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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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July 03 2002
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 Posted - September 29 2003 : 3:46:15 PM
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I was thinking last night, and this kinda goes with my thoughts on Williamsburg.........
Anybody remember that great reading book called Singing Wheels? It was the fourth level in the Alice and Jerry reading books. About a family who went by stagecoach to live with their relatives in a frontier town something like Sturbridge Village. Don't remember where exactly it was, possibly one of the plains states or Kentucky or something, but where isn't the point.
I LOVED THAT BOOK! I couldn't WAIT until it was time to read each day just so I could read that book. It had all kinds of stuff in it to interest a kid in colonial/early federal period of living. As I recall, it talked about soap making, dyeing, spinning and weaving, the blacksmith, making shoes, candle making, the miller grinding grain, even had the kid going out in the woods with his flintlock looking for game. And explained as part of the story what each thing was, and how it was done. Made you wanna run out to the library and get more books on such subjects.
I wonder, do grade schools have anything comparable these days? I would bet my bottom dollar they don't. Those books were written in the 40's and 50's. Taught respect for each other, and Singing Wheels especially taught us how to read while giving us an appreciation of rural family life and early history.
I guess many would call those kinda books simplistic or even propaganda these days. I wouldn't, but some might. And I'd just bet that little attention is given to the history and purpose of the BOR, while emphasizing how the Constitution was written long ago during different times by "old dead white guys".
I don't suppose any of these things has anything to do with the difference between kids attitudes and behavior of the 50's and kids of the 1990's though, huh?
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Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
USA
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 6:06:02 PM
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Don't remember that one, Bill. Was it a reading book for the class or a series of books checked out from the library?
We don't have reading books like that in our school. We DO have multiple copy books that can be checked out to the whole class. In fact, one of our classes is finishing up Where the Red Fern Grows this week. But I don't recall anything for reading class about the colonial period. Hmmm....wonder why indeed. |
Theresa |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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July 03 2002
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 6:38:29 PM
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Each student in each grade had a copy of the current year's reader. The Singing Wheels reader was for fourth grade I think. We each had our own copy of reader in our desk, and returned it at end of year.
Are you saying that grade schools these days don't even HAVE a reader like that for each grade? They don't all read from the same book some time each day for reading education? Gotta check them outta the library? Please tell me that isnt so? |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 8:06:46 PM
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I think the "Readers" are a thing of the past, Bill. When my kids were in grade school and middle school, through the 1990's, they were issued a "literature" text book, which was a collection of stories, poems, etc. Although I can't give you any specific names, I do remember that there were still some of the old classics included... but still nothing like the old Readers we had.
I don't remember "Singing Wheels"... but I was on the West Coast, and we're a "breed apart" out there. (But I do think we usually "make sense.")
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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July 03 2002
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 8:56:01 PM
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Just because you and some others out there on the left coast make sense, doesn't mean they ALL "usually make sense"! Can we invest in having you cloned and out populate the dumb? Every time Jay Leno does his asking the boobs in the street about history.....you get answers to questions like "who did we fight in the Revolutionary War" answer "The French". "Who did we fight in WWII". Answer "England". Duh. "No, we fought Germany. Do you know who the leader of Germany was?" Answer "duh". "I'll tell you his first name - Adolph..........." Answer....."duh". "Here's another hint......there's a steak sauce that has the same name" Answer
"Heinz!!".
Duh. Does not bode well for California school system.....and these are REAL answers from real folks out in California. By the way.......the dumbo answering the question about WWII? Said she was a SCHOOL TEACHER out there.
GROAN. |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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July 03 2002
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 9:00:19 PM
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| Mixed up the first and last names on that german leader repeat of history questions. He gave the last name....asked her if she could give the first name. Anyway, you get the point. |
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Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
USA
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 10:16:25 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Wilderness Woman
I think the "Readers" are a thing of the past, Bill. When my kids were in grade school and middle school, through the 1990's, they were issued a "literature" text book, which was a collection of stories, poems, etc. Although I can't give you any specific names, I do remember that there were still some of the old classics included... but still nothing like the old Readers we had.
I don't remember "Singing Wheels"... but I was on the West Coast, and we're a "breed apart" out there. (But I do think we usually "make sense.")
