Saturday, August 28, 2010

Literary unit

The last two weeks we've been doing a literary unit with the Nuehrings. It culminates with an awards ceremony (complete with a red carpet) on Saturday. The kids spent their time learning so many literary techniques. At times it was a little overwhelming, but they all did a great job! I am amazed at all the things they produced and the quality of their work.

As I anticipated, Aiden struggled throughout the week to get his thoughts onto the page. Thanks to an excellent suggestion from one of our favorite teachers, I started taking dictation from him toward the end of the week. I'm thinking that he needs to focus on speeding up his typing, because I could not keep up!

In the beginning, Zoë struggled through the editing phase. After a while she became accustomed to the idea that first drafts are not perfect, and did a great job.

What I was happiest with didn't occur during class though. Every technique they have learned about they have pointed out in their reading. We listen to books on cd all the time in the car and they are constantly saying "oh, listen, that's irony," or "ohhh...that was personification." It's great to see that they can take the things they're learning and see them in the books they enjoy reading. Now my hope is that they will incorporate that into their own writing.

So far both of them are doing really well with the goals they have set. At this point they're both about a month ahead of their math goals, and Zoë is right on target with her piano goals. Everyone's looking forward to actually being at home this week to work on things. The last two weeks have just been crazy! There were several days that we were gone from 9:30-7:30!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Another Time for Reflection

With most kids returning to a new school year, I find myself spending a lot of time reflecting on our goals for school and learning. After quite a bit of research, thought and discussion we're trying something new again. This ability to change gears is one of the things I love most about homeschooling. We've decided that the kids could stand to have even more autonomy and freedom to learn about things they're interested in learning. So with Google as our inspiration, we're starting our own "20% days."

I've decided that the most important things the kids need to learn are math, writing and other forms of communication, how to set and achieve goals, and music. The later is important for developing mathematical skills, but more importantly for understanding how to master something by working on it every day. I think the other 3 things are obvious. At this age I think the other things they learn can be more interest driven.

I thought that I was providing them autonomy in regards to their learning by giving them a weekly task list. When I actually analyzed this, I discovered that it's really veiled control. So we've changed things quite a bit. Instead of telling them exactly what they need to do for the week, we've sat down and decided completion goals. Then we broke things down into smaller goals and discussed how they would approach those. Their only requirement is to meet the goals that they have set for themselves. My job will be to make certain they're on target.

Today was our first day to discuss these goals, and we haven't finished setting them for everything. We have done math goals for both, and Zoë's piano goals. It was refreshing to hear their ideas, and to see that they are so responsible. They were able to set challenging, but not unobtainable goals. We got out the calendar and made charts for them to keep track of everything. I'm sure this will be a big adjustment, and there will be times that I'll need to lay down the law, but in the end I think they will be better people and feel a strong sense of pride for accomplishing things on their own.

With goals set (or being thought about) for 80% of their work, that leaves the 20% days. Aiden has decided his independent project is going to be the planets. He wants to prepare a newscast/presentation discussing all the planets and the chances of humans being able to colonize each one. This could end up being a huge project that takes us all over the place. I can already see how to incorporate math, science, writing, problem solving, and psychology into just this one idea.

Zoë has decided she wants to learn how to make movies. She is going to turn one of her favorite parts of a book into a screen play, film it, and edit the movie. She'll have to make all the costumes, the sets, the script, and learn how to use editing software. This can also involve the history of film, budgeting, and perhaps some special effects.

If all that change wasn't enough, I've also redone the rewards system. I've been worried lately that having them earn rewards for completing tasks is no different than the things I hate about public school. It's just that the tasks they do are more challenging to them. So instead, we're going to do things the way we run allowance. At the beginning of each week I'll give them 10 chips. They can spend or save them however they want. The bronze, silver, and gold prize system is still in effect, but they're given a base pay now. Bonuses can be possible, but they will be random. Also, no chips may be spent on tech time before 3pm regardless of whether or not they've finished school for the day.

Overall, I'm much happier about these changes. I feel like we're really heading toward my goal of self-actualized people. Of course, I'm sure things will need a little more tweaking as time goes on, but nothing is ever truly mastered. I'm also trying to ignore the fact that the reasonable goals they have set have them finishing all of high school math in the next 4 years.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Prep Week

This week the kids are busy at camps. Aiden is attending a biodiversity camp at the zoo, and Zoë is taking a pottery class through Craft Alliance. It sounds like they're having a great time at camp and with Nana.

