The Homeschool Journey

Autumn Field Trips

Each month we will be featuring an article or two by Lisa Marshall and/or Barbara Benson, our Christopherus on-line forum moderators and consultants. To learn more about Barabara and Lisa and our consultation service, please click here! Here is the latest from Barbara....

This year my daughters are in 7^th and 4^th grade and we are in the middle of Indiana geography/history and the Renaissance. To honor these two main lessons in a living way we decided to do two field trips. The first was called Feast of the Hunters Moon, a reenactment of the French and Indian trading post lifestyle at Fort Ouiatenon in Lafayette, Indiana. The reenactment is right on the river, on the original trading post/ fort site and is set up just for one weekend each fall. The reenacters live on the site all weekend and try to live and cook as much as possible in an authentic way.

We first wandered around a Wea Indian village, watching a game of Indian lacrosse and listening to native speakers. We moved on to the block house trading post with furs on the wall and demonstrations of how the voyageurs carried their trade goods and protected them in their canoes. We went down to the voyageur camp and saw the colorful canoes and the encampment of the voyageurs. We watched French Canadian dances and munched on corn roasted in the husk. We moved over to the early colonial troop encampment with all the soldiers in military uniforms and looked at a variety of early colonial trades and crafts like the cooper, the blacksmith, the pewter and silversmith, the leather shop, the wood carver, the milliner, the paper maker and lots more. My daughters were fascinated by some crafts that were new to them like tatting but knowledgeable on others like making pine needle baskets. They talked to the traditional craftswomen with ease and really enjoyed watching the spinning and dyeing of wools in the big kettles and feeling soft alpaca wool. We nibbled on free samples of warm water bread and walked until we were truly tired.  We came home a bit smoky from all the open fires in the encampment but feeling as if we had experienced a colorful and living slice of Indiana history.

Our second field trip was to the Ohio Renaissance Fair with a time period of Elizabethan England. This was a more commercial set up with thirty acres of buildings and open spaces that stay up from year to year but it was well done. We began by watching a hilarious comedy team of two swordsmen that were quite talented with their blades and got the audience very involved. Everyone that either entertained or ran a shop stayed in character and was dressed in period costume.

We moved on to watch a marvelous stone cutter who did beautiful designs in limestone and then the girls got their hair braided in a French type braid using long leather strips woven into their hair. We then watched a joust with knights in full armor on marvelous big horses and huzzahed for our champion (who happened to lose). This was a friendly joust of course but the men were really breaking their long wooden lances when they clashed. We continued on to watch some country dancing near the maypole and then we all had a chance to weave the ribbons of the maypole—there were at least 20 people weaving amidst some laughter as 6 foot tall men ducked under the ribbons of 8 year olds! We wandered through Renaissance type arcades like archery shooting and throwing knives at targets and boys being spun around in large barrels by a burly man. We saw a talented stunt man/acrobat performing on the Gloriana Stage and we laughed at another comedy routine called Washing Wenches set in a field in front of a small pond where the ladies had lots of country humor and made several audience males do silly things. We watched a glass blower working on a large vase for about 20 minutes and were reminded again of what a difficult craft it is.  We poked into dress shops and heraldry shops and saw the latest Renaissance jewelry fashions. We watched an improvisational story teller with a very funny take on Sinbad the Sailor and my husband was one of the people picked to shout out  “plot twist,” which would require the story teller to change his story’s direction. The girls really appreciated his improvisation abilities. The girls tried on a short vest of chain mail that weighed ten pounds and learned how the craftsman did his work.  We saw jugglers and fools and listened to tavern sailor singers and bought some incense sticks that were fragrant with natural amber and other exotic smells. We took lots of costume photographs since many of the people that came as visitors were also dressed in period costume and some were quite amazing. Perhaps this Fair was not quite as historically authentic but I appreciated the Elizabethan humor and the efforts everyone made to stay in character.

I think the whole family came away with some wonderful memories and a real sense of living history. It also helped that the weather cooperated, especially for the Renaissance Fair, so we could comfortably walk in the crisp autumn sunshine. These field trips take some advance planning and the Renaissance trip was a three hour car ride one way, but it was well worth the effort. Both of our field trips have enhanced my daughters understanding and helped to create living pictures of their main lessons. Enjoy your autumn journeys!

