My letter to the Michigan State Board of Education

First, My public thanks to Representative Opsommer's office for alerting us so quickly and making the detail available promptly.

My letter is going out to the Board of Education on Monday. I'm working on a (less personal) version to be sent to out state legislators when they're seated in January.

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Dear Governor Snyder,

The Michigan State Board of Education has before it a proposal that would require home-schooled children to be registered with their school districts. My question to you is: Why?

Why is the State Board of Education considering adding to workload of the already burdened state system by asking them to take responsibility for registering our state’s home-educators and their students?

Elizabeth Bauer noted that the 2000 Census listed 250,000 school-aged children who are not enrolled in any school. She thinks that local districts have an interest in knowing how many home schooled students are in their communities “because in many cases those children re-enter public schools at the high school level. " she said. "They often come unprepared."

Ms. Bauer, first I ask you first to define your terms. Unprepared for what? Are these incoming students academically unprepared? Are they socially unprepared? Do they lack awareness of the needs of the bureaucracy? Then, Ms. Bauer, I would like to see that data you have to support your contention that homeschoolers enter the public schools “unprepared”. Please provide data demonstrating that these incoming students are substantially less prepared than students entering from out of state, or for that matter, substantially less prepared than students who have previously been failed by the state education system.

The “apparent unanimous consent on the board” that the current system is “potentially leaving some children behind” is a red herring.

The State Board of Education is charged with the education of those students whose education is entrusted to the public schools. The education of the children whose parents choose to claim that right and privilege for themselves is the responsibility of those parents.

Those few families who neglect their children's education would not be more readily identified simply by registering them with their school districts, but the education of those children whose welfare has already been entrusted to the public school system of the state of Michigan will be threatened by the addition of one more burden on the local school districts, already understaffed and struggling with inadequate funding.

Ms. Curtin has noted that state law requires that home schooled students be in an educational setting for the minimum hours required of traditional schools, “but there is no way to know if they are complying”.

I agree that the State Board of education currently has no method for verifying that homeschool students comply with minimum hours required. How exactly will putting the names of homeschooled children on a list change that? Or does Ms. Curtin see registration as a first step toward greater supervision of homeschoolers?

Ms. Curtin also disparages homeschoolers concern with registering “because it because it takes away from their freedom”. She is quite correct when she says that registering homeschoolers doesn't, in itself, deprive us of our right to educate out children in the way we see fit. However, the impulse that would have it mandated that we register is so often supported by claims that registering homeschoolers will have effects that it cannot possibly have. How then, are we not to believe that this is a “first step” toward mandates that very much would curtail our rights to educate out children by the methods that suit them best?

As to the question of the number of hours spent in “learning”, in a well-functioning homeschooling family, learning takes place, on average, for 5, 840 hours per year rather than for the approximately 1260 mandated by law. In a well functioning homeschool family, learning is not limited to several hours per day sitting at a desk receiving presented information; rather, learning takes place everywhere and all the time in the ordinary course of living.

Members of the Board of Education express concern that the state's current system of tracking homeschooled students provides no information on whether home-based education is meeting state standards. Ms. Danhof is quoted as saying "We have young people that, rightly or wrongly, and parents who believe, rightly or wrongly, their students get as good an education as anyone in the state, but we don't have any data to know."

Again I ask: How exactly will putting the names of homeschooled children on a list change that? For every tale of woe that comes to light about an irresponsible family who neglects their children by failing to educate them, there are a thousand such tales of publicly educated children in our state who enter high-school without basic literacy skills. Perhaps the Board of Education should focus on problems that are under their jurisdiction and resolve those before they decide to go looking for “problems” outside their jurisdiction.

Ms. Danhof was also concerned that, because many home schooled children are not registered and do not take the state tests, there is no paper trail to ensure they have access to higher education. "By the very fact that they're home schooled, are they given the same access to post-secondary schooling than those who go through public school by the very fact that they have no record other than 'trust me, they're ready?'" she said. "I want to make certain to the best of our ability that we afford those people access."