I've spent the last few days going through the 2 foot high pile of filing (no, that's not an exaggeration!), and getting all our paperwork and units ready. Monday I took the day off and did nothing but goof off. I almost decided I didn't have the time to do that, but I'm glad I changed my mind and spent the day for myself.

Next week we're starting a literary unit with the Nuehrings and studying the 50 states. The insane JET schedule starts the following week. I'm sure this schedule is going to mess things up, but we don't have much choice. I'm willing to give it a try at least. Maybe it won't be as bad as I expect. I'll just have to be checking the calendar more often.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Minimalism and Some Personal Insights

My question for the week is when is minimalism a sign of boredom? This comes from some of the work that has been handed into me this week (really it's been over the course of the summer for most subjects, but this week has been the worst). It has been well below performance level, and I'm not sure how to take it. Does it mean "I'm bored with this stuff", "I need a break from all these expectations", "Hormones are starting to kick in and I don't feel like dealing with authority", or just plain kids pushing boundaries.

I pulled out all my old Psychology books to refresh my memory of child development stages, but there was nothing I hadn't already thought of in them. I've tried to evaluate my feelings about the mediocre work, and I find myself having a hard time separating my abilities as a person/parent/teacher with my expectations for the kids school work. In reality perhaps sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and we all just need a break.

With that thought in mind I haven't changed our schedule for the week. Next week they'll be staying with their Nana and attending camps. I'm sure it will be good for us all to have some time apart. I plan to use the week to prepare for the upcoming semester, and try to figure out some solutions to our monotony. I'm wanting them to be excited about learning, but it's hard when I'm not excited about the material I'm teaching. I keep thinking that it's time to skip the pre-made material and do our own thing, but it scares me to death.

Somehow I need to get over the idea that they're missing something in their education if I plan their units. It seems like every single unit I've planned has been fantastic. They've learned a lot, been very excited about it every day, and we've all had a lot of fun during those times. Perhaps it's not the units that I make up that are impeding their education, but rather my inability to believe in myself as a teacher. I'm not sure which is scarier: the amount of work this could take, or the idea that I might actually be good at something. How's that for some personal insight?!

Monday, August 2, 2010

July update

Last month was extremely busy. I can't believe it's already August and we're getting ready to start back on the school year calendar. We've had several birthdays, trips to the lake, a week long vacation with all of the family, my desktop finally decided it was done working, and Zoë saved enough money to buy herself an iTouch.

During the time in July that we were actually home, Zoë spent her time learning about Greek Mythology and preparing for a Greek Trivia night. I was really proud of her. She read tons of books from the library on the subject and came up with 50 questions in 5 different categories to ask everyone. As her final project we invited friends and family over, divided them into 3 teams and hosted the trivia night. She decided she wanted to serve gyros for dinner, so she helped me make those and planned the whole night. She really did a fantastic job! People's only complaint might have been that the questions were too hard. I think the high score was 19/50!

Last week I heard lots of complaints about Math from her, so I decided to try something a little different. Instead of working on ALEKS for the week, I pulled out the old Saxon books and had her do an assignment every day. After two days of Saxon she decided that ALEKS was much better and the Saxon was just a waste of time. I'm hoping it helped her realize that she's a lot better at math than she gives herself credit for. I have been spending some time doing flashcards with her just to reinforce the basic skills.

Aiden has been diligently working through the end of our curriculum and flying through his ALEKS pie. He's already 80% done with his current level and striving to finish it before summer ends. He seems to be enjoying the new vocabulary assignments we're doing. One of the assignments has you match two different parts of sentences and then write the combined sentence. He told me that he didn't see any reason why he'd need to write the combined sentence. I explained that it was extra practice to help him learn the meaning of the vocabulary words. He told me that he didn't need the extra practice, so I agree to an "experiment" to see if that was true. Of course he was right, he didn't need the extra practice and scored really well on the test at the end of the week. I think he was happy that he was able to present a logical argument to me and I agreed. I want them learning, not just doing busy work.

I'm quickly coming to the realization that next year around this time things are going to be a lot different. I have so much research and planning that I need to do this year. This is the last year I will have a curriculum to work from. I might continue Aiden with the literature component, but Zoë is going to be beyond all of it. It's time to find a high school curriculum and start diving in. Both of them will already be in high school math courses before next year, but Zoë will need it for everything. They both need to focus a little on their writing skills, but they will be doing that over the course of this year. In other words, I'm starting to panic now. I feel completely unprepared for what's ahead. I just keep trying to remind myself that everyone is really unprepared when it comes to parenting. Why should this be any different?