Mom Is Teaching

You know, I get really excited when my child brings home yet another work of art.  I mean, it sometimes borders on ridiculous but honestly, what else are they going to do in kindergarten?  If not draw?  Then, what?

So, when I happed upon this post on Blissfully Domestic’s homeschooling post, I was more than a bit amused.  My child’s drawings do not look anything like the ones in the photo but nothing I’ve ever drawn looks like this either. 

I’ve read tons of posts about what to do with your children’s artwork when there is no more room on the fridge and basically that’s us, the fridge will not hold anything else.  So, I do the demonic thing and when my son is not looking, I pick out the good pieces that I want to keep and I *shutter* put the rest in the garbage.  Someone recommended making photos of the actual pieces of work and I had always planned to do that, but it just never happened. 

I do keep a box under my bed with all of the neat stuff that I happen to find extremely special but I never remember to make a photo of the stuff that *shutter* throw in the trash.

So, go check out the Cartoon History Notebook because man, this photo, this is classic isn’t it?

When I graduated from college, my philosophy was to teach as much as I could teach all while allowing the children to play.  The idea, count while we do jumping jacks, do multiplication facts while we do sit-ups, list the states and capitals while we jump rope, or even do spelling words while we shoot hoops.  It was a grand plan that college had prepared me for.  When I got my first job, that was a joke.  I still believed, but when you have 60 kids at once, it is somewhat more difficult.  The best physical educators I know, or I should say the most successful or the most long-lasting physical education teachers I know, don’t do much more than toss out a ball and blow a whistle whilst sitting in a nearby chair.

I hate that.  I quit I hated it so much.

Then, as I started to buy the daycare, I had to meet these certain stipulations.  One of them was teaching in a daycare for a year or having a degree in early childhood.  Ok, fine, I had done both, but my degree, although my teaching certificate said, N-12 which stands for nursery school through grade twelve, was not sufficient.  UH?

I fought the system.  Who better qualified to teach pre-school children how to play while learning than a physical education teacher with a degree that studied preschool age children?  The Department of Human Resources was not amused. 

Anyway, here’s a few ideas of just what your child can learn from playing.  Parents.com states it like this:

“….taking turns, and working out conflicts becomes possible in the preschool years — though kids will still need help from adults when communication breaks down. And don’t worry if there are a lot of arguments or the kids are unable to share. Learning to play cooperatively takes time and practice!”

“So the next time you see your toddler squishing Play-Doh and then throwing it across the room, don’t think, What a mess! Instead, be proud of the fact that he is hard at work, experimenting with cause and effect, and making sense of the diverse world around him.”

So, how can you do to foster this learning in pre-schoolers?  They can build block towers, play pretend and be there for your child to help him understand taking turns, empathy, etc.

So,, when you start toy shopping, look for toys that meet the needs for enhance sensory thinking, puppets, dolls, trucks, push toys for motor skills and pretend play,

So, anyone else have any good ideas?

If you would like to subscribe to Parents Magazine, you can go here to get a year free or a two years at a discount price…

If you remember, Dr. Sanford Aranoff left a comment back on my post entitled “Homework and Comments”.  He left a book recommendation that I looked up on Amazon but the description didn’t lend itself to the topic of “homework” in particular so I passed on buying and reading it.  I did contact Dr. Aranoff and explain as much.  I received the following comment on that old post, I’m putting it here because the post is so old it might be missed otherwise.

“There are several parts of Teaching and Helping Students” dealing with homework. Here are some quotes:
Feelings are very important in mathematics and science. When I go to a seminar, I often hear statements like “I do not feel good about this,” or ”I feel good about this.” You too should examine your feelings during class and when doing homework. I am really so confused about what this means, so I’m not commenting otherwise”.

There are entire sections devoted to homework. E.g., classroom management has a section on homework. Here are some quotes: (Whoa, classroom management and homework are not synonyms…classroom management does not equal homework, sorry)

It is important to give homework, because then they have to review the material.  (Review the material does not equal homework, review the material equals study time.)

Homework is practice in applying the math concepts and learning how to think clearly about the math. It must also be exercises in how to do math, namely, to write neatly, to clearly state the assumptions and reasoning, and to check the work. (Math exercise includes writing neatly? (I fully believe that if a child does not know how to do the math, he/she won’t know how to do it after doing 50 math problems at home at night or even 5.  And, if they don’t know how to do it, then it needs to be covered at school.  With that, if the child/person knows how to do the exercise, then they know how and 5 or 50 problems doesn’t make a lot of difference.  Class time is best for exercising so that someone (namely a teacher) is there to assist.)

Homework can be viewed as public work. We like to keep tests private, out of respect for the students, but this is not the case for homework. The goal is the effort, the correct understanding of the mathematics, and the proper approach. The activities of one student, successes and failures, can be shown as examples to enhance the learning of all.  (No, you are not using my child’s failures to teach someone, sorry.)

It is good if students collaborate (as long as they simply do not copy from each other) doing homework. It is good if they teach each other. This should be encouraged. Collaboration is not acceptable on tests, of course, most of the time, although there may be exceptions. (You say, and I quote, “it is good if they (as in students) teach each other”….whoa, it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach…not the students…who is trained to teach here????? Whoa is all I’m gonna say, just WHOA!)

The homework review in the class can be utilized as encouragement for working together, by discussing aloud with the students nearby work that was very good or contained errors.” 

My dissection of this reply is in red and so I am still not convinced that he and I are working on the same page. 

What do you think?

Ok, I’ve been pretty verbal this week, I’m thinking I should close my trap but I can’t wait to read your comments.

I’m not going to pretend that I have any clue what-so-ever how a homeschooling parent would teach that previous lesson.  But, I suspect that the method I mentioned might work really great in that matter.  If I were thrown into homeschooling tomorrow, that’s what I would do.  I would go through the map with the child, discussing a little about each state that we might already know or that we can look up and learn.  That way, the child has a better idea of what a state represents other than just a spot on a map.

And, the parent could help the child go through the labeling process with the student reminding them of the small pieces of information that he/she had just learned about each state.  I see this as beneficial because let’s suppose your child lives in Gainesville Florida.  You are homeschooling and you are to this unit.  You 8- year-old has been begging to go snow skiing.  But when you try to explain to him/her that you can’t actually go snow skiing where you live and it is quite a long way to travel in order to do so. 

