It's that time of year again! The season of, "How do your kids get their socialization?" will now be replaced with, "Are your kids 'out' for the summer?" Yippee, I'm already getting this question and school in my district just let "out" today! I CAN'T WAIT to hear this question all summer long! By the way, when does school go back "in" so I know when to get back into socialization mode? Alrighty then . . . here is yet another mystery uncovered...
As we know, the lunar calendar gave way to the Roman calendar, which gave way to the Julian calendar, which gave way to the Gregorian calendar, which gave way to the Public School calendar, and all soccer games Shall Be on Saturdays and church on Sundays (regardless of the parents' work schedules, but that is another blog post...) I digress.
Our current American school calendar of about 180 days with the summer months off, started around the 1900's so that rural kids could be home to harvest crops, and urban kids could be spared from sweltering in un-air-conditioned school buildings. I find it interesting that we are asking our kids to learn a TON more than kids in the 1900's had to learn, and we are asking our poor over-worked and under-paid teachers to teach a TON more than teachers of the 1900's, but we are using the same goofy school calendar. I know many parents fight the thought of ever changing the school calendar because they like having beach vacations in the summer (I'm one of them), and sending their kids to all the great enrichment camps (also guilty of that), but what about the other kids that spend their unsupervised summers watching TV, getting into trouble, and forgetting the previous school year? Here's where I ask myself, do we send American kids to school to get an education or to occupy their time while parents work? I don't have an answer for that. I can only speak for myself, which is: I send my kids to "school," whether "school" is to the dining room table, the couch, a museum, or yes... to the TV, to get an education. Therefore, "school" is not "out" for the summer around here. It's not a grueling schedule, (learning really shouldn't be grueling) and we pretty much lost most of May to all their various projects, but I'm okay with that because there was value in what they were doing. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can stop and start and re-adjust plans as needed. I can tell you that Rebecca has announced that she wants to learn Latin this summer (despite the fact that the three of us started French lessons earlier this year), we will continue with Fred and his Algebra, we're hacking away at America: The Story of Us on the DVR, we're immersed in Ansel Adams and his photography and getting ready to visit his exhibit and do something with Patrick's photos, we have a new-found interest in oceanography and oil drilling (hmmm... wonder why?), and we will blog. I'm sure other things will come up. We have a couple of vacations planned, but who knows... maybe they will be part of their education!
So to answer the question: "Are your kids 'out' for the summer?" No, they are not -- unless you consider that they were never "in." Hope this clears it up :)
Showing posts with label algebra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label algebra. Show all posts
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Math Book
Our homeschooling math curriculum is no ordinary math book, it's a story. Yes, we have broken every law in the universe saying the only way to teach is sitting a student in front of a boring textbook until brain death occurs, but we have been learning out of a book series about a five year old college math professor for three years and so far no SWAT team has tried to blow down our door. This book is called, Life of Fred. In the first book, Life of Fred: Fractions by Stanley F. Schmidt, Fred (the five year old math professor) is walking to his first class of the day when he sees a student heading to class on a bike. Fred then notices how much faster he could get to the math classroom if he owned a bike (Fred is only three feet tall and walks slowly) plus he could wear a cool helmet. So Fred finds an ad in the college newspaper and goes to buy a bike were the owner changes the price to the exact amount Fred has in his account (overcharging him for the bike), and then has it shipped to his office. Once back at his office, he finds the package and remembers that his scissors have rounded tips. Instead, he tries to use an 18" knife he bought for his friend Alexander's birthday. He drops the knife on his foot, his friend Betty takes him to the hospital, Alexander meets them, and the trio go out for pizza. There, Fred gets a job, lights fire to the place, sits on the roof of a car going through a car wash to clean all the soot off of him, finds there was a marshmallow in his pocket, wipes the gooey mess on a random cat, (this cat then ends up brushing up against a little girl and gets stuck to her leg) and finally remembers his bike. At home, he picks the tape off the box and finds that it was filled with junk. Not even parts of a bike. After a trip to the corner for some crying, he finds a forty-button remote, and decides to build a robot.
