Life, Homeschooling, Rambling

[fairjennet]

It was a supremely ordinary day today, but a rather nice one. It was full of mom things. I cleaned the house, went to Wal-Mart for groceries, praised crayon drawings, raced the kiddo to the mailbox, and even took him to Target to buy a toy. The trip to the toy aisle reminded me so much of what it was like to be a little kid. I remember bargaining future chores for toy money just like the kiddo did today, and I remember my own mom sighing and saying, "Are you sure you really want this toy? Are you sure you don't want to save your money until you can get something better? It's a whole month of taking out the trash with no allowance..." I felt so much like her when I repeated that little speech. I don't remember my mom very well, so I just love those flashes of memory.

This evening, I cooked dinner and wrote lesson plans. I discovered the best activities over at the BBC school website. This one fits in perfectly with the unit on ancient India in the kiddo's history book. The whole BBC school site is amazing. All I can say is that the Brits must have a better educational system altogether. These activities are designed to fit in with their national curriculum, and the little snippets of curriculum standards they include make me want to download the whole "Key Stages" document. It makes so much more sense than the "Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills." Apparently, Texans are supposed to be essentially confused.

Anyway, we're having fun with his Social Studies/Language Arts stuff. This week was Robin Hood, reviewing European geography, and introducing encyclopedia use. (Funny how much more he liked King Arthur, the little snob! :D )Next week is reading Ananzi stories, writing poems, and a review of African geography. After that we get to do ancient India, more geography review, and then tigers with the encyclopedia. Then on to ancient Greece!

Homeschooling has always been exhausting, and I'm starting to realize how unprepared I am to be a teacher. Sure, I can teach the stuff--it's not rocket science--but I find myself wishing I had studied early childhood education. There must be some sort of secret to making sure everything is taught the way it's supposed to be taught. I don't want to teach him the way I was taught in public school; I want him to be interested. Yet, I also know that we need to cover a bunch of stuff that isn't very interesting--at least it isn't very interesting to me. I'm trying really hard to get Larry to take over the math and science. He actually gets excited about it, and I'm just sitting there saying, "Are you done with your worksheet yet?" *hee* Maybe we should just move to England and stick the kiddo in a public school.

Comments

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

You know that lesson plans are available online, right? That can be a really helpful tool for teaching at home. Really creative lessons and such.

I would expect home schooling would be hard. But go you! If you need any help...I was a teacher in a former life. Let me know. Active lessons are best.

Worksheets are death in math. You need manipulatives. What grade is he in?

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

Yep, yep, I use online lesson plans all the time. Lots of great ideas there, though I usually have to tweak things around quite a bit. He reads and thinks way above his grade level, but writes, draws, and etc. somewhere below that, so finding something challenging and interesting that still encourages him to work on those other skills takes some invention.

Uh...I don't know what grade to say that he's in exactly. He uses a first grade science book and a second grade social studies book (we started those subjects late), but I try to find challenging activities to go along with each section of those books. He uses a third grade grammar/writing book and a third grade phonics book, but he zips through that stuff so fast that that I'm about to start him on chapter books written for fifth graders. He's about to finish his second grade math book; third grade is basic multiplication and division. He's a...a first through fifth grader? He's about to turn 8 yrs. old.

And thanks, homeschooling is hard, but it's totally worth it. I may just take you up on your offer one night when I'm banging my head against the wall. If nothing else, doing this has taught me that teachers are the most awesome people in the world. No idea how you managed to teach thirty plus kids at once and still keep your sanity intact!

Also, I know what you mean about worksheets. You have to use them though, don't you? We used marbles and the whiteboard when he started learning to add and subtract three digit numbers with regrouping, but after he got the hang of it, I thought he needed the practice of worksheets. There's really no way to learn it except by doing it again and again. I don't know...maybe we ought to go slower, break up the bookwork with more activities. Hm.

Anyway, wow, this is a long reply. Shutting up now. And thanks!

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

Activities are great and yayus you said lots. Means you're excited about it. *hugs* Anytime you want help I am game. I think it is great. I hope there are other parents you are in with too...so you do field trips together and stuff. I have heard about people setting up group activities together with their home school stuff.

Ya ya. Great!

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

Ha, yep, I talk lots. And yeah, I've been looking for a group. So far they all seem to be uber religious though...
That's what I get for living in Texas.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

That's quite amusing as the English state school system is frequently regarded as being among the poorest in Europe - the British have a reputation for being taught how to pass exams, being linguistically backward (compared to the bi- or trilingual Dutch, Belgians and Scandinavians, and especially so now that only 3 years of foreign language teaching is compulsory), grammatically deficient and generally unprepared with useful work skills! If someone was moving to Europe for the sake of education, I'd have to suggest a German or French school! Better still, go to Singapore - the British-Singaporeans I've met have been astonishingly well educated.