As you were labeling your map, you could show your child where grandma and grampa live in Nashville Tennessee and also remind them how long it took the last time you drove to see them.  Remind them of the various bathroom stops and the number of miles traveled, etc.  Then, you could jump to Colorado and show them that in order to snow ski they would need to visit a place such as Denver Colorado.  Look what your child has learned and learned the location of:  state of Florida and capital, state of Tennessee and capital and state of Colorado and capital.  The student is so much more likely to remember this because it relates to something the child is already interested in. 

In a classroom setting the teacher could do this as well, the problem being the number of students and the ability to know their students and their likes and dislikes.

In that example, I would be able to teach my child many states and capitals just be using the knowledge they already have and adding to it.  The knowledge is so much more likely to be retained. 

Fast forward 20 years and this young adult still hasn’t been snow skiing but he has won a free airline round trip to anywhere.  He/she knows exactly where he/she wants to go:  Denver Colorado.  And, because you had the opportunity to teach seasons and such, he/she can plan their trip accordingly since he/she learned at a very young age that driving from his/her home in Gainesville Florida to Denver Colorado would probably ruin his trip.

Lesson learned.  No homework.  Child can then be left with blank maps to work through and a labeled map to check his progress.  Learning so much more than simply regurgitating knowledge back onto a piece of paper. 

Discuss.

I know that many times it seems I’m talking out both sides of my mouth.  And, the truth is, I do not, in many cases, have a concrete opinion.  I was raised in public school.  My father taught the entire 19 years of my life in public schools.  He was a huge advocate for public school workers (teachers, bus drivers, other support personnel, etc).  For me, public schools were number one and the only people who received homeschooling were either a)sick (either terminally or from a surgery; b) expelled from school for behavior or c) religious zealots.  So, understand that I still believed this until just recently. 

I don’t know how many of you know the in’s and out’s of why schools are pushing our children.  As I said recently, it isn’t one individual teacher, system or state that’s pushing, it is a push nationally.  And, with that, I’m going to go over into what is known as AYP or Adequate Yearly Progress.  Now, when this Accountability Report comes through, everyone is affected.

Holly sent me this yesterday and I didn’t address it  but the more I thought about it, I know I can lend some first hand information on this subject.  And, I think nearly everyone will be surprised.  Here’s her quote:

“Schools must meet AYP for each year…if they don’t then they must bring in all the people to help them meet the AYP and parents have the right to move their kid out of an school that doesn’t meet AYP.”

Before I tell you about a school that doesn’t meet the AYP Standards, let me tell you where I’m coming from with the state of affairs in schools where I live.  Only 83% of schools in Alabama meet AYP standards.  The following came out of the Birmingham News in August of this year.

“A report released this morning said 1,140 of 1,367 schools met all of the goals required under federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards.
Among those that did not meet the goals, 137 schools were identified as needing improvement. Of those 137 schools, 73 will be required to notify parents that their children may transfer to other schools within their school systems.

A school is identified as needing improvement when it fails for two years in a row to show improvement in the same category — such as graduation rate or attendance goals. “

 

In the county where I live, the general average falls from the 83% above to 80%.  There’s way more to that pie than I’ve given you here, but that’s a basic overview. 

The last time I taught in the public school system was in 2005 and I taught high school biology in a school that had not met the standards set in AYP and was labeled a Target Assistance School.  What this meant was, the teachers in the school were being evaluated by a team of “experts”* and given “better” methods than the ones that the teacher was using.

Now, first of all, I was the maternity leave teacher.  I was there 9 weeks (lady had 3 weeks extra that she had been donated by other employees from sick leave bank).  So, why they were, in my opinion, wasting their time continuing to hound me, I’m not sure.  When you take into consideration that I am not a biology highly qualified teacher, heck I’m not even a biology teacher (chemistry is where my minor is but I’m not certified in that either), I saw very little reason for them to be evaluating me when they could have been working with some other long-term teachers.  But they did.  And, it was not fun. 

I know that sounds like a child saying “but that’s no fun” or “it’s boring” but the fact of the matter is, all the teachers felt that way.  And, in my opinion, with good reason.  Basically, the “experts”* would come into your classroom and observe an entire block (which was 90 minutes - our school system no longer works on a block plan).  At the end of the block, the “expert”* would fill out an evaluation form on you, tell you what to change and where you needed to focus and then you had to sign off on it. 

Now, for some of you sitting there, you are thinking, well, good, accountability is good.  And, I agree, accountability is good.  But this method was like Chinese torture.  There were many facets of the evaluation, but one segment in particular read: Homework Assignments.

This “expert”* would go through your lesson plans and check your homework assignments, he/she would also evaluate your method of using the homework from the night before.  Basically, the form insisted that homework be given EVERY NIGHT.  The other part of the evaluation that is pertinent here is that this person would insist that you were involved in instruction the entire 90 minutes.  Students were not allowed to work on the homework assignment in class but you were also expected to give a class assignment that you worked through with individuals as they had questions.  FOR 90 MINUTES AND THEN HOMEWORK EVERY NIGHT. 

I’m going to cut this off here, but I’m going to get into this in detail in some of my thoughts on Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish’s

The Case Against Homework because this very issue is something we’ve addressed here quite frequently lately and I hear it every day when I go to pick up my son.  Plus, I joined the crowd of homework haters yesterday when I saw that my kindergartner had homework.

*Experts - the experts were retired teachers that had been hired by an outside company to go into the schools twice a week and perform these evaluations.  These teachers had no more expertise than the ones in the classrooms with the exception of teachers like me and brand new teachers.  Many times you had an “expert” evaluating a teacher that had been teaching 5 to 8 years more than the expert.  Does this not sound a bit skewed to you?  And, who was paying for this?  The school system was footing the bill to this consultation firm who had hired these experts AND these experts were also drawing from their retirement.  Does any of this not strike you as odd? 

**I have my evaluation forms somewhere.  When I find them, I will scan one and post it for you to see.  They were on carbonless paper so I may have to work with it to make it readable, but I will do that soon.

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Everything I’ve written thus far about public schools and homework seems very negative.  But, I want to make sure everyone knows and understands that I know I can’t do the job of a teacher.  I’ve tried, Lord knows I’ve tried.  I tried one year, quit for a couple, tried for 2, quit for a couple, tried one year, quit, until I had amassed five years.  I simply am not cut out to be a teacher.  So, please don’t get the impression that I am downing one teacher in one school or anything of the like.