Every chapter has a "your turn to play" which is a set of math questions about the chapter. After every 4-6 chapters there is "The Bridge," which is ten questions about the past six chapters. After 32 chapters (One book) you come to "The Final Bridge," with questions about every thing you learned. Before we found this book, I was using an ordinary school math book and would work from 10AM-6:30PM trying to do a single 40 problem page until my mom found a math book series that was just like a book. I found it a lot easier to stay on task when I realized that instead of 40 problems on decimals or 40 division problems, it was ten or so word problems that use all different types of math. Flipping through it, I noticed that instead of just showing you wordless "examples" of one way to do it, it actually told you how to do the problem, and "The Easy Way" to finish it. I tried it out and found that instead of eight hours a day it was taking me less than one. We are currently at the third book (beginning algebra) and have set deadlines for each book so we can finish them before I start going to high-school. Thanks Stan!
Every chapter has a "your turn to play" which is a set of math questions about the chapter. After every 4-6 chapters there is "The Bridge," which is ten questions about the past six chapters. After 32 chapters (One book) you come to "The Final Bridge," with questions about every thing you learned. Before we found this book, I was using an ordinary school math book and would work from 10AM-6:30PM trying to do a single 40 problem page until my mom found a math book series that was just like a book. I found it a lot easier to stay on task when I realized that instead of 40 problems on decimals or 40 division problems, it was ten or so word problems that use all different types of math. Flipping through it, I noticed that instead of just showing you wordless "examples" of one way to do it, it actually told you how to do the problem, and "The Easy Way" to finish it. I tried it out and found that instead of eight hours a day it was taking me less than one. We are currently at the third book (beginning algebra) and have set deadlines for each book so we can finish them before I start going to high-school. Thanks Stan!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Eagleridge: What is It?
Mondays and Wednesdays are not the same old wake up at ten and take your time through math, writing, and music.
On Wednesdays, we wake up at 7:00, get dressed, have breakfast, and then head to Eagleridge via my best friend Devin's mom. Eagleridge is pretty much just a school for homeschoolers. It's all the ordinary classes (except math) just without homework, and you can choose which days you go. Once we get there at 8:30 AM, Rebecca goes off to some class I don't know of and I go to Physical Education. There, we usually do fitness then move on to the lesson (the sport were working on) and then move on to Science. Every month we work on a different type of science. This month we've been working on the physics of flight. My next class is Student Council. This year I ran for treasurer, lost, found an organization for our Christmas toy drive, was home sick the day we decided on a different organization, seconded the motion to make cards to sell for a fundraiser, tried to make a motion to do crazy hair day again this year, failed unanimously,and my idea for the school dance was the chosen. After that, my next class is Yearbook. In there, we are currently making houses on Google Sketch Up because there is not much else to do, but all we did was made pages for the yearbook. (I made the student council page.) Next, we have lunch. After 30 minutes of recess, we have Composition, Computers, and finally, Art. School ends at 3:30 PM on Wednesdays.
On Mondays, I wake up at 6:30 AM, get dressed, and then again get picked up by Devin's mom. The day starts at 8:00 AM with Medieval History were we are currently writing business letters to the teacher about applying to NASA to go back in time to retrieve lost history. My next class is Compass Learning Math which is an online math program. Next, I have Chess Club where we learn strategies and play chess. After Chess Club, I have Sports Math in which we are currently doing fantasy football. Next I have lunch. After lunch, I have Pre-Algebra. In here it is a lot like school just made easier by the best teacher in the world. Next, I have Physical Education which is just like on Wednesdays. After that I have Microsoft Office in which we do different projects using Microsoft Office. Finally, I play clarinet in Band, my last class of the day. School ends at 4:30 PM on Mondays.
One of the most frequently asked questions is if I miss anything from when I used to be in school. My answer to that is Eagleridge has all the stuff that I might miss from school!
On Wednesdays, we wake up at 7:00, get dressed, have breakfast, and then head to Eagleridge via my best friend Devin's mom. Eagleridge is pretty much just a school for homeschoolers. It's all the ordinary classes (except math) just without homework, and you can choose which days you go. Once we get there at 8:30 AM, Rebecca goes off to some class I don't know of and I go to Physical Education. There, we usually do fitness then move on to the lesson (the sport were working on) and then move on to Science. Every month we work on a different type of science. This month we've been working on the physics of flight. My next class is Student Council. This year I ran for treasurer, lost, found an organization for our Christmas toy drive, was home sick the day we decided on a different organization, seconded the motion to make cards to sell for a fundraiser, tried to make a motion to do crazy hair day again this year, failed unanimously,and my idea for the school dance was the chosen. After that, my next class is Yearbook. In there, we are currently making houses on Google Sketch Up because there is not much else to do, but all we did was made pages for the yearbook. (I made the student council page.) Next, we have lunch. After 30 minutes of recess, we have Composition, Computers, and finally, Art. School ends at 3:30 PM on Wednesdays.
