So I just finished my second full week of homeschooling my kids, and here is what I have learned.
1. I can't wait until next year when I have my "real" curriculum!!! I mean we do a lot, and they are definitely learning new things, not necessarily things that are above them, but things that have been pushed aside due to the annoyingly ridiculous standardized test. Because you know, all people learn the same way, at the same pace, and understand everything the same way at the same time -_-....right
2. Things that were once considered important in school, clearly are not even being taught anymore, like not even a little. Oddly enough the subjects that the kids and I spend the most time on together are language arts, and spelling skills. I am pretty sure its really important to know the parts of speech in your language, but I am SHOCKED at the amount of teaching I have had to do in this area. You see we just grabbed a year long curriculum and we are doing multiple lessons a day because they already know most of the stuff so we will be done when school lets out for the other kids. But I have had to teach them analogies, how to use a paper dictionary and thesaurus, proofreading (like slowing down so you can catch mistakes like spelling and punctuation etc), and how to identify letter patters that create vowel sounds.....what is going on in the public school system??? Anyway it really makes me glad I pulled them when I did.
3. Kids in public school, here anyway, eat lunch WAY TOO LATE!!!! Its no wonder that the kids are bouncing off the walls and crazy, off task, and losing their minds. They are hungry and thirsty. Who on earth can concentrate on anything if they are hungry, thirsty, or have to use the bathroom. I know I can't, I have to be hydrated to even think straight, let alone sit down and try to learn something. Gwen use to eat lunch at 11:45 am after eating breakfast at about 7:00 am, and Gavin would not eat until nearly 1:00 pm. So for Gwen that means, no food or water for almost 5 hours, and Gavin almost 6 hours with no food or water. My kids still eat around 7-7:30 but they have access to water whenever they want it, and don't have to beg to go to the bathroom, and by 11:00 am they are getting really antsy for not only a break but some food. So I give it to them, between 11-12 they eat and get to go away from school for a "brain break" usually one gets on the computer and the other plays in their room, or we all go outside and ride bikes when its not super gross out. And yes I let Gavin play minecraft during the day for about 20 min, you would be surprised how much 20 min of non school activity can recharge a brain. I get it, why doesn't the public school system get that??? Oh wait, they totally use to, until standardized test scores took precedence over actually learning.
4. We get thru 10 subjects a day, before school public school lets out here....WOW. Now I know that has A LOT to do with the fact that our ratio is 2:1 but still. I happen to know for a fact that in public schools right now, the kids are ALL DAY LONG PRACTICING FOR THE STUPID STANDARDIZED TEST!!! The teachers and administrators are pushing off learning for stressing these kids out on how to pass a test, because we all know one test totally 100% defines a year in a person's life.....SARCASM.....Whoever thought it would be a grand idea to base the amount of money and incentives a public school gets should be based on the best test scores was a fool. I am so glad I didn't get my degree in education, and I am so glad I didn't get hired to teach in this awful district. I would have been heartbroken to come into the public school system to find out that I could not teach the kids about Shakespeare and art, and script analysis, and acting ( I was applying for drama teacher jobs) and I had to teach to a test.
5. Dealing with a wandering mind is easy, when you can do it one on one. One of my kids gets distracted pretty easily, especially if I open the blinds while we are at the table doing school. But you know what, I asked, "why are you getting so distracted?', the answer "can you close the blinds? When they are open I get distracted." O_O are you kidding me, a child, knows what they need...NO WAY...SARCASM....Its amazing what you can learn from a child from a 2 minute conversation, and actually listening to them.
