We've been off-line and out of school for a few weeks having an amazing vacation here in New Paltz. Our friends, R & her daughter A (L's "twin"), visited us for a month while the kids went to summer camp. Not only do we love R & A, they're the kind of people who are totally game for anything. So we've been hitting the neighborhood hot spots -- Lake Minnewaska, Split Rock Falls, Sliding Rock, Saugerties Light House, Freestyle Frolic dances, and finally today, the Trapeze School.
God, what an experience! You drive down this country road, and in the middle of a field is a huge trapeze set up. L, A & I took today's class: put on safety harnesses, crawled 30 or 40 feet in the air on a small ladder, leaned out over a long, long drop to grab a trapeze bar, and then......jumped. It was incredibly frightening, and (as soon as my feet hit the ground), exhilerating. Watching these little girls swinging in the air, eventually getting their courage up to hang upside down by their knees and do flips (which I did as well!!!) really made me feel so proud and happy. I'll put photos up as soon as I can.
But R & A's departure means we start school up again. I want to focus a little on France, since we're going to be going there in mid-August for 2 weeks. Maybe borrow some books from the library (Madeline? What else of French-themed?), and cook French food and try to learn some french phrases. It will be hard to get back into the swing of things (see, nothing but swinging on the brain today) after such a long and delectable break, but it was worth it.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Summer vacation & writing
In case you haven't noticed, dear Reader, we've been on a break. After all, even homeschoolers get to have vacation....whenever the hell we feel like it.
L has been going to a summer camp which I guess I would describe as "nature immersion", or at least as much immersion as a 5 year-old can handle. The kids spend all day out in the woods, rain or shine, learning about their environment in a very free-form playing sort of way. She's been climbing trees, wading in a stream, getting painted with mud, learning what plants taste good (and hopefully simultaneously learning which ones don't) and many other amazing things under the gentle guidance of camp counselors who don't boss her around as much as Mom does. Her best friend A is with her, and in fact A & her mom are staying with us for the month of July. T has also been in the same camp, but with me and only a couple of days a week. Not quite the dive-into-nature experience his sister is getting, but it's letting me spend quite a bit of time focussed exclusively on him, which is quite a treat for both of us. And I've learned how to build a shelter out of tree branches and leaves, so the next time you think you might need to fight for survival out in the wilderness of Central Park, invite me along.
So school has been shelved till the end of camp, and even then, while A is visiting I know it will be hard for L to really focus on anything (although maybe I could get A to "do school" with L....hmmmm, will have to think about that one). But I'm marking these three weeks down as Nature Study, so maybe it does count after all.
I had a conversation with one of the other parents in the Parent & Tot camp that I've been thinking about a lot. He is in the magazine business and I had been complaining to him about the difficulty of writing now that children absorb all my energy and focus. He commented on this blog, which he had found it by checking my email address (something I myself always do if I don't recognize the url), how great it was that I could write about a subject I was so deeply involved in and passionate about, i.e. homeschooling my kids. It's strange, but I had never thought about this blog as writing. It was just a place to unload all the things in my head at the end of the day which maybe a few of my friends would visit occasionally. I never wrote with the thought of anyone else reading it, which is totally insane, I know. I don't know how I feel about this idea. On one hand, it makes me feel better about not having published anything for past few years (I've been "collecting material"....yeah, that's the ticket!). On the other, it's not actually very well written. I don't think about the crafting of it, I don't check for cliches and run-on sentences, and half the time, I don't even know what I'm saying till I hit Publish and re-read it. Like this paragraph I've just written. It's crap, and that would be okay if I didn't think about it as anything else but an unloading of accumulated mind-crap. And why you're reading it, I really don't know.
So, do I start taking this more seriously and try to write as if I mean it? Or do I continue to take the satisfaction I get from banging this out whenever I can and simply focus on where I am right now, raising and teaching my kids? The age-old problem -- too busy worrying about tomorrow to enjoy today. Ah, shit, I should just shut up and go to bed already. Actually, I'm going to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog online. Who needs sleep when you can watch Neil Patrick Harris in a musical?
L has been going to a summer camp which I guess I would describe as "nature immersion", or at least as much immersion as a 5 year-old can handle. The kids spend all day out in the woods, rain or shine, learning about their environment in a very free-form playing sort of way. She's been climbing trees, wading in a stream, getting painted with mud, learning what plants taste good (and hopefully simultaneously learning which ones don't) and many other amazing things under the gentle guidance of camp counselors who don't boss her around as much as Mom does. Her best friend A is with her, and in fact A & her mom are staying with us for the month of July. T has also been in the same camp, but with me and only a couple of days a week. Not quite the dive-into-nature experience his sister is getting, but it's letting me spend quite a bit of time focussed exclusively on him, which is quite a treat for both of us. And I've learned how to build a shelter out of tree branches and leaves, so the next time you think you might need to fight for survival out in the wilderness of Central Park, invite me along.
So school has been shelved till the end of camp, and even then, while A is visiting I know it will be hard for L to really focus on anything (although maybe I could get A to "do school" with L....hmmmm, will have to think about that one). But I'm marking these three weeks down as Nature Study, so maybe it does count after all.
I had a conversation with one of the other parents in the Parent & Tot camp that I've been thinking about a lot. He is in the magazine business and I had been complaining to him about the difficulty of writing now that children absorb all my energy and focus. He commented on this blog, which he had found it by checking my email address (something I myself always do if I don't recognize the url), how great it was that I could write about a subject I was so deeply involved in and passionate about, i.e. homeschooling my kids. It's strange, but I had never thought about this blog as writing. It was just a place to unload all the things in my head at the end of the day which maybe a few of my friends would visit occasionally. I never wrote with the thought of anyone else reading it, which is totally insane, I know. I don't know how I feel about this idea. On one hand, it makes me feel better about not having published anything for past few years (I've been "collecting material"....yeah, that's the ticket!). On the other, it's not actually very well written. I don't think about the crafting of it, I don't check for cliches and run-on sentences, and half the time, I don't even know what I'm saying till I hit Publish and re-read it. Like this paragraph I've just written. It's crap, and that would be okay if I didn't think about it as anything else but an unloading of accumulated mind-crap. And why you're reading it, I really don't know.
So, do I start taking this more seriously and try to write as if I mean it? Or do I continue to take the satisfaction I get from banging this out whenever I can and simply focus on where I am right now, raising and teaching my kids? The age-old problem -- too busy worrying about tomorrow to enjoy today. Ah, shit, I should just shut up and go to bed already. Actually, I'm going to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog online. Who needs sleep when you can watch Neil Patrick Harris in a musical?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Another lesson on letting go
After L's lame first day of school, I was determined to BE PREPARED for her second. I spent many hours after the kids were in bed, printing out worksheets, reading lesson plans, organizing projects. I decided that today we were going to be doing Math, Science, a read-aloud/narration session, Phonics, as well as our usual recitation of the poem of the week and reading.
