March 26, 2005 7:10 PM
Blog deprivation, computer suicide, and anti-homeschool policies
This is worse than being sleep-deprived, I do believe. I came back from a week in California to -- well, with seven kids still at home, you can imagine. I mean, they did a good job taking care of each other, but there were pantries and refrigerators to be cleaned out and the usual mountains of laundry, including my own week's worth.
Then, my computer went kaput. Just suddenly died, leaving behind a blue screen suicide note -- something to the effect of shutting down windows completely to "protect" itself. I could not even start in safe mode or anything -- nowhere to go but that blue screen.
From Windows Haiku:
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
Three hours on the phone with Dell support -- located in India, which always makes communication, um, interesting -- and the autopsy was complete. My hard drive was indeed dead, though no one has a clue why. My extended warranty means someone will be out Monday with a new hard drive.
"What about my files?" I asked.
"Oh, you won't be able to get at those," he said in the voice of Homer Simpson's convenience store owner Abu.
My computer corpse is now at my son-in-law Kip's awaiting another turn under the knife. Hopefully Kip will be able to pull out my files (over 600 articles! gulp!)and 5 years of Curtis photo archives. I'm trying not to freak out until I know for sure. Why freak out twice?
In the meantime, I'm using Zach's computer now and then to check email, but it's been a hectic week. The kids go back to school Monday and I'm anxious to get my computer issues resolved. There are four publishing houses interested in my next book proposal, which I need to edit and send to them this week. Plus my blog. Plus while I was gone I got a certified letter from the school district saying Maddy had missed too much school and I could be found guilty of a misdemeanor -- geesh! glad it's not a felony! -- for not making my child attend school enough.
Hello? I'd like to invite the school administration to take a look at her tonsils, which are about the size of avocados. Yes, she's had a rough two winters. Can't imagine why, unless it's the fact that she was born and raised in northern California where the temperature rarely drops below 40 degrees and there's no humidity and little mold or mildew.
I'm amused at the image of me being handcuffed and taken to jail -- that's sure to fix everything.
Our school district is also conducting a census, a poorly disguised attempt at ferreting out homeschoolers. I don't believe they can legally require anyone to answer the questions, but they're trying their darnedest -- with signs up on the freeway to "fill out the census," as though it's some patriotic duty like supporting our troops. If I were homeschooling -- which I did for ten years -- I'd toss it in the trash. There's sure to be some backlash.
The thing is that there are many, many school districts across the country that cooperate with homeschoolers, allowing kids to come freely in and out of the system, to engage in extracurricular activities, or even to take a few classes at school while taking others at home.
Not Loudoun County.
Loudoun is the worst when it comes to noncooperation -- so bad that when a student enters high school, no matter how old or how well educated, they refuse to transfer homeschool credits. They will not allow any student to test for proficiency. So a 16 or 17 year old coming in would be put in 9th grade -- no matter how intelligent or well-educated. My son Zach had taken pre-calculus in college, but in Loudoun he had to start with geometry.
Ridiculous.
All it would take would be one person to challenge it. Until then Loudoun County is characterized by a punitive policy based on prejudice. Meanwhile, interestingly, Loudoun's home school community had more National Merit Scholarship Finalists than our local high school. Actually, without Zach -- who was homeschooled for eight years -- Loudoun Valley would not have even had one this year.
Posted in Current Affairs, Homeschooling | Permalink
Comments
I missed you! Funny since your blog is so new, but I really did. Sorry to hear about your computer issues. I was hoping you'd blog about the Schiavo case? Any chance?
Posted by: Mel | March 26, 2005 7:43 PM
You must always BACK UP YOUR FILES!!!!! I would just cry if I lost all the pictures on my hard drive, that is why I copy them to discs frequently.
And those files can be retrieved, you just have to find someone with the know-how. Ask around in the Computer Science department at the colleges near you, I bet you could find someone there who could help you.
Posted by: Stacy | March 27, 2005 4:30 PM
Thanks, Barbara
It's good to check in with you (virtually) in the wee morning quiet hours.
Posted by: Veronique Harmon | March 30, 2005 11:57 AM
I attended a multi-age (1st & 2nd) classroom meeting at the public school our first-grade son attends Tuesday night. I had to keep from laughing out loud a few times. The two teachers selling the concept to the parents put a long list of benefits on the overhead. They have all showed up on handouts/overheads at the homeschooling conferences I attended a few years back. And the public school advocates are against homeschooling because . . .?
Posted by: Jschutt | April 21, 2005 9:30 PM