In our middle school (5th and 6th grade) we have the Open Court literature books. They include the occasional short story, poem, excerpt from a novel. But as for a continuing ongoing theme reader...nope...nadda. And you don't dare group the students...everybody is the same...wouldn't want to destroy self esteem, which of course by the time they reach fifth grade and can't read worth a lick because they weren't "singled out" as needing help their self esteem it really high.
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
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Posted - September 29 2003 : 11:12:31 PM
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| I went through grade school in the eighties and we definitely did not have reading lessons with recurring characters, sounds great. I had to find my own: Hardy Boys, Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, Encyclopedia Brown. And when I wanted to learn about history I had to dig up books from the school library that were a good 25-30 years old. I was the oddball in class that you could find pouring over a copy of "Life in Colonial Times", "Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys", or a selection from the "American Heritage Junior Library"(my favorite was "Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill). I even started walking to garage sales and the annual public library sell-off where I got several volumes of "The Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History" for 25 cents a pop. I was surprised to find that I was one of the few kids that liked our social studies classes(History, Civics, Geography etc...). They put so much emphasis on math and science that kids put little or no effort into learning about the past. I don't know how you can expect kids to grow up and learn from the mistakes of the past if you don't teach them something other than what's on MTV. I work in a mall, unfortunately, and the teenage kids I work with are completely clueless. A couple of months ago I asked a half dozen kids I work with if they had heard of the "Articles of Confederation", nope. Four of them couldn't even get which century the Civil War took place in. Furthermore they weren't embarressed and thought I was some sort of lame, brainiac geek for having a decent grasp on American History. I need to get a job at a book store, working in clothing retail is far too depressing. |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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July 03 2002
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 12:32:07 AM
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Ya know, you have to wonder if that isn't the point of socialized education today. Dumbing down the curriculum, and replacing socialized topics with what used to be core topics. If we dont KNOW the lessons of history, we can't avoid repeating them. If we don't KNOW the history of our country, at least we aren't taught the values of our early country, we can't know to defend those values, or that we are losing them. Public schools seem to be teaching kids only the negative parts of our history, and half truths.
Example: you would be amazed at how MANY people a mere 50 years after the fact do not believe the holocaust ever happened.
A lot of kids don't know, or ever learn, that Washington was offered a crown. He was so loved they wanted to make him king. He turned it down saying we did not fight a bloody war to remove one crown just to impose another. A lot of kids DO know the legend of his having wooden teeth, and certainly know he owned slaves. Start mentioning our founding fathers, and you can almost bet you are going to be told "they owned slaves". Like that negates everything else in their character and is supposed to put suspect everything else they did.....including the establishment of this country and the basis for a free society.
My step son is planning on attending UW. He looked up the requirements for graduation, and was complaining because he is COMPELLED to take a 3 credit "ethnics" course or cannot graduate. So I went to their catalog and looked to see what else is required for graduation. Definitely ethnic studies. At least 6 credits in english and 6 credits in math. It can be "dumb" english and math. Lots of credits in social science, and lots of credits in humanities. One notable absence........have you seen it? NO HISTORY COURSE of any kind. Not in government, not in US history, nor in international history.
Our kids are NOT being taught anything which will give them pride in their country it seems. Nor are they being taught real history, in order not to make the same mistakes of the past, nor are they ever going to recognize when they are being politically manipulated, nor are they going to be able to value what is being chipped away if they are not taught what those things are, how important they are, and what the original intent was.
I think it is purposeful. After 30 years of socialized public education, we are getting kids who can't think, can't spell, can't read, can't debate, and can't reason......all they can do is regurgitate what they have been told. And that's AFTER a general COLLEGE education.
It's worrisome, to say the least. I believe. Ask most kids why the civil war was fought, and they will tell you "to free the slaves". Ask they why the Revolution was fought and they don't have a clue. It's sad.
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 08:11:03 AM
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Yes, it is very, very sad, Bill.
My kids did have some American History in about 4th grade here in NY. I don't know just how much they got out of it... hopefully something, but I think they have gotten more from me than from any classes in school. I do have a cute story:
In 1994, I had just "stumbled upon" my German Palatine Family Heritage, in the Mohawk Valley. I had just learned about the Battle of Oriskany and my family's involvement there, and eagerly made my first trip, with family in tow, to the Battlefield.
