Culver

Westchester

Homeschool

Network

 

 

CWHN member Joanne P. manages an email loop at Yahoo Groups for the use of group members.

The following are the list guidelines, together with an introduction to email loops in general.

 

 

What’s an email loop?

 

An email loop, a.k.a. email list, a.k.a. listserv is an electronic forum where we can send email messages to the entire group just by posting a single message to one central address.  You write a message to the CWHN YahooGroups address and it shows up in all of our individual email boxes.  In this way, we can all share news of local events, clarify details about meetings, support each other about homeschool issues, share web links, etc.

 

What is the Culver-Westchester Homeschool Network e-mail list?

The Culver-Westchester Homeschool Network e-mail list is an e-mail listserv specifically for parents in Culver City, Westchester and nearby areas of Los Angeles, who are homeschooling their children.

 

Who may join the Culver-Westchester Homeschool Network e-mail list?

Local families who are homeschooling or who are planning to homeschool. The list is open to parents of children of all ages, and to families in the greater Los Angeles area (basically within reasonable driving distance of the local events we discuss).  

 

Who may NOT join the Culver-Westchester Homeschool Network e-mail list?

Families outside the greater Los Angeles area, families whose primary allegiance is to the school system, and persons whose objective is contrary to inclusive homeschooling and community (examples: sales, proselytizing, politicking).

 

May I join the list if I don’t go to your park day?

Sure!  There are plenty of families on the email list who don’t attend park days.  And conversely there are several park day regulars who aren’t on email!

The email list is just one more way for local homeschooling families to connect with each other.

 

Is it okay to join this list if I am still in the information-gathering process and am not yet homeschooling?

CWHN is a support group of parents who are actively homeschooling. While some general questions about the whys and wherefores of homeschooling do occasionally come up, CWHN is not intended to be a primary resource for people who are still in the "considering homeschooling" stage of life.

There are many better resources for these investigations (for instance, check the "links" accessible via http://www.geocities.com/djjhp/CWHN/cwhnLinks.htm). We don't mind a few questions, but discussion on the e-mail list will be of the day-to-day in and outs of living a homeschooling life, as contrasted with decision-making.

 

What kinds of topics are appropriate for the CWHN e-mail List?

The intent of this list is to form a friendly and safe atmosphere for mutual support. There are very few topics that should be left off the list. Possible topics for discussion might include:

• Reasons for homeschooling.
• Activities for children, ESPECIALLY local events.
• Resources for educational materials, websites, etc., particularly personal recommendations.
• How to help a child learn math/reading/history/science/etc.
• Learning experiences of local homeschooling families.
• Dealing with cultural issues such as being a homeschooler in a school-focused society
• Dealing with anti-homeschooling people in your life.
• Dealing with local school districts, school officials, State of California.
• Philosophical discussions about learning.
• How to design or select a homeschooling curriculum.
• Life happenings: announcements of births, family losses, and so on.
• Interest-initiated learning and/or unit study ideas.
• Parenting issues and practices.
• Philosophical discussions that may be only tangentially related to homeschooling.
• Introductions of new list members and other community-building posts.
• Practical discussions about family projects, hobbies, and outings.
• Managing family life, errands, laundry, etc. while homeschooling
• Social banter. After all, our ideal here is to build a community.
• Pure fluff, as subject to the guidelines listed later in this FAQ.

 

What kinds of topics are not appropriate on the CWHN e-mail List?

These are not so much "topics" as types of posts.

• Attacks on other list members. While disagreement and discussion are fine in their place, when you disagree with another list member, be sure to limit your response to a discussion of their position and how you disagree with that position. Slanderous and false statements that insult your fellows, cause them embarassment, or slander them will NOT be tolerated.
• Criticism, explicit or implicit, of someone else's homeschooling style, cultural or religious practice, life partners, or life choices. Please strive for mutual acceptance and tolerance.

 

What is an appropriate response when I am hurt or angered by a post to the list?

Give the original poster the benefit of the doubt before flying off the handle. Assume that they didn't mean their post in the same manner in which you understood it. Different people assign different weights and meanings to the same words. Ask the original author what she or he meant by what she/he said and explain how you interpreted their post. You may find that the author had something completely different in mind or that she/he used a word or phrase in a manner different than you would use the same word or phrase. Give the original poster a chance to explain what they REALLY meant and to apologize for the misunderstanding if necessary.

E-mail is an incredibly dangerous medium for the expression of human emotions. On the one hand, there is the lack of body language and intonation, which accounts for well over 50% of all human face-to-face communication. This makes it all too easy to misunderstand the other person's intentions. On the other hand, there is the possibility of a quick reaction -- type in a hasty response, press SEND, and it is gone. You can't recall it; the damage is done. Mailing lists and newsgroups have torn themselves apart time and time again in this manner. The importance of thinking before you SEND cannot be overstated; nor can the importance of asking for more information if you are hurt or offended on first reading.