 

 

The Benson Children's Home Business

Here is another blog entry from Christopherus consultant and forum moderator, Barbara Benson. Click here to find out more about Barbara, her family and our consultation options....

A LABOR OF LOVE

It’s that time of year again. September means the fall, the start of homeschooling and for our family, the start of our seasonal business known as Happy Hearts, run by my two daughters (ages 12 and 10) and myself. This little business of ours has gone on for 15 years, and as one group of my children left the business, the younger ones have taken it over.

How does one go into business (and stay in business!) with one’s children? For us, the initial answer lay in that old adage of necessity being the mother of invention. Well, perhaps not necessity, but the opportunity of providing a meaningful life experience for our homeschooling family. It all began when my five year old twins went into my purse and took some money. They didn’t try to hide anything- they just took it! I tried to explain that they had to ask a parent before taking money. So, I took the money back and thought that settled it. Two days later, they had raided their eight year old brother’s piggy bank. I believe they thought that brothers were fair game. So I had a slightly more direct talk about taking things from anyone and mentioned the word stealing. They looked at me with those adorable blue eyes and said “so how does money work?”

I realized then that I was in a teachable moment. So I took them out to our garden ripe with pumpkins and squash and explained that money comes in when someone sells something that another person would like. I casually mentioned that if we sold our squash to people in the neighborhood we would get paid money for it. Their response was “Let’s do it now!”  And that is how Happy Hearts began-going around the neighborhood with a cart full of our produce.

Eventually the business expanded beyond the neighbors since we live out in the country and don’t have that many. The boys thought about what things we had in our house and woods that people might like to buy. At first it was little leaf light window decorations and other fall decorations along with flower seeds sold locally but soon we joined the ranks of holiday catalogs. As the boys learned more natural crafts and eventually some woodworking, it went into the small catalog that we mailed to friends around the country every September. Our last day of business was always around December 6 so our family could focus more on the holiday season.

. The boys also learned to run a real business- to consider inventory, cost of goods sold and their profit margin and how to divide the work up between the three of them fairly. I fronted their initial inventory costs but I had to be paid back first from the sales. They were always happy when the chart they kept showed that they had finally taken in orders beyond the costs of the inventory.  Production was one of the hardest lessons for them. Sometimes we actually had a lot of work and they had to be responsible to get an order out within a week whether they wanted to or not.  I insisted on tithing and so each year we picked a charity that they could get to know and willingly support. I still fondly remember one of those early years when we had tithed, saved ten percent into a savings account, bought family Christmas gifts (or made them) and the boys still had a small amount of profit to share and spend. They negotiated together and agreed on a Lego toy and went out with their grandmother to buy it. Grandma was sure they didn’t have quite enough and she was going to make up the difference but amazingly, the toy was on sale and they proudly paid for it all themselves. Their comment was “It sure feels good to earn the money ourselves”.  What their grandma did do was match the money they saved each season and put it into a long term savings account. She died before they went to college but there was a nice little sum for the boys when they each turned eighteen.

The height of the boys business came in the year 2002 when they actually grossed $1,000, and were written up in our local Sunday newspaper with a full page spread entitled A Labor of Love. As they became teenagers, their interests turned to other things and jobs out in the wider world. But by this time, my little girls really wanted to carry on what their big brothers had done. I had to help them a great deal at first but I soon realized that they were not only enthusiastic but quite resourceful and disciplined. Perhaps growing up with their brothers had affected how they viewed the work they needed to do to sustain the little business. The last two years, they have also had the patience to sit all day in a booth at a community craft fair (the only children there) and at a noisy school gym for another neighborhood craft fair evening.

This year I had to tell my girls that I was busier than ever working from home at two part time jobs as well as homeschooling. I told them that they would have to be very well organized and self motivated if the business was going to succeed. They assured me they would do it and promptly pared down some of our slow selling items and took on some more challenging jewelry and sewing work. They are determined to match their brothers’ $1000 year and tithe $100 to the rainforest so they can buy an acre of land to protect it. I admire their idealism and their entrepreneurial spirit and this just might be the year they make that goal. And I remember that in the turning seasons of our lives, this little business and homeschooling itself is truly a family labor of love.

