Shannon had an odd assignment yesterday. She's reading The BFG, by Roald Dahl, and in it, a 24-foot giant is the main character. (he's a puny wimp compared to the 50-foot giants he lives with, but that's beside the point) Her worksheet yesterday involved having her step into one of the scenes from the book and pretend that she's hosting the giant for a visit. The giant is four times as large as a normal 6-foot man, so most of the things he'll need will also need to be multiplied by four.... how long should his bed be? What would you give him for a pillow, and how big will it be? She was supposed to take most things that she'd need, multiply them by four, and give the answer. She had no problems doing that for straight measuring stuff. But then it went on to talk about how much the giant would eat, and assumed the child would do the same thing. How many slices of pizza? How big a glass of milk? I had told her to use her imagination and pretend she was really hosting the giant for a few days. Luckily, she talked through her answers as she filled out the worksheet.
You see, just because a giant is four times as tall, does not mean he's going to eat four times as much. He'll probably eat a lot more than that. We had JUST covered doubling area and perimeters in math in the previous few days. She quickly caught on as a given that in order to double a rectangle's area, you only double one dimension, NOT both. So she instinctively took that knowledge to this literature assignment. It was quite obvious to her that 4 slices of toast would not be enough, even if 1 slice of toast would be OK for her. She felt the giant would drink 5 gallons of milk even if she can't drink a gallon. The square-cube law is totally instinctive for her, and you know what? She's right. She also used the logic that the giant had been eating snozzcumbers most of his life, and would probably love real food so much that he'd pig out and eat even MORE than he would "normally." And you know what? She's probably right there, too. She even went so far as to answer the last question the following way: "How much popcorn would the giant need?" "This is getting way too spendy, he doesn't need any." I loved it.
So, because she answered (almost) all her questions in complete sentences and walked me through the logic she used, I decided not to "correct" her work and scold her for not simply deciding a "normal" amount and multiplying by four. Sometimes, the joy of homeschooling is combining topics and showing children that math doesn't just live in a mathbook. But sometimes, it's also OK to live in the moment and not require everything to be just so.
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Broken or not?
One theme I've used over and over raising Shannon is communication. I want her to have at least an advisory role in how she's raised, she needs to feel comfortable speaking up for herself and her desires; not just "I want this," but "I would like this and here's why I think it would be a good thing." One way I've tried to make this clear is by using the phrase, "I can't fix it if I don't know it's broken." So many times children feel powerless. This can be from real or perceived decisions by parents, but how often do we remember arguing with someone and one of you finally saying, "But I was doing that because I thought it was what *you* wanted!"
But back to Shannon. I have lots of plans and ideas for how this whole homeschooling thing is going to work best for us. Which makes sense, because I'm the one doing research on curricula and methods. Shannon isn't capable of knowing what she wants until she knows the options. But I've told her over and over that if there's something that doesn't feel right about what we're doing, she should speak up.
Today it came to a head. Yesterday, I tried to be a little more flexible and not the "nagging mom" that I've been turning into. Every day since about October, the routine has been the same, she starts with her independent reading and journal writing, then we ramp up the rest of the day with the interactive lessons in science, math, history, spelling, or whatever. Every day, same thing, start with reading. I have the day's lessons written out on a whiteboard for her to look over at any time. She loves checking things off when we finish a topic, it has been a very nice motivator. So she slept in a little more than usual yesterday, but I did get her out of bed a little after 10, which is the time I usually try to actually get started with schoolwork. So we were runnning late already, but I made a conscious choice not to get upset about it, but just go forward. I projected calmness to myself, that it was no big deal. I reminded myself all the lessons about child-led learning I'd read, and how much better things will go if I just relax and let her set the pace. She ate breakfast, and then just sat in her chair while I worked on my computer. I browsed, I budgeted, I cleared bank statements, I read blogs. Finally, about 11:30, I couldn't take it any longer. (so much for that resolution) I asked her if she ever planned on starting schoolwork today. Her response? "I didn't know that you wanted me to start!" What? Seriously? Same thing every day, she knows how much we BOTH want to be done with school early, and we've discussed the only way to get it done is to start by 10. We have done well when we start at 9. Sure enough, yesterday was one of the slug days. Once you get behind, everything takes longer anyway. Our usual 3 1/2 or 4 hours of work took over 5, we finished up right at 5:30. I was so tired and frustrated.