Out of interest, how do you teach foreign languages when homeschooling? My French and German teachers were all fluent in their language, having spent years or even decades living and often teaching in countries where the language is spoken natively, so I learned the languages as much by just talking with them constantly about movies we'd seen and interests we had as by any formal exercises.

BTW, do you mean "public school" in the international sense (as in state-run) or "public school" in the British sense (i.e. top-notch independent school like Eton, Rugby, etc. charging £10,000+ per year fees)? ;)

[luin77.livejournal.com]

LOL, German schools are frequently regarded as being among the poorer ones in Europe too. At least, when you hear how often they want to change the school systems, because of reason X, Y or Z!

I guess all countries have good and bad ideas when it comes to schooling.

I am not sure home schooling is even possible in Germany... it does sound exciting and hard at the same time! :)

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

It's certainly possible to homeschool here, but it's quite tightly regulated, with regular inspections and stuff to make sure the kids are learning rather than just sitting at home watching TV! I guess it's commoner in the USA than Europe though...a cultural difference, I suppose!

Is German schooling really regarded poorly? All the Germans I've met are so smart and all-round well educated, and the Abitur sounds so much more demanding than our sissy A-levels that are now so easy one in 4 entrants get an "A" grade!

And yeah - I think no matter how "perfect" the school system looks to outsiders, the government will still find failings with how the previous government managed it, and try to "improve" it. And there will always be people saying, "It was all much better when I was a child!"

[luin77.livejournal.com]

Well, school systems in Germany changed so often in the last decade that it is really hard to say anything about anything. We used to have a three-school-split. A level students went to the "Gymnasium" (13 years) and graduated with the Abitur. Only they could enter the university. B level students went to the "Realschule" (10 years) and C level to the socalled "Hauptschule" (9 years). Real- and Hauptschule were for students who later wanted to enter a vocational school. I thought it was a pretty good system and I always thought I got a pretty good education too. The problem was that there were many problems in the Realschule and Hauptschule system, lots of students who quit school and integration problems with students from other countries. Also after the reunification they started to reduce the Gymnasium from 13 years to 12 years, but without reducing the hours, so students were put under a lot of extra pressure.

Nowadays, there are a lot of "Gesamtschulen" which include students from all levels, but (I think) you can choose different levels of classes... or so. One problem is that they try so many new things without anyone really knowing where to go. They try one thing and without trying it through to the end, they seem to panic in the middle and try something other. I only have a tiny view into those crazy systems because of my mom's godchildren who are all still in school and who moan about confusing systems.

And yes, sometimes things get "improved" simply because they "can", not because they "have to be.

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

That's one of the only good things about Texas education, homeschooling is hardly regulated at all here. Crazily powerful right-wing Christians want to teach their children at home without being bothered by evil! liberal! government agents. Bah. I feel sorry for the kids learning "Creationist Science" and other such nonsense, but I'm glad I get to make up my own curriculum.

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

Yes, I guess you're right, all countries have good and bad ideas when it comes to schooling. Though I despise the school systems here, at least homeschooling is possible as an alternative.

Also, I agree with Eni, all the Germans I've met seemed to have had a wonderful education!

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

LOLOLOL! That just figures, even the poorest schools in Europe are better than the schools in Texas. It really shouldn't surprise me. Half the kids I went to high school with could barely read, and the adult literacy rate here is at something like fifty percent. There are probably better school systems in the U.S., but Texas is notoriously shabby.

We don't have compulsory foreign language requirements at all. I'm going to send the kiddo to classes when he gets a bit older. I think it's really important for him to learn to speak at least one foreign language, but there's no way I could teach him. My Spanish is so rudimentary that I could only teach him how to ask for a beer; and though I took the optional French classes in high school, they were so bad I had to take remedial French in college.

And, oops, I meant "public school" in the international sense.

[jaiden-s.livejournal.com]

I'm going to side with Eni. British schools are not bad, but are also not stellar. What IS good about British schools is that there are national standards. The US is moving that direction, but right now, each state has separate standards, and they leave it up to the districts to interpret.

I'd say just do your best. Kids respond to teachers who are caring and enthusiastic, both of which you are. :)

[fairjennet.livejournal.com]

National standards can't come too soon. The Texas ones are absolutely ridiculous, and the Houston school district has its head up its ass. Seriously. Public schools need some unity.

It'll be good for the country as a whole, but I can't say I'm going to like the changes in homeschool law that will come along with it. I like the freedom to teach what I want.

And thanks! I try. :)