Preparing for a New Academic Year

Here is a guest blog from Christopherus consultant and discussion forum moderator, Barbara Benson. I hope you find what she wrote to be useful - she and our other Christopherus consultant and moderator, Lisa Marshall, will be writing guest posts here on my blog from time to time.

 

It can feel like an overwhelming task to consider planning a new academic year of homeschooling for one child let along multiple age children. When Donna asked me to do a guest blog on this topic I asked her to give me two weeks because I am in the middle of planning myself! However, upon reflection I now believe that it might be more helpful to give you the view from within that process itself.

Let me begin by saying that my planning for a new academic year is a lot easier than it used to be when I had five school aged children! Now my 9 to 5 type scheduling life revolves around homeschooling my two daughters (ages 10 and 12) , a 20 hour a week at home computer job and my consulting work for Christopherus.

As I consider my preparation for a new academic year, the first things I always reflect on are the rhythms of my life, seasonal, monthly, weekly and daily, in order to celebrate my life and space and the life and space of my family. Our family is a little microcosm of the organic in-breath and out-breath here on the earth. Some of the planning that I do for that is probably quite personal to me but other parts that I will share should be generally applicable to homeschoolers.

SPRING PLANNING: Overall assessment of current year and family goals for festivals/celebrations/travel.

Every spring (generally April, May) as the current year winds down, I begin the looking forward process to the next year. I ask myself what worked in the current year and what didn’t. I consider how my children are developing on many levels and what I need to do to keep “drawing forth” the gifts that are within them, waiting to be released to the world. I look at where I might have overcommitted myself and where I might need to simplify things in order to maintain or create a healthy rhythm to my homeschooling life. I generally am able to do this much better once my garden is planted (generally by the second week in May)

 I then think about our special family goals for the upcoming year. For us, it will include a celebratory graduation trip in May for my eldest son who will graduate from college at the beginning of May. I think about our extended families and if visits will be needed. In my case, a visit in March to Grandma is essential since Grandpa just passed away June 15. I consider our July summer vacation to our cottage in Maine as well which is very important to all of us. I think about whether there are any special festival requirements that are different from the usual way we celebrate them each year. This year, for example we may need to visit Grandma in Florida over Christmas break as well. These broader goals and plans I pencil into a year planner if I am able to do so definitely. For example, with my son’s graduation, I know the date of his graduation and I know we will have at least a ten day trip somewhere but I don’t know the specifics so I just block out that time as time away from homeschooling and my job. I also consider my daughters’ little business called Happy Hearts and how that will work from September to December with the overall family goals.

EARLY SUMMER PLANNING: Blocking out the Main Lessons for the next year; making book purchases or library rentals

Sometime in June, before we leave for Maine in July, I create a list of all the main lessons for my two daughters that will be covered in the next year. This kind of planning is now made a lot easier for many of us by using Donna’s Curriculum Overview or by purchasing Donna’s Curriculum Syllabus (available K through 4^th grade as of now).

 I think about how my two daughter’s main lessons (4^th and 7^th for this new year) will “breathe” well together. I try to balance academic subjects so that there is a breathing in and out between the main lesson subjects as well. This is not always so easy for me because I also teach co-op classes for both my daughters and so I have to consider the time issues of a group of parents and students as well. I consider carefully what co-op classes I will offer for our homeschooling community and the general season they will be offered. I offer these classes by email to our group in June and then firm up time details with the folks who sign up by around August 10. Today, however, I had to completely change the order of classes based on some real scheduling conflicts in the co-op group. So, Instead of having a three month break between two sessions of history, there is only a one month break and I had to shorten my African Geography and Culture class by a week so that interested members of the group could attend a major Renaissance Festival. I had to tell my daughters that the fall schedule would be more demanding time wise and that they would have to be very well organized if they wanted to still do their Happy Hearts business in the fall. They replied that they wanted to do it and would take more responsibility for business planning and production. I will also have to teach the coop classes for each of my daughters on different days since I no longer have my co-teacher helping me as she is busy at home with two high school students.

