Why do homeschool parents who publish books do this?

[mommaduck]

Is it this? http://www.jennyphillips.com/good-beautiful-book-list/

 

 

 

Q: Why is there a charge for the list?

A: #1) Thousands of hours and thousands of dollars have gone into creating this 117-page document. A small charge helps cover some of the costs of purchasing and screening books. On average, we go through 7-8 books we cannot recommend for each book we can recommend, meaning we purchase and screen over 400 books each year, costing thousands of dollars. #2) We feel that if people have to buy the list, even for a very small fee, they will be more likely to value it and use it.

 

It's paying for her personal library LOL!

[Mergath]

It's paying for her personal library LOL!

And speaking of libraries, why in the world is she buying all these books instead of getting them from the library if such a high percentage are ultimately deemed unacceptable?

[fralala]

• "Look Inside."

Quickly click out of that window.

Already have enough of people telling me how great their kids are in real life.

And then taking personal credit for it.

But I know their kids.

And they deserve some credit.

For not being as obnoxious and self-congratulatory as their parents.

And for having a sense of shame.

[Mergath]

 

• "Look Inside."
• Quickly click out of that window.
• Already have enough of people telling me how great their kids are in real life.
• And then taking personal credit for it.
• But I know their kids.
• And they deserve some credit.
• For not being as obnoxious and self-congratulatory as their parents.
• And for having a sense of shame.

I love so much that you expressed this with bullet points.

[mommaduck]

I give her this...she apparently has a market.

 

IMO, this is what reviews are for. And those are generally free. I also don't fret over whether my highschooler will run across a possible curse word or "situation" in a book. By highschool, I expect them to have personal command over their own reading. I don't need an approval list.

[Katy]

I've had a similar experience with a self-published kindle diet/fitness book.  The author attacked me.  I pointed out how unprofessional that was and he did edit his response to be more diplomatic, but it was still all kinds of wrong.  The next negative review was something to the effect of, "I don't know why anyone would purchase a book when the writer publicly attacks his critics on Amazon. How unprofessional."  Then he deleted his comments to me.

[unsinkable]

It is a pretty serious allegation to say the parents rewrote the kids' college papers.

 

Does anyone have the quote from the book that says the parents did this?

[rose]

IMO there are not enough WELL written books about homeschooling. I can probably count them on one hand. I definitely would like more that were in the tone of Mere Motherhood. The ones written by people with the oldest kid being in 5th grade that try and tell me how to make my Homeschool the most excellent thing ever, make me roll my eyes. They need a blog. Not a book. My exception would be someone who was homeschooled themselves. But still. Until you do it yourself and finish I think we’re all shooting in the dark. :)

 

Btw- I’d buy your book. Six boys. Road trips. The military. The unpopulated desert of West Texas. It’s more adventure story than homeschooling!

I need your list of well written books. I seriously don't have the time for all the other crap.

[Mergath]

It is a pretty serious allegation to say the parents rewrote the kids' college papers.

 

Does anyone have the quote from the book that says the parents did this?

I don't have the book on my kindle anymore so I can't look up the quote, but I'm not the only one who caught that in the book if you look at the other thread. I can't remember the exact wording, but they said they had to sit down with their kids once they started college and edit each line of the papers. I know when I read that part in the book, I was flabbergasted that a parent would think a kid was ready for college if that was necessary.

[bethben]

My DH works for a Christian publisher and will bring home books they are considering on homeschooling for me to review. Always always, I look for how old the authors oldest homeschooler is. If they proclaim to be an expert on how to keep your sanity or how to keep a peaceful God centered homeschool and their oldest is in 5th grade, I tell him to reconsider publishing it. I tell him that only until your oldest has made it at least through senior year of homeschooling can you even start to talk about peaceful homeschool and keeping your sanity while homeschooling.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unsinkable]

I don't have the book on my kindle anymore so I can't look up the quote, but I'm not the only one who caught that in the book if you look at the other thread. I can't remember the exact wording, but they said they had to sit down with their kids once they started college and edit each line of the papers. I know when I read that part in the book, I was flabbergasted that a parent would think a kid was ready for college if that was necessary.

