[blparent] email from school

Thu Feb 19 18:15:49 UTC 2015

Then be very careful how you speak to the school and how you deal with them. 
Do not make enemies where you nneed allies.  If I were the school 
administrator who received the note you sent the other day with the 
adversarial/hostile tone, and the spelling and punctuation errors, I would 
be very concerned for the child receiving home schooling from the blind 
mother who didn't have proper resources to do the job.  Part of the problem 
might be my underestimation of a blind person as a sighted and undereducated 
bureaucrat in the education system, I admit, but a bigger part of the 
problem would be that I believed the mother in question was combative and 
unwilling to work with the system and do what was best for her daughter.  If 
I didn't feel that immediate intervention was necessary, I would be close to 
it.  I'm not saying don't do what you think is best.  I'm just saying watch 
your tone and step carefully.  We all have to do that as blind parents; it 
goes with the job.

Jo Elizabeth

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may 
kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at 
evening.--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Dianna via blparent
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 10:33 AM
To: 'Star Gazer' ; 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blparent] email from school

You all are entitled to your opinions, but if you do not take seats when
they are offered here in Chicago you lose them and it is a hy bred school
not home schooling.  She does both work at home and at school.  When you are
blind sometimes it does not matter what you do your ducks won't be where
they should be for people to believe in your abilities so I am going to do
what I want and feel is right for my child.

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Star Gazer
via blparent
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 7:30 AM
To: 'Judy Jones'; 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blparent] email from school

Yes.
It sounds like you didn't have your ducks in a row when you decided to
homeschool. Remember how some of us advised you to do this before starting
out? Now you know why.
My suggestion would be to put your daughter back in school, get things all
set up to homeschool and then do that if you still think you need to.
Realize that the school you've chosen doesn't know you from a hole in the
wall, so has no clue how you will do things or what your intentions are.
You don't sound adversial in your note to the school, you sound downright
hostile. There is a huge difference.

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Judy Jones
via blparent
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 7:56 AM
To: Dianna; Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] email from school

The assumption here seems to be you cannot get at the printed word, or at
least, the admin not understanding how you would access the print.  This is
very common in the sighted world, unless someone has been exposed to the
idea of  screen-reading software, and very understandable.

It sounds like a case of not knowing, very understandable.  I found that
with my girls, once sighted teachers and administrators understood how I
planned to access the printed word, there were no more problems.  We
experienced private and public schools, as well as homeschooling.

Now, the un-knowing could turn into ignorance if the admin refuses to accept
your alternatives to learning.  My question would be, how they would
accommodate a disabled student at their school.

When I think back on it, the textbooks I used with my girls in our home
schooling years were part of that school's curriculum and were online, but
that requirement for me as the teaching parent was a factor in helping us
choose that school..

Judy

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna via blparent
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 11:18 PM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: [blparent] email from school

Here is what the head of school had to say.  She makes her school look bad
and my theory is if they can't believe in the learning coaches then how can
they teach their students to believe in themselves even if they have a
disability.  They decided to work with me on some level anyway since one of
the admin staff stood up for me and said he believed in me and my abilities.
I am very determined to make it work for my child and I.  We may decide
something different in a few years, but right now she needs this.

Diana-

This program requires a parent to read and do the work with the child.
Children cannot just work through the program on their own. It requires the
parent to work through each lesson with the child  daily and it takes the
child and parent 5 hours a day on average working together to complete the
work.

I will have Ms. Tucker follow up with you tomorrow to discuss in detail how
this works.

Here is my reply.

I understand all of this I am not stupid.  I have no intentions of my child
doing her work alone.  That would defeat the whole point of wanting to
school her this way.  It would make no since either.   I use a screen reader
program to read my screen.  She just happens to know how to use a mouse
already which makes us get to places faster and she will be able to log in
one  computer while I read on the other since she needs a screen and I do
not.  I close my screen half the time.  I can hear as well.  I heard the
requirements and expectations in orientation.  I also signed them.  My
signature counts for something and I uphold what I sign.  I also can read
books if I have them brailed as well as scanned print with a scanning
program on my computer as well as my iPhone.  This will give me a reason to
totally learn my iPhone scanning program that I have.

From: Biasbas, Amy [mailto:agbiasbas at k12.com]

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