Life is funny. Around the beginning of April, I had this schedule all ready. I was going to be done with school before Memorial Day, it was going to be great.
Then our house caught on fire.
It is so hard to get back into your life's groove when everything is so suddenly interrupted. We missed a couple of weeks of school, and the lessons that were so easily begun at 9 have now become afternoon classes.
But I'm finally starting to see the end. We have 3 more math lessons. My dd's birthday is coming up very soon and I'm not teaching reading past that date. Those are our most difficult classes.
I really enjoyed BJU's Vacation Stations last year. It only took about 15 minutes a day, and last summer dd seemed to blossom under the program. At the beginning of the summer she could sound out individual letters, but she couldn't blend them to form words. By the end of the summer, just by reviewing what she already knew, she had gotten blending, and I was confident enough in her abilities to put her right into Reading 1.
So we're getting Vacation Stations 1 this year, and we'll start that the week after her birthday. We won't be finished with Bible or history (we have 10 lessons of each left), but both history and Bible are not intensive classes, and they have information that I'd like to teach before we hang it up for the summer. I'm hoping that Vacation Stations will reinforce all the addition and subtraction facts that dd has been learning all year, as well as reinforce all the reading that she's been doing.
We picked up the items for the summer reading program at our new local library today. Dd's all excited about that.
I wrote earlier today about the faithfulness of some of Judah's kings... or in their case, how their faithfulness sort of went to a sputter in the latter years of their lives. I think that homeschooling requires a great deal of faithfulness. You just have to keep plugging away at it. It takes faithfulness, especially when things are going well. If I hadn't been on schedule when our house fire happened, it'd be very difficult to catch up, or I'd have to teach reading and math all summer.
Last year, we were able to end our school year in April, for a very long and enjoyable summer. This year is seemingly ending in a sputter. First the math goes, then the reading goes, then we slowly morph into our summer schedule while tying up the loose ends of history and Bible. But I guess one great thing about homeschooling is that you can be flexible in this sort of way if you want to.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Homeschooling Infants: Signing Time is Paying Off!
Most homeschoolers realize that children don't just learn between the hours of 8 and 3. Kids learn all day long. My daughter learns about history and geography at bedtime when I read to her from Little House On The Prairie. She might learn math at the grocery store. While we have formal learning, it doesn't stop there. Since I'm her sole teacher, if I can find ways to integrate learning in the rest of my daughter's day, I will.
The same is true for age. Kids don't start learning at 5 and know everything they need to know by the time they turn 18. They start learning at birth. In fact, they learn at a more rapid rate when they are younger.
Although my homeschooling efforts are currently focused on my daughter, I also have an 18 month old. As he gets older, I can do more "formal" learning with him. Not really formal because we don't have a curriculum that we use yet, but I can tell him what a train is, or a fish or a bird, and he'll pick that up from me.
I've been trying to teach my son sign language since he was about 3 months old. I wasn't expecting him to sign with me at 3 months, I just wanted him to start getting used to it. I haven't been the most consistent person in the world at it, but I kept on plugging away at it.
At around a year old, ds started picking up a few signs. He first signed dog, then he learned fish. He started signing milk and pointing to his mouth to tell me that he was hungry or thirsty (I just had to guess). It's very nice to have your baby be able to tell you what he wants.
Now he can tell me a lot more about what he wants or is thinking. Just today he made the sign for water (he doesn't do it correctly, but I know what he's trying to do) and I knew that he wanted something to drink. He will also make that sign when he sees a lake. We went for a walk and he heard an airplane, and made the sign for plane. Just a couple of days ago, he heard dd running the water in the bathtub to get her hair wet, and he made the sign for bath.
I have to thank the people at Signing Time for their great DVDs. They have catchy tunes and are made with children in mind. I'm glad that our library has them, although they tend to be a hot item and are often gone. Our local PBS station is now showing Signing Time on Sundays, so I have Tivo set to record it.
Dd has picked up on sign language too. She's getting pretty good at it. :)
The same is true for age. Kids don't start learning at 5 and know everything they need to know by the time they turn 18. They start learning at birth. In fact, they learn at a more rapid rate when they are younger.
Although my homeschooling efforts are currently focused on my daughter, I also have an 18 month old. As he gets older, I can do more "formal" learning with him. Not really formal because we don't have a curriculum that we use yet, but I can tell him what a train is, or a fish or a bird, and he'll pick that up from me.
I've been trying to teach my son sign language since he was about 3 months old. I wasn't expecting him to sign with me at 3 months, I just wanted him to start getting used to it. I haven't been the most consistent person in the world at it, but I kept on plugging away at it.
At around a year old, ds started picking up a few signs. He first signed dog, then he learned fish. He started signing milk and pointing to his mouth to tell me that he was hungry or thirsty (I just had to guess). It's very nice to have your baby be able to tell you what he wants.
Now he can tell me a lot more about what he wants or is thinking. Just today he made the sign for water (he doesn't do it correctly, but I know what he's trying to do) and I knew that he wanted something to drink. He will also make that sign when he sees a lake. We went for a walk and he heard an airplane, and made the sign for plane. Just a couple of days ago, he heard dd running the water in the bathtub to get her hair wet, and he made the sign for bath.
I have to thank the people at Signing Time for their great DVDs. They have catchy tunes and are made with children in mind. I'm glad that our library has them, although they tend to be a hot item and are often gone. Our local PBS station is now showing Signing Time on Sundays, so I have Tivo set to record it.
Dd has picked up on sign language too. She's getting pretty good at it. :)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Why My Daughter Hates Math
I have known that my daughter's least favorite class was math for some time now. I thought that it was too hard for her and there was too much work involved. After talking to her about it, I have discovered that instead, it is too easy and there is too much work involved.
I thought that the time might come where this would be an issue... school was incredibly easy for me as well, and I had trouble with all the "busywork" that the school gave me (aka homework). I was very bad during middle school... we had one math teacher where you corrected your own paper, so you could erase the date on yesterday's homework and turn it in the next day. If he'd write the grade on the paper in pen, you could draw a picture over the grade and turn it in again that way... I was bad, lol. Anyway, despite my aversion to homwork, I would ace the tests and even did well in a math competition that my school took part in.
I didn't know that school being too easy would be an issue when my dd was 5. I don't remember school becoming too easy until around 4th grade. I'm glad that I started Math K when my daughter was 4, because Math 1 is easy for my 5 year old. And looking ahead, Math 2 has a lot of review to it and will probably be easy too.
I told dd that I was making her repeat handwriting 1 for another year because she wasn't doing very well at it... she got very upset. She told me it was easy and she was bored with it. But she writes on her handwriting pages so sloppily. I told her that I wouldn't let her move on to handwriting 2 unless her writing improved and looked nice. Wouldn't you know, her handwriting pages improved 100% that same day.
So far, reading is not too easy. I don't think that it is a challenge any more... but so far it is not too easy with not too much busywork. But I suspect that at some point reading will get that way with her as well. We've primarily focused on phonics this year, and there's been a smattering of grammar thrown in. She already knows what a homophone is though, thanks to a VeggieTales song on the subject, and I think that once we start introducing grammar topics, she's going to get it quickly. I remember when I was in school, it seems like they introduced nouns and verbs every year... boring...
Now that I have this new revelation, it makes some things easier for me, and some things more challenging. I now know that I can skip parts of certain lessons and not feel bad about it. I don't have to make her do every single problem, every single day. School is going to take up less of the day this way. On the other hand, I have to make sure that she is getting enough work. At some point, I may want to supplement her school work by giving her extra subjects to learn or having her read more books on her own. I want to instill a work ethic in her, but I want her to have something meaningful to do.
I figured that it could come to this point eventually, because not only was I bored in school, but her dad must have been bored in school too because he has told me that he cut class a lot and still managed to get As in his schoolwork... and he was on the Dean's list at ASU last fall despite rarely studying.... but I didn't figure that this would happen at age 5 with us. I guess this is another good reason that we're homeschooling. Not only would dd get into trouble all the time because she'd be talking to her friends all day, she would also be bored with the work... especially considering that we're already one year ahead of what her peers normally would be learning.
I thought that the time might come where this would be an issue... school was incredibly easy for me as well, and I had trouble with all the "busywork" that the school gave me (aka homework). I was very bad during middle school... we had one math teacher where you corrected your own paper, so you could erase the date on yesterday's homework and turn it in the next day. If he'd write the grade on the paper in pen, you could draw a picture over the grade and turn it in again that way... I was bad, lol. Anyway, despite my aversion to homwork, I would ace the tests and even did well in a math competition that my school took part in.
I didn't know that school being too easy would be an issue when my dd was 5. I don't remember school becoming too easy until around 4th grade. I'm glad that I started Math K when my daughter was 4, because Math 1 is easy for my 5 year old. And looking ahead, Math 2 has a lot of review to it and will probably be easy too.
I told dd that I was making her repeat handwriting 1 for another year because she wasn't doing very well at it... she got very upset. She told me it was easy and she was bored with it. But she writes on her handwriting pages so sloppily. I told her that I wouldn't let her move on to handwriting 2 unless her writing improved and looked nice. Wouldn't you know, her handwriting pages improved 100% that same day.
So far, reading is not too easy. I don't think that it is a challenge any more... but so far it is not too easy with not too much busywork. But I suspect that at some point reading will get that way with her as well. We've primarily focused on phonics this year, and there's been a smattering of grammar thrown in. She already knows what a homophone is though, thanks to a VeggieTales song on the subject, and I think that once we start introducing grammar topics, she's going to get it quickly. I remember when I was in school, it seems like they introduced nouns and verbs every year... boring...
Now that I have this new revelation, it makes some things easier for me, and some things more challenging. I now know that I can skip parts of certain lessons and not feel bad about it. I don't have to make her do every single problem, every single day. School is going to take up less of the day this way. On the other hand, I have to make sure that she is getting enough work. At some point, I may want to supplement her school work by giving her extra subjects to learn or having her read more books on her own. I want to instill a work ethic in her, but I want her to have something meaningful to do.
