The middle school homeschooler was on her first vacation.
Homeschooled child was on a fabulous 7 day field trip with Grandpa and Grandma and 2 cousins his same age. They drove to Washington DC, visited many historical sites and museums and enjoyed restaurant food and hotel swimming pools!
During that time, I packed up our household to move us all to London, where the middle school homeschooler will become the full time homeschooler of three. Wow, how things change.
Will I have time to post to this blog?
Will I be able to teach all three of my children in a foreign country???
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Our schedule?
How do we schedule our school day?
Like many who begin home schooling with lofty ideas and big plans, I overestimated what we could do each day. Back in August, I sat down with the wonderful book "The Well-Trained Mind". The author has specific times allotted for the subjects along with details of what the student should be doing. Terrific! I thought, as I simply copied the plan in different time slots for the week.Then, when September came and we began our first couple weeks of school, I was determined to begin slowly. I did not want to push my son, causing us both to be frustrated and fighting from the start. So, we began slowly, by talking about our overall plans, doing small assignments, and allowing for lots of playtime and outdoor fun. He loves to read, and I found it wonderful that he spent a great deal of time working through a stack of books he had chosen from the library.
Now that life has really been disrupted by plans to move to London, I've found that I need more independent work for Jonah.
Here's our basic plan at the Larson home school:
Monday: Journal writing - Math - History - Science - English - French
Tuesday: TEACH CO-OP (gym/science, art, writing) 9am - noon, Math and English
Wednesday: Journal writing - History - French - Math - English - Gym/Health club
Thursday: Journal writing - Math - History - French - English - Science
Friday: Journal writing - Math - English - History - French - Science
Consumer Sciences in the form of household tasks, cooking, errands
Health through library books
Most of the above "classes" last one hour. However I've learned that the beauty of home schooling is the flexibility!! Sometimes Jonah wants an hourly schedule for the day; we'll write it on the wipe-off board that we have in our dining area "classroom". Other times when he is not working well, we will take a big break and push some work into the evening hours.
I've decided that each day, our priority should be the basics: mathematics, writing, reading - if we work hard on those, I feel that we hit the most important skills. Usually the reading overlaps into history and science.
Basic Curriculum:
Math – 5-7 hours per week: “Singapore Primary” 5B, 6A, 6B “Key to Percents books 1-3”, “Singapore Word Problems, Grade 6”
History – 4 hours per week: “The Story of the World” by Susan Wise Bauer, “Kingfisher History Encyclopedia”, “A Little History of the World”, by Gombrich, library books such as “Riddle of the Rosetta Stone”, “Seeker of Knowledge”, Greek and Roman Myths, “The Iliad and the Odyssey” by Karen Spies, “Confucius: The Golden Rule”
Science – 3 hours per week: TEACH Co-op (http://www.teachct.org/), “Handbook of Nature Study” & nature journal, “Foundations of Science” workbook, library books and Science Museum visits
English – 6-8 hours per week: Journal Writing, “Spelling Power”, “Core Skills Language Arts” 5&6, “Analogies & Idioms” 5&6, Poetry of Choice, book reports, Fiction of Choice, TEACH co-op writing (Institute for Excellence in Writing http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/).
French – 3-4 hours per week, « Grammaire Progressive du francais », «Geographie » & « Histoire » Nathan Collection Guilliver Cycle 3, fiction of choice, conversation with native speakers
Health – 1 hour per week: Kingfisher Encyclopedia, library books
Phy-Ed – 1 hour per week : TEACH Co-op, health club, sports clubs
Art – 1 hour per week : TEACH co-op
Friday, February 18, 2011
Travel as Education
"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it."
George Moore
"Travel, in the younger sort, is part of education; in the elder, part of experience."
Francis Bacon
I found these quotes and they are perfect for our situation.
The Middle School Homeschool has encountered a large mountain ahead, and we can't wait to begin the hike!
My husband learned his job will take him to London for a few years.
I am not sure exactly when we will go, but talk about "travel" as "education"! We are thrilled to consider the opportunities for exploration throughout Europe and hopefully even northern Africa.
The last weeks have been filled with many distractions as we sort out this new situation, and therefore my posts have been zero.
So, to all of my followers out there, all "two" of you, I'll try to post more often as we encounter new details in this development.
George Moore
"Travel, in the younger sort, is part of education; in the elder, part of experience."