So today, Sean got her up before he left for work, turning his usual "good morning" into "good morning, it's time to get up." She seemed in a great mood, so sat down with her. "Do you prefer that we start with something besides reading first thing in the morning?" She almost broke her neck she nodded so hard. "OK, we can do that. I thought you liked starting with reading as a warm-up for your brain, a way to wake up and ease into the day's work." Turns out that she says she'd much rather start with math and spelling and other interactive things and do her independent stuff later. Kid... you need to tell me these things... I just can't fix it if I don't know it's broken. So far, today has been great. We did two days worth of math lessons it was going so well. ;) Spelling test another 100%. What a confidence builder. It's time to have another good serious talk, but more importantly, I hope I can have a good serious listen.
But back to Shannon. I have lots of plans and ideas for how this whole homeschooling thing is going to work best for us. Which makes sense, because I'm the one doing research on curricula and methods. Shannon isn't capable of knowing what she wants until she knows the options. But I've told her over and over that if there's something that doesn't feel right about what we're doing, she should speak up.
Today it came to a head. Yesterday, I tried to be a little more flexible and not the "nagging mom" that I've been turning into. Every day since about October, the routine has been the same, she starts with her independent reading and journal writing, then we ramp up the rest of the day with the interactive lessons in science, math, history, spelling, or whatever. Every day, same thing, start with reading. I have the day's lessons written out on a whiteboard for her to look over at any time. She loves checking things off when we finish a topic, it has been a very nice motivator. So she slept in a little more than usual yesterday, but I did get her out of bed a little after 10, which is the time I usually try to actually get started with schoolwork. So we were runnning late already, but I made a conscious choice not to get upset about it, but just go forward. I projected calmness to myself, that it was no big deal. I reminded myself all the lessons about child-led learning I'd read, and how much better things will go if I just relax and let her set the pace. She ate breakfast, and then just sat in her chair while I worked on my computer. I browsed, I budgeted, I cleared bank statements, I read blogs. Finally, about 11:30, I couldn't take it any longer. (so much for that resolution) I asked her if she ever planned on starting schoolwork today. Her response? "I didn't know that you wanted me to start!" What? Seriously? Same thing every day, she knows how much we BOTH want to be done with school early, and we've discussed the only way to get it done is to start by 10. We have done well when we start at 9. Sure enough, yesterday was one of the slug days. Once you get behind, everything takes longer anyway. Our usual 3 1/2 or 4 hours of work took over 5, we finished up right at 5:30. I was so tired and frustrated.
So today, Sean got her up before he left for work, turning his usual "good morning" into "good morning, it's time to get up." She seemed in a great mood, so sat down with her. "Do you prefer that we start with something besides reading first thing in the morning?" She almost broke her neck she nodded so hard. "OK, we can do that. I thought you liked starting with reading as a warm-up for your brain, a way to wake up and ease into the day's work." Turns out that she says she'd much rather start with math and spelling and other interactive things and do her independent stuff later. Kid... you need to tell me these things... I just can't fix it if I don't know it's broken. So far, today has been great. We did two days worth of math lessons it was going so well. ;) Spelling test another 100%. What a confidence builder. It's time to have another good serious talk, but more importantly, I hope I can have a good serious listen.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The attraction is magnetic!
Having a blast with magnets. The kit we have came with 2 bar, 2 ring, and one ball magnet. They are OK, I suppose... they're doing mostly what they should. But today, we went to one of my favorite local shops. Children's Bookshop and Teaching Supplies. It's about 20 minutes away, and while it is indeed a children's bookstore, it is primarily geared towards the teacher, homeschool or otherwise. Lots of posters, kits, charts, decorations, you name it. One could easily go broke in this place. What did I buy today?
I bought rare earth button magnets. Super strong, these guys.
I bought iron filings. Iron dust would be more descriptive, but again, the kit that the curriculum supplied had a demonstrator that they called "filings" but really, picture clipped staples. A bit heavy in conjunction with the weak magnets they sent, and very hard to make the magnetic force lines appear. You really had to know what the end result was supposed to be before you could make the experiment work. But with the stuff I bought... aha! It became very obvious.
I bought a globe. Really, I had planned on saving a globe for this Christmas as a suggestion for a friend/family member to buy... but then I realized I was very picky on what type of globe I wanted. So I just bought one. Earlier this week I had already bought a bunch of map posters on Amazon (several for $0.99 plus shipping) so I didn't go crazy for the maps like I could have. When doing Shannon's 13 Colonies exercise for the Ben Franklin book, I realized how low we were on maps. Ta dah, not any more!
