We are homeschoolers that don't regularly utilize the library. We are readers, bibliophiles, and none of us have been inside our county library in at least a year.
This was not always the case. As a child, I love the opportunities to go to the "big library" downtown and roam its shelves. I loved using the card catalog (remember those?) and browsing the stacks, full of hope that at last, I might've remembered how to find things using the Dewey Decimal System. In school, I cheered when we were finally deemed old enough to go to the school's library in the mornings unattended, to return books and find new ones. When I went to college, I quickly established myself as a patron of my new county library, and struck up a friendship with two of the librarians there. Today, however, it is a different story.
I love the library in theory. In practice, however, I don't. Our county system is long on popular titles and subjects, but short on specific titles and the type of books I prefer to read. Our county system also has so many branches that the chance of the book I want being at a branch near me is slim. Our county is big! Yes, I can request books and they'll transport them to my local branch, but it adds yet another level to the process. Between those things, and the late fees we acquired because I found the book depository difficult to use and our branch difficult to turn into and out of, I found trying to use the library was simply frustrating me.
Other issues surfaced. I would go through resources (The Story of the World Activity Guides, R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey booklists), painstakingly entering each title, writing a careful L (in pencil, naturally) next to those I could find on the internet-based catalog. (How times had changed, in the blink of an eye.) Then, when it was time to study a particular chapter, I could easily request the available books. As I said, our library can be short on specific titles, but due to the number of books listed in things like the Activity Guides, there could be a large number of books available for a chapter. Then we'd have two, three, four, or more supplemental books about a given chapter. It didn't matter, somehow, if I had deemed the topic important and worth further study. The books were there and available, and we should, therefore, read them all. Better yet, let's not move forward in our book until we have read all of the available supplemental books - even if we are second or third in the hold line for one or more of the listed books.
I think you can see where this is going. The right books weren't always available, but there could also be plenty of the not-wrong books. Remember, I said we were bibliophiles. Reading more books couldn't be wrong, could it?
At some point on this merry-go-round of internet searches, Ikea bags of library books, and massive fines, I read The Latin-Centered Curriculum. For various reasons, we have not adopted a LCC-style classical curriculum, sticking with a WTM-inspired neo-classical approach, but part of Andrew Campbell's writing stuck with me. Not many, but much. I wasn't reading to cut our reading list to the sparse levels he advocated, but reading LCC (repeatedly) did help me to at last loosen the reins. We didn't have to read every book on a topic, or even any book on a topic. We could pick and choose the best.
With that, the final piece fell into place, and we began to quit using the library.
How did I do it? Many people can't imagine homeschooling without the library, its friendly librarians, the weekly storytimes and activities.
For starters, the librarians in our branch weren't particularly friendly, and most of them were not librarians, but library clerks. Further, our multi-branch system was and is fond of near-constant shuffling of staff. The clerk here this week will likely be gone in four to eight months. Additionally, my oldest daughter grew old enough that even the storytime activities geared to "school-age" children were below her interest level.
But what about the books, I hear you asking.
To begin with, I had the advantage of years of preparation for homeschooling. Any visit to McKay's (a local used bookstore near my parents' house, and the best used bookstore I've ever seen) was not complete without my scanning the children's section for titles I recognized. For many years, before the advent of Amazon Prime, I would bring my total over the magic $25 for Super Saver Shipping by adding a Roger Lancelyn Green book or something similar. Before I even made the decision to cut the cord between the library and me, I was well on my way to a decent collection at home.
I started being more serious about my visits to the used bookstore, though, and branched out beyond the familiar McKay's Books. In the midst of a large decluttering, I started using paperbackswap. The books going out had belonged to me and occasionally my husband; the books arriving were all for homeschooling. I added even more books to the kids' wishlists for birthdays and holidays. My comparison shopping of amazon versus chain bookstores with educator discounts reached new mathematical heights. Once a week, after my oldest two children are safely ensconced at Master's Academy, I visit either Barnes & Noble or Borders and buy one book (biography, history, literature, or occasionally science) that we'll use in the upcoming year of school. I don't miss $7 a week from the grocery money, and neither does my waistline, but I would not be able to spend nearly $400 a single time, once a year, on top of the other curriculum purchases that must be made. To paraphrase Les Miserables, science kits are expensive, monsieur.
Yes, it is not a trifling amount of money. I do have three kids that will use these books, and SmrtMama's Captain Science has benefited from my rudimentary collection, too, so at least four kids will use these titles! I see that as a sound investment, in many ways.
Beyond that, though, my kids can read a book about knights or chemistry at any given time. My daughter can revisit her favorite part of history (ancient Egypt) at her leisure, and if I want my children to see me re-reading a childhood favorite, I know that The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, and The Westing Game are all nearby.
As a adult, I'm so grateful for the books my parents bought me. My copies of the stories of Anne of Green Gables are the ones through which my children will meet Anne, just as my daughter met Laura Ingalls in my mother's copies of her books.
Still, I don't want to be down on the library. It serves an important function. I do want to return to using it, judiciously. I don't want it to be the source for our main, required books. I want to use it in the way that I did as a child - as a supplement to the books read in school, and to the books already owned. I would never have discovered so many favorite books without the library, and I recognize that. Still, when it comes to the ones that really stuck with me, I don't want to go and get them from the library once more. No, I want to own a copy, to curl up on my couch as an adult and pore over them once more.
That's why I'll continue to buy most of my children's books, and why I'm so excited that I had the foresight seven or eight years ago to write down the title, author, and ISBN of one of my favorite library books from childhood. Christmas Crafts and I are going to be reunited at last - for good.
20.9.09
Holy Missing Menu Plan, Batman!
I think I managed to follow my menu plan once this past week. Eeek! In hopes of a better seven days ahead, here's my hopes for the coming week:
Monday: Asian-Style Beef Short Ribs, albeit with slightly different seasonings; rice; applesauce or green beans.
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes (also a crock pot recipe), baked acorn squash
Wednesday: Black beans and rice, cornbread, fresh CSA apples (I hope!)
Thursday: Santa Fe Chicken casserole
Friday: Spaghetti
Sides for Thursday and Friday are to be determined, based on what goodies I get on Wednesday in the CSA. Saturday is going to be a celebratory dinner for my other half's birthday, and he hasn't yet finalized his ideal menu. Sunday, we're going out to eat - my birthday falls just two weeks later, so we go out once in between them, in theory, but this weekend works best this year.
Emergency back up meal(s)? I have the stuff for corned beef hash pinwheels, frozen corn, and frozen fish from Trader Joe's, plus a ton more black beans, salsa, and frozen tortillas.
Monday: Asian-Style Beef Short Ribs, albeit with slightly different seasonings; rice; applesauce or green beans.
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes (also a crock pot recipe), baked acorn squash
Wednesday: Black beans and rice, cornbread, fresh CSA apples (I hope!)
Thursday: Santa Fe Chicken casserole
Friday: Spaghetti
Sides for Thursday and Friday are to be determined, based on what goodies I get on Wednesday in the CSA. Saturday is going to be a celebratory dinner for my other half's birthday, and he hasn't yet finalized his ideal menu. Sunday, we're going out to eat - my birthday falls just two weeks later, so we go out once in between them, in theory, but this weekend works best this year.
Emergency back up meal(s)? I have the stuff for corned beef hash pinwheels, frozen corn, and frozen fish from Trader Joe's, plus a ton more black beans, salsa, and frozen tortillas.
18.9.09
Weekly Report: Six Week Slump?
It's rained here. Not just today, or yesterday, or even just a few days this week. No, it's rained all week long. My driveway has a coating of green on it. Everything has a dreary grey pallor. Lest you think I exaggerate... no. I don't exaggerate. It really feels this way, at least in my head.
To add to that, Fabulous Boy acquired a low-grade fever on Sunday. It came and went, off and on, all week, just enough to have me opt out of taking him to Master's Academy on Monday, or tumbling on Wednesday. Wednesday night I checked on him around 9 pm and he felt cool. At 11 pm, he woke up, glassy-eyed, and he was hot. Low-grade fever had spiked. 102.4°F. Fun times!
We went with cool cloths and sleep Wednesday night. Thursday during the day we added homeopathics to the arsenal. Fever didn't really budge. He tossed and turned near bedtime, so we pulled out the big guns - Children's Tylenol.
I should say here that I generally don't agree with fever reduction. I think fever plays an important role in immune response, and whenever possible, I'd rather my kids have a fever for 12 to 24 hours and get their illness gone. Since he'd cycled between fever and not for days, though, and we were approaching the 24 hour mark, and he couldn't sleep, we went with the Tylenol.
He drank it after 30 minutes, and went to sleep. An hour later, I checked on him and he was dripping sweat, but cool. By this morning, the fever had returned (holding steady at 102.1°F), so back to the Tylenol we went. He still has a fever, at 100°F, but the difference in his mood is staggering.
So that's FB's report for the week - he was sick. We read books and watched movies. That's it!
Purple Child, luckily, has not contracted whatever sickness ails her brother. I attribute this primarily to the antibodies that I am sure my milk must be transmitting to her. Later today, she's getting her picture made. In theory, we were going to get her picture made around nine months, but in practice, it's become nearly ten months. How did August and most of September go so fast?
Eclectic Girl's week has probably been the best of everyone's. Since I felt rather unmotivated when I wasn't taking care of a sick FB, spelling hasn't gotten done this week. I feel certain that she appreciates this greatly.
In Latin, she's firmly into Chapter 5 and mastering the three sets of vocabulary introduced so far. She's essentially doing Latin six days a week - five days of work and one of vocabulary games online. I think most of the grammar is a review from previous programs, but she has had some new words introduced.
Grammar is still going well. EG is getting better at finding all of the errors in the day's selection without needing hints. Writing Tales 2 is going extremely well. She's finishing up her work with "The Boy and the Nuts" (I think that's the name of it) today, with the grammar review. Her rewrite changed the boy to a girl named Hanna and the nuts to a jar of Skittles!
No drills beaten this week - she's still doing Levels 11 and 27. She's doing well with her work in Key to Measurement but she's having trouble fitting in drill, Life of Fred, and Key to Measurement all within her alloted time period. I'm thinking about doing measurement with her on the weekends or in the evenings, just once or twice a week. It's important, but rushing through it isn't going to help her - she knows the mathematical operations being used, but not the units. Life of Fred is going well, though she did require two or three tries to the Bridge on Monday. I think she was picking up on the overall chaos of last weekend, as her work on the preceding chapters had all been excellent.
History this week covered France, Prussia, Canada, and South America. She chose to write her summary about France and its various governments in the nineteenth century. She read a biography of Geronimo and finished up her look at the Civil War with Lee and Grant at Appomattox. She's also making steady progress on her Civil War memorization projects - "O Captain My Captain" and the Gettysburg Address.
This week kicked off magnetism in physics. EG completed activities 1-5 in the TOPS Magnetism module. I love these TOPS modules! I wish they had had more that fit with our physics study. After these, though, we have some Science in a Nutshell kits to complete.
Finally, in literature, EG and her father continue racing through Where The Red Fern Grows. EG is reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes this week.
So it wasn't the most stellar week, but at least we kept swimming, to paraphrase Dory.
To add to that, Fabulous Boy acquired a low-grade fever on Sunday. It came and went, off and on, all week, just enough to have me opt out of taking him to Master's Academy on Monday, or tumbling on Wednesday. Wednesday night I checked on him around 9 pm and he felt cool. At 11 pm, he woke up, glassy-eyed, and he was hot. Low-grade fever had spiked. 102.4°F. Fun times!
We went with cool cloths and sleep Wednesday night. Thursday during the day we added homeopathics to the arsenal. Fever didn't really budge. He tossed and turned near bedtime, so we pulled out the big guns - Children's Tylenol.
I should say here that I generally don't agree with fever reduction. I think fever plays an important role in immune response, and whenever possible, I'd rather my kids have a fever for 12 to 24 hours and get their illness gone. Since he'd cycled between fever and not for days, though, and we were approaching the 24 hour mark, and he couldn't sleep, we went with the Tylenol.
He drank it after 30 minutes, and went to sleep. An hour later, I checked on him and he was dripping sweat, but cool. By this morning, the fever had returned (holding steady at 102.1°F), so back to the Tylenol we went. He still has a fever, at 100°F, but the difference in his mood is staggering.
So that's FB's report for the week - he was sick. We read books and watched movies. That's it!
Purple Child, luckily, has not contracted whatever sickness ails her brother. I attribute this primarily to the antibodies that I am sure my milk must be transmitting to her. Later today, she's getting her picture made. In theory, we were going to get her picture made around nine months, but in practice, it's become nearly ten months. How did August and most of September go so fast?
Eclectic Girl's week has probably been the best of everyone's. Since I felt rather unmotivated when I wasn't taking care of a sick FB, spelling hasn't gotten done this week. I feel certain that she appreciates this greatly.
In Latin, she's firmly into Chapter 5 and mastering the three sets of vocabulary introduced so far. She's essentially doing Latin six days a week - five days of work and one of vocabulary games online. I think most of the grammar is a review from previous programs, but she has had some new words introduced.