I figured that it could come to this point eventually, because not only was I bored in school, but her dad must have been bored in school too because he has told me that he cut class a lot and still managed to get As in his schoolwork... and he was on the Dean's list at ASU last fall despite rarely studying.... but I didn't figure that this would happen at age 5 with us. I guess this is another good reason that we're homeschooling. Not only would dd get into trouble all the time because she'd be talking to her friends all day, she would also be bored with the work... especially considering that we're already one year ahead of what her peers normally would be learning.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Teaching degree to homeschool?
A recent California decision could make it more difficult to homeschool in the state of California. A judge decided that you had to have a teaching certificate to homeschool.
To an outsider, that might sound pretty good. Doesn't a teaching certificate teach you how to educate? Don't we want our homeschool parents to do the best job possible?
I actually thought about going the teaching certificate route when I considered moving to California. But other than perhaps fulfilling a few legal requirements, a teaching certificate would not prepare anybody to homeschool. In addition, the homeschooling teacher would have to become more prepared than ANY public school teacher out there, because in order to become certified to teach a child from Kindergarten to 12th grade, you would need to receive ALL of these certifications:
Elementary School Teaching Credential
- get a bachelor's degree
- complete a multiple subject teacher preparation program, including student teaching
- pass the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment
- the initial certification lasts for 5 years, within that time period a teacher would have to also need to complete additional requirements for a clear credential, which would allow them to teach their second child
Earn a Single Subject Teaching Credential for all required California high school subjects
* English
* Mathematics
* Social Science
* Biological Sciences
* Physics
* Languages other than English or art
* Physical Education
- get a Bachelor's degree (well, at least you have one from certifying for elementary school)
- complete a single subject teacher preparation program including more student teaching
- achieve a passing score in the subject examinations for all 7 required teaching areas
There are a few other hoops that need to be jumped through, involving English proficiency (perhaps for people that might need to homeschool ESL students?), constitution courses, and computer skills, but you get the idea.
I'm sure that 90% of public school teachers do not have all those credentials, but that's how the state of California is heading. A homeschool teacher would have to spend more time jumping through hoops than she'd have to do in actual teaching time!
What would a teaching certificate get you, anyway? Would it help you learn to teach your own children? Not much. Teaching programs prepare you to teach a large group of children. It helps you manage a classroom. Is all that student teaching that a homeschool mom would have to go through help them at all when they're sitting down at the kitchen table teaching US History to their 7 year old? Probably not, unless perhaps she has 30 children in school. Not even the Duggars are close to that (some of their kids are already grown).
I am not completely opposed to having homeschool families have some sort of... education. Perhaps a child development course in the earlier grades? Maybe a course on how children learn? Perhaps a basic proficiency test. But to require someone to receive 8 different teaching credentials in order to teach 1 child (or maybe a few more) is ridiculous. Teaching credentials designed to teach someone how to manage classrooms and teach multiple children are useless in the homeschooling environment. And it's ridiculous for this judge to make the comparison. I don't need to learn how to become a mechanic to learn how to put gas in my car. Neither do I need to learn how to manage a classroom of unruly high schoolers in order to learn how to teach one (hopefully well-mannered) child of mine English.
To an outsider, that might sound pretty good. Doesn't a teaching certificate teach you how to educate? Don't we want our homeschool parents to do the best job possible?
I actually thought about going the teaching certificate route when I considered moving to California. But other than perhaps fulfilling a few legal requirements, a teaching certificate would not prepare anybody to homeschool. In addition, the homeschooling teacher would have to become more prepared than ANY public school teacher out there, because in order to become certified to teach a child from Kindergarten to 12th grade, you would need to receive ALL of these certifications:
Elementary School Teaching Credential
- get a bachelor's degree
- complete a multiple subject teacher preparation program, including student teaching
- pass the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment
- the initial certification lasts for 5 years, within that time period a teacher would have to also need to complete additional requirements for a clear credential, which would allow them to teach their second child
Earn a Single Subject Teaching Credential for all required California high school subjects
* English
* Mathematics
* Social Science
* Biological Sciences
* Physics
* Languages other than English or art
* Physical Education
- get a Bachelor's degree (well, at least you have one from certifying for elementary school)
- complete a single subject teacher preparation program including more student teaching
- achieve a passing score in the subject examinations for all 7 required teaching areas
There are a few other hoops that need to be jumped through, involving English proficiency (perhaps for people that might need to homeschool ESL students?), constitution courses, and computer skills, but you get the idea.
I'm sure that 90% of public school teachers do not have all those credentials, but that's how the state of California is heading. A homeschool teacher would have to spend more time jumping through hoops than she'd have to do in actual teaching time!
What would a teaching certificate get you, anyway? Would it help you learn to teach your own children? Not much. Teaching programs prepare you to teach a large group of children. It helps you manage a classroom. Is all that student teaching that a homeschool mom would have to go through help them at all when they're sitting down at the kitchen table teaching US History to their 7 year old? Probably not, unless perhaps she has 30 children in school. Not even the Duggars are close to that (some of their kids are already grown).
I am not completely opposed to having homeschool families have some sort of... education. Perhaps a child development course in the earlier grades? Maybe a course on how children learn? Perhaps a basic proficiency test. But to require someone to receive 8 different teaching credentials in order to teach 1 child (or maybe a few more) is ridiculous. Teaching credentials designed to teach someone how to manage classrooms and teach multiple children are useless in the homeschooling environment. And it's ridiculous for this judge to make the comparison. I don't need to learn how to become a mechanic to learn how to put gas in my car. Neither do I need to learn how to manage a classroom of unruly high schoolers in order to learn how to teach one (hopefully well-mannered) child of mine English.
HSLDA Needs You! Please sign their petition.
If you are a homeschooler or a friend of homeschooling, please sign this petition at the Homeschool Legal Defense Association web site. Currently, the Supreme Court of California plans to publish the appellate court opinion that I commented on earlier. The ruling basically stated that it was illegal to homeschool without a teaching certification. If that happens, any court in California could use this ruling to prosecute other homeschooling families in the state.
Depublishing the opinion is what HSLDA recommends at this point.
Although I don't live in California and many people do not, the rights of homeschoolers everywhere should concern us at least a little. Please take the time to sign the petition. Thanks!
Depublishing the opinion is what HSLDA recommends at this point.
Although I don't live in California and many people do not, the rights of homeschoolers everywhere should concern us at least a little. Please take the time to sign the petition. Thanks!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Why We Didn't Move To California
Me and my husband met in California. I went to college in California. My husband grew up in California. But when we were living in Italy, and I was getting out of the Navy, and could move anywhere in the United States that we wanted to, we chose to move anywhere but California. Why? Because they like to harass homeschoolers.
A few years ago, it was in the news every fall. Someone would be told by their school districts that homeschooling was illegal and they were required to send their child to public school, yadda yadda. This happened for two or three years in a row. For the last couple of years it's been quiet. But now, California has a new harassment case in the courts. What a surprise.
Many people who have been keeping an eye on education know about California State Bill 777, which requires public schools to actively portray homosexuality and homosexuals in a positive light. Several family and religious advocacy groups have been encouraging people in California to pull their children out of public schools as a result.
Recently, a California judge has ruled a mother of 8 to put two of her children into public schools.
In this case, the parents were following the laws, which in the state of California require you to either a) establish a private school, b) have your child taught by an accredited teacher, or c) have your child homeschool under an umbrella school. The family in question had been using option c to homeschool. Since no laws were being broken, why are these people being singled out?
The judge says that keeping the children at home deprived them of interaction with people outside of the family, people that could help if something was amiss in the family, and the ability to develop emotionally into a broader world than their parents "cloistered setting."
None of the judge's arguments are a part of the law. He is just legislating from the bench. While it is good for kids to get out and make friends, that's not part of the law.
I like our laws here in Arizona. Tell the people that you're homeschooling when your child is old enough to go to school, teach them, and you're good. I haven't heard of any recent cases where parents are being harassed in this state either. And I do get my kids out to be with other people. This week, my daughter has played with her neighbor friend, played with her friends at church, been to Sunday School, and spent the afternoon playing with some more friends and evidently pouring sand all over her brother's hair in the process (somehow he had bucketloads of sand on his scalp yesterday). We would have been to the library as well, but my car battery needs to be replaced and so it's not working right now.
Hopefully, this case will get overturned on appeal. And hopefully, what happens in California stays in California. If not, I'm already throwing around a few alternatives if things do become hostile to homeschoolers in Arizona.
A few years ago, it was in the news every fall. Someone would be told by their school districts that homeschooling was illegal and they were required to send their child to public school, yadda yadda. This happened for two or three years in a row. For the last couple of years it's been quiet. But now, California has a new harassment case in the courts. What a surprise.
Many people who have been keeping an eye on education know about California State Bill 777, which requires public schools to actively portray homosexuality and homosexuals in a positive light. Several family and religious advocacy groups have been encouraging people in California to pull their children out of public schools as a result.
Recently, a California judge has ruled a mother of 8 to put two of her children into public schools.
In this case, the parents were following the laws, which in the state of California require you to either a) establish a private school, b) have your child taught by an accredited teacher, or c) have your child homeschool under an umbrella school. The family in question had been using option c to homeschool. Since no laws were being broken, why are these people being singled out?
The judge says that keeping the children at home deprived them of interaction with people outside of the family, people that could help if something was amiss in the family, and the ability to develop emotionally into a broader world than their parents "cloistered setting."
None of the judge's arguments are a part of the law. He is just legislating from the bench. While it is good for kids to get out and make friends, that's not part of the law.
I like our laws here in Arizona. Tell the people that you're homeschooling when your child is old enough to go to school, teach them, and you're good. I haven't heard of any recent cases where parents are being harassed in this state either. And I do get my kids out to be with other people. This week, my daughter has played with her neighbor friend, played with her friends at church, been to Sunday School, and spent the afternoon playing with some more friends and evidently pouring sand all over her brother's hair in the process (somehow he had bucketloads of sand on his scalp yesterday). We would have been to the library as well, but my car battery needs to be replaced and so it's not working right now.
