So, I found that my initial method of homeschooling wasn't going how I planned. Things were going well, but more by default. I needed to evaluate so I had a clearer vision for 1st grade.
In an attempt to gain clarity I started reading some homeschool boards more carefully. Instead of clear direction, I ended up with a sort of thoughtful confusion, or things that make me go hmm....
1. Lesson Plans: I initially got this concept, sort of. I looked at my books, so many pages or lessons meant doing so many per week for the year. That whole idea was blown out of the water the first week. Holly did 4 to 5 lessons a day in her math book, but could barely eek out 2 lessons a week in her writing book, though she loved to write letters at other times. She was bored to actual tears by her phonics primer, but loved to do phonics workbooks I picked up at garage sales. Since she was progressing, albeit at different rates, this was all ok with me. But, when I got on the boards and saw these seasoned homeschoolers posting about finishing their lesson plans for the week or month or semester, it seemed odd to me. Is my daughter different? Is she the only one who doesn't learn at the same rate as the curriculum? I thought I was homeschooling to individualize my girls education...
2. Seatwork Supervision: Here again I knew what seat work was, or thought I knew. My daughter enjoys sitting and working on workbooks, writing letters etc... I often find her sitting at her desk "doing school". This would make me smile. So when I read many seasoned homeschoolers posting that they always supervised every moment of a Ker's seatwork I was shocked. Did they drop what they were doing every time their Ker decided to do a workbook? Did they prohibit seatwork if they were not available?
After inquiring I discovered that this was partly a semantics issue. Many only considered seatwork to be pages assigned specifically for "school time". For the most part children were allowed access to pencils and paper throughout the day. Some did forbid school-like activities for fear their children would develop bad habits. But I discovered a more disturbing sentiment. More than one person felt that if schoolwork was sufficiently challenging, during schooltime, children would not want to do more of it. Someone even said if it was "fun and easy" it was not schoolwork. I thought I was homeschooling so my kids love learning and want to learn independently...
3. Grades: As I began to pay more attention to the boards I began to see comments about grading papers. Now I do understand that some who have multiple children will have to check the work of some children at a different time. But some people definitely spoke about grading. In fact confusion over grading seemed to be a popular topic. Now I know from high school that grades are very subjective. I got a B in a math class where I got 100% on the standardized final exam. Others, who had a different teacher, got A's with lower final exam scores. Course grades can really only measure how the teacher perceives you in comparison to others in the same classroom.
Of course regular schools give grades because there is a limited time frame to learn the material. I guess I would assume homeschoolers should always get A's because they would work until they mastered the material they needed to learn. Which leads me to my next hmm...
4. Finishing Curriculum: I frequently see posts concerning finishing curriculum too early or not finishing curriculum. The angst in this area confuses me. If you finish your curriculum "early" wouldn't you move onto learning something else? If you don't finish your curriculum on your preplanned time table don't you either keep working until you finish it, or reevaluate if it is working for you.
Now I am not dissing anyone who uses these practices or has these concerns. Rather these ideas that perplexed me have shown me that I look at homeschooling differently that a lot of seasoned homeschoolers I interact with. I think different is OK for me and for them. But I realize that due to many factors; philosophy, location, personality, learning styles etc... we interact with curriculum in our own unique way. Therefore I need to consider that we use curriculum different than maybe the authors' intended. Since I also have different methods than many seasoned homeschoolers I interact with, I need to consider advice and critique in that light. And, I need to see if there were other seasoned homeschoolers who share some of my perspective.
One more caveat, I still think I can learn things from homeschoolers who make me go hmm. In fact the perplexed moments help me to investigate why I do what I do. I just need to weigh ideas considering my perspective and our situation.
Coming soon...how we are homeschooling right now.
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