Despite my best intentions to keep a careful weekly log of our successes and failures over the course of the last year… It didn’t happen. I guess you could say that the dogs (and the baby) ate my homework. Our homeschooling adventure has been wildly successful, however.
What worked: My daughter is now a productive citizen.
Anthropologists consider the household to be a culture’s basic unit of economic production. We should consider our little happy families, snuggled in front of the TV in their footie jammies as labor, goods and services producing teams that pull together to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product. Without the help of little Timmy and Bobby Sue, Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Steve aren’t going to be as productive in the actual, make-a-paycheck work force.
Prior to pulling her out of school, Colleen was a lackadaisical contributor to our economic production. Like many of her peers, it was often more difficult to get her to complete a task; quickly, efficiently and satisfactorily, than it would have been just to do it myself. I spent the majority of our few hours together lecturing, yelling, cajoling, explaining, punishing and tearing my hair out trying to get her to do her chores.
After 6 months of maintaining a list of inside, outside and academic chores with the help of a watch and a carefully orchestrated schedule (down to the half hour), Colleen is productive, motivated, on-task and responsible about completing her assigned chores, academic and otherwise. I no longer have to monitor her every move. I no longer have to “fact check” her statements and constantly check the quality of her work. On top of that she is mindful of her 3-year-old sister, her now 6-month-old brother and the various and sundry activities that happen around here in the course of building and maintaining our household.
What didn’t work: Grading papers.
Teachers will laugh and laugh at that one. Despite a growing familiarity with research-based “Best Practices,” I went ahead and did exactly what I shouldn’t do and started Colleen off with a schedule of busy work designed to do the instruction for me. Colleen dutifully trucked through her reading and worksheet assignments, placing her finished work in neat piles that grew and grew and grew. With everything else going on in the house and my own peri-partum ickiness, grading Colleen’s work took a backseat.
After her grades were turned in at the end of the quarter, we continued with her curriculum WITHOUT busy work and grades. It has been more enjoyable and productive for both of us. While this obviously isn’t an option for classroom teachers, for Colleen it means more time to read course material, watch videos and complete projects when she doesn’t have to spend time completing worksheets. For me it means that I can sit and watch a movie at the end of the day without a pile of papers to grade. (Or, more accurately, a pile of papers to stress over and NOT grade.)
This Semester:
I plan to homeschool until January of this year. I feel it is important for her to maintain her connection with Chapman school and her classmates so I am going to re-enroll her for the spring semester. I would hate for her to miss all of those lovely bonding and scarring rituals that happen around 8th grade graduation. This year, instead of assigning worksheets and busy work, Colleen will take reading notes and complete 5 paragraph essays, a few of which I'll edit to "publishing perfection." She will also participate in Battle of the Books and Future Problem Solving with her Chapman class.
Here’s our plan for this semester.
Subject | Goals |
Language Arts | Literature: Gain a familiarity with the Old and New Testament of the Christian Bible. Gain a familiarity with the historical context leading to the development of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and their subsequent similarities and differences. Materials:
Writing: Practice the creative, persuasive and academic writing process using literature, social studies and co-curricular texts and topics. Materials:
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Math | Prepare for 9th Grade Algebra 1 Materials:
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Science | Gain a familiarity with physical science curriculum. discoveries in science timeline and environmental studies and compete in Future Problem Solving. Materials:
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Social Studies | Gain a familiarity with Geography as a discipline and the geography, history and cultures of North America emphasizing the history of The United States and its method of governance. Materials:
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French | Work through beginning French materials in order to enter 9th Grade French with a basic vocabulary and understanding of proper syntax and verb conjugation. Materials:
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Physical Education | Participate in Chapman Athletics through the 2011/2012 including Soccer, basketball, volleyball and track as well as horseback riding and other outdoor activities at home including hiking and snowshoeing. |
Art | Regular practice a variety of mediums and styles and gain a familiarity with art history. Weekly Lessons with Dana Bakeake. Materials:
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Band | Attend classes at Chapman, participate in Chapman music program and practice flute daily. Materials:
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So high school...... Homer High ,Ninilchik or Connections??
ReplyDeleteHomer High. Kathleen is training her to be a Ninja, already. I would hate for her to miss out on that fun! Plus Homer is superior academically.
ReplyDelete