How else do you edit/proofread a paper?

 

You can't exactly skim it to look for errors.

 

In both high school and college my kids had meetings with their writing teachers where they go line by line and provide critique.

[Mergath]

How else do you edit/proofread a paper?

 

You can't exactly skim it to look for errors.

 

In both high school and college my kids had meetings with their writing teachers where they go line by line and provide critique.

There's a difference between having a writing instructor provide you with criticism so you can edit your own work, and having mommy and daddy edit it for you. It's not like these kids were writing the next great American novel. If they can't handle a community college comp 101 paper without having mommy and daddy help them rewrite every line, they just weren't ready for college. This is really, really basic stuff when it comes to writing. It's the equivalent of going to college unable to do basic algebra or not knowing what a cell is. Comp 101 should be an easy pass.

 

And if they weren't ready, no biggie. Most fourteen year olds aren't ready for college. But if the entire point of your book is "How I got my kids ready for college by fourteen," the kids actually not being ready is going to come up in the reviews.

[mamaraby]

Is it this? http://www.jennyphillips.com/good-beautiful-book-list/

Yes, except I don’t want that list. I want the other list, the one called “The Books That Did Not Make the List.â€

 

The one you have to agree to never talk about. Like fight club. Don’t talk about the book list. Further down that page are the terms for getting the list.

 

See, forbidden fruit. I guarantee she and I will not agree, but I can’t have it and now I clearly neeeeed to see it. Also, I want to see the controversy that the terms are in reaction to because I feel like I missed out. I figure it had to have been pretty big to have prompted the terms.

[unsinkable]

Editing ( "move the sentence. It doesn't belong in this paragraph") and proofreading (you spelled this wrong. Comma splice) are both valuable. That's why my kids' teachers did both. T

 

 

And in the quoted section from Kinsa, they said the kids rewrote the paper.

[eternalsummer]

At any rate, if they were doing it for English 101 and 102 at the community college, my understanding is they were using those courses as the first year of high school, when their kids were 14/15.  Now, I'm not saying I'd proofread/edit my kids' papers line by line in high school (please lord don't let me be doing that) but there are definitely a fair number of, especially homeschooling, parents who do at that age.

 

If we're talking an actual first college course, that would be maybe different.

 

I would never do either, but I'm not particularly surprised or appalled that parents do and would at those ages and for those classes (essentially junior/sr level HS English)

[Mergath]

Editing ( "move the sentence. It doesn't belong in this paragraph") and proofreading (you spelled this wrong. Comma splice) are both valuable. That's why my kids' teachers did both. T

 

 

And in the quoted section from Kinsa, they said the kids rewrote the paper.

They did both for your kids for every line of every essay at times when they were in college? And then you wrote a book about how to homeschool for early college-readiness?

 

Yeah, didn't think so. And while the kids may have physically rewritten the papers, it sounds like the parents basically told them what to write. I don't know about you, but proofreading and a few helpful suggestions have never left me exhausted, like they claimed to be after the class concluded.

 

You're welcome to leave your own positive reviews on the book, of course.

[ktgrok]

They did both for your kids for every line of every essay at times when they were in college? And then you wrote a book about how to homeschool for early college-readiness?

 

Yeah, didn't think so. And while the kids may have physically rewritten the papers, it sounds like the parents basically told them what to write. I don't know about you, but proofreading and a few helpful suggestions have never left me exhausted, like they claimed to be after the class concluded.

 

You're welcome to leave your own positive reviews on the book, of course.

 

Yeah if you have to make corrections every line...that's an issue. My editors have their work cut out with my stuff, but not to that level! And when I edit other's work I am careful not to over edit, so I leave their voice. 

