Have I said before how much I hate the PSSAs? For those of you not from Pennsylvania, PSSA stands for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. It's a standardized test used to check our No Child Left Behind status. Starting in 3rd grade students must take these tests. It's the law. When we signed up with PA Cyber, we agreed to have JT take the tests in the spring. I knew it would be inconvenient in some ways (we have to travel to a test site) but I had no idea how irritating it would become.
For the last couple months, the school has had a clock counting down to the date for the tests on their website. It's counting the SECONDS until the test. Then in the last couple weeks we started getting emails reminding us of our need to do well on the tests. Notes to tell us that if kids don't test well, the school will not be allowed to renew it's charter and we'll all be stuck with no choice but return to the dreadful places from which we came.
First of all, even if the school folded I wouldn't dream of going back to our local district. I would either choose a new cyber school or do traditional homeschooling. More work, but not the end of the world.
Second, I have seen the questions on these tests. I don't think they prove much about what any child has learned. I could rant all day about the way these tests have caused endless review for most children and no real teaching in our schools, but that wouldn't change anything.
Finally, the school has decided one of the reason their test scores were down last year was because they did the testing in only 2 days. Now we will have to travel an hour away from home, arriving before 9am, for three days straight! Each day the kids will only be testing for about 2 hours. Then we drive home and come back the next day. No reimbursement for travel. I don't know what I am supposed to do while all of this is going on.
So, I sent a slightly annoyed email to our Instructional Supervisor. She soothed me with the, "I understand", but also reminded me that we signed a paper at registration that said he would take the test. She has promised to work to allow JT to take 2 sections of the test one day, so that we only have to travel 2 days. Still not a perfect solution, but improving. A friend shared an email she received from the school. Her IS pointed out that the kids will no longer be allowed to leave the room before the time is up, even if they have finished the test. They are hoping it will make the kids look over their answers again. I can tell them what JT will do.....fidget in his chair (if he even stays seated through most of the test), make noises and probably distract the other kids who are still working. I will need to find out if his psych evaluation that listed his hyperactivity as "significant" can get him a get out of jail free card.
The frustrations of dealing with the system are starting to irk me. I wonder how many years it will be before I am ready to go solo?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Consequences
One of the problems with a gifted child, especially those gifted in language, is their tendency to act like a lawyer. My parents will probably enjoy reading this post as they remember the parent curse they put me under; "I hope someday you have a child just like you!"
JT has become an expert litigator. We ask him to do something or not to do something and he can spout off every reason why he shouldn't be asked to do whatever it is. We have been dealing with this since he was able to speak. But recently, he's thrown in an exciting new twist. He no longer seems to care about consequences. Usually when JT is refusing to do assignments for school, we work towards taking away privileges. A couple days ago, he declared he didn't care if he lost his computer privileges. From there it moved towards not caring for the loss of any other fun stuff. He was determined to hold out to win the battle.
My husband has come up with a new plan that involves moving JT through a series of levels where he loses different privileges and can't regain them until he stops moving to the next level down the ladder. This seems to be helping a bit. Part of my problem has come from the fact that when JT would lose several days at a time on one bad day, I would allow him to gain back what he had lost with good behavior. I think he had decided that he could be as 'bad' as he wanted, then when he felt like it, be 'good' and regain what he had lost.
I have to admit, this was my worst week since we started cyber school. I felt miserable and did NOT want to spend another minute in the classroom. I had friends who warned me not to give up the first couple weeks we started. I wasn't prepared for this when things had been going so well. So my bit of advice to other parents is; be prepared for the low points. I believe they will come throughout the process. I've had jobs (out in the REAL world) where I wanted to give up. I didn't because I needed the money. I think it would be easier to give up here when so many people already think you are doing something unnecessary. Because I know this is so very necessary for my child, I will remember that this time in my life will be over in a flash. When the boys have gone on to succesful lives, the percentage of 'bad' days will be a small portion of the big picture. At least, I hope they will be.... :-)
JT has become an expert litigator. We ask him to do something or not to do something and he can spout off every reason why he shouldn't be asked to do whatever it is. We have been dealing with this since he was able to speak. But recently, he's thrown in an exciting new twist. He no longer seems to care about consequences. Usually when JT is refusing to do assignments for school, we work towards taking away privileges. A couple days ago, he declared he didn't care if he lost his computer privileges. From there it moved towards not caring for the loss of any other fun stuff. He was determined to hold out to win the battle.
My husband has come up with a new plan that involves moving JT through a series of levels where he loses different privileges and can't regain them until he stops moving to the next level down the ladder. This seems to be helping a bit. Part of my problem has come from the fact that when JT would lose several days at a time on one bad day, I would allow him to gain back what he had lost with good behavior. I think he had decided that he could be as 'bad' as he wanted, then when he felt like it, be 'good' and regain what he had lost.