Ms. Danhof, the Universities in this country have had decades of experience to prepare them for incoming homeschool graduates. Home based students have access to the same college preparatory exams (ACT and SAT) that publicly educated students have. Universities can review those scores to determine whether an applicant is well prepared for University education. A very brief Internet search reveals that, based on decades of experience with homeschoolers, Universities publicly welcome students who have received the advantage personal educational attention in home-based educational environments.

Ms. Ulbrich is “concerned about those children who locked away ...under the guise of home schooling, but the reality is they're just not getting attention." Ms. Ulbrich, for every story about an family who keeps their children home to hide their abuse and neglect, there are hundreds of stories of children whose abuse is ‘discovered’ only when the child is killed, though public school teachers had repeatedly reported the evidence of abuse to child protective services. And truly, parents unconcerned enough to truly neglect their children generally find it more convenient to impose their 'burdens' on “state-paid babysitters” for several hours per day.

To the Michigan State Board of Education, I say there is no evidence to suggest that home-education in Michigan is broken. Registration of home-educators achieves no end useful enough to justify this intrusion into the privacy of home-educating families, nor the further assault on the limited resources available to educate the children entrusted to the public schools.

As a home-educator, I can assure you that government registration can represent a significant barrier to home-educating families who may consider moving to Michigan. Home-educators tend to be"can do" people, people who see a problem and work toward a solution rather than waiting for the government to fix it. This is the very sort of people Michigan needs to make its way back from the brink of economic disaster.

The United States was built on the principle of individual freedom, and the State of Michigan has fought, from its very inception, to maintain the independence of its citizens from government interference. We, the citizens of the state of Michigan don’t like government intervention unless we can see good reason for it. Have we forgotten already young Governor Mason, deposed briefly by federal intervention for purposes of political expedience, who was re-elected in a landslide in a protest by the people of Michigan who, on the same day, voted for the constitution which serves our state so well?

It alarms me that the State Board of Education would consider requiring home-schooled children to be registered with the government, a principle that flies in the face of the freedom of the citizens of this state. Surely there can be no fruitful end to an endeavor that would burden an already under-funded system with extra work to collect useless information, and present one more barrier for the kind of autonomous, enterprising families we need so badly in our state in these difficult times.

Misti Anslin Delaney
Parent Educator
MI

(Sent to:

The Honorable Rick Snyder, President
Michigan Department of Education
State Board of Education
608 W. Allegan Street
P.O. Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909

State Board of Education
Post Office Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909

Attention: John C. Austin, Vice President
Nancy Danhof
Marianne Yared McGuire
Kathleen N. Straus
Casandra E. Ulbrich
Daniel Varner
Michael P. Flanagan
Eileen F. Hamilton

Further Update on the Michigan Board of Education

OK, I admit it. I am completely amazed and very pleased to let you know that Representative Opsommer's office actually did respond to my question -- and pretty fast, too, as these things go.

Dear Ms. Delaney-Smith

Thank you for writing. The minutes may not be out yet, or they may be somewhat bare (most minutes are not word for word of what was said). The following is an excerpt from the Lansing publication Gongwer you may find helpful, but it is not a full transcript of the meeting:

BOARD COULD SEEK HOME SCHOOL REGISTRATION

Members of the Board of Education did not question the rights of parents to educate their children at home, but said the state's current system of tracking those students provides no information on whether they are meeting state standards.

That current system is a voluntary registration system that has very few of the potentially thousands of home schooled children in the state.

Home schooling has traditionally been a touchy subject in Michigan, bringing up the specter of infringement on religious rights when registration and standards are discussed. But there was apparent unanimous consent on the board that the current system is potentially leaving some children behind.

"We have young people that, rightly or wrongly, and parents who believe, rightly or wrongly, their students get as good an education as anyone in the state," said board member Nancy Danhof (R-East Lansing). "But we don't have any data to know."

"I know it is said in the home schooling world they don't want to sign up anywhere because it takes away from their freedom. It doesn't," said board Secretary Carolyn Curtin (R-Evart). "Just so we truly know how many kids are out there."

Ms. Curtin noted that state law requires that home schooled students be in an educational setting for the minimum hours required of traditional schools, but there is no way to know if they are complying.