6. Conversation is SO IMPORTANT!!!!!! Not only conversation between teacher and student but also student and student. I do allow them to talk, when their conversation has to do with the lesson at hand, sometimes their lessons are the same, so they can bounce ideas off each other, and sometimes the just talk about stuff. Example: Social Studies yesterday, Gavin was learning about the Boston Tea Party, and Gwen was learning about The Star Spangled Banner. They talked back and forth a bit about both. Gwen asked about the Boston tea party, and I let Gavin answer her, Gavin asked about the national anthem, I let Gwen answer. When they got off that topic then I reigned them in back to their assignments. YAY FOR DISCUSSION!!!!! If there is one thing I miss from college, its sitting in a classroom or the green room just discussing things, movies, plays, art, editing, music, EVERYTHING!!!! I call this phenomenon, the foundation for creating thinkers and leaders, not followers ^_^
7. Foundations are the most important thing EVER. We all know that if a building doesn't have a stable foundation its going to crumble and fall. Well, these past 2 weeks I have learned that elementary school is a place to build foundations. They start really simple, and each year the same materials and subjects are used but expanded upon. You build up and fill in cracks each year in all the basic subjects, and guess what....by middle school they are ready to start building up frame work!!! That frame work, IMHO, gets built clear into high school, and then you start filling in the walls and floors and stuff. Then in college that is when the finishing touches go in, carpet, paint, light fixtures, decorative moldings etc...and then the building is ready for real life!!!! If your child chooses to go to college. If they want to attend a trade school, join the military, or skip college altogether (I hope not but they are their own people) then you can tailor high school to prepare them for whatever they need, because guess what....they have a strong foundation, and strong framework!!!! YAY I am so very excited about the prospect of being able to tailor my children's education to what they want to do when they "grow up".
Anyway these are just a few things I have observed these past 2 weeks. ^_^
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Why'd I do it you ask?????
Ok so I have been raving and ranting and being annoyed on Facebook for quite a few weeks about the school system here in San Antonio. Well I finally had enough of it and pulled my kids out. Many of you want to know exactly why. Well I shall tell you. Allow me to unfold for you a tale that begins many moons ago, before we even moved out of GA. Ok so while we lived in GA my kids went to Joseph Martin Elementary School, I wasn't their number 1 fan, but I did love my kids teachers immensely, and I felt, for the most part, that the school had its crap together. Until the new crazy, micromanaging principal came along and messed a bunch of stuff up, then I was like...uummmm no thanks. But I was not in a place where I could homeschool my kids because I was trying to finish up college. I figured, its my last semester, I will let them finish out the year, then we are moving to Texas, and things will be better. So I did. The end of my semester came, followed by the end of the kids school year. A crap ton of home improvements later and we finally got to San Antonio. It was hot here, REALLY hot, like insanely hot, like I wanted to kill someone all the time hot. And there are people everywhere, and its miserable to do anything or go anywhere.
Anyway, school started, and it seemed ok. Gavin's teacher was sort of douchey and talked too much, just to hear himself talk. Gwen's teacher was a sweet awesome lady. Things were going well, then all the sudden they were not. Gavin was always talking about "I hate school" and "I don't want to be here" and "I want to go back to Georgia". Gwen was fine at first. Come to find out, Gavin was being bullied by this kid in his class, and he would just randomly punch him, and other kids in the face, then say he didn't, so he never got in trouble. So over and over again Gavin would tell me these things, finally one day it got to a point where enough was e-freaking-nough. I went in and spoke to the counselor, and what do you know. The next day something was finally done about it, oh and it was at this point I found out that the douchey teacher was gone, and Gavin had already had not one more, but 2 more teachers this year....this was in January BTW. So we are up to 3 teachers so far in 5 months.
Fast forward to March. Of course the bullying continued for Gavin, and he finally got another new teacher, this one stayed. But at this point the damage had already been done for him. He was over it, and begging to be homeschooled. So we all talked as a family and decided that we were going to do it next school year, that the kids would finish out this year and we would start fresh.
I began researching curriculum, talking to other homeschool moms and friends, and generally deciding what I wanted to do. There are so many options out there to homeschool your kids, but we decided on designing our own, based on Pearson Education Publications (I think that's what they are called). They have subjects by grade level and you can look at the books online before you purchase them to see if it is a book you want to use with your kids. Some subjects have many options, others not as much, but all have more than one. I knew I didn't want a religious based curriculum because I can make up my own religious curriculum with all the materials available from the church. And I don't want my kids to learn religion in science, I want them to learn religion AND science, so they can use their own minds and receive their own personal revelations, when the time comes, to truly decide how they think it all works. Anyway, so we have our basics, plus creative writing, religion, art, music, PE, computer, and a whole lot of other REALLY FREAKING AMAZING STUFF!!!! I mean my kids are going to be geniuses!!!! Best part is, all of it will cost less than $600 for them both for the year. Not bad I say!!! I knew I didn't want to deal with any of the online public schools because that is what I am trying to get away from, public schools, just thought I would add that in there ^_^.