Hopefully, this case will get overturned on appeal. And hopefully, what happens in California stays in California. If not, I'm already throwing around a few alternatives if things do become hostile to homeschoolers in Arizona.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Michigan Suspends Student Loans -- Listen To Dave Ramsey
If you are a student in college or have a family member in college right now... you may end up being affected by the nation's current credit crunch. If you live in Michigan, you may be affected next semester.
As reported on Mlive.com, Michigan's MI-LOAN program, which was often used to close the gap between loans made by the federal government and the actual cost of education, has been suspended for the time being, because the program was unable to borrow enough money needed to in turn, lend the money to it's borrowers. The cost of credit is going up... and it's quite likely that in the future, more than just student loans will be affected.
Thinking about buying a new car? On credit? While for years many people have just been able to walk to the dealership and walk away with a brand-new car for no money down, in a credit crunch, like the one that's just beginning, that might be a thing of the past... even if you have stellar credit. It will be harder to get a credit card, harder for businesses to get loans... and it's already harder for home buyers to get loans.
A tightening credit market is not entirely a bad thing. While it is a bad thing that some students might not be able to go to college without the MI-LOAN program, our country as a whole relies too much on debt. I'm a big fan of Dave Ramsey. He lives in a world where "debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage replaces the BMW as the status symbol of choice". I like that. If only my husband could get a job so we could pay off our student, car, and home loans, LOL.
Living in the world of credit sacrifices tomorrow in order to live it up today. We see that in both personal finance and government finance (think national debt/trade deficit). There's absolutely no reason to finance a vacation. While it might be important to finance a trip to great-grandma Smith while she lies on her deathbed, nobody needs to borrow money to go to Disneyland. Or to buy a Hummer. But people do it every day. There are people out there paying more in car payments than we do for our home mortgage. Hope you like that car, because you may end up living in it if things go south.
The days of credit cards loaning wads of cash to everyone and their dog (and dead grandma) are probably drying up. Perhaps this means that people will start learning to live within their means? One could only hope. It's not easy to adjust to a lower income level, or an effective lower income level because there is no credit to go out and borrow, but it can be done. We took a 66% pay cut when I left the Navy and my husband went to work. I had to learn to use coupons effectively and hunt out bargains. Now it's like a game to me... see how much food you can haul home from the grocery store for the least amount of money. Today I came home with 20 pounds of ground beef, 9 Tombstone pizzas, and 1 box of Velveeta Shells and Cheese for $36. I was in bargain lover's heaven.
America as a nation tends to be a resilient nation (or at least it used to be). We will live through this credit crunch and any residual effects, and hopefully come out of it as a people much wiser and a little more thrifty.
As reported on Mlive.com, Michigan's MI-LOAN program, which was often used to close the gap between loans made by the federal government and the actual cost of education, has been suspended for the time being, because the program was unable to borrow enough money needed to in turn, lend the money to it's borrowers. The cost of credit is going up... and it's quite likely that in the future, more than just student loans will be affected.
Thinking about buying a new car? On credit? While for years many people have just been able to walk to the dealership and walk away with a brand-new car for no money down, in a credit crunch, like the one that's just beginning, that might be a thing of the past... even if you have stellar credit. It will be harder to get a credit card, harder for businesses to get loans... and it's already harder for home buyers to get loans.
A tightening credit market is not entirely a bad thing. While it is a bad thing that some students might not be able to go to college without the MI-LOAN program, our country as a whole relies too much on debt. I'm a big fan of Dave Ramsey. He lives in a world where "debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage replaces the BMW as the status symbol of choice". I like that. If only my husband could get a job so we could pay off our student, car, and home loans, LOL.
Living in the world of credit sacrifices tomorrow in order to live it up today. We see that in both personal finance and government finance (think national debt/trade deficit). There's absolutely no reason to finance a vacation. While it might be important to finance a trip to great-grandma Smith while she lies on her deathbed, nobody needs to borrow money to go to Disneyland. Or to buy a Hummer. But people do it every day. There are people out there paying more in car payments than we do for our home mortgage. Hope you like that car, because you may end up living in it if things go south.
The days of credit cards loaning wads of cash to everyone and their dog (and dead grandma) are probably drying up. Perhaps this means that people will start learning to live within their means? One could only hope. It's not easy to adjust to a lower income level, or an effective lower income level because there is no credit to go out and borrow, but it can be done. We took a 66% pay cut when I left the Navy and my husband went to work. I had to learn to use coupons effectively and hunt out bargains. Now it's like a game to me... see how much food you can haul home from the grocery store for the least amount of money. Today I came home with 20 pounds of ground beef, 9 Tombstone pizzas, and 1 box of Velveeta Shells and Cheese for $36. I was in bargain lover's heaven.
America as a nation tends to be a resilient nation (or at least it used to be). We will live through this credit crunch and any residual effects, and hopefully come out of it as a people much wiser and a little more thrifty.
Is Customized Education The Future?
My daughter is 5, and I'm starting to teach her double-column addition. She also is progressing pretty well with her reading. Today she read a story that included the passage "One day Gray Fox and Trapper Joe rode into the camp. The men were not surprised to see Father in bed."
My daughter is not a genius. Far from it. When she was 13 months old, we had her tested for learning deficiencies. In some areas, she tested at the level of a 3 month old. In most areas, she tested right around that of a 6-9 month old. I could have pursued state help for her, but we were moving from Italy to Arizona at the time, so I never got around to it. I still have the paperwork though, more for a good laugh now than anything else.
At 26 months, I started taking her to Kindercare. She started to catch up, but she was still behind most of the other kids. While most of the other kids in her class learned their colors several months before they turned 3, I was beginning to think that she wouldn't learn her colors until after she moved into the 3 year old classroom. A couple of weeks before she turned 3, she figured out her colors.
When she was 3, she started learning her letter sounds, like all the other kids. But then at 3 1/2, we started doing something that would eventually lead her to learn adding 2 column addition and reading simple paragraphs before she left what would normally be her Kindergarten year... I started teaching her individual instruction and letting her learn more at her own pace.
A lot of kids stall at letters, numbers, shapes, and colors until they're most of the way through Kindergarten. Towards the end of Kindergarten, they often start blending and learn sight words. In your typical Public School model, it's necessary to do this. Not every kid comes to Kindergarten learning colors, shapes, numbers, and letters, and so the whole class needs to be taught all these things, even if they learned all of this back when they were 3 years old.
At four years old, I left Kindercare and my daughter was being taught full time. We went through a Kindergarten math book. We skipped past several lessons because they covered things that my daughter already knew, and I didn't see the point of reteaching it. Before she turned 5, we started the 1st Grade Math book. She wasn't really ready to read words yet, but we worked on some Now I'm Reading books... these are really great. By the time last fall arrived, she was already 30 lessons into her 1st grade math book, and was ready to start the 1st grade reading book.
So what was the difference between a 13 month old that was testing in some areas as a 3 month old, and a 5 1/2 year old getting ready to finish a year of 1st grade work? Customized education. As a homeschooling student, she is able to move ahead when she is ready, and spend extra time in areas that she has trouble on. With our current public school model, customized education isn't exactly feasable. All the kids in a particular class move at the same pace, doing the same lesson on the same day for the entire year.
In the early days of public education, children could learn at their own pace. The one-room schoolhouse would have several different grades in one room, and they would do a lot of learning at a pace that suited them. Most homeschools with more than one school-aged child use the same model today.
Although public schools currently move everybody along at the same pace, they don't necessarily have to. And sometimes they don't. When I was a kid, they had one classroom that was a grade 2/3 classroom, where the exceptionally bright 2nd grade students went to the same grade along with the 3rd graders that needed more help. We all went to different classrooms, based on levels, for our reading classes. We even had individual reading times where we read booklets at our own pace, and moved up in levels. As children get older, they might find themselves in remedial classes, gifted classes, honors classes, or AP Classes. In high school many students pick and choose their courses, and might find themselves, in their senior year, taking Calculus 1, or Algebra II. Some high schools have programs where you can be dual-enrolled at a local community college, and you might even be able to finish your associate's degree before you reach age 18, if you are motivated enough.
All those programs, for all those different classes, cost money. Today technology can make learning even more customized in a more cost-effective way. As a Senior in high school, I took Russian via satellite. Our school also offered Japanese this way. Back then, it cost $5500 per student that enrolled in these programs, but prices have probably gone down. There were only a couple of students in the class, and we took the class in a little room in the library. Our librarian made sure that we showed up, but our primary teacher was the satellite teacher that lived a couple hundred miles away. I also took an independent study course in high school, where I would write computer programs at one computer while everybody else in the room was being taught something else by my teacher. In that class, my teacher would check in with me periodically to make sure that I was learning and my work was progressing.
Public schools could make customized education possible for everyone with advances in technology and the internet. There are DVD courses, satellite courses, and internet courses that homeschool students can take. Often that can be a good choice for a parent that has several children that are at several different levels. Children can now even take public school classes in their own homes. Some of these programs have to follow a pace directed by an overseeing teacher of the whole program, but there's no reason that they can't be allowed to advance at a faster pace if they are able.
Currently, 4% of school-aged students are being homeschooled, and that is a growing number. The public schools are in competition with private schools and homeschools for students. While some (like my kids) will always stay in private and/or home schools because of the religious aspect, customized education could potentially raise interest in public schools. The public school could combine individualized instruction in reading, math, and spelling, while teaching classes like history and science as a group. They would still be able to do things like show-and-tell and art classes as a group as well. During individualized instruction, the teacher could oversee the group of students to make sure that they were not goofing off, that they were actually progressing, and answer any questions and troubleshoot technical difficulties.
While I'm not a big fan of public schools and think that there's a lot more problems than just the kids not being able to work at their own pace, using technology to customize a child's education might help a lot to boost the educational level of kids in our country. Imagine if kids that were math whizzes could start taking pre-algebra in grade 5 if they were ready. Or perhaps a child was really good with languages and was able to learn Spanish, German, and Arabic before they got out of high school. All of this could be done with the technology of today, if schools were willing to think outside of the box a little.
