Seth’s Blog: Back to (the wrong) School

which reminds of one of my favorite Sir Ken Robinson talks

Do Schools Kill Creativity and, of course, another one that made the rounds Changing Education Paradigms

As a mother of six children, a home educating mother of six children, including a child with developmental delays, cognitive impairments, and other myriads of exceptionalities, I whole heartedly believe that we all have different learning styles. I believe we can all learn no matter what approach or style is used to teach a concept. I believe we each benefit from one or two styles over others, but that we are not limited by that one or two. As a child grows, develops, and matures, the style of learning the individual benefits from most will change. None of this negates the fact that every individual needs exposure to all learning styles and approaches. I could really write a whole article on my thoughts pertaining to learning styles and my philosophy of it all. No matter what my children’s best learning styles are I find they can get bored from time to time so we need to mix it up, even if that means using an approach that is not always the one that benefits the most. That’s why I love this quote from Dan Willingham (University of Virginia) from a recent NPR news story (transcript, listen):

Mixing things up is something that we know is scientifically supported as something that boosts attention. And we all sort of can feel this intuitively if you’ve been doing one thing for a long time and then something changes.

and this one from Patti Neighmond

In fact scientists have found that variety boosts both attention and retention.

So, what is my point? Whether you believe in learning styles or not, do not box your child in!

Kindergarten: he's 4 and been reading for two years, but he has only started wanting to write.

Today he is doing math work instead of the beloved “mafs” work. I much prefer doing mafs work; it is simply more fun.

Although, today I am having much fun with the 4 yo who just learned to “master” the /th/ sound instead of saying /f/. Why is this fun? Because today he is learning about ordinal numbers!

What was once one, two, free (3), four, …, twelve, firteen (13), firteen (14, yes it sounds the same as the previous number), fifteen is now one, two thththtree (hold out that /th/ sound to get it right), fffour, … twelve, thththirteen, fffourteen, fffifffteen.

So today our ordinal numbers are much spitilated (what? that word is in my dictionary; is it not in yours?) fffun: fffirst, second, thththird, fffourththth, fffifffththth, sixththth, sevenththth, eigththth, ninththth, tenththth. The most fffun is fffifffththth!

counting

DOINK!

Wisdom from Flyntster (7 years old). Translation: what he learned today.
1. Do not eat green potato chips.

2. If I save science until after everything I have something to look forward to and I get my writing done faster.

Lessons not yet learned:

Bairno: I still do not understand why I have to wear pants to do school work; we home school.

we make messes, big messes

DOINK!

Random quotes:

Moggie: Wait! X and Y are the same thing!

Iaindescribable: Hieroglyphs are sounds, not letters.
Birdie: Well, actually they are pictures.

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, another adverb, or an entire sentence.

Correct: He runs quickly to the store.
Incorrect: He runs quick to the store.

Let us break this sentence down into its parts.

• subject: He
• verb: runs
• adverb: quickly
• prepositional phrase: to the store
• - preposition: to
• - article: the
• - object of the preposition: store

So what does this tell us? This tells us a lot of things.

First (not firstly), the subject is He and the verb is runs.
Second (not secondly), the base sentence is: He runs.
Third (not thirdly), the adverb tells us how he runs. He runs quickly. The adverb is quickly.
Fourth (not fourthly), the example sentence also includes a prepositional phrase that tells us where he runs. He runs quickly to the store.

If you have a problem with this, rearrange it to see if it makes sense. The rules are reliable, but this trick can be of some assistance when in doubt.

Correct: He quickly runs to the store.
Incorrect: He quick runs to the store.

Also, maybe learn this fun song; it might help too.

Usually by the fourth week of being back into our school routine we are out of the fog and have found our basic groove again.

Not this year. Not yet.

I know there are two more things added to that routine this year, but I think our plate is too full. Or maybe I shoveled too much into their mouths. This really is my fault. When I signed us up for co-op I thought the things we chose would be not only a bit supplemental but complimentary as well to what we are already doing.

I goofed. I thought wrong. I made a bad assumption. Not much is quite working out that way for us. The children really wanted to do co-op so they could meet other homeschoolers; after our two year fiasco with the group here in close-minded Our Town they hardly have any friends here. Being essentially kicked out of a co-op and ostracised for reading Harry Potter it makes for no friends with which to hang around and do things. Being a part of a small church also means there are is no pool of youth to pull from for making friends either.