So we have stuff picked out for next year, I have formatted my lesson plan book, attendance sheets, picked out when school will start and end with appropriate holidays in between so they kids have 180 days of instruction. Some states require you keep records like this, Texas is not one, but Georgia is, and we are going back there when we leave here, so it made sense to me to go ahead and start using it, and keeping records and portfolios on both of them. I found a website I can use to build transcripts, and report cards, and even one day order them a diploma for graduating from their mama's home school!!! That's not what will go on the document, but its cool that I can present them with a diploma at the end. What about state tests??? Well some states require homeschool kids to take them, Texas does not, but Georgia does. In Georgia homeschool kids take these tests in 3, 6, 9, and 12 grade. Am I worried about my kids passing them??? Not even a little, they will be learning so much above and beyond what the kids in public school are learning that they will do EXCELLENT and far surpass any score they would have gotten had they only been taught to take a test in public school.
We are ready!!! Then crap hit the fan flying a million miles an hour. Gwen had an issue, a BIG one that again, the administration was trying to brush under the rug. We reported it on Wednesday, they called me on Friday,"there is nothing we can do because the other student said it didn't happen." Gwen said, thru tears, "but it did happen." So I had my husband go up there. It was about 5 minutes after I got off the phone with the principal. He walked in, and the office staff did not acknowledge him, they were doing each others hair. When they finally did acknowledge him they said, "we don't know where she is and we are off the clock." (ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME) So he left, when he got home we contacted a friend whose husband happens to be lawyer. He told us what to do. This all happened Friday before spring break.
Spring break I spent sleepless nights, worrying about one thing or another, what would happen when she went back, would this kid bother her again, who knows. Monday morning rolled around, and I went straight into the office and said, "so what are we going to do about this?" They were surprised because I was there, still trying to get something done. You see they figured I was one of those parents who just don't give a crap. HA no honey not me. I may also have mentioned I spoke to an attorney. ;-) Within MINUTES the school counselor was in there, why wasn't she involved before??? Too much hassle I guess. She interviewed Gwen again, and I was promised that the child who assaulted Gwen would also be interviewed again. The principal said she would call me and let me know what happened. Within 3 hours, she called me, told me the kid confessed, the police report was filed, and CPS notified. See what happens when you "lawyer up" ;-)!!!!
When I picked up my kids from school that day, it was for the last time. Gavin was so thrilled!!! Gwen's teacher was sad, Gwen was sad and happy at the same time, and I was sad for her teacher, she really is a sweet lady!!! I pulled them out!!! I wanted to wait until the school got off its lazy butt and did something about this situation first though. I left with a clear conscience, that I have done the right thing.
Gavin, Gwen, and I went straight to Lakeshore Learning store and picked up some stuff for our home school, and then to Barnes and Noble to grab some more stuff, and we hit the ground running Tuesday morning. And guess what, my kids do, scripture study, cursive handwriting, journal/creative writing, social studies, reading, spelling, math, language arts, writing, and science, every day!!! Its about 4 hours total of teaching/working time, with an hour in the middle for lunch and recess. So our day is about 5 hours from start to finish, but you know something....it doesn't feel like it, not at all.
Am I glad I did it, you betcha!!! Now excuse me, I have some kids who don't have hours of homework to hang out with for the evening!!! I think we will go see if Frozen is in the redbox!!!!
Anyway, school started, and it seemed ok. Gavin's teacher was sort of douchey and talked too much, just to hear himself talk. Gwen's teacher was a sweet awesome lady. Things were going well, then all the sudden they were not. Gavin was always talking about "I hate school" and "I don't want to be here" and "I want to go back to Georgia". Gwen was fine at first. Come to find out, Gavin was being bullied by this kid in his class, and he would just randomly punch him, and other kids in the face, then say he didn't, so he never got in trouble. So over and over again Gavin would tell me these things, finally one day it got to a point where enough was e-freaking-nough. I went in and spoke to the counselor, and what do you know. The next day something was finally done about it, oh and it was at this point I found out that the douchey teacher was gone, and Gavin had already had not one more, but 2 more teachers this year....this was in January BTW. So we are up to 3 teachers so far in 5 months.
Fast forward to March. Of course the bullying continued for Gavin, and he finally got another new teacher, this one stayed. But at this point the damage had already been done for him. He was over it, and begging to be homeschooled. So we all talked as a family and decided that we were going to do it next school year, that the kids would finish out this year and we would start fresh.