Once I have a basic feeling for the months of the main lessons and how they fit with our family goals, I type up a main lesson schedule for both girls together (along with major vacations and festivals) and post it on the wall by my computer. I then start to look at how I have taught these main lessons to my other children in the past and I pull out the resources for that next year onto my shelves before we go to Maine. I also consider any books I might need to read that I don’t have (this year it was several history/Geography books; a Math Book, two science books and some related perspective drawing pamphlets.) I make sure and order these used from Amazon or from Bob and Nancy’s or from Donna prior to my July vacation. It is always my intent to do a lot of reading on vacation. This year, however, the two gardens in Maine that I caretake needed two weeks of my time to get themselves in order and I spent time dealing with some medical issues of one of my siblings. So, not as much reading got done. Once I knew not much reading would happen, I relaxed and enjoyed my vacation and committed to working very efficiently on my return.

LATE SUMMER PLANNING: Firming up the schedule, lesson plan prep, scheduling field trips and extra-curricular activities; staying flexible!

Now that I am back from Maine this week, I find that the garden has tall grass and weeds, my boss at work has a real time crunch on a project that requires me to work at least three hours a day from home and I have three new consulting clients! And remember, I still haven’t done all that July reading either! My sons need help with apartment issues and with translating their scholarship awards for college. I think I have ironed out the schedule conflicts for coo-op class and hope I don’t get yet another email from them!  I find that in this situation I first make sure my house is clean after being gone for a month. Then, I make sure I pray for guidance and meditate daily and do an hour of weeding in the garden. And then I work!

And of course, more things come up as well. The car needs a brake job immediately and I find out that our best friends of 15 years are suddenly moving to Utah on August 15. So I also am giving a major dinner party on Sunday for them and letting my girls have a sleep-over that night with their oldest daughter, my girls’ closest friend. Yes, I will drop everything to make sure they have a proper send off! At times like these I am glad that our house has an established rhythm of daily chores and that I have a deep spiritual life!

Now that my main lesson schedule has been changed a bit, I am working to prepare for my first main lessons with the girls that I will do starting August 12. We are starting at the same time as the public school next week because we want to be able to take that graduation trip in May as a family and still finish up by June 1. I am also working about an hour a night in preparation for the coop classes in September and because I will hand out a written assignment about Africa’s eco-regions to each student to complete prior to the first class so that we can create a map from our regions in the first class since I had to cut a week out of the schedule of that coop class.

Today I am scheduling extra-curricular activities such as dance lessons (that at least has no schedule change this year), finding a photography mentor for Alana and interviewing new piano teachers since our best friends that are leaving were also their music teachers!

I have penciled in two field trips- one for the Renaissance Festival in Ohio and one called the Feast of The Hunters Moon which is a re-creation of the annual fall gathering of the French and Native Americans that took place at a fur trading outpost in the mid- 1700’s  on the banks of the Wabash River in Indiana. This will occur happily during our local and state geography and history main lesson for my fourth grader. We may also schedule a field trip to our wild animal rescue center during Man and Animal unit in September but no real advance notice is required for that visit.

My youngest has also told me today that she wants to work into her lessons a study on dinosaurs and their relationship in size to human beings. Should I put that somehow into Man and Animal? J

What I work to do these last days before school starts is to remember to keep it all in perspective. Things won’t work very well if their mother is completely off her center! Some parts of my lesson planning may be more last minute than I am used to, but I do have the benefit of being a veteran at this and when I relax and remember the rhythm of the day, generally good ideas come to me about how to work up a main lesson. My husband will say that I should just teach it the way I did it with the boys if I am busy. My answer is that the girls are not the boys and they need their own creative approach to the main lessons based on who they are. So, we are basically off and running to the library tomorrow to get out books on South America to begin that Geography lesson next week and to begin local geography with Rhea. And now I better go and plan the food shopping because both of my ravenous 20 year old twins will be home for supper! Family meals are a very important part of that daily rhythm.

As each of you start your homeschooling journey in this new academic year, I send you my support, enthusiasm, comradeship and blessings!

