That
innocent question from a new homeschool mom on a message board set off a round
of debate. Some said “Yes” because it helps the student get ready for other
school situations that do grade. Others
said “no” because grades are not the best way to judge competence. As in most
things, both sides could learn a lot by listening to each other.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
8th Grade English: Reading and Writing
My son loves to read. On his fun scale, it’s second only to Mind Craft.
So, it makes sense to let him ease into each day with 30 minutes of reading.
Right now, he’s reading the 6th Harry Potter. We’ll use the later
novels for the first literary analysis unit. Last year, he did a good job with
character development in the first Harry Potter book. This time we’ll probably tackle
themes, but not until November.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
8th Grade English: Grammar
Wow, grammar is really hard to
teach! So, we’re starting with the basics: define the eight parts of speech and give 10 examples of each.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
The School Day This Year
Many things
about our school day worked great last year. The biggest thing was the lack of
a specific schedule. I used a dry erase board to list the day’s activities, but
they could happen at any time. Each day started with my son doing the same
morning work: read for 30 minutes, copy the day’s plans into his agenda, watch
CNN Student News and write a response to one of the stories.
When my son wanted
to, he would have everything done with time to spare before his friends came
home. When he was pokey, then he would still be working until bedtime. He
learned a lot about time management and the downside of procrastination!
Here’s how the
weekly plans look this year:
Monday, August 26, 2013
What’s So Wrong with Common Core?
Common Core
State Standards (CCSS) are a hot topic in the education world: public, private and
homeschool. Basically, CCSS are a list of what students should be able to master
by grade and subject. They have been adopted as the standards used by a large
majority of states in exchange for those states being eligible for federal
funds.
1. Do these standards encompass what we want our children to learn?
2. If we don’t following these standards, will our children be at a disadvantage later?
There are
questions and problems with CCSS that won’t affect homeschool families, such as
getting all children up to speed, transitioning standardized tests for multiple
grades, and training teachers. The questions that apply to homeschool
families are:
1. Do these standards encompass what we want our children to learn?
2. If we don’t following these standards, will our children be at a disadvantage later?
Getting Ready for 8th Grade
Overloaded! That’s how I felt when I started looking at curriculum for 8th
grade. Until I…
- Weeded out anything with an ultra-conservative religious slant
- Took out anything with outdated information
- Removed anything that had to be followed exactly
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Wrapping up 7th grade
Looking back on our first year of homeschool, there were ups and downs.
Most were expected. What I didn’t expect was how much my son would mature. Some
of that could be due to his age. But, I think most of it came from his learning
about himself: how he learns, what he likes to learn about, and where that
might take him in the future. It made total sense to build on that and
homeschool him for 8th grade.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Our Summer Vacation: Science rules!
In our house, science is the thing that rules us all and in the
darkness binds us… together, that is. We spent the summer binge watching Eureka
and Warehouse 13. Besides renaming our homeschool to “Tesla High”, my son was
motivated to do a lot of science experiments just for fun. My only requirement
was that he needed to write a short paragraph about each experiment in his science journal. He had
come so far in his writing struggles, it was the perfect way to not loose any
ground.
Here was one of his favorites. He used the gas generated from dry ice in warm water to create strong soap bubbles. Thank you to Steve Spangler for this lab. (Bouncing Smoke Bubbles from this book)
Here was one of his favorites. He used the gas generated from dry ice in warm water to create strong soap bubbles. Thank you to Steve Spangler for this lab. (Bouncing Smoke Bubbles from this book)
This summer’s
just-for-fun lab time was a big hit so we’re continuing it each Friday this
school year. And, I am thrilled that my son finally loves exploring science
again.
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