[unsinkable]

Here's the exact quote (lifted from the other thread):

 

“We worked one-on-one with each child. If necessary, we went through each line of each essay to point out what was good, what did not make sense, what was missing, or what could be eliminated. We would then have the child rewrite the paper…. For Tanya and I the process was involved, tiring, and yet very satisfying because we saw our children’s ability to write expressively blossom. We were always glad when a child finished English 101 and 102, but at the same time we were sad because our close interaction with the child to learn the English language was essentially over.â€

 

I will say, I have helped proofread my college kids' papers (when they specifically ask me to), but it's more for general advice and NOT a line-by-line edit. I agree with others who said that if that level of editing is needed, then the child isn't ready for true college level work.

 

And proofreading my kids' college papers have never left me mentally exhausted. Bored silly, on the other hand... lol

Review:

 

"their kids were such poor writers that mom and dad had to rewrite their Comp 101 papers for them line by line to get them a passing grade. "

[unsinkable]

Yeah if you have to make corrections every line...that's an issue. My editors have their work cut out with my stuff, but not to that level! And when I edit other's work I am careful not to over edit, so I leave their voice.

Most college writing 101 classes are not writing fiction. They're writing process type papers.

 

Plus you're a professional writer, not a 14 year old kid.

[HS Mom in NC]

There's a difference between having a writing instructor provide you with criticism so you can edit your own work, and having mommy and daddy edit it for you. It's not like these kids were writing the next great American novel. If they can't handle a community college comp 101 paper without having mommy and daddy help them rewrite every line, they just weren't ready for college. This is really, really basic stuff when it comes to writing. It's the equivalent of going to college unable to do basic algebra or not knowing what a cell is. Comp 101 should be an easy pass.

 

And if they weren't ready, no biggie. Most fourteen year olds aren't ready for college. But if the entire point of your book is "How I got my kids ready for college by fourteen," the kids actually not being ready is going to come up in the reviews.

 

YES! When people ask me about sending their kids to cc in their early to mid teens like I did, this is something I tell them.  If they're not able to handle all the course work on their own, then they shouldn't be there. Mommy and Daddy don't proofread or edit assignments for their college kids.  If you wouldn't do it for your kid in living in a college dorm across the country, then don't do it for your kid in cc, no matter how old they are.  

 

That's the whole problem with what I'm hearing about this book, which I haven't read. It seems to be recommending a joint parent/child approach to college and choosing majors.  Doing that is a sign that the child isn't ready for cc and that the parents likely have some degree of control issues. Yes, it's OK for the paying parent to ask the kid why they want to major in something and what the current employment opportunities are with it. There's a career center at each campus of the cc system the authors' kids attended that helps with this. Parents can also insist that the kid talk a couple of people currently in that field and/or with that degree for feedback on how it worked out for them, but those are part of a normal parental role.

 

Middle daughter did ask me once what I thought the less than crystal clear instructions meant on one assignment in her Eng 101 class, so I read them and gave her my best guess.  I think she asked about how to word a couple of lines from active to passive voice or something similar once too.  But that was limit of my involvement all of the assignments my kids ever did in cc.

[unsinkable]

They did both for your kids for every line of every essay at times when they were in college? And then you wrote a book about how to homeschool for early college-readiness?

 

Yeah, didn't think so. And while the kids may have physically rewritten the papers, it sounds like the parents basically told them what to write. I don't know about you, but proofreading and a few helpful suggestions have never left me exhausted, like they claimed to be after the class concluded.

 

You're welcome to leave your own positive reviews on the book, of course.

So you asked me questions, then answered for me.

 

That tells me you aren't interested in a conversation.

[LucyStoner]

If you are homeschooling until college, you teach writing until college. Once they are in college, a quick proofread and maybe some general feedback like one might get at a college writing center is ALL that parents should do for a college ready student. If the student needs more than that, they aren’t working at a college level.

 

What they describe sounds like they were essentially rewriting it and more or less having their children retype it. It’s cheating.

Edited March 5, 2018 by LucyStoner

[ktgrok]

Most college writing 101 classes are not writing fiction. They're writing process type papers.

 

Plus you're a professional writer, not a 14 year old kid.

 

But when I edit my son's papers or those of other kids, I still don't do that. It's just not right to do that much. It takes away their natural voice. And if there are THAT many errors at 14 they need more highschool english, not college english. 