Grammar is still going well. EG is getting better at finding all of the errors in the day's selection without needing hints. Writing Tales 2 is going extremely well. She's finishing up her work with "The Boy and the Nuts" (I think that's the name of it) today, with the grammar review. Her rewrite changed the boy to a girl named Hanna and the nuts to a jar of Skittles!
No drills beaten this week - she's still doing Levels 11 and 27. She's doing well with her work in Key to Measurement but she's having trouble fitting in drill, Life of Fred, and Key to Measurement all within her alloted time period. I'm thinking about doing measurement with her on the weekends or in the evenings, just once or twice a week. It's important, but rushing through it isn't going to help her - she knows the mathematical operations being used, but not the units. Life of Fred is going well, though she did require two or three tries to the Bridge on Monday. I think she was picking up on the overall chaos of last weekend, as her work on the preceding chapters had all been excellent.
History this week covered France, Prussia, Canada, and South America. She chose to write her summary about France and its various governments in the nineteenth century. She read a biography of Geronimo and finished up her look at the Civil War with Lee and Grant at Appomattox. She's also making steady progress on her Civil War memorization projects - "O Captain My Captain" and the Gettysburg Address.
This week kicked off magnetism in physics. EG completed activities 1-5 in the TOPS Magnetism module. I love these TOPS modules! I wish they had had more that fit with our physics study. After these, though, we have some Science in a Nutshell kits to complete.
Finally, in literature, EG and her father continue racing through Where The Red Fern Grows. EG is reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes this week.
So it wasn't the most stellar week, but at least we kept swimming, to paraphrase Dory.
17.9.09
Secular Thursday
Something you won't often hear from me, but here it is, nonetheless.
Thanks for modern medicine, and by modern, I guess I mean the last half or so of the 20th century.
Because FB's fever finally broke tonight. Low-grade off and on since Sunday, over 101 since last night. Now he's finally, finally cool again. So thanks, biomedical research and the resultant products.
And that's all she wrote.
Thanks for modern medicine, and by modern, I guess I mean the last half or so of the 20th century.
Because FB's fever finally broke tonight. Low-grade off and on since Sunday, over 101 since last night. Now he's finally, finally cool again. So thanks, biomedical research and the resultant products.
And that's all she wrote.
14.9.09
The Best Laid Plans
Even Organized Mom has days that, well, you just want to rewind and redo. As we said in elementary school, I want a do-over!
This is a busy week here; every extracurricular activity with which the kids are involved meets this week. At the end of the week, on Saturday, I'll be at a BOLD event most of the day. Even this coming Sunday holds no respite; there's a two hour Girl Scout meeting for EG followed by a talent show and Court of Awards for all of us to witness. All of this to preface that in my head, yesterday was to be my day of rest before the onslaught. It didn't happen that way, for reasons both good (celebrating my mentee Girl Scout's Gold Award) and bad (attending visitation for a friend's husband, killed in an accident at age 39).
EG is a particularly sensitive, perceptive child, and accordingly she's been affected by my agitation since Friday afternoon. This friend is active in the local birth and breastfeeding community, homeschools, is (was?) the primary organizer for the BOLD event listed above, and is an all around sweet person. She has six kids, ranging in age from 21 to 2. To find out that she's been left a widow at such a young age was and is hard to take in. She and her husband clearly adored each other, and today, she had to bury him. I didn't hide the fact that I was upset from EG (I couldn't have!), but even had I managed, I know she would have felt it.
All of that said, it's unsurprising that her work today has lacked focus. She's at Master's Academy now, and this afternoon later she has a Girl Scout meeting. If it were any other activities, I would have made her stay at home to complete some work, but I don't feel it's an option today, for various reasons. It can't be that bad, you say? There's nothing she's actually completed enough to use a check mark beside it in her assignment book. Nothing! This after getting up at her usual time, and working straight through (aside from breakfast and getting dressed) until 11:30. Usual time, by the way, is 6:45 am... not exactly late.
Meanwhile, FB is running a low grade fever and is extremely lethargic. He's not at Master's Academy today. Yesterday he ran a fever early, then seemed fine the rest of the day, so I ascribed it to a different cause. Last night, though, he cycled between warm and that clammy coolness of sweating a fever. Today, he's practically devoid of energy.
Purple Child had an appointment to have her picture made while the older two were at Master's Academy, but we've had to postpone that. I forgot to put our crockpot meal together in time for it to be ready for this evening. My daugher's new Girl Scout leader requires they wear their uniform at every meeting, so after I pick her up (early) at Master's Academy, she'll have to change clothes in the van. The math club I facilitate may have to be canceled for lack of participants. I need a new cartridge or whatever it is called for my printer - the laser printer that was brand-new just two months ago. I have a really neat new book and I've not read any of it since Thursday.
Stop the ride, I want to get off.
This is a busy week here; every extracurricular activity with which the kids are involved meets this week. At the end of the week, on Saturday, I'll be at a BOLD event most of the day. Even this coming Sunday holds no respite; there's a two hour Girl Scout meeting for EG followed by a talent show and Court of Awards for all of us to witness. All of this to preface that in my head, yesterday was to be my day of rest before the onslaught. It didn't happen that way, for reasons both good (celebrating my mentee Girl Scout's Gold Award) and bad (attending visitation for a friend's husband, killed in an accident at age 39).
EG is a particularly sensitive, perceptive child, and accordingly she's been affected by my agitation since Friday afternoon. This friend is active in the local birth and breastfeeding community, homeschools, is (was?) the primary organizer for the BOLD event listed above, and is an all around sweet person. She has six kids, ranging in age from 21 to 2. To find out that she's been left a widow at such a young age was and is hard to take in. She and her husband clearly adored each other, and today, she had to bury him. I didn't hide the fact that I was upset from EG (I couldn't have!), but even had I managed, I know she would have felt it.
All of that said, it's unsurprising that her work today has lacked focus. She's at Master's Academy now, and this afternoon later she has a Girl Scout meeting. If it were any other activities, I would have made her stay at home to complete some work, but I don't feel it's an option today, for various reasons. It can't be that bad, you say? There's nothing she's actually completed enough to use a check mark beside it in her assignment book. Nothing! This after getting up at her usual time, and working straight through (aside from breakfast and getting dressed) until 11:30. Usual time, by the way, is 6:45 am... not exactly late.
Meanwhile, FB is running a low grade fever and is extremely lethargic. He's not at Master's Academy today. Yesterday he ran a fever early, then seemed fine the rest of the day, so I ascribed it to a different cause. Last night, though, he cycled between warm and that clammy coolness of sweating a fever. Today, he's practically devoid of energy.
Purple Child had an appointment to have her picture made while the older two were at Master's Academy, but we've had to postpone that. I forgot to put our crockpot meal together in time for it to be ready for this evening. My daugher's new Girl Scout leader requires they wear their uniform at every meeting, so after I pick her up (early) at Master's Academy, she'll have to change clothes in the van. The math club I facilitate may have to be canceled for lack of participants. I need a new cartridge or whatever it is called for my printer - the laser printer that was brand-new just two months ago. I have a really neat new book and I've not read any of it since Thursday.
Stop the ride, I want to get off.
11.9.09
Electricity Videos
Of course, you can't do electricity videos without Schoolhouse Rock!
from Newton's Apple: Electricity
Bill Nye the Science Guy, Electricity (in three parts)
And a variety from NeoK12: Electricity videos, including circuits, voltage, and current.
from Newton's Apple: Electricity
Bill Nye the Science Guy, Electricity (in three parts)
And a variety from NeoK12: Electricity videos, including circuits, voltage, and current.
Weekly Report: Week Five (sort of)
We had a shortened week this week! Between this week and the week of Thanksgiving, we needed to accomplish five days of school, so EG did work on Sunday, Thursday, and Friday this week. Monday through Wednesday we were at the beach in Destin, FL! Since we host Thanksgiving, we thought it was better to do three days of school this week and two that week.
As a result of the shortened week, FB's schoolwork was entirely informal. We played the alphabet game several times on our trek south and again back northwards, counted the various vehicles, talked about the tides, time zones, and various animals and signs thereof on the beach. He did insist on doing a page in handwriting yesterday and today, and he's set himself a goal of "doing four cuttings a day" in the Kumon cutting workbook. I bought a book about telling time for him yesterday, as well as one about the brain. His selections are so varied. I hope to find our "Yellow is the Sun" CD over the weekend, and get back on track with both math and phonics this coming week.
PC is improving her walking on a daily basis, which of course strikes fear into this mother's heart. ;) She's also eating more solid foods (at last!), but nursing as much as ever. Still, I can feel the difference in my body now that I'm not her sole source of nourishment. It's been eighteen months since I wasn't her only provider!
EG accomplished a lot despite our shortened week. The biggest accomplishment was probably that she and SmrtMama's Captain Science finished their unit on electricity. We used the TOPS Electricity module to great success, and over the coming week, they'll watch a few videos online about electricity.
EG read A House Divided and The Second Battle of Manassas. She finished Gettysburg and is working on Old Yeller. Her memorization work is continuing, though we've put a hold on further poetry in the IEW poetry memorization program until she's memorized her history work - The Gettysburg Address and "O Captain, My Captain." She and her dad are continuing to read in Where the Red Fern Grows. I'm not sure at what point they are, but I know it's ahead of where I thought they'd be.
Language arts activities: three activities in Editor in Chief A1, steps 24 and 25 in All About Spelling Level Four, ten minutes practice with penmanship each day, completion of Lesson 14 in Writing Tales 2, and the beginning of Lesson 15 in WT2.
In Latin, EG finished Chapter 3 of Lively Latin and began Chapter 4.
Mathematics included three drills, chapters 18-20 in LoF: Decimals & Percents, and pages 7-11 in Key To Measurement Book 2. EG also did a few pages in Key to Decimals Book 1 to reinforce a few areas.
No Master's Academy or co-op this week because of Labor Day; EG missed stroke clinic Tuesday evening and FB missed tumbling on Wednesday morning due to our vacation. Extracurriculars resumed Thursday evening, though, with EG's stroke clinic, and FB & PC will have their respective swim lessons tomorrow morning. Finally, EG's first day of band and chorus is this afternoon! We've managed to arrange it so that FB and PC can stay home this first day with one parent, and the other will escort EG.
As a result of the shortened week, FB's schoolwork was entirely informal. We played the alphabet game several times on our trek south and again back northwards, counted the various vehicles, talked about the tides, time zones, and various animals and signs thereof on the beach. He did insist on doing a page in handwriting yesterday and today, and he's set himself a goal of "doing four cuttings a day" in the Kumon cutting workbook. I bought a book about telling time for him yesterday, as well as one about the brain. His selections are so varied. I hope to find our "Yellow is the Sun" CD over the weekend, and get back on track with both math and phonics this coming week.
PC is improving her walking on a daily basis, which of course strikes fear into this mother's heart. ;) She's also eating more solid foods (at last!), but nursing as much as ever. Still, I can feel the difference in my body now that I'm not her sole source of nourishment. It's been eighteen months since I wasn't her only provider!
EG accomplished a lot despite our shortened week. The biggest accomplishment was probably that she and SmrtMama's Captain Science finished their unit on electricity. We used the TOPS Electricity module to great success, and over the coming week, they'll watch a few videos online about electricity.
EG read A House Divided and The Second Battle of Manassas. She finished Gettysburg and is working on Old Yeller. Her memorization work is continuing, though we've put a hold on further poetry in the IEW poetry memorization program until she's memorized her history work - The Gettysburg Address and "O Captain, My Captain." She and her dad are continuing to read in Where the Red Fern Grows. I'm not sure at what point they are, but I know it's ahead of where I thought they'd be.
Language arts activities: three activities in Editor in Chief A1, steps 24 and 25 in All About Spelling Level Four, ten minutes practice with penmanship each day, completion of Lesson 14 in Writing Tales 2, and the beginning of Lesson 15 in WT2.
In Latin, EG finished Chapter 3 of Lively Latin and began Chapter 4.
Mathematics included three drills, chapters 18-20 in LoF: Decimals & Percents, and pages 7-11 in Key To Measurement Book 2. EG also did a few pages in Key to Decimals Book 1 to reinforce a few areas.
No Master's Academy or co-op this week because of Labor Day; EG missed stroke clinic Tuesday evening and FB missed tumbling on Wednesday morning due to our vacation. Extracurriculars resumed Thursday evening, though, with EG's stroke clinic, and FB & PC will have their respective swim lessons tomorrow morning. Finally, EG's first day of band and chorus is this afternoon! We've managed to arrange it so that FB and PC can stay home this first day with one parent, and the other will escort EG.
10.9.09
Secular Thursdays: Supports, or the Lack Thereof
Almost every publication about homeschooling will tell you, the homeschooling parent, that one of the most important things is to have support. If the publication is older (think a copyright date of 2000 or before), the emphasis will be on local support groups; as the internet has gained prominence, the emphasis has shifted somewhat to also include internet-based groups and media, including message boards and podcasts.