UN Treaty threatens Homeschooling Freedoms

Here's a sobering article written by the folks at the HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defense Association) which should make every single homeschooler (and person who values freedom) sit up and take notice. It is about how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child are being interpreted and how this could be enforced in Britain. All member nations which have signed the treaty are potentially affected and this means that homeschooling could become illegal in many countries across the globe. This is not an issue to shrug one's shoulders at and pass over. Get involved in your local homeschooling organization and get mobilized!

 

Here is the full article.

Can Anyone Help?

I do not offer legal advice as part of my Christopherus work. However, I was very moved by the following e-mail which was sent to me and wondered if anyone had any experience to share with this woman. I suggested she contact HSLDA but they have very narrow parameters regarding whom they will help and are not open to people who fall beyond their religious parameters. I also suggested she contact her state-wide secular homeschooling organization ASAP. And I extend to all of you, dear readers, the same advice. If you are a homeschooler, you really ought to join a state-wide (or province or country wide, depending on where you are) group both for support and as a show of strength. Many Draconian laws re homeschooling in numerous places have been prevented from being passed by the timely and vigilant attention of homeschooling organizations.

 

So if you'd like to chime in on this, please do:

 

Hello,

I am going to soon be a single mother to a 5 1/2 year old, whom I wish to home school this year. The Guardian Ad Litem tells me that I need to propose a plan to her that will convince her that I am capable of schooling my young daughter in a consistent, structured, home setting.

Is there anyone that can help me develop a plan? I am new to the idea, and the issue has come up very fast--there is going to be a ruling regarding the matter of public versus home schooling soon. My husband is pushing for pubic school to avoid paying daycare, and I am committed to keeping our daughter at home with me for at least another year or 2.

I really appreciate any expertise you can pass on to me.

 

Thank You!

 

Here's my response:

 

I do not get involved with legal disputes or anything to do with the courts.... However, there are a few pieces of information I can pass on to you:

1) Homeschooling starts in Wisconsin at age 6, not 5 1/2. Your child is still kindergarten age and therefore is not subject to compulsory schooling laws. Do not let anyone bully you about this! At the very least, I would ask the Guardian why she is insisting on this when kindergarten is not compulsory in Wisconsin.

2) Here is a link to the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and their page on Wisconsin law - they are an extremely helpful organization but are fundamentalist Christians so if you do not meet their criteria they might not be willing to help you http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=wi

3) You MUST contact the Wisconsin Parents Association  (WPA) for help in this. However, they are a volunteer organization and as such are slow and sometimes hard to reach. However, they are experts in working with Wisconsin laws concerning home education. http://www.homeschooling-wpa.org/

4) Unfortunately, when a divorce or separation is being argued over with regard to a child's education, things become very complicated. You have left this very very late - I hope you are able to get enough support and information in time. If there is any way to delay a decision so you can get all the advice you need, I am sure that would be helpful!

Best wishes,

Donna

 

And here is what she wrote further:

 

Donna,

I am upset to say the GAL said at our hearing on the 15th that she "highly recommends" that our daughter attends kindergarten at a public school, that she believes she is "developmentally behind" and "not properly socialized". Both are very untrue, she has not even met our daughter, nor has visited our home. She has many neighborhood friends she plays with, is very smart, and I believe "socialization" is really 1st learned in the home--with a family. My ex has never communicated his desire to send her to a public school this year, only to his attorney to avoid paying daycare and force me to work days instead of evenings, thus spending less time with my own daughter, whom I have cared for 95% of the time since she was born. I am distraught that a court system has the power to decide what is best for our little girl--whom they don't even know. How have others successfully dealt with this? I feel completely helpless in the matter. I am told the GAL has the power in the courtroom.

 

Thanks so much,

Radio Interview

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for a radio program, Business Matters, as part of a segment they were doing on the state of education in America. I was the guest speaker on homeschooling. Waldorf didn't come into it, but if you'd like to hear me talking about who homeschools and why, have a listen here to an mp3 file which you can download onto your computer. The other articles on this part of their website might also be of interest as they also concern education, in particular the spectre of No Child Left Behind. I have been asked to contribute a blog article which I will get around to soon!