I have to admit, this was my worst week since we started cyber school. I felt miserable and did NOT want to spend another minute in the classroom. I had friends who warned me not to give up the first couple weeks we started. I wasn't prepared for this when things had been going so well. So my bit of advice to other parents is; be prepared for the low points. I believe they will come throughout the process. I've had jobs (out in the REAL world) where I wanted to give up. I didn't because I needed the money. I think it would be easier to give up here when so many people already think you are doing something unnecessary. Because I know this is so very necessary for my child, I will remember that this time in my life will be over in a flash. When the boys have gone on to succesful lives, the percentage of 'bad' days will be a small portion of the big picture. At least, I hope they will be.... :-)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Socialization
I used to be very annoyed when someone would find out that we were about to pull our son out of traditional school and they would say, "Aren't you worried about socialization?" I would smile and say, "Not at all."
This week JT told us that he's lonely. We have had 3 weeks of happenings that have kept us from our usual out-of-the-house activities. We had sickness and bad weather. So, we have been a little high on the cabin fever scale. When we aren't trapped at home, JT has piano lessons, cub scouts and church activities that take up 4 days a week, so you can't say he isn't being 'socialized'.
I started panicking and thinking he'd be asking to go back to brick and mortar school any day now. But when he talked with my husband, JT said he likes being at home for school, but misses his friends. A fellow homeschooling mom comforted me by reminding me that being 'lonely' is different than lack of socialization. Everyone can get lonely. That is easily fixed by spending time with other people.
I made a few phone calls the next day. We are now trying to decide if JT will start both Kung Fu and drawing classes before summer starts. I don't want to go overboard, but I also want to make sure he has a chance to get out of the house on a regular basis. I enjoy being at home and would make a happy hermit. I have to remember that not everyone thrives on that alone time.
The good thing is, he doesn't want to go back to the way things used to be. We just need to stay alert to any signs that things need improvement. It's a learning experience for all of us.
This week JT told us that he's lonely. We have had 3 weeks of happenings that have kept us from our usual out-of-the-house activities. We had sickness and bad weather. So, we have been a little high on the cabin fever scale. When we aren't trapped at home, JT has piano lessons, cub scouts and church activities that take up 4 days a week, so you can't say he isn't being 'socialized'.
I started panicking and thinking he'd be asking to go back to brick and mortar school any day now. But when he talked with my husband, JT said he likes being at home for school, but misses his friends. A fellow homeschooling mom comforted me by reminding me that being 'lonely' is different than lack of socialization. Everyone can get lonely. That is easily fixed by spending time with other people.
I made a few phone calls the next day. We are now trying to decide if JT will start both Kung Fu and drawing classes before summer starts. I don't want to go overboard, but I also want to make sure he has a chance to get out of the house on a regular basis. I enjoy being at home and would make a happy hermit. I have to remember that not everyone thrives on that alone time.
The good thing is, he doesn't want to go back to the way things used to be. We just need to stay alert to any signs that things need improvement. It's a learning experience for all of us.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Best Laid Plans....
I finally motivated myself to begin serious lesson planning Saturday morning. I spent around 6 hours laying out an outline for the next 20 lessons and specific instructions for the first week for all subjects. I felt positive about what I had accomplished and excited to start school Monday morning. Sunday morning the stomach virus hit our house.
We spent some time Monday watching an educational video. We also did a little reading for geography and I introduced our new spelling list. Not quite what I had planned.
Tuesday we managed to put in about half a day's worth of school. Mostly things we could do while sitting on the couch. However, by day three I learned something very important. Calvin and Hobbes can teach your kid more in 30 minutes than what they can learn in a full day of structured school!
If you aren't familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, it's a comic strip (see this wikipedia article) about a boy (Calvin) and his stuffed tiger (Hobbes) that only Calvin sees as a real tiger. This comic is not really targeting young kids, but my boys love it. The vocabulary is challenging and the strip itself deals with many deep subjects. So, Wednesday morning I was assaulted by such questions....
"What is pachysandra?"
"Why is this joke funny?" "A man is walking his dog. He says to his dog, "Heel". The dog says, "It takes one to know one."
"What is a grade curve?"
"How do you do this math problem?" "Mr. Jones lives 50 miles away from you. You both leave home at 5:00 and drive toward each other. Mr. Jones travels at 35 mph and you drive at 40 mph. At what time will you pass Mr. Jones?"
And my favorite...."What does anatomically correct mean?"
From this one bit of reading, JT had a botany lesson, a lesson on homonyms, a lesson on statistics, a lesson in Algebra and finally, a biology lesson! Now that's a well rounded education!