The number of homeschoolers is growing rapidly, and proportionally, non-religious homeschoolers are making up a larger percentage of overall homeschoolers, secular homeschoolers are still a small fraction of the overall homeschooling population. More than that, even if a family does not list religion or faith as a primary reason for homeschooling, many who begin homeschooling for other reasons are perfectly willing to use religious curricula or join religious support networks. Religion may not be a primary reason, but it doesn't mean that wouldn't feel comfortable in a group of religious homeschoolers.
There are networks that are growing. There are increasing numbers of co-ops and message boards geared directly towards the secular homeschooler. Nevertheless, they still tend to be smaller, less well-organized, and less frequently visited. Post counts are smaller; the variety of classes offered is less. And in some areas, there is nothing adequate.
Podcasts. I enjoy podcasts on a variety of subjects. I've searched for a homeschooling podcast, and so far, all but one have been either very religious, or one-episode wonders that haven't been updated in at least a year and a half. I did find one, however, and while I thought it sounded a bit simplistic, I decided I would try listening to "How to Homeschool."
It's the "official podcast" of Homestead Homeschool, which provides "video lessons" so that your children can learn "unattended." It's presented by "Scott, [who] was homeschooled, and Becky, [who] did homeschool." Further listening suggests that Scott may be Becky's grown son. It's a folksy, aww-shucks podcast, full of exaggerations and ridiculous comparisons to public schools. Here's a hint, Scott and Becky: if you have to elevate homeschooling solely through putting other educational options down, you might want to consider why you're feeling so insecure about the efficacy of homeschooling.
SmrtMama and I are talking about doing a podcast of our own. Possible names have been discussed, including "Secularious Homeschooling." There's clearly a niche that is unfilled, just as there remains with regards to secular curricula in various subject areas. But that's a subject for another Thursday. In the meantime, what would you, the generic secular homeschooler, want to see in a podcast? Or you, the theoretical secular homeschooler? For that matter, homeschoolers of all stripes. The intent would not be exclude, though presumably a creationist homeschooler would want to ignore discussion of evolution. The intent would instead be to include, to broaden the audience, providing a resource for an underserved niche of homeschoolers.
The number of homeschoolers is growing rapidly, and proportionally, non-religious homeschoolers are making up a larger percentage of overall homeschoolers, secular homeschoolers are still a small fraction of the overall homeschooling population. More than that, even if a family does not list religion or faith as a primary reason for homeschooling, many who begin homeschooling for other reasons are perfectly willing to use religious curricula or join religious support networks. Religion may not be a primary reason, but it doesn't mean that wouldn't feel comfortable in a group of religious homeschoolers.
There are networks that are growing. There are increasing numbers of co-ops and message boards geared directly towards the secular homeschooler. Nevertheless, they still tend to be smaller, less well-organized, and less frequently visited. Post counts are smaller; the variety of classes offered is less. And in some areas, there is nothing adequate.
Podcasts. I enjoy podcasts on a variety of subjects. I've searched for a homeschooling podcast, and so far, all but one have been either very religious, or one-episode wonders that haven't been updated in at least a year and a half. I did find one, however, and while I thought it sounded a bit simplistic, I decided I would try listening to "How to Homeschool."
It's the "official podcast" of Homestead Homeschool, which provides "video lessons" so that your children can learn "unattended." It's presented by "Scott, [who] was homeschooled, and Becky, [who] did homeschool." Further listening suggests that Scott may be Becky's grown son. It's a folksy, aww-shucks podcast, full of exaggerations and ridiculous comparisons to public schools. Here's a hint, Scott and Becky: if you have to elevate homeschooling solely through putting other educational options down, you might want to consider why you're feeling so insecure about the efficacy of homeschooling.
SmrtMama and I are talking about doing a podcast of our own. Possible names have been discussed, including "Secularious Homeschooling." There's clearly a niche that is unfilled, just as there remains with regards to secular curricula in various subject areas. But that's a subject for another Thursday. In the meantime, what would you, the generic secular homeschooler, want to see in a podcast? Or you, the theoretical secular homeschooler? For that matter, homeschoolers of all stripes. The intent would not be exclude, though presumably a creationist homeschooler would want to ignore discussion of evolution. The intent would instead be to include, to broaden the audience, providing a resource for an underserved niche of homeschoolers.
5.9.09
Four Weeks In Evaluation - What's Working, What Isn't
What's Working
Lively Latin is a big hit here. The visual layout of the material is wonderful, it contains clear explanations, and I'm actually loving the printing-as-we-go feature. Eclectic Girl has a great attitude about studying Latin and most days finishes her assigned work faster than the given amount of time. Awesome!
Spencerian Penmanship. EG is truly enjoying this, and volunteers to practice each day. I'm loving that I don't have to supervise this subject at all, due to her intense motivation. Spencerian cursive is, above all, pretty, and EG does love pretty.
Writing Tales 2. EG is being stretched to add more detail to her rewrites and to apply grammar. I also love the dictionary work, key word outlines, and work with synonyms. I've already started looking through the next step (Classical Writing: Homer), and I can tell EG will be well-prepared for it.
Life of Fred. This is the most amazing math series and I credit it with returning to EG her love of math. The style is perfect for her, as she loves to read and has an intuitive grasp of mathematical concepts. She's flying through Decimals and Percents, and she'll start Beginning Algebra in mid-November.
TOPS Science modules. EG has almost completed the entirety of the Electricity module. I love it! We're set to tackle Magnetism next. These modules are letting her use her intuitive sense to "get" physics concepts. I wish I'd started using these sooner!
Right Start Level A. This is perfect for FB. He has a great time with all the manipulatives and games, and it's helping him develop his own math intuition. I need to be more consistent with it (and find our Yellow Is The Sun CD), but I do love the program.
The Logic Countdown series from Prufrock Press. EG has sped through the first book and a half of this three book series. I love the variety of problems presented.
What's Working: Things Kash Pulled Together
The MOTH-inspired daily schedules. I anticipated some balking, but instead EG and FB both adore them. I love them, too, because it's not Mom saying what to do, it's the Schedule. It's hard to argue with a piece of paper encased in a sheet protector. :)
Our history pages. Each week, there's a new page, listing reading in her spine (Story of the World Volume 4), reading in supplemental resources, assigned living books (histories and biographies), the week's mapwork, and any writing and/or memorization assignments. I'm so glad I invested the time to prepare these. I'll definitely be doing them in future years, as well as going back to lay out a similar schedule for Story of the World volumes 1-3 for FB and PC.
Memory work. We're finally getting this done consistently. We are using Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization from IEW for poetry, and it's the only source of memory work for FB at this point, but for EG, I'm adding in history work, additional poetry, daily Latin review (vocabulary as well as various chants), grammar definitions, and starting in a few weeks, some terms for physics. Once I put it on the schedule and decided to make it a priority, it finally started coming together.
What's Not Working
Our literature list is so far overwhelming EG. While she's certainly capable of reading everything that's been assigned, she started the year with one of the longest works she'll read all year (Little Women), and then followed that, two weeks later, with a week in which multiple books were to be read. I hope that once we hit week six (week five is a shortened week), she'll have found her 'stride,' so to speak.
Similarly, literature analysis and discussion is not happening. I need to make more of an effort to use the various resources we have - Deconstructing Penguins and various free literature guides online.
Lively Latin is a big hit here. The visual layout of the material is wonderful, it contains clear explanations, and I'm actually loving the printing-as-we-go feature. Eclectic Girl has a great attitude about studying Latin and most days finishes her assigned work faster than the given amount of time. Awesome!
Spencerian Penmanship. EG is truly enjoying this, and volunteers to practice each day. I'm loving that I don't have to supervise this subject at all, due to her intense motivation. Spencerian cursive is, above all, pretty, and EG does love pretty.
Writing Tales 2. EG is being stretched to add more detail to her rewrites and to apply grammar. I also love the dictionary work, key word outlines, and work with synonyms. I've already started looking through the next step (Classical Writing: Homer), and I can tell EG will be well-prepared for it.
Life of Fred. This is the most amazing math series and I credit it with returning to EG her love of math. The style is perfect for her, as she loves to read and has an intuitive grasp of mathematical concepts. She's flying through Decimals and Percents, and she'll start Beginning Algebra in mid-November.
TOPS Science modules. EG has almost completed the entirety of the Electricity module. I love it! We're set to tackle Magnetism next. These modules are letting her use her intuitive sense to "get" physics concepts. I wish I'd started using these sooner!
Right Start Level A. This is perfect for FB. He has a great time with all the manipulatives and games, and it's helping him develop his own math intuition. I need to be more consistent with it (and find our Yellow Is The Sun CD), but I do love the program.
The Logic Countdown series from Prufrock Press. EG has sped through the first book and a half of this three book series. I love the variety of problems presented.
What's Working: Things Kash Pulled Together
The MOTH-inspired daily schedules. I anticipated some balking, but instead EG and FB both adore them. I love them, too, because it's not Mom saying what to do, it's the Schedule. It's hard to argue with a piece of paper encased in a sheet protector. :)
Our history pages. Each week, there's a new page, listing reading in her spine (Story of the World Volume 4), reading in supplemental resources, assigned living books (histories and biographies), the week's mapwork, and any writing and/or memorization assignments. I'm so glad I invested the time to prepare these. I'll definitely be doing them in future years, as well as going back to lay out a similar schedule for Story of the World volumes 1-3 for FB and PC.
Memory work. We're finally getting this done consistently. We are using Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization from IEW for poetry, and it's the only source of memory work for FB at this point, but for EG, I'm adding in history work, additional poetry, daily Latin review (vocabulary as well as various chants), grammar definitions, and starting in a few weeks, some terms for physics. Once I put it on the schedule and decided to make it a priority, it finally started coming together.
What's Not Working
Our literature list is so far overwhelming EG. While she's certainly capable of reading everything that's been assigned, she started the year with one of the longest works she'll read all year (Little Women), and then followed that, two weeks later, with a week in which multiple books were to be read. I hope that once we hit week six (week five is a shortened week), she'll have found her 'stride,' so to speak.
Similarly, literature analysis and discussion is not happening. I need to make more of an effort to use the various resources we have - Deconstructing Penguins and various free literature guides online.
4.9.09
Weekly Report: Week Four
Twenty days completed means just one hundred sixty to go... a ninth of the way there.
Let's start with Eclectic Girl this week. We're all anticipating our upcoming trip, but she's managed to stay on task, a big difference from in years past. Math continues to go well - she passed the Bridge to Chapter 16 this week on the first try. Her daily work is usually completely correct as well. She didn't complete any new levels of drill this week, but since both were relatively new, that's not surprising. She also began working through Key to Measurement Book 2. Measurement is an area with which we haven't spent as much time, directly. It's been covered indirectly through numerous word problems, but I want her spent some time with it, so we're using the Key to... series over the course of this year.
Latin is going extremely well. We're so pleased with Lively Latin. Because we've attempted Latin previously, much of what she's doing so far is review of one type or another, but the amount of writing and layout of the materials makes it so much nicer to use. She finished Chapter 3 this week and will start Chapter 4 next week!
EG is nearly done with her electricity unit for physics. There are three remaining activities from the TOPS Electricity unit that she'll do next week. She read in the "Electricity" section of The New Way Things Work as well. I love our physics books this year!
History is the Civil War, which she'll continue to study next week. She read through chapter five in SOTW 4, as well as parts of THe American Story, The Children's Encyclopedia of American History, The Young Perpon's History of the United States, and one page from The Usborne Book of World History. Her biography is Sitting Bull, and she's reading through Gettysburg as well as a National Park Service publication about Manassas. Instead of writing a summary this week, she's working on adding to her memorization repetoire - the Gettyburg address and "O Captain! My Captain!" She's continuing to review "The Charge of the Light Brigade" daily.
In literature, EG read a "Great Illustrated Classics" adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. While well below her reading level, I wanted her to have some familiarity with the iconic stories from it before we tackle the real thing in eighth grade. She also read Gentle Annie, and she's started on A House Divided. The current read-aloud is Where the Red Fern Grows, and they've completed through chapter nine, well ahead of plans.
Language arts is the final area, and EG is doing well there, too. She's steadily working at cursive penmanship in the mornings when she first wakes. Spelling is proceeding as it generally does, in fits and starts. While both EG and I acknowledge the need to study spelling, neither of us particularly enjoys the actual study of it. I know that All About Spelling works for her, but it can be immensely annoying to both of us! She's still doing editing activities to cover grammar - later in the year, we'll tackle Junior Analytical Grammar. Finally, in writing, she's working with "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" as her model and studying adverbs. She'll finish her final draft at the beginning of next week.
EG is also working on logic as the spirit moves her, so to speak. She sped through Logic Countdown as well as several Mind Benders books over the summer and throughout the first three weeks of school. She's now finished book B3 of Mind Benders and has completed half of Logic Liftoff. My original thoughts were for her to finish at least the B level Mind Benders and half of Orbiting with Logic by the end of this school year. I think I'll have to figure something else out, or start rationing them!