I bought art supplies. Mostly stuff we needed anyway, so nothing particularly exciting, just posterboard, tempera paints, and such. I also bought clay, not to be confused with PlayDoh. Again, one of the things that you see and wonder how you've managed to raise your child to this age without having any in the house.
I bought a Scholastic book, "If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution" to go with our current Ben Franklin book.
But back to the magnets. Today's "fun" activity was using magnets to paint. Take one 7x12 tupperware style container, line the bottom with a piece of paper. Best to tape it on each end to hold it in place. Place a few blobs of paint in strategic locations. Drop in ferrous items: paper clips, nails, screws, washers, ball magnet (her favorite), things like that. Then, while mom holds the bin in the air, daughter holds a magnet under the bin and slides it along the bottom, causing the ferrous items inside to slide through the paint and across the paper. Voila, instant abstract art. Truth? It looked like a 2-year old's finger paint job. Not the best or prettiest art Shannon's ever made. But she had so much fun making it, playing with the magnetic forces. And thus is the connection made.
Tomorrow we make our own magnet out of an iron nail and find two ways to demagnetize it, test the effect of temperature on magnetism, and make a magnet-powered boat.
I bought rare earth button magnets. Super strong, these guys.
I bought iron filings. Iron dust would be more descriptive, but again, the kit that the curriculum supplied had a demonstrator that they called "filings" but really, picture clipped staples. A bit heavy in conjunction with the weak magnets they sent, and very hard to make the magnetic force lines appear. You really had to know what the end result was supposed to be before you could make the experiment work. But with the stuff I bought... aha! It became very obvious.
I bought a globe. Really, I had planned on saving a globe for this Christmas as a suggestion for a friend/family member to buy... but then I realized I was very picky on what type of globe I wanted. So I just bought one. Earlier this week I had already bought a bunch of map posters on Amazon (several for $0.99 plus shipping) so I didn't go crazy for the maps like I could have. When doing Shannon's 13 Colonies exercise for the Ben Franklin book, I realized how low we were on maps. Ta dah, not any more!
I bought art supplies. Mostly stuff we needed anyway, so nothing particularly exciting, just posterboard, tempera paints, and such. I also bought clay, not to be confused with PlayDoh. Again, one of the things that you see and wonder how you've managed to raise your child to this age without having any in the house.
I bought a Scholastic book, "If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution" to go with our current Ben Franklin book.
But back to the magnets. Today's "fun" activity was using magnets to paint. Take one 7x12 tupperware style container, line the bottom with a piece of paper. Best to tape it on each end to hold it in place. Place a few blobs of paint in strategic locations. Drop in ferrous items: paper clips, nails, screws, washers, ball magnet (her favorite), things like that. Then, while mom holds the bin in the air, daughter holds a magnet under the bin and slides it along the bottom, causing the ferrous items inside to slide through the paint and across the paper. Voila, instant abstract art. Truth? It looked like a 2-year old's finger paint job. Not the best or prettiest art Shannon's ever made. But she had so much fun making it, playing with the magnetic forces. And thus is the connection made.
Tomorrow we make our own magnet out of an iron nail and find two ways to demagnetize it, test the effect of temperature on magnetism, and make a magnet-powered boat.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
And the beat goes on...
So one day (oh, maybe a month or so ago) I noticed that I wasn't getting my emails from my homeschooling support group any more. Technically, I'm on two lists, but one is a subsidiary branch of the other, and they both were no longer getting through. It took me quite a while to notice they were gone, because for the hectic summer that this household went through, I confess that I completely ignored most of the mails.
So when it finally occurred to me to notice they weren't coming, I dug through my emails to see when my membership in this group lapsed. All I could find was a single email from March saying it was "due soon." I'd heard rumors of subscriptions getting crossed up, renewals not always processed, and the email list not necessarily reflecting reality. I assumed the worst, of course, and that I was no longer a member, dropped without follow-up emails, because I certainly wasn't organized enough to remember to renew off of email. I even found a blank membership form in my "big ol' pile of papers to sort and file" so it was obvious I'd never sent it in. So I did last month. About 2 weeks later, I get it back in the mail. I had indeed renewed. Apparently. Great! But why was my email off the list? She had no idea, it all looked fine to her.
Long story short (heh) the Yahoo group has pretty tight bounce controls, it just takes a very few bounces from a list to get yourself automatically unsubscribed. It took me about an hour to figure out what happened and fix it.