And, that last sentence is exactly where the problem lies.  It is not that your child’s teacher is doing this, every teacher is doing it.  It is not that your child’s school administrators are pushing your child’s teachers to push the kids harder and further.  It is not even just your child’s system.  As a nation, we’ve lost our minds thinking we can push these little tots into being grown doing grown-up skills at the ripe age of 7.

I just chatted with someone in email.  I know she won’t mind me sharing but just read this…

“This weeks homework for 1st grade:

Study for spelling test and sight word test on Friday

Then choose four of the five activities to complete by Friday:

Alphabetize a set of four words

Read her weekly story they are doing in class from her reading book (they bring it home on Monday..return it on Friday) and then write if its fiction, non-fiction, or realistic fantasy. Then answer end of chapter questions orally to an adult.

List 5 words using the “bl” blend sound

Work a set of 10 math addition problems

Write to complete sentences using at least two weekly spelling words.

Last week one of the activities was to label out sentences with verbs, nouns, adverbs, and adjectives.”

People, come on.  When is this kid suppose to play with her Barbie’s?  Midnight?  And, you know what I’m going to say next right?  They do this to these kids and then complain because the kids don’t get enough sleep.  I am the very first to yell foul when I think a kid is sleep deprived.  But I know exactly what happens.  These kids actually need some time to play and for many of them it is through organized sports. 

I played organized sports from the time I as 12 until well after I crossed that graduation platform.  So, these kids want to play and in order to do that, they have to practice.  Practice then delays homework which in turn delays sleep AND WHAT DO YOU GET?

You get a kid that is too tired to even tell you what he does know.  And…….and the blame gets put on organized sports.  They (as in the folks who are pushing pushing pushing our babies to the brink) always want to holler that the kids are sleep deprived because of organized sports, or dance classes, etc.

And, at the same time, they are being pushed to color in a goofy bubble.  I took AP classes with the same 5 or 6 kids for my junior and senior year.  I made the same grades they made - A’s.  I know in my heart of hearts that only one of them had a greater intelligence level than me.  But, when we took college entrance exams, I would bomb. 

Coloring in the bubble is just not my gig.  Here’s an excellent example.  When I graduated from high school, taking the ACT as a junior was advised because they would “give” you a point for taking it a year early.  So, I did what all the other kids did, I took it early.  Out of those classmates, there was a 34 (high score being 36), 32, 30, 28 and a 18.  Guess who scored the 18? 

I don’t color bubbles well.  I took a class in test taking and the next year I scored a 24.  But, I sat in class with those smarty-pants above and I made the grades all on my own.  I didn’t get anything easy and to be honest, none of us did.  But, they were better at being analytical - two of those were girls, two were boys and then me (a girl by the way). 

So, what I’m getting at here is a bunch of rambling and off topic stuff.  But, my point is, do we want to teach our kids how to take a test or how to actually retain some knowledge?  There is a company out there that can teach you how to increase your scores a lot.  I took the class and later took the class to be a teacher of the course.  It is ridiculous. 

This class for the teachers shows you how to take a standardized test and know very little but score very well based on analytical thinking and basically mind-reading the producer of the test.  Big deal, I can decide whether the answer is a, b, c, d, or e based on the answer to the last 3 or 4 questions or the next 3 or 4? 

And, that accomplishes?  Nothing in my opinion.  Give me the opportunity to tell you what I know, I believe I could have scored just as well as my peers.  The tests I had to take in college to get into the “Teachers” program was all essay based with the exception of one part of the language assessment.  I did really well.  My graduate courses…..they didn’t ask me if the answer was a,b,c,d…they wanted to know if I had read the material, understood the material and knew what I was talking about. 

Ok, this is way too long and I’m going to post it.  I may break it down later into separate posts but I am anxious to hear responses so I’m going with it for now.

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As I’ve mentioned I’ve been reading The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish.  I made notes through-out the book as I read it and some of them seem pointless now as I go back and look, but others are definitely issues that I can add too.  I want to get this written before I start reading the second part of the book, so unfortunately, you get bullets.  And if I know me, some of the bullets will have its own bullets and it may even take me a few days.  But, I just think it is important.

Remember, most of this applies to public schools, public school teachers and public school students.  However, you can learn so much, it is worth it to read it just for the research.

And, not only that, I grew up in a different generation and I never had the amount of homework that children today lug home day after day.  So, excuse me if I approach some of this with snark.  And, if you are a public school teacher that has or will have one of my children in your room, bare in mind that I am the person writing this, not one of my little cherubs. 

• The purpose of homework in the first place.  In the book you will read example after example of children who bring unbelievable amounts of work home with them each night.  Here’s some of my main thoughts on this matter, some I’ve already mentioned in a previous post, others are brand new:
  • The homework is for the child not the parent.
  • Yes, parents need to be teachers so that their children are able to learn by mimmicking many of their behaviors.
  • The parent who sends her child to public school  however, should not be responsible for all of the child’s learning.  Basically, parents shouldn’t be forced to homeschool their children at night. 
  • In most cases, the parent has worked an 8 hour job, and the kid has done just the same.  A child’s work is to learn and most of them have been in school all day doing just that, learning.  The parent nor the child wants to take on a second job at night.  Both parties need to be allowed to rest and relax after a hard days work.
• Have you ever watched kids as they come out of school buildings around you?  Most of them have a backpack on their back that weighs substantially more than what is healthy for them to carry.  I have a cousin in the eighth grade and up until she was in the sixth grade, her mother would carry her backpack inside and then go inside in the afternoons and carry it out.  This sixth grader was small for her age, but if her backpack was too heavy for her to carry, chances are she had too much homework in the first place.
• I wrote just last week about children who are suffering from sleep deprivation.  It is extremely common in our schools right now for kids to act out simply because they aren’t getting enough rest.  And, they aren’t getting enough exercise.  The two go hand in hand.  The child comes straight home from school and starts homework.  That sometimes takes all evening and the child eventually goes to be too late.  Now the kid had no time to burn off energy needed to be tired, they are mentally exhausted but have you ever had one of those nights when your brain was tired but your body didn’t really feel tired.  Well that’s exactly what happens to our kids, then the next day, they take any opportunity they can find to be active and then….then they end up in trouble.
• How many hours a week do you work at your regular job?  For most folks it is 40.  Your child basically spends 40 hours a week doing school work to besides homework.  Now add an extra 2 hours of work to their work day because of homework.  Now your child has worked a 48 hour work week.  How well do you function when you are forced to work 48 hours in five days and maintain a level of expertise that is almost impossible.  Heck, you do it so well, you could probably stand to work a few  hours over the weekend, maybe during your vacation you could paint the house or something.  Come on, give me a break. 
• The j-o-b of a child has 2 components.  One of those components is to learn.  Children are natural sponges.  They are going to learn from their surroundings.  If they have adequate rest, they are going to continue to take in pretty much everything that is put in front of them.  Their other j-o-b is to play.  Yea, you read it right.  A child’s job is to play.  Playing, pretending, even organized sports to some degree allow a child to perform his duties as a child.  So, why, as adults are we not simply letting those children take responsibility for their j-o-b’s?  I have not the answer for you here, I just know that somewhere down the line, someone became misguided and our children are missing out.
• And, that brings me to this statement by the authors of The Case Against Homework, “Learning is maximized and made most efficient and effective when you allow a period for consolidation.”  People, that is not brain surgery.  How well do you perform your job on Monday if you spend the entire weekend doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning floors, painting the house, mowing the lawn?  Don’t even answer that because you and I both know that we have a saying called TGIF and for most of us, we mean that weekends are meant for vegging not working.  Well, guess what, children need that same opportunity. 