Fabulous Boy is showing a little more attentiveness to his phonics, and is still speeding through handwriting. Math has taken somewhat of a backseat since it can be hard to find a time to complete the work when Purple Child won't interfere! I've also managed to lose FB's math CD somewhere between the living room and the dining room - ugh. I'm hoping it'll turn up soon.
Purple Child is working on improving her walking, and on dropping down to just one nap a day. Of course I'm glad she's growing bigger and stronger, but neither of these developments thrill me one itty bitty bit.
No pictures this week, the house and I are in a state of chaos. I may do a four weeks in - what's worked, what hasn't - post later today or over the weekend.
Let's start with Eclectic Girl this week. We're all anticipating our upcoming trip, but she's managed to stay on task, a big difference from in years past. Math continues to go well - she passed the Bridge to Chapter 16 this week on the first try. Her daily work is usually completely correct as well. She didn't complete any new levels of drill this week, but since both were relatively new, that's not surprising. She also began working through Key to Measurement Book 2. Measurement is an area with which we haven't spent as much time, directly. It's been covered indirectly through numerous word problems, but I want her spent some time with it, so we're using the Key to... series over the course of this year.
Latin is going extremely well. We're so pleased with Lively Latin. Because we've attempted Latin previously, much of what she's doing so far is review of one type or another, but the amount of writing and layout of the materials makes it so much nicer to use. She finished Chapter 3 this week and will start Chapter 4 next week!
EG is nearly done with her electricity unit for physics. There are three remaining activities from the TOPS Electricity unit that she'll do next week. She read in the "Electricity" section of The New Way Things Work as well. I love our physics books this year!
History is the Civil War, which she'll continue to study next week. She read through chapter five in SOTW 4, as well as parts of THe American Story, The Children's Encyclopedia of American History, The Young Perpon's History of the United States, and one page from The Usborne Book of World History. Her biography is Sitting Bull, and she's reading through Gettysburg as well as a National Park Service publication about Manassas. Instead of writing a summary this week, she's working on adding to her memorization repetoire - the Gettyburg address and "O Captain! My Captain!" She's continuing to review "The Charge of the Light Brigade" daily.
In literature, EG read a "Great Illustrated Classics" adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. While well below her reading level, I wanted her to have some familiarity with the iconic stories from it before we tackle the real thing in eighth grade. She also read Gentle Annie, and she's started on A House Divided. The current read-aloud is Where the Red Fern Grows, and they've completed through chapter nine, well ahead of plans.
Language arts is the final area, and EG is doing well there, too. She's steadily working at cursive penmanship in the mornings when she first wakes. Spelling is proceeding as it generally does, in fits and starts. While both EG and I acknowledge the need to study spelling, neither of us particularly enjoys the actual study of it. I know that All About Spelling works for her, but it can be immensely annoying to both of us! She's still doing editing activities to cover grammar - later in the year, we'll tackle Junior Analytical Grammar. Finally, in writing, she's working with "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" as her model and studying adverbs. She'll finish her final draft at the beginning of next week.
EG is also working on logic as the spirit moves her, so to speak. She sped through Logic Countdown as well as several Mind Benders books over the summer and throughout the first three weeks of school. She's now finished book B3 of Mind Benders and has completed half of Logic Liftoff. My original thoughts were for her to finish at least the B level Mind Benders and half of Orbiting with Logic by the end of this school year. I think I'll have to figure something else out, or start rationing them!
Fabulous Boy is showing a little more attentiveness to his phonics, and is still speeding through handwriting. Math has taken somewhat of a backseat since it can be hard to find a time to complete the work when Purple Child won't interfere! I've also managed to lose FB's math CD somewhere between the living room and the dining room - ugh. I'm hoping it'll turn up soon.
Purple Child is working on improving her walking, and on dropping down to just one nap a day. Of course I'm glad she's growing bigger and stronger, but neither of these developments thrill me one itty bitty bit.
No pictures this week, the house and I are in a state of chaos. I may do a four weeks in - what's worked, what hasn't - post later today or over the weekend.
3.9.09
Secular Thursdays: The Bible As Literature
Wednesday is Wordless Wednesday, Sunday is What's For Dinner?, and Friday is the Weekly Report, but I thought I'd take a cue from my friend Smrt Mama over at Smrt Lernins, and start doing Secular Thursdays, too. Just to begin with a bang, today I'm going to tackle studying the Bible as literature (versus a literal history, or a document of a person's personal faith).
Despite being decidedly secular in our approach to school, I also feel strongly that a well-educated person must have at least passing familiarity with the Bible and the stories it contains. Like the myths of Greek and Rome, the stories catalogued in the religious books of Judeo-Christian faiths figure frequently in literary allusions throughout the ages. While I do not wish to teach my children that any of these stories are literal truth, I do want them to understand what basic stories are referenced when there is mention of the tower of Babel, being swallowed by a whale, or the meek inheriting the earth.
Truthfully, though, this approach to the Bible as literature is not a common one. Most secular homeschoolers would prefer to ignore the Bible altogether, and the Bible curriculums that do exist for homeschoolers are usually aimed at Christians. Not just Christians, either, but a particular type of fundamentalist, evangelical Christian that subscribes to a specific set of limited beliefs, and partakes in a particular Christian culture. This means that quite apart from those that identify with a non Judeo-Christian faith, many who do will find little to nothing for their faith in these curriculums, much less value in teaching the Bible as literature.
Despite the lack of complete curriculum, though, I've managed to identify a few resources that I hope to use over the years with my children, over grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages all.
With regards to grammar stage, I feel that I chose poorly for my eldest. In my effort to avoid indoctrination in the philosophy which views the Bible as literal truth, I went too far the other way, and failed to expose her to the Judeo-Christian tradition as I would have any culture's founding mythology. I do plan to rectify that mistake with my remaining children. When we study the time period of the ancients (from the beginning of record history through approximately 400 C.E.), we'll read appropriate retellings of Bible stories alongside our retellings of Homer, Virgil, Greek mythology, and the epic of Gilgamesh. I own two Bible story books, remnants of my own childhood, and will use a combination of these two - an older version of The Golden Childen's Bible, and an old hardbook maroon copy of Egermeier's Bible Story Book. Both are relatively free of specific doctrine, though I will have to add my own explanation that these are stories, not literal histories.
The resources I will use in the logic and rhetoric stages will overlap somewhat. While I plan to primarily use The Old Testament for Teens during our logic stage study of the ancients, we will keep it as a reference for the rhetoric stage. Similarly, while I expect we will look at Asimov's Guide to the Bible more during the rhetoric stage, we will utilize it as a reference from time to time during the logic stage. During both these stages, we will use a translation of the Bible, not a retelling of it, though what translation we use may change. I have not yet made any systematic study of the various translations and versions available. Finally, in the rhetoric stage, I expect to reference The Bible and Its Influence, though we will likely not study it in an in-depth manner.
Whatever choices are made in terms of faith, the need for all well-educated people to be familiar with various mythologies of the world's religions remains. Understanding the basic precepts of all the world's major religions should be a hallmark of a well-educated citizen, which includes familiarity with major stories. Another Thursday we'll talk about other religions and their holy books, as well.
Despite being decidedly secular in our approach to school, I also feel strongly that a well-educated person must have at least passing familiarity with the Bible and the stories it contains. Like the myths of Greek and Rome, the stories catalogued in the religious books of Judeo-Christian faiths figure frequently in literary allusions throughout the ages. While I do not wish to teach my children that any of these stories are literal truth, I do want them to understand what basic stories are referenced when there is mention of the tower of Babel, being swallowed by a whale, or the meek inheriting the earth.
Truthfully, though, this approach to the Bible as literature is not a common one. Most secular homeschoolers would prefer to ignore the Bible altogether, and the Bible curriculums that do exist for homeschoolers are usually aimed at Christians. Not just Christians, either, but a particular type of fundamentalist, evangelical Christian that subscribes to a specific set of limited beliefs, and partakes in a particular Christian culture. This means that quite apart from those that identify with a non Judeo-Christian faith, many who do will find little to nothing for their faith in these curriculums, much less value in teaching the Bible as literature.
Despite the lack of complete curriculum, though, I've managed to identify a few resources that I hope to use over the years with my children, over grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages all.
With regards to grammar stage, I feel that I chose poorly for my eldest. In my effort to avoid indoctrination in the philosophy which views the Bible as literal truth, I went too far the other way, and failed to expose her to the Judeo-Christian tradition as I would have any culture's founding mythology. I do plan to rectify that mistake with my remaining children. When we study the time period of the ancients (from the beginning of record history through approximately 400 C.E.), we'll read appropriate retellings of Bible stories alongside our retellings of Homer, Virgil, Greek mythology, and the epic of Gilgamesh. I own two Bible story books, remnants of my own childhood, and will use a combination of these two - an older version of The Golden Childen's Bible, and an old hardbook maroon copy of Egermeier's Bible Story Book. Both are relatively free of specific doctrine, though I will have to add my own explanation that these are stories, not literal histories.
The resources I will use in the logic and rhetoric stages will overlap somewhat. While I plan to primarily use The Old Testament for Teens during our logic stage study of the ancients, we will keep it as a reference for the rhetoric stage. Similarly, while I expect we will look at Asimov's Guide to the Bible more during the rhetoric stage, we will utilize it as a reference from time to time during the logic stage. During both these stages, we will use a translation of the Bible, not a retelling of it, though what translation we use may change. I have not yet made any systematic study of the various translations and versions available. Finally, in the rhetoric stage, I expect to reference The Bible and Its Influence, though we will likely not study it in an in-depth manner.
Whatever choices are made in terms of faith, the need for all well-educated people to be familiar with various mythologies of the world's religions remains. Understanding the basic precepts of all the world's major religions should be a hallmark of a well-educated citizen, which includes familiarity with major stories. Another Thursday we'll talk about other religions and their holy books, as well.
30.8.09
School On the Move?
We've had a plan in the back of our heads for some time now that in two to four years, we're going to be moving. We know what we want in a new house, approximately where we want it to be, and an approximate price range. We even have a list of things that would be really neat, but we don't necessarily expect to find.
On a whim Friday night, I looked at real estate listings. I was getting tired, and told myself I'd look at just one more page. I clicked, and on that page was the magic listing. It has everything on the list of what we want, and most of the things that would be really neat to have. The location is pretty much exactly where we would want to be. In short, I managed to find what appears to be a perfect house for us.
Being the weekend, we haven't been able to actually get inside the house. We'll try to do that Tuesday or Wednesday. Assuming we still like the house, we're going to cautiously move forward. At every step, if we encounter substantial roadblocks, then we'll stop, and let it go, knowing it wasn't meant to be. There is, however, every possibility that it is supposed to be (though I admit that percentage is small), in which case... we'll be moving, during the school year.
Let me pause here to say that even though I only found this listing less then 48 hours ago, I've poured over the virtual tour, driven past it, learned more about the neighborhood, and discovered I could walk to my good friend's house from it. In short, unless the tour reveals a very grievous flaw, there's a high chance that I'm going to be devastated if/when this doesn't happen.
Right now, though, I want to dwell on the five percent chance of it happening. Even if things proceed relatively slowly, we're potentially looking at a move before Christmas. Let me pause to say this is one advantage of purchasing at least some Christmas presents early; if we move and it takes all of our money, at least I know there's something to put under the tree for all three kids. Let's also accept that from here on out, everything I say should have "potentially" or "maybe" or "if this happens" in front of it. We all know it's conditional, I just don't want to rewrite that fact repeatedly.
I like being done for the year the same week or one week earlier than the public school kids, and consequently, there's no extra time in the spring semester to make up missed days this autumn. I also don't think I'd have a high compliance rate or very good attitudes if we tried to skip our spring break. Ideally, a move would take just a few days of absolutely no access to schoolwork, and with proper packing, some work could undoubtedly be continued almost constantly - each kid does have a backpack, after all.
It's actually more the idea of selling this house that worries me, the idea that we could be settling in for a good morning of learning when the telephone rings and it's an agent, saying someone wants to see the house in an hour or two. Suddenly, then, I'd need to put away dishes and the like, and get everyone out the door. Let's not forget that I have Purple Child on top of my two students. The chances are high that some things would fall further and further behind. Spelling for EG, math perhaps for FB; neither are particularly portable.
My only conclusion is that, if we proceed forward, then starting on September 13, we're going to have to become 7-day-a-week homeschoolers. Finishing subjects that aren't daily, grabbing extra days so we can build up a 'bank' of extra days, all of that. It's not a horrible idea, but it does sound a little bit exhausting, especially since the week of September 13 promised to be a bit stressful on its own.
Yes, this house is awesome enough, though, that it'd be all worth.
On a whim Friday night, I looked at real estate listings. I was getting tired, and told myself I'd look at just one more page. I clicked, and on that page was the magic listing. It has everything on the list of what we want, and most of the things that would be really neat to have. The location is pretty much exactly where we would want to be. In short, I managed to find what appears to be a perfect house for us.
Being the weekend, we haven't been able to actually get inside the house. We'll try to do that Tuesday or Wednesday. Assuming we still like the house, we're going to cautiously move forward. At every step, if we encounter substantial roadblocks, then we'll stop, and let it go, knowing it wasn't meant to be. There is, however, every possibility that it is supposed to be (though I admit that percentage is small), in which case... we'll be moving, during the school year.