We started the day downstairs in the den, where L & T cuddled up with me on the couch while I read a couple of Aesop's fables: The Wolf and the Kid, and The Tortoise and the Ducks. They were really interested and asked that I read each fable twice, though the moral lessons were as opaque to the kids as they were to me. But L got a kick out of the turtle hurtling to his death on trying to show off, so it was a good start to the day.
Bouyed by my first success, I turned to Science. After the fiasco with the Tanglewood nature study "curriculum", I had moved on to another free science course that seemed easier to prepare for: Math Science Nucleus. This curriculum was developed by a non-profit group of scientists & educators trying to bring science into classrooms. So there are detailed lesson plans, children's workbooks, basically everything you need to teach science. So I was psyched. Today's lesson was going to be on the different states of matter. I had the workbook, I'd read the lesson plan, I had rocks, water, balloons at my disposal...I was ready!
While I was gathering up the workbooks & everything I'd prepared the night before, L picked up a daddy-long-leg off the carpet and started playing with it.
"Is this a spider?" she asked.
"No honey, it's not," I answered, distracted because I'd misplaced something we needed.
"Is it related to a spider?"
"I don't really know."
"Can you look it up for me?"
I was about to tell her to put the bug down and listen to me while I lectured to her on solids, liquids, gasses and plasma, but then I realized that she was totally into this topic. She really wanted to know what it was. So I sat down at the computer and started researching daddy-long-legs and found a child-friendly site explaining what it was and how it is different from a spider. We watched the creature climb up and down her arm and she peered at it through a magnifying glass, enthralled. We ended up having her do a narration of what I had read to her about daddy-long-legs and draw a picture that she put in her nature journal.
What a wonderful surprise gift that daddy-long-leg turned out to be. It gave me the reminder that one of the beauties of homeschooling is the possibility and thrill of veering off course to discover something new. Serendipity should be a by-word here. All it takes is for me to let go. Not always easy to do, but worth it.
So the rest of the day went like that. Instead of finishing the day's program, we drove into town for lunch, then had ice cream, then went to Coxing Kills falls where the kids waded around trying to catch water bugs and fossil hunting. I consider it a day devoted to science.
We started the day downstairs in the den, where L & T cuddled up with me on the couch while I read a couple of Aesop's fables: The Wolf and the Kid, and The Tortoise and the Ducks. They were really interested and asked that I read each fable twice, though the moral lessons were as opaque to the kids as they were to me. But L got a kick out of the turtle hurtling to his death on trying to show off, so it was a good start to the day.
Bouyed by my first success, I turned to Science. After the fiasco with the Tanglewood nature study "curriculum", I had moved on to another free science course that seemed easier to prepare for: Math Science Nucleus. This curriculum was developed by a non-profit group of scientists & educators trying to bring science into classrooms. So there are detailed lesson plans, children's workbooks, basically everything you need to teach science. So I was psyched. Today's lesson was going to be on the different states of matter. I had the workbook, I'd read the lesson plan, I had rocks, water, balloons at my disposal...I was ready!
While I was gathering up the workbooks & everything I'd prepared the night before, L picked up a daddy-long-leg off the carpet and started playing with it.
"Is this a spider?" she asked.
"No honey, it's not," I answered, distracted because I'd misplaced something we needed.
"Is it related to a spider?"
"I don't really know."
"Can you look it up for me?"
I was about to tell her to put the bug down and listen to me while I lectured to her on solids, liquids, gasses and plasma, but then I realized that she was totally into this topic. She really wanted to know what it was. So I sat down at the computer and started researching daddy-long-legs and found a child-friendly site explaining what it was and how it is different from a spider. We watched the creature climb up and down her arm and she peered at it through a magnifying glass, enthralled. We ended up having her do a narration of what I had read to her about daddy-long-legs and draw a picture that she put in her nature journal.
What a wonderful surprise gift that daddy-long-leg turned out to be. It gave me the reminder that one of the beauties of homeschooling is the possibility and thrill of veering off course to discover something new. Serendipity should be a by-word here. All it takes is for me to let go. Not always easy to do, but worth it.
So the rest of the day went like that. Instead of finishing the day's program, we drove into town for lunch, then had ice cream, then went to Coxing Kills falls where the kids waded around trying to catch water bugs and fossil hunting. I consider it a day devoted to science.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The first day of first grade
Well, today is the first of our new 12-month school year, L's first grade. We had a graduation "ceremony" yesterday at L's insistence, where we all sang "Happy Graduation to You" and she passed out mini carrot cupcakes to our friends who were visiting us here in New Paltz.
I did some late night preparation for the first day, but felt pretty prepared. Ummmmm....nope. Wasn't prepared at all, it turned out. L requested that we start the day with Science. I whipped out my science curriculum, which I had copied and pasted from the Tanglewood website nature study curriculum, and all it said was "Study the movement of sun and time." I drew a total blank. Though I had read that thing over and over again in all my prep work, I never noticed that it actually doesn't tell you how to study the sun and time. Woops. I did some lame scrambling, read out loud to her from some book I found on the sun and tried to pretend we were done. L was pretty unimpressed.
Things went a little better after that--we did the introduction to the Story of The World (luckily L is excited to do it again, though we've already gone through the first few chapters already) and did a fun game identifying the continents. Later I read aloud Kipling's How the Whale Got Its Throat from the Just So stories and we did a narration.
We broke for lunch out on our deck, enjoying the sun and breeze and yummy fruit salad, then started math lessons with one from the Center for Innovation in Mathematics. It's interesting, as it introduces from the beginning mathematical concepts that most math courses save till much later on, for example, this morning's lesson on using the notations for more than, >, and less than, <. We're skipping around with that because while it brings in advanced concepts early, it also takes a long time to get to higher numbers (it gets to the number 10 only several weeks in), so will use it in conjunction with Singapore Math.
Now we're taking another break, and still have reading to finish. It's turned out to be a much longer day than I expected, but I think it will go more smoothly as we get into a rhythm and I learn how to be prepared (!). And know what to skip.
I did some late night preparation for the first day, but felt pretty prepared. Ummmmm....nope. Wasn't prepared at all, it turned out. L requested that we start the day with Science. I whipped out my science curriculum, which I had copied and pasted from the Tanglewood website nature study curriculum, and all it said was "Study the movement of sun and time." I drew a total blank. Though I had read that thing over and over again in all my prep work, I never noticed that it actually doesn't tell you how to study the sun and time. Woops. I did some lame scrambling, read out loud to her from some book I found on the sun and tried to pretend we were done. L was pretty unimpressed.
Things went a little better after that--we did the introduction to the Story of The World (luckily L is excited to do it again, though we've already gone through the first few chapters already) and did a fun game identifying the continents. Later I read aloud Kipling's How the Whale Got Its Throat from the Just So stories and we did a narration.