I’m going to close this here because the next part I have on my mind requires a little bit more of my own thoughts.  So, until next time……….

The other night at the tattoo place, I was sitting waiting my turn.  There was a couple across the way from me who had came to Panama City Beach in an effort to flee New Orleans.  The couple was relatively young, that I could tell by looking.  But further conversation took me deep into a conversation that I never dreamed I would have in a tattoo parlor, in Panama City Beach Florida at close to 10 PM.

I’m not even sure how the subject came up, I think she mentioned her children, I asked about them and she indicated that she had five children.  Their ages ranged from 3 to 11.  It was fairly obvious that the children weren’t with her but I wasn’t going to just be blunt and say, ‘well where are the little chaps” so I listened to what she had to say about them.

Side note here:  I was holding the book The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennet and Nancy Kalish but I don’t think she had noticed that at this time. 

Anyway, she barely got the words “they range from 3 to 11, but we homeschool and they are with their dad right now.”  I was immediately drawn to her, of course, she had information that was definitely useful for me.  As it turned out, she was an Army brat and apparently at one time called New Orleans home.  She later moved to Nevada but in the last year she had returned to New Orleans.  Thus the need to get the heck out of there this week. 

What she told me was simply fascinating.  It may or may not be that interesting to you since many of you homeschool and we’ve yet to talk about schedules and time of the year for school sessions, etc.  But, because of the work schedule of the children’s father (which she didn’t tell me), it works best for them for them to handle their school time from January through August.  Then, the children go to their father’s and stay and they swap the visitation schedule.

I was stunned.  I grew up in the house with a public school teacher, remember that.  And for me, the year starts in August and ends in May and those months in between are simply extra credit.  I mean that literally, if you did well from August to May, you had a free summer, but if you didn’t, summer school was waiting on you.  I had never entertained the idea that school could go from January to August.  How is that my little brain was so closed and couldn’t imagine such a thing happening?

She explained to me about going to the zoo, the arboretum, grocery shopping and having the kids weigh stuff, compare prices and the like.  She continued to tell me that her belief is that children are like sponges, they want to learn, they want to create and as long as you give the little ones an opportunity to see and do, they will learn. 

Now, duh, that’s not rocket science.  But as I’ve mentioned to you before, the only home schooled children that I know in real life didn’t even make it to graduate.  And, neither of them have been able to hold down decent jobs.  I was mesmerized by our conversation and when the guy told me it was my turn, I was a bit disappointed.  I was learning so much from this lady.  She couldn’t have been over 26 or maybe even 27 years old though.  Still I absolutely loved listening to her.

She doesn’t follow a set curriculum and her thoughts on education reminded me much of what Meg L said in this comment regarding her role in homeschooling.  Meg L and the lady in the tattoo place both said, I’m a facilitator, I’m a coach, I’m someone to lends directions.

It was totally a wow moment for me.  TOTALLY!

I remember when I entered the ninth grade.  I had gone to a small school with less than 100 students in 9 grades (K-8).  That means I have a special place in my heart for small schools.  It also means that when it comes to the idea of sending my own children to a school that resembles the one I attended or send them to one that is much bigger, I simply straddle the fence.

I know that as a student from a really small school, I received so much individual and undivided attention in so many areas.  The memories I have are boundless.  When I transferred, I transferred to a high school where students came in from three or four feeder schools.  The school I attended was a feeder school but not to the high school I attended.

Side Note:  Remember, I moved to my dad’s when I was 13, I finished the last 2 months of eighth grade in the school where I had been a student since the third grade. 

So, when the subject is broached by experts as to which is better, small numbers in one school where individual attention is rampant or big schools like the one we were fed into after we finished being elementary and junior high students. 

I can find arguments for both and when I was asked in the past, I almost argued that there is no way I would trade my education with 17 other kids and one teacher all day long.  But, as it is now, the schools this size are few and far between because of operating costs.  Also, it means that the students in these small schools don’t get all the added benefits.

What added benefits you ask?

Well, besides the ability to socialize with a larger number of people.  And, if you read my post on school bullies, you know that I basically had class with the same kids, year after year, all day long and there was no escaping the bully and her followers.  The more I learn about bullies, the more I realize just how bad I was bullied.  And, had I been a student in a larger school, I might have had an opportunity to escape these people at least a few times a day and maybe even all together some years.  And, then, my mind returns to how personalized my instruction was for the most part. 

Sure, I made good grades, I’ve already mentioned that I had the highest grade point average for the entire year in the seventh and eighth grades but for the most part, that wasn’t a great honor then like it seems to be now, it only brought me more grief.  When someone would make better than me on one test or one assignment, they were constantly nagging and aggravating me about it.  And, when I was given my award, all the talk was about whether it was really true or did the teaches just feel sorry for me.  C’mon, I finished second in my class when I got to high school (which none of the others in my feeder school managed to do.)