My daughter is not a genius. Far from it. When she was 13 months old, we had her tested for learning deficiencies. In some areas, she tested at the level of a 3 month old. In most areas, she tested right around that of a 6-9 month old. I could have pursued state help for her, but we were moving from Italy to Arizona at the time, so I never got around to it. I still have the paperwork though, more for a good laugh now than anything else.
At 26 months, I started taking her to Kindercare. She started to catch up, but she was still behind most of the other kids. While most of the other kids in her class learned their colors several months before they turned 3, I was beginning to think that she wouldn't learn her colors until after she moved into the 3 year old classroom. A couple of weeks before she turned 3, she figured out her colors.
When she was 3, she started learning her letter sounds, like all the other kids. But then at 3 1/2, we started doing something that would eventually lead her to learn adding 2 column addition and reading simple paragraphs before she left what would normally be her Kindergarten year... I started teaching her individual instruction and letting her learn more at her own pace.
A lot of kids stall at letters, numbers, shapes, and colors until they're most of the way through Kindergarten. Towards the end of Kindergarten, they often start blending and learn sight words. In your typical Public School model, it's necessary to do this. Not every kid comes to Kindergarten learning colors, shapes, numbers, and letters, and so the whole class needs to be taught all these things, even if they learned all of this back when they were 3 years old.
At four years old, I left Kindercare and my daughter was being taught full time. We went through a Kindergarten math book. We skipped past several lessons because they covered things that my daughter already knew, and I didn't see the point of reteaching it. Before she turned 5, we started the 1st Grade Math book. She wasn't really ready to read words yet, but we worked on some Now I'm Reading books... these are really great. By the time last fall arrived, she was already 30 lessons into her 1st grade math book, and was ready to start the 1st grade reading book.
So what was the difference between a 13 month old that was testing in some areas as a 3 month old, and a 5 1/2 year old getting ready to finish a year of 1st grade work? Customized education. As a homeschooling student, she is able to move ahead when she is ready, and spend extra time in areas that she has trouble on. With our current public school model, customized education isn't exactly feasable. All the kids in a particular class move at the same pace, doing the same lesson on the same day for the entire year.
In the early days of public education, children could learn at their own pace. The one-room schoolhouse would have several different grades in one room, and they would do a lot of learning at a pace that suited them. Most homeschools with more than one school-aged child use the same model today.
Although public schools currently move everybody along at the same pace, they don't necessarily have to. And sometimes they don't. When I was a kid, they had one classroom that was a grade 2/3 classroom, where the exceptionally bright 2nd grade students went to the same grade along with the 3rd graders that needed more help. We all went to different classrooms, based on levels, for our reading classes. We even had individual reading times where we read booklets at our own pace, and moved up in levels. As children get older, they might find themselves in remedial classes, gifted classes, honors classes, or AP Classes. In high school many students pick and choose their courses, and might find themselves, in their senior year, taking Calculus 1, or Algebra II. Some high schools have programs where you can be dual-enrolled at a local community college, and you might even be able to finish your associate's degree before you reach age 18, if you are motivated enough.
All those programs, for all those different classes, cost money. Today technology can make learning even more customized in a more cost-effective way. As a Senior in high school, I took Russian via satellite. Our school also offered Japanese this way. Back then, it cost $5500 per student that enrolled in these programs, but prices have probably gone down. There were only a couple of students in the class, and we took the class in a little room in the library. Our librarian made sure that we showed up, but our primary teacher was the satellite teacher that lived a couple hundred miles away. I also took an independent study course in high school, where I would write computer programs at one computer while everybody else in the room was being taught something else by my teacher. In that class, my teacher would check in with me periodically to make sure that I was learning and my work was progressing.
Public schools could make customized education possible for everyone with advances in technology and the internet. There are DVD courses, satellite courses, and internet courses that homeschool students can take. Often that can be a good choice for a parent that has several children that are at several different levels. Children can now even take public school classes in their own homes. Some of these programs have to follow a pace directed by an overseeing teacher of the whole program, but there's no reason that they can't be allowed to advance at a faster pace if they are able.
Currently, 4% of school-aged students are being homeschooled, and that is a growing number. The public schools are in competition with private schools and homeschools for students. While some (like my kids) will always stay in private and/or home schools because of the religious aspect, customized education could potentially raise interest in public schools. The public school could combine individualized instruction in reading, math, and spelling, while teaching classes like history and science as a group. They would still be able to do things like show-and-tell and art classes as a group as well. During individualized instruction, the teacher could oversee the group of students to make sure that they were not goofing off, that they were actually progressing, and answer any questions and troubleshoot technical difficulties.
While I'm not a big fan of public schools and think that there's a lot more problems than just the kids not being able to work at their own pace, using technology to customize a child's education might help a lot to boost the educational level of kids in our country. Imagine if kids that were math whizzes could start taking pre-algebra in grade 5 if they were ready. Or perhaps a child was really good with languages and was able to learn Spanish, German, and Arabic before they got out of high school. All of this could be done with the technology of today, if schools were willing to think outside of the box a little.
Monday, January 21, 2008
MLK and Kids
Happy Martin Luther King Day!
It's a pretty normal day around here. The baby is pinching his big sister and pulling her hair (as normal), we had school earlier today (although I made reading a little easier for her), and dh is off at work. He doesn't have school but he's going to his friends after work to build a computer, so he might as well be going to school after work.
I tried to explain Martin Luther King day to my 5 year old, but she really wasn't interested. I don't even really think she knows the difference between black people and white people... she knows that people come in lots of different colors, something that she can see in her own family, but she doesn't really know too much about race.
So how do you explain that at one time some people had to drink out of different water fountains and sit at the back of the bus?
She's just starting to get slavery. She knows that a slave is "a person that works for another person" and that they don't get paid. We've discussed that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and have touched on slavery in the colonies, because we're studying colonial America this year. But a 5 year old doesn't really understand much more.
I guess that it's good that we live in a world where kids don't know a thing about racism. I'm sure that time will come eventually, but it hasn't yet and in some ways that is good.
It's a pretty normal day around here. The baby is pinching his big sister and pulling her hair (as normal), we had school earlier today (although I made reading a little easier for her), and dh is off at work. He doesn't have school but he's going to his friends after work to build a computer, so he might as well be going to school after work.
I tried to explain Martin Luther King day to my 5 year old, but she really wasn't interested. I don't even really think she knows the difference between black people and white people... she knows that people come in lots of different colors, something that she can see in her own family, but she doesn't really know too much about race.
So how do you explain that at one time some people had to drink out of different water fountains and sit at the back of the bus?
She's just starting to get slavery. She knows that a slave is "a person that works for another person" and that they don't get paid. We've discussed that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, and have touched on slavery in the colonies, because we're studying colonial America this year. But a 5 year old doesn't really understand much more.
I guess that it's good that we live in a world where kids don't know a thing about racism. I'm sure that time will come eventually, but it hasn't yet and in some ways that is good.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Religion on the College Campus
I think that Bill O'Reilly has it right when he says that we are in the midst of a culture war. In these days where everybody's lives are so compartmentalized, and it is so easy for us to spend time only with people that are a lot like us, it's hard to tell who is winning. Some companies try to take polls, but those are hard to gauge for accuracy sometimes... statistics can often say crazy things. So most of what you end up with is anecdotal evidence.
I've heard anecdotal evidence about professors who believe in creationism rather than evolution to lose their jobs, grants, fellowships, etc. The same goes for scientists. But rarely does a difference of religion affect my life, other than perhaps a lost friendship or somebody thinking I'm a little silly for my beliefs.
It's hard to tell whether someone's religious views can affect their grades sometimes. I once wrote a paper about pet microchip implants, and its relationship to the prophesied mark of the beast, back in the 90s for a college class (back before most people had heard about pet microchipping) and I didn't get a very good grade on it... but with such a subjective subject as English, it is hard to tell whether I was marked down due to the content of the paper, or whether it was just a lousy paper. On rare occasions, it is obvious that someone's grades are affected by their religion.
Recently, my husband got to experience this. He is currently a college student, and is taking two religion classes. The professor obviously does not share his religious views. My husband studies hard in the classes, and for the most part has done well. However, there is one question on his final exam that he knows will be marked wrong due to his religious beliefs:
True or False: Allah and the God of the Bible are different gods.
Or something like that.
My husband knows the answer that the professor wanted. The professor believes that Allah and Jehovah are the same. However, the answer to this question is strictly a matter of faith. Neither me or my husband believe that Allah is the same God in the Bible... their characters are completely different. The Koran says that Allah claims to have no son... Jesus is the Son of the Biblical God.
My husband answered that Allah and the God of the Bible are different, knowing that the professor would mark it wrong. In fact, he wrote next to the answer "go ahead and mark it wrong." If he were to say what the professor wanted, he would have gotten the question correct, but he would at the same time be denying God himself, equating him with something that he was not.
So my dear husband wasn't thrown to the lions or anything, and that one question probably won't affect his final grade or anything, but it was a small faith litmus test on a college campus. I'm sure that this happens all the time, I had just not seen it so obviously in my own life before.
I've heard anecdotal evidence about professors who believe in creationism rather than evolution to lose their jobs, grants, fellowships, etc. The same goes for scientists. But rarely does a difference of religion affect my life, other than perhaps a lost friendship or somebody thinking I'm a little silly for my beliefs.
It's hard to tell whether someone's religious views can affect their grades sometimes. I once wrote a paper about pet microchip implants, and its relationship to the prophesied mark of the beast, back in the 90s for a college class (back before most people had heard about pet microchipping) and I didn't get a very good grade on it... but with such a subjective subject as English, it is hard to tell whether I was marked down due to the content of the paper, or whether it was just a lousy paper. On rare occasions, it is obvious that someone's grades are affected by their religion.
Recently, my husband got to experience this. He is currently a college student, and is taking two religion classes. The professor obviously does not share his religious views. My husband studies hard in the classes, and for the most part has done well. However, there is one question on his final exam that he knows will be marked wrong due to his religious beliefs:
True or False: Allah and the God of the Bible are different gods.
Or something like that.
My husband knows the answer that the professor wanted. The professor believes that Allah and Jehovah are the same. However, the answer to this question is strictly a matter of faith. Neither me or my husband believe that Allah is the same God in the Bible... their characters are completely different. The Koran says that Allah claims to have no son... Jesus is the Son of the Biblical God.