[unsinkable]

If you are homeschooling until college, you teach writing until college. Once they are in college, a quick proofread and maybe some general feedback like one might get at a college writing center is ALL that parents should do for a college ready student. If the student needs more than that, they aren’t working at a college level.

 

What they describe sounds like they were essentially rewriting it and more or less having their children retype it. It’s cheating.

My family has experienced otherwise in college writing programs. There ARE teachers who require students to meet with them and edit and proofread line by line for some papers and make themselves available to do it for any paper.

 

Additionally, they GRADE line by line, too, and get super aggravated if you haven't made corrections that they pointed out in the meetings. BC my kid had made THAT miatake.

[unsinkable]

But when I edit my son's papers or those of other kids, I still don't do that. It's just not right to do that much. It takes away their natural voice. And if there are THAT many errors at 14 they need more highschool english, not college english.

I don't agree editing takes away the natural voice. If I say, "you listed your 3 points in your intro as A, B, C. But then in your body, you talk about the points as B, A, C. You need to switch these" that does nothing to change their voice.

[ktgrok]

I should clarify, I think that level of editing with the student is appropriate if you are homeschooling them, and you are the teacher. I don't think it is appropriate if they are turning it in to another teacher, as their own work. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Homeschoolers in general are crazy.  I should know, I'm a homeschooler AND I'm crazy. 

[unsinkable]

I should clarify, I think that level of editing with the student is appropriate if you are homeschooling them, and you are the teacher. I don't think it is appropriate if they are turning it in to another teacher, as their own work.

The purpose of writing classes, at every level, is to learn, not prove what you can already do.

 

I can see how line by line editing assists with learning, especially when changing levels...like going from high school to college.

 

Marking a sentence and saying, "I don't understand what you're saying here. Re-phrase." provides a learning opportunity. That is the kind of editing that I commonly saw among writing teachers. Or after a while: " Unclear. " Or even, "What?" :lol:

Edited March 5, 2018 by unsinkable

[Mimm]

But when I edit my son's papers or those of other kids, I still don't do that. It's just not right to do that much. It takes away their natural voice. And if there are THAT many errors at 14 they need more highschool english, not college english. 

 

I agree with you. But at the same time, it seems to be working for them right? His kids are getting degrees (that he wants them to have) and presumably being productive adults. I mean, good for them and all. The dad sound entirely insufferable, and I wouldn't put a kid that age into college, but I'm not so confident in my parenting that I'm going to go, say, write a book about how everyone should do what I'm doing. ;)

[Mergath]

Review:

 

"their kids were such poor writers that mom and dad had to rewrite their Comp 101 papers for them line by line to get them a passing grade. "

Yes. Because when you are editing someone else's paper to the extent described above, you are rewriting the paper for them, even if they do the physical typing. It is no longer their work. If I wrote a book and had someone edit every single line for me, they would get co-author credit.

[Mergath]

My family has experienced otherwise in college writing programs. There ARE teachers who require students to meet with them and edit and proofread line by line for some papers and make themselves available to do it for any paper.

 

Additionally, they GRADE line by line, too, and get super aggravated if you haven't made corrections that they pointed out in the meetings. BC my kid had made THAT miatake.

I was an English major, and I never saw that in any of my classes. If you needed that degree of hand-holding to write a competent paper in the program I was in, you would have been referred to a remedial writing class. My profs expected that by college, we could all construct a half-decent sentence without help. It would be like trying to take an undergrad math class if you can't solve a simple equation. Edited March 5, 2018 by Mergath

[ktgrok]

The purpose of writing classes, at every level, is to learn, not prove what you can already do.

 

I can see how line by line editing assists with learning, especially when changing levels...like going from high school to college.

 

Marking a sentence and saying, "I don't understand what you're saying here. Re-phrase." provides a learning opportunity. That is the kind of editing that I commonly saw among writing teachers. Or after a while: " Unclear. " Or even, "What?" :lol:

 

Right, but it's by the teacher, who has graded based on the work handed it. I have no issue with the teacher doing it. It's handing it in for grading when mom did that, for each line of the paper. 