I began researching curriculum, talking to other homeschool moms and friends, and generally deciding what I wanted to do. There are so many options out there to homeschool your kids, but we decided on designing our own, based on Pearson Education Publications (I think that's what they are called). They have subjects by grade level and you can look at the books online before you purchase them to see if it is a book you want to use with your kids. Some subjects have many options, others not as much, but all have more than one. I knew I didn't want a religious based curriculum because I can make up my own religious curriculum with all the materials available from the church. And I don't want my kids to learn religion in science, I want them to learn religion AND science, so they can use their own minds and receive their own personal revelations, when the time comes, to truly decide how they think it all works. Anyway, so we have our basics, plus creative writing, religion, art, music, PE, computer, and a whole lot of other REALLY FREAKING AMAZING STUFF!!!! I mean my kids are going to be geniuses!!!! Best part is, all of it will cost less than $600 for them both for the year. Not bad I say!!! I knew I didn't want to deal with any of the online public schools because that is what I am trying to get away from, public schools, just thought I would add that in there ^_^.
So we have stuff picked out for next year, I have formatted my lesson plan book, attendance sheets, picked out when school will start and end with appropriate holidays in between so they kids have 180 days of instruction. Some states require you keep records like this, Texas is not one, but Georgia is, and we are going back there when we leave here, so it made sense to me to go ahead and start using it, and keeping records and portfolios on both of them. I found a website I can use to build transcripts, and report cards, and even one day order them a diploma for graduating from their mama's home school!!! That's not what will go on the document, but its cool that I can present them with a diploma at the end. What about state tests??? Well some states require homeschool kids to take them, Texas does not, but Georgia does. In Georgia homeschool kids take these tests in 3, 6, 9, and 12 grade. Am I worried about my kids passing them??? Not even a little, they will be learning so much above and beyond what the kids in public school are learning that they will do EXCELLENT and far surpass any score they would have gotten had they only been taught to take a test in public school.
We are ready!!! Then crap hit the fan flying a million miles an hour. Gwen had an issue, a BIG one that again, the administration was trying to brush under the rug. We reported it on Wednesday, they called me on Friday,"there is nothing we can do because the other student said it didn't happen." Gwen said, thru tears, "but it did happen." So I had my husband go up there. It was about 5 minutes after I got off the phone with the principal. He walked in, and the office staff did not acknowledge him, they were doing each others hair. When they finally did acknowledge him they said, "we don't know where she is and we are off the clock." (ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME) So he left, when he got home we contacted a friend whose husband happens to be lawyer. He told us what to do. This all happened Friday before spring break.
Spring break I spent sleepless nights, worrying about one thing or another, what would happen when she went back, would this kid bother her again, who knows. Monday morning rolled around, and I went straight into the office and said, "so what are we going to do about this?" They were surprised because I was there, still trying to get something done. You see they figured I was one of those parents who just don't give a crap. HA no honey not me. I may also have mentioned I spoke to an attorney. ;-) Within MINUTES the school counselor was in there, why wasn't she involved before??? Too much hassle I guess. She interviewed Gwen again, and I was promised that the child who assaulted Gwen would also be interviewed again. The principal said she would call me and let me know what happened. Within 3 hours, she called me, told me the kid confessed, the police report was filed, and CPS notified. See what happens when you "lawyer up" ;-)!!!!
When I picked up my kids from school that day, it was for the last time. Gavin was so thrilled!!! Gwen's teacher was sad, Gwen was sad and happy at the same time, and I was sad for her teacher, she really is a sweet lady!!! I pulled them out!!! I wanted to wait until the school got off its lazy butt and did something about this situation first though. I left with a clear conscience, that I have done the right thing.
Gavin, Gwen, and I went straight to Lakeshore Learning store and picked up some stuff for our home school, and then to Barnes and Noble to grab some more stuff, and we hit the ground running Tuesday morning. And guess what, my kids do, scripture study, cursive handwriting, journal/creative writing, social studies, reading, spelling, math, language arts, writing, and science, every day!!! Its about 4 hours total of teaching/working time, with an hour in the middle for lunch and recess. So our day is about 5 hours from start to finish, but you know something....it doesn't feel like it, not at all.
Am I glad I did it, you betcha!!! Now excuse me, I have some kids who don't have hours of homework to hang out with for the evening!!! I think we will go see if Frozen is in the redbox!!!!
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