Let me pause here to say that even though I only found this listing less then 48 hours ago, I've poured over the virtual tour, driven past it, learned more about the neighborhood, and discovered I could walk to my good friend's house from it. In short, unless the tour reveals a very grievous flaw, there's a high chance that I'm going to be devastated if/when this doesn't happen.
Right now, though, I want to dwell on the five percent chance of it happening. Even if things proceed relatively slowly, we're potentially looking at a move before Christmas. Let me pause to say this is one advantage of purchasing at least some Christmas presents early; if we move and it takes all of our money, at least I know there's something to put under the tree for all three kids. Let's also accept that from here on out, everything I say should have "potentially" or "maybe" or "if this happens" in front of it. We all know it's conditional, I just don't want to rewrite that fact repeatedly.
I like being done for the year the same week or one week earlier than the public school kids, and consequently, there's no extra time in the spring semester to make up missed days this autumn. I also don't think I'd have a high compliance rate or very good attitudes if we tried to skip our spring break. Ideally, a move would take just a few days of absolutely no access to schoolwork, and with proper packing, some work could undoubtedly be continued almost constantly - each kid does have a backpack, after all.
It's actually more the idea of selling this house that worries me, the idea that we could be settling in for a good morning of learning when the telephone rings and it's an agent, saying someone wants to see the house in an hour or two. Suddenly, then, I'd need to put away dishes and the like, and get everyone out the door. Let's not forget that I have Purple Child on top of my two students. The chances are high that some things would fall further and further behind. Spelling for EG, math perhaps for FB; neither are particularly portable.
My only conclusion is that, if we proceed forward, then starting on September 13, we're going to have to become 7-day-a-week homeschoolers. Finishing subjects that aren't daily, grabbing extra days so we can build up a 'bank' of extra days, all of that. It's not a horrible idea, but it does sound a little bit exhausting, especially since the week of September 13 promised to be a bit stressful on its own.
Yes, this house is awesome enough, though, that it'd be all worth.
28.8.09
Weekly Report: Week Three
The big news for the week happened on Saturday. I posted on facebook that it was the end of the world as I knew it, to paraphrase R.E.M. Why? Purple Child took her first steps. She was all of two days past the nine month mark. I admit, I had hoped for a later start date!
Fabulous Boy is making me somewhat crazy. It's clear he sees little to no use for phonics (or reading in general). After all, he has me, his father, and Eclectic Girl all to read to him, should he desire. He has a great deal of enthusiasm for handwriting, though, as well as his math. I do think FB thinks some of the math work is a bit silly (tally marks, for starters), but if I can rework anything to make it a game, then we have a winner. I also remembered this week that I have the Book-on-CD for Visual Perceptual Skill Building. I printed out the entirety of the mazes and he worked his way through them quite steadily.
FB has memorized three poems, and EG has memorized seven!
Both FB and EG were excited for the first day of Master's Academy. Our new co-op started this week as well. Here, they're getting ready for the first day at MAFA:
And here, they're exhausted from the first day at MAFA:
Eclectic Girl had a good week. She read Ghosts of the Civil War, If You Lived At the Time of the Civil War, Lincoln: A Photobiography, Caddie Woodlawn, and started its sequel, Magical Melons (it's my old copy, so yes, it just says Magical Melons on the cover!).
EG finished her review of fractions (she needed some review with adding & subtracting mixed numbers), and continued working in LoF: Decimals & Percents. She passed the Bridge to Chapter 11 on the first try: 100%! She also "beat" two different levels of math drill this week (we alternate between an addition/subtraction and a multiplication/division drill each day). It was a really great math week!
Grammar is still simply editing, but I can see it's getting easier for her to find each need correction. Spelling is still spelling. In Writing Tales, she finished Lesson 12 with a great retelling of "The Little Red Hen." Her next story to work with is "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
As might have been apparent from the reading selections above, we're quickly approaching the time of the Civil War in history. EG read Chapter 4 in Story of the World, and wrote a summary about Italy becoming a nation, along with the accompanying map work. In addition to her other memory work, she's got "The Charge of the Light Brigade" about 90 to 95% committed to memory.
Science lab was Thursday. I discovered that rather than reading the instructions, both of my pupils were constructing their circuits and the like merely by looking at the drawing of the finished product and attempting to replicate it. Needless to say, this meant that their first attempts just didn't work. After the cause of the trouble was discovered, though, things proceded nicely. Science, as you can see, is exciting.
Fabulous Boy is making me somewhat crazy. It's clear he sees little to no use for phonics (or reading in general). After all, he has me, his father, and Eclectic Girl all to read to him, should he desire. He has a great deal of enthusiasm for handwriting, though, as well as his math. I do think FB thinks some of the math work is a bit silly (tally marks, for starters), but if I can rework anything to make it a game, then we have a winner. I also remembered this week that I have the Book-on-CD for Visual Perceptual Skill Building. I printed out the entirety of the mazes and he worked his way through them quite steadily.
FB has memorized three poems, and EG has memorized seven!
Both FB and EG were excited for the first day of Master's Academy. Our new co-op started this week as well. Here, they're getting ready for the first day at MAFA:
And here, they're exhausted from the first day at MAFA:
Eclectic Girl had a good week. She read Ghosts of the Civil War, If You Lived At the Time of the Civil War, Lincoln: A Photobiography, Caddie Woodlawn, and started its sequel, Magical Melons (it's my old copy, so yes, it just says Magical Melons on the cover!).
EG finished her review of fractions (she needed some review with adding & subtracting mixed numbers), and continued working in LoF: Decimals & Percents. She passed the Bridge to Chapter 11 on the first try: 100%! She also "beat" two different levels of math drill this week (we alternate between an addition/subtraction and a multiplication/division drill each day). It was a really great math week!
Grammar is still simply editing, but I can see it's getting easier for her to find each need correction. Spelling is still spelling. In Writing Tales, she finished Lesson 12 with a great retelling of "The Little Red Hen." Her next story to work with is "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
As might have been apparent from the reading selections above, we're quickly approaching the time of the Civil War in history. EG read Chapter 4 in Story of the World, and wrote a summary about Italy becoming a nation, along with the accompanying map work. In addition to her other memory work, she's got "The Charge of the Light Brigade" about 90 to 95% committed to memory.
Science lab was Thursday. I discovered that rather than reading the instructions, both of my pupils were constructing their circuits and the like merely by looking at the drawing of the finished product and attempting to replicate it. Needless to say, this meant that their first attempts just didn't work. After the cause of the trouble was discovered, though, things proceded nicely. Science, as you can see, is exciting.
23.8.09
What's For Dinner?
I had to do last minute rearranging of my meal plans for the week, which meant an additional trip to the grocery store this evening. Instead of thawing flank steak, my other half brought in cube steak. Oops. So, with cube steak freshly thawed, we're changing dinner for the week. I am bummed, a bit, because I like cube steak, but we've already had it this month. Additionally, this is the last of the cube steak from our quarter cow. While we're definitely wanting a half (versus a quarter) next year, which will mean six packs of cube steak, late May/early June is quite awhile to wait!
Monday: Cube steaks in the crock pot, leftover mashed potatoes from Saturday, and green beans
Tuesday: Leftovers - bbq chicken, hot dogs, etc.
Wednesday: Hamburgers, baked beans, and some fruit
Thursday: Leftover cube steaks, fried okra (hopefully that's in our CSA box this week), and Annie's macaroni and cheese
Friday: Payday! We'll either still have leftovers, or we'll have pizza night or spaghetti.
Saturday: French bread pizza
Sunday: Rib steak, squash casserole, hot cinnamon applesauce
Monday: Cube steaks in the crock pot, leftover mashed potatoes from Saturday, and green beans
Tuesday: Leftovers - bbq chicken, hot dogs, etc.
Wednesday: Hamburgers, baked beans, and some fruit
Thursday: Leftover cube steaks, fried okra (hopefully that's in our CSA box this week), and Annie's macaroni and cheese
Friday: Payday! We'll either still have leftovers, or we'll have pizza night or spaghetti.
Saturday: French bread pizza
Sunday: Rib steak, squash casserole, hot cinnamon applesauce
21.8.09
Weekly Report: Week Two
We had a good second week, though it was interrupted somewhat on Thursday by a migraine on my part. Ouch!
This week's reading included Invincible Louisa, the remainder of Abraham Lincoln's World, Clara Barton (from the Childhood of Famous Americans series, this is my mother's copy!), portions of Physics (Basher), and part of The Cartoon Guide to Physics. I'm not sure what chapter Eclectic Girl and her father are reading in Sing Down the Moon, but I know it's ahead of where I expected.
EG finished her grammar for the week, completed steps 18 and 19 in AAS 4, and did a lot of writing. She finished her retelling of "The Doll in the Grass" and did a great job!
In math, EG completed a drill level (yay!), and worked on a few pages in Key to Fractions Book 4. She completed her first Bridge in LoF: Decimals & Percents and finished chapters six through nine.
We fortuitously listened to a podcast about Florence Nightingale this past weekend, and part of EG's reading in SOTW 4 this week mentioned her. (The podcast in question was an old episode of Math Mutation.) Instead of writing a summary this week, she has a poem to memorize ("The Charge of the Light Brigade") and a project on taking medical records for a week.
On Thursday, we had physics lab again. They did three separate activities this week.
No Master's Academy or co-op this week (both begin next week), but activities at the YMCA began, which for EG means stroke clinic on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. As it happened, EG is the only one in the clinic, so she essentially gets private lessons for the cost of group ones! She's also swimming on Wednesday mornings and possibly Saturday mornings, on her own.
Fabulous Boy's YMCA activity is the much-beloved Tumbling Teddies class on Wednesday mornings. He was so excited to go back to class! We worked through two more lessons of OPGTR, and he read the first three Bob Books. Another set of pages in HWT's Pre-K book. We worked a lot on the Memory game and memorization for math. I did get him a basic Kumon workbook on telling time, which he thought was fantastic. He got a new book this week which we read a few times - Seymour Simon's Stars.
Memorization-wise, EG has now memorized the first five poems and is working on the sixth. FB has the first down cold but still stumbles on the second. I think he'll probably move on Monday or Tuesday.
Purple Child and FB both have well child visits this afternoon, since chorus and band don't start until after Labor Day.
This week's reading included Invincible Louisa, the remainder of Abraham Lincoln's World, Clara Barton (from the Childhood of Famous Americans series, this is my mother's copy!), portions of Physics (Basher), and part of The Cartoon Guide to Physics. I'm not sure what chapter Eclectic Girl and her father are reading in Sing Down the Moon, but I know it's ahead of where I expected.
EG finished her grammar for the week, completed steps 18 and 19 in AAS 4, and did a lot of writing. She finished her retelling of "The Doll in the Grass" and did a great job!
In math, EG completed a drill level (yay!), and worked on a few pages in Key to Fractions Book 4. She completed her first Bridge in LoF: Decimals & Percents and finished chapters six through nine.
We fortuitously listened to a podcast about Florence Nightingale this past weekend, and part of EG's reading in SOTW 4 this week mentioned her. (The podcast in question was an old episode of Math Mutation.) Instead of writing a summary this week, she has a poem to memorize ("The Charge of the Light Brigade") and a project on taking medical records for a week.
On Thursday, we had physics lab again. They did three separate activities this week.
No Master's Academy or co-op this week (both begin next week), but activities at the YMCA began, which for EG means stroke clinic on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. As it happened, EG is the only one in the clinic, so she essentially gets private lessons for the cost of group ones! She's also swimming on Wednesday mornings and possibly Saturday mornings, on her own.
Fabulous Boy's YMCA activity is the much-beloved Tumbling Teddies class on Wednesday mornings. He was so excited to go back to class! We worked through two more lessons of OPGTR, and he read the first three Bob Books. Another set of pages in HWT's Pre-K book. We worked a lot on the Memory game and memorization for math. I did get him a basic Kumon workbook on telling time, which he thought was fantastic. He got a new book this week which we read a few times - Seymour Simon's Stars.
Memorization-wise, EG has now memorized the first five poems and is working on the sixth. FB has the first down cold but still stumbles on the second. I think he'll probably move on Monday or Tuesday.
Purple Child and FB both have well child visits this afternoon, since chorus and band don't start until after Labor Day.
17.8.09
This Job I Do For Free
Don't let anyone tell you that homeschooling isn't a job. No, it's not one for which you'll receive any monetary compensation. There may be other rewards along the way and at the end, but they aren't monetary in nature (unless, of course, your child gets merit scholarships, but you still don't personally receive that money).
Don't let anyone tell you that being a homeschooling parent is just like being a stay-at-home parent. I've been a stay-at-home parent, and I've been a homeschooling parent. They aren't the same.
I have three distinct jobs. I'm the stay-at-home mom to Purple Child. I'm both stay-at-home mom and teacher to Fabulous Boy and Eclectic Girl. I'm also the administrative and support staff - I have to make disciplinary and curricular decisions, after research.