On Mondays, I wake up at 6:30 AM, get dressed, and then again get picked up by Devin's mom. The day starts at 8:00 AM with Medieval History were we are currently writing business letters to the teacher about applying to NASA to go back in time to retrieve lost history. My next class is Compass Learning Math which is an online math program. Next, I have Chess Club where we learn strategies and play chess. After Chess Club, I have Sports Math in which we are currently doing fantasy football. Next I have lunch. After lunch, I have Pre-Algebra. In here it is a lot like school just made easier by the best teacher in the world. Next, I have Physical Education which is just like on Wednesdays. After that I have Microsoft Office in which we do different projects using Microsoft Office. Finally, I play clarinet in Band, my last class of the day. School ends at 4:30 PM on Mondays.
One of the most frequently asked questions is if I miss anything from when I used to be in school. My answer to that is Eagleridge has all the stuff that I might miss from school!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Do-It-Yourself Education
I'm always amazed at the things people are willing to take on by themselves. For example: changing your own oil on your car. Why do people do this themselves? I can drive to my local oil change place and be out in about 15 minutes for less than $25. Doing this at home would require driving to the auto parts supply store (and the gas cost to get there), looking up the right parts in the book, purchasing the parts and the oil, driving home, getting the appropriate buckets for draining the oil, jacking the car up to do the draining, having the right tools on hand to remove the filter, researching how this particular filter is removed, doing the work, and then comes the big pickle: ridding yourself of the dirty oil. Yet I know people who do this procedure without question. Another favorite: remodeling your own house. I know scads of people without employment in the construction field that take on enormous home repair jobs while maintaining employment in another field. This is accepted practice. We have mega-stores like The Home Depot and Lowe's dedicated to people's desire to "do-it-yourself." Yet my desire to educate my own children while maintaining employment as a registered nurse does not warrant this level of acceptance. It's a two-part problem for me where the general public questions my do-it-yourself school, and the homeschooling community questions my working and homeschooling together.
I want to address whether or not parents have the ability to homeschool their own children. Since this is a blog, as opposed to to a research study, I will draw from my own life experiences. One of the first jobs I had in college was at the campus tutoring center. I was recommended as a tutor by my algebra teacher because I had done well in that class. When I went to the interview with the director of the tutoring center, she asked me what other classes I could tutor. Hmmm . . . I didn't really feel I was qualified to tutor anything! I ended up tutoring College Algebra and every math below that), English, ESL, German, and Psychology -- quite a cross-section! Was I an expert in all those disciplines? No. Yet I began to have people requesting me as a tutor. Later on, I branched out and took a job with a private tutoring agency that paid me more money. The clients at this agency were kids ages kindergarten through 12th grade at many different schools in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. Could I have possibly known what was going on with all those different kids in all those classes? No way! But I was busy every afternoon from 4:00-6:00PM when every parent wants a tutor. I did so well with this agency that I finally had enough clients on my own, and I was able to branch out and make some serious money. No one ever questioned my credentials with tutoring all these kids. My success was purely because I listened to the kids, analyzed their problems, and made adjustments so that they began to do better after I started working with them. Yet, homeschooling parents are put through the wringer about whether or not they possess the right credentials to teach their own kids that they know so well.
In my circle of friends, I know almost as many teachers as I do nurses. Teachers, and of course there are exceptions, can be the worst critics of homeschooling parents. I once had a teacher say to me, "I resent the fact that parents think they can do the job that I spent five years in college learning to do." As a nurse I cannot imagine saying to a patient, "You gave yourself your own pill at home? Do you know how much pharmacology I had to take in college to learn how to give you that pill? You're not qualified!" Really, do we have to be experts to figure out most things in life? When I precept new nurses at the hospital, the very first thing we do together is go to the pyxis (the computerized lockbox for drugs) and click on a program called Lexi-comp that will show you everything you need to know about all kinds of drugs: side effects, interactions, how long to infuse an IV drip, what to mix it with, etc. I use this program on a daily basis! Sure, we may have learned it, but we forget stuff and "accepted practice" changes. "Use your resources" -- that's what I tell my nurses and that's what I tell my kids. If a parent is motivated enough to remove his/her child from school, the likelihood is probably high that said parent is motivated enough to educate that child. Don't we learn things based on how meaningful they are to us?