So, that’s my argument for and against the small school setup.  Now, obviously the cons of the small school set up are the pro’s for the larger school way of educating.  And, I’ve given you at least one reason why the larger school students had things a little bit more under control.  But, they already knew their way around, they knew that the newbies were lost and they would take advantage of it.  (See later post on this as well).

But the benefits of attending one of the larger schools was much greater than just being more comfortable.  The benefits now include so many more opportunities for a child to take foreign  languages and higher maths at an earlier age.  Is that necessary?  I’m not sure, but it seems it must be or the world wouldn’t be pushing this on our children.  (See Stop Homework for more about this very issue)

I remember being in the eighth grade and being on my schools quiz bowl team.  We competed against eighth graders within the entire system.  Which meant, small school, big school, none of that mattered once you were seeded for the county wide quiz bowl tournament.  It was merely 8th graders versus 8th graders. 

And, I will tell you this, the kids on the quiz bowl team from the school that I chose when I entered the 9th grade, beat the living daylights out of us.  They had quiz bowl material, a real quiz bowl coach, and a set of quiz bowl equipment.  They could actually practice for “quiz bowl”.  Our quiz bowl team at the feeder school was chosen about 3 days before we competed.

This was part of why I considered that particular school when I made my decision for high school instead of the high school where my father taught .  I remember thinking how my parents had deprived me of the best education possible by sending me to a feeder school.  I immediately decided that bigger was better.

But, like any 40 year old, I can look back to when I was 13 and wonder if it was really as bad as I thought it was back then.  Are large schools better simply because they can offer more.  And, as Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish offer up in their book….is more necessarily better?  Are our children prepared for more more more? 

What about all the things I learned because I had such individualized attention?  One of the things that comes to mind when I was reading The Case Against Homework was that homework was assigned with teachers taking into account what other teachers were doing.  Were the students involved in a school event that night, then the teachers would let homework go that night.  Not just one of them, but all of them.  They took care to make sure that we weren’t sent home from extra-curricular activities with 3 hours of work to do for school. 

We never had homework on church night nor did we have homework over the weekends or holidays.  These teachers were even careful to not schedule tests on the same day as another teacher.  Finally, since the teachers were all in unison on what was going on, if we had extra time, they would encourage us to do our homework from their class or even another class. 

The teachers in my little school were able to help teach responsibility.  They would greet students at the door asking if they remembered their books or study notes.  And, students who needed specialized attention that would today be sent a’packin’ to special education, got what they needed in the classroom.  Teachers were free to help 2 or 3 students with their work while the rest of the class did their work and then did their homework for other classes. 

Not long ago I ran into a woman who had taught second grade at my little school.  She taught there until she retired.  She lived in that community her entire life.  When she retired, she started a career with the large university nearby  working with student teachers.  I ran into her at a school where she was visiting a student teacher.  We discussed the state of affairs in our schools at that time.  Her words filled my ears then and continue to fill my ears anytime the subject is brought up.  What was it that she said that I thought provoking and memorable?

She said, “You know, all this talk about learning disabilities and special education, we had kids like that when I taught school, but we managed, we taught them and we did it with love, true love, and that’s how those students got through.”

It rings viciously in my ears when people ask me when I’m going to medicate my son….?  (which is another post all together - because I’m not medicating my son for now)

Discuss.

Before anyone accuses me of being a dummy, I’ve put a lot of thought into this post, so just know I am not throwing this out here without any thought.

Ok, I do not think that I could adequately teach my child past the seventh or eighth grade.  And, again, not because I’m dumb, but simply because that’s a lot of material to be responsible for.  I’ve taught seventh and eighth grade Earth and Life Science before and I taught tenth grade biology as well.  I have a minor in chemistry, so I’m no dummy.

I keep reminding you guys that I’m not dumb, does that not just speak volumes about my self-confidence?

Anyway, even when I taught those sciences, I was only responsible for those classes, not the entire curriculum.  I know that curriculums are available in a lot of places.  I’m just curious if buying a curriculum and enrolling with the online schools or academy’s makes it any easier to teach all the academics? 

And, with that, I know that many of you have also traveled extensively and are believers (as I am) that traveling and learning is as important as sitting with a book in hand.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower is way better than reading about it for 12 years, right? 

Also, I do not consider this little trip to the beach educational for my child, just want to clarify that this is for fun, educational trips are what I’m asking about.  I am sure we could find many ways to make this an educational trip but the fact of the matter is, we all want to rest and relax and that is just what we are going to do.

So, the questions are this:

1.  At what age do you quit home schooling or do you go through high school graduation?

2.  What curriculum to you use?

3.  If you have used different curriculums over time, which ones do you like the best and why?

4.  What do you do if you are like me and don’t feel qualified to teach your child trigonometry or calculus (although I made A’s in both) or Anatomy and Physiology?

Discuss.

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The biggest complaint I hear from parents of children in public schools in my area is the amount of homework children bring home.  Now, I remember being in school, I’m old but not that old.  And, I remember having homework.  But, I had to carry all the necessary items for my homework home with me on a bus.  I had to lug them from the time school let out until the bus arrived at school which was about 40 minutes.  Then, another 30 minutes of pulling and tugging and dropping and picking them up while on the bus.  Then, the quarter of a mile walk from the bus stop to the house (this was before backpacks were an “item”).  The, I had to lug them back to my mom’s car when she picked me up after work, then lug them back in the house when I got home, do my homework, get the books together and lug again the following morning.

So, you know what?  I did as much as I could possibly do while I was at school.  Give me a free 5 minutes at the end of class, I’m getting that homework started and maybe finished.  Especially if I got 10 minutes at the end of my next class.  That was one set of books and notebooks that didn’t have to go home. 

But the kicker that I see these days?  Once I got all that hauling of books done and I was home for the night I HAD TO DO MY OWN HOMEWORK.  I am so not kidding when I tell you that 99% of the parents I talk to have this complaint, “we sit at the table and do homework every night for at least 2 hours”.  What’s this “we” stuff.  I didn’t have a “we” when I was doing my homework.  I had someone to ask if I was stuck on a question.  But for the most part, if I asked more than 2 or 3 questions, I was reminded that it was MY homework, not my moms or dads.

I hear parents talking about their child having to do these projects and how it took them (the parent) 2 hours to do that blame poster.  My eyes gape open like I just heard someone say the world has ended.  My parents never picked up a stick of glue or a pair of scissors for  any of my projects.  Not in 12 years did either of my parents say, “we have to do homework for ___ hours every night”.