Just in time, too. In today's email was an opportunity of the type that a lot of the homeschool moms forward to the list. "Hey, my kid's in this great group for dance/choir/drama/music/sports lessons and they have openings, thought someone else might be interested..." This one was for Irish Dancing. Shannon adores dance. I thought it might be right up her alley. But, when I broached the subject to her on the way to ballet in the car this afternoon, she pooh-poohed the thought. She does enough dance during the week. It doesn't sound very fun. She wouldn't be interested in the competitive side. "OK," I said. "But remind me to show you a sample of what Irish Dancing is on YouTube when we get home, it's hard to judge based on my description."
Can I get a 'Mom Was Right?' I showed her everything from 5-7 year old beginners at a recital to the flashy Lord of the Dance to the World Championships for 17-21 year olds. She fell in LOVE. That's just what she wants to do. Wow.
So, an email has been sent to the admissions guy for the school I was first pointed to. We'll see how it goes. Just what we need, right? Yet one more hour of dancing a week? ;) Yup. Can't hurt to try.
So when it finally occurred to me to notice they weren't coming, I dug through my emails to see when my membership in this group lapsed. All I could find was a single email from March saying it was "due soon." I'd heard rumors of subscriptions getting crossed up, renewals not always processed, and the email list not necessarily reflecting reality. I assumed the worst, of course, and that I was no longer a member, dropped without follow-up emails, because I certainly wasn't organized enough to remember to renew off of email. I even found a blank membership form in my "big ol' pile of papers to sort and file" so it was obvious I'd never sent it in. So I did last month. About 2 weeks later, I get it back in the mail. I had indeed renewed. Apparently. Great! But why was my email off the list? She had no idea, it all looked fine to her.
Long story short (heh) the Yahoo group has pretty tight bounce controls, it just takes a very few bounces from a list to get yourself automatically unsubscribed. It took me about an hour to figure out what happened and fix it.
Just in time, too. In today's email was an opportunity of the type that a lot of the homeschool moms forward to the list. "Hey, my kid's in this great group for dance/choir/drama/music/sports lessons and they have openings, thought someone else might be interested..." This one was for Irish Dancing. Shannon adores dance. I thought it might be right up her alley. But, when I broached the subject to her on the way to ballet in the car this afternoon, she pooh-poohed the thought. She does enough dance during the week. It doesn't sound very fun. She wouldn't be interested in the competitive side. "OK," I said. "But remind me to show you a sample of what Irish Dancing is on YouTube when we get home, it's hard to judge based on my description."
Can I get a 'Mom Was Right?' I showed her everything from 5-7 year old beginners at a recital to the flashy Lord of the Dance to the World Championships for 17-21 year olds. She fell in LOVE. That's just what she wants to do. Wow.
So, an email has been sent to the admissions guy for the school I was first pointed to. We'll see how it goes. Just what we need, right? Yet one more hour of dancing a week? ;) Yup. Can't hurt to try.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
So, what are we doing?
Shannon's last homeschool unit was on "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was fun, she liked it more than the last time we attempted to read that book a year or so ago. The corresponding science unit was fun as well, if poorly timed. We studied dirt, plants, trees, photosynthesis, pollination, and all kinds of other planty stuff we could stuff into three weeks. fThe biggest drawback to that unit was half of the experiments involve "Plant this in a cup and watch it for the next 3 weeks. Have the student write in their journal what happens." Um, the first problem with that is that.... have you ever tried to buy a small packet of grass seed or veggie seeds in September? Nearly can't be done (conveniently) ... I'm willing to go to about 2-3 places to try but after that, the experiment is abandoned. The second problem is that by the time anything interesting actually happens, we've moved on. Slow experiments do not catch a 3rd grader's attention. Ah well.
This week we're starting "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare, with a corresponding unit of social studies on Native Americans. I'm really looking forward to this unit, as it gives us an excuse to go to Tillicum Village next weekend. :) We have a basic overview of 3 or 4 basic cultures of Native American life in different parts of the continent. Sadly, the prepackaged curriculum does not spend a closeup on Pacific Northwest cultures, though the book we're starting with does. This is the joy of homeschooling, I get to do my own research and see what supplemental materials I can find for local flair. Yesterday's introduction to the topic she was most fascinated by Southwest tribes... the clay houses of the Hopi with ladders and no doors particularly fired Shannon's imagination.
So far, I'm still loving this literature-based curriculum. As much as I'm normally in the "you can't tell me what to do!" structure camp, I really need daily lesson plans spelled out for me. I find it's all too easy to slack off when we don't have a specific list of things we want to do. We're writing (well, I say "we" loosely) a lot more than last year, she has a book journal where she answers questions independently. Each unit I add just a little more structure to how she performs a task, so I haven't gone straight from no writing to formal book reports.
