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Real
life is not a room of thirty peers and one older adult; it is living life
as it naturally unfolds. Homeschooling provides this real life environment,
rich with everyday experiences. Our children are with us as we attend to
the daily tasks of living. They interact with people of all ages and all
walks of life, and because they have their parents as role models, they
emulate maturity and wisdom. Studies show that children who spend more time
with their parents are smarter, more creative, have a healthier self-image,
and are better adjusted to life.
As homeschoolers, we have greater opportunities and more time to socialize.
Our support group provides many varied activities for the children to interact
with one another, during field trips, roller skating, choir, swimming, sewing,
clubs and other especially planned classes. |
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| Children
begin learning to write at about the same time they learn to read. Because
they are learning to read printed words, they should be taught to print.
Besides, all through life, they will be required to fill out forms that
say, “Please Print.” |
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| No.
Grammar, spelling and handwriting all comprise Language Arts and should
be combined together and logged as one subject—Language Arts. |
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| No.
You must determine your goal and the credit you need most that day—reading
or history, but not both. However, if you are actually doing two things
at once, then you could log to two different subjects. During a study on
the Middle Ages, Heather duplicated a beautiful decorative manuscript page
while listening to Gregorian chants. I logged this time under both Music
and Art because Heather was doing two different activities at one time—listening
to the music while creating art. Another example is if your child was listening
to a Bible study audiotape while making bread, you could log that time under
both Bible and Home Economics. |
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| If
you are studying the diversity of the animal kingdom at the zoo, that is
logged under Science and placed under core away; Westward expansion under
the Arch, log under History, core away; Monetary transactions at several
stores, log Math, core away; Renaissance art at the Art Museum, History,
core away or Art, non-core; Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol could
either be literature if you’ve just read the book and are studying
its literary value (core) or History (core) if you’re studying its
historical value or Art (non-core); Volleyball or soccer, P.E., non-core;
Magic House, Science, core away; Castlewood Park (nature walk), Science,
core away; Maple Syruping, Science, core away, Old Court-house, History,
core away; Transportation Museum, History, core away; Tumbledrum, P.E.,
non-core; Roller skating, ice skating, or bowling, P.E., non-core; Traveling
through other states, using map skills, visiting historical sites, History,
core away; Cooking or sewing classes, Home Ec., non-core; and Band or choir,
Music, non-core. |
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| When
you’re first teaching a child a new domestic skill, then I would log
it under Home Economics or Life Skills. However, I cannot justify logging
every time your child does the laundry, vacuuming…. |
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| First
of all, the law does not require that we teach 400 hours of non-core subjects.
It states, “At least 600 hours of the 1,000 will be in reading, lan-guage
arts, mathematics, social studies, and science or academic courses that
are related.” I reiterate, it does not require an accumulation of 400
non-core hours. You could log 1,000 hours of core hours if you like, but
for the sake of a well-rounded educa-tion, I recommend time spent in art,
music, physical education, shop, and home economics. In my opinion, the
non-core subjects add more spice to the daily academic meal and should not
be neglected, but you certainly need not worry about providing exactly 400
hours of non-core instruction. |
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When
I first began homeschooling, I was thrilled with playing school again, grading
being one outward manifestation of my role-playing. With my official red
pencil, after circling any incorrect responses, I implemented a variety
of grading techniques including percentages, letter grades, stars, smiles,
stickers, and praise such as Great! Very Good, Thirty Correct!, Only Two
Wrong, and Great Job!—all throwbacks from my earlier career in the
public school system. Mostly this was in recognition of Heather’s work.
I never kept grades in a gradebook because I knew exactly how well Heather
understood her studies by my daily observations.
During first grade, after discovering the surprising revelation that each
red mark made Heather feel as if she were receiving a spanking, I immediately
converted to colors she preferred. The disposal of the red pencil I used
when teaching my first graders was an arduous, heroic act, but unimportant
compared to Heather’s self-image. The old adage that one red mark erases
one hundred gold stars is so true.
Most children hurry through practice exercises just to finish, and once
completed, never want to see them again. I’m not referring to creative,
fun projects, but to workbook exercises. Occasionally, minor mistakes occur
due to rushing; these I never make Heather work again. Mistakes are mistakes;
we all make them. They do not represent our understanding.
Constant vigilance through daily observations and interaction from you will
avert any real threat to understanding. Whereas some mistakes are acceptable,
a considerable amount of incorrect responses represent a lack of comprehension
and require reteaching. My teaching objectives rest in understanding—If
Heather does poorly, then I as the teacher have done a poor job in teaching.