I can almost guarantee you that neither of my parents even knew when I had homework and when I didn’t other than the stack of books I was lugging around.  Oh and for the record, I didn’t make a “B” until I was in the 9th grade.  And after than I only made 7 or 8 of them in the next 4 years.  And, I promise you, it was NOT because my parents had that “we have homework” mentality.

So, for you public school parents?  Please tell me and be honest which category you fit into. Do you just let your children do their thing answering an occasional question or are you one of those “we had 2 hours of homework” parents?

And, for you homeschool parents, how does homework even work?  I did read a couple of research articles where it discussed the importance of giving your children homework and believe it or not, the main topic of this article had a theme something like this, “yes you are home schooling your child, that does not mean you are responsible for standing over them or doing their homework for them”. 

I’m just wondering what part of that sentence the public school parents missed.  I’m completely bumfuzzled every time I hear that “we” phrase so I’m curious how that works in the homes where home schooling is the way to go and especially when there are children in more than one grade.  Teach me, as the time may come that I have to homeschool, I’m certainly not ruling it out.  I just need to learn more about it and you are the people who can teach me. 

So, please, let me know what you think?

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I had a comment on the last post that showed me that I was being misunderstood.  I commented back but finally decided it was worthy of a post all its own.  Here is that post:

Wow, I had no intentions of making the post sound like I think I am better than public schools.  I don’t even know where to start with explaining to you where I was trying to go with my post.  First, let me say that I had no reservations about taking him out of school this early and going on vacation before you commented that you thought it was too early.  And, then, I got scared.  So, Wayne suggested we ask his teacher who said (not a direct quote here, just summarizing) that because he had been in daycare/preschool that he was good with the schedule, he stayed on tasked, he transitioned well and wasn’t having a problem at drop-off and that she didn’t see that it would be a problem.
So, I went with her thoughts.  As for me checking him out early last week, that wasn’t a reward for him as much as it was for me.  As you know, we live in the boonies of no where and I had to be in “town” for an appointment (prior to the time we went to McD’s).  So, if I had not taken him with me, I would have had to make the 30 mile trek back and forth.  Normally my mom would have been available, but she had her chemo treatment and wasn’t able.  So, I did what I had to do.  Also, I don’t believe in rewarding behavior that is expected.  He is expected to behave in his classroom and he will be punished if he isn’t.  I know that some behaviors warrant simply rewarding with small items for good behavior.  But in my opinion, some behaviors are expected and not reward behaviors.  And, proper behavior at school is one of those.  I’ll deal with him at home differently, but he will not be a pain the arse to his teacher, ever. 
Now, I was raised in the public school system and you know that as well.  My dad taught in a public school for 19 years and was a huge advocate for educators in Alabama as well as nationally.  I taught in the public schools.  However, I think I’ve told you before and if I haven’t, I can’t imagine why but the schools around here?  They don’t hold a candle to the schools in Georgia.  I remember just reading the paper when I lived in Atlanta about on-goings at the schools.  I know from all the things that we’ve talked about before with your preschool knowledge that the pre schools here don’t hold a candle to that either.  That doesn’t mean I am anti-public school.  As a matter of fact, I am very much in favor of public schools.  There is no way Walker could function in a home schooled environment and even more than that, I couldn’t and don’t want to do it. 
Now, that said, there are plenty of kids who couldn’t thrive in public schools for some reason or another (outside the obvious ones) and need the home schooling option.  We had 3 choices of schools to put Walker in because there are no zoning laws here.  And, therein lies the problem in our area (remind me and I’ll post that topic later)…well, it is a place to start anyway.  But we had 3 choices and we chose the one with the highest national standard scores.  Which you and I both know that standardized tests are not the greatest source for information either.  My cousin graduated from one of the schools that we bi-passed.  She had earned the “highest grade point” award every year of her first thru eight grades.  Then in ninth grades, the kids from where Walker goes transferred in for high school.  She was immediately knocked off her pedestal by 3 of the kids from the school where we chose to put Walker.  That says something…..it wasn’t just a coincidence.  How do I know that, because my cousin who transferred just this year was in the exact position except she was transferring in and immediately the kids didn’t like her because she and her peers that transferred in were making better grades.
I can tell you right here and now, I would be hard pressed to home school my own child past probably the 4th or 5th grade in some subjects.  The year I taught seventh and eight grade life and earth science was a freaking nightmare.  I knew the subject matter, but teaching it wasn’t what I was trained to do and I was lost.  Also, the school where Walker goes is a school that I worked in, I know what goes on in that building and I know that compared to other schools I’ve worked in, that place really is as good as their scores say they are.
And, I may have used this example already but when I found out the class that Walker was going to be in and the class that his best friend was going to be in, I knew immediately that class selection wasn’t just something that had to be done.  His best friend’s mom teaches at the school, she teaches special education.  She and I both requested that the 2 boys not be in the same room.  She openly said that she had no control over who either of them got for a teacher and didn’t care and I felt that way as well.  Hindsight though, there was some thought put into the process and it wasn’t simply a matter of pulling names out of hat. 
Walker needed a teacher who would not tolerate his meltdowns or his desire to be silly and clown around yet would push him to keep learning more and more.  His friend needed a teacher that could tolerate his getting under the chair for the first week or so and under the table and just truly acting goofy alot but that would teach him without having to force him to be serious.  Both children got the exact teacher that fit their personality.  Even the 3rd teacher of kindergarten wouldn’t have worked for either of them, the 2 choices for the 2 children were made with the child in mind.  Now, that’s quality public education and it is right here in my back door. 
One of the other schools that I mentioned?  They aren’t even accredited.  I know of 4 kids who transferred out after the 2nd or 3rd grade and were almost a full grade level behind.  It happens.  That doesn’t mean all public schools are bad.  It doesn’t even mean that that particular school is bad.  It is just the facts.  As I said earlier, public school in Alabama is no where near what it is in Georgia.  Georgia ranks 39th, Alabama ranks 48.  48th out of 50, DC, New Mexico and Mississippi are the only places where it is worse.  That is a statistic right there that says a lot.  Now, it doesn’t mean that public schools are superior to home schools or vice - versa.
Also, I think that you have misunderstood when I talk in depth about parents teaching their children.  I honestly believe that there is way more for a parent outside of the school setting, to teach their children, regardless of whether they are home schooled or public or private schooled, parents have that responsibility and too many (and I know you as well as you know me, we both feel like we do our part) have just pushed that to the wayside and said, let someone else teach them.  I know that Velcro is the reason why kids don’t know how to tie their shoes as early as they did 35 years ago when I learned.  The reason is because my mom, the adults and the older children in my family taught me how.  The teacher didn’t teach me that, and it wasn’t necessarily her responsibility.  But many parents choose Velcro shoes more for the factor of not having to “teach” their child something.  THAT’S WRONG!  Period.
I do not know one single person in my real life that home schools right now.  Only 25,000 kids in Alabama, or there about, are home schooled.  I did have a cousin who home schooled her children.  Why?  Because she wanted religion to be part of their education.  How did she do it?  She simply went through an on line home schooling site and then the children did their own thing at their own pace while she worked 12 hours a day.  Neither of them graduated and I talked to one of them in an instant message when she was in the ninth grade and I could hardly read what she was trying to say because she couldn’t spell easy words.  So, I didn’t right that post for it to be pro or con anything.  When I say parents need to teach their kids, I mean they need to teach their kids outside of what is formally known as “school time” whether they are the one doing the formal schooling or someone else is, there’s way too much that parents are slighting their children out of.
I can’t find the statistics for the number of children that are home schooled in Georgia but I know it is much higher.
Just a side note, Walker’s teacher sent me his work yesterday for him to do next week.  I don’t know how well we will do with it, but he will do his school work.  Neither I or Wayne feel qualified but we will figure out a way.  Just from that, I know she isn’t concerned about him getting behind.
So, I hope this doesn’t seem that I raked you over the coals and I definitely didn’t dismiss your comment on the “going on vacation” post.  I went straight to his teacher and she even said he would be fine.  I knew he already knew some of his multiplication facts but she sent a note home yesterday saying she thought he knew them all through 3.  I knew he knew some of them.  However, the conversation goes like this, me:  “what is 3 X 4?”  him: 12; me:  what is 4 X 3?  him:  you know I don’t know the 4’s yet.
He is eager too learn.  There is so much he can learn in public schools that I could never teach him at home.  But, there’s also lots to be learned by exploring your world too.  Is the beach considered an educational trip.  Probably not, but will he be reading or at least trying to read every road sign all the way there, while we are there and all the way home?  Yep.  Will his mom and dad help him?  Yes.  Will his mom and dad go nuts trying?  Yes because our short trips into town right now of 30 miles are straining my brain because all he wants to do is learn more stuff.
I’m going to say this again.  I appreciate your comments more and more.  I feel like I know you more personally than most of my Internet acquaintances and you can guarantee that every piece of advice you gave me regarding daycare/preschool was taken and used.  If I didn’t use it for some reason, it was because it simply wasn’t possible in our little town of less than 14000 people.  And, yes I am the one that has actually taught in a public school (and a private church school for that matter) but as far as the knowledge of what is going on and what is being done to help kids, you have already proven that you know more than I do.  It has been a long time since I was in a public school, but I do know that you have seen, heard and been more involved than I have.
So, if anyone else out there took my post to be a bashing of public schools, it certainly wasn’t.  I’ve already received an email from someone who assumed I was bashing home schooling and one who thought I was bashing private schools and religious schools.  I’m not bashing anyone.  I just want you to remember that whoever teaches your child the “formal’ education, they can only do so much, we, as parents have to pick up the slack and teach our own children a lot of life skills.
Since this is so long, I’m going to make it a post as well.  And, please remember, I’m not here to bash anyone, I’m hear to teach you stuff I know, learn from you the stuff you know and then together we can teach our children what we all know.