We had a bit of a breakdown on spelling a couple of weeks ago. I've been using the AVKO Sequential Spelling units where, instead of providing the student with a list of words to study for a week, you actually "test" them every single day on a group of related words. The next day you begin to add suffixes to the words. So you might start Monday with steam, gleam; Tuesday is steams, gleams; Wednesday is steamed, gleamed; and Thursday is steaming, gleaming. You give the word, they write the word, they spell it orally for you, you make corrections if necessary right away. Then move on to the next word. 20 words per day with variations. I love it because it teaches patterns instinctively instead of teaching "rules," you make corrections along the way, it appeals to "Audio, visual, kinesthetic, and oral" styles of learning. Unfortunately, what works for the teacher does not always work for the student. Shannon cannot STAND to get things wrong, ever. Whenever she made a mistake, she would get very angry, no matter how many times I explained that this wasn't a "test" and she was getting it wrong.... this was a necessary part of learning, it's better to try and fail than to never make the attempt. But, after a few weeks this year (plus much of last year) ending in tears, I decided that a more traditional "study these 15 words for a week" approach would have to be tried. We'll see how this goes.
This week we're starting "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare, with a corresponding unit of social studies on Native Americans. I'm really looking forward to this unit, as it gives us an excuse to go to Tillicum Village next weekend. :) We have a basic overview of 3 or 4 basic cultures of Native American life in different parts of the continent. Sadly, the prepackaged curriculum does not spend a closeup on Pacific Northwest cultures, though the book we're starting with does. This is the joy of homeschooling, I get to do my own research and see what supplemental materials I can find for local flair. Yesterday's introduction to the topic she was most fascinated by Southwest tribes... the clay houses of the Hopi with ladders and no doors particularly fired Shannon's imagination.
So far, I'm still loving this literature-based curriculum. As much as I'm normally in the "you can't tell me what to do!" structure camp, I really need daily lesson plans spelled out for me. I find it's all too easy to slack off when we don't have a specific list of things we want to do. We're writing (well, I say "we" loosely) a lot more than last year, she has a book journal where she answers questions independently. Each unit I add just a little more structure to how she performs a task, so I haven't gone straight from no writing to formal book reports.
We had a bit of a breakdown on spelling a couple of weeks ago. I've been using the AVKO Sequential Spelling units where, instead of providing the student with a list of words to study for a week, you actually "test" them every single day on a group of related words. The next day you begin to add suffixes to the words. So you might start Monday with steam, gleam; Tuesday is steams, gleams; Wednesday is steamed, gleamed; and Thursday is steaming, gleaming. You give the word, they write the word, they spell it orally for you, you make corrections if necessary right away. Then move on to the next word. 20 words per day with variations. I love it because it teaches patterns instinctively instead of teaching "rules," you make corrections along the way, it appeals to "Audio, visual, kinesthetic, and oral" styles of learning. Unfortunately, what works for the teacher does not always work for the student. Shannon cannot STAND to get things wrong, ever. Whenever she made a mistake, she would get very angry, no matter how many times I explained that this wasn't a "test" and she was getting it wrong.... this was a necessary part of learning, it's better to try and fail than to never make the attempt. But, after a few weeks this year (plus much of last year) ending in tears, I decided that a more traditional "study these 15 words for a week" approach would have to be tried. We'll see how this goes.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Back in the saddle!
So hi there again!!! Curious if I have any subscribed readers at all... though it really doesn't matter.
Second post this year I see. Ah, well. I'm going to try to write more, such as while Shannon's doing her reading and writing. It's a good habit for me to get into, plus Shannon and I have a deal that I won't play computer games (Bejeweled, Pogo, things like that) while she is in "school" because it's not fair. I agreed readily, but if I do housework while she's trying to have quiet time reading or writing in her journal, I've noticed it's very distracting to her... so I need a project that keeps me in my seat as well. Then I remembered the blog!!
Later, I'll post pictures of my new office. The office in this house has been used as a storage room for the past... well, 5 years, really. It was an office, too, but I had a path to a desk and the rest was unusable. So, this August and September I emptied the room thoroughly, sold off the desks and bookcases, and spent a ton of money at IKEA getting new desks, wall cabinets, and a bookshelf. I still have a little more junk to get rid of (about 4 more boxes to go through one item at a time), but I think the final product is going to be SO worth every penny, an office and functional school room. Shannon picked out her own desk instead of having a fully matching desk to my own. I think it looks great, and she definitely has "pride of ownership" over her half of the room.
