Legally Blind Governor Steps Up

As some of you may have read, the man who will be sworn in as governor of New York on Monday is legally blind! Can you tell I'm excited about that?

You know, and I know, that we are not defined by our disabilities but by your abilities and motivations. But it's nice to let the world know!



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Special Math Program

I've heard good things about Math Windows.

These are "easy-to-use math teaching aids for blind, low vision, and learning disabled students".

Tiles are used on a tray to set up a problem the same way that a fully sighted student would set up a problem on paper. The tiles have both Nemeth Braille for the blind student and printed numerals for the sighted instructor.

I just learned about this program. My low vision high school son uses a video magnifier and a computer program for his math, so I probably won't look into this for him at this point. But I wanted to share this because it looks to me like a wonderful resource! I would have liked to have had this when my son was younger. It looks like it can grow with the student, too, from early grades all the way through Algebra.



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/

Blindhomeschoolers - Which Group is Which?

"The Wild West" is how some people have described the internet...a lawless frontier. Of course, the internet is also an information and networking superhighway. Personally, I don't know where we would be today without all the wonderful people I have met through the internet!

The Yahoo groups for homeschooling blind children are an example of that dichotomy. Two groups exist with almost the same name, yet one is the superhighway and the other is a lawless frontier. How did this come about?

In 1998, Debbie Day founded the blindhomeschoolers group. When she changed her email address some years down the road, she found herself unable to get into the system to moderate the group or make any changes. After many attempts to get in touch with Yahoo and correct this, she moved the group to another address in 2004.

The newer group (which is really the old group, actively moderated, along with lots of new voices) is called Blindhomeschooler - with NO s on the end. If you want nothing but spam (sometimes x-rated spam), join the old abandoned group that ends in an s. But, if you want to join some wonderful people to learn and network about homeschooling a blind or visually impaired child, or about being blind or visually impaired and homeschooling one's children, please join us. You can find the group on the web here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blindhomeschooler/
Or send a blank email to this address:
Blindhomeschooler-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Just remember that you are ONE Blindhomeschooler (or considering becoming one blindhomeschooler). Because you are one, you want to network with others, each one with something unique to share, one blindhomeschooler touching another, touching another. "Blindhomeschooler" in the singular tense, with no s on the end, is the one you want. (You can also find the address at any time in the sidebar of this blog.)

Join us today. We would be happy to have you!

NOTE: Added later. The old group has finally been successfully deleted.



P.S. If you are receiving this as an email, you can read this post in a blog format, or read past posts, at: http://viphs.blogspot.com/