We broke for lunch out on our deck, enjoying the sun and breeze and yummy fruit salad, then started math lessons with one from the Center for Innovation in Mathematics. It's interesting, as it introduces from the beginning mathematical concepts that most math courses save till much later on, for example, this morning's lesson on using the notations for more than, >, and less than, <. We're skipping around with that because while it brings in advanced concepts early, it also takes a long time to get to higher numbers (it gets to the number 10 only several weeks in), so will use it in conjunction with Singapore Math.
Now we're taking another break, and still have reading to finish. It's turned out to be a much longer day than I expected, but I think it will go more smoothly as we get into a rhythm and I learn how to be prepared (!). And know what to skip.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wrapping up the year
Today was the last day of the Simple Machines class held at ROC, a homeschool community center in the basement of a church on the Upper East Side. I can't say we got a lot out of it, not because the class wasn't good but because we had missed so many after the car accident and getting sick and getting the New Paltz house ready. I think we ended up going to two or three. But we got to take the Lego educational kit home with us so we'll just do all the projects on our own, though Teacher Tom's talks on physics (for five-year-olds) will be missed.
There was one girl, about 8 or 9, who attached herself to L & me as we were doing our car-building project. I let her help because L didn't seem to mind, but found it incredibly annoying -- she wasn't signed up for the class, and was monopolizing what should have been L's project while her father sat about 6 feet away, totally ignoring what was going on. I had to jump in several times just to make sure L got a chance to put some pieces together herself. And she was wearing so much perfume that it made my eyes water to stand next to her! (meow) And all through my teeth-clenching, eye-rolling and barely restrained sighs of irritation, L let the girl build the car with her and complimented her on her pretty dress at the end. Now who is the child here?
I'm planning on starting 1st grade in June, and run a 12-month year so that we can get away with doing only 4 days a week and have wiggle room for slotting in other fun things. Like going to France this summer for 2 weeks and maybe London. Because we had to cancel our London trip due to the scarlet fever episode last month we still have those tickets that have to be used. That would be a hell of a field trip.
There was one girl, about 8 or 9, who attached herself to L & me as we were doing our car-building project. I let her help because L didn't seem to mind, but found it incredibly annoying -- she wasn't signed up for the class, and was monopolizing what should have been L's project while her father sat about 6 feet away, totally ignoring what was going on. I had to jump in several times just to make sure L got a chance to put some pieces together herself. And she was wearing so much perfume that it made my eyes water to stand next to her! (meow) And all through my teeth-clenching, eye-rolling and barely restrained sighs of irritation, L let the girl build the car with her and complimented her on her pretty dress at the end. Now who is the child here?
I'm planning on starting 1st grade in June, and run a 12-month year so that we can get away with doing only 4 days a week and have wiggle room for slotting in other fun things. Like going to France this summer for 2 weeks and maybe London. Because we had to cancel our London trip due to the scarlet fever episode last month we still have those tickets that have to be used. That would be a hell of a field trip.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Nature study and curriculum decisions
We've been spending a lot of time up here in New Paltz. The house is so surrounded by trees and other plants that sometimes the green light sifting through makes me feel like I'm underwater.
We've started incorporating a lot more nature study into the day simply because it's such a large part of our lives here. Yesterday, L, T & I went for a walk to find a tree to "adopt". We found it on what L calls her island, a little bump in the course of the stream. I don't know what kind of tree it is yet, just that it's a bit bigger than a sapling, but not quite a mature tree, and L says it speaks to her. Through the year we'll research what species it is, look at how it appears in all the seasons, measure the trunk circumference and just generally visit it regularly and keep a record in our nature book.
The really good news of the week is that I think I'm settling into a curriculum, at least for this year. Charlotte Mason (CM) is one of the major types of homeschooling philosophies, not quite as strict and full-on as Classical Education but with more structure than unschooling. It's named for a British educator who created a philosophy around the education of children that incorporated a lot of nature study, short lessons, and learning through the reading of classic "living" books. I'm still educating myself on exactly what all this entails but what I see of it so far I'm really attracted to. (You can find out more about this philosophy here). What I like about it is that it is flexible, doesn't require us to follow a rigid schedule of courses, and incorporates much of what we already do--read classic children's literature, use narration for example.
So CM is going to be the driving philosophy behind my choices for what and how to study & teach. I'm still going to use Starfall for phonics, Singapore Math (though I'm really intrigued by this free math curriculum which I might incorporate), do nature study ála Tanglewood for science, and follow Ambleside Online's art & music schedule. For the history/geography core, I'm going to use this online curriculum, Mosaic Introduction to World History, which, on top of being free, uses Story of the World which L loves.
So now I just need to file my paperwork with the Board of Ed, figure out the bones of a schedule, and get started!
We've started incorporating a lot more nature study into the day simply because it's such a large part of our lives here. Yesterday, L, T & I went for a walk to find a tree to "adopt". We found it on what L calls her island, a little bump in the course of the stream. I don't know what kind of tree it is yet, just that it's a bit bigger than a sapling, but not quite a mature tree, and L says it speaks to her. Through the year we'll research what species it is, look at how it appears in all the seasons, measure the trunk circumference and just generally visit it regularly and keep a record in our nature book.
The really good news of the week is that I think I'm settling into a curriculum, at least for this year. Charlotte Mason (CM) is one of the major types of homeschooling philosophies, not quite as strict and full-on as Classical Education but with more structure than unschooling. It's named for a British educator who created a philosophy around the education of children that incorporated a lot of nature study, short lessons, and learning through the reading of classic "living" books. I'm still educating myself on exactly what all this entails but what I see of it so far I'm really attracted to. (You can find out more about this philosophy here). What I like about it is that it is flexible, doesn't require us to follow a rigid schedule of courses, and incorporates much of what we already do--read classic children's literature, use narration for example.
So CM is going to be the driving philosophy behind my choices for what and how to study & teach. I'm still going to use Starfall for phonics, Singapore Math (though I'm really intrigued by this free math curriculum which I might incorporate), do nature study ála Tanglewood for science, and follow Ambleside Online's art & music schedule. For the history/geography core, I'm going to use this online curriculum, Mosaic Introduction to World History, which, on top of being free, uses Story of the World which L loves.
So now I just need to file my paperwork with the Board of Ed, figure out the bones of a schedule, and get started!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
L's blog
>>Little Flower Journal<<
I know a lot of people would react to a five-year-old with her own blog in the same way I do to a five-year-old with a cell phone: hunh? How absolutely ridiculous and indulgent and really... ostentatious on the parent's part -- hey, look how cool we are. Our kid has a blog.
