The Plan Comes Together

As of yesterday, my classroom had objectives written all over the white board, books spread all over the floor and my filing cabinet looked like it had thrown up. Today is not much better.

In PA, you must file an affidavit to homeschool your children. This affidavit must include a list of your educational objectives. Everyone I have spoken with has strongly encouraged me to keep these as vague as possible. This was a challenge for me. I love details. I rewrote these stinking things about twenty times before I had something vague that made me feel satisfied to put my name on it.

Once that was finished, I realized the fun had only just begun! Now...what to teach these boys? I wrote out the list of subjects required to be taught in elementary when homeschooling on our whiteboard. (Pardon the lousy photography...it was late, but you get the idea.)

At the elementary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires; health and physiology; physical education; music; and art."

Well...I didn't write it quite like that. I only said safety education, not "including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires." I guess PA can thank Benjamin Franklin for that one...

Then I went to my enormous pile of books and materials I have always wanted to use and sorted them by subject. This left me with a floor covered in piles of books. Too many books. I spied the Calvert boxes that I had not yet unpacked and pulled out more books. This just made more piles.

I decided to change my approach.

"Let's do this by subject," I said to myself. (I had banished all other humans from the room.)

I chose science first. I pulled the Calvert 2nd and 5th grade science text books from the piles and checked what topics they would cover. They seemed to line up with each other fairly well. I sat down at the computer and outlined the units and chapters from each book, including vocabulary words. Two hours later, I had a plan. I chose three of those units to cover in this school year. I pulled all books I had related to those three topics and put everything else away for later.

One down...how many more to go?!

I am looking at math next. Math and science are the two that give me the most difficulty because I'm always second guessing the best approach for the boys. I just learned of a cool math program today and think it might be the ticket for JT. Living Math! If I had to do it all over again, this looks like the kind of math I could have enjoyed in school. I printed out their suggested book lists and a sample lesson to check out.

I am feeling a bit stressed by all I need to do. But I'm also feeling a freedom I haven't felt so far in this process. I was telling a friend who cyberschools her children about our decision. She told me she had been considering making a change too. She said, "I always feel like I'm racing to meet some goal. Like there's a carrot dangling in front of me that I can never reach."

I'm so glad we've left the race. I never really liked carrots anyway.



Please note: This will be my last week posting at Adventures in Cyberschooling. We will be making the transition to a new blog shortly. I have a name...but I won't tell you until it's ready! I will provide the link here when the move is complete.

Forget Everything I Said

Summer has not been what I thought it would be.

Remember my list of summer goals? My list included 8 goals for the boys. We actively worked on two. Not exactly a good outcome. Here are the stories of success.

We have been swimming on a fairly regular basis. As of last summer, JT had little interest in getting his face wet, let alone swimming. I am proud to say he can now swim across the pool, jump off the ladder in the deep end, and doesn't mind the water in his face at all. EM is making some progress with comfort in the water, but still prefers to climb out of the pool and dry off on the towel every time he gets a drip of water on his face. Maybe next year?

We also continued our chess and science get-togethers with our friends. I have taught two science sessions, with two more planned before the end of summer. Our first was on electrical generation. The second focused on microscopes.

During the microscope lesson I discussed Anton Leeuwenhoek. I tried to emphasize that he was not a trained scientist. He sold drapes! Yet this man is considered by many to be the father of microbiology. How did this happen? He was curious. He acted on that curiosity. Then because he documented everything he learned he was able to share what he had discovered. The scientific method in action!

The next week I was having a very in depth discussion with a friend who also homeschools. She was questioning the best way to approach her family's education for this year. I asked, "Do we want our kids to learn to memorize what other people think they need to know or learn how to learn?" I brought up the story of Anton Leeuwenhoek and realized the backbone of what I want to teach them is to look and share.

Then yesterday I started to clean out my office and classroom....remember this from that other blog post?

"I will (remind me that I said this later, would you?) I WILL find ways to incorporate the ton of enrichment materials I have bought in the last 3 years into our daily classroom experiences."

I quickly became overwhelmed. How was I going to incorporate all of this great material into the substandard material I had to use?! How would I have time with all that tedious testing needing to be done?!

...and I started to formulate a plan.

This morning I called our IS and withdrew both of the boys from the cyber school.