This job I do for free is one that I choose to do, out of love. I care enough to do it to the best of my ability. I devise replacements for colored cardstock (construction paper, trimmed to 8 1/2" x 11"). I collect slow cooker recipes. I chauffeur to classes, co-ops, and extracurricular activities. I do everything I did as a stay-at-home mom, except I also research curriculum, make lesson plans, correct math work, discuss literature, teach Latin, run a science lab, and desperately wonder where to post a timeline. Without meaning to be conceited, I do this, and I do it all well.
Don't tell me it's not a job.
Don't let anyone tell you that being a homeschooling parent is just like being a stay-at-home parent. I've been a stay-at-home parent, and I've been a homeschooling parent. They aren't the same.
I have three distinct jobs. I'm the stay-at-home mom to Purple Child. I'm both stay-at-home mom and teacher to Fabulous Boy and Eclectic Girl. I'm also the administrative and support staff - I have to make disciplinary and curricular decisions, after research.
This job I do for free is one that I choose to do, out of love. I care enough to do it to the best of my ability. I devise replacements for colored cardstock (construction paper, trimmed to 8 1/2" x 11"). I collect slow cooker recipes. I chauffeur to classes, co-ops, and extracurricular activities. I do everything I did as a stay-at-home mom, except I also research curriculum, make lesson plans, correct math work, discuss literature, teach Latin, run a science lab, and desperately wonder where to post a timeline. Without meaning to be conceited, I do this, and I do it all well.
Don't tell me it's not a job.
16.8.09
Some People Should Not Homeschool
Homeschooling is not an activity that should be undertaken by all. Just as not all women should attempt an unassisted birth, not all parents are willing and/or able to take on the responsibility associated with homeschooling. Many parents realize this and do not attempt to homeschool.
Other parents, it seems, do not.
I don't wish to single out particular people, but I do see examples, and I'd like to cite some of them.
• If you've been reading a book for some time as a family, shouldn't you know that it is called Johnny Tremain and not Johnny Tremaine?
• A message board post reads "What would you do for kindergarten if you only had thirty minutes a day four days a week? My daughter will be a kindergartener in the fall, and she is my last child, so I want this to be fun for both of us. ...but with three older dc, I need it to be short and sweet." I don't really understand this at all. What will this woman do in two years' time, when she will have a high school age student (14), a middle school age student (12), an upper elementary age student (10), and a second grader (7)? Will she still relegate her youngest to a half-hearted, quickie version of school? I understand that formal academics is not as important at the kindergarten age, but it seems desperately sad that you would limit your interactions with one child so severely. How will the following year be different? How will more time appear in her schedule so that she can teach her then-first grader?
Homeschooling is a commitment. Many experienced homeschooling parents will argue that it should be approached as if it were a job. I would agree - and I suppose some would argue that four years lets me speak as one of those who is experienced. Unless you are planning to unschool, which is a completely different philosophy, you need to have plans, goals, and expectations. No, homeschooling doesn't have to mean drudgery. Often, enough school is completed to enable us to go out of the house by 10:30 or 11 am. However, that doesn't mean that it does not require some commitment from the parents. Depending on the approach that is taken, it can mean a significant investment of time and resources. Since I fall into the camp of "if it's worth doing, it's probably worth doing well," I'd argue that if you're not willing to make those investments, you need to look at why you're doing it.
What level of investment do I mean? It looks different for different families, of course. For us, it means a significant amount of time that I spend researching resources and approaches before purchasing, and then a smaller but still significant amount of time spent planning how we'll use those resources. On a daily basis, I instruct Eclectic Girl in spelling, provide direction with writing, discuss reading assignments, and check work in all other areas, requiring her to correct those exercises that were initially wrong. I also spend time teaching Fabulous Boy phonics, handwriting, and math. I guide both of them to do memory work. There's also a lot of reading aloud. Apart from the home instruction, I'm often driving them to enrichment classes or extracurricular activities. Yes, I would still take my children to the YMCA to swim or participate in swim lessons, even if we weren't homeschooling, but I think it's safe to say that many of our weekly activities would no longer be on the calendar.
My personal schedule has two thirty minute blocks, per day, for reading. One is labeled "Reading for Pleasure," and the other is labeled "Reading for Research." The latter one generally consists of items I am researching for school. Currently, the "Reading for Research" pile is relatively short: Classical Writing's Poetry for Beginners, Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies, and The Snake and the Fox. I'm at the nadir of planning, though, as we've just begun a school year, and I have 51 weeks to plan for the next. That list will surely increase!
I also consider it my (and my partner's) responsibility to model life-long learning, and a love of learning. My stack of books for "Reading for Pleasure" is composed primarily of non-fiction works, especially concerning various science and social science topics. Eclectic Girl is going to be learning to play the trumpet, which has inspired Titian Fellow to get out his old clarinet, and has equally spurred me to investigate at last fulfilling an old dream - that of playing the saxophone. We list to educational podcasts as a family, but not out of an effort to impress Learning upon the children; we just happen to enjoy them. Lately, too, TF and I have tried to showcase ourselves learning new things together. This has mostly taken the form of reading from the same book and then discussing it, but we've also purchased some courses from The Teaching Company that should be fun (and educational!) to view. Now, with regards to this paragraph, I'm certainly not saying that non-homeschooling parents don't do some or all of these or related things, or even more than this. I want, however, to draw the point that TF and I continue to do all of these things, in addition to homeschooling-specific duties.
In sum, then, homeschooling entails a significant amount of dedication as well as zeal, and this should be carefully considered, along with more commonly cited issues such as "don't you get tired of being around your kids all day?" or "my kids wouldn't listen to me, we'd just argue all day." Even when you are willing and eager to be around your kids all day, and your kids do not argue with you, there are deeper requirements that should be met. Yes, many homeschooling parents will tell you that of course you can homeschool; after all, you helped your children learn throughout the first years of their life. Advancing academics, though, are hardly comparable to biological imperatives such as walking, and you must be certain that you will follow through on your commitment.
I don't mean to be discouraging. If someone wants to homeschool, but fears they may have an issue with the time and thought needed, the desire can help make the necessary commitments happen. I do think, though, that any homeschooling parent must periodically evaluate what their homeschool is accomplishing, and if there are serious issues, they need to be rectified as soon as humanly possible, or the parents may need to consider other educational options.
Other parents, it seems, do not.
I don't wish to single out particular people, but I do see examples, and I'd like to cite some of them.
• If you've been reading a book for some time as a family, shouldn't you know that it is called Johnny Tremain and not Johnny Tremaine?
• A message board post reads "What would you do for kindergarten if you only had thirty minutes a day four days a week? My daughter will be a kindergartener in the fall, and she is my last child, so I want this to be fun for both of us. ...but with three older dc, I need it to be short and sweet." I don't really understand this at all. What will this woman do in two years' time, when she will have a high school age student (14), a middle school age student (12), an upper elementary age student (10), and a second grader (7)? Will she still relegate her youngest to a half-hearted, quickie version of school? I understand that formal academics is not as important at the kindergarten age, but it seems desperately sad that you would limit your interactions with one child so severely. How will the following year be different? How will more time appear in her schedule so that she can teach her then-first grader?
Homeschooling is a commitment. Many experienced homeschooling parents will argue that it should be approached as if it were a job. I would agree - and I suppose some would argue that four years lets me speak as one of those who is experienced. Unless you are planning to unschool, which is a completely different philosophy, you need to have plans, goals, and expectations. No, homeschooling doesn't have to mean drudgery. Often, enough school is completed to enable us to go out of the house by 10:30 or 11 am. However, that doesn't mean that it does not require some commitment from the parents. Depending on the approach that is taken, it can mean a significant investment of time and resources. Since I fall into the camp of "if it's worth doing, it's probably worth doing well," I'd argue that if you're not willing to make those investments, you need to look at why you're doing it.
What level of investment do I mean? It looks different for different families, of course. For us, it means a significant amount of time that I spend researching resources and approaches before purchasing, and then a smaller but still significant amount of time spent planning how we'll use those resources. On a daily basis, I instruct Eclectic Girl in spelling, provide direction with writing, discuss reading assignments, and check work in all other areas, requiring her to correct those exercises that were initially wrong. I also spend time teaching Fabulous Boy phonics, handwriting, and math. I guide both of them to do memory work. There's also a lot of reading aloud. Apart from the home instruction, I'm often driving them to enrichment classes or extracurricular activities. Yes, I would still take my children to the YMCA to swim or participate in swim lessons, even if we weren't homeschooling, but I think it's safe to say that many of our weekly activities would no longer be on the calendar.
My personal schedule has two thirty minute blocks, per day, for reading. One is labeled "Reading for Pleasure," and the other is labeled "Reading for Research." The latter one generally consists of items I am researching for school. Currently, the "Reading for Research" pile is relatively short: Classical Writing's Poetry for Beginners, Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies, and The Snake and the Fox. I'm at the nadir of planning, though, as we've just begun a school year, and I have 51 weeks to plan for the next. That list will surely increase!
I also consider it my (and my partner's) responsibility to model life-long learning, and a love of learning. My stack of books for "Reading for Pleasure" is composed primarily of non-fiction works, especially concerning various science and social science topics. Eclectic Girl is going to be learning to play the trumpet, which has inspired Titian Fellow to get out his old clarinet, and has equally spurred me to investigate at last fulfilling an old dream - that of playing the saxophone. We list to educational podcasts as a family, but not out of an effort to impress Learning upon the children; we just happen to enjoy them. Lately, too, TF and I have tried to showcase ourselves learning new things together. This has mostly taken the form of reading from the same book and then discussing it, but we've also purchased some courses from The Teaching Company that should be fun (and educational!) to view. Now, with regards to this paragraph, I'm certainly not saying that non-homeschooling parents don't do some or all of these or related things, or even more than this. I want, however, to draw the point that TF and I continue to do all of these things, in addition to homeschooling-specific duties.
In sum, then, homeschooling entails a significant amount of dedication as well as zeal, and this should be carefully considered, along with more commonly cited issues such as "don't you get tired of being around your kids all day?" or "my kids wouldn't listen to me, we'd just argue all day." Even when you are willing and eager to be around your kids all day, and your kids do not argue with you, there are deeper requirements that should be met. Yes, many homeschooling parents will tell you that of course you can homeschool; after all, you helped your children learn throughout the first years of their life. Advancing academics, though, are hardly comparable to biological imperatives such as walking, and you must be certain that you will follow through on your commitment.
I don't mean to be discouraging. If someone wants to homeschool, but fears they may have an issue with the time and thought needed, the desire can help make the necessary commitments happen. I do think, though, that any homeschooling parent must periodically evaluate what their homeschool is accomplishing, and if there are serious issues, they need to be rectified as soon as humanly possible, or the parents may need to consider other educational options.
15.8.09
I'm a Birth Advocate... not a Midwife Advocate
There was recently an interesting discussion on a mailing list to which I subscribe. It was, as so many conversations are, an offshoot of a previous thread. When retitled, its new name became "Is birth for everyone?"
The original author went on to elaborate her position. I'd like to quote most of a paragraph: "Nearly every basically healthy, normal woman can give birth entirely on her own. The most serious handicap most of us face is our mental state. After that are general health concerns like adequate nutrition, sanitation, and serious disease or malformations."
She further makes a statement which with anthropological researchers such as Wenda Trevathan would take issue.
"Birthing on our own is normal. 'Assisted' birth is a choice."
Another respondent rephrased that statement as "People don't NEED doctors/midwives for birth... they want them."
This also then began a good discussion on the fact that true choice must be truly informed to be any sort of real choice. Further, it was pointed out that it is very difficult to know how many women are truly benefitted by having an assisted birth, and since that knowledge is missing, it can be hard for mothers to make an informed choice. One of the theoretical, somewhat rhetorical questions then posed struck a chord with me (and I apologize for the pun) - "Does a cord around the baby's neck make a midwife a hero?"
Because too often I see midwifery advocates and clients not offering up midwives as partners, who can help women to reclaim both responsibility and freedom, but instead substitutes for obstetricians. Yes, the skills of a midwife can be important in some births, in ensuring the health of the mother or the baby. Yes, the support of a midwife can make a true difference in a woman's emotional and mental state, giving her the power to continue through a difficult labor or long period of pushing. However, midwives are frequently portrayed as saviors, just as obstetricians are. How they act as saviors does differ - obstetricians often save the day with the snip of a perineum or the slice of a belly, and the "saving" they provide may be unnecessary and necessitated by their own actions earlier in the course of labor. Midwives, on the other hand, are presented as the saviors in that women hand their own power to the midwives. Rather than "I did it," the woman may, in effect, say "My midwife and I did it!" The woman may give credit to an intervention performed by the midwife that "allowed" to experience a natural or vaginal birth. Many times, motives and actions will be ascribed to the nameless, faceless Hospital Doctors, and the actions of the midwives will be contrasted with those that the woman supposes would have happened had she been in a different location, with different care providers.