My husband answered that Allah and the God of the Bible are different, knowing that the professor would mark it wrong. In fact, he wrote next to the answer "go ahead and mark it wrong." If he were to say what the professor wanted, he would have gotten the question correct, but he would at the same time be denying God himself, equating him with something that he was not.
So my dear husband wasn't thrown to the lions or anything, and that one question probably won't affect his final grade or anything, but it was a small faith litmus test on a college campus. I'm sure that this happens all the time, I had just not seen it so obviously in my own life before.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
No Child Left Behind - Homeschool Style
Yesterday I found out what the meaning of "No Child Left Behind" is to homeschool parents.
A local Christian school had the day off yesterday, and one of the members of our little homeschool group was babysitting 10 of the students that had the day off. We used to go to the church attached to the homeschool, so my daughter and I know all the kids at that school. One of the girls attending the school is my daughter's best friend, so she was really happy that her best friend had the day off.
So yesterday all of us had a park day. 10 kids from the Christian school, my 2 kids, and 4 other kids that normally go to the homeschool group. So we had 16 kids.
We all met at the main house where we normally meet, and all the kids either walked, rode in a stroller, rode in the van, or rode bicycles to the nearby park. We took a picnic lunch and toys. We had quite a bike parade!
For the homeschool parent, No Child Left Behind means making sure that no child gets left behind when you have 16 children walking or biking to the park... and making sure that no child gets left behind when returning home. Or toy.
Any parent that thinks that homeschoolers get no socialization doesn't know what sort of socialization homeschoolers can have. Our park day crowd of kids looked like any group of kids you might find at any day care center in the country... only none of the teachers had to make sure the kids weren't biting, spitting, climbing up the slide, etc. (I worked at a day care center for two years). The kids ranged from 11 months to 8 or 9 years too, so there was probably a wider age range than would be playing at the typical day care center playground.
In a typical week, my daughter attends church 3 times, goes to the library with other kids, sees her soccer friends twice a week, and goes to her homeschool group. Not to mention trips to the grocery store, doctors, or anywhere else we might happen to go. She doesn't seem to lack friends. As an added bonus, she usually gets along with her brother pretty well (unless he's trying to play with the mouse or keyboard while she's trying to play computer games).
A local Christian school had the day off yesterday, and one of the members of our little homeschool group was babysitting 10 of the students that had the day off. We used to go to the church attached to the homeschool, so my daughter and I know all the kids at that school. One of the girls attending the school is my daughter's best friend, so she was really happy that her best friend had the day off.
So yesterday all of us had a park day. 10 kids from the Christian school, my 2 kids, and 4 other kids that normally go to the homeschool group. So we had 16 kids.
We all met at the main house where we normally meet, and all the kids either walked, rode in a stroller, rode in the van, or rode bicycles to the nearby park. We took a picnic lunch and toys. We had quite a bike parade!
For the homeschool parent, No Child Left Behind means making sure that no child gets left behind when you have 16 children walking or biking to the park... and making sure that no child gets left behind when returning home. Or toy.
Any parent that thinks that homeschoolers get no socialization doesn't know what sort of socialization homeschoolers can have. Our park day crowd of kids looked like any group of kids you might find at any day care center in the country... only none of the teachers had to make sure the kids weren't biting, spitting, climbing up the slide, etc. (I worked at a day care center for two years). The kids ranged from 11 months to 8 or 9 years too, so there was probably a wider age range than would be playing at the typical day care center playground.
In a typical week, my daughter attends church 3 times, goes to the library with other kids, sees her soccer friends twice a week, and goes to her homeschool group. Not to mention trips to the grocery store, doctors, or anywhere else we might happen to go. She doesn't seem to lack friends. As an added bonus, she usually gets along with her brother pretty well (unless he's trying to play with the mouse or keyboard while she's trying to play computer games).
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Everyday Mathematics Makes My Head Hurt
An internet friend of mine who had previously been homeschooling her 9 year old decided to send her child back to public school, at least for a semester. On the message boards she remarked that her daughter hated her new public school math class, and had even cried during math. She was using a textbook called Everyday Mathematics.
I had heard of the book before, but I didn't know anything about it. I visited some web sites to learn more about it. Wow, it's quite scary. I was looking through the K-3 glossary to see some terms that their book used:
mental arithmetic Does not require all computations to be done in one’s head. Rather children develop a variety of flexible solution strategies, including drawing pictures and doodles, counting jumps on a number line or grid, and so on. Children devise their own solution strategies.
Doodles? Drawing pictures? Children devising their own solution strategies? That's just looking for trouble in a math class. You can't devise your own solution strategy for something that you barely know how to do in the first place.
number grid A table in which consecutive numbers are arranged in rows of ten. A move from one number to the next within a row is a change of one; a move from one number to the next within a column is a change of ten.
Huh? Say that again?
Fact Triangles Triangular cards that use the members of fact families for practice with addition/subtraction and multiplication/division facts. Two one-digit numbers and their sum or product (marked with an asterisk) appears in the corners of each triangle.
What was wrong with flash cards?
power of a number The product of factors all of which are the same. For example, 53 (five to the third power, or 5 x 5 x 5) is another way to name 125.
I understand this term perfectly well, but this was something that was taught in 7th grade when I took pre-algebra. I might have learned it in 6th grade math, but certainly not in 3rd grade math.
In case you think that these third graders are geniuses, though, the K-3 glossary fails to include definitions for improper fractions, mixed fractions, subtrahend, addend (not an item in the glossary by itself, but the definition of "number family" assumes that you already know what an addend is), or minuend. Not that most people use those terms in their everyday life, but if you are going to be teaching mathematics at as high a level as powers of a number, I would think that you would want to teach fractions first... and I would guess that if you taught fractions properly, some of those terms would end up in your book's glossary.
MJ McDermott, a meteorologist with a degree in atmospheric science, produced this 15 minute YouTube video talking about Everyday Math, as well as TERC math. It's pretty interesting:
It's amazing how anybody other than someone with a really high math aptitude already would be able to go through a program like this with a good grounding of mathematics.
I had heard of the book before, but I didn't know anything about it. I visited some web sites to learn more about it. Wow, it's quite scary. I was looking through the K-3 glossary to see some terms that their book used:
mental arithmetic Does not require all computations to be done in one’s head. Rather children develop a variety of flexible solution strategies, including drawing pictures and doodles, counting jumps on a number line or grid, and so on. Children devise their own solution strategies.
Doodles? Drawing pictures? Children devising their own solution strategies? That's just looking for trouble in a math class. You can't devise your own solution strategy for something that you barely know how to do in the first place.
number grid A table in which consecutive numbers are arranged in rows of ten. A move from one number to the next within a row is a change of one; a move from one number to the next within a column is a change of ten.
Huh? Say that again?
Fact Triangles Triangular cards that use the members of fact families for practice with addition/subtraction and multiplication/division facts. Two one-digit numbers and their sum or product (marked with an asterisk) appears in the corners of each triangle.
What was wrong with flash cards?
power of a number The product of factors all of which are the same. For example, 53 (five to the third power, or 5 x 5 x 5) is another way to name 125.
I understand this term perfectly well, but this was something that was taught in 7th grade when I took pre-algebra. I might have learned it in 6th grade math, but certainly not in 3rd grade math.
In case you think that these third graders are geniuses, though, the K-3 glossary fails to include definitions for improper fractions, mixed fractions, subtrahend, addend (not an item in the glossary by itself, but the definition of "number family" assumes that you already know what an addend is), or minuend. Not that most people use those terms in their everyday life, but if you are going to be teaching mathematics at as high a level as powers of a number, I would think that you would want to teach fractions first... and I would guess that if you taught fractions properly, some of those terms would end up in your book's glossary.
MJ McDermott, a meteorologist with a degree in atmospheric science, produced this 15 minute YouTube video talking about Everyday Math, as well as TERC math. It's pretty interesting:
It's amazing how anybody other than someone with a really high math aptitude already would be able to go through a program like this with a good grounding of mathematics.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Homeschool, Grade Levels, and Dumbed-Down Education
What grade is your child in?
For most American families, there is an easy answer for this question. Their kids get up every day, get on the bus, and the school tells them what grade they are in. It's something along the lines of Kindergarten, first, second, and so on, all the way up to 12th grade. The children study with other children that are mostly within a year of their own age. They study the same grade level books for all of their classes. In some rare cases, a child might skip a grade, or a school might offer "gifted" classes where they might study a certain subject in a grade ahead of them.
For the homeschooling parent, this is a more involved question. My daughter officially started "Kindergarten" last year at age 4. Throughout that year, I came to the realization that it would not be a good thing to label her a year ahead of her peers, because I don't want to graduate her early, when she's 16 going on 17. I also wanted her in Sunday school classes with kids her own age, and when she gets to the age where she might be interested in entering competitions like the spelling bee or the geography bee, I don't want her arbitrarily assigned grade level to have her disqualified from competing several years before her peers. So for purposes of answering the question "what grade is your child in," she's going into grade K-5 this year.
But there's nothing "K-5" about her classes. Well, her music books say Kindergarten on the outside. But none of her other classes are designed for the Kindergarten child. She is doing first grade Bible, reading, and math classes (I wasn't sure about her reading level until recently, but she's shown me recently that she's reading at a level where I think she can handle the first grade course). Her history and science classes are grade 2, since she did grade 1 history and science last year.
I was thinking about this the other day. It sounds like she's advanced, but she's not a genius or anything. I think that probably half your 4 year old children could have done the work that she did last year. She completed Saxon Math K last year, which was so easy we ended up skipping some lessons. I'm not the only homeschool parent that finds Saxon Math K easy, either. Some of the lessons involve getting out teddy bear counters and playing with them. Towards the last half of the book I ended up skipping lessons very infrequently, and I don't think that I skipped any of the lessons in the last 2 or 3 months of classes last year... but in the first half of the year it was easy.
The reading that we ended up actually doing and completing is a workbook designed for 3-6 year olds. We also worked from the "Now I'm Reading" series, which also is geared towards young children, ages 4-7. She wasn't doing anything beyond her age level, as you can see.