Before we walked around the park, we sat at a picnic table and ate our lunch. While we were eating, I read to my husband and my kids the account of the Battle, telling them all about the generals involved, the militias involved, and exactly what happened. Little did I know of the impact this simple action would have.
A little later in the school year, my daughter (in the 4th grade, I think) was given the assignment of writing a little essay about a Revolutionary War battle. (Surprising, huh?) Well, guess what she picked?!? And she did a pretty darned good job of it too!
Her teacher was absolutely flabbergasted! He called her up in private and asked her how she knew all of that information. She proudly explained the whole thing. He was very impressed... and so was I!
The upshot is... it doesn't take much to instill a sense of our past into our children. All you have to do is expose them to it. What a shame that it's generally not being done anymore. |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 10:42:57 AM
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That's great! Parents SHOULD play an important part in a kid's education. In more ways than one.
In fairness though, many teacher's dont' have a lot of choice in the books they use, the curriculum they must teach, the amount of hours they spend on a subject, nor in the methods used. It's mandated for them. Then somebody comes up with wonderful concepts like "values based education", "open concept" format, and now "no child left behind". All centered around the DUMB element and making sure they move on to the next level. If some kids are dumb or lazy, it hurts their self esteem to keep them behind a grade......so let's dumb down the curriculum so even the dumbest can pass and move on (thereby ensuring a mediocre education and half the class is bored and unchallenged), let's provide open forums for classes instead of a classroom environment geared to concentration and attention, and let's punish an entire school student body if the school is located in a geographic area statistically populated by a large number of unmotivated, undisciplined, unruly, and determined underachievers.
School bussing wasn't about equal education. It was about trying to obtain a median level numbers game. Getting those achievement test scores up for one group while dragging them down for another. Do whatever you can to make it LOOK like education is better overall and results are better overall....even if it means lowering the bar across the board, infiltrating a school population of achievers with the unruly and underachievers to obtain a better average overall, dumbing down the programs until nobody fails, and ceasing teaching the "hard" subjects like proper english and real math and replacing them with "values based" programs of "if you can talk and be barely understood and do your checkbook congrats! you are prepared for life in the REAL world!"
No wonder it is getting harder and harder to find somebody willing to take up the teaching profession. No wonder you can't pay them enough to stay when you DO find someone. It must be frustrating beyond belief. Not to mention downright DANGEROUS in some places to be a teacher.
The few shining examples are not replicated. Who was that hispanic teacher in East Los Angeles who took brats and made them work hard and become math whiz kids......and better people? Was his example enlarged upon? Nope. Who was the lady who instituted violin instruction for kids....thereby teaching them discipline and pride in achievements won through hard work? She has to beg for funds for the program. And across the country such programs are cut for budgetary reasons. If a kid is challenged and expected and made to work hard, in the end he becomes a better person. If he is just allowed to skate by, and the programs are dumbed down rather than the kid be expected to REACH UP, we get mediocre, unthinking, disaffected sheep unable to reason. Maybe that's the plan. Makes you wonder. |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 10:51:29 AM
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In short, we have gone from a society proudly offering a free public education to everyone geared to providing as much as each kid can handle and as much as he is willing to put an effort out for, with no guarantees other than availability of the best education we can provide overall...........to a system geared to ensure everybody passes and everybody graduates whatever it takes. We have gone from a system which taught pride in country, government, society, and self through achievements and the ability to achieve to one which teaches self is most important but instills no real pride in self, and virtually no pride in anything else either.
We have gone from public education being made available, to public education being a RIGHT even if you shoot at a teacher. Worse yet, we have gone to GRADUATION being a RIGHT even if you haven't worked for it.
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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 2:05:05 PM
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As a Gen-Xer, I had the unfortunate luck to be the first exposed to the "Dick and Jane" 'Whole Language' approach to reading. I also witnessed the rise of the Education Major (using the 'module' approach to teaching), and the decline of true masters (or mistresses) of specific educational disciplines (ie. a History Major teaching history, a Literary Major teaching litature, etc.).
What did help pull me from the abyss of mediocrity and conformity, was the school's library. My High School Librarian, Ms. Patricia Olean, helped steer me toward many varied subjects and authors. She was a rarity then, and even more so today. It was she who fueled my hunger for reading and learning, not my teachers. God bless you Patty, wherever you are. Once in that sacred repository of lost knowledge, I was able to immerse myself into many of the classics mentioned by all of you.