It is then my responsibility to approach the concept or skill differently,
to insure a better understanding. The amount of mistakes alerts me to the
inadequacy of my teaching approach and requires further instruction until
my goal of understanding is reached. If I were grading, the original grade
would no longer represent her comprehension. I never equate grades with
the ability of the child. Grades really are indicative of the teacher’s
ability; therefore, all homeschooled children should be receiving straight
“A’s”—if we were keeping grades.
Recognizing a child’s work, especially creative work, is vastly important
to children. Verbal praise, stars, stickers, written praise, and gentle
corrections if need be can be used to show appreciation for their work and
instills a great sense of satisfaction for a job well done. Find as much
right as you can, which is especially vital to their self-image.
Grading is only necessary if the child needs incentives to complete work,
which is more probable for a child who has just been removed from a traditional
class setting. |
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To fully understand my answer, you must first understand
the difference between a classroom set-ting and a tutorial setting. In the
elementary grades, 3_ hours of every day are spent taking attendance, collecting
lunch money, lining up, moving from one part of the building to another,
lunch, recess, and using the bathroom. Of the remaining time, much is consumed
by preparation, getting materials ready, moving from one group to another,
disciplining, incessant review, busywork, inconsequential chatter, and irrelevant
interaction. Furthermore, studies show that children receive only 2_ minutes
of one-on-one time from their teacher.
When a child is ill, a visiting teacher spends about three hours catching
up the student for the thirty hours missed. In junior and senior high school,
only about fifteen minutes of every class period is spent in actual teaching.
When children first received a public education, they attended for only
three to four years compared to the thirteen-year educational prison term
of today.
The following example clearly exemplifies the significant difference between
tutoring and classroom teaching. My friend’s sister-in-law, who is
a teacher, worked with my friend’s daughter. When the sister-in-law
was finished, she told my friend that what she had accomplished with her
niece in one hour would have taken three months to accomplish with her own
first grade class.
So 2 to 3 hours of structured instruction each day is sufficient to maintain
your student at grade level and about 4 hours for high schoolers. The rest
of the day may then be devoted to art, crafts, music, sewing, physical exercise,
family responsibilities, hobbies, reading, gardening, playing, solitude,
fel-lowshipping with other homeschoolers, community service, or a home business.
According to Samuel Blumenfeld, “Of the 117 men who signed the Declaration
of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, one
out of three had only a few months of formal schooling, and only one in
four had gone to col-lege.” Yet these men were intellectual giants. |
| No. Grammar, spelling and handwriting all comprise
Language Arts and should be combined together and logged as one subject—Language
Arts. |
| No. You must determine your goal and the credit you
need most that day—reading or history, but not both. However, if you
are actually doing two things at once, then you could log to two different
subjects. During a study on the Middle Ages, Heather duplicated a beautiful
decorative manuscript page while listening to Gregorian chants. I logged
this time under both Music and Art because Heather was doing two different
activities at one time—listening to the music while creating art. An-other
example is if your child was listening to a Bible study audiotape while
making bread, you could log that time under both Bible and Home Economics. |
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•
Have the child read one phrase at a time and then answer your questions
about the information just read. Continue practicing, reading a sentence
and answering questions, and then several sentences, and then one paragraph,
two paragraphs, a short story…
• Have the child describe daily tasks step by step: brushing teeth,
setting the table, dressing, folding a towel, taking a bath….
• When the child becomes proficient at ordering the steps of certain
tasks, record them, then have the child play it back and write them down.
• Every day, have the child relay the day’s activities back to
dad in the order they happened. Again this can be recorded and written down,
eventually for a daily journal.
• Put different objects in a tube sock and have the child describe
them.
• Have the child describe different objects around the house. Use the
information to build a paragraph about that object.
• Have the child follow simple directions for a recipe, game, putting
a paper centerpiece together….
• Read about Moses and the difficulty he had expressing himself, yet
how God used him for a mighty task. Read the verses about how God uses our
weaknesses.
• Continue to praise the child for each progression. |
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| Once your child has achieved a firm phonetic foundation,
it is no longer necessary to use readers. You use readers that accompany
your phonics pro-gram because they work hand in hand with your phonics curriculum
to reinforce the phonics rules. You can continue on with readers and literature
books through the twelfth grade if you like, but you could also make appropriate
selections based on in-terest, the subject you’re studying, or about
the time period you’re studying. Now that Sonia and Jedidiah know how
to read, I have them read to me from the Bible, books we enjoyed with Heather,
subjects they’re interested in, and from books about the time period
we’re studying in history. |
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| Absolutely not. You need one for practicing printing
and one for practicing cursive after they have accomplished printing. From
then on, instead of making more work in just another workbook, encourage
them to do their best writing whenever they write for other assignments.
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