Millions of parents around the country spend a lot of time immersing their children in a home full of learning. They buy alphabet toys for their children, have them practice workbook pages like the ones my daughter did, sit them in front of Sesame Street every day, and send them to preschools where they are taught their shapes, numbers, and colors. And then what happens to them when they turn 5 and go to Kindergarten?
They are taught letters of the alphabet, counting to 20, shapes, parts of the body, how to use the VCR and turn on a computer, and how to identify parts of the computer like the mouse, monitor, and keyboard. They basically start all over again. These are actual objectives from the elementary school district where I live, and I think that they are part of the state standards as well.
Do we wonder why kids get bored in school? Most of the children at Kindercare learn their shapes and colors before they get into the three year old room... then they are taught shapes and colors again when they get to Kindergarten. Most of the three year old children at Kindercare learn their letters... only to be taught it again in Kindergarten. Some parents spend more than $100 a month to have their child be tutored using the Hooked on Phonics program at Kindercare... they often learn how to read a little, and write many of their letters. But what good is it, when they are forced to start all over again once they reach Kindergarten?
I suppose that we have to start somewhere. In addition, teachers only have so much time with each student. But it doesn't do the children that have learned their numbers, letters, colors and shapes any good to have to relearn them all over again. Similarly, schools usually spend several weeks to more than a month at the beginning of each year, every year, reviewing what they learned the previous year. For students that have retained the information, it is mind-numbingly boring. That's how I felt, at least. I love to learn things... but learning the difference between nouns and verbs for several years in a row gets old after a while.
Children used to learn a lot more in school than they do now. There is a test floating around somewhere on the net that students had to take in the 1800s when they graduated from the 8th grade... most high schoolers and even many college students would have difficulty passing it. What did they do differently? Well, for one, they didn't teach about sex, drugs, and alcohol. They probably didn't waste too much time in school assemblies either. But the biggest difference was that those children were taught in a one-room schoolhouse. With all the grades mixed together, it allowed people to learn at their own ability level. I'm sure that Kindergarteners who already knew their shapes and colors didn't have to relearn it. People that remembered the difference between a noun and a verb didn't have to spend several weeks out of their year being taught it all over again.
My church has a Christian school attached to it. It has about 26 students or so. They only go to school 4 days a week. They get every Friday off. I only teach my daughter 4 days a week as well. We take Fridays off. Lots of homeschool families either take Fridays off, or they might only do reading and math on Fridays and skip the other subjects.
Perhaps the answer to our nation's educational woes isn't more money (which so far hasn't helped) but finding some way to allow children to develop at their own pace. We're really just wasting a lot of time for many children otherwise.
For most American families, there is an easy answer for this question. Their kids get up every day, get on the bus, and the school tells them what grade they are in. It's something along the lines of Kindergarten, first, second, and so on, all the way up to 12th grade. The children study with other children that are mostly within a year of their own age. They study the same grade level books for all of their classes. In some rare cases, a child might skip a grade, or a school might offer "gifted" classes where they might study a certain subject in a grade ahead of them.
For the homeschooling parent, this is a more involved question. My daughter officially started "Kindergarten" last year at age 4. Throughout that year, I came to the realization that it would not be a good thing to label her a year ahead of her peers, because I don't want to graduate her early, when she's 16 going on 17. I also wanted her in Sunday school classes with kids her own age, and when she gets to the age where she might be interested in entering competitions like the spelling bee or the geography bee, I don't want her arbitrarily assigned grade level to have her disqualified from competing several years before her peers. So for purposes of answering the question "what grade is your child in," she's going into grade K-5 this year.
But there's nothing "K-5" about her classes. Well, her music books say Kindergarten on the outside. But none of her other classes are designed for the Kindergarten child. She is doing first grade Bible, reading, and math classes (I wasn't sure about her reading level until recently, but she's shown me recently that she's reading at a level where I think she can handle the first grade course). Her history and science classes are grade 2, since she did grade 1 history and science last year.
I was thinking about this the other day. It sounds like she's advanced, but she's not a genius or anything. I think that probably half your 4 year old children could have done the work that she did last year. She completed Saxon Math K last year, which was so easy we ended up skipping some lessons. I'm not the only homeschool parent that finds Saxon Math K easy, either. Some of the lessons involve getting out teddy bear counters and playing with them. Towards the last half of the book I ended up skipping lessons very infrequently, and I don't think that I skipped any of the lessons in the last 2 or 3 months of classes last year... but in the first half of the year it was easy.
The reading that we ended up actually doing and completing is a workbook designed for 3-6 year olds. We also worked from the "Now I'm Reading" series, which also is geared towards young children, ages 4-7. She wasn't doing anything beyond her age level, as you can see.
Millions of parents around the country spend a lot of time immersing their children in a home full of learning. They buy alphabet toys for their children, have them practice workbook pages like the ones my daughter did, sit them in front of Sesame Street every day, and send them to preschools where they are taught their shapes, numbers, and colors. And then what happens to them when they turn 5 and go to Kindergarten?
They are taught letters of the alphabet, counting to 20, shapes, parts of the body, how to use the VCR and turn on a computer, and how to identify parts of the computer like the mouse, monitor, and keyboard. They basically start all over again. These are actual objectives from the elementary school district where I live, and I think that they are part of the state standards as well.
Do we wonder why kids get bored in school? Most of the children at Kindercare learn their shapes and colors before they get into the three year old room... then they are taught shapes and colors again when they get to Kindergarten. Most of the three year old children at Kindercare learn their letters... only to be taught it again in Kindergarten. Some parents spend more than $100 a month to have their child be tutored using the Hooked on Phonics program at Kindercare... they often learn how to read a little, and write many of their letters. But what good is it, when they are forced to start all over again once they reach Kindergarten?
I suppose that we have to start somewhere. In addition, teachers only have so much time with each student. But it doesn't do the children that have learned their numbers, letters, colors and shapes any good to have to relearn them all over again. Similarly, schools usually spend several weeks to more than a month at the beginning of each year, every year, reviewing what they learned the previous year. For students that have retained the information, it is mind-numbingly boring. That's how I felt, at least. I love to learn things... but learning the difference between nouns and verbs for several years in a row gets old after a while.
Children used to learn a lot more in school than they do now. There is a test floating around somewhere on the net that students had to take in the 1800s when they graduated from the 8th grade... most high schoolers and even many college students would have difficulty passing it. What did they do differently? Well, for one, they didn't teach about sex, drugs, and alcohol. They probably didn't waste too much time in school assemblies either. But the biggest difference was that those children were taught in a one-room schoolhouse. With all the grades mixed together, it allowed people to learn at their own ability level. I'm sure that Kindergarteners who already knew their shapes and colors didn't have to relearn it. People that remembered the difference between a noun and a verb didn't have to spend several weeks out of their year being taught it all over again.
My church has a Christian school attached to it. It has about 26 students or so. They only go to school 4 days a week. They get every Friday off. I only teach my daughter 4 days a week as well. We take Fridays off. Lots of homeschool families either take Fridays off, or they might only do reading and math on Fridays and skip the other subjects.
Perhaps the answer to our nation's educational woes isn't more money (which so far hasn't helped) but finding some way to allow children to develop at their own pace. We're really just wasting a lot of time for many children otherwise.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
More Reasons I Love Homeschool
My dh is starting college this fall at Arizona State University. Friday they had a special welcome student day, with an evening barbecue. We decided to take dd and ds and drop them off at grandma's so we could go. While we drove over there, we noticed the school bus dropping off kids. Since dd is now Kindergarten age, I just had to make a mental note that if dd was in school, we would have had to wait for her to get home from school before we could head out.
Dh starts his new job tomorrow. He has three weeks of paid training, and then he will be working from Tuesday to Saturday. In order to maximize the kid's time with daddy, we're doing school from Tuesday to Saturday as well.
When my ds was born last fall, we took a week off the week before he was born because I was just too tired to teach, and we took the week that he was born off as well. Even though I had hospital appointments twice a week for the last couple of months, we still managed to have school four days a week (we have park days every Friday, and will continue to have park days on Fridays even though we'll be doing school on Saturday). We had school at the park and at the library. Our two weeks off when the baby was born was our fall break. Most of the schools around here have fall break... I don't remember having them when I was a kid, then again we never started in the beginning of August either. We will probably not take fall break this year. We took spring break the week that my parents came to visit.
Of course there are some advantages to regular school. I have to actually do the work of teaching, for one... although I like that job. I don't get a break during the day like schooling parents. But then again, I don't have to spend my evenings checking up on homework like schooling parents either. I will probably assign independent work (it's all homework, right?) and assigned reading when dd is older, but I will still know what she is supposed to be doing. But I like my flexibility and the ability to change things on a whim if I have to.
I was thinking the other day about all the school options available now. Back when I was a kid there was public school, private school (which was a little weird), and a few people homeschooled (but that was really out there). Now we have more acceptance for private and home schooling, charter schools, public school charter schools where students learn at home, public school courses where children spend most of the day at home, and private homeschool coops where children go to private school a couple days a week (where all parents volunteer) and spend the rest of the days homeschooling. Even though not all educational establishments are passing with flying colors, at least we have more choices.
I'm signing up my dd for soccer this fall. Should be an interesting experience for her. Since most of my time right now is spent with family and church members, it will be interesting to spend time with some people who are outside that circle.
Dh starts his new job tomorrow. He has three weeks of paid training, and then he will be working from Tuesday to Saturday. In order to maximize the kid's time with daddy, we're doing school from Tuesday to Saturday as well.
When my ds was born last fall, we took a week off the week before he was born because I was just too tired to teach, and we took the week that he was born off as well. Even though I had hospital appointments twice a week for the last couple of months, we still managed to have school four days a week (we have park days every Friday, and will continue to have park days on Fridays even though we'll be doing school on Saturday). We had school at the park and at the library. Our two weeks off when the baby was born was our fall break. Most of the schools around here have fall break... I don't remember having them when I was a kid, then again we never started in the beginning of August either. We will probably not take fall break this year. We took spring break the week that my parents came to visit.