Make no mistake - location of birth and choice of provider (and choice to have a provider) are fundamentally important, and no two decisions will have greater impact on a woman's eventual birth experience. However, there often remains an ascribing of actions to an external locus of control, even by the women who had their beautiful, midwife-attended homebirth. This redirection of power is a negative thing, and can only serve to stroke the ego of midwives across the country.
Unassisted birth is emphatically not for everyone. However, the premise that midwives can be heroes and saviors must, I feel, be rejected. What must be remembered by all birth advocates is that birth is ultimately about the mother and the baby, and all involved in a birth should be careful not to take the power of the mother from her.
The original author went on to elaborate her position. I'd like to quote most of a paragraph: "Nearly every basically healthy, normal woman can give birth entirely on her own. The most serious handicap most of us face is our mental state. After that are general health concerns like adequate nutrition, sanitation, and serious disease or malformations."
She further makes a statement which with anthropological researchers such as Wenda Trevathan would take issue.
"Birthing on our own is normal. 'Assisted' birth is a choice."
Another respondent rephrased that statement as "People don't NEED doctors/midwives for birth... they want them."
This also then began a good discussion on the fact that true choice must be truly informed to be any sort of real choice. Further, it was pointed out that it is very difficult to know how many women are truly benefitted by having an assisted birth, and since that knowledge is missing, it can be hard for mothers to make an informed choice. One of the theoretical, somewhat rhetorical questions then posed struck a chord with me (and I apologize for the pun) - "Does a cord around the baby's neck make a midwife a hero?"
Because too often I see midwifery advocates and clients not offering up midwives as partners, who can help women to reclaim both responsibility and freedom, but instead substitutes for obstetricians. Yes, the skills of a midwife can be important in some births, in ensuring the health of the mother or the baby. Yes, the support of a midwife can make a true difference in a woman's emotional and mental state, giving her the power to continue through a difficult labor or long period of pushing. However, midwives are frequently portrayed as saviors, just as obstetricians are. How they act as saviors does differ - obstetricians often save the day with the snip of a perineum or the slice of a belly, and the "saving" they provide may be unnecessary and necessitated by their own actions earlier in the course of labor. Midwives, on the other hand, are presented as the saviors in that women hand their own power to the midwives. Rather than "I did it," the woman may, in effect, say "My midwife and I did it!" The woman may give credit to an intervention performed by the midwife that "allowed" to experience a natural or vaginal birth. Many times, motives and actions will be ascribed to the nameless, faceless Hospital Doctors, and the actions of the midwives will be contrasted with those that the woman supposes would have happened had she been in a different location, with different care providers.
Make no mistake - location of birth and choice of provider (and choice to have a provider) are fundamentally important, and no two decisions will have greater impact on a woman's eventual birth experience. However, there often remains an ascribing of actions to an external locus of control, even by the women who had their beautiful, midwife-attended homebirth. This redirection of power is a negative thing, and can only serve to stroke the ego of midwives across the country.
Unassisted birth is emphatically not for everyone. However, the premise that midwives can be heroes and saviors must, I feel, be rejected. What must be remembered by all birth advocates is that birth is ultimately about the mother and the baby, and all involved in a birth should be careful not to take the power of the mother from her.
14.8.09
Weekly Report: Week One!
Weekly Report: Week One!
We're just wrapping up our first week of 2009/2010. I referred this being our Emeril year, and in keeping with that, I'll just say we started off with a "BAM!"
Eclectic Girl started off fourth grade even earlier than anticipated. Somehow her clock's time was changed, so when she thought she was waking at 6:45, it was actually 5:45! This week, she read Little Women, Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House, If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad, half of Abraham Lincoln's World, Where Does Electricity Come From?, Waves, and portions of Electricity and Magnetism, plus she listened to seven chapters from her read-aloud selection, Sing Down the Moon.
EG started her study of cursive, using the Spencerian Penmanship materials, and resumed spelling, completing review and Step 17. Grammar consisted of three editing activities in Editor in Chief A1, and in Writing Tales 2, she finished the equivalent of seven days as laid out - working on the story "Moses and the Bulrushes."
In math, she resumed work on Caluladder drill (speed is still not her forte), and she reviewed some fractions concepts using selected pages from Key to Fractions Book 4. EG also started her study of decimals & percents with Life of Fred: Decimals & Percents. I was really impressed, once again, with her quick grasp of the concepts presented (though I shouldn't have been surprised).
The Story of the World Volume Four was begun, with reading and mapwork centered around chapter 1. She also read the history-related titles listed above, and wrote a summary of one section from the chapter in SOTW. On Thursday, we had physics lab with one of her best friends, who's a brand-new homeschooler! They worked on the first five activities from the TOPS Electricity module, and appeared to have a great time.
In between all of her schoolwork, EG also attended the orientation for Master's Academy of Fine Arts, where she was excited to have moved into the third, or oldest, rotation; the open house for a brand-new co-op where she'll be taking martial arts, creative writing, and math club; and went to the instrument fitting to determine what instrument she'll be playing in the beginning band class of the local homeschool band. (The winner was trumpet, about which we're all excited!)
Next week, stroke clinic (swimming) begins at the YMCA twice a week. EG has had a great week to start off the year!
Fabulous Boy kicks off his official entre into homeschool with "prekindergarten" this year. We covered lessons 27 & 28 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, which he did very unevenly. It's perfectly clear that he both knows how to sound out words and how to read at least some common words, but it's equally clear that he's not going to be very serious about letting us know just what his abilities are. As far as handwriting goes, though, he's quite motivated, and he's zooming through his Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K book. He's suspicious of the crayon use with it, so while I'll have him finish it, we'll move on to the K level book by mid-year.
FB has requested a math workbook; silly Mom, separating math ability and writing ability! I'm on the look for an inexpensive complement to Right Start Level A. I may simply buy a couple of Kumon workbooks to appease him until he at least Kindergarten age. He's extrapolated the concepts to new situations and also is beginning to understand "parallel."
FB and I read lots of books together - too many to list. Next week, I'll begin being more purposeful about our selections at least once a day. FB also attended orientation for Master's Academy - his first year, and he's pretty excited. Next week his favorite tumbling classes start again at the Y, and a week from tomorrow, he'll resume swim lessons.
Both kids are using IEW's poetry memorization program. EG has learned the first three poems already, and FB has learned one and is working on the second. I originally bought this over a year ago and just hadn't implemented it, but I'm pleased with the return we're getting for a modicum of effort.
Last but not least, Purple Child finally ate food that didn't come straight from me. Really.
A great first week to begin the year.
We're just wrapping up our first week of 2009/2010. I referred this being our Emeril year, and in keeping with that, I'll just say we started off with a "BAM!"
Eclectic Girl started off fourth grade even earlier than anticipated. Somehow her clock's time was changed, so when she thought she was waking at 6:45, it was actually 5:45! This week, she read Little Women, Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House, If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad, half of Abraham Lincoln's World, Where Does Electricity Come From?, Waves, and portions of Electricity and Magnetism, plus she listened to seven chapters from her read-aloud selection, Sing Down the Moon.
EG started her study of cursive, using the Spencerian Penmanship materials, and resumed spelling, completing review and Step 17. Grammar consisted of three editing activities in Editor in Chief A1, and in Writing Tales 2, she finished the equivalent of seven days as laid out - working on the story "Moses and the Bulrushes."
In math, she resumed work on Caluladder drill (speed is still not her forte), and she reviewed some fractions concepts using selected pages from Key to Fractions Book 4. EG also started her study of decimals & percents with Life of Fred: Decimals & Percents. I was really impressed, once again, with her quick grasp of the concepts presented (though I shouldn't have been surprised).
The Story of the World Volume Four was begun, with reading and mapwork centered around chapter 1. She also read the history-related titles listed above, and wrote a summary of one section from the chapter in SOTW. On Thursday, we had physics lab with one of her best friends, who's a brand-new homeschooler! They worked on the first five activities from the TOPS Electricity module, and appeared to have a great time.
In between all of her schoolwork, EG also attended the orientation for Master's Academy of Fine Arts, where she was excited to have moved into the third, or oldest, rotation; the open house for a brand-new co-op where she'll be taking martial arts, creative writing, and math club; and went to the instrument fitting to determine what instrument she'll be playing in the beginning band class of the local homeschool band. (The winner was trumpet, about which we're all excited!)
Next week, stroke clinic (swimming) begins at the YMCA twice a week. EG has had a great week to start off the year!
Fabulous Boy kicks off his official entre into homeschool with "prekindergarten" this year. We covered lessons 27 & 28 in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, which he did very unevenly. It's perfectly clear that he both knows how to sound out words and how to read at least some common words, but it's equally clear that he's not going to be very serious about letting us know just what his abilities are. As far as handwriting goes, though, he's quite motivated, and he's zooming through his Handwriting Without Tears Pre-K book. He's suspicious of the crayon use with it, so while I'll have him finish it, we'll move on to the K level book by mid-year.
FB has requested a math workbook; silly Mom, separating math ability and writing ability! I'm on the look for an inexpensive complement to Right Start Level A. I may simply buy a couple of Kumon workbooks to appease him until he at least Kindergarten age. He's extrapolated the concepts to new situations and also is beginning to understand "parallel."
FB and I read lots of books together - too many to list. Next week, I'll begin being more purposeful about our selections at least once a day. FB also attended orientation for Master's Academy - his first year, and he's pretty excited. Next week his favorite tumbling classes start again at the Y, and a week from tomorrow, he'll resume swim lessons.
Both kids are using IEW's poetry memorization program. EG has learned the first three poems already, and FB has learned one and is working on the second. I originally bought this over a year ago and just hadn't implemented it, but I'm pleased with the return we're getting for a modicum of effort.
Last but not least, Purple Child finally ate food that didn't come straight from me. Really.
A great first week to begin the year.
Three Days Down
"Hey, Mama. Nine is five and four!" So said Fabulous Boy yesterday as we headed home from co-op open house. If you've used Right Start math, you might guess the origin of his statement, but what thoroughly impressed me was that we haven't discussed nine as a quantity yet. We're only up to eight, which means he had to extrapolate to reach that conclusion.
I've settled upon calling this our Emeril year of homeschooling. In other words, it's time to "kick it up a notch." For the first time, FB is having regular, scheduled school time with me, covering phonics, handwriting, and math. We read a lot of books, too, so he'll touch upon not just literature but also history and science through those books. He's asked for a math book "like Sissy;" Right Start Level A just doesn't have much written work (which I, silly Mom, thought was a point in its favor), so I'm on the hunt for an inexpensive workbook series that he will complement what he's learning in Right Start. I'm going to try to take a look at Singapore, and I've had a recommendation to look at Math Mammoth.
"Kick it up a notch" takes on a different look entirely with regards to Eclectic Girl. Being in fourth grade, The Well-Trained Mind would consider her in her last year of grammar stage, but as the authors acknowledge, kids will enter the logic stage at different times. It became readily apparent in the spring that in the areas where she had not already been doing logic stage-type thinking, she was quickly entering it. Our expectations of her have risen accordingly and she seems ready for the challenge. The first day went extraordinarily smoothly, we had only a few hiccups on the second day, primarily due to fatigue, I think, and today (the third day), we've managed to work ahead of our schedule.
The schedules are new. Over a year ago, I had purchased Managers of Their Homes. It's an extremely Christian book, to the point that I couldn't separate the wheat from the chaff the first time I read it. I went through it again this summer, though, with a great big filter in my mind, and I began to see how scheduling could help things run more smoothly here, especially as I added a second student. So I completed the process, and we have beautiful, color-coded schedules, one for each day. I warned everyone that they were guidelines, and that not everything on the schedules would happen every day. That's true. On the other hand, a vast majority of it is getting accomplished, which is something amazing, indeed.
I've settled upon calling this our Emeril year of homeschooling. In other words, it's time to "kick it up a notch." For the first time, FB is having regular, scheduled school time with me, covering phonics, handwriting, and math. We read a lot of books, too, so he'll touch upon not just literature but also history and science through those books. He's asked for a math book "like Sissy;" Right Start Level A just doesn't have much written work (which I, silly Mom, thought was a point in its favor), so I'm on the hunt for an inexpensive workbook series that he will complement what he's learning in Right Start. I'm going to try to take a look at Singapore, and I've had a recommendation to look at Math Mammoth.
"Kick it up a notch" takes on a different look entirely with regards to Eclectic Girl. Being in fourth grade, The Well-Trained Mind would consider her in her last year of grammar stage, but as the authors acknowledge, kids will enter the logic stage at different times. It became readily apparent in the spring that in the areas where she had not already been doing logic stage-type thinking, she was quickly entering it. Our expectations of her have risen accordingly and she seems ready for the challenge. The first day went extraordinarily smoothly, we had only a few hiccups on the second day, primarily due to fatigue, I think, and today (the third day), we've managed to work ahead of our schedule.
The schedules are new. Over a year ago, I had purchased Managers of Their Homes. It's an extremely Christian book, to the point that I couldn't separate the wheat from the chaff the first time I read it. I went through it again this summer, though, with a great big filter in my mind, and I began to see how scheduling could help things run more smoothly here, especially as I added a second student. So I completed the process, and we have beautiful, color-coded schedules, one for each day. I warned everyone that they were guidelines, and that not everything on the schedules would happen every day. That's true. On the other hand, a vast majority of it is getting accomplished, which is something amazing, indeed.