From Chaos to Form

This is a rather short reworked post from my Waldorf at Home discussion forum. An exhausted forum member wrote in, asking for help with transitioning her 7 year old daughter from total unschooling to a more Waldorf - ie formed - approach both to schooling and to parenting. She shared how her daughter won't do what she's asked as she has been used to doing as she pleased. The child runs away from the mother and is generally unpleasant to be with.

 

For me, what is most difficult here is the effect on the child - it is not a child's job to be an adult or to be the parent. Our children come to us to learn - human beings do not, like Athena, spring ready made and fully knowledgeable from their parents (or from their parents' head, as in Zeus' case!). Human beings only gradually learn what it means to be human - and the lessons are long and often painful.

 

I am concerned with one thing you wrote - that you are tired of her yelling at you. I want to say this to you in as supportive and encouraging a way possible - but Forum Member X, if you child is yelling at you, I'm not sure how you can get anything done together.

Again, I don't want to sound critical or judgmental about your previous unschooling choices (and as veterans of my work know, I have a lot of respect for certain elements of unschooling). However, I have seen so many people who call themselves unschoolers who have children who are rude, disrespectful and generally unpleasant to be around. And I mean no unkindness toward your daughter - my whole parenting philosophy is about the fact that it is really hard on the child to be the one who calls the shots. It's no fun for a little one to be in charge. And reading what you wrote makes me think that that is what has happened.

And so it could take a long, long time for you to gradually turn things around. It could seem like it's not worth it, it could seem like an unbelievable amount of work. But if you, in your heart of hearts, feel that what your child needs is form, rhythm, a parent who parents, and all the things which will allow her to be a child - and not a miniature adult - then you will somehow find the strength to make this happen. And again, a lot of that strength will lie in your ability to persevere when nothing seems to go right.

My curriculum is of no use to you unless you can find a gentle but firm way to create a learning environment. And before that can happen, you and your child need a balanced parent/child relationship. I am not suggesting you forget school work until she listens to you - but I am suggesting that you use school work in a way that will gently bring her into a child-nurturing way of interacting with the world.

Go one step at a time. Work on the big things like no media, bedtimes and meal times. Then have a time for school work and a time for play. Do not be afraid to tell her "Sweetheart, I know you want to XXX but this is what we are doing now." If she has a tantrum, ride it out. Do not waiver. Send her loving thoughts - and always be at least 3 steps ahead. Do not ask her opinion or tell her what you'd like to do. Present what we are doing now. Do everything with her. If she runs away or starts to scream then - well here is where you need to be prepared. I hate to suggest this, but it might be the only thing that works - this is a repair situation which you describe. So it could be harsh. Tie things into rewards - have an outing set up - if she refuses to sit for a story, then "Oh dear. Well, we can't go to the park then because we need to share this story first. " Get up. Put the book away. Don't sit there waiting to see what she is going to do - waiting to react. You don't react - you create. She reacts. You must try to get this relationship back in order.

I hope this hasn't sounded too harsh. But I have seen this kind of scenario many times before. Be patient - above all, with yourself.

Good Test, Bad Test

I like tests. I really do. I enjoyed them as a child in the Waldorf school I attended, I enjoyed giving them to my homeschooled sons and I enjoy giving them to my students. I enjoy creating tests and I enjoy going over them with students and helping them figure out what when wrong and why.

 

But I am appalled when I read about testing in public schools and the silly test that many homeschooled children have to be subjected to in order for their families to stay on the good side of homeschooling laws. Testing, which can be a useful tool, has developed a life of its own it seems, subjecting the purposes of education to its limited scope.

 

I don't want to go into a whole analysis of the ludicrous thinking behind No Child Left Behind. And I don't want to go into a blow by blow description of the horrors of tesintg little children.

 

Instead, I want to focus on a positive use of testing in Waldorf homeschooling.

 

From about 5th grade on, I recommend to parents that they figure out appropriate ways to use tests in homeschooling. I recommend that one teach ones children that tests are simply a means of measuring a certain way of knowing things and that it can be useful to use a test as a measurement for this kind of knowledge.