Of course there are some advantages to regular school. I have to actually do the work of teaching, for one... although I like that job. I don't get a break during the day like schooling parents. But then again, I don't have to spend my evenings checking up on homework like schooling parents either. I will probably assign independent work (it's all homework, right?) and assigned reading when dd is older, but I will still know what she is supposed to be doing. But I like my flexibility and the ability to change things on a whim if I have to.
I was thinking the other day about all the school options available now. Back when I was a kid there was public school, private school (which was a little weird), and a few people homeschooled (but that was really out there). Now we have more acceptance for private and home schooling, charter schools, public school charter schools where students learn at home, public school courses where children spend most of the day at home, and private homeschool coops where children go to private school a couple days a week (where all parents volunteer) and spend the rest of the days homeschooling. Even though not all educational establishments are passing with flying colors, at least we have more choices.
I'm signing up my dd for soccer this fall. Should be an interesting experience for her. Since most of my time right now is spent with family and church members, it will be interesting to spend time with some people who are outside that circle.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Baptist Seminary Offers Homemaking Degree... Controversial?
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is going to start offering a degree in homemaking this fall, aimed at pastor's wives. I think that it's a great idea, personally. However, I guess not everyone thinks that it is such a hot idea. One Baptist blogger nearly "shot Diet Coke out of his nose" after hearing about it, and found the degree "quite silly."
I suppose that it all boils down to what we find important. Personally, I find my children to be very important. They are important enough to me that I gave up a job paying more than $60k to stay at home with them. They are important enough to me that rather than sending my daughter off to public school this fall to be a Kindergartener, she will be home at me learning reading, math, history, science, music, and Bible.
How much do we value our kids anyway? If the average day care worker makes $7.50 an hour (when I worked at day care I got paid less, but I know some get paid more), then the price per hour per child is pitiful. In Arizona the child/teacher ratio is 5:1 for infants, 6:1 for toddlers, 8:1 for 2 year olds, 13:1 for 3 year olds, 15:1 for 4 year olds, and 20:1 for 5 year olds. So what does your $7.50 an hour child care worker actually get paid? If you have an infant, your child care worker is getting paid around $1.50 an hour to take care of your child (they get paid $1.50 an hour for the other 4 children in her care as well). But wait... if you have a 5 year old in a class of 20 children... your child care worker is getting paid a pitiful $.38 an hour to watch your child specifically. That's not what you're paying, but that's what ends up getting filtered to your child care worker. No wonder we think that mothers should go out and get a real job! We shell out a whopping $.38 an hour for a child care worker to watch our 5 year olds!
I think a homemaking degree is a good thing. I wouldn't know how to sew if my grandma hadn't taught me. Even though I don't often make my own clothes, it's a good skill to learn. I have to use sewing skills to fix my daughter's doll carrier, for just a recent example. Cooking, nutrition, and just in general, bringing up your kids to learn to love God... they are all important skills.
So I'll keep that $.38 an hour and I'll stay home and watch my own. They are more valuable to me than that.
read more | digg story
I suppose that it all boils down to what we find important. Personally, I find my children to be very important. They are important enough to me that I gave up a job paying more than $60k to stay at home with them. They are important enough to me that rather than sending my daughter off to public school this fall to be a Kindergartener, she will be home at me learning reading, math, history, science, music, and Bible.
How much do we value our kids anyway? If the average day care worker makes $7.50 an hour (when I worked at day care I got paid less, but I know some get paid more), then the price per hour per child is pitiful. In Arizona the child/teacher ratio is 5:1 for infants, 6:1 for toddlers, 8:1 for 2 year olds, 13:1 for 3 year olds, 15:1 for 4 year olds, and 20:1 for 5 year olds. So what does your $7.50 an hour child care worker actually get paid? If you have an infant, your child care worker is getting paid around $1.50 an hour to take care of your child (they get paid $1.50 an hour for the other 4 children in her care as well). But wait... if you have a 5 year old in a class of 20 children... your child care worker is getting paid a pitiful $.38 an hour to watch your child specifically. That's not what you're paying, but that's what ends up getting filtered to your child care worker. No wonder we think that mothers should go out and get a real job! We shell out a whopping $.38 an hour for a child care worker to watch our 5 year olds!
I think a homemaking degree is a good thing. I wouldn't know how to sew if my grandma hadn't taught me. Even though I don't often make my own clothes, it's a good skill to learn. I have to use sewing skills to fix my daughter's doll carrier, for just a recent example. Cooking, nutrition, and just in general, bringing up your kids to learn to love God... they are all important skills.
So I'll keep that $.38 an hour and I'll stay home and watch my own. They are more valuable to me than that.
read more | digg story
Friday, July 20, 2007
Sex Education for Kindergarteners?
The other day, Senator Barak Obama told a group of Planned Parenthood members that he supported sex education for Kindergarteners.
Now, I don't believe in lying to children. Before ds was born, I bought my daughter a Happy Family Midge doll (you know, the Barbie doll with the baby in the belly). She is not stupid, she saw my stomach get bigger. She went to all my ultrasounds. She got to use the little doppler machine to hear her brother's heartbeat.
Furthermore, I think that children should be taught that there are places that nobody should be touching them. My daughter knows that nobody should be touching her where a bathing suit covers. It's the responsible thing to do whenever you hear a news story about some pervert touching little girls in the aisles of Toys R Us, or dd is in the bathtub asking daddy to "tickle my butt"... the response to that one is "no honey, only you are allowed to touch yourself there".
But the problem with teaching all this stuff to Kindergarteners is what to teach them exactly. Parents are not going to agree on that. Some parents want correct terminology used. Some parents are going to want their child to be taught that sometimes two mommies love each other, or two daddies. Other parents will want their children to know that you are supposed to be married when you have a baby, and of course the single parents don't want their children being taught that.
So while there are things that Kindergarteners should be taught, the proper place for them to learn it is at home. I think the schools should just teach "good touch bad touch" and leave the rest alone. I knew a 4 year old who was touching the other 4 year olds in her class in inappropriate ways... they need to know that. The other stuff is just too controversial.
Now, I don't believe in lying to children. Before ds was born, I bought my daughter a Happy Family Midge doll (you know, the Barbie doll with the baby in the belly). She is not stupid, she saw my stomach get bigger. She went to all my ultrasounds. She got to use the little doppler machine to hear her brother's heartbeat.
Furthermore, I think that children should be taught that there are places that nobody should be touching them. My daughter knows that nobody should be touching her where a bathing suit covers. It's the responsible thing to do whenever you hear a news story about some pervert touching little girls in the aisles of Toys R Us, or dd is in the bathtub asking daddy to "tickle my butt"... the response to that one is "no honey, only you are allowed to touch yourself there".
But the problem with teaching all this stuff to Kindergarteners is what to teach them exactly. Parents are not going to agree on that. Some parents want correct terminology used. Some parents are going to want their child to be taught that sometimes two mommies love each other, or two daddies. Other parents will want their children to know that you are supposed to be married when you have a baby, and of course the single parents don't want their children being taught that.
So while there are things that Kindergarteners should be taught, the proper place for them to learn it is at home. I think the schools should just teach "good touch bad touch" and leave the rest alone. I knew a 4 year old who was touching the other 4 year olds in her class in inappropriate ways... they need to know that. The other stuff is just too controversial.
Monday, June 25, 2007
How To Teach The Kids
Our local newspaper has been involved in a long-term project in our area: teach a bunch of first graders how to read. The project has been going on for 3 years now, and the first graders are now third graders.
When I was in college, I tutored at a local elementary school. Some of the third graders were still learning words like mom, dad, the, etc. I thought that was really sad. My just-turned-5 year old can read those words.
So what distinguishes my 5 year old from those third graders? And why are only 14% of the students at Creighton Elementary School, where the newspaper has poured tremendous resources and private tutors volunteer their time, able to read at a 3rd grade level? Can anything be done about it, to teach the kids to read?
My 5 year old has had a lot of help. At age 2 she went to Kindercare, where they taught her letters, numbers, and colors. Most of the kids, my daughter included, knew all their letters, numbers, and colors before they turned 3... if they had been in the program for most of the year. When she was 3, her and most of her Kindercare peers learned the letter sounds, and most could count up to somewhere between 10 and 20.
At 3 1/2, I started homeschooling her part time, and at age 4, my daughter was homeschooled full time. Which really only amounted to an hour or 2 a day, but it was private tutoring. By 5, she learned to read cvc words... that is, consonant vowel consonant words like hat, bad, mom, dad, etc. She also learned several sight words.
What disadvantages do the children at Creighton Elementary, the school I tutored at, and other students have? For starters, many of them start out at a disadvantage because they do not speak English. So they have one additional problem to tackle that my daughter does not. Many of them move a lot. 1/3 of the students that started the program at Creighton Elementary did not finish third grade there. Although we have moved, it didn't cause her to have to change schools.
Many of the students come from poor families. While our family went through some difficult financial times and did not have much money for a while, it was different than what many of these children experience. When you have a college student who graduates and has to work as a secretary for $7 an hour straight out of college, the family mindset is different than of someone who might make the same income but has been at that level their whole life. The college graduate has different experiences and knowledge that he or she can impart to their children. Many of the third grade students, for example, didn't know what a garage was. One child figured it out. "That's a house where rich people park their cars, right?" Well, that's one way of putting it. While we do not have a garage, I asked my 5 year old if she knew what garage meant. She does.
Studies have been done that show that programs like Head Start do not work in the long term. I'm not sure whether it is just because Head Start as a program does not work and they would do better in a program like Kindercare's, or if the student does not find the benefit because of other reasons.
I finished reading Freakonomics the other day. In the book, it says that studies have been done that show that families with a lot of books in their homes have children that do better in school than children without books... even better than children that go to the library regularly, and even if the child in the house of books is plopped in front of the TV all day. Why is that the case? Is it because parents who buy lots of books have more money, are more interested in education? Most of the Creighton kids probably do not have a lot of books in their homes. But sending them truckloads of books probably wouldn't change much either... since the root causes of having a lot of books in your house is probably the same root cause for a children to learn how to read, not the presence of books making one smarter via osmosis.