What a good education depends on today, is not more taxpayer dollars, but more parental involvement. My wife and I make it a point to read to our daughter twice a day, involving three or more books. I do this because I want her to go beyond her parents in both knowledge and career sucess.
Your Most Humble Servant,
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Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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Doc M
Great Quack Healer of the Frontier
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 4:26:40 PM
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Okey dokey -- you guys have opened the door now! In what can be
laughingly termed my "real life," kindly old Doc M works as a
reference librarian, and answers questions allllll day long.
Here are some examples of questions I've gotten about history,
asked by adults.
1) Was General Robert E. Lee the hero of "Operation Desert Storm?"
2) Did Winston Churchill discover America?
3) What's the name of the Indian who fought in the French and Indain
War?
4) How was the west coast involved in the Revolutionary War?
5) Did the Wright Brothers fly across the Atlantic on their first
flight?
6) Give me the names of all the pilgrims on the Santa Maria.
7) What is Omaha, Nebraska? Is it real?
8) Is Tahiti an amusement park?
9) Is Mt. Rushmore natural or man-made?
10) Who is the Andy who owns the Andy's Mountains?
11) Did Adam West (Batman) help Jonas Salk discover the Polio vaccine?
12) Did Elvis Presley have a hairy chest?
13) Is New Hampshire in Connecticut, or is it a state now?
Scary, eh?
I think not only the schools are responsible for the "dumbing down" --
the parents are equally guilty. My parents took us to historical
places all the time on our family vacations -- Monticello, Mt. Vernon,
Williamsburg, and every Civil War battlefield you can think of.
Ah...the fabulous 90 plus degree day that our fan belt broke outside
of Fredericksburg -- a "family memory" that will live in infamy!
Did I always appreciate what I saw? No, but now I do. Now what
happens on family trips? First of all, we take the kids to WooHoo
Wally World or whatever, because we all know history is borrrring.
And god forbid they be bored along the way, so we have Sponge Bob
Square Pants on the video player in the SUV, or they're plugged into
computer games rather than looking at anything outside the car
windows. And thanks to turning everything into a "family friendly"
theme park, every place looks like every other place. And reading???
What are you smoking??? Nobody reads to their kids anymore past the
age of Pat The Bunny -- either teachers or parents.
I remember when I was in second grade our teacher began reading
the Little House series to us -- and we were transfixed, both
girls and boys. It made everything in the textbooks begin to
come alive, especially since we knew the stories were based on
what actually happened to kids our age in frontier days.
I have no idea what the solution to all this is, but I'm not
real optimistic about things getting any better.
Doc M |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 5:47:55 PM
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God bless the librarians! All of 'em!
Except Emma Crow, Northeast Junior High. Caw caw caw! We used to call her "I amma crow" and do the most obnoxious imitation of that bird.........mainly cause she was the ENEMY! Wasn't important if you slep through library period......was only important that no NOISE be made, not a sound, shhhh. Even the noise of a page turned cause the old biddy to smack you with a ruler. God forbid should you wanna get out of your seat and go to the card catalog!
Librarians though.........God bless em. Did anybody else have summer reading programs in their public libraries? Every summer ours would have a program where you got a gold star for every book read, and a red star for every five read and so on. You had to do it one book at a time, but you could choose any topic or fiction/non fiction. You were proud to have that little card with all those stars on it. Least I was. And they'd help you with finding things that interested you. Love the smell of a library too. I WANT MY CARD CATALOG BACK!!!!!!!!
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 6:06:19 PM
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You know, I am gonna buy a copy of that book Singing Wheels, and read it to Betty's grand daughter. It was that book which led me to go to the library and read the kid's version of Northwest Passage "Roger's Rangers" which led me to read the kid's version of Last of the Mohicans, which led me to.......well you get the idea.
And pass that sucker on to Betty's daughter to read to her kids when she has any.
My kids are all grown up of course, and have a real interest in history and reading. Who said parents should be involved with education? Read to their kids? Expose them to educational things? Darn right. Best thing we can do for them. I agree whole heartedly. And darnit, introduce them to the library! Every place I ever went first thing I did was check out the library and get a card. Why, I owe late fees in nearly every state in this great country!!!
