Pearl and Ronda: Revaluing Mothers' Literate Lives to Imagine New Relationships Between Homes and Elementary Schools

Abstract

Stories about Pearl Bright and Ronda Thompson (pseudonyms), two mothers whose literacy lives offered possibilities for new relationships with their children's elementary school, are recounted in this article. Negative personal schooling histories and lack of academic successes kept Pearl from trusting the educational system and motivated Ronda to make every effort to be intimately engaged in parent involvement opportunities. Both women voiced and acted out a sense of inadequacy in the school context that they didn't demonstrate in other aspects of their families' lives. However, Pearl was an avid reader, writer, poet, and naturalist. Ronda was a constant reader and writer who regularly shared advanced knowledge about gourmet cooking and the food industry with her family. When these women's funds of knowledge and uses of family literacy were validated in the academic and social culture of the school, shifts occurred in the tenor of their home–school relationships.