I have to draw on my own life again because the only "D" I ever remember earning in school was my AP United States History class. I had just moved to Germany and was touring castles and cathedrals so why was everyone so surprised that I wasn't interested in writing in-depth papers about the Sugar and Stamp Acts? I'm not suggesting that as American citizens we should forgo learning American history, but I was more motivated to learn European history while in Europe. As a side note, that grade was weighted and history still remains one of my favorite subjects, but I think this is a good example of how people learn things based on their desire -- whether that be a child's desire to learn or a parent's desire to learn how to homeschool. That same year of school, I was made to finish a fourth year of Spanish because why would I want to learn German when I was living in a country where . . . oh I don't know . . . everyone spoke German? How is it that teenagers inevitably end up passing drivers' ed when the rest of their classes may be suffering? Could it be that they have a burning desire to drive?
Which also brings me to the question: how do adults learn things when they are no longer in school? Does the machine shut down? Don't people read the newspaper, watch the news, or research things in Wikipedia? Learning is lifelong. We put far too much sanctity in the walls of the schoolhouse.
I want to address whether or not parents have the ability to homeschool their own children. Since this is a blog, as opposed to to a research study, I will draw from my own life experiences. One of the first jobs I had in college was at the campus tutoring center. I was recommended as a tutor by my algebra teacher because I had done well in that class. When I went to the interview with the director of the tutoring center, she asked me what other classes I could tutor. Hmmm . . . I didn't really feel I was qualified to tutor anything! I ended up tutoring College Algebra and every math below that), English, ESL, German, and Psychology -- quite a cross-section! Was I an expert in all those disciplines? No. Yet I began to have people requesting me as a tutor. Later on, I branched out and took a job with a private tutoring agency that paid me more money. The clients at this agency were kids ages kindergarten through 12th grade at many different schools in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. Could I have possibly known what was going on with all those different kids in all those classes? No way! But I was busy every afternoon from 4:00-6:00PM when every parent wants a tutor. I did so well with this agency that I finally had enough clients on my own, and I was able to branch out and make some serious money. No one ever questioned my credentials with tutoring all these kids. My success was purely because I listened to the kids, analyzed their problems, and made adjustments so that they began to do better after I started working with them. Yet, homeschooling parents are put through the wringer about whether or not they possess the right credentials to teach their own kids that they know so well.
In my circle of friends, I know almost as many teachers as I do nurses. Teachers, and of course there are exceptions, can be the worst critics of homeschooling parents. I once had a teacher say to me, "I resent the fact that parents think they can do the job that I spent five years in college learning to do." As a nurse I cannot imagine saying to a patient, "You gave yourself your own pill at home? Do you know how much pharmacology I had to take in college to learn how to give you that pill? You're not qualified!" Really, do we have to be experts to figure out most things in life? When I precept new nurses at the hospital, the very first thing we do together is go to the pyxis (the computerized lockbox for drugs) and click on a program called Lexi-comp that will show you everything you need to know about all kinds of drugs: side effects, interactions, how long to infuse an IV drip, what to mix it with, etc. I use this program on a daily basis! Sure, we may have learned it, but we forget stuff and "accepted practice" changes. "Use your resources" -- that's what I tell my nurses and that's what I tell my kids. If a parent is motivated enough to remove his/her child from school, the likelihood is probably high that said parent is motivated enough to educate that child. Don't we learn things based on how meaningful they are to us?
I have to draw on my own life again because the only "D" I ever remember earning in school was my AP United States History class. I had just moved to Germany and was touring castles and cathedrals so why was everyone so surprised that I wasn't interested in writing in-depth papers about the Sugar and Stamp Acts? I'm not suggesting that as American citizens we should forgo learning American history, but I was more motivated to learn European history while in Europe. As a side note, that grade was weighted and history still remains one of my favorite subjects, but I think this is a good example of how people learn things based on their desire -- whether that be a child's desire to learn or a parent's desire to learn how to homeschool. That same year of school, I was made to finish a fourth year of Spanish because why would I want to learn German when I was living in a country where . . . oh I don't know . . . everyone spoke German? How is it that teenagers inevitably end up passing drivers' ed when the rest of their classes may be suffering? Could it be that they have a burning desire to drive?
Which also brings me to the question: how do adults learn things when they are no longer in school? Does the machine shut down? Don't people read the newspaper, watch the news, or research things in Wikipedia? Learning is lifelong. We put far too much sanctity in the walls of the schoolhouse.
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