 

I see, at this age, there being two kinds of Good Tests - those which a child can use to measure his own knowledge of something like math facts or spelling, and those which help a child learn to use information well.

 

The first kind of tests can be quite informal - perhaps every Friday a  5th grader is given a test on 7 out of the 10 spelling words for the week or is tested on a handful of the problems worked on in math that week. Perhaps such tests are better called quizzes, as they are not as formal (as scary?!) as proper tests.

 

The second kind of test is the one which I find especially useful - a well designed test which helps a child think through what she has learned and what she knows - and hopefully helps her get clearer about what she doesn't, and needs, to know. Test like this in 5th grade could be at the end of one's Greek history block. Alongside straightforward questions like "Who was Archimedes?", one could also have questions like "Describe the city states of Athens and Sparta. What was each like? Describe in detail." Here a child can imaginatively enter in what she learned and  colorfully describe something of the character of these two places. As this is 5th grade, one wouldn't be going into details of the government, say, of Sparta and Athens or the seeds of Western democracy. One might describe the position of slaves and of women in those societies - but one would leave the implications of such descriptions open, laying a foundation upon which to build in later years.

 

Another kind of test which is very useful in 5th and 6th grade is an open book test. Here one must take care not to ask questions which merely require the child to copy passages from a book (which is what most so-called reading comprehension tests in conventional education require). Rather, one is asking questions which require that the child knows how to get information - a rather necessary skill in our day and age! And because this is only 5th or 6th (or even 7th or 8th) grade we are talking about, we are not using the computer and internet. That comes later. For now, a child needs to know how to use books to get information - a skill which will prepare them very well for learning how to get information from the internet (or whatever comes in the future) when they are ready to use computers.

 

Here one would ask questions which could be based on maps, for instance. A 6th grader would have a map of the Roman Empire and be asked questions about its boundaries. One could have a subsequent map, say after the Fall of Rome, and ask questions comparing the two. In 7th grade, questions about the travels of various explorers - Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Cortez, Magellan etc - could be asked. Further questions could be asked based on those journeys, having to do with peoples they encountered, or the importance of their journeys for people in various parts of the world.

 

Other ways to use texts for information could be to ask 6th graders on up to find passages in a novel they have read to support certain claims. An 8th grader who has read a Sherlock Holmes story could be asked to find quotes which hint at (foreshadow) the development of the plot; a 7th grader who read The Hobbit could be asked to write about the various characters in the book and to find a really good quote

about each to show what kind of person (or elf or hobbit!) s/he is.

 

I am excited to teach a group of (mainly) high school seniors a class this fall and spring which will culminate in their taking the AP World History exam, which, if they do well, could help a number of them have freshman requirements waived at the colleges they attend. What makes me really excited about this class is not just that I actually think that this particular exam is well designed and really is a reasonable means of measuring someone's knowledge of world history, but I will be working with with a group of students who I have been teaching since they were high school freshmen. And a large part of what I have been teaching them is to explore how to find out things, how to think about what they know and what sources tell them - and how to think in historical terms.  Now a main goal will be teaching them how to encapsulate what they know in ways that are required by the test - use of original documents, making historical connections and understanding the development of human culture over the millennia are major themes of the exam. I look forward  to helping them on this path. And I beleive that learning to be precise in encapsulating their knowledge, in learning how to hone in on what they know and to make use of that klnowledge has, in part, been assisted by the right use of tests in their education.

Serious Threat to Homeschooling in CA

Just the other day a homeschooler in California alerted me to the fact that homeschooling is under attack in CA. She also shared her concerns over the possibility of pre school education being mandatory for all children of 4 years of age and up. I haven't heard any more on this last possibility, but this morning my husband shared the following article from the San Francisco Chronicle about serious threats to homeschooling. Those of us who have always had real concerns about accepting money from the State for homeschooling have watched the developments in the CA charter school movement with concern over the years. As a "curriculum provider"  we at Christopherus have seen increasing bureaucracy crowd into the lives of many CA homeschoolers - and have shaken our heads and murmured "what the State gives, the State can take away....." One year our publications are deemed acceptable - the next year some little person in an office (and without ever talking to us) has decided they are unacceptable.