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Doc M
Great Quack Healer of the Frontier
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 6:14:24 PM
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My favorite was Miss Murphy, the librarian in my high school, who
we nicknamed "Skull" Murphy -- she had nasty thin red hair in
a bun, of course, and a face like she got second place in a hatchet
fight. She hid all the new books that came in for fear we might
actually check them out and get them dirty, her finest moment
was when she yelled at my best friend for sitting and paging
through a magazine. "You can't read in here!!!" she thundered!
This is A LIBRARY!!!!" Please be assured that I look about as
far away from a "librarian" as it's possible to get, thanks be
to God!!
Kissies!
Doc M |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 7:49:18 PM
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Yeah, Emma Crow wore a bun too. What is with that? Was it the expected look or something?
Worse yet, the woman wore BLACK! I mean, geez, make it EASY or something!
Remember "these boots are made for walking"?
Well given THAT name and THAT attire she was virtually screaming "this woman's made for mocking!" |
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Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 8:40:29 PM
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Great discussion! I see each day the lack of parental involvement and how their children are struggling big time. How do you convince these parents that they are their children's first teachers? I remember one of our kindergarten teachers on the first day of school when only the parents come. She, of course, said she was there to teach them but her question to them was, "What have you taught your child up to this point?" Makes a HUGE difference.
Our social studies classes are doing research on the Western Frontier. They come into the library in groups at a time, which is great because it's almost like "one on one". The first thing they want to do is jump onto the computer to look up this and that. NOPE! Not in here...not at first. First, you use resource books, non-fiction books, your text book, go to the index and find where the information is (what's an index?)....once they began digging, they actually enjoyed doing it...almost like a treasure hunt they said. So, there are some bright moments but it takes everybody getting involved...teachers, parents, Fort Toulouse, librarians, local historians. And by some small miracle one of these will ignite a passion in one of these students and set them on fire for history. |
Theresa |
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Kurt
Mohicanite
USA
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Posted - September 30 2003 : 10:26:01 PM
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My wife completed her Bachelor of Science in Teaching and took a Masters level course this semester to get started. No rush since she's back as Teaching Assistant and the clock doesn't start until she gets a teaching job. Anyway, the name has changed but the gist of the course is a return to one-room schoolhouse method where when you plan out a subject, you put the advanced students to work helping teach the ones who need more help. It's nice to see old ideas be validated and adapted to new situations.
I'm pretty sure 4th graders in New York study New York history so they do get some French and Indian and American Revolution but not much Civil War.
Oh, I did see a couple of copies of Singing Wheels being offered when I did a internet search so you should be able to find one, Bill. |
Yr. obt. svt.
Kurt |
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CT•Ranger
Colonial Militia
USA
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Posted - October 01 2003 : 12:42:32 AM
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I went through the California public school system, and found the teaching of history in grade school to be fairly well done. We started with local history in 3rd grade, learning about the history of our city. 4th grade was state history, learning about the spanish missions, the gold rush etc. American history in 5th grade, but we only got to the Civil War by the end of the year. Sixth grade was world history, but focused mostly on ancient history, neolithic through the Roman Empire. We even read through the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Hammarabi's Code. Jr. High was more world history in 7th, and American in 8th. High school was where the teaching of history degenerated. Only two years of history were required out of four. So 10th grade was world history and 11th more American. It was here where I became disgusted with the politically correct propaganda, and teachers teaching for the standardized test. Teaching about minority history is fine, but not at the expense of the rest of American history. This I think, is where the real problem lies. History goes through fads, just like anything else in American culture. For the last 10 years or so the focus has shifted from ignoring minorities, to completely focusing on minorities, and everything else is completely ignored. When I got to high school, I pretty much had to teach myself if I wanted to learn any history.
There were some really bad history teachers I had too. One of them just showed movies, like "Gone with the Wind" and "Drums Along the Mohawk," but did nothing to try to explain them or the history behind them. This teacher didn't know what the Battle of Cowpens was, and when questioned about it by a student, said it was fences for holding cows. Another thought all the aircraft involved in WWI were called "The Flying Circus," and when corrected by a student who tried to explain "The Flying Circus" was a nickname for just one German squadron, the teacher said something like "You make it sound like there were a lot of planes in WWI." And this was supposed to be a teacher of an Advanced Placement class. Another teacher in my AP American history class described the Americans in the Revolution as all "backwoods farmers" who "took their squirrel rifles down from over the mantle" to shoot at the British from behind trees.