So I sort of cringed when I first saw an example of a kid's school blog at The Amazing Discoveries of Dash. But then the idea sort of grew on me. What a great way to create a portfolio of a child's work, and let him or her see it published. And it can be used as tool for all sorts of things, like doing narrations (which I was writing by hand in a notebook, which had the disadvantage of keeping her dictation slow enough for me to write down, and if you know L, you know the lightening speed at which her tongue runs), dictating a journal, teaching her the technology, and another use for the computer beyond games and watching dvds.
We've only been doing it for three days, and so far it's been great. She finds it thrilling to see her words appear on the computer screen; for her it's almost as good as appearing on tv, I think. She's a little more cooperative doing narrations since I can almost keep up with her thoughts, and best of all, she gets to ramble on about her webkinz for as long as my fingers can stand it.
I expect that the novelty will wear off soon, and then the real test of this as an educational tool will begin. I also confess that I'm a little hesitant about how much information will go out about her and her life. I had a photo of her up there at first, but then took it down, though since I have loads of photos of her on this blog, I'm not sure why I'm being so delicate about that, but there it is. Too many television shows about crazy pedophiles stalking the internet, I guess.
In any event, so far, so good. Pretty much all of it is.
I know a lot of people would react to a five-year-old with her own blog in the same way I do to a five-year-old with a cell phone: hunh? How absolutely ridiculous and indulgent and really... ostentatious on the parent's part -- hey, look how cool we are. Our kid has a blog.
So I sort of cringed when I first saw an example of a kid's school blog at The Amazing Discoveries of Dash. But then the idea sort of grew on me. What a great way to create a portfolio of a child's work, and let him or her see it published. And it can be used as tool for all sorts of things, like doing narrations (which I was writing by hand in a notebook, which had the disadvantage of keeping her dictation slow enough for me to write down, and if you know L, you know the lightening speed at which her tongue runs), dictating a journal, teaching her the technology, and another use for the computer beyond games and watching dvds.
We've only been doing it for three days, and so far it's been great. She finds it thrilling to see her words appear on the computer screen; for her it's almost as good as appearing on tv, I think. She's a little more cooperative doing narrations since I can almost keep up with her thoughts, and best of all, she gets to ramble on about her webkinz for as long as my fingers can stand it.
I expect that the novelty will wear off soon, and then the real test of this as an educational tool will begin. I also confess that I'm a little hesitant about how much information will go out about her and her life. I had a photo of her up there at first, but then took it down, though since I have loads of photos of her on this blog, I'm not sure why I'm being so delicate about that, but there it is. Too many television shows about crazy pedophiles stalking the internet, I guess.
In any event, so far, so good. Pretty much all of it is.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Dead bird
With all this curriculum insanity going on in my head it seems hard to focus on what this is all about, which is teaching L. Luckily, the past few days the weather has been perfect: bright, blue blue skies, breezy with just enough edge of chill that it feels good to wear a snuggly sweater but nothing more on top. Good weather means we've been spending time outside where almost everything we do serves to teach us (at least me) something. For instance, yesterday while raking the remnants of winter leaves out of the flower beds --I'm city girl and had no idea that this was even necessary till the day before when a gardener came by and was shocked at the amount of leaf crap that was smothering all the baby green things to death, but I digress-- we found a dead robin that we suspect flew into one of our windows; its neck was bent at a disturbingly unnatural angle.
We decided to give it a funeral, so L dug a little hole next to China's grave (my brother's kitty who is buried in the front yard). I gingerly scooped the little corpse up with a rake (the empty eye sockets freaked me out too much to touch even with gloves) and deposited it in the ground. The whole family assembled, we all said a few words. I gave a short lecture on how the bird would be eaten by worms and bugs and decompose so that it would become earth again. D said, "Rest in peace, birdy." T yelled, "Get up birdy! The birdy not listening to me!". And L read a very zen poem she wrote:
Then we covered it up with dirt, decorated the site with flowers, maple leaves and a rock to remember it by.
One dead little bird and we got to talk about death and decomposition, write and recite poetry, and do art. Not bad for a totally unprepared afternoon.
We decided to give it a funeral, so L dug a little hole next to China's grave (my brother's kitty who is buried in the front yard). I gingerly scooped the little corpse up with a rake (the empty eye sockets freaked me out too much to touch even with gloves) and deposited it in the ground. The whole family assembled, we all said a few words. I gave a short lecture on how the bird would be eaten by worms and bugs and decompose so that it would become earth again. D said, "Rest in peace, birdy." T yelled, "Get up birdy! The birdy not listening to me!". And L read a very zen poem she wrote:
On a bird's death
As we don't know if it is a boy or a girl
Then we covered it up with dirt, decorated the site with flowers, maple leaves and a rock to remember it by.
One dead little bird and we got to talk about death and decomposition, write and recite poetry, and do art. Not bad for a totally unprepared afternoon.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
I'm going nuts
I'm driving myself crazy researching all the curricula that's available out there. There's just too many things that look cool. I'm going to start listing the more interesting ones on the side bar. The best thing I've stumbled across recently is The Handbook of Nature Study blog. This homeschooling mom is leading a nature study course online, with weekly assignments that involve getting your kids out in nature and looking at plants and animals and birds. I love it.
It's midnight. I've been surfing online for three hours with no end in sight. Got to just pick something and shut up already.
It's midnight. I've been surfing online for three hours with no end in sight. Got to just pick something and shut up already.
Friday, May 9, 2008
First Grade
We've finally decided that we're going to home school L next year, through 1st grade. Wow. It's taken me a while to admit to myself that this is what I want to do. Not that we had much choice; private school is still not an option financially (even if we could have found a spot in one, which is highly unlikely), the local alternative schools I was marginally happy with have no space in first grade, and there is some question as to whether L would be able to get back into the gifted-and-talented program due to changes in the board of Ed regulations which took the final decision out of the hands of the individual school (Previously, we were assured that if she wanted to come back she would be able to). We have basically worked ourselves into a corner as far as this district is concerned.
And who knows, maybe this is all sour grapes. I am just not impressed with the schools in this area and don't have the overwhelming feeling of panic other parents seem to experience, that if my child doesn't do what everyone else is doing that it's going to damage her. On the other hand, I don't think, like some homeschooling parents I've spoken to do, that sending my kid to school is going to damage her either. I'm just not that worried about all this.
Which worries me. Shouldn't I be worried?
In any event, now that the decision has been made (with the full blessing of the baby daddy, by the way), I am feeling some pressure to pick a curriculum for next year. This year I kept telling myself and everyone else who expressed concern, "Hell, it's just kindergarten. It's not even legally required!" We do school and, on days we have better things to do, we don't. Almost every day we do math and reading. The rest of it I figure comes up naturally through the course of our daily life -- we draw, we sing, we cook. Museums and books and movies bring up questions and answers that lead us to science and history with enough regularity that I don't feel that we're missing out if I don't sit her down and do structured activities with her every week.