Francis Bacon
I found these quotes and they are perfect for our situation.
The Middle School Homeschool has encountered a large mountain ahead, and we can't wait to begin the hike!
My husband learned his job will take him to London for a few years.
I am not sure exactly when we will go, but talk about "travel" as "education"! We are thrilled to consider the opportunities for exploration throughout Europe and hopefully even northern Africa.
The last weeks have been filled with many distractions as we sort out this new situation, and therefore my posts have been zero.
So, to all of my followers out there, all "two" of you, I'll try to post more often as we encounter new details in this development.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Christmas Break
Happy New Year!
Wholeheartedly, I intended to have Jonah do school work during the Christmas break. That's the beauty of homeschooling, right? Doing "school" whenever we can fit it into the schedule. Because I feel we launched slowly this fall, and because I did not want to begin my experience as a homeschooler by pushing my child to frustration, maxing him out daily with my grandiose plans of academic achievement (frankly that is not my thing), we really took our academics lightly this fall. Truly. My desire was to focus on the basics - math, writing, and reading. I figured, if we worked in those areas each day, we were doing well, right? Or are we? I guess I don't know... and many days I wonder, I worry, I fret.... am I teaching him enough? Are we LEARNING? Those thoughts made me quite certain that we would "catch up" over the break. While all his school classmates would be completely on break, he'd be foraging ahead, working through math problems, writing essays, reading complicated literature.....yeah, right!
Again, my thoughts meet up with reality. Brother and sister are home from school, and they don't have any work, so why should he?
Perhaps two days out of the two week vacation, we squeezed in a few math problems. I also asked each child to memorize a Christmas poem. Beyond that, NOTHING. Or, better yet, something - something meaningful, something important, something wonderful: time to just be a kid. Sledding in the yard with kids from the neighborhood. Baking and decorating cookies. Making a gingerbread house (from a box, I love that). Lots of playtime in the basement with the 6 year old brother who adores him. Board games - the favorites were Sequence, Set, Life, and Frog Juice. Shopping for gifts for cousins and brother and sister. Video games (yes, I detest them, but they adore them, so much, we limit it). Helping with gift wrapping. Shoveling the driveway after the massive snowfalls. Reading, sleeping in late, staying up with Dad watching sports, spending time with cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandpa and Grandma. That's all much better than academics, isn't it?
Wholeheartedly, I intended to have Jonah do school work during the Christmas break. That's the beauty of homeschooling, right? Doing "school" whenever we can fit it into the schedule. Because I feel we launched slowly this fall, and because I did not want to begin my experience as a homeschooler by pushing my child to frustration, maxing him out daily with my grandiose plans of academic achievement (frankly that is not my thing), we really took our academics lightly this fall. Truly. My desire was to focus on the basics - math, writing, and reading. I figured, if we worked in those areas each day, we were doing well, right? Or are we? I guess I don't know... and many days I wonder, I worry, I fret.... am I teaching him enough? Are we LEARNING? Those thoughts made me quite certain that we would "catch up" over the break. While all his school classmates would be completely on break, he'd be foraging ahead, working through math problems, writing essays, reading complicated literature.....yeah, right!
Again, my thoughts meet up with reality. Brother and sister are home from school, and they don't have any work, so why should he?
Perhaps two days out of the two week vacation, we squeezed in a few math problems. I also asked each child to memorize a Christmas poem. Beyond that, NOTHING. Or, better yet, something - something meaningful, something important, something wonderful: time to just be a kid. Sledding in the yard with kids from the neighborhood. Baking and decorating cookies. Making a gingerbread house (from a box, I love that). Lots of playtime in the basement with the 6 year old brother who adores him. Board games - the favorites were Sequence, Set, Life, and Frog Juice. Shopping for gifts for cousins and brother and sister. Video games (yes, I detest them, but they adore them, so much, we limit it). Helping with gift wrapping. Shoveling the driveway after the massive snowfalls. Reading, sleeping in late, staying up with Dad watching sports, spending time with cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandpa and Grandma. That's all much better than academics, isn't it?
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tears of Arithmetic
Why does math cause so much strife?
I certainly recall from my own days of youth, those fist forming, mouth pinching and head hurting moments. Thank goodness we had telephones, I would usually call up a friend (of course the ones much smarter than I was).