 

Maybe they meant it differently than I'm reading it. But I'm reading it as they sat and for every single line told them how to make it better, or if it was okay. 

[TechWife]

I haven't read the book. But I will say in all fairness, that in grad school, for publishable papers/thesis etc. they DO go through them line by line. I remember the ruler lady and a crap ton of people on my committee handing me revision after revision during the months leading up to final submission, and then you're stuck trying to bring in five people's input into it. I know that's not the same as someone in Freshman comp, but I had my Mom proof/edit most of my big time papers in school and I had professors proof important papers as well. Professionally, you bet your ass I had colleagues proofing journal articles and grant apps before they went to submission. Why wouldn't you?

 

I guess I don't get what the problem is in asking for help. It's one thing if you're writing it for the kid, but if someone asks you feedback on something I don't see what the problem is. I'm not sure why withholding help is a badge of good parenting if the kid is asking for it. I'd worry more about hovering parents who insist on helping when the kid doesn't want it or a parent that refuses to help to teach a kid a lesson.

There is a big difference in having somthing reviewed and edited by a professor, boss or peer and having it reviewed by a parent. I understand seeking minimal parental input if a college student values their opinions, but a line by line analysis is an inappropriate role for the parent of a college student. That is what office hours, appointments with professors, tutoring centers and peer study groups are for.

[Corraleno]

At any rate, if they were doing it for English 101 and 102 at the community college, my understanding is they were using those courses as the first year of high school, when their kids were 14/15.  Now, I'm not saying I'd proofread/edit my kids' papers line by line in high school (please lord don't let me be doing that) but there are definitely a fair number of, especially homeschooling, parents who do at that age.

 

If we're talking an actual first college course, that would be maybe different.

 

I would never do either, but I'm not particularly surprised or appalled that parents do and would at those ages and for those classes (essentially junior/sr level HS English)

Actually, it's their last year of high school — they enroll the kids in online HS classes at age 12, and whip through English 9/10/11 as quickly as possible, then at age 14 they put them in CC and use the Comp 101/102 classes as both 12th grade English and college English. They are upfront about the fact that the online HS English classes are mediocre, but say they don't care because their primary goal was just to check off those boxes. So after supposedly having already completed three years worth of high school English composition classes (they say the online classes were mostly composition, not literature), these kids still need their parents to edit every line of every essay for them in order to pass Comp 101 and 102. 

 

I wasn't even editing every line of every one of DS's 9th grade essays, and by 12th grade he was pretty much on his own. I can't imagine editing every line of every one of his college comp essays!

[Mergath]

I agree with you. But at the same time, it seems to be working for them right? His kids are getting degrees (that he wants them to have) and presumably being productive adults. I mean, good for them and all. The dad sound entirely insufferable, and I wouldn't put a kid that age into college, but I'm not so confident in my parenting that I'm going to go, say, write a book about how everyone should do what I'm doing. ;)

And if it works for them, great. It's the part where he wants to sell his book about getting his kids college-ready by fourteen when they weren't college-ready by fourteen that I have a problem with. And the part where he gets upset if anyone points that out. ;)

[Corraleno]

Yowzer, Mergath, someone named Kelli Johnson really doesn't like you!  :laugh: 
 

You obviously have some insecurities yourself. And Ms. "I'm such a perfect writer"...you may need to go on to the WTM forums and look at some of YOUR writing. You have terrible grammar and punctuation. Maybe you need to spend less time criticizing others and spend some time improving your own writing. You have some axe to grind and you're showing yourself to be obnoxious and childish. Grow up!

...We know you're on the WTM forums bashing this author. Maybe you should actually go and homeschool your children. Stay off the computer.

[Mergath]

Yowzer, Mergath, someone named Kelli Johnson really doesn't like you! :laugh:

 

Lmao! I could try to guess who that is (and I bet I could get it in under three) but I'll spare myself the drama. ;)

[unsinkable]

Right, but it's by the teacher, who has graded based on the work handed it. I have no issue with the teacher doing it. It's handing it in for grading when mom did that, for each line of the paper.