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This is for the home school moms.  Since I shared my thoughts on how little instructional time it seems my child gets (and we will see for sure next week when we are home schooling him while on vacation), I wanted to know from you guys how much time each day to spend on what I call “instructional time”. 

See, my thing with home schooling is this, if I did it, we would never get anything else done because I would spend the whole day teaching stuff and my children would be close to killing me.  As it is, the oldest one is in public school and the 3-year-old is at home tying me to a chair playing with knives but mostly he is just agitating me. 

So, my decision to have “school time” sort of like he would if he were in the pre-K program that I had at my daycare seemed to be wonderful.  Except, once we get started, two things happened.  He doesn’t want to quit and demands my attention 100% of the day.  And, secondly, when I do convince him to go play in the road,  I still keep teaching.  Every thing we do, every move we make, I’m explaining stuff to him that is so over his head it is ridiculous. 

I’m not explaining it because he is asking either.  He wants my undivided attention yes.  And, yes, he follows me to the laundry room to unfold the clothes as I get them out of the dryer and fold them.  But, I catch myself explaining to him how the dryer works and how people used to wash their clothes with a washboard and a ringer.  And, of course, I lose him for a few minutes but the next thing I know he is saying something like, “if the electricity goes off, we don’t have to do anymore laundry do we?”  So, he has gathered the information somewhere about electricity and I’m sure I told it to him, but at the time, I didn’t think he was listening.

However, unlike my son’s kindergarten teacher who is sending kids to p.e. or to work on the computer or to sing songs in circle time, I have this kid attached to my leg wanting me to teach him all day.  And, unlike my son’s teacher, I have a visitor go with me to the bathroom every time I go.  I think he does it because he knows that at that point, I’m a captive audience.  Where else can I go?  I have no choice but to listen to what it is he has to say. 

Now, I’m attempting to work from home and do some writing.  But, have you ever tried writing coherent sentences when you have a three old laying across the top of the sofa with his feet over one shoulder and his head the other shoulder.  All the while he is saying, “1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 40, 49, 50″.  And, that of course is my cue to stop writing and make him count correctly and here we are back to instructional time and not getting anything else done…all day.

So, I’m curious to know how the homeschooling parents handle educational time versus house chores time versus mommy or daddy time versus free time?  What kind of schedules do you go by, are you rigid, or do you do it as he child shows signs of being ready for “school” each day?  What about those of you who have children in different grades? How in the world do you get all that done AND manage to do laundry, cook meals or even make a bologna sandwich?  Do you find yourself involved in “instructional time” 24/7?

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PRE-POST UPDATE:  I am reading White Trash Mom’s and trust me when I tell you, it is an awesome read.  I may give my book away when I finish…well after my mom reads it, then I’ll give it away, so keep watching for it.