But next year is the real deal. That's when we need to start keeping records and have paper work to file and the potential of truant officer home visits looming over our heads. I've invested in a home school record keeping software program to help me with the paper work. I'm trawling all the user groups online to figure out what curriculum would fit us best, whether we keep going on in our unstructured, meandering way or go for structure. I think I want more direction than I had this year, but not so much structure that I'll chafe under it. I'm not the best at following directions and she definitely takes after me in that respect.
There are so many choices that I'm sort of in paralysis. The two that I'm wavering between is K12, which a friend uses and loves, and Sonlight, which looks great as well. K12 is very very structured, basically a school out of a box. They send you everything you need, text books and equipment. There's a course schedule, lessons done on computer, online tracking and assessments. It's heavily influenced by the Core Knowledge Foundation, the folks behind the What Your X Grader Needs to Know series and the idea of Cultural Literacy, so it gives a pretty solid education. It is also quite expensive, running over $500 a month if you take the full plate of six classes (There are several different pricing options, but it's definitely on the pricier end of the curriculum spectrum). I also think we'd find it too scripted and have a hard time keeping on task. I also happen to prefer the math we're doing (Singapore Math), having originally tried the math textbook they offer.
Sonlight leans more toward the Classical Education and Charlotte Mason philosophies (which deserves posting of their own). The focus is on learning via "living books", by which it means reading and using classic stories and books, such as The House at Pooh Corner and Little House on the Prairie, as well as The Odyssey and The Iliad, rather than workbooks and abridged versions. It also focuses on history as the backbone of the program, so that all the literature you read is connected to a period on time that the child is studying (for example, reading greek myths and The Odyssey while studying the Greco-Roman period.) The program comes with all the books you need, plus instructor guides and a schedule. It's less structured than K12, I like the idea of reading good books with L, and the list of material covered is impressive. The con? It's a Christian curriculum. Granted, you can leave out the Bible study portion, but many of the books seem to have a God-is-good slant, tales of pure-hearted missionaries who save souls around the world. I don't actually mind reading Bible stories to L, since it has had an enormous influence on our literature and society. Not to be familiar with the Bible shows a certain type of cultural illiteracy, but I don't want to have to be forever putting Christian theology into a cultural context for L all the time so that she understands that this is not what all people believe, just what some do. She's already praying to Osiris and Anubis after the Egyptian gods lessons. Lord knows what she'll do after a year of Jesus study.
I don't know. Maybe I'll have to keep looking.
And who knows, maybe this is all sour grapes. I am just not impressed with the schools in this area and don't have the overwhelming feeling of panic other parents seem to experience, that if my child doesn't do what everyone else is doing that it's going to damage her. On the other hand, I don't think, like some homeschooling parents I've spoken to do, that sending my kid to school is going to damage her either. I'm just not that worried about all this.
Which worries me. Shouldn't I be worried?
In any event, now that the decision has been made (with the full blessing of the baby daddy, by the way), I am feeling some pressure to pick a curriculum for next year. This year I kept telling myself and everyone else who expressed concern, "Hell, it's just kindergarten. It's not even legally required!" We do school and, on days we have better things to do, we don't. Almost every day we do math and reading. The rest of it I figure comes up naturally through the course of our daily life -- we draw, we sing, we cook. Museums and books and movies bring up questions and answers that lead us to science and history with enough regularity that I don't feel that we're missing out if I don't sit her down and do structured activities with her every week.
But next year is the real deal. That's when we need to start keeping records and have paper work to file and the potential of truant officer home visits looming over our heads. I've invested in a home school record keeping software program to help me with the paper work. I'm trawling all the user groups online to figure out what curriculum would fit us best, whether we keep going on in our unstructured, meandering way or go for structure. I think I want more direction than I had this year, but not so much structure that I'll chafe under it. I'm not the best at following directions and she definitely takes after me in that respect.
There are so many choices that I'm sort of in paralysis. The two that I'm wavering between is K12, which a friend uses and loves, and Sonlight, which looks great as well. K12 is very very structured, basically a school out of a box. They send you everything you need, text books and equipment. There's a course schedule, lessons done on computer, online tracking and assessments. It's heavily influenced by the Core Knowledge Foundation, the folks behind the What Your X Grader Needs to Know series and the idea of Cultural Literacy, so it gives a pretty solid education. It is also quite expensive, running over $500 a month if you take the full plate of six classes (There are several different pricing options, but it's definitely on the pricier end of the curriculum spectrum). I also think we'd find it too scripted and have a hard time keeping on task. I also happen to prefer the math we're doing (Singapore Math), having originally tried the math textbook they offer.
Sonlight leans more toward the Classical Education and Charlotte Mason philosophies (which deserves posting of their own). The focus is on learning via "living books", by which it means reading and using classic stories and books, such as The House at Pooh Corner and Little House on the Prairie, as well as The Odyssey and The Iliad, rather than workbooks and abridged versions. It also focuses on history as the backbone of the program, so that all the literature you read is connected to a period on time that the child is studying (for example, reading greek myths and The Odyssey while studying the Greco-Roman period.) The program comes with all the books you need, plus instructor guides and a schedule. It's less structured than K12, I like the idea of reading good books with L, and the list of material covered is impressive. The con? It's a Christian curriculum. Granted, you can leave out the Bible study portion, but many of the books seem to have a God-is-good slant, tales of pure-hearted missionaries who save souls around the world. I don't actually mind reading Bible stories to L, since it has had an enormous influence on our literature and society. Not to be familiar with the Bible shows a certain type of cultural illiteracy, but I don't want to have to be forever putting Christian theology into a cultural context for L all the time so that she understands that this is not what all people believe, just what some do. She's already praying to Osiris and Anubis after the Egyptian gods lessons. Lord knows what she'll do after a year of Jesus study.
I don't know. Maybe I'll have to keep looking.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
On to Ancient India and thoughts on 1st Grade
I'm so excited! In Story of The World, we've left Mesopotamia and have headed off to Ancient India. Cool-o. L and I read about Mohenjo-daro, the abandoned city of the Indus Valley and I found a great BBC site that is perfect for exploring this mystery. L really enjoyed doing that. I also ordered a bunch of story books & fables about ancient India from the New York Public Library system (this is such a great online resource). We've talked about making a cardboard model of Mohenjo-daro, so tomorrow we'll sit down and draw up a list of all the items we'll need to build it, stuff like cardboard, clay, paint, etc.
This new phase of "unstructuring" the learning is really going well. She still does math and phonics and reading every day, as I said last time. But I've stopped obsessively writing down what we're working on (which isn't good, actually, since if we do this next year I'll have to get back into the habit of keeping track as it will actually be officially required, as opposed to this year which doesn't count, as far as the Board of Ed is concerned). I've also started blowing off stuff when we are running too late or are tired or just bored. More isn't necessarily better, I'm learning. No shit, Sherlock, as I would have said in the 6th grade. Hey, it takes me a while, okay?