Jonah actually does great in math, he grasps concepts quickly and works on his own. There's the good news. The bad news is: he continually rushes through his work, doesn't "show" his work, and makes many sloppy mistakes. Often he fails to read the problem entirely before trying to reach a solution (word problems, oh the glory!).
All of you out there who have been the "math helper" parent can probably relate to this frustration!! What are your approaches to math woes? Doesn't it seem like it is math that causes the most headaches for parents and students? And yet we can all agree, you gotta learn math! No getting around it! The challenges build character! They push you to expand your brain cells! Students who are strong in math will have success in university academics! (I just made that last one up).
The program we use is called Singapore Math. I can credit my sister for the fact that we use this math program. After my son's 3rd grade year, I was informed that he should work on math over the summer (read: get some tutoring!). I decided to try to tackle the situation myself, begged for my sister's help (she had already been homeschooling for years and has a son one grade ahead of mine), and finally ended up trying out the math books that she had been using successfully at home.
The progress we made that summer was what sparked my keen interest in homeschooling. Jonah cruised through a lot of material in what was about 15 minutes, three or four times a week! He entered 4th grade with a solid foundation of the concepts he should know.
Working with him now, we are at a different level - one which I have a hard time grasping as the teacher sometimes! Thank the Lord that I have Answer Keys. I love those Answer Keys. I don't know what I'd do without them! But they don't help me in teaching the benefits of slowing down, reading a problem several times, doing the bar models (a method highly used in Singapore Math), using all the information given to you in the problem. And when your student is STUCK, and you absolutely positively cannot get him to budge towards the very simple next step of a problem (because of course you don't want to just give him the answer), and it feels like a tug of war, well now that is usually when the point comes to near-tears.
I admit it does not happen often, but it does happen. Typically I call for a 5-10 minute break, and when we return things usually go more smoothly.
Homeschooling the subject of math certainly has proven to be my greatest challenge and fear. Math wizard, I am not! But to be fair, I'll say that having a quiet home, the Answer Keys for Mom, time to take breaks, and a great Teacher's Manual have given me the tools to provide Homeschool Math. As we go forward and things become more complicated, I'm not sure what we'll do. But for now, we are just trying to avoid the Tears of Arithmetic.
I certainly recall from my own days of youth, those fist forming, mouth pinching and head hurting moments. Thank goodness we had telephones, I would usually call up a friend (of course the ones much smarter than I was).
Jonah actually does great in math, he grasps concepts quickly and works on his own. There's the good news. The bad news is: he continually rushes through his work, doesn't "show" his work, and makes many sloppy mistakes. Often he fails to read the problem entirely before trying to reach a solution (word problems, oh the glory!).
All of you out there who have been the "math helper" parent can probably relate to this frustration!! What are your approaches to math woes? Doesn't it seem like it is math that causes the most headaches for parents and students? And yet we can all agree, you gotta learn math! No getting around it! The challenges build character! They push you to expand your brain cells! Students who are strong in math will have success in university academics! (I just made that last one up).
The program we use is called Singapore Math. I can credit my sister for the fact that we use this math program. After my son's 3rd grade year, I was informed that he should work on math over the summer (read: get some tutoring!). I decided to try to tackle the situation myself, begged for my sister's help (she had already been homeschooling for years and has a son one grade ahead of mine), and finally ended up trying out the math books that she had been using successfully at home.
The progress we made that summer was what sparked my keen interest in homeschooling. Jonah cruised through a lot of material in what was about 15 minutes, three or four times a week! He entered 4th grade with a solid foundation of the concepts he should know.
Working with him now, we are at a different level - one which I have a hard time grasping as the teacher sometimes! Thank the Lord that I have Answer Keys. I love those Answer Keys. I don't know what I'd do without them! But they don't help me in teaching the benefits of slowing down, reading a problem several times, doing the bar models (a method highly used in Singapore Math), using all the information given to you in the problem. And when your student is STUCK, and you absolutely positively cannot get him to budge towards the very simple next step of a problem (because of course you don't want to just give him the answer), and it feels like a tug of war, well now that is usually when the point comes to near-tears.
I admit it does not happen often, but it does happen. Typically I call for a 5-10 minute break, and when we return things usually go more smoothly.