Second post this year I see. Ah, well. I'm going to try to write more, such as while Shannon's doing her reading and writing. It's a good habit for me to get into, plus Shannon and I have a deal that I won't play computer games (Bejeweled, Pogo, things like that) while she is in "school" because it's not fair. I agreed readily, but if I do housework while she's trying to have quiet time reading or writing in her journal, I've noticed it's very distracting to her... so I need a project that keeps me in my seat as well. Then I remembered the blog!!
Later, I'll post pictures of my new office. The office in this house has been used as a storage room for the past... well, 5 years, really. It was an office, too, but I had a path to a desk and the rest was unusable. So, this August and September I emptied the room thoroughly, sold off the desks and bookcases, and spent a ton of money at IKEA getting new desks, wall cabinets, and a bookshelf. I still have a little more junk to get rid of (about 4 more boxes to go through one item at a time), but I think the final product is going to be SO worth every penny, an office and functional school room. Shannon picked out her own desk instead of having a fully matching desk to my own. I think it looks great, and she definitely has "pride of ownership" over her half of the room.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
What are we doing?
So late last spring, early summer, I realized that while my "ideal" method of homeschooling is still very eclectic, and that I hope to be able to organize myself into coming up with unique unit studies that will amaze and interest my daughter... well, I'm not that organized yet. And even if I were, is it really worth it to go to all that work when there are dozens of companies that have already done the footwork? While I'd love to homeschool on the cheap, sometimes it just makes sense to write that check and buy a curriculum.
What I chose for this school year is Moving Beyond the Page It's a literature-based unit study program, where you read various selected Newberry or Caldecott award winning children's books, and base your social studies, language arts, and even science lessons on what you read about in the books. Math at Shannon's level is not covered in this program, so we are continuing with Right Start Mathematics the recommended program, which we already used, nicely enough. The next few days, I'll cover what we've done and how we like it so far.
Tonight, being my first night back posting in months... that's a good enough start for me.
What I chose for this school year is Moving Beyond the Page It's a literature-based unit study program, where you read various selected Newberry or Caldecott award winning children's books, and base your social studies, language arts, and even science lessons on what you read about in the books. Math at Shannon's level is not covered in this program, so we are continuing with Right Start Mathematics the recommended program, which we already used, nicely enough. The next few days, I'll cover what we've done and how we like it so far.
Tonight, being my first night back posting in months... that's a good enough start for me.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Methods under construction
How do I homeschool, now that I'm doing it formally?
My plan, the past two years, has been to pattern our school year a little differently, based on our family needs and inspired by ideas in several homeschooling books I'd read. Most school curricula seem to be based on a 36-week school year, easily broken down into either 12-week trimesters or 9-week quarters. It was easy for me to decide to take a 'normal' year and break it up, and adopt essentially a "two months on, one month off" format... with our off months being the ones divisible by three. This worked well on paper for us: Shannon's dance studio has their big show every June, complete with a LOT of extra rehearsals; September brings our annual trip to the midwest to race in the Solo National championships PLUS Shannon's birthday month; December brings Christmas break; and March... well, March didn't have anything special other than a pretty traditional Spring Break month. We also operate on a four-day "sit down" week, with an attempt at a related field trip on Fridays, or other goodies that sneak in learning without feeling like school, trips to the Science Center feel like fun rather than tedium.
I like that schedule. It fits me.
I've come to one conclusion about it lately, however. It does not fit Shannon. Having only my own kid to judge by, I have NO idea how any teacher gets anything done in September or January after a break. She adapts to a month off all too quickly, and I spend the first two weeks "back" fighting with my child about settling down. It's a whole lot of no fun for either of us, and the more no fun it is, the more no fun the next day is. But, finally, the active fighting ends, and I can live with mild whining. We usually start having a few "good" days more and more often by the end of our quarter, and I think we've finally "gotten it." But then the Christmas craziness starts.... or the September silly season... or what-have-you. So I'm less able to build on a good thing while it's going.
Now I know I'm going to have to change, and make sure we're doing what's best for HER, not what's best for ME. It's time to adapt to what's less convenient for me so that I can build while enthusiasm is high.
Because if I have too many more solid weeks of fighting with her, the urge to give up and enroll in public school may get too high. I'm not against public schooling in principle, but that would be doing it for the wrong reasons.