And First Grade. Yes, the problem of First Grade. I keep going back and forth, send her, don't send her. I recently had this surreal conversation with a parent rep at one of the local progressive schools that I had applied to as a back up for L, just in case we decided to send her back. This lady called me up about 2 months after I had sent in the form indicating my interest in applying to the school. She told me that the new Board of Ed-mandated application process was that, in August, I needed to go to the nearest Jobs Placement office and apply for a placement in a school in District 1. In August. Keep in mind that we're talking about going to school in September. And these are the same people who couldn't get acceptance letters in the mail by April for September placement last year. Forget even trying to figure out what the connection is between the Board of Ed and the Jobs Placement Office. I think this lady must be on crack. This just can't be right. There is no way in hell that could really be the new procedure, can it? Oh, and the kicker was when she told me not to put that school down a our first choice because there wasn't any room in 1st grade anyway.
I heard that b-s and it swung me back to keeping L home for another year. Why on earth would I want to put her into a system that is just so clearly broken? Especially when we're doing so well at home? But then.....but then...... As soon as I decide that, I just go back to thinking that maybe she's missing out on something. Late at night, when I'm obsessing about these things, I think: Surely it can't be good to just skip out on an experience that is so central to the lives of most of her fellow human beings? Would it rob her of some common vernacular that will doom L to forever being on the outside? and other melodramatic crap like that. And then what do I do about T, the little one? Can I handle two? It wouldn't be fair to keep L at home and send T to school. D is all for it. He thinks it's a great idea to keep them home. I wish I was as confident.
This new phase of "unstructuring" the learning is really going well. She still does math and phonics and reading every day, as I said last time. But I've stopped obsessively writing down what we're working on (which isn't good, actually, since if we do this next year I'll have to get back into the habit of keeping track as it will actually be officially required, as opposed to this year which doesn't count, as far as the Board of Ed is concerned). I've also started blowing off stuff when we are running too late or are tired or just bored. More isn't necessarily better, I'm learning. No shit, Sherlock, as I would have said in the 6th grade. Hey, it takes me a while, okay?
And First Grade. Yes, the problem of First Grade. I keep going back and forth, send her, don't send her. I recently had this surreal conversation with a parent rep at one of the local progressive schools that I had applied to as a back up for L, just in case we decided to send her back. This lady called me up about 2 months after I had sent in the form indicating my interest in applying to the school. She told me that the new Board of Ed-mandated application process was that, in August, I needed to go to the nearest Jobs Placement office and apply for a placement in a school in District 1. In August. Keep in mind that we're talking about going to school in September. And these are the same people who couldn't get acceptance letters in the mail by April for September placement last year. Forget even trying to figure out what the connection is between the Board of Ed and the Jobs Placement Office. I think this lady must be on crack. This just can't be right. There is no way in hell that could really be the new procedure, can it? Oh, and the kicker was when she told me not to put that school down a our first choice because there wasn't any room in 1st grade anyway.
I heard that b-s and it swung me back to keeping L home for another year. Why on earth would I want to put her into a system that is just so clearly broken? Especially when we're doing so well at home? But then.....but then...... As soon as I decide that, I just go back to thinking that maybe she's missing out on something. Late at night, when I'm obsessing about these things, I think: Surely it can't be good to just skip out on an experience that is so central to the lives of most of her fellow human beings? Would it rob her of some common vernacular that will doom L to forever being on the outside? and other melodramatic crap like that. And then what do I do about T, the little one? Can I handle two? It wouldn't be fair to keep L at home and send T to school. D is all for it. He thinks it's a great idea to keep them home. I wish I was as confident.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Scaling back the schooling
Three months into this experiment, I'm realizing how comfortable we've gotten doing this. I only get stressed out when I think about what we're going to do for 1st grade. But that's a topic for another evening.
What I want to write about tonight is how, when we started out, I was so nervous and unsure about what teaching L meant that I created an elaborate schedule with many different courses and a strict curriculum. I was terrified of leaving anything out. We were doing science and history and art and math and phonics and literature and handwriting and piano and soccer...oy.
The evolution of our homeschooling (which is still unfolding) has led us to a much less structured place. I still try to come up with plan of action every week, but instead of filling in every slot with the pages or activities we should get through, I've started writing up goals for the week. Then as we accomplish them, I keep track of what we actually did. Anything we didn't get to gets transfered to the following week's goal list. And we've stopped trying to do everything. Now, instead of busy schedules with different classes every day, we do a couple of pages of math & phonics every single week day. She reads to me every day. We memorize a poem every week. This is what I'm focusing on. Reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.
As for the rest, it's really ad hoc. I carry around a volume of the Great Books Read-Aloud series so that if we get stuck on the subway or have some time to kill I have something to read to her. I'll offer to read some Story of The World to her, or do a science experiment if we're home, and if we do it that's great, but if we don't, I don't sweat it. We take various short term classes: she's going to be taking one on exploring physics through the building of simple machines, also an art class and one on designing doll dresses using geometric shapes. We try to go to piano and soccer classes each week. As often as we can we go to the Metropolitan Museum and take an audio tour (I convinced her to do the Near Eastern collection last week to check out the Babylonian stuff, but she wants to go back to the Egyptian wing this week. Drats!).
This leaves us with more time to arrange play dates and just play things by ear. I'm not chasing a syllabus any more. And it feels great.
What I want to write about tonight is how, when we started out, I was so nervous and unsure about what teaching L meant that I created an elaborate schedule with many different courses and a strict curriculum. I was terrified of leaving anything out. We were doing science and history and art and math and phonics and literature and handwriting and piano and soccer...oy.
The evolution of our homeschooling (which is still unfolding) has led us to a much less structured place. I still try to come up with plan of action every week, but instead of filling in every slot with the pages or activities we should get through, I've started writing up goals for the week. Then as we accomplish them, I keep track of what we actually did. Anything we didn't get to gets transfered to the following week's goal list. And we've stopped trying to do everything. Now, instead of busy schedules with different classes every day, we do a couple of pages of math & phonics every single week day. She reads to me every day. We memorize a poem every week. This is what I'm focusing on. Reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.
As for the rest, it's really ad hoc. I carry around a volume of the Great Books Read-Aloud series so that if we get stuck on the subway or have some time to kill I have something to read to her. I'll offer to read some Story of The World to her, or do a science experiment if we're home, and if we do it that's great, but if we don't, I don't sweat it. We take various short term classes: she's going to be taking one on exploring physics through the building of simple machines, also an art class and one on designing doll dresses using geometric shapes. We try to go to piano and soccer classes each week. As often as we can we go to the Metropolitan Museum and take an audio tour (I convinced her to do the Near Eastern collection last week to check out the Babylonian stuff, but she wants to go back to the Egyptian wing this week. Drats!).