 

Maybe they meant it differently than I'm reading it. But I'm reading it as they sat and for every single line told them how to make it better, or if it was okay.

Some posters have stated teachers in college and high school don't do this, when they very much do, IMO.

 

I'm interpreting the part KINSA posted differently. Perhaps bc I don't think you CAN edit without reading line by line.

 

I don't think editing changes the voice of the writer. To me, it is a structural thing, mostly about flow and consistency. I don't see it as changing the content of the paper or the ideas of the writer. I see it as getting the writer to see where to make changes to provide more clarity to get their ideas across.

 

I think there is a difference between pointing out how to make something better and rewriting.

[Butter]

Does it bother anyone else that he jumped to the assumption that she was referring to race?

Yes.  Until he brought that up, it never occurred to me that he or Mergath would assume it was referring to race.  As my daughter said, "If he jumped right to saying it wasn't about race, it was about race."

 

Here's the exact quote (lifted from the other thread):

 

“We worked one-on-one with each child. If necessary, we went through each line of each essay to point out what was good, what did not make sense, what was missing, or what could be eliminated. We would then have the child rewrite the paper…. For Tanya and I the process was involved, tiring, and yet very satisfying because we saw our children’s ability to write expressively blossom. We were always glad when a child finished English 101 and 102, but at the same time we were sad because our close interaction with the child to learn the English language was essentially over.â€

So, basically, they're claiming their kids were ready for college at 14 when in fact they were ready for high school. I go line by line with my 6th grader's essays.  I do not go line by line with my 10th grader's essays.

 

Yowzer, Mergath, someone named Kelli Johnson really doesn't like you!  :laugh: 

 

Oh, man, that is hilarious.

[Butter]

Some posters have stated teachers in college and high school don't do this, when they very much do, IMO.

 

My experience with high school teachers is they sometimes do.  My experience with college teachers is they definitely do not.

 

Interesting... there are bullet points in the description of the book on Amazon.

 

I found it odd that one of his bullet points in his response is that the book is free through Kindle Unlimited.  Is he not aware that Kindle Unlimited costs money every month?  Surely he realizes he gets paid for every Kindle Unlimited book that someone reads.  He clearly is trying to sell his book.  That bullet point puzzled me, too.

 

Also, Kelli Johnson's comments have been reported for abuse. (And since apparently she is watching this thread, I thought she ought to know ;) )

Edited March 5, 2018 by Butter

[Mimm]

Yowzer, Mergath, someone named Kelli Johnson really doesn't like you!  :laugh: 

 

 

Oh snap! :lol: 

[Bluegoat]

I haven't read the book. But I will say in all fairness, that in grad school, for publishable papers/thesis etc. they DO go through them line by line. I remember the ruler lady and a crap ton of people on my committee handing me revision after revision during the months leading up to final submission, and then you're stuck trying to bring in five people's input into it. I know that's not the same as someone in Freshman comp, but I had my Mom proof/edit most of my big time papers in school and I had professors proof important papers as well. Professionally, you bet your ass I had colleagues proofing journal articles and grant apps before they went to submission. Why wouldn't you? 

 

I guess I don't get what the problem is in asking for help. It's one thing if you're writing it for the kid, but if someone asks you feedback on something I don't see what the problem is. I'm not sure why withholding help is a badge of good parenting if the kid is asking for it. I'd worry more about hovering parents who insist on helping when the kid doesn't want it or a parent that refuses to help to teach a kid a lesson. 

 

I noticed this in the masters program my sister did in health leadership- it was one of the ones designed for professionals and largely based on the work they were already doing.  It seemed to be the norm for them all to hire editors for their thesis.

 

To me that seemed way out of one, and not what I saw in the grad programs in my department.  But these programs seem to be considered serious and good qualifications.

[kitten18]

Oh, THAT book. *eyeroll. I upvoted you, Mergath.

 

Also, while I was there, I saw a book about hsing boys in the suggestions. Didn't click to learn more, but based on the title, the author is probably one of our tribe:

 

"Homeschooling Boys: Adequate Success with Minimal Cooperation."