 

What if the original author doesn't apologize and/or really means what I thought he/she meant?

Disputes of this nature are best handled privately. If a list member begins or continues a flame war, the list manager may choose to unsubscribe one or both list members after a single warning.

 

What do those funny groups of letters I see in some posts stand for?

They are abbreviations for common phrases, used to save some typing seconds. Some common MLAs (Multi-Letter Acronyms) on the CWHN e-mail list are:

BIL Brother-in-law
BTW By the way
CC Culver City

CWHN Culver-Westchester Homeschool Network (that’s us!)
DD Dear daughter
DH Dear husband
DS Dear son
FAQ Frequently asked questions
FIL Father-in-law
FWIW For what it's worth
FYI For your information
IMHO In my humble opinion
IMO In my opinion

ISP Independent Study Program, one of the legal forms for homeschooling, also known as an umbrella school
JM2CW Just my two cents worth
LA Los Angeles
LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District
LAX Los Angeles International Airport
LOL Laughing out loud
MDR Marina del Rey
MIL Mother-in-law
OTOH On the other hand
PDR Playa del Rey
R4 the affidavit filed by some homeschoolers with the State of California to establish a private school status
ROTFL Rolling on the floor laughing

SBHN South Bay Homeschool Network – a support group to the south of our area
SIL Sister-in-law
VBG Very big grin
YMMV Your mileage may vary
: - ) or : ) Smiley face (look at it sideways!)

 

Is the CWHN e-mail List moderated?

Not at this time. All new subscribers will be screened by the list manager, but posts will go directly to the entire list. If it is necessary at some future date, the list can become a moderated list and all posts will be screened before they are sent to the list members.

 

Can you give me some guidelines for posting to the list?

Sure thing!

• State your own position on an issue (act) rather than just responding to a previous posting (react).
• State what you think in a positive manner rather than focusing on why some other poster is wrong (in your opinion). For example, instead of saying "Such and such is wrong because...", you can say "I believe that..." or "In my experience I have found that ....". Confine any criticism to ideas rather than to individuals, remembering that the other list members are also real, live people with real, live feelings.
• Eliminate unnecessary lines from all of your posts (this is also known as trimming). If you are forwarding material, be sure to eliminate all headers and footers from the original post. If you are replying to another post, keep only the bare minimum necessary to keep others aware of the original idea to which you are responding.
• If your reply is of a personal nature and not of interest to the list, please respond using private e-mail to the poster. Also, take private disagreements to private e-mail.
• If you have written an angry post, please re-read the post before hitting the SEND button to make sure that you are not fanning the flames. Remember that the post that made you angry may not have been intended in the way in which you receive it. Try to err on the side of courtesy and respect for other list members; give your fellow list members the same respect and courtesy you would like to receive. Be civil at all times. If possible, sleep or take a walk before sending angry or inflammatory posts and re-read them before hitting SEND.
• Cute poems, jokes, stories, inspirational stories, and ditties can be fun, but post them with discretion. Many things have been around the internet for a long time. If you're new to e-mail, they may be new to you, but other people on the list may have seen them enough times to be really tired of them. Again, if you are forwarding material, trim all excess headers and footers before posting to the list. It is very frustrating to receive a post that consists primarily of forwarding information.
• Do not post "virus warnings" or chain letters to the list. In our extensive experience with computers and email, almost all of these "warnings" are hoaxes. The true "virus" or disruptive prank is the fact that the reader must take the time to read the hoaxter's "virus warning". If you are particularly worried about a "warning", please take the time to check it out at one of the following hoax tracking websites before passing it on to friends on this list (or friends off this list, for that matter!!). http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ or http://www.vmyths.com/
• No sales or advertising of products for sale. Please conduct your business through other avenues.
• Please note the "no Spam" policy of YahooGroups (our listserv service provider). http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
• If you are going to be away from your computer for a while, you can unsubscribe or put yourself on NOMAIL status so that your mail box won't be full of old mail when you get back. You may want to let the list manager know when you unsub and when you think you will be resubbing. When you resub, you will be added to the list without a second screening.
• Keep your .sig lines short -- 4 lines or less.
• This is a visual medium. Keep your line lengths short, as long lines are difficult to read. Include white space between paragraphs.
• If a thread has wandered from its original topic, edit the subject line so that it matches the content of your post.

 

How does the list manager deal with violations of the list guidelines? (revised)

The list manager will issue one or more warnings, depending on the nature of the violation. For example, failing to trim replies seems a lesser offense than attacking another list member.

At times, the list manager (= list owner and/or her designated moderators) may choose to put the violator on moderation.  Moderation is not a punishment, it is simply a pause in the action.  A member who is on moderation still receives all posts from the list.  He/she may post to the list, however instead of going directly to the loop, the member’s post goes first to the moderators, who will review it for adherence to list guidelines.  Messages which support list guidelines are approved by the moderators and posted to the list, albeit with a time delay.

