ordering texts? Maybe they would know about this CH> book. Thanks. Cathy. Hi Cathy, I didn't answer at first, but went to Bill Nye's Web site today. (search: Education, K-12). You can call 1-800-937-5387 for info on all the Bill Nye products. The ones that were listed on the site are: Videos of Science: (VHS 50 min) Dinosaurs $12.95 Outer Space $12.95 Powerful Forces $12.95 The Human Body $12.95 Reptiles and Insects $12.95 Books of Science: (Paperback) Consider the Following $9.95 Bill Nye's Big Blast of Science $12.95 There will be a shipping and handling charge of $4.50 and $1 for each additional product in your shipment. I personally have read and and enjoyed the Blast of Science book. If I ever have available $$ I intend to get many of both the books and tapes. Hope this info helps! Theresa ... Home schooled children are in a class by themselves! --- GEcho 1.11+ * Origin: The Red Dwarf BBS - (904)744-8144 (1:112/74) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00053Date: 05/11/96 From: THERESA MERKLING Time: 07:24pm \/To: AMBER FLOYD (Read 0 times) Subj: why can't ---- read??? Along those lines, here's a funny I came across in our Discovery Toys reps mail loop: I've been told that Mark Twain wrote something similar to this and that his version is even better. If I can find it, I'll pass it on too. I got this from a friend of mine. Have fun reading it - 'specially at the end! --Jennifer > >Having chosen English as the preferred language in the EEC (now >officially the European Union, or EU), the European Parliament has >commissioned a feasibility study in ways of improving efficiency in >communications between Government departments. > >European officials have often pointed out that English spelling is >unnecessarily difficult; for example: cough, plough, rough, through >and thorough. What is clearly needed is a phased program of changes >to iron out these anomalies. The program would, of course, be >administered by a committee staff at top level by participating >nations. > >In the first year, for example, the committee would suggest using 's' >instead of the soft 'c'. Sertainly, sivil servants in all sities would >resieve this news with joy. Then the hard 'c' could be replaced by 'k' >sinse both letters are pronounsed alike. Not only would this klear up >konfusion in the minds of klerikal workers, but typewriters kould be >made with one less letter. > >There would be growing enthusiasm when in the sekond year, it was >anounsed that the troublesome 'ph' would henseforth be written 'f'. >This would make words like 'fotograf' twenty persent shorter in print. > >In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be >expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are >possible. Governments would enkourage the removal of double letters >which have always been a deterent to akurate speling. > >We would al agre that the horible mes of silent 'e's in the languag is >disgrasful. Therefor we kould drop thes and kontinu to read and writ as >though nothing had hapend. By this tim it would be four years sins the >skem began and peopl would be reseptive to steps sutsh as replasing >`th' by 'z'. > >Perhaps zen ze funktion of 'w' kould be taken on by 'v', vitsh is, >after al, half a 'w'. Shortly after zis, ze unesesary 'o' kould be >dropd from words kontaining 'ou'. Similar arguments vud of kors be >aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. > >Kontinuing zis proses yer after yer, ve vud eventuli hav a reli >sensibl riten styl. After tventi yers zer vud be no mor trubls, >difikultis and evrivun vud fin it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drems >of the guvermnt vud finali hav kum tru. > >Steven M. Pelletier >Spelleti@officetech.com ... There are 3 kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't! --- GEcho 1.11+ * Origin: The Red Dwarf BBS - (904)744-8144 (1:112/74) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00054Date: 05/10/96 From: DONNA RANSDELL Time: 04:07pm \/To: GLEN TODD (Read 0 times) Subj: biased textbooks > Too true, and unfortunately all too common when > dealing with 'Christian education'. It's people > like these (A Beka) that give the whole homeschooling > movement a bad name. Oh, I don't know about that. If anything gives homeschooling a bad name, it's those that keep their kids home and then ignore them most of the day, in the name of "homeschooling", and then try to take them to school another year. (Don't laugh or scoff; as a teacher, I have received a "homeschooled" child like this. She didn't know anything. What kind of impression did that give me of her homeschooling? That her mother wanted to hang onto her for a couple more years before sending her on. The child couldn't read, barely knew her numbers, etc.) The majority of textbooks available have a bias of some type. I examined a lot of history textbooks over the years as a teacher, and then more recently as a prospective homeschooler. Every book I see has a bias. It either has a public bias (lots of mention of women in history but giving a lot less space to the men in history, or leaving out the Red Scare of the 1950s, or leaving out quite a bit else of important history), or a religious bias. It would be difficult not to have any sort of bias, because we're all humans. It's part of human nature. -donna --- GEcho 1.00 * Origin: The Education Station, Poway, CA - Mail Only (1:202/211) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00055Date: 05/11/96 From: DONNA RANSDELL Time: 03:13pm \/To: THERESA MERKLING (Read 0 times) Subj: unit study > summer to accumulate new material for next year. I'm > probably either gonna do a catalog party for Usborne, or if it > looks like my new location doesn't have a rep, I may sign up to sell > it so I can get all the supplemental books I want. When you look > through a company's catalog and say, "I want this, and this, and > this. . . " it's time to consider a cheaper way to obtain it . I looked at the Usborne books at a display at the home educator's fair. I was very, very impressed with most of them. The only one I didn't care for was their piano primer book. It would be fine for a young learner, but thinking of an 8 or 9 year old, it didn't go far enough in the space of the pages provided! (At least, not the 8 and 9 year old beginning piano students that I had.) The rest of them, tho, were very good. I noticed that Scholastic Arrow books had some of the Usborne books this past month, but I don't know if they were heavily enough discounted (since I didn't happen to look at the price of Usborne books at the fair). We had a hefty enough order without them, tho. -donna --- GEcho 1.00 * Origin: The Education Station, Poway, CA - Mail Only (1:202/211) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00056Date: 05/11/96 From: DONNA RANSDELL Time: 03:16pm \/To: ALINDA HARRISON (Read 0 times) Subj: book reviews > Anyhow, one of them was a book called "10 People Who > Discovered America" by > Bruce Black (1990 Willowisp Press, Inc.). Each chapter > in the book is about a > different explorer from Leif Ericson to Jedidiah > Strong Smith. It's not > really fiction, but it is written in very readable > story form. Well worth the > dime she paid. ;) I think your girls would enjoy it. Thanks for the recommendation. Jennifer and I didn't see anything like that one at the used bookstore we went to yesterday. We tried to get to all the thrift stores, but they were already closed by the time we got there at 5:05 pm! (That's fine. I used the rest of my "credit" at the used bookstore on two Little House books that we didn't have, another Babysitter's Club book that she wanted, and "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth Speare.) -donna --- GEcho 1.00 * Origin: The Education Station, Poway, CA - Mail Only (1:202/211) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00057Date: 05/11/96 From: DONNA RANSDELL Time: 03:17pm \/To: KEN WOODARD (Read 0 times) Subj: "Christian" History > Thanks for listening. Ken and Rachael Woodard Well said, amen to that. -donna --- GEcho 1.00 * Origin: The Education Station, Poway, CA - Mail Only (1:202/211) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00058Date: 05/11/96 From: DONNA RANSDELL Time: 06:20pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: another great book If any of you are studying earthquakes and volcanoes as a unit study or as part of your science studies, we have found a new book that may not be mentioned in any Konos, Weaver, or other unit study books about earthquakes. It was just published last year by Scholastic's Apple Paperbacks Division. The book is a historical fiction about the Loma Prieta earthquake of October, 1989. A gal named Fran and her brother Sidney were left in their mountain home cabin with Franny's former best friend (from years before) Jennie. Their parents went together to Candlestick Park to see the World Series game. The story is about the way these three kids cope with the earthquake, and there is a lot of good information about the tragedies that are caused by earthquakes. There's a subplot about Sidney, as he is a self-centered, violence loving seven year old that caused the parents to get rid of television a year before because he was demented by it. The story also shows how the earthquake starts to change his values slightly. I have been reading this aloud. Unlike my norm, this is a book I did not preread beforehand. So in some ways, the book was every bit as exciting to me since I hadn't read it previously. My kids have been on the edges of their seats with this story. Have I hooked you now? The book is called "Quake!" by Joe Cottonwood. ISBN 0-590-22233-3, published by Scholastic. We got it in the April Scholastic Arrow Book Club order but it seems to me it would be available many other places. Cover price is $3.50/USA, $4.50/Can. The cover has four real life photos from the quake, and the back cover has one. It's a real eyeopener if you aren't from "earthquake country". -donna --- GEcho 1.00 * Origin: The Education Station, Poway, CA - Mail Only (1:202/211) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00059Date: 05/09/96 From: ``LAURENE WELLS`` Time: 06:05pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: RE: spelling >success. Work on the words they have trouble with. Or, see if your local >teacher's store has a list of commonly misspelled words, and work on those. >sign that United Airlines had by the gate. It said "(something) navailible." >Such a blatant misspelling! (It should be "unavailable.") Soudns like you were responding to a post where people were hunting for resources for finding spelling words. This might be something fun to do... As you are driving around town running errands, have the kids (or front seat passenger) write down words they see misspelled on signs. You'd be amazed ow many ENTREPRENEURS misspell words on their own sign boards! One example locally is a Jiffy Mart type place that spelled Capuccino "Capachino". That is a deterrent to business in my opinion. I realize there are a few accepted variations on the word, but that definitely is NOT one of them! Anyway, have them write down the misspelled words, then go home and look them up in the dictionary to find the right ones. My mom always made me look up words in he dictionary. I didn't always enjoy it, but I think it was a beneficial learning experience to have her do it that way. -The Zookeeper --- WFIDO 1.10c * Origin: The City of Light (503)-794-0703 Milwaukie OR (1:105/95) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 158 HOME SCHOOLING Ref: D5P00060Date: 05/10/96 From: VONCILLE PROCTOR Time: 01:30pm \/To: SHARON DAVIS (Read 0 times) Subj: library due date slips Hi. I'm pretty new here and have been interested in your notes to each ther over the past few weeks...this one i can definitely relate to! Sharon Davis wrote this to Laurene Wells: SD> `W>>:) If that were me saying that sentence, I'd usually have to add the w SD> >>"over" just before the word "due". I'm always forgetting due dates, and SD> >>libraries have switched to a system where each book does NOT contain th SD> >>date on a card inside. If I don't write the due dates down on my calend SD> >the SD> >>books are LATE! SD> `W> Your's too? I hate this system! They give me a little recipt (like ne SD> >might get from the grocery store) that has the due date written on it. SD> >me SD> >old fashioned, but I just liked the dates stamped inside the books bette My library does that receipt thing too--and it always gets lost. Between two different libraries that I frequent, I probably owe $40.00 in late fees! For awhile they were making us, the patrons, write our own due dates down--if we messed up, well, it's our problem. They are not still using that system though, thankfully. I do have to give them some credit because they will telephone you to notify you of overdue books, but not ususally until the books are already overdue by a week or more! Well, like you, I wish they would go back to the old system of having a card with the date stamped on it inside of every book.. I know it takes more time, but... Like you said, they're probably just trying to find more creative ways to generate more revenue. --- Renegade v4-05 Exp * Origin: Cyber Town Center - (503)771-3747 - Portland, OR (1:105/84)