My plan, the past two years, has been to pattern our school year a little differently, based on our family needs and inspired by ideas in several homeschooling books I'd read. Most school curricula seem to be based on a 36-week school year, easily broken down into either 12-week trimesters or 9-week quarters. It was easy for me to decide to take a 'normal' year and break it up, and adopt essentially a "two months on, one month off" format... with our off months being the ones divisible by three. This worked well on paper for us: Shannon's dance studio has their big show every June, complete with a LOT of extra rehearsals; September brings our annual trip to the midwest to race in the Solo National championships PLUS Shannon's birthday month; December brings Christmas break; and March... well, March didn't have anything special other than a pretty traditional Spring Break month. We also operate on a four-day "sit down" week, with an attempt at a related field trip on Fridays, or other goodies that sneak in learning without feeling like school, trips to the Science Center feel like fun rather than tedium.
I like that schedule. It fits me.
I've come to one conclusion about it lately, however. It does not fit Shannon. Having only my own kid to judge by, I have NO idea how any teacher gets anything done in September or January after a break. She adapts to a month off all too quickly, and I spend the first two weeks "back" fighting with my child about settling down. It's a whole lot of no fun for either of us, and the more no fun it is, the more no fun the next day is. But, finally, the active fighting ends, and I can live with mild whining. We usually start having a few "good" days more and more often by the end of our quarter, and I think we've finally "gotten it." But then the Christmas craziness starts.... or the September silly season... or what-have-you. So I'm less able to build on a good thing while it's going.
Now I know I'm going to have to change, and make sure we're doing what's best for HER, not what's best for ME. It's time to adapt to what's less convenient for me so that I can build while enthusiasm is high.
Because if I have too many more solid weeks of fighting with her, the urge to give up and enroll in public school may get too high. I'm not against public schooling in principle, but that would be doing it for the wrong reasons.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Reasons I'm homeschooling
(Also republishing this post)
Through our journey, I NEVER want to get preachy when talking about homeschooling. I NEVER want to state or imply that it's the right answer for everyone. I know that's not the case. I do, however, also feel that for me and my daughter, this is a no-brainer decision. Unlike a lot of people, I don't have "a" reason to homeschool Shannon. I have probably a dozen reasons, each of which are strong, but probably not enough by themselves. Together, however, they make an overwhelming case in my book.
I can list these reasons, in no particular order, each is probably post-worthy broken down. Consider this a "Cliff's Notes" version and preview of posts to come. In no particular order:
1. "Teacher" was always one of my top 3 choices of career growing up
2. I want to nurture in Shannon the "mind hunger" I remember from being little
3. Washington State and this area in particular have a strong homeschooling community
4. I believe school doesn't only happen within 4 walls between 9AM and 3PM
5. I want to KNOW, not just trust, that Shannon's getting encouragement where she excels and help when she needs
6. I've seen both the good and bad of public school teachers, and don't want to trust a lottery to find out which will mold my child
7. I'm inspired by a pair of fabulous teenagers I know who are homeschooled by their dedicated dad
8. Moms & daughters should be close
9. One of my core beliefs has always been that educating the future is society's most important task, failing to follow through myself would make me hypocritical
10. It just "feels right"
11. We're financially able to do it
12. My daughter will be able to follow through on any activity she wants and it can be worked into the day however we want
13. I flatter myself enough to think I'll be good at it
14. My friends flatter me enough to say I'd be good at it
15. "The system" works best for the average student. I don't want Shannon to be average.
16. I want flexibility to pursue subjects as the ideas flow, not merely studying "X" because it's time to study "X"
17. We travel a lot for our hobbies, which would lead to quite a few days missed in a traditional setting
That's enough for an off-the-cuff list.
Through our journey, I NEVER want to get preachy when talking about homeschooling. I NEVER want to state or imply that it's the right answer for everyone. I know that's not the case. I do, however, also feel that for me and my daughter, this is a no-brainer decision. Unlike a lot of people, I don't have "a" reason to homeschool Shannon. I have probably a dozen reasons, each of which are strong, but probably not enough by themselves. Together, however, they make an overwhelming case in my book.
