Sunday, January 15, 2006
To Now
Posted in Learning on the Narrow Path
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I skipped over a lot of years in my last post because our homeschooling efforts during that time were so relaxed. At the end of the 2003 school year, Blair, John and Kate had standardized tests as was required by law. All three scored in the upper 10th percentile in reading, math and language. At the beginning of the 2004 school year, Blair was entering high school. Having prepared transcripts in the past, I knew how to do that, but there was so much to plan for and keep track of now that my state required more reporting than I had done in CA. I found Barb Shelton’s “A High School Form-U-La” to be absolutely the best resource I found, and I read them all. It covers not only the required forms and hours calculations, but also a wonderful explanation of how to fit unschooling or relaxed schooling into these forms. Blair and I sat down and mapped out some general goals, with me filling in a few “non-negotiables.” She finished up her 9th grade hours and required subjects (my requirements, not the state’s) a few months short of the traditional school year, so she concentrated very heavily on her Tae Kwon Do practice, riding lessons and pleasure reading for a time. She is now just more than halfway through her 10th grade hours and requirements. Among many other subjects she pursues for pure enjoyment: Japanese (Power Glide Ultimate) Living Like a Christian (worldview) Algebra 2/Trigonometry Learning Language Arts through Literature British Literature Camelot Chemistry Primer Researching 20th century world history and state politics She reads French/English dictionaries, is writing a book, does many devotionals, journals, writes poetry, and is researching her college options. When a child asks me a Bible question to which I don’t know the answer, we ask Blair to help us find the answer in the Bible – she hasn’t failed us yet. She also teaches herself piano, designs dresses and has a dream of working with horses, possibly as an equine physical therapist. John tends to focus on one thing and one thing only at a time. A few months back that he did nothing but Tae Kwon Do, and moved very quickly through the belt ranks. Right now his “binge” is Algebra and regularly works 100 polynomial problems in a sitting. Over the Christmas season, he received an electronics lab and worked his way through that in about two weeks. He reads historical fiction for fun, and has written some very interesting fiction himself. He may seem obsessed with one particular subject at a time, but over the course of a school year he is very balanced. Kate was never terribly interested in school. Now that she’s in 6th grade she loves learning, but it must be on her own terms. Even as a little one she didn’t enjoy workbooks like my others did. She went through a spell of doing gymnastics and would have lived at the gym if I’d let her. She’s very physical: limber and strong. She also has an excellent sense of her physical self. Her best friend was also a gymnast, so they would do 15 minutes of math together then spend 20 on the trampoline. Kate visits a website daily that has timed math drills because she wants to speed up her multiplication skills. She has read a series of fantasy books and spends a few minutes each day conversing with fellow readers on the message board. She enjoys playing “Harvest Moon” on the game cube and learning about the demands of farming. When she transferred from gymnastics to martial arts, she also moved up very quickly through the ranks and won two silver and one gold medal in regional competition. Right now she is considering taking ballet, so she is studying a few French terms and biology. Christy had a very difficult birth and was oxygen deprived for a bit. It turns out she was almost completely blind in one eye and we didn’t know until she was nearly six. She was slow to read, had problems pronouncing her words understandably, and still at eight has indecipherable handwriting. But this child has a tender servant’s heart and is grievously wounded by her own sins. She earnestly seeks the Lord’s wisdom every day and constantly challenges us all to walk our talk. She is creative and intuitive, loves to draw, dance, make up jokes and snuggle. We tend to focus on the computer for her written work so she can express herself without the limitations of pencil and paper, although she is very diligent about practicing her handwriting. She loves reading historical fiction too, and has read the entire American Girls series, the Little House books and most of the Sisters in Time series. Her love of drawing lends itself naturally to nature studies, outside watching wildlife and sketching what she sees. We then take those drawings and research what she has seen. Rose is still only 5, and although she has never completed a phonics course, reads and spells as well as any third-grader I’ve met. She adds and subtracts fluently and is playing around with numbers in other contexts. She understands symbolism in some part of her mind, can reverse numbers or letters to “read” backward or make words from numbers, which totally blows me away. She wants to be part of whatever action is going on, from cooking to cleaning to building birdhouses – she’s in there swinging the hammer and dust cloth with the rest of us. She has a daily devotional she reads, and will frequently find applications in her daily life to share with us at dinner. Well, that’s where we are now. From this point on, my blog will contain daily journals of interesting things I am learning about the kids, or with the kids, or from the kids. At least that’s the plan. Sometimes life in our family surprises me and I don’t end up where I plan, though! |
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Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - what an encouragement
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Posted by Friday, February 10, 2006 - Encouraging
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