I felt some panic, but it only lasted a few minutes because one of my traditional homeschooling friends was available to chat and tell me how much happier we'd be and how easy it really is to put a portfolio together, etc.

So here I am. No longer a cyberschooler. I need to put together our educational objectives that need to be submitted with an affidavit stating my intent to homeschool. There's a wonderful site all about PA homeschooling law called AskPauline.com It is full of useful links to regulations, requirements and examples of all the documentation you need. I think it's my new home away from home.

I will have to box up all the technology equipment the school provided. Bye, bye my beloved Bamboo. However, we can keep all of the books and school supplies. Some we will use and some can be sold off to buy a new computer for the classroom since ours has to ship out.

I am excited, scared, hopeful...I'm still not sure that this is the best possible option. It feels right. We can always go back. I'm ready to give it a go.

One more thing...I'm going to have to get a new blog name! :-)

Confession

I know I have ranted and raved about the annoyances of PACyber...so this may come as a shock.

We are going to stick with them another year.

It took me most of the year to realize I am willing to jump through the hoops in order to gain some benefits the cyber school has to offer. JT and I sat down together and made a pros and cons list for staying with the school.

PROS

• virtual enrichment classes (JT's main reason for staying with the school...these classes are non-credit fun stuff. He really enjoys them, but they are mostly fluff.)
• reimbursement for internet
• $75 a kid, per year, for PE
• free books and supplies
• free computer, printer and ink
• the school does all the reporting to the state; no portfolio to put together

• no need to deal with our local school district (if traditional homeschooling, they would be reviewing our plan and portfolio)

CONS

• Must take PSSAs every year from 3rd - 11th (homeschoolers are only required to test 3 times in their school career and parents can chose from a list of standardized tests)
• can't chose our own material (we can always supplement with our own, but often feel too strapped for time to pull it off)
• some of the curriculum we must use is inferior to what we would like to use...by a large margin
• inept grading of tests by the cyber school staff

Once we put it all down in writing I felt like I had been whining far too much. At least, I felt that way for a couple days. Then I went in my office and saw the bookcase full of the stuff I so desperately would love to teach my kids but never feel I have enough time to fit it in the schedule. I tried to broker a deal with JT. It went like this...

me: "If you would set your mind to it, we could do all the Calvert material for the week in 1 or 2 school days. Then we'd have the other 3 days to work on all the fun stuff we have wanted to do."

JT: "Okay, no problem."

Two days later...

me: "Why don't you just work through these assignments quickly so we have time for the fun stuff this week?"

JT: "I don't feel like it."

Case closed.

Exercise

I just started reading an incredibly interesting book, "Brain Rules" by John Medina. He gives 12 principles to improve our 'brain health'. See more here. He makes some well-supported claims about exercise that really have me thinking. I need to get the boys more active WHILE they are learning. Part of me knows that exercise is important. But it often gets put on the back burner. My boys are very active on their own, so I generally don't feel I need to tell them they need to exercise. In the book, however, Medina argues that because aerobic exercise increases blood flow to the brain, children can learn better if they are being active. He is quick to point out that most classrooms are in no way designed to accommodate this. Guess what? My classroom can!

Now I need to find out how to make it all work. I already have an exercise ball. JT used to do most of his work sitting...well...bouncing on it. I put it away when I got tired of telling him to stop throwing it around the room. One idea I am considering is after presenting new material I could take the boys for a walk and discuss it. Maybe we could work in the garden while reviewing facts like states and capitals. I have had my eye on a recumbent exercise bike for awhile. Maybe they could be reading while riding the bike. All sorts of possibilities open up!

JT took his PSSA tests in reading and math today. He was in a small group of kids who were not doing the 'normal' 3 days of testing. He finished all 6 sections in just under 3 hours. When I asked him how it went he said, "I stood up for the whole test. The chair was not comfortable."
Maybe that bit of movement helped him work faster and smarter.

Traditional brick and mortar schools have moved away from the multiple recesses they used to have in a day. They argue the need for more time in the classroom. Maybe that time would be better spent if the kids were ready to learn. Sitting at a desk all day does not get blood flowing the way it should to provide the best learning opportunities. All of those fidgety kids know they need to get moving. Now we just have to convince the adults.


On Saturday: I just had to add something here. Tonight I read this post on exactly what I'm talking about! There's a link to an article about the school that is using exercise to help kids think better. Cool!