One thing that I have come to believe as I have researched and started my homeschooling journey is that it is perhaps helpful to follow the same curriculum in order to prevent gaps in a child's education. On some level, a core curriculum, such as outlined in the "What Your ___th Grader Needs To Know" books, makes a lot of sense. My daughter's textbooks don't exactly follow the Core Knowledge curriculum, but I do try to supplement a bit from there, and I also know that she is not going to really run into gaps if I stay with the same textbook manufacturer, as everything is eventually covered. Students that move a lot don't get the advantage of staying with the same curriculum, as they change schools. The drawback to using a core curriculum is that local control is lost, and care would have to be made to ensure that what is thought of as necessary to teach is something that could be agreed on.
The children at Creighton Elementary School have made a lot of progress, despite being behind. The students in the program with the extra resources and tutors are doing better than the students from the year before that did not have the extra resources. Maybe that's the best we can do.
When I was in college, I tutored at a local elementary school. Some of the third graders were still learning words like mom, dad, the, etc. I thought that was really sad. My just-turned-5 year old can read those words.
So what distinguishes my 5 year old from those third graders? And why are only 14% of the students at Creighton Elementary School, where the newspaper has poured tremendous resources and private tutors volunteer their time, able to read at a 3rd grade level? Can anything be done about it, to teach the kids to read?
My 5 year old has had a lot of help. At age 2 she went to Kindercare, where they taught her letters, numbers, and colors. Most of the kids, my daughter included, knew all their letters, numbers, and colors before they turned 3... if they had been in the program for most of the year. When she was 3, her and most of her Kindercare peers learned the letter sounds, and most could count up to somewhere between 10 and 20.
At 3 1/2, I started homeschooling her part time, and at age 4, my daughter was homeschooled full time. Which really only amounted to an hour or 2 a day, but it was private tutoring. By 5, she learned to read cvc words... that is, consonant vowel consonant words like hat, bad, mom, dad, etc. She also learned several sight words.
What disadvantages do the children at Creighton Elementary, the school I tutored at, and other students have? For starters, many of them start out at a disadvantage because they do not speak English. So they have one additional problem to tackle that my daughter does not. Many of them move a lot. 1/3 of the students that started the program at Creighton Elementary did not finish third grade there. Although we have moved, it didn't cause her to have to change schools.
Many of the students come from poor families. While our family went through some difficult financial times and did not have much money for a while, it was different than what many of these children experience. When you have a college student who graduates and has to work as a secretary for $7 an hour straight out of college, the family mindset is different than of someone who might make the same income but has been at that level their whole life. The college graduate has different experiences and knowledge that he or she can impart to their children. Many of the third grade students, for example, didn't know what a garage was. One child figured it out. "That's a house where rich people park their cars, right?" Well, that's one way of putting it. While we do not have a garage, I asked my 5 year old if she knew what garage meant. She does.
Studies have been done that show that programs like Head Start do not work in the long term. I'm not sure whether it is just because Head Start as a program does not work and they would do better in a program like Kindercare's, or if the student does not find the benefit because of other reasons.
I finished reading Freakonomics the other day. In the book, it says that studies have been done that show that families with a lot of books in their homes have children that do better in school than children without books... even better than children that go to the library regularly, and even if the child in the house of books is plopped in front of the TV all day. Why is that the case? Is it because parents who buy lots of books have more money, are more interested in education? Most of the Creighton kids probably do not have a lot of books in their homes. But sending them truckloads of books probably wouldn't change much either... since the root causes of having a lot of books in your house is probably the same root cause for a children to learn how to read, not the presence of books making one smarter via osmosis.
One thing that I have come to believe as I have researched and started my homeschooling journey is that it is perhaps helpful to follow the same curriculum in order to prevent gaps in a child's education. On some level, a core curriculum, such as outlined in the "What Your ___th Grader Needs To Know" books, makes a lot of sense. My daughter's textbooks don't exactly follow the Core Knowledge curriculum, but I do try to supplement a bit from there, and I also know that she is not going to really run into gaps if I stay with the same textbook manufacturer, as everything is eventually covered. Students that move a lot don't get the advantage of staying with the same curriculum, as they change schools. The drawback to using a core curriculum is that local control is lost, and care would have to be made to ensure that what is thought of as necessary to teach is something that could be agreed on.
The children at Creighton Elementary School have made a lot of progress, despite being behind. The students in the program with the extra resources and tutors are doing better than the students from the year before that did not have the extra resources. Maybe that's the best we can do.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Education in America: Value For Your Money?
I suppose that schools haven't been in the news much lately... school is out for the summer here in Arizona, everybody else is graduating, getting ready for prom, or just excited for the end of the school year. This year I haven't heard any stories about valedictorians not being able to give their speeches because they want to mention God, gay proms, or male prom queens. It's been slow in that department recently.
This is also the time of year that homeschoolers often start looking for bargains on next year's curriculum, and are perhaps getting rid of last year's curriculum to make room for more books and pay for the next year. Since I have a baby that will eventually need an education, I'm holding onto all of the ones that I can reuse.
On Saturday, I got a great deal on some books. $15 for a brand new Bible curriculum set that was brand new (retails for $60), in the shrink wrap even. $15 for a second grade math Teacher's manual, that also retails for $60. I got a book for my future toddler for $5, and next year's science student edition for $2 (I got the teacher's edition earlier this year at Half-Priced Books for $5).
So far, I've spent $152.95 on books for next year. I have a few more books to buy, and if I buy everything new, I'll have to spend about another $180. So it costs about $330 for me to educate a child for one year. My baby will cost less when he gets older because there will be fewer books needed to buy for him.
How do our public schools do? About $600 of my property tax money went to schools alone last year... I don't even live in a fancy house or anything... I'm guessing that about 1/2 of the homeowners in this school district pay more than me. Every year, I pay the public schools enough to educate my daughter for almost 2 years. Only, I'm only contributing enough to educate someone else's child for 1 year.
The NEA web site says that it costs an average of $7552 to educate a child for a year NEA link. That's not even including additional costs for special education students... which I would expect would cost more. Wow, that's probably twice what I will have to spend on books for my daughter's entire education!
How does this compare to other schools? Our church has a private school that operates separately from the church. Those students pay less than $2000 a year in tuition. The Kindercare that I used to work at had an accredited, all day Kindergarten... if parents sent their kids there for 40 weeks, it would cost them $7040... less than what the public schools cost. And Kindercare will take your Kindergartener from 6 AM to 6 PM, PLUS provide breakfast, lunch, and snacks! They also provide supplies and workbooks.
Public school supply lists are getting out of hand as well. I've seen some of the lists... they have the basics like crayons, pencils, erasers... although sometimes they ask you to bring an outrageous amount of one supply, like 10 boxes of crayons or something. But they also want you to bring tissues, copy paper, dry erase markers, and I think I saw toilet paper once. PLUS the teachers always seem to be going out and buying supplies for their classrooms. Just what are the public schools paying for?
I do realize that they have to pay for some things that I as a homeschooler do not have to pay for. They have to pay the teachers (which I think should be given a fair salary), buildings, overhead, busses (although some districts charge for that, especially with increased gas costs). But if Kindercare can provide more services for less money, shouldn't our public schools be able to do better than they do?
I think that we often pay our taxes out without really thinking where all the money is going to. It becomes a collective pot of money that sometimes the government does really stupid things with, like teapot museums or berry research in Alaska. Not that education is stupid, but we should get more value for our money.
This is also the time of year that homeschoolers often start looking for bargains on next year's curriculum, and are perhaps getting rid of last year's curriculum to make room for more books and pay for the next year. Since I have a baby that will eventually need an education, I'm holding onto all of the ones that I can reuse.
On Saturday, I got a great deal on some books. $15 for a brand new Bible curriculum set that was brand new (retails for $60), in the shrink wrap even. $15 for a second grade math Teacher's manual, that also retails for $60. I got a book for my future toddler for $5, and next year's science student edition for $2 (I got the teacher's edition earlier this year at Half-Priced Books for $5).
So far, I've spent $152.95 on books for next year. I have a few more books to buy, and if I buy everything new, I'll have to spend about another $180. So it costs about $330 for me to educate a child for one year. My baby will cost less when he gets older because there will be fewer books needed to buy for him.
How do our public schools do? About $600 of my property tax money went to schools alone last year... I don't even live in a fancy house or anything... I'm guessing that about 1/2 of the homeowners in this school district pay more than me. Every year, I pay the public schools enough to educate my daughter for almost 2 years. Only, I'm only contributing enough to educate someone else's child for 1 year.
The NEA web site says that it costs an average of $7552 to educate a child for a year NEA link. That's not even including additional costs for special education students... which I would expect would cost more. Wow, that's probably twice what I will have to spend on books for my daughter's entire education!
How does this compare to other schools? Our church has a private school that operates separately from the church. Those students pay less than $2000 a year in tuition. The Kindercare that I used to work at had an accredited, all day Kindergarten... if parents sent their kids there for 40 weeks, it would cost them $7040... less than what the public schools cost. And Kindercare will take your Kindergartener from 6 AM to 6 PM, PLUS provide breakfast, lunch, and snacks! They also provide supplies and workbooks.
Public school supply lists are getting out of hand as well. I've seen some of the lists... they have the basics like crayons, pencils, erasers... although sometimes they ask you to bring an outrageous amount of one supply, like 10 boxes of crayons or something. But they also want you to bring tissues, copy paper, dry erase markers, and I think I saw toilet paper once. PLUS the teachers always seem to be going out and buying supplies for their classrooms. Just what are the public schools paying for?
I do realize that they have to pay for some things that I as a homeschooler do not have to pay for. They have to pay the teachers (which I think should be given a fair salary), buildings, overhead, busses (although some districts charge for that, especially with increased gas costs). But if Kindercare can provide more services for less money, shouldn't our public schools be able to do better than they do?
I think that we often pay our taxes out without really thinking where all the money is going to. It becomes a collective pot of money that sometimes the government does really stupid things with, like teapot museums or berry research in Alaska. Not that education is stupid, but we should get more value for our money.
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