This leaves us with more time to arrange play dates and just play things by ear. I'm not chasing a syllabus any more. And it feels great.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Code of The Family
As I was saying before, we've been studying Babylonia and the Sumerians. L found the Code of Hammurabi particularly interesting. So we sat down, and with L dictating & myself as the scribe, we came up with the following Code of The Family, or Life's Rules as L Sees it:
1. No shoes in the house.
2. You always have to try something before saying yuck.
3. If you have a Green Card, it’s means good, if you have a Yellow card it means warning, if you have an Orange Card it means time out, and if you have a Red Card it means no books.
4. No sticking fingers in birdy’s cage
5. Don’t touch computer screens
6. You have to go to bed at 8 o’clock.
7. You can only watch videos once in the morning and once at night.
8. You have to treat T nicely. And T has to treat me nicely.
9. No hitting allowed. If you hit, you get an Orange Card.
10. You have to respect people’s words. If you don’t, you’ll get a Yellow Card.
11. You have to listen to Mommy and Daddy.
12. If you make a big mess in the night, you have to clean it up in the morning or it will get thrown away. So beware.
13. You have to use your fork and spoon and you have to eat most of your food or you won’t get dessert.
14. After dinner you have to clear your place.
15. You always have to say thank you and please.
16. You always have to stay with a grown-up when you go outside.
17. You always have to ask before touching a doggy.
18. You always have to look both ways before crossing a street.
19. You always have to stop at the end of the sidewalk.
20. No drawing on the carpet or furniture.
21. You have to be nice to the webkinz and all of my other dolls.
1. No shoes in the house.
2. You always have to try something before saying yuck.
3. If you have a Green Card, it’s means good, if you have a Yellow card it means warning, if you have an Orange Card it means time out, and if you have a Red Card it means no books.
4. No sticking fingers in birdy’s cage
5. Don’t touch computer screens
6. You have to go to bed at 8 o’clock.
7. You can only watch videos once in the morning and once at night.
8. You have to treat T nicely. And T has to treat me nicely.
9. No hitting allowed. If you hit, you get an Orange Card.
10. You have to respect people’s words. If you don’t, you’ll get a Yellow Card.
11. You have to listen to Mommy and Daddy.
12. If you make a big mess in the night, you have to clean it up in the morning or it will get thrown away. So beware.
13. You have to use your fork and spoon and you have to eat most of your food or you won’t get dessert.
14. After dinner you have to clear your place.
15. You always have to say thank you and please.
16. You always have to stay with a grown-up when you go outside.
17. You always have to ask before touching a doggy.
18. You always have to look both ways before crossing a street.
19. You always have to stop at the end of the sidewalk.
20. No drawing on the carpet or furniture.
21. You have to be nice to the webkinz and all of my other dolls.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Car Accident
I hadn't updated the blog in a while because we were busy for a couple of weeks and I kept thinking I'd get to it. But then we got into a terrible car crash last week that really derailed us. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, though our friend's minivan, which D was driving, was totalled and he broke his hand. I was in the front passenger seat and got my ribs badly bruised by the force of my body hitting the seat belt. The kids were scared silly but fine, and another friend who didn't believe in wearing seatbelts in the back seat, went flying but survived by some miracle with just a cut on the nose and some bruises.
The entire right front side of it (where I was sitting) was completely smashed in where we ran into an power line pole.
For the first week, we had daily help from our amazing babysitter. This week, I was on my own as we tried to get back into real life again. So far, every day it seems that another part of my body discovers a new hurt and instead of feeling better, it's just been getting worse. But I've been told that the first week is the worst part and it should start easing off soon. It better, because I'm well on the way to pill-popping junkie land.
Through this, we haven't gotten much work done, obviously. We were going through the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is fabulous. Gory, violent, full of passion. A real page turner.
The entire right front side of it (where I was sitting) was completely smashed in where we ran into an power line pole.
For the first week, we had daily help from our amazing babysitter. This week, I was on my own as we tried to get back into real life again. So far, every day it seems that another part of my body discovers a new hurt and instead of feeling better, it's just been getting worse. But I've been told that the first week is the worst part and it should start easing off soon. It better, because I'm well on the way to pill-popping junkie land.
Through this, we haven't gotten much work done, obviously. We were going through the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is fabulous. Gory, violent, full of passion. A real page turner.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Hammurabi and the Epic of Gilgamesh
I'm trying to distract L from the Egyptians by moving on to great old Hammurabi and the other Mesopotamians in The Story of The World. Sargon the Great of the Sumerians didn't do it. No shrivelled up dead bodies. The Ancient Jews didn't either. (Though she really loves the Children's Illustrated Jewish Bible -- all mention of smiting and "knowing" removed, which trims it down considerably) Hammurabi's Code, with its talk of cutting off hands and putting to death might just spark her rather gruesomely inclined interest, though.
So in this vein, I've been searching for some material on Babylonia, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. I found an interesting site on creation myths called the Big Myth. It has myths on the beginning of the world from various cultures around the world, narrated with some animation. Them Babylonians were a fierce bunch. They're all about wars and conflict and monsters. The Louvre website also has a pretty amazing display on the Code of Hammurabi.
Have I mentioned how great the New York Public Library system is? The website is incredible: I just requested five books on the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Babylonians. Should be enough blood and gore in that to keep L happy for a couple of weeks.
So in this vein, I've been searching for some material on Babylonia, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. I found an interesting site on creation myths called the Big Myth. It has myths on the beginning of the world from various cultures around the world, narrated with some animation. Them Babylonians were a fierce bunch. They're all about wars and conflict and monsters. The Louvre website also has a pretty amazing display on the Code of Hammurabi.
Have I mentioned how great the New York Public Library system is? The website is incredible: I just requested five books on the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Babylonians. Should be enough blood and gore in that to keep L happy for a couple of weeks.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
More Egypt at the Horus Cafe
Okay, I am now officially OVER Ancient Egypt already. But L's interest just isn't flagging. We spent a couple of hours in the library at Tompkins Square Park doing work, and I gave her some time at the end to pick out any books she wanted to borrow. Off she runs to the librarian, and after some whispered consultation, they disappear to some corner. A few minutes later, she's back with an arm full of more books on pyramids, mummies and pharoahs. I don't get it. They are all full of pretty much the same information -- dead kings, natron salt, canopic jars, drag the brain out through the nose and throw it away, yadda yadda yadda. She can't get enough! After the study session, we went to the Horus Cafe (get it? Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis?), and drank some mint tea and ate a grilled swiss cheese sandwich. Don't know how authentic that part of the experience was, but what the hell. She loved it.