Recharging

Tonight, my husband and I got ourselves all fancied up and went out for dinner. "What does this have to do with successfully homeschooling children?" you may ask.
My answer...everything.

In order to have the patience to take on the education of my children, I believe it is essential to take care of me first. I love my children. However, if I have to spend 24 hours a day with them for the next 10 years, I might go insane. Quickly. The last 3 months have left very little time for my husband and me to spend time away from them together. Two days ago I called my oldest daughter (who is married and out of the house) and told her I NEEDED a date night. Being the wonderful offspring she is, she agreed to come over tonight.

As I plan what feels like an endless supply of activities for the boys, I sometimes forget how temporary my role as teacher will be. I will spend the next ten years (unless something drastically changes in the US system of education, HA!) teaching these boys. I will hopefully have many years after that to be me again. In the meantime, I need a few hours here and there to recharge my batteries before jumping back into the fray.

Next week is our week off in the 6 week on/1 week off cycle. This will be our last break before the end of the school year. I will be in Hershey for a 3 day PA Dept of Education Special Ed conference, paid for by a scholarship through the state for parents of children with a GIEP (Gifted Individualized Education Plan). I am looking forward to this chance to recharge and learn new things. It will give the boys some alone time with Dad. I will get to spend time with one of my homeschooling friends from across the state. When I return home, all of us will be fresh and ready for the final push to the end of another successful school year.

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to spend so much time with my children. I am also thankful that I have so many supportive friends and family members ready to give me a break when I feel worn down.

Spring is in the Air

The weather here has been simply beautiful for the last week. I finally have a method to motivate the boys. They want so badly to play outside, they will do just about anything to get there. This has led me to believe that schooling through the summer might be more beneficial than winter schooling. I doubt I can win converts with that doctrine.

With the improving weather, our thoughts are turning to gardening. JT loves plants. He's always been actively involved in my flower beds. Last year, we made our first foray into vegetables. This year, we plan to expand. Today the kids were outside with paper and markers drawing up a plan for their portions of the garden. I quickly realized we are going to need to dedicate more space to this endeavor. Pumpkins, cantaloupes, beans and cucumbers on top of what I had already planned will be way too much for our little garden.

I told the boys we would need to scout out a new location. One prime spot had questionable sun exposure. The boys came up with a plan to keep a chart of how many hours this patch of yard has sun for the next few weeks. Then we can decide if it will be acceptable. JT said, "Hey mom! This can be like a science experiment!"

Good boy!

One more thing...if you follow Pioneer Woman's blog, you may have already seen the link to FreeRice.com. If not, I highly recommend it. It is a quiz site with many different subjects available. When you answer a question correctly, rice is donated to the World Food Programme. It is highly addictive and educational. When you miss a question, it is thrown back in the mix to give you a second chance. JT was able to use the knowledge he has gained studying prefixes, suffixes and word roots to do very well in the vocabulary category. It felt good to know that not only had I provided him with a tool he could use to expand his vocabulary, I had also given him the opportunity to help others with that knowledge.

Big Brother is Watching

School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home.

This statement is alarming in so many ways. It is the title of an article found here.

My reason for pulling my children out of the public school system was a common one. My son was not finding challenge in his placement. Simply put...he wasn't learning. I spent time and energy trying to make it work where he was. I met with teachers. I met with administrators. I hired a lawyer. It was so much easier to homeschool. Our problem was mild. Our district did not spy on my child IN HIS OWN HOME!

I think the thing that upsets me the most about this whole situation, is the idea that the school Vice Principal that used the photo from a webcam as evidence, was trying to discipline the student for "improper behavior in his home". Since when did public schools have the right to monitor behavior in the student's homes? Did parents give them this right?

When my child went to public school, I understood that he was under their supervision while he was on their property, including the bus ride. I expected them to follow their handbook and discipline my child accordingly. But when my child got off the bus and entered my home, he was under my authority.

Some people would say the homeschoolers have too much leeway with their kids. They don't have enough supervision from the state. If my child is in my home, he's under my supervision. I have a parental responsibility to make him a productive member of society. I need to educate him so he does not become a burden on others. If I am meeting those goals, what do I lack that the public system has?

Surveillance equipment.

Polar Opposites

"I hate math!, I hate math!"