Joseph Martineau, director of the Office of Educational Assessment and Accountability, said some 630 home schooled students took the most recent Michigan Educational Assessment Program and Michigan Merit Exam tests.

But board member Elizabeth Bauer (D-Birmingham) noted that the 2000 Census listed some 250,000 school-aged children in the state who are not enrolled in any school.

And she said local districts have an interest in knowing how many home schooled students are in their communities because in many cases those children re-enter public schools at the high school level.

"They come to high school because they want the social situation," she said. "They often come unprepared."

On the flip side, Matinga Ragatz, current Michigan Teacher of the Year who home schools her son for health reasons, said many of the home school students she has come to her class are actually beyond the students who have come up through the system.

Board member Cassandra Ulbrich (D-Rochester Hills) said current law could serve as a deterrent to families registering. Those who do register are required to use teachers who meet minimum academic standards. "We certainly don't want to drive people further into oblivion to hide from the state," she said. "But I'm also concerned about those children who locked away ...under the guise of home schooling, but the reality is they're just not getting attention."

Ms. Ragatz, echoing sentiments of others, said the situation could be flipped and local districts could offer assistance and services to those who register.

"I would hope that if I registered I would get some freebies like parent education classes or my child could participate in band," she said.

Ms. Danhof was also concerned that, because many home schooled children are not registered and do not take the state tests, there is no paper trail to ensure they have access to higher education.

"By the very fact that they're home schooled, are they given the same access to post-secondary schooling than those who go through public school by the very fact that they have no record other than 'trust me, they're ready?'" she said. "I want to make certain to the best of our ability that we afford those people access."

Board members said they would work on policy recommendations in the coming months and would invite home school groups to assist with that development.

Respectfully in Service,

Paul Opsommer's Office
State Representative, 93rd District
http://www.gophouse.com/news.asp?District=93

***

So, my heart thanks to Representative Opsommer's Office. Now I know exactly what concerns to address my letters to.

Update on the Michigan Board of Education Proposal to oversee Michigan Homeschoolers

OK, I have researching the message that came through (through a long chain of alerts) from Rep. Opsommer yesterday.

Rep. Opsommer did indeed post an announcement that the Board of education is pondering a proposal that they oversee homeschoolers as well as public schoolers, but then the trail ran dry.

I checked the Board of Education meeting minutes for the last few months and so far have turned up nothing. Rep. Opsommer's office wants me to provide them with my address within Clinton or Gratiot County before they will chat with me and since I live outside his district I'm not expecting a reply any time soon.

My most generous interpretation is that Rep. Opsommer was reporting on a corridor conversation, and that the situation is not as immediate a threat as I first thought.

That the Board of Education would have members that think that way is no surprise, but as Rod says:

In a way they are declaring that they haven't got enough to keep themselves busy, and when you think about the state of public education, that's just truly bizarre.... in other words "get a handle on the stuff that is under your jurisdiction before you decide you need a handle on the stuff that is under mine"

If he was reporting on a corridor conversation, I am glad that Rep. Opsommer spoke up on behalf of homeschoolers. But I have to wonder at the tone of his report. He didn't *say* he was responding to an official proposal, but he certainly left that impression.

I still intend to write to my newly seated legislators to let them know what I think...but perhaps it would be best not to mention this incident. If my interpretation is too generous, I don't want to stain my message with the taint of rumour.

Update to the update: one of my contacts (thanks, Dawn!) turned up an attachment to an agenda for a recent meeting that had attachments referring to homeschooling and she turned up this quote:

Board member Elizabeth Bauer (D-Birmingham) noted that the 2000 Census listed some 250,000 school-aged children in the state who are not enrolled in any school.

And she said local districts have an interest in knowing how many home schooled students are in their communities because in many cases those children re-enter public schools at the high school level.

"They come to high school because they want the social situation," she said. "They often come unprepared."

"Home schoolers want to come to high school because they want the social situation but that is a problem because they are not prepared," board member Elizabeth BAUER said. >>

(Note: Elizabeth Bauer lost her seat in the November 2^nd election.)

