What Grade Are You In?

My youngest is now 6. I guess that means he's not in Kindergarten any more. He's had it in his mind that he has been in 1st grade since about April.


My oldest is 13. I guess that means she's entering 8th grade.


My "middlest" is nearly 12 and that would mean she is entering 7th grade.


All along, grade level really meant nothing to me. Once the children reached a certain age, people began to ask them, "What grade are you in?" At first the girls would give me a bewildered look. I would then have to calculate on my fingers - "Okay, subtract 5 from their age and that gives you grade level. 7 minus 5 is 2. So I guess that means you're in Second Grade."


Does it matter? Really? When registering for VBS (or any of the other multitude of activities we register for), why can't they go by age?


At various times we would have a scenario like this - 9 year old in Math-U-See Gamma level (What's Gamma????? It's the third book so is that 3rd grade?????), while completing Language Lessons for Intermediate grades, while reading Ivanhoe (unabridged). So just looking at curriculum, what grade would that be?


Again I ask, does it matter? Really?



High school is a whole different ball game and the grade level needs to be more defined. At that point we are creating transcripts that will be necessary for post-secondary education and/or employment*. So that starts at about age 14. In the meantime, according to Pa homeschool law, grade level is determined by the home educating parent. If it doesn't matter to the parent, then what?

*I am not saying here that the law requires transcripts. However, I do highly recommend creating transcripts for your child during the high school years for reasons I mentioned in this post.

Even Though Life is Happening, Learning Continues

My daughters' standardized test scores came in the mail yesterday.


Let me back up for a moment here.

The last 12 months have not been the greatest. Due to many things going on in our personal lives, "school" was shoved to the side many times. About 2 months ago, I began fretting over it and was talking to a dear friend. She set me straight by asking me, "What would you tell another mom who called you and was fretting like this?" She stopped me in my tracks. I do evaluations for homeschoolers in Pennsylvania and I see many parents who are worried to death. Typically, I encourage them because I know that not all learning comes from textbooks. So my response to her was "I'd tell them to relax." She then informed me that I need to take my own advice and she was right.

The scores came today and it looks like we didn't miss a beat. Both of my girls scored right where they should. I say this because their scores are consistent with previous years' scores. So now DD13 is definitley ready for 8th grade and DD11 is ready for 7th. I didn't test DS6 yet because I truly don't think it's necessary.

So all of this to say that I think a Charlotte Mason Edcuation works! On the days we don't do "school", we are still learning and thinking.

Phonics anyone?

When I taught in public schools in the early to mid 90's, my favorite year was the year I taught 3rd grade. Those kids were great. They were already readers, but they were still young enough to be excited about activities I had planned.
The most frustrating grade level was 2nd grade. Half of the kids were readers and half were nonreaders.
At the end of every school year, we received our teaching assignments for the following year. The school where I taught thought it was healthy to move teachers from one grade to another every year.
One year, I suspected that my new teaching assignment would be in 1st grade. I went to the principal and begged him to not put me in a 1st grade classroom. Why? I did not want to teach phonics. I loathe phonics. The word phonics is not spelled phonetically. What's up with that?
This morning I came across two YouTube videos with possible explanations as to why I have such a dislike for the subject.

Enjoy!



Found this one at A Peaceful Day this morning. I think it really drives home the need to teach a love of books. When children love books, they will have a desire to learn to read. I love this stuff.

Lessons That Stick

Confession: I love magazines. Weird, I know, but I really like them. Maybe because they are very light reading and I can actually get through an article before someone discovers I am reading and decides that they need my attention right at that moment. (Breathe)

The latest issue of Woman's Day magazine has an article that I found to be very interesting and am glad that it is out there in the mainstream instead of a homeschool-specific magazine. The article is called "Lessons that Stick with a Child" and it is written by Paula Spencer. I'll stop writing about it here and give you the link so you can read it yourself. It's a great article to keep in mind as you beging curriculum shopping for next year.

Lessons That Stick With a Child by Paula Spencer

I wonder if any of the educators in our schools will pick this one up and read it.

No Textbooks!?!?!?

