Ready or not, here I come!

We are up and running! Monday morning we spent some time working on a few subjects, but didn't really dive in since our youngest was at home. Tuesday morning, with the little one off for his first day at K, we started the real thing. We are using our new classroom. The addition is mostly finished. I still haven't moved everything into it's rightful location, but we are getting there.

*from here on out, I will refer to our son as JT...I'm tired of saying, "our son" or "our child"!

The first day went pretty well. It's really difficult for me to decide exactly how much of the provided material I need to cover. I want to be sure JT has a full grasp of all of the content in each course and yet, I know he doesn't need the volume of repetition provided. I used the vocabulary words as a substitute for spelling words as I had planned. I was so happy! He got six wrong out of 15! It may seem funny to be happy about wrong answers, but for the first time my son needed to study his spelling to prepare for the spelling test he will have tomorrow. I think he will still get a 100% on the final test, but he had to work for it. The main problem with using the vocab words is that there are no exercises in the material for those words. They are meant only to be a challenge to read, not spell. So we went for the old fashioned, write a sentence using the word method.

Another challenge has been dealing with perfectionism issues. Calvert curriculum encourages third graders to be using cursive writing. JT spent little time in second grade working on his penmanship. When I asked him to write a few sentences for practice, he had a minor temper tantrum. It finally dawned on me that he was worried he wouldn't do it perfectly. I encouraged him to "just try" it. Finally, he made a very half-hearted effort and did a lot of grumbling under his breath. I heard him muttering, "I can't believe I thought this would be better than public school...". I would have to say that has been the low point of this week! After lunch, he had recovered and we had a good afternoon. Today I told him we would need to work on his writing again, but he could chose when in the day he wanted to do it. That made all the difference. He said he'd like to get it out of the way, we did it immediately and he did a great job.

Some other issues with Calvert...the material does not have the depth my child desires. For example, the History course for third grade is a study of famous Americans. It starts with Samuel Adams. There was a short passage (less than two pages) with a worksheet or two following. Then it moves on to Patrick Henry. We went to the library Monday afternoon and took out books on both men. He has already finished the one on Samuel Adams. We were able to have a much more thorough discussion after that. I would love to see PA Cyber look into possible supplemental material for advanced students. They could take the framework of the Calvert curriculum and provide a few extras for those who request it. I even said so in our GIEP meeting this afternoon.

The GIEP meeting was kind of funny. Having been a pretty outspoken advocate for my child's education for the last 3 years, it was very difficult to accept the meager GIEP we were offered. I know the GIEP really means nothing since I am able to provide appropriate education within what they require from me. However, in principle, it bothered me to sign something I would have laughed at had our original school provided it. The PA Cyber reps were very positive on the phone and offered to look into getting additional materials about ancient history and WWII (JT specifically requested learning about those this year). We were also offered opportunity to sign up for a few virtual enrichment classes, which we will check out. BTW, the Scantron tests I was worried about, turned out fine. His scores were good and our IS (Instructional Supervisor) was happy with them.

I tried to plan for the next days work during times that JT was completing worksheets or reading from his books. So far, that has worked pretty well. I can't plan too far ahead, since I am not following their Lesson Plan book very closely. Right now, we are on Lesson 20 for Math, Lesson 5 for most other subjects and we are completely skipping Phonics and only occasionally pulling necessary info from the Spelling text. I am following a friends advice to mark each topic with a different colored skinny post it sticker. That is keeping me mostly sane.

So, all in all, this week has been positive and fun. I hope I can keep up with the demands of home and teaching. I know I will really start to appreciate the weekends!

Determining Where and When to Start

The official first day of school for PA Cyber was August 18th for Calvert students. The virtual classes begin on September 2nd. Our addition is slated to be mostly done Tuesday, August 26th. I didn't really want to start classes until then anyway, since our youngest starts Kindergarten that same day. When I called the school to ask if the 18th was set in stone, no one wanted to give a definitive answer. Apparently, as long as we log our 180 school days by the end of the year, it's up to us how we go about it. So, we will have our first "official" day of school on the 26th.

This week we had some 'sort of' school days. We did some pre testing. The first chapter of spelling was no problem...so spelling is finished for this week. Now, I know that was not the kind of challenging material I want to be offering for my child. I am planning on pre testing the bulk of the Spelling within the first month of school and then moving on to some other materials. A friend found a link for me to a Teacher's Guide to the Fellowship of the Ring.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/readers_guides/lotr/fellowring.shtml

There are comprehension questions, vocabulary words and discussion and essay topics for each chapter. Since our son has started reading the book in the last week, this seems like a great possibility for us. We may use the vocab words as spelling words. If they are too difficult, I'll step it down and use the reading words provided by Calvert. They are more challenging than the spelling and we will come across them in the other materials.

We also did a little math pre testing. The Calvert math book comes with a review and test at the end of each chapter. I used the review as a pre test. Out of the 10 lessons from chapter one, there were two concepts we needed to solidify. We spent a little time one day working on one and will finish the other Monday. On the first day of school, we will do the chapter test. None of the reviews or tests from the book are sent in for grading. At the end of lesson 20 (day 20) students take tests in each subject that are sent in to the school. We will do the first math test by the end of our first week of school. We are allowed to send more than one math test in at a time, so when we send our Lesson 20 packet at the end of September, we will send in as many as we have completed. I'm guessing we will have two or three done. After that, there are a few concepts that will be new material so our pace may slow.