The sound of my 9 year old in the midst of a unit on decimals. I was in our classroom with my younger son. JT was out in our library chanting his mantra.

EM yelled back, "I love it!" In the meantime, EM was struggling with a card game I made for him. The cards have sets of rhyming words that need to be matched. EM has a horrible time hearing the rhymes. (I am starting to consider having him evaluated for auditory processing problems, but that's another story.) JT has always excelled in everything related to language, so for him, that game was always a piece of cake.

Five minutes later, JT burst into the room and said, "Can't I please just sit and read the dictionary all day?!"

Now, I can really relate to that sentiment. I was competent in math in elementary and middle school. When I reached high school things went down hill. I have always loved reading, language and history. I like science, if it doesn't involve too many equations. :-) Like, JT, a day with the dictionary would be far superior to math.

I believe it's okay to not like math. (Gasp! I've said it out loud!)

The question is...does he dislike this subject because he just can't relate to it, or is he honestly struggling with the math? Sometimes it's so hard to tell. He wants to be an entomologist when he grows up. Will math play such a vital role in his future? If he can pass math without honors, will it really matter? If I push him to excel at something that isn't his cup of tea, will he hate it more?

In the meantime, I have to find a way to teach these two boys with completely opposite styles and strengths. I really can't imagine how a classroom teacher has a chance at reaching a room full of a kids. I have enough trouble with only two.

Education Trends

I read an excellent article this week, recommended by Annie at Learn at Every Turn. The article, Playing to Learn, made me think how different public education would be if someone would be daring enough to think outside the box.

From the article:
What they (students) shouldn’t do is spend tedious hours learning isolated mathematical formulas or memorizing sheets of science facts that are unlikely to matter much in the long run. Scientists know that children learn best by putting experiences together in new ways. They construct knowledge; they don’t swallow it.

Not two days later, I was listening to a local radio talk show. The guests were a former school superintendent and a former school board member. They were discussing the need to allow children more time to learn through experiences. The school board member brought up the point that we have built such a structured system in education that we have made it impossible to adapt our classrooms to better serve the children. We can only serve the system.

I have good news! In my home, I can adapt day to day based on what my boys need. This week, we spent about 2 hours a day focusing on your typical 'school' activities...worksheets, math problems, spelling practice. The rest of the time we - read for enjoyment, looked up things online that we were curious about and we traveled to practices and lessons. Perhaps the most educational time all week was yesterday afternoon. I was trying to get my house cleaned up a bit and the boys were on their own. They tried going outside...too chilly. They couldn't agree on a video. Did anyone come to me and say, "We're bored!"? Nope.

They planned an expedition to Mars.

They found their sleeping bags and backpacks. They loaded up on necessary supplies. (If you ever go to Mars, don't forget your stuffed animals!) They carried it all downstairs and had a blast. When there was a question over how long night would be on Mars, I threw our copy of "Atlas of the Stars" into the room and they found their answer.

Did they pick up skills they will need someday in the corporate world planning this trip? Maybe not. But I beg to differ...

From that same article:
"During the school day, there should be extended time for play. Research has shown unequivocally that children learn best when they are interested in the material or activity they are learning. Play — from building contraptions to enacting stories to inventing games — can allow children to satisfy their curiosity about the things that interest them in their own way. It can also help them acquire higher-order thinking skills, like generating testable hypotheses, imagining situations from someone else’s perspective and thinking of alternate solutions."

Well, my classroom passes that test.

Spelling

We have a pretty traditional approach to teaching spelling in our home. Mondays are pretest day for both boys. Corrections are made immediately after the test. For the next three days, we approach the words from different angles. We look at definitions, we play games, we use the SpellingCity site. On Friday we have a final test. This year EM has been using his Calvert spelling words. I have found that they are pretty on target for him as far as challenge goes. JT is a pretty advanced student in spelling. We zip through the Calvert spelling tests at the beginning of the school year, then we move on to some REAL spelling!

Have I said before how much I LOVE the English From the Roots Up flash cards? (Maybe once or twice?) I have finally worked them into our spelling routine. This week the results were evident.