OMG. That sounds precisely my speed. 😂😂😂

[ktgrok]

Yowzer, Mergath, someone named Kelli Johnson really doesn't like you!  :laugh: 

 

 

Oh my goodness, my crazy ex midwife's name is Kelli Johnson!!! I wonder if that's her? I have no idea if she homeschooled her kids or not, her family life is...complicated. I was one of the people that filed complaints that got her disbarred though. I could see her doing this. 

[ktgrok]

Some posters have stated teachers in college and high school don't do this, when they very much do, IMO.

 

I'm interpreting the part KINSA posted differently. Perhaps bc I don't think you CAN edit without reading line by line.

 

I don't think editing changes the voice of the writer. To me, it is a structural thing, mostly about flow and consistency. I don't see it as changing the content of the paper or the ideas of the writer. I see it as getting the writer to see where to make changes to provide more clarity to get their ideas across.

 

I think there is a difference between pointing out how to make something better and rewriting.

 

If I'm changing how they say something, I'm influencing their voice. If I'm changing what they say, not so much. If I'm just fixing commas and semi colons, not at all. 

 

When my son writes something I read it, and correct all the typo's (well, point them out) and if there is something that is unclear I ask him to clarify or rewrite it. There might be one thing per page. 

If there is one thing per LINE or even several per paragraph and I'm brainstorming with him how to redo it, that's an issue and shows he needs to be retaught and isn't prepared for that level of work. 

[Bluegoat]

That's interesting. Mine is in public health and it was a lot of M.D.s, R.N.'s etc. in the program. Maybe it is field specific? We had to churn out multiple published papers in lieu of a traditional thesis or dissertation as well, so that might have been part of it. If it wasn't getting published in a journal you weren't graduating so maybe that calls for a different sort of approach. 

 

It could be.  Lots of the teachers in this program were former RNs.  It's kind of a subset of business or management training in other ways.

 

It seemed really different from academia to me, in a lot of ways.

[Mergath]

Oh my goodness, my crazy ex midwife's name is Kelli Johnson!!! I wonder if that's her? I have no idea if she homeschooled her kids or not, her family life is...complicated. I was one of the people that filed complaints that got her disbarred though. I could see her doing this.

Whoever she is, what I can't figure out is why she seems to be trying to lure the author over here! Didn't she read his book? We'll all die of boredom if he finds the forum. And the servers will overload from all the bullet points.

[Mergath]

Way to go Mergath! You're now the focus of your own Kerfluffle. It's been a while since we had one, so this is entertaining. The Great Amazon Kerfluffle of 2018. I have a feeling his comments section is about to become a lot more active.

I like to do my part to enrich the homeschool community.

 

Everyone, you're welcome.

 

Lol.

[unsinkable]

But I'm not talking about changing it myself. I'm talking about pointing out something needs to be changed, that it is unclear or doesn't make sense. Like I wrote before: circling a sentence and saying "What does this mean?"

 

I'd you're changing WHAT they say, that is the WORST thing to do, IMO. It's not editing or proofreading. If someone writes, "I think X because of A, B and C" and I say change A to D, I am changing the content of the paper. It is beyond changing their voice.

 

If I'm changing how they say something, I'm influencing their voice. If I'm changing what they say, not so much. If I'm just fixing commas and semi colons, not at all.

 

When my son writes something I read it, and correct all the typo's (well, point them out) and if there is something that is unclear I ask him to clarify or rewrite it. There might be one thing per page.

If there is one thing per LINE or even several per paragraph and I'm brainstorming with him how to redo it, that's an issue and shows he needs to be retaught and isn't prepared for that level of work.

[mamaraby]

I like to do my part to enrich the homeschool community.

 

Everyone, you're welcome.

 

Lol.

Well, I for one have been both enriched and entertained today, so I thank you.

 

Also, there’s a difference between a forum posting and a published book one has made available for sale. Then again, I can be a descriptivist so I suppose that explains my situationally varying expectations in case Kelli takes issue with my lax grammar standards.