So, it is really official.

Here we go again...

The Michigan Board of Education is trying to take control of Michigan Homeschoolers again.

From Rep. Paul Opsommer's blog:

"the Michigan State Board of Education that could require home schooled students to register with the state or report to the government in other ways. The proposals were discussed at the board's most recent meeting, with some members stating that they did not think that students enrolling in a mandatory tracking system would be an infringement on their rights, and also saying that, "If we are in charge of education we ought to be involved in all education."

Time to update my last letter with answers to the new claims and spend some stamps. I suggest that if you live in Michigan and homeschooling is of interest to you, that you weigh in, too.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance

~Thomas Jefferson

Homeschoolers, you really have to read this

Over at Colorado Adventure, I found the coolest article: 10 reasons not to homeschool.

(My apologies to the author -- I couldn't find your name to credit you ...)

I'm tempted to quote it -- but I can't find only one piece to quote for fair use - I want to quote the whole thing, so you''ll just have to head over and read it for yourself. :)

Head over here to have a look!

Jack as Puck - final soliloquy

See the silliness we get up to when Dad isn't around to supervise? ;)

Studying Shakespeare

We started our Shakespeare study a few weeks ago. For whatever reason, Jack has really run with it.

We started by getting three books of Shakespeare for children. The theory there being that if he knows the story well, the Elizabethan language will be easier to follow. We used: Tales from Shakespeareby Charles and Mary Lamb, Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield, and Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit.

We read Midsummer Night's Dream in each of the books, and then we watched the 2005 ShakespeaRe-Told version. It was adapted for a television audience and uses modern English and a modern setting, so again, he became familiar with the story.

Next we checked out several version traditional versions of the movie.

So far, we've watched:

the 1999 version with Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania

the 1981 BBC version with Helen Mirren as Titania

and we've checked a couple more versions out, but they haven't arrived yet. I'll update as they do.

Jack watched each version three of four times, and then we started reading some scenes along with the movie using a 1959 edition of the the Pelican Shakespeare Library. (I don't think it matters much which version you use, though older versions will have been better-edited and this in one case where a mis-spelled word can be very confusing.)

The next step is the start reading scenes together. Maybe tonight.

But meanwhile, Jack has been absorbed in the story and has been adding Elizabethan turns of phrase and Shakespearean descriptions to his already colourful vocabulary. (It also led us off into finding th story of Pyramis and Thisbe in Bullfinch's Mythology.)

I wish I knew of a local company doing this play in the near future -- that would be my ideal for the next step. Ahh, well. Movies will do for now.

*I* enjoy project based homeschooling. I love making up costumes similar to the ones worn in the historical period we're studying, putting together historically and culturally authentic snacks, and making artifacts associated with the era.

Sadly, Jack just thinks it strange for the most part. I'm thinking that perhaps I should hide the project books from myself for a while. No more mummified chickens, no more historically and culturally accurate snacks, no more costumes or hand made artifacts.

If we had other kids to play along maybe -- he really enjoyed it when Corey joined us in creating Ahnks.

Maybe find someone who would like to join us for a one-day adventure every so often. Both Connor and Myra like some aspects of the project based things...the catch is finding time to do it.

We had a good day yesterday!

We got a bit more work done on the reorganization of the upstairs and I think I may have found a way of relieving the clutter on my craft table. Maybe.

Then we went out for a long glorious day at the zoo with John. John positively glowed and seemed to be having a wonderful time, and Jack and I sure were!

Almost as good as the smiles on Jack and John's faces, Rod didn't hurt! He was able to charge around the zoo with the rest of us rather than plodding painfully along behind us! And as an added bonus, when I tested my blood sugar afterward (thanks, Mark!), my usual "200 no matter what I do" was a quite acceptable 115. I know what I need to do is more walking -- but finding the time has been very difficult. Must. Try. Harder.

Today is raspberry and apple picking. Or maybe just raspberry, since the organic apples we can find are north of Lansing (almost a two hour drive away).