Homeschooling the subject of math certainly has proven to be my greatest challenge and fear. Math wizard, I am not! But to be fair, I'll say that having a quiet home, the Answer Keys for Mom, time to take breaks, and a great Teacher's Manual have given me the tools to provide Homeschool Math. As we go forward and things become more complicated, I'm not sure what we'll do. But for now, we are just trying to avoid the Tears of Arithmetic.
HOMEWORK Commentary from Star Tribune - November 25th, 2010
I love this article, which appeared in the Star Tribune on Thanksgiving Day 2010.
What do you think?
Vianne Hubbell: Hit the books? I’d rather hide them
There's no evidence that piling on the homework leads to better learning.
There are 24 hours in each day. Between school and sleep, I have five hours to spend with my school-aged kids.
One would think that those are five hours in which we could decide to play a game, go to a sporting event, read books, cook dinner together, do our family chores, go to a movie, attend religious education classes, play a pick-up game with friends or even (gasp!) watch television. One might think five hours is a long time. One would be wrong.
The decision about what to do with, and how to organize, those five hours has been made for us.
Our night begins with this: "OK, guys, get out your backpacks."
As every parent knows, what's in those backpacks then moves in to control the evening. Whether there are book reports, spelling lists, math problems, a science test or instructions on how to tea-stain paper, the moment the backpacks open, the night does not belong to me.
So often, what comes home seems either mind-numbingly excessive (25 long division problems, anyone?) or beyond the scope of what is reasonable (three-page book reports, typed please, and make a diorama to go with it). My experience as a mother of four and as a teacher with 18 years' experience has led me to the realization that practicing something, or being asked to produce something for which one lacks the skill, does not breed perfection, or even learning. It breeds frustration.
What comes of all this frustration? Typed paragraphs hang proudly in the halls of our neighborhood school. Beautiful dioramas ring the rooms. Take this from the eye of someone who has been evaluating student work for 18 years: A vast majority of them do not appear to be the independent work of children.
The perception that more homework will result in higher test scores is common. I know first-hand that teachers face constant pressure to be "rigorous," and that many parents and educators wrongly equate more homework with rigor.
One would think that those are five hours in which we could decide to play a game, go to a sporting event, read books, cook dinner together, do our family chores, go to a movie, attend religious education classes, play a pick-up game with friends or even (gasp!) watch television. One might think five hours is a long time. One would be wrong.
The decision about what to do with, and how to organize, those five hours has been made for us.
Our night begins with this: "OK, guys, get out your backpacks."
As every parent knows, what's in those backpacks then moves in to control the evening. Whether there are book reports, spelling lists, math problems, a science test or instructions on how to tea-stain paper, the moment the backpacks open, the night does not belong to me.
So often, what comes home seems either mind-numbingly excessive (25 long division problems, anyone?) or beyond the scope of what is reasonable (three-page book reports, typed please, and make a diorama to go with it). My experience as a mother of four and as a teacher with 18 years' experience has led me to the realization that practicing something, or being asked to produce something for which one lacks the skill, does not breed perfection, or even learning. It breeds frustration.
What comes of all this frustration? Typed paragraphs hang proudly in the halls of our neighborhood school. Beautiful dioramas ring the rooms. Take this from the eye of someone who has been evaluating student work for 18 years: A vast majority of them do not appear to be the independent work of children.
The perception that more homework will result in higher test scores is common. I know first-hand that teachers face constant pressure to be "rigorous," and that many parents and educators wrongly equate more homework with rigor.
The district my children attend proudly boasts about its graduation rate and high test scores. Rather than attributing those achievements to the fact that the median income in our district is among the highest in the state, the reasons cited include the rigorous curriculum and the demanding homework. Unfortunately, of the two, only the former is supported by research. In fact, there is no research that supports homework as a tool for increasing academic achievement in the primary grades. Its effectiveness is questionable even in high school. If anything, the research tells us that too much homework can actually decrease academic achievement.
So, if the homework is being managed ("OK, guys, time to get out your backpacks") and completed (even in part) by parents, not children, and if there is no research to support its effectiveness, doesn't it raise the question of what really is the point? And, just as important, what is the price we're paying?
Forget about the hours lost to math problems, vocabulary drills or the search for a glue gun to complete the big project. Is it possible that our children, rather than receiving benefit, are actually footing the bill? The increased incidence of anxiety, depression and obesity in our nation's children runs parallel to the push for more homework. Correlation doesn't prove causation, but it would be foolish to ignore a possible connection.