This one is probably more for the home school variety (well, I meant for it to be, but I got off tract, we will get to that one in a day or two as well because I have a couple of questions)but I do have a question for the parents of public school children as well.  If you guys remember a few days back, I asked about taking a child out of school for a family vacation. (Which we are totally going to do, four days is noting and even his teacher agreed.)   I wanted to know what you guys would do.  I had one negative response and two votes that said, “sure, most definitely”.

Dawn made the following statement:

“I’m astounded by the little amount that is accomplished each day”

I already knew how little was really being done prior to Walker starting school this year simply because I had substituted for a kindergarten teacher a couple of years ago while she was on maternity leave.  She left lesson plans for the actual learning skills for each day.  Then, she would  leave extra stuff, or “busy work” for them to do for a couple of hours.  Each child would get to spend anywhere from 10 to 20  minutes on the computer each day and the rest of the day was wasted.  I ended up playing games with them for the last hour to hour and a half almost every day. 

We played hangman a lot using their spelling words for that week.  I don’t remember what other kinds of stuff I conjured up, but I knew that those children were typically receiving about 2 hours a day of true lessons. (By the way, this was in the spring and at the time I was amazed that kindergarten kids had spelling words, then I realized, they knew how to spell them well enough to play games with the words and I was in shock.)

Here’s what Walker’s schedule looks like and trust me when I tell you, I love his teacher.  All three kindergarten teachers do their lesson plans together and basically do the same thing each day.  They have designated days for parent volunteers and they adhere to a schedule pretty well.  But, just check out this schedule:

7:55 - 8:15:  students have a coloring sheet with yesterday’s information on it while the teacher takes roll, looks through folders for notes from home and assures that all parents have signed the behavior chart.

8:15 - 10:00:  They do math as a class, they do a little worksheet of coloring some numbers and talk about numbers and sing songs about numbers.  (Now since Walker knows his multiplication facts through 3, you can see where is not very amused with this, but as long as he isn’t talking, I’m ok with not being amused.)  They also do reading during this time.  She reads to them, she teaches them phonetic sounds using really big words I think.  For instance, I saw some of the words on the board last Friday.  I asked Walker how to spell Egg.  His reply was, “I don’t know, but it makes the “eh” sound and the word elephant starts the say way, with the “eh” sound.”  So, I asked him again, what letter is that?  He had no clue.

10:00 - 10:40: bathroom break and computer time or finishing morning activities

10:40 - 11:15:  lunch

11:15 - 11:40:  bathroom breaks, change shoes for physical education and finish coloring morning activities

11:40 - 12:10:  physical education

12:10 - 12:40:  bathroom break, change out of p.e. shoes.  If time permits she works on social studies and science during this time, if not they finish the mornings activity (now trust me, they probably had 3 sheets all total, one at 8 that covered yesterdays stuff, one math and one reading (and maybe not even one reading).  She uses this time as well for children to use the computer while she works in small groups.

12:40 - 1:00 clean up and prepare for break

1:00 - 1:15:  break, bathrooms, etc

1:15 - 2:15:  I have not the slightest idea?  I do know some work on the computer, sometimes she does group time reading or group singing, sometimes they do a craft (and by sometimes I mean once a week it seems)

2:15 - 2:30:  start getting backpacks re-packed for home, get work in the backpack and get them to their seats

2:30 - 2:45:  circle time

2:45 dismissal

Now, as you can see, I should be able to do his entire weeks worth of work during Jace’s nap time each day without even a worry. 

My fear already is boredom.  He can’t go to the gifted program until he is in the 2nd grade.  Between now and then, we will do as much homeschool stuff as we have to in order to keep him out of trouble at school. 

I did want to add that the reading coach said once everyone was settled and evaluated, he would be taken to her with a group of advanced readers so that he wouldn’t lose interest.  That part I can’t wait to see happen because hopefully he will be more excited. 

Right now he still likes it a lot but when I asked him in the afternoons “what did you do today?“, his answer is “the same thing we did yesterday”  That concerns me.

As usual, I got too carried away and we will cover the homework debacle in my next post.  Sorry!

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I’ve made it fairly clear that I believe the most important educators in a child’s life are the parents.  And, in some cases, the parents are substituted for babysitters, aunts, uncles, preachers, Sunday School teachers, etc.  But, the bottom line is, no matter how much outsiders try to take part in educating our children, I still think that regardless of whether the parents teach their children good habits or bad habits, they teaching is there, the teaching continues and the teaching is inevitable.

So, for the time being, I’m curious what you all will be teaching your children this weekend.  We tend to use weekends to do the fun things in life (now that we don’t own a daycare) and we have managed in the past to do the fun things like going to the Zoo, going to a water park, going to a small lake, or simply stringing out a sprinkler in the front yard and allowing the boys to play until dark and then start trying to catch firefly’s or moths or whatever.

Since we are on the verge of taking a trip to the beach in a week or so, I’m going to be on the outlook for buckets and shovels and the such.  Last year when we went and accidentally left all of our play things in a inflatable boat and then left it down near the back door of the condo.  And, naturally, someone else wanted the things.  I just hope we don’t forget our umbrella. 

And, the lessons to be taught this weekend will be the buying and preparation of our traveling supplies.  And, we can really teach a good lesson on buying in the off-season as we should be able to find quite a bit of stuff on sale. 

Then, the ability to contain ourselves and continue with life as the time nears for us to get in the car and leave.  And lastly, far and away, vacations lend themselves to many life lessons.  The lesson of being polite to the folks who open doors for you, or opening doors for someone else, the thank you and the please’s when people help you or you ask for help, the appropriate behavior for restaurants that we don’t frequent and possibly have different rules.

So, for those of you getting down and dirty with your homeschooling, I’d love some input from you on how you continue your lessons while on vacations.  Of course visiting the aquarium in my mind is one such way to ensure my children receive at least that lesson about water animals. 

We will be taking all of his school work and I have no worries about that.  Mini-me still takes a nap and that means that Ditto-Boy can easily do his lessons while Mini-me naps each day.  And, we plan to eat breakfast and lunch at the condo and that will give us plenty of time to continue our on-going study of manners and polite behavior.

This got a little wordy but my main purpose was to say, we are going on vacation.  We are taking our kindergartener out of school for a week.  We are taking his lessons with us.  Any suggestions from the experts who’ve been doing this kind of thing for way longer than I have.

I’m open to suggestions.

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