A little over a year ago, a friend was telling me that her daughters were having a hard time with history. "They just don't seem to retain anything," she explained. Then she asked, "What history textbook do you use?" I stopped and thought for a moment. It was a quick moment. However, in that moment, all the resources I use reeled through my head. I then answered, "None." She actually looked shocked. "None!?" I went on to explain that we use the library as our primary resource for history and science. Then the next question came, "How do you know you aren't missing anything?" I answered with another question, "How much do you remember from your textbooks in school? Do you remember how dry and boring they were?" Then I asked, "Do you remember any books you read as a kid?" Of course she did.
I do evaluations for homeschoolers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Every year, I have a new homeschooler who feels they didn't cover art or music. I love talking with them and helping them to remember shows or other experiences that would be considered art and music (or whatever other subject they think they missed). I also get phone calls from new homeschool moms who are panicing and asking me which curriculum (or workbook) they should have their preschooler or kindergartener in. My reply is always, "None." With children that age, you should take out the play dough or the building blocks and let them play. Take them on walks and let them explore. Talk to them about all that you do and encourage them to talk to you. That is how they will learn best.
Not all learning comes from a text book. As a matter of fact, most learning doesn't come from textbooks. Life is learning.
This morning, I was sent this link for 100+ Resources for Teaching Without Textbooks. It has so many good resources.
As a side note: I do use textbooks for Math. Our family uses the Math U See materials. That only takes 15 to 20 minutes a day and it works well for us. Along with this, I also give my kids some real life experiences with math at as young an age as possible. They include (but are not limited to):

• Cooking using recipes. Sometimes we double or half a recipe and they have to do the math.
• When we go to the bank, they are not allowed a lollipop unless they have a deposit. They also have to fill out their own deposit slips.
• When at the store, I'll ask them to tell me how much change I should get back. Then I have them count it to make sure it is correct.

These are just a few ideas and as I read others' blogs, I get so many more.

School vs Real Life and Planning for Next Year

There is a woman in my life who has homeschooled her two sons all the way through. One she graduated two years ago and the other is 17 (I think). The other day we were talking about homeschooling and she said that when her boys were younger she "tried very hard to make that line between school and real life as fuzzy as possible."

Didn't Charlotte Mason say, "Life is an atmosphere"?

As I sit here and work on my goals for next year, these words keep scrolling through my head. This past year, I have put way too much emphasis on the 180 days that my children need to complete to be in compliance with the law. I think next year, I just need to put our attendance chart out of sight. I plan create a habit of math and copywork every day along with reading lots of books. We will also take up handicrafts in the afternoons. I'm hoping each girl will finish a quilt next year. There will be art and music appreciation incorporated into our days as well.

Early Childhood Education - up to grade 3

I came across this article this morning and hope you have time to read it. Print it out and sit down with a cup of tea, or soda, or kool aid - whatever your preference, and read it.

Every year, people come to me asking what curriculum/workbooks their Kindergarteners or even 1st graders should be in. Others stress over the fact that their child is 8 and can't read yet. I am a strong advocate for early education (up to 3rd grade) being a time when the child explores and discovers his world. I don't think kindergarteners should be working out of workbooks - unless they want to. That means, they genuinely have a desire to sit down with a workbook and do the pages in it without mommy standing over them to be sure everything is right. For these early learners, get out the play dough. Better yet, let them help you make playdough. Take them on a nature walk. In this area, Codorus State Park is a wonderful place to go. For that matter, the Littlestown Community park is well suited for a nature walk. Give them wooden building blocks and see what they come up with. Be sure to take pictures along the way and put them in one of those little photo albums you can get at a local craft store for a dollar. Then have them go back and tell you about the pictures without a lot of prompting. They will get so much more out of these kinds of experiences than working on a workbook because this is real life happening. I believe that workbooks at an early age can zap the love of learning from them. (That is actually my primary reason for wanting to homeschool - so they don't loose their love of learning.)

With all that said, here is the website for the article that I hope everyone can read.
http://www.squidoo. com/learningsyst em/

There is a video on this website that I don't quite get, but the article is awesome. If any of you want to discuss the article, let me know. I love talking about stuff like this.