When we allow our children to explore their interests and we follow their lead...what wonderful things they can learn. I don't think I could spend every school day like that. We would probably end up neglecting the subjects JT needs the most work on...the ones he doesn't like (COMPOSITION!). But an occassional day without the plan, can really pay off.
Hopefully next time, we don't need to be sick.
We spent some time Monday watching an educational video. We also did a little reading for geography and I introduced our new spelling list. Not quite what I had planned.
Tuesday we managed to put in about half a day's worth of school. Mostly things we could do while sitting on the couch. However, by day three I learned something very important. Calvin and Hobbes can teach your kid more in 30 minutes than what they can learn in a full day of structured school!
If you aren't familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, it's a comic strip (see this wikipedia article) about a boy (Calvin) and his stuffed tiger (Hobbes) that only Calvin sees as a real tiger. This comic is not really targeting young kids, but my boys love it. The vocabulary is challenging and the strip itself deals with many deep subjects. So, Wednesday morning I was assaulted by such questions....
"What is pachysandra?"
"Why is this joke funny?" "A man is walking his dog. He says to his dog, "Heel". The dog says, "It takes one to know one."
"What is a grade curve?"
"How do you do this math problem?" "Mr. Jones lives 50 miles away from you. You both leave home at 5:00 and drive toward each other. Mr. Jones travels at 35 mph and you drive at 40 mph. At what time will you pass Mr. Jones?"
And my favorite...."What does anatomically correct mean?"
From this one bit of reading, JT had a botany lesson, a lesson on homonyms, a lesson on statistics, a lesson in Algebra and finally, a biology lesson! Now that's a well rounded education!
When we allow our children to explore their interests and we follow their lead...what wonderful things they can learn. I don't think I could spend every school day like that. We would probably end up neglecting the subjects JT needs the most work on...the ones he doesn't like (COMPOSITION!). But an occassional day without the plan, can really pay off.
Hopefully next time, we don't need to be sick.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Planning
Suddenly I realize the two weeks of our holiday break is nearly over! I meant to do so many things to prepare for heading back to school. This weekend will definitely be crunch time.
I did spend a little time looking ahead. I'm trying to change the way I do my lesson planning. I used to look ahead through one week's worth of the provided lesson plans, toss the things I thought JT did not need, then use the remaining items to form my lessons. Using this process, we really didn't find opportunity to add the 'fun' stuff and more advanced study I wanted to get into.
My new plan involves working in 20 lesson blocks. Since each of the testing days involves 20 lessons worth of material, I looked at our next tests to really see what they are looking for from these lessons, then removed all the material that had nothing to do with the tests or had little educational value. The remaining material leaves us with much more time to add our own things. For example, the science lessons would be spread out in tiny chunks over the week. I can compact one week of their material into one day and then expand with my own things when I look at the big picture and know that we aren't going to miss something vital by skipping ahead. In the next 20 lessons our science material covers the Earth and the Moon in very little detail. I have some really good books and movies that we can use to cover that more thoroughly. The language arts will spend a lesson or two working on analogies, but I plan to spend more time on those. JT has always been good with them but could work at a more challenging level. We are going to hold off on moving ahead in the provided math and instead really go into detail with fractions.
One more note, JT celebrated his 8th birthday today. He's a much happier kid than he was one year ago. I'm glad I have had the chance to bring him home and attempt to provide what he needs. I know we are going to have many challenges ahead of us, but we'll take those one day at a time.
I did spend a little time looking ahead. I'm trying to change the way I do my lesson planning. I used to look ahead through one week's worth of the provided lesson plans, toss the things I thought JT did not need, then use the remaining items to form my lessons. Using this process, we really didn't find opportunity to add the 'fun' stuff and more advanced study I wanted to get into.
My new plan involves working in 20 lesson blocks. Since each of the testing days involves 20 lessons worth of material, I looked at our next tests to really see what they are looking for from these lessons, then removed all the material that had nothing to do with the tests or had little educational value. The remaining material leaves us with much more time to add our own things. For example, the science lessons would be spread out in tiny chunks over the week. I can compact one week of their material into one day and then expand with my own things when I look at the big picture and know that we aren't going to miss something vital by skipping ahead. In the next 20 lessons our science material covers the Earth and the Moon in very little detail. I have some really good books and movies that we can use to cover that more thoroughly. The language arts will spend a lesson or two working on analogies, but I plan to spend more time on those. JT has always been good with them but could work at a more challenging level. We are going to hold off on moving ahead in the provided math and instead really go into detail with fractions.
One more note, JT celebrated his 8th birthday today. He's a much happier kid than he was one year ago. I'm glad I have had the chance to bring him home and attempt to provide what he needs. I know we are going to have many challenges ahead of us, but we'll take those one day at a time.
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