9.8.09
Back To HomeSchool 2009
Tomorrow is the official first day of our 2009-2010 school year! Eclectic Girl will be in 4th grade and Fabulous Boy will be doing pre-kindergarten work, largely at his insistence. We had a fun day on Friday - Daddy took a day of vacation from work - that included swimming and going to lunch at Henry's in Acworth. Yum! The kids have back-to-school cards sitting at their places at the table everything is ready for the new year.
This shelf is holding most of the biographies EG will be reading this year. She's studying 1850 to the present in history. The second shelf from the top is sunscreen and bug spray - this shelf is also right next to the door to the backyard!
This year's read-alouds. I select them, and her dad reads them at night. From left to right, Sing Down the Moon, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Hobbit, and The Hunt for Red October. Beside the books are the file boxes for the final two levels of All About Spelling.
Three of this year's science kits: on top, Adventures with Color and Light, then TOPS Magnetism, and finally TOPS Electricity.
The top shelf is this year's supplemental history books. The second shelf is this year's literature books.
Science books! EG is studying physics this year. The blue binder on the left is my Master Binder, or that without which I would be lost.
Notebooks for the year. On the far left, you can see EG's assignment book. Then we have Latin, English, Math, Physics, and History.
Inside the history notebook, there are 36 tabs, labeled 1-36 for each week. Each has a sheet like this inside, along with mapwork and other relevant papers:
Sample History Page for 1850-Present, Late Grammar Stage
Our storage system - Trofast from Ikea.
EG's desk, including her new planner and her new timer.
More science kits! Water Physics, Sound Vibrations, and Flight! From Gliders to Jets, all from Science in a Nutshell.
The last science kit: Physics Workshop, from Thames & Kosmos.
That's it - I think we're ready!
This shelf is holding most of the biographies EG will be reading this year. She's studying 1850 to the present in history. The second shelf from the top is sunscreen and bug spray - this shelf is also right next to the door to the backyard!
This year's read-alouds. I select them, and her dad reads them at night. From left to right, Sing Down the Moon, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Hobbit, and The Hunt for Red October. Beside the books are the file boxes for the final two levels of All About Spelling.
Three of this year's science kits: on top, Adventures with Color and Light, then TOPS Magnetism, and finally TOPS Electricity.
The top shelf is this year's supplemental history books. The second shelf is this year's literature books. 
Science books! EG is studying physics this year. The blue binder on the left is my Master Binder, or that without which I would be lost. 
Notebooks for the year. On the far left, you can see EG's assignment book. Then we have Latin, English, Math, Physics, and History. Inside the history notebook, there are 36 tabs, labeled 1-36 for each week. Each has a sheet like this inside, along with mapwork and other relevant papers:
Our storage system - Trofast from Ikea.
EG's desk, including her new planner and her new timer.
More science kits! Water Physics, Sound Vibrations, and Flight! From Gliders to Jets, all from Science in a Nutshell.
The last science kit: Physics Workshop, from Thames & Kosmos.That's it - I think we're ready!
27.7.09
Unethical Decisions Have Consequences, or Another Reason Homeschoolers Can Have Bad Reputations
When my daughter recently completed her standardized testing, as required at the end of third grade by state law, we chose to have her tested through the same organization that runs her arts enrichment program. We reasoned that a familiar location with familiar faces would likely be a boon, and we appreciated not having to delve further into our testing options with this, our first venture into the world of testing.
Accordingly, I admit that I failed on some level. I didn't inquire as to through whom the test would be scored (though I knew that it wasn't directly from the test publisher). To be honest, I didn't want to know. If I didn't know for sure, then I wasn't deliberately doing something I found distasteful and unethical. My fears were confirmed, though, when her score report arrived. The accompanying booklet about interpreting scores was, in fact, marked as I feared - BJU Press.
I don't buy from the major fundamentalist curriculum companies, such as Alpha Omega or A Beka. Beyond my reasoning for those decisions, though, are even more reasons not to purchase from Bob Jones University. I think most people are aware that they had a ban on interracial dating until the year 2000. I'm upset that any part of my money went to their organization, and I'm forced to conclude that we'll be testing on our own next year, or through an organization that gets tests from another supplier.
If that weren't bad enough, though, there was the oddity on the score report. The subtest Math Computation had an asterisk beside it, and the explanation given was simple. "Math Computation not included in Totals or Composite." My daughter and I were both understandably a bit bummed by this - she had gotten all twenty-five problems in this section correct! I didn't go back to it, though, and more or less put it out of my mind.
Just a few days later, though, a thread was started on the Well-Trained Mind forums. Another poster had tested her children using ITBS through BJU, and since her child's scores could have been brought up by inclusion of the math computation score, she wanted to know why it wasn't included. A few of us responded that we, too, would like to know the answer to that question. Then a few more people responded that their children's score reports did not have the asterisk or the explanatory note. It was finally pieced together than those who had the asterisk all had, purposefully or inadvertently, tested their children through BJU.
The original poster decided to call and ask why this was the case. Here's what she reported back to the board:
Yes, you read that correctly. Homeschoolers felt that including a timed drill on their children's tests would bring down their children's scores, and consequently, BJU opted not to include it in the totals or composite.
I almost don't have adequate words to discuss this. No, the ability to do add, subtract, and multiply whole numbers (the three categories tested by Math Computation) does not directly relate to mathematical reasoning ability. However, the ability to quickly calculate sums, differences, and products is essential, especially as one leaves arithmetic and begins to study mathematics proper. Beyond that line of reasoning, however, is the fact that standardized tests are explicitly designed to measure certain items. People may argue about what standardized tests do and don't reveal, but rarely will you hear an argument that a standardized test is anything less than carefully planned - because it is almost painstakingly prepared. Further, no other subtest is singled out for elimination. True, the science, social studies, and maps & diagrams subtests are labeled optional, but if the student opts to take the test, they are included in the composite score. No other scores are eliminated, even though, in truth, they all are "timed drills." It's a test that is timed and each question, due to the nature of a multiple-choice test, has just one correct answer. It could be argued, and probably quite persuasively, that the ITBS in its entirety is a timed drill.
Manipulating the totals and composite score so that homeschooled children appear to do better on standardized testing than their public-schooled counterparts is, in my mind, distasteful. It's just another reason to continue to avoid ever giving my money to BJU Press.
Accordingly, I admit that I failed on some level. I didn't inquire as to through whom the test would be scored (though I knew that it wasn't directly from the test publisher). To be honest, I didn't want to know. If I didn't know for sure, then I wasn't deliberately doing something I found distasteful and unethical. My fears were confirmed, though, when her score report arrived. The accompanying booklet about interpreting scores was, in fact, marked as I feared - BJU Press.
I don't buy from the major fundamentalist curriculum companies, such as Alpha Omega or A Beka. Beyond my reasoning for those decisions, though, are even more reasons not to purchase from Bob Jones University. I think most people are aware that they had a ban on interracial dating until the year 2000. I'm upset that any part of my money went to their organization, and I'm forced to conclude that we'll be testing on our own next year, or through an organization that gets tests from another supplier.
If that weren't bad enough, though, there was the oddity on the score report. The subtest Math Computation had an asterisk beside it, and the explanation given was simple. "Math Computation not included in Totals or Composite." My daughter and I were both understandably a bit bummed by this - she had gotten all twenty-five problems in this section correct! I didn't go back to it, though, and more or less put it out of my mind.
Just a few days later, though, a thread was started on the Well-Trained Mind forums. Another poster had tested her children using ITBS through BJU, and since her child's scores could have been brought up by inclusion of the math computation score, she wanted to know why it wasn't included. A few of us responded that we, too, would like to know the answer to that question. Then a few more people responded that their children's score reports did not have the asterisk or the explanatory note. It was finally pieced together than those who had the asterisk all had, purposefully or inadvertently, tested their children through BJU.
The original poster decided to call and ask why this was the case. Here's what she reported back to the board:
Apparently it's an option for a company to include it or not. The math computation section is a timed drill, and apparently based on feedback from other homeschoolers, BJU has opted to not include it in the totals, so as to not drag down the scores.
Other companies, who have that same option to include it or not, apparently do include it.
Yes, you read that correctly. Homeschoolers felt that including a timed drill on their children's tests would bring down their children's scores, and consequently, BJU opted not to include it in the totals or composite.
I almost don't have adequate words to discuss this. No, the ability to do add, subtract, and multiply whole numbers (the three categories tested by Math Computation) does not directly relate to mathematical reasoning ability. However, the ability to quickly calculate sums, differences, and products is essential, especially as one leaves arithmetic and begins to study mathematics proper. Beyond that line of reasoning, however, is the fact that standardized tests are explicitly designed to measure certain items. People may argue about what standardized tests do and don't reveal, but rarely will you hear an argument that a standardized test is anything less than carefully planned - because it is almost painstakingly prepared. Further, no other subtest is singled out for elimination. True, the science, social studies, and maps & diagrams subtests are labeled optional, but if the student opts to take the test, they are included in the composite score. No other scores are eliminated, even though, in truth, they all are "timed drills." It's a test that is timed and each question, due to the nature of a multiple-choice test, has just one correct answer. It could be argued, and probably quite persuasively, that the ITBS in its entirety is a timed drill.
Manipulating the totals and composite score so that homeschooled children appear to do better on standardized testing than their public-schooled counterparts is, in my mind, distasteful. It's just another reason to continue to avoid ever giving my money to BJU Press.
15.6.09
101 in 1001 List
Considering there are around thirty of my items that cannot be completed yet, due to time specifications, I feel like I'm doing fairly well. My entire list can be found here.
In Progress: 2 previous, 13 total
002. Read the unread books that I own and have owned for more than one years' time, or get rid of them. 36/45 read or discarded
007. Re-read one book I already own each month for twenty-four months, not including the books to re-read that are mentioned by name elsewhere on this list. One book each month for January through June.
009. In 2009, for every book that enters the house (bought new or used), remove one book, through donation, giving away to a friend, or selling. I've purchased 27 books, and removed 43 books.
010. Watch the entire Angel series. Halfway through season one.
056. Lose weight to at least 165 pounds. Seven pounds lost so far.
076. Hold a big birthday party for Jacob in 2009 and 2011. Jacob had his fourth birthday party at American Adventures, 21 March 2009.
088. Knit a hat and one other item for Jacob. Finished a hat, 3 June 2009.
089. Knit two items for Brigid. Half done on a hat, 14 June 2009.
093. Keep a paper journal, writing in it at least once every week for six months. Began on 1/1/2009, and have written each week through 6/14/2009, with the weeks starting on Sunday.
094. Tag all LJ entries. 2002 & 2003 entries tagged.
099. Make a new website. Re-registered domain name.
Completed: 7 new, 9 total
001. Read a novel per week for twelve weeks. Completed 19 April 2009
012. Watch remainder of Buffy. Completed 24 February 2009
053. Journal 'coulda woulda shoulda' once a month for the first six months of 2009. Completed 1 June 2009
061. Continue taking iron supplements through six months postpartum (May 20, 2009). Completed 20 May 2009
066. Get a land line installed again. Completed 25 April 2009
067. Buy a new freezer. Completed 5 June 2009
071. Fix the kitchen sink faucet. Completed 10 April 2009
Failed: 1
051. Listen to PC session once a month throughout 2009 and 2010. I didn't listen in January, February, or March, at which point I declared that I had failed. Previously, I had considered that if I missed just one month, I could listen twice in the next month, because the point was to listen periodically, not necessarily by the calendar. In the end, it was a somewhat unrealistic goal and if I were rewriting the list now, I wouldn't include it because it's a little too much focus on something that might not even happen. How's that for cryptic? I don't feel horrible about it, though, which tells me it probably wasn't actually important enough to me to get on the list.
In Progress: 2 previous, 13 total
002. Read the unread books that I own and have owned for more than one years' time, or get rid of them. 36/45 read or discarded
007. Re-read one book I already own each month for twenty-four months, not including the books to re-read that are mentioned by name elsewhere on this list. One book each month for January through June.
009. In 2009, for every book that enters the house (bought new or used), remove one book, through donation, giving away to a friend, or selling. I've purchased 27 books, and removed 43 books.
010. Watch the entire Angel series. Halfway through season one.
056. Lose weight to at least 165 pounds. Seven pounds lost so far.
076. Hold a big birthday party for Jacob in 2009 and 2011. Jacob had his fourth birthday party at American Adventures, 21 March 2009.
088. Knit a hat and one other item for Jacob. Finished a hat, 3 June 2009.
089. Knit two items for Brigid. Half done on a hat, 14 June 2009.
093. Keep a paper journal, writing in it at least once every week for six months. Began on 1/1/2009, and have written each week through 6/14/2009, with the weeks starting on Sunday.
094. Tag all LJ entries. 2002 & 2003 entries tagged.
099. Make a new website. Re-registered domain name.
Completed: 7 new, 9 total
Failed: 1