Every week I pull 2 or 3 of the cards from the deck to put together a spelling list. We have used 6 cards so far. Each card has a root on the front, Greek or Latin. On the back is a list of words containing that root, complete with definition. They also identify other roots in the word that are not the focus of that card. For example, the 'tele' card has the word 'telegraph' on the back. Following the word in parentheses is (graph - write). So every week we focus on a couple cards, but also have contact with other roots. This week the cards were 'philia' and 'phobos'. All of the words for the list would have these roots. As JT was taking his pretest, he started dissecting the new words he was hearing. When I read the word, hydrophobia, he said, "That must be fear of water because it has hydro in it." Hooray, connections! We went through the rest of the list with him making similar observations.

These are the tools I want to give my children. I want them to have the ability to take their knowledge and apply it. I want them to know the satisfaction that comes when they are presented with a puzzle and know right where to start in order to solve it. I want them to feel confident that if they don't know an answer, there will be a way to find it. The best place to start is at the beginning...or maybe...the roots!

Things I Won't Miss

I guess you all knew it was coming. I have finally made the decision to leave the warmth and safety of the cyberschool nest and make my way in the world.

I can't say exactly what it was this week that pushed me over the edge. First there was the composition mess last week. Then our cyber school decided to update their mail program, losing my address book and most of the useful functions from the previous program. It's funny...I thought a cyber school might be good with the whole 'technology' thing. Then there was the friendly reminder that EM should take the second of four online assessments for the year. I sent an email stating that I thought the tests were poorly designed, that EM had placed above grade level in all the tests in September so I thought he should not need to take them. The answer I was given is that the state is holding the cybers to the same standards as the other public schools. I'm sorry...that's not an answer. The other schools are NOT required to give assessments like these 4 times a year.

So while all of this is going on I am reading a book "Home Schooling: A Family's Journey" by Gregory and Martine Millman. Every page I turn is making me more and more sure the path we are heading down now is not the best option for our family. One of the takeaways from Chapter Two sealed the deal for me... "A school-like curriculum and school-like pedagogy only make sense in the context of a school." I realized I am not fulfilling the vision I had for my children. I also finally faced the fact that fear was the only thing stopping me from taking the leap.

We will finish out the school year with PACyber. However, we will not push ourselves to do as much of their material as we would have. I will be very sad when we have to pack up the laptops and printers and the much coveted Bamboo... We get to keep all of the textbooks (some of them might be useful in the future). I will not miss the excessive testing and busy work given to my children. I will not miss the lack of time to stumble upon new and exciting adventures. And finally, I will not miss the horrible tunnel vision we have been suffering from ever since we tried to conform to someone else's plan for the lives of our children.

What is the right answer?

It's been another fairly good week. I keep waiting for the crisis when I say, "I CAN'T do this anymore!". There are definitely moments. Most of them involve JT completely ignoring my pleas that if he'd just finish the 5 problems left on the paper, we could have free reading time. Stalling is certainly one of his strong characteristics.

Our new schedule seems to be working fairly well. Sometimes we don't get through all I want to do in one day, but neither do teachers with a classroom full of students. This week JT did his Lesson 20 tests. Every 20 lessons there is a series of tests that are completed and sent in to the school. Some of these tests have questions that have wording I consider confusing. JT proved the point today when he came across the fill in the blank question:

The ability to do work is called ____________.
Instead of using the words in the box he was supposed to choose from he wrote "a learned trait". The correct answer (I assume, as I do not have the answer key) should be "energy". I thought his answer made sense. He did a couple others in the same way. Now if he was in a traditional classroom, the teacher would have spent the last 2 weeks being sure he was programmed with the correct answer through tedious review. I took my chances with just reading the chapters in the Science book and going over the review questions once or twice and then jumping into something JT had more interest in learning. Does this mean I have not taught my son well? I can't believe that that is true. Last night as he was getting ready for bed he said to me, "I think we should use some of the words in my History lesson as Spelling words. I think they are probably on my level and I would really like to be able to spell declaration, independence and constitution". By giving him the desire to learn I have opened far more opportunities to him than by teaching him to recite the answer I expect to hear.

On a side note, last week I posted about our capture of the Monarch caterpillars. It turns out, I should have done my research better. My poor child trusted his mother to know a Monarch caterpillar from a Tiger Moth caterpillar. (see here)
They both like to munch the Milkweed....who knew? Since the Tiger Moth overwinters in his cocoon, we won't be having any excitement for quite some time. At least we learned something new this week!