Writing a curriculum for a truly personalized homeschool education

I wanted to let you know (you being folks wandering in from search engines) that this essay has been updated and is now published here.  That's where new discoveries will be published.
****************

A year and a half ago, I started a series about how to write a homeschool curriculum. Parts two and four fell into the bit bucket, and I couldn't find them ... but I kept getting hits on that first section.

So today I have posted a revised, one part edition at

Writing a curriculum for a truly personalized homeschool education.

It's well over 6,000 words -- and I have no way of changing all the links people seems to have posted over the last year, so I put it back in the archives. If it's of interest to you, you can find it at the link.

I would especially welcome comments adding any reosurces you know about.

For every one else ... I'll try to post soon. :)

Some days you know it's going the way you'd hoped.

As you may remember, we've been trying to get up early to get some schooling in before I go to work. It's hasn't happened every morning -- 7am is VERY early for our scholar -- but it happens enoug to make a big difference in our progress.
This morning, Jack was rather cheerful about getting up to study. But e dawdled nonetheless, and he used half of the hour we had available getting dressed and singing morning songs.

The we sat down and read a bit from The Story of Art. Fascinating -- but we had to set the author straight every few paragraphs about his dubious views of magic.

Anyway, after the first chapter, I closed the book and stood up to hit the shower.

Jack was shocked!

"What? Are we done already? But I wasn't finished yet!"

Want to bet he hits the books more promptly tomorrow?

I am one happy mamma.

Heroes

As a part of our prep for the next unit, we have been discussing that it is necessary for us to get more organized and to get some school done every day if we are to finish this unit within the six months we hope to. Also, I want to take a much bigger role in the learning than I have so far .. .I feel like I'm missing out!

Jack says he wants to homeschool the way President Obama did. He wants to get up at 4:30 am to study before the day starts.

We compromised. I'll get up at 6 to do my chores, then I'll wake him at 7 to study for an hour before I go to work.

It sounds like a great idea, when you're well rested. But Jack rarely gets up before 10am now.

We'll see how long this lasts.

Still, it's good to emulate one's heroes. :p

Planning and preparing: Ancient Greece, here we come!

We took several weeks off school at the end of the ancient Egypt unit to play Patrician (courtesy of big brother Corey), read everything in sight, and generally relax.

There would have been more outdoor play, except that for much of the vacation, Rod has been sick with a particularly bad viral infection.

We'll try to get Jack out to play this weekend so he can run off some of the energy that he's accumulated "being a good boy" while Dad rests. I know that's been hard on him, and while Rod is slowly recovering, I don't think he's going to be up to any real adventures for a couple of weeks yet. Fortunately, we have a long weekend ahead.

Anyway, I am gathering up our materials, making checklists, making Greek language flash cards, marking relevent pages, and downloading the free books we'll use.

We'll be taking a first look at Greek this unit. We're using the Greek words from English from the Roots Up.

We'll be starting our nutrition indoc, er EDUCATION with a look at Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma We don't agree with everything Pollan has to say, but it's better than the USDA's food pyramid! Once it'a available, we'll move on to Real Food Nutrition & Health For Kids by Kristen Michaelis.

In the What your First Gader Should Know, Jack came across a very brief catalog of Abrahamic faiths and he was intrigued. He asked to learn more about World Religions, so we'll do that this unit.

We'll continue with Math and Science, of course, but those are Rod's babies so I am far less familiar with them. We'll continue with herbology, and we've stepped up our astrology studies. This time, Jack will be making "posters" of each sign. Next time, houses, then planets. ;)

I still hope to get at least the checklists of what we've done and are doing up ... but that requires that Rod be both healthy and not too busy to help. I'll let you know when we get there, because I know we've had hits on them.

More soon, I hope -- but we have lots to do. Tomatoes are getting away from us! Time to can again!

Homeschooling

Yesterday morning, Jack and I spent all morning playing school.

Rod estimated that we had completed about a week's work! I had a blast and Jack seemed to enjoy himself, too.

Spending all morning at the books isn't what we're used to and it's not really what Charlotte Mason recommends, but I switched up what we were doing every 20 minutes or so and we stopped as soon as Jack lost focus.