The new Singapore Math is a huge improvement. She stills needs to be coerced and bribed to do math, but at least she's not rolling her eyes and heaving great sighs of disgust. We are now doing Number Bonds, which is the precursor to Addition.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Low expectations = poor results
The other day, I ordered some Singapore Math books because L was getting really bored by the math we were doing. We've been using Progress in Mathematics, a curriculum that's gotten some great reviews, but it just wasn't going anywhere. There was a lot of repetition, but there didn't seem to be any real progression in the way the facts were presented, in terms of facts building on other facts. There wasn't much depth, either. The stuff was really really dumb. Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking. It's KINDERGARTEN.
Yes, that's true. It's just kindergarten, and I'm not trying to push my child into being a prodigy or anything like that. But my philosophy is, if we have to spend any time on it at all, shouldn't it at least be teaching her something? And if she's not learning from it, shouldn't we be doing something else, like playing in the park? Or reading a book?
I went to the last pages of the book, where they have a cumulative review of what's been learnt through the year. I figured that that would give me the best view of what she should have been taught. First of all, they have a section on using a calculator. To do 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. That's just wrong. Kids just learning the concept of addition shouldn't be encouraged to get a machine to do the thinking for them. Secondly, this was what the cumulative questions were: A drawing of a steaming mug of coffee, and the choice of "hot" and "cold", the question being "Choose the temperature." Another item had 2 pictures, one of a woman cutting a watermelon and another of her cutting a banana. The question was "Which activity takes less time?". There was only one question that involved any calculating: 6 cents - 3 cents = ? cents (accompanied by a picture of six pennies with 3 crossed out.)
Turning to the Singapore Math books (which is the curriculum mandated by the Singapore goverment and gaining popularity over here), I flipped to the end of the books and saw that the kids were doing things like 3 + 4 = ? and simple fractions and word problems like"
I'm not advocating that we should be cramming our kids' brains with math, or claiming that knowing or not knowing fractions by the age of 5 is indicative of the way the rest of their lives are going to play out. Like I said before, I just feel that if we're going to be spending the time on any of this stuff, at least make it meaningful. Let them really learn something, rather than have the subject matter dumbed down to the level that no one can get an answer wrong and, heaven forbid, have their self-esteem hurt. We expect so little of our kids!
Yes, that's true. It's just kindergarten, and I'm not trying to push my child into being a prodigy or anything like that. But my philosophy is, if we have to spend any time on it at all, shouldn't it at least be teaching her something? And if she's not learning from it, shouldn't we be doing something else, like playing in the park? Or reading a book?
I went to the last pages of the book, where they have a cumulative review of what's been learnt through the year. I figured that that would give me the best view of what she should have been taught. First of all, they have a section on using a calculator. To do 2 + 2 + 2 = 6. That's just wrong. Kids just learning the concept of addition shouldn't be encouraged to get a machine to do the thinking for them. Secondly, this was what the cumulative questions were: A drawing of a steaming mug of coffee, and the choice of "hot" and "cold", the question being "Choose the temperature." Another item had 2 pictures, one of a woman cutting a watermelon and another of her cutting a banana. The question was "Which activity takes less time?". There was only one question that involved any calculating: 6 cents - 3 cents = ? cents (accompanied by a picture of six pennies with 3 crossed out.)
Turning to the Singapore Math books (which is the curriculum mandated by the Singapore goverment and gaining popularity over here), I flipped to the end of the books and saw that the kids were doing things like 3 + 4 = ? and simple fractions and word problems like"
I have $10.In other words, real math.
I bought an ice-cream for $2.
I bought a chocolate bar for $2.
How much money do I have now?
I'm not advocating that we should be cramming our kids' brains with math, or claiming that knowing or not knowing fractions by the age of 5 is indicative of the way the rest of their lives are going to play out. Like I said before, I just feel that if we're going to be spending the time on any of this stuff, at least make it meaningful. Let them really learn something, rather than have the subject matter dumbed down to the level that no one can get an answer wrong and, heaven forbid, have their self-esteem hurt. We expect so little of our kids!
Friday, February 15, 2008
Another reason to homeschool
In one of the classes we've been taking, there is a little boy who makes me think, "Thank god this kid's being homeschooled." Because if he were in a regular classroom, he'd be the Bad Seed and put on drugs.
This boy, who is about L's age, I'd guess, couldn't sit still, blurted out answers to every question without raising his hand, made loud digressionary comments and jumped out of his chair every once in a while to run and look at something else. The teacher, to her credit, handled it really well, being firm but rewarding him when he did remember to raise his hand by recognizing his effort with a thank you.
I imagine that being taught at home gives him the focused attention he needs, allows the instruction to be tailored to work around whatever issues it is that he has, and saves him from the day-in-day-out wearing down of the spirit that would come with being treated as the class problem child. And frankly, having him all day in a classroom would probably be enormously draining for the teacher and incredibly distracting to the other kids. I don't know if this is why the mother chose to homeschool, but I applaud her decision. Christ, it must be hard, though.
This boy, who is about L's age, I'd guess, couldn't sit still, blurted out answers to every question without raising his hand, made loud digressionary comments and jumped out of his chair every once in a while to run and look at something else. The teacher, to her credit, handled it really well, being firm but rewarding him when he did remember to raise his hand by recognizing his effort with a thank you.
I imagine that being taught at home gives him the focused attention he needs, allows the instruction to be tailored to work around whatever issues it is that he has, and saves him from the day-in-day-out wearing down of the spirit that would come with being treated as the class problem child. And frankly, having him all day in a classroom would probably be enormously draining for the teacher and incredibly distracting to the other kids. I don't know if this is why the mother chose to homeschool, but I applaud her decision. Christ, it must be hard, though.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Being frogs at Zoo School
This picture (again, terrible) is of the 2nd Central Park Zoo class. We almost didn't make it because it was such a crappy day and I was still under the weather with this stupid stomach bug I haven't been able to shake. But since it's only once a month, I felt obligated to go and managed to drag L out into the rain.
It was a great class. The zoo keeper had a large marine toad named Martha that she let the kids touch which was very exciting (it was huge!!! And it peed in her hand, which thrilled the kids even more). She talked about the concept of metamorphoses, going through the various stages of a frog's life to illustrate, and had the kids curled up and twitching as frog eggs, then wiggling on the carpet as tadpoles, and on up till they were hopping madly around the room. Very funny. Then they learned all about different kinds of habitats and what's necessary for life (food, water, shelter, space), and went to the penguin exhibit to look at their habitat. It was the first time I'd ever been in there where there wasn't anyone else but our small group. It was dark and quiet, and the children got to run back and forth in front of the long glass windows, chasing the penguins as they flashed through the water.
After the class, L wanted to take another walk through the rain forest exhibit. She remembered the names of more of the birds than I did (which isn't saying much since I can barely remember the names of my kids these days), and we happily followed the Victoria Crown Pigeon around for a while before heading home.
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