I can list these reasons, in no particular order, each is probably post-worthy broken down. Consider this a "Cliff's Notes" version and preview of posts to come. In no particular order:
1. "Teacher" was always one of my top 3 choices of career growing up
2. I want to nurture in Shannon the "mind hunger" I remember from being little
3. Washington State and this area in particular have a strong homeschooling community
4. I believe school doesn't only happen within 4 walls between 9AM and 3PM
5. I want to KNOW, not just trust, that Shannon's getting encouragement where she excels and help when she needs
6. I've seen both the good and bad of public school teachers, and don't want to trust a lottery to find out which will mold my child
7. I'm inspired by a pair of fabulous teenagers I know who are homeschooled by their dedicated dad
8. Moms & daughters should be close
9. One of my core beliefs has always been that educating the future is society's most important task, failing to follow through myself would make me hypocritical
10. It just "feels right"
11. We're financially able to do it
12. My daughter will be able to follow through on any activity she wants and it can be worked into the day however we want
13. I flatter myself enough to think I'll be good at it
14. My friends flatter me enough to say I'd be good at it
15. "The system" works best for the average student. I don't want Shannon to be average.
16. I want flexibility to pursue subjects as the ideas flow, not merely studying "X" because it's time to study "X"
17. We travel a lot for our hobbies, which would lead to quite a few days missed in a traditional setting
That's enough for an off-the-cuff list.
Most important subject?
(The following post is being republished from almost 2 years ago. Sure, it's not the best prose, but it still holds true for me.)
When you mention you plan on homeschooling, the most common reaction is for people to express their concern that your child will not have any social outlet or friends. Why is that the very first reaction? What I'm hearing is NOT "she needs math skills" or "she'll lack in history" but is the most important subject in school recess? Bah! Others have said it better than I probably can, but I'll put my own spin on the socialization issue here.
Growing up, especially at Shannon's age, my closest friends came not from school, but from my neighborhood. My best friend across the street, and a girl further down the street both started attending private school in second grade. Sure, I got along with people in my class, invited plenty of them to my birthday parties and whatnot, but the day-to-day friendship came from the girl who did not go to school with me. By 4th grade, I had a "school best friend" and a "real best friend." My friend Audrey and I would spend more of class time giggling and passing notes, occasionally getting into trouble over it, and spending recesses inside instead of outside. Not that she was a bad influence, not that I was, but putting the two of us together encouraged the naughty in us. ;) At that time, my friend across the street was still the larger influence in my life.
It wasn't until 7th grade and I was bussed to and from school that my school friendships really began to have a larger influence on my life than my neighbor. By that point, I'd been in various drama groups (none school related), the occasional soccer team, tennis, and girl scouts. I'd spent many afternoons and evenings hanging around my stepdad's softball team, or with his teammates' children. And even then, I had more overall fun with ANY group that had kids both older and younger than I was. Sure, you gravitate to kids your own age, but to me, one of the biggest drawbacks of school is the lack of any interaction with kids outside the September to September age range that you fall into.
Being able to interact with kids your own age is limiting. Sure, you need the "pecking order" skill that seems to be the goal of throwing a bunch of kids into any social situation, but what I want to teach is how to interact with kids with DIFFERENT skills and maturity levels, not just the same. In life, that's the more useful skill, don't you think?
When you mention you plan on homeschooling, the most common reaction is for people to express their concern that your child will not have any social outlet or friends. Why is that the very first reaction? What I'm hearing is NOT "she needs math skills" or "she'll lack in history" but is the most important subject in school recess? Bah! Others have said it better than I probably can, but I'll put my own spin on the socialization issue here.
Growing up, especially at Shannon's age, my closest friends came not from school, but from my neighborhood. My best friend across the street, and a girl further down the street both started attending private school in second grade. Sure, I got along with people in my class, invited plenty of them to my birthday parties and whatnot, but the day-to-day friendship came from the girl who did not go to school with me. By 4th grade, I had a "school best friend" and a "real best friend." My friend Audrey and I would spend more of class time giggling and passing notes, occasionally getting into trouble over it, and spending recesses inside instead of outside. Not that she was a bad influence, not that I was, but putting the two of us together encouraged the naughty in us. ;) At that time, my friend across the street was still the larger influence in my life.
It wasn't until 7th grade and I was bussed to and from school that my school friendships really began to have a larger influence on my life than my neighbor. By that point, I'd been in various drama groups (none school related), the occasional soccer team, tennis, and girl scouts. I'd spent many afternoons and evenings hanging around my stepdad's softball team, or with his teammates' children. And even then, I had more overall fun with ANY group that had kids both older and younger than I was. Sure, you gravitate to kids your own age, but to me, one of the biggest drawbacks of school is the lack of any interaction with kids outside the September to September age range that you fall into.
Being able to interact with kids your own age is limiting. Sure, you need the "pecking order" skill that seems to be the goal of throwing a bunch of kids into any social situation, but what I want to teach is how to interact with kids with DIFFERENT skills and maturity levels, not just the same. In life, that's the more useful skill, don't you think?
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