My kiddos are so tired and worn out and doing so much school work that they are not really enjoying it. We have a heavy load this year anyway and I added to it by opting in to doing co-op.

By the time they get our regular lessons done and their other responsibilities completed they are exhausted and it is time for them to help me with the late afternoon chores, dinner, and nighttime routines. When I ask them about their co-op lessons, depending on the child, it is met with tears or sighs and drooped shoulders or a look of stress and anxiety for what has not yet been completed.

We have already lost so much. We have lost two of the reasons we home school to begin with: family and time. We are so stressed to get everything done that we do not have time together as a family anymore. We have no more outings to the park or the lake. Discussion at the dinner table is focused on what has to get done instead of enjoying being together and eating a meal and just talking.

I had three teachers approach me today to ask if I knew that the children had NOT done their homework for the week. One “yes”, one “no”, and one “kinda”. I have mixed feelings about that, too.

While I told Birdie not to worry about hers directly (we did it orally, multitasking while doing stuff in the kitchen) it is not fair to her teacher that she was “unprepared” for class. I did not know about one not getting work done because I was unaware there was homework. Now, that child is old enough to keep up with his assignments and get them done and suffer the consequences for not doing them. BUT…again, I couldn’t get on the message board to double check to see if he had any work so I could “gently” remind him he had something to do for that class. /*insert sad face emoticon*/ The “kinda” was because we were a bit confused about the work for that class and we have been too busy to put the regular work aside to follow up on it to figure out what had to be done and now we are about a week behind in that class.

I thought that registering two of my kiddos up for the same Science we were already doing would lighten the load a bit and give them another environment in which to do experiments and discussions would be helpful. It is proving to be more difficult and more stressful.

I do not want to quit.

Although, I am considering leaving the older three here (or at the church) with their father on Wednesdays while I take the younger ones to co-op and continue with my responsibilities. It would still be stressful in some ways for me as the time driving is a hardship and the gas is hurting our budget, but I can not drop the ball on the other teachers. This would be helpful as the stress for the older three would be greatly relieved and therefore the mom stress would be lowered. If the older three had less on them and the morning to do their regular work then we could spend some fun time at the parks every now and then at the lake and our weekends could get back to our own personal style of “normal”.

I am also rambling in a stream of consciousness that has lost anyone trying to follow this. No decisions are final, of course; we have to figure this out soon…

or I will be bouncing off thickly padded walls.

I think it is time to make our chart of priorities a visual reality. *sigh*

I hope I don’t corrupt those sweet girls via my sarcasm in the 2nd/3rd period class with which I’m assisting. Two of my own girls are in there as well and so our natural banter seems to be coming through a bit. I noticed one girl chuckling a lot at my remarks (I’m so glad she “gets” me) but there were two rather quiet ones who I am thinking are not quite sure what to think of me. I’ll have to “behave” a little better next week.

Yesterday evening, RevMrKnowTea asked Flynt (6yo) if he met some new friends at co-op.

Flynt: “Yes, I did! The first one I met was named Joshua”…

RMKT: “Oh, I know him. He lead the parade that brought down the walls of Jericho.”

“Wha?”

“Who else did you meet?”

“Well, I also met a boy named Daniel.”

“Oh, yeah?! I know him, too. He was that guy who went down in the den with all those lions and they didn’t eat him.”

“Paa-paaaa.” laughing

“Ok, ok, ok, so did you meet anyone else?”

“Well, there was another boy I met named Noah.”

“Wow, I thought he was dead, he must be really old now.”

“???”

“Well he built that really big boat for all those animals.”

At this point Flynt rolled his eyes and walked away. Only to return to say, “Oh I also met a girl named Katy.” Then stared at his father waiting for a reply.

“I don’t know Katy.”

And Flynt walked away feeling rather victorious.

So RevMrKnowTea asked Bairno (3yo) who he met today and Bairno said he met, “Cake”.

“Cake? You met someone named Cake?”

“Yes.”

“Is that short for Cupcake?”

“No, her name is Cake.”

“OK.”

Me: “I think her name is Kate.”

“No, Cake is a girl’s name.”

*post about this tomorrow

Sonlight

I have enjoyed using Sonlight this year. In fact, it is my favorite curriculum we have used to date.