We coloured in some Egyptian puppets and read about a kid's life in Egypt. We added some daily life in ancient Egypt stickers to our folder to decorate the inside, we read stories for character development and literature.

We examined the characters on Jack's cartouche and compared them to the hieroglyphics in our book. Some were the same, and some were different, so we discussed how in a recent story from our bedtime story of Egyptian myths and legends a mage had been able to gain great power because he could read hieroglyphics from many hundred of years earlier, and so we know that hieroglyphics changed over time.

We read some Kipling and we laughed.

We read some Shakespeare, which seemed to leave Jack cold. We'll try once more before we postpone it for a year. It may be too soon.

We read and narrated some of Aesops fables (though we didn't use them for penmanship this time.)

I had a blast -- I hope to find time to do this again before my vacation is over!

Update

I've been standing here trying to figure out what is interesting enough to blog tis morning.

The very enthusiastic bird outside the kitchen window, announcing morning in the darkness is pretty cool -- but unlike Rod and Jack, I can't name birds by their songs yet.

(Yes, I said standing. I compute standing at the kitchen counter -- it lets me multi-task more efficiently. While I was pondering, I also made up a batch of laundry detergent. Peppermint...yum!)

Homeschooling, such as it is, is still going really well. I think we're evolving toward something that looks a lot like "child-directed classical studies". Didn't know you could do that, but OK.

Jack has a new science "text" that he has been obsessing over. I wanted to have something we could use in a linear way and this one seems to fill the bill...if we can get Jack to go back and do the experiments. (He grabbed it in the car as we left the Border's Educators' Sale and read it for the rest of the day...and has been reading it aloud to anyone who will listen and giggling since then.) I have to say that while this may not be the way I had envisioned using it, I like having books that are full of useful information that also grab a kid were he lives. I also keep finding that when I want to read something from his school stack with him, there is a good chance that he's already ready it to himself. If he can give me a verbal synopsis, he gets the credit. I wasn't expecting this method to start just yet, but it does seem to be his favorite.

It's still a ways off, but I have been collecting materials to start studying Latin seriously next unit. My current project is making flash cards with useful phrases we can use around the house, in addition to Minimus and the Carducci Bolchazy readers we borrow from the library. We also bought the CD to help with our pronunciation.

Not sure how it got so late. I was up by 5:30 so I could get to work early. Um...oops.

The Case for the Childhood Study of Classical Languages

We're making a study of classical Latin at our house. And we're looking for a Homeric Greek curriculum aimed at little kids. Does that strike you as odd? Evidently some people (notably book store employees) think it is.

Not everyone thinks so, though. If you know where to look, you can easily find early Latin readers, from "Quot Animalia" (How many animals) by Marie Carducci Bolchazy aimed at the preschool set, to Fables from Aesop, to translations of The Cat in the Hat, Winnie the Pooh, and even Asterix and Obelix and Harry Potter! So someone is doing it.

We don't know of anyone locally (that we're aware of -- one or two people we know seem like they might, though we haven't discussed it) but I know quite a few homeschoolers out in the great wide 'net who are studying Latin with their kids.

Are we just "showoffs"? Isn't Latin too difficult for small children? Hmmm...well, Roman kids did ok. But, yes, the way it's generally taught in high school would be too dry and boring to keep a six year old's interest. It can be done in a really fun way, though, making it no more difficult than any modern language.

The question I want to ponder here, though, is ...why?

What are the reasons one might want to study a language that they will never speak socially?

I have heard the argument that Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic would all be better choices. Truth is, we have explored a bit of Arabic, and we also play with Spanish and Swedish.

In my opinion, Latin is not "instead" of modern languages, it's the basis for a more extended study of language. Our goal is not to be fluent in any of them. That can come later, wit interest.

Our goal is to become conversant enough in a variety of languages to recognize them wen we find them, and to recognize some similarities. Fluency is likely, eventually, in Swedish and Spanish, just because we have the opportunity to experience those socially.

But the point, in my opinion, to studying Classical Latin and Greek is, first of all, it's fun. It's fun because it lets us in on the secret code used everywhere and almost unnoticed in our culture. It's like the experience Percy Jackson has as he approaches the gate to the camp and the letters rearrange themselves before his eyes...!