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YMHS,
Connecticut•Ranger
Thomas Thacher
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Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
USA
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Posted - October 01 2003 : 07:24:41 AM
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CT, we have a high school history teacher/coach (puh-lease) who shows a lot of movies to his class thereby earning the name "Video 101" title for his class.
An addendum to my post above about not allowing the students to look up information on the computer....we DO allow that but we want them to learn how to use the books available first. This site has a wealth of information that anyone studying history could find most anything right here and I would direct them to this place in a heartbeat.
I remember last year one of our sixth grade students who had been retained the year before and a very slow learner and struggled so much but yet he couldn't get enough of WWII. He couldn't get enough of it due the the fact that his Grandfather was in it....a perfect of example of how we should use all our sources to teach these kids and excite them about learning. It's a tough job but it can be done and like Bill said, it's not necessarily more money that's needed to get the job done. |
Theresa |
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richfed
Sachem
USA
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Posted - October 01 2003 : 1:52:28 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Doc M
Okey dokey -- you guys have opened the door now! In what can be
laughingly termed my "real life," kindly old Doc M works as a
reference librarian, and answers questions allllll day long.
Here are some examples of questions I've gotten about history,
asked by adults.
1) Was General Robert E. Lee the hero of "Operation Desert Storm?"
2) Did Winston Churchill discover America?
3) What's the name of the Indian who fought in the French and Indain
War?
4) How was the west coast involved in the Revolutionary War?
5) Did the Wright Brothers fly across the Atlantic on their first
flight?
6) Give me the names of all the pilgrims on the Santa Maria.
7) What is Omaha, Nebraska? Is it real?
8) Is Tahiti an amusement park?
9) Is Mt. Rushmore natural or man-made?
10) Who is the Andy who owns the Andy's Mountains?
11) Did Adam West (Batman) help Jonas Salk discover the Polio vaccine?
12) Did Elvis Presley have a hairy chest?
13) Is New Hampshire in Connecticut, or is it a state now?
Scary, eh?
Funny, too. Reminds me of the type of questions we often get through the web site.
All you guys are saying the very things that caused us to decide to home school our kids back in the 80s. We still do. I works out great - of course, they have a great teacher [Lainey]. There is no comparison between the education my kids receive and that given in the local elementary schools here. Besides learning to read & write & do arithmetic, my children are much more versed in literature, history, religion & philosophy than the average child in the same grade. So far, the track record has been that they go on to excel in high school & college. So, I agree with the assessments being made here.
That said, somebody, somewhere is teaching history to their classes. I can't vouch for the quality or method, but the result for this web site is soaring visitation.
BTW, Bill, I do not recall the "Singing Wheel" books ... I remember Dick & Jane and their dog, Spot. Then, they moved into some sort of color-coded advancement process in my school ... I don't know, maybe I was in the 4th grade, or so, when that was implemented ... which makes it about 1962, or thereabouts. My kids learn largely from the McGuffey Readers.
PS - I'm going to move this thread into, I guess, the philosophy forum? It's more that than a historical site. Moderator there can re-move if you think of a better place ... Or, is a new forum in order? |
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Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 17 2002
Status: offline
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Posted - October 01 2003 : 5:38:33 PM
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| You know, Rich, I believe if I had to make the decision whether to send my kids to public or private school in this day and time, I'd have to opt for private school simply because I wouldn't want them exposed to some of the goings-on from students as a youngster. That lack of discipline is rampant...our hands are tied. I admire Lainey for being able to do this for your children. |
Theresa |
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Theresa
Bumppo's Tavern Proprietress
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 17 2002
Status: offline
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Posted - October 01 2003 : 5:39:56 PM
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| OH!...and I remember Dick, Jane, Spot, Mother, Father, and their cat Puff. |
Theresa |
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Bill R
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 03 2002
Status: offline
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Posted - October 01 2003 : 5:55:10 PM
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Forgot about Puff! And had Dick's name wrong! Called him Jerry.
Ya know, I could almost be persuaded to go back to 1950's and grade school.............*sigh* |
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Grade schools then and now....Singing Wheels