 

So it unfortunately does not come as a surprise to us that this is happening in California. Now the task is not to say "I told you so" but for all of us homeschoolers to come together and protect our rights as citizens and parents and ensure that homeschooling is one among many choices in the supposedly free US of A.

 

Unfortunately..... as is usually the case.... in the particular case referred to in this article, it could well be that the parents were negligent and that homeschooling was just a fancy way of saying "doing nothing with the children." These things happen. But just because there are some people who do not have the wherewithal to care properly for their children's education it does not follow that education should then only be in the hands of certified teachers. To argue that would be akin to arguing that because some parents abuse their children, children should only be raised in state run institutions (it's for their protection, dearie!).

 

Freedoms have to come with responsibility and with vigilance. If some people are unable to cope, then others need to step in and help. Families which are suffering need support in their communities. People need to be free to decide how to run their lives even if they do not meet up to current standards of acceptabilty. And if choosing to homeschool - for whatever reason - is part of that, then so be it. In a free society we need to be free to mess up and fail just as we need to be free to succeed and triumph. For some people, the path is rockier than for others. The logistics of protecting children might then indeed be a bit harder - but is the alternative so much better?

 

I strongly encourage all of you, in every state (and in every country) to join your local secular state-wide (province wide etc) homeschooling organization and get involved in the campaigns to create fair homeschooling laws. The law in California has in the past been intepreted in one way - now, in this particular case, a judge has turned that ruling on its head with important implications for homeschoolers. It is up to homeschoolers and lovers of freedom to ensure that in Californa (and elsewhere) fair laws are passed concerning the education of children, homeschooling or not.

 

Anyway, here's the article. It might give some of you pause for thought to consider the words of the judge when he sings the praises of the reasons for public education....

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL

And here's a follow-up post I made about this: More on CA Homeschoolers Ruling

 

 

The "S" Question

(This is from a thread from my discussion forum on that great homeschooling nemesis - the Question of Socialization! No matter what form of homeschooling one works with, the spectre of a poorly socialized child will haunt even the most confident of homeschoolers. Here are a few pithy thoughts of mine on this subject....)

 

I think there is an extraordinarily unbalanced perception in our society of how much socializing children need. And I think that this lurks in Waldorf circles too - it seems to me that the general (ie non Waldorf) homeschooling circles have this one about right! They often point out that children - especially little ones - need far less socializing than is normally expected in this day and in this country (and probably most other Western countries as well).

Human beings are not pack animals! Yes, we are social beings, but our primary and most important arena for socializing is the home. Little ones need mama - and dad and any other siblings - and occasional visits to this or that person and into the larger world - but until they can really play properly, ie have started to develop a sense of "I", they really don't need much. Even then, home is the most important place - and should, in my experience, be the main arena of life until  about the 9 year change. And if there are no siblings? I still think little ones do not need much other than their family.

Pretty bold, eh? This is my observation of children both who have this kind of life and those who don't. And it's my observation of my family, too.

This does not mean no play dates, being isolated and avoiding park days! It's a question of age and a question of balance. I think that until about 3, there is no need for more than occasional visits to play or regular play dates - yes, more can often work, but I would keep a close watch on the child's behavior. Many "issues" and "challenges" which arise at this time are nothing more than symptoms of a child with an overly busy, overly stimulating life.

From 4 on this can gradually increase. And (List Member X), looking at what you wrote, that is a pretty busy schedule to me! And it might be fine if the rest of your family life is very ordered, predictable and has strong rhythms and that, most importantly, you are not feeling stressed out by going here and there. With such young children, that could really effect them. (and no guilt intended!)

And I know that many of us go out a lot with our young children because being home all the time can at times be so lonely, boring and stressful (it can be - let's be brave and admit it!!) So sometimes we also have to do things to help ourselves as mothers so that in balance, the children will benefit (happy mom equals happy home). There's no one recipe for this. But I do know from many consultations with homeschoolers, that the more they cut back on commitments which took them out of the home, the more perceived problems with the children seemed to disappear - even if they didn't change anything else. That has been quite amazing and right across the board, something said by people with very peaceful calm home lives and those with hectic lives and no sense of rhythm.