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!

Looking to the Future

This week I started really thinking what life would be like without the cyberschool. It left me a bit weak in the knees.

What if I can't do this on my own!?

Part of this concern came from the fact that JT was working on an assignment in his Grammar and Usage book. I really like this book! It is a Calvert book. From what I can find, it will be difficult to buy another copy anywhere. Then I started thinking of other books Calvert provides that I like. Luckily, those are readily available on the web. What is kind of funny about the whole thing is the fact that so far, EM shows no signs of learning in the same ways that JT does. I am sure books that worked for JT will more than likely be a flop with EM. Maybe I should also mention that I currently have 2 large bookcases FULL of school materials that have never been opened by a child. I might just have enough there to educate several dozen children.

After a chat (maybe more of a "How in the world am I going to do this!!" rant) with a homeschooling friend, I realized part of my problem is that I know very few people in my area who homeschool without a cyber. I have no support network. So, this morning I went to work to find myself some friends. I found a website for a local homeschoolers group. I made a contact and am now receiving their group emails. Based on their blog, they seem to have a decent number of members and offer many activities every month. They even have gym days at a local community center. Hooray! More socialization! Just what we needed.... (see last week's post) :-)

Another good point my friend made was that this doesn't have to be permanent. If it doesn't work, we can always go back. I'm sure the cyber school will be more than happy to welcome us (and our tax dollars) back into their over testing, rigid and controlling arms.

See...I won't miss them.

Nope.

Chaos Reigns

My doctor appointment.
Allergy shot appointment.
Piano lessons.
Cub scouts.
Bible study night.
Basketball practice.
Odyssey of the Mind practice.
Trip to the library.

...Schooling?

How did I get here? I want a week, and I mean a complete 7 days, when we can stay home. I don't see it happening. Not until the middle of March. At the earliest.

Amazingly enough, we had a very productive week of learning. I think I may have set fewer goals going into this week so it felt like we accomplished more than usual. The boys both made progress in math. JT has been on an obsessive streak writing poetry. EM wrote a short but complete paragraph on volcanoes. We moved ahead in social studies and science. JT read a stack of books.

I still want a week.

If you need a break and are also a homeschooling mom, check out the Homeschool Break Room on BlogHer. Annie Peters from Learn at Every Turn has created a place for worn down mommas like us.

Best Laid Plans...

I had plans. I was going to be especially productive the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. I was going to organize. I was going to clean. I was going to be prepared to teach the next 6 weeks of material.

I got sick.

So...the day before we started back to schooling (Sunday afternoon), I scraped together a vague idea of what to do Monday morning. This turned out to be a great new method. We had a very productive Monday. Part of this can be credited to the fact that we introduced new materials into the mix. (more on new stuff in a minute) After the success of the 'no-plan is a good plan' idea, we continued the week in much the same style. Wednesday night I decided I didn't want to spend EVERY evening planning, so I did the rest of the week in one sitting. I did realize a few things.

1. I have been over planning since day one.
2. I am perfectly capable of teaching my children something meaningful every day as long as I keep my long term goals in mind.

That said, I will probably make a plan for all of next week on Sunday. But this time, I won't be quite so obsessive.

New stuff:

Before the holiday break, EM had wrapped up the remaining Calvert math. I presented him with his new Singapore Math books Monday. We worked our way through several lessons. I started him with 1B. He is a bit beyond the concepts, but I wanted to show him how the books work and more importantly, make sure he is seeing how these books present concepts he already knows. He really likes the layout. I like the way visual learners are approached.

JT has completed almost all of the Calvert spelling tests for this year. I decided to pull out one of my new favorite toys...English from the Roots Up Flashcards and make a plan. I took the first two cards (photos and graph) and made a spelling list using all the words on them. There were 15 words all together including things like, photosynthesis, photophilia, photophobia, telegraph, etc. JT only missed one on our spelling pretest. For the rest of the week we focused on the meanings of all the roots from the list. There were 10 different roots. Tomorrow he will take a test matching the root to it's meaning and defining the words on the list. That test was created at this fantastic site I found, Easy Test Maker.

The boys also spent some time working with a new book my dad bought them. It's a book on how to tie knots. JT, who can't tie his shoes at age 9, is tying the first 20 knots in this book without a problem. When I asked him why he could do this and not tie shoes, he said, "I have no problem with knots...it's the bows that are a problem." ?!

One other thing...I decided to give in and allow both boys to do the online testing the cyber school requires at this point in the year. EM skipped the last round in November. I thought I'd let him go ahead and see what gains he has made. Watching him do the testing today, I realized he has really made improvements since the start of the year. I wouldn't credit the Calvert curriculum with much of that change. I'm glad I was able to ignore most of their prescribed curriculum and do my own thing with him. The first grade daily work has little tie-in to the tests that are sent in to the school. It is much easier to pick and choose with his than with JT's.

Tomorrow we have to finish the testing. Sitting still was not in his cards today. I'm guessing they might not be tomorrow, either.