"rb608" wrote

a lot of religious conservatism,
home schoolers, and general intolerance




Heah !! We home schooled my kid one year ( 2nd grade ) and I'm pretty
sure I don't deserve to be lumped into a group that includes 'religious
conservatism' or 'general intolerance' G

////////////


IMHO, one of the great shortcomings of our culture is the low status and
social position given teachers.

My son had a TERRIBLE teacher for first grade. When you met her it was very
clear she didn't like children or her job. My son, who had loved
Kindergarten quickly became a youngster that hated school. He would sit
in my truck as we waited for the school bus ( it wouldn't come down to our
end of the road house ) and want to play math games with me, or read the
street signs, or read magazines I might have in the cab ... but he HATED to
go to school. Think about that, a child eager to learn but dreading
school ... I still shiver at the sad image.

At the end of that year we determined that we would get him out of that
school ( very small, rural, anything but progressive ) after the principal
told us he knew he 'had a problem' in the awful teacher but he wasn't going
to do anything about it. So we tried the home schooling. It went 'OK'
but my wife worked, as did I ( at home), and it wasn't the answer, for us.

So, we transferred him to a different district. That meant I had to drive
him to and pick him up from school each day, but, lord was it worth that and
more.

His 3rd grade teacher was Penny M____ and I'm tempted to use her full name
because she is one of my greatest heroes. The first couple weeks of 3rd
grade the kid would explain that he just wouldn't go to school, that he'd
run away if that is what it took, if the new teacher turned out to be like
1st grade. Scared about his future, and nearly as sad as having at a very
ill child, we'd promise him that if it wasn't better we'd find a different
school.

Penny recognized his badly damaged attitude, and his unique abilities, took
him under her wing, and turned him around. I am, as I've told her several
times, eternally grateful for her skill and her caring and her profession
( in such good hands) .

My 'little boy' graduates from the University of the Pacific in May, with
honors, Phi Beta Kappa, etc .... something I honestly believe would never
have happened without Penny's dedication to her extremely important job of
teaching 3rd grade. We all, at the Linthicum house, love you, Penny, and
respect your work as much as any work done by anyone, anywhere.


Larry L ( who admits the home schooling sub culture is a bit odd ... during
that 2nd grade year we went to several social events designed to help HS
kids get more contact with others, and we were not really in a group of
ideological peers :-)