This week our child was required to complete two online pre-assement tests. I spent a few hours convinced that I would certainly go crazy during this school year. While taking the computer test, my son was incapable of sitting still for more than 5 seconds. When he wasn't bouncing out of his seat, he was chatting away about the questions...even when I left the room! It will be interesting to see what kinds of scores come back. I learned two things from this process. I will absolutely have to get an exercise ball for him to sit on during class ( a suggestion from at least two friends with similar kids) and the possible need to play music while he is working. My husband concentrates best with music playing. I'm guessing my son will be similarly motivated.

Overall, there was learning this week regardless of the lack of a true classroom. We completed a weeks worth of spelling, almost 20 days worth of math, began reading a book that will challenge and expand his vocabulary and had a wonderful discussion about how to identify male and female daddy long legs while spitting watermelon seeds in the backyard. (I was the one who learned how to tell them apart, my son taught me!)

Now that's a school I can support!

Distractions

Today while painting our soon to be completed classroom, I started thinking about how I was spending so much time getting the room ready to teach and not nearly enough time on preparing to teach. How true is that in the brick and mortar schools?? There are so many things the administration gets caught up in that have absolutely nothing to do with learning. That's what school is for....learning, right? Instead they need to worry about No Child Left Behind, safety in the schools, problem students and don't even get me started on sports....

I'm taking comfort in the fact that once I have given the initial time investment to establish our little learning zone we will have little to concern us beyond actual learning.


We have our GIEP (Gifted Individualized Education Plan) meeting Thursday the 28th. It will be a phone conference. We received the NORA (Notice of Recommended Assignment) in the mail this week along with a questionnaire for both the parents and the student. On the child's portion, when asked what he expected to learn this year, our son wrote, "improve my reading level, understand more of what I read". I thought that was kind of funny considering he's 7 and already reads somewhere around a 5th grade level. The reading materials they have provided are not going to help him meet that goal. I decided I would finally let him start reading The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkein. He's been bugging us to let him read it for a year. I was holding off until he was a little older. I'll just need to find a good study guide online to make it work.

The other funny thing about the papers they sent, was the NORA. As a charter school, they are not held accountable to Chapter 16... they don't have to provide anything special for gifted kids and are not subject to the regulation. It was a painful experience to sign my name to the most inferior GIEP I've ever accepted. But I know the GIEP isn't what's important in this situation. We can allow our son to learn. I don't need a special paper that will make that happen now. I get to make it happen!

Out of the Box

It's finally here! Last Friday when the UPS truck pulled up to the driveway, I couldn't wait to rip into my box. Of course, it would come on a weekend with absolutely NO free time. So, I took a quick peek and put it aside. Yesterday I managed to pull enough time together to really start checking it out. Most people probably don't get all that excited about textbooks but I LOVE them. I buy them at yard sales, I take them free when the library doesn't know what to do with them, I even buy them online!

Looking through the material I realized a few things. First of all, I have a lot of questions I need to ask before I'll know exactly what I'm doing. Luckily, I have a friend who is already familiar with PA Cyber. I made a phone date with her for tomorrow to pepper her with all of my doubts and fears.

I also realized that the Spelling words are way below my son's level. He reads around a fifth or sixth grade level right now, so third grade spelling isn't going to cut it. My current plan is to give him the pretest on Mondays. If he knows them, we will use the reading words (much more appropriate level) as his spelling words. Since these words are already involved in the lesson plan, I won't have to do much beyond that to teach them. Of course there's always the old, "Use these words in a sentence" method.

I have also found that the math may not be as far off for him as I thought. Part of this may come from the fact that our former school seemed to be a little behind the state standards. It may also just be the change from Saxon to Calvert. My plan for math currently looks like I will be giving him the Chapter tests as a pretest and then covering what he doesn't know. It's so hard for me to be sure where he really is in math. Last year he spent a lot of time using Pearson's Digital Learning at school. This program allowed him to move ahead in math, but didn't give any instruction. He moved ahead to a level the program considered to be end of 3rd grade, but I don't know what kind of gaps he has in that material. It will take us a little while to figure out where he really is. The good thing is, I was told he may move ahead at his own pace and when we complete the 3rd grade material in math, they will send us the 4th grade material. I think we should be able to finish it by Christmas. But even if he doesn't, that's okay. We will move at a pace that allows him to learn appropriately for his ability.

Have I mentioned how much I love this plan!

On another note, I had a conversation with a mom who is considering cyber for her child. I realized I am not having my usual school- is- starting dread that accompanies the end of summer. I would start worrying about all the conversations I would be having with school personnel that would go no where. I would know that my child was heading into an environment that did not allow for his special needs to be met. It was great to realize this load had been lifted. Thanks to the parents who convinced me I was capable of taking matters into my own hands. I wouldn't have done it without the knowledge you have passed on to me.