The Imperfect Community

[DietCokeHead]

How is homeschooling going??

[kathyjm]

It's going GREAT!!! I'm so proud of Katelynn. She is being so good at keeping herself on track and is so motivated (I don't even have to nag at her!). I'm really getting to know her strengths and weaknesses. I'm surprised to find out what she really struggles with vs. what her teachers have always told me. I've always seen comments on her report cards about struggling in math and science. That's so BS! This kid is awesome at both! She's really struggling in literature right now (has a C). She's having a tough time with comprehension...her tics really make it difficult. So when it comes time to answer the questions about what she's read, she sometimes gets it right and sometimes is way off. So right now I'm having her read by herself first, then I read it out loud to her and stop in different sections and ask her the questions about what? why? when? where? who? (if they apply) just to keep her on track. I'm not sure how else to help her with that. I think it's just something that will take a lot practice for her and as her tics change with time I hope it will get easier for her (she has tics that will cause her to read the same sentence over or she'll be mid sentence and a mental tic will cause her to lose track or if she's dealing with an eye blinking tic she'll become distracted as well).

The only other subject she currently doesn't have an A in is Grammar. It's a low B.

I can't remember if I posted this before but she also couldn't remember cursive! I was shocked to find out that neither of my other two older dd's remember it either!!! I talked to my 10 year old's teacher about it at back to school night. He responded that with computers these days it's just not as important. He said if he's working with the kids on a certain concept and he can't read their writing he'll ask them to print. I don't know why this bothers me. I feel like cursive is something they should know! So, We have a rule here...anything written needs to be in cursive for all of them (except math).

I'm confident Katelynn is better off. She's getting a MUCH better education and more well rounded than what Kara and Olivia are getting in the public school. If I could I think I'd home school all of them!

It's fun too. She's done a few science projects already to supplement what she's studying. To practice the scientific method she did a snail race and used different surfaces for each snail. When she was studying soil, she got to dig a 3 foot hole in our back yard (LOL). In history she is studying ancient egypt. So we are going to the pharaoh's festival this weekend. Our local wildlife museum has a home school program too which has some courses which coincide with what she's studying this year so she'll be going to a few of those field trips as well.

The public school she was at last year is giving me crud... mostly the office assistant. Too bad for her that I'm well aware of california's position on home schooling and I've followed all of the laws to a tee. They piss me off. It's not like I'm some freak who's abusing my kid. I still have two kids in the public school system. That SCHOOL let me down when it came to Katelynn. <<sigh>> Maybe they should get off my back and evaluate what THEY have done.

Planning the curriculum and keeping track of grades/classwork/test/etc...it a lot of work (fortunately I'm a project manager by profession and I have the organizational skills to stay on top of it). I can't imagine how teachers do this for classes of 32 kids!

[MedeaNJ]

I am so glad that it is working for you and your daughter.

We are keeping the homeschooling option open for the twins if it turns out we cannot afford sending them to the Waldorf school nearby. There is a Waldorf curriculum called Oak Meadow that we would use.

In regards to the penmanship, what you tell does not surprise me. Technology these days make everything so 'easy.' In a Waldorf education, computers are not formally introduced until the 6th grade, or thereabouts. Good penmanship is a requirement. I fess up that my own penmanship is just terrible, my own boss picks on me for my bad handwriting, even though I write in block print. A previous boss and I used to joke who had the worst...it was always a tie. I can venture to guess it is because I type more than write.

[TheBean]

Oh that is wonderful Kathy, so happy to see you posting this. I imagine it is a bonding opportunity time too.

I never would have thought about the cursive! It would bother me too - though i don't know why.

Eileen

[Jessica]

Actually, some school districts are moving to abolish cursive handwriting all-together. I have no doubt that it will be omitted from the U.S. education curriculum within 10 years. Most people believe it to be obsolete now. It was meant to be a short-hand style of writing, but in the age of computers and voice recorders, short-hand is no longer needed.

This depresses me for nostalgic reasons.

[MedeaNJ]

[MainstreamMom]

That's great Kathy. It sounds like it's going great and she is thriving. Good job! Keep us updated!