Once the member has demonstrated consistent adherence to list guidelines they are typically returned to full status on a case by case basis.  If no effort is made to stop the violating behavior, the list manager may choose to unsubscribe the violator.

 

Is it okay to quote posts from the CWHN e-mail List when corresponding privately or writing to another list?

This is never all right unless you have checked with the original author of a post. All posts are considered to be copyrighted by the original author. Quoting without permission, even if you credit the original writer, is not good netiquette.

 

How private is the information that I post to the CWHN e-mail List?

Your privacy is guaranteed only by the adherence of other list members to the list guidelines. We know that some people on this list may know other list members from other connections, including other e-mail lists. Every member of the list should take care that information posted to this list is not shared with other individuals or lists without the original author's consent. If you are on multiple lists with the same people, it can be difficult to maintain this level of privacy, but we should all make the effort to respect other list members' wishes regarding privacy.

All of the messages posted to our list are archived, however our archives are accessible to members only. You can view (and even Search) our old messages by logging onto YahooGroups using your Yahoo password, and going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cwhn/?yguid=56327866

Even with all the “members only” stuff, it is wise to err on the side of caution.  Hackers abound on the internet.  Please be respectful and do not post the phone numbers and home addresses of other members on-list (it’s your decision if you wish to post your own). 

 

Will I get too much mail?

The CWHN elist is typically a moderate-volume list; that means we send a fair number of messages back & forth each day.  If the number of messages bothers you and you still want to stay in touch, there are two other options:  you can receive your email in Daily Digest form, or you can request No Mail.

“Daily Digest” means that instead of receiving each new CWHN message individually as it is posted, you receive one message from YahooGroups each day, and that one message contains the text of all the day’s CWHN messages combined. 

“No Mail” means that you don’t receive any CWHN email to your personal email box;  you can still read archived list messages by going to the YahooGroups website http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cwhn/?yguid=56327866

To change to/from digest, no mail, etc, log onto the YahooGroups website as described below under “How do I change my subscription options?”

 

What is the process for getting onto the CWHN e-mail list?

In order to receive and send messages to the list, you must be a subscriber to the list through Yahoo Groups.   To do this you have to “register” as a Yahoo member, and the CWHN list manager has to “approve” you as a member.

If we've met you at the park, or other local event, and you've said you want to be a part of the e-mail list, you'll receive an e-mail invitation to join the list. Simply reply to that e-mail and you're subscribed to the list.

If we haven't met you before, please bear with us. Upon receiving your subscription request, the list manager will ask you for some information about you and your family. We will ask what city you live in, and ask you to tell us about your journey to homeschooling. By doing this we hope to weed out bogus requests, spammers and predators.  All this is in the interest of building a community of local homeschoolers.

Send subscription requests to our list manager Joanne at  mailto:[email protected]     Please be patient;  we homeschool our children too, and list maintenance is a volunteer effort.

 

How do I change my subscription options? (for ongoing CWHN elist members)

To change the subscription options at which you are subscribed (for instance changing your email address if your internet service changes), go to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups     

You will need your Yahoo I.D. and Password to do this. If you have neglected to keep a note of your Yahoo I.D. and Password, you should request this information from Yahoo by following their “sign-in help” and/or “forgot your password” links from the sign-in page.  This is an issue between you and Yahoo, not an issue for the CWHN elist manager.

To change your email address, go to “Account Info”  (this appears in tiny writing near the top of most Yahoo screens).  Note the bar partway down the page that says “Member Information”;  click on “Edit” and input your new email address information.  Then return to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups  , and click on “Edit My Groups” (it’s along the top).  You will then see all the Yahoo Groups to which you are subscribed (including groups other than CWHN).  You can use the pull-downs to change the email address at which you are subscribed. 

To change other subscription options, go straight to http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups     , and click on “Edit My Groups” (it’s along the top).  You will then see all the Yahoo Groups to which you are subscribed (including any groups other than CWHN).  At this screen, you may change to/from digest, no mail, etc. as described in the “Will I get too much mail” segment above.

Alternatively, you might be able to access some of these change fields by going from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cwhn/ and using the “Edit my Membership” link at the right hand side.

Realize that YahooGroups is a free service, and it is sometimes worth what we pay for it.  The connections between screens often hiccup, and may work one day and not work another.  Formatting on the individual screens, and which-options-appear-where, often changes at the whim of Yahoo operators.  All I can say is, take a deep breath and try, try again.

 

What if I have more questions about the CWHN e-mail List?

Send an e-mail to our list manager at mailto:[email protected]     Again, please be patient;  we homeschool our children too, and list maintenance is a volunteer effort.

 

 

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This page last updated September 25, 2005