I can't help thinking that as those precious five hours between school and bedtime have shifted away from family time toward time for homework completion, our children are losing out not just on their childhoods, but on important childhood lessons that would otherwise help them become the thoughtful and engaged friends, partners, parents and citizens that we want them to become. Who's got time to learn to play nice with others when there's no time to play?
What lessons is homework teaching? That work is important? That children should have responsibilities? All I need is a full dishwasher, an unmade bed and a lawn that needs mowing to teach those. In fact, homework is just getting in the way.
I want my five hours back.
ViAnne Hubbell teaches at Hopkins North Junior High.
So, if the homework is being managed ("OK, guys, time to get out your backpacks") and completed (even in part) by parents, not children, and if there is no research to support its effectiveness, doesn't it raise the question of what really is the point? And, just as important, what is the price we're paying?
Forget about the hours lost to math problems, vocabulary drills or the search for a glue gun to complete the big project. Is it possible that our children, rather than receiving benefit, are actually footing the bill? The increased incidence of anxiety, depression and obesity in our nation's children runs parallel to the push for more homework. Correlation doesn't prove causation, but it would be foolish to ignore a possible connection.
I can't help thinking that as those precious five hours between school and bedtime have shifted away from family time toward time for homework completion, our children are losing out not just on their childhoods, but on important childhood lessons that would otherwise help them become the thoughtful and engaged friends, partners, parents and citizens that we want them to become. Who's got time to learn to play nice with others when there's no time to play?
What lessons is homework teaching? That work is important? That children should have responsibilities? All I need is a full dishwasher, an unmade bed and a lawn that needs mowing to teach those. In fact, homework is just getting in the way.
I want my five hours back.
ViAnne Hubbell teaches at Hopkins North Junior High.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Focusing on the positive
Last week I blogged about some frustrations.
This week has been better. We haven't had anything in our schedule (appointments for example) that have disrupted the routine. I'm also learning how to be clear on the work that I want Jonah to do, and I have put some consequences in place (earlier bedtimes) for being disrespectful or not obeying my instructions. I'm still working on finding activities within our curriculum that engage him, but don't require my constant supervision. Could I just sit next to him all day, work through every moment and math problem and grammar question and spelling word, well now, that would be lovely. But the reality is that I have a lot of things to do in this household, and he needs to be able to follow through with the assignments that I provide.
Interestingly, there have been a few times where I have been awed at his choice to paint a landscape, write a story, or read Greek Mythology - just for fun - spontaneously!! Here are the moments when I can grasp the concept of "unschooling", where there is no formal curriculum, no lesson plans, no particular subjects that are taught for the home school. Everything comes from within the student's desires to explore and engage in the world around him. How that works with math (okay maybe cooking, building, etc) I am not sure entirely, but it sure is a lofty concept and apparently has been very successful for some home school families.
Frustrations will be a daily part of this experience, but I will choose to focus on the positive. The precious time I am spending with my son at a critical moment in his development, and the ability to foster a sense of wonder in his learning keeps me encouraged to press forward despite my shortcomings and self-doubt!
This week has been better. We haven't had anything in our schedule (appointments for example) that have disrupted the routine. I'm also learning how to be clear on the work that I want Jonah to do, and I have put some consequences in place (earlier bedtimes) for being disrespectful or not obeying my instructions. I'm still working on finding activities within our curriculum that engage him, but don't require my constant supervision. Could I just sit next to him all day, work through every moment and math problem and grammar question and spelling word, well now, that would be lovely. But the reality is that I have a lot of things to do in this household, and he needs to be able to follow through with the assignments that I provide.
Interestingly, there have been a few times where I have been awed at his choice to paint a landscape, write a story, or read Greek Mythology - just for fun - spontaneously!! Here are the moments when I can grasp the concept of "unschooling", where there is no formal curriculum, no lesson plans, no particular subjects that are taught for the home school. Everything comes from within the student's desires to explore and engage in the world around him. How that works with math (okay maybe cooking, building, etc) I am not sure entirely, but it sure is a lofty concept and apparently has been very successful for some home school families.
Frustrations will be a daily part of this experience, but I will choose to focus on the positive. The precious time I am spending with my son at a critical moment in his development, and the ability to foster a sense of wonder in his learning keeps me encouraged to press forward despite my shortcomings and self-doubt!
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