When you start to study Classical languages, suddenly, the lettering on the state flag begins to take meaningful shape. Botanical, biological, and zoological names become more than disjointed sounds, and best of all, we start to see them everywhere in our own language!

In the long run, the inflected language training will make it far easier for Jack to study English grammar, which is, after all, based directly (and nonsensically) on Latin. It will broaden and deepen his vocabulary in many languages.

And what better time to learn a "difficult" language than when his brain is specifically receptive to language?

Take Canis. Dog. Canine teeth --> dog teeth. The teeth we use for tearing meat. Huh. Cool!

And it happens over and over again all day long. It's a constant source of discovery. (It can also make a cool "secret code" for talking discretely in public...and just about every parent knows how useful those are!)

I know there's probably more, but I want to hit the shower and get to work. ;) If anyone has suggestions for more reasons to study Latin, please do feel free to add them. I named this for maximum Google hits, since I didn't find much about *why* other than reading the Bible, and I'd like it to be as useful as possible.

Why Classical Education?

One thing that working closely with people on different educational paths than our own does for me is that it helps me to crystallize why we have made the choices we have.

I feel strongly that we are on the right path for Jack, though I'm sure that what we're doing when he's 16 will look very different than what I would imagine now. Still, working with unschoolers and Waldorf proponents and people with still other priorities has me pondering *why* I feel that we're on the right path for Jack. What we're doing could best be described as a Charlotte Mason inspired 'Classical but eclectic' education.

It's certainly not that I disagree with the objectives of my unschooling friends. Cultivating Jack's curiosity is very important, and nourishing his belief in his own ability to learn and find out what he wants to to know is critical.

I don't disagree with the objectives of my Waldorf-loving friends, either. Nourishing Jack's spiritual nature and helping him to remain a whole, healthy person is also important.

My friends who are leaning toward "school at home" have some valid points, too. Knowing what he will need to know to make his way in the world and support himself and to share a common knowledge base with his peers will be important, too.

So, why do I think that studying art history and technique is just as important as gluing cotton balls to paper to make a snow man? Why do I feel that studying world music and classical music is just as important as singing "I'm a little tea pot"? Why do I feel that studying classical literature and reading living books is so important? Why does an in-depth study of history seem like the absolute best thing on which to base everything else? I have been pondering these questions fpr months -- even years.

Part of it, of course, is just who we are as people. Rod and I are both people who love to think and explore ideas, who are thirsty to know how the world works, what makes people tick, and all that has come before. Jack has inherited that love and is a pretty cerebral little guy. His mind is as thirsty for these things as Rod's and mine are. This method would absolutely not work for some of the children we know, and it wouldn't be the best fit for many of the children we know.

For example, after a visit to the DIA, Jack spend a lot of time pondering Jesus' death. He wanted to know who killed him, of course. And he wanted to know why. Then, he became curious about how it was that a god could die. We talked about the dual nature of Jesus, being a son of a god, while also being a human. Then we discussed that Jesus was not the first god to die -- we talked about Osiris and the oak King and the Holly King. We talked about how gods who die are always reborn. We noted that it seems to be that gods die and are reborn, while goddesses seem more eternal, as far as we could remember, and that perhaps goddesses represent life itself, while gods represent living things. That lead to Persephone and Pluto -- Persephone didn't actually die - -but she does spend time every year in the underworld. Far from being bored by our stories of the gods, Jack's eager response was "And what else?"

Rod and I have discussed how we both felt frustrated by our 'loosey-goosey' "make it up as you go" education of the 60s and 70s. Education in those days was all about "relevance" to the child's experience and we both felt, even at the time, like there was so much we were hoping and expecting to learn at school that was never addressed or even acknowledged.

We have both noticed our lack of fluency in the elements that make up 'the great cultural conversation". We encounter references constantly, in our reading and in life, to things that we don't really understand. One can follow along well enough without understanding those references, and one can even reach the point of becoming so familiar with them as to no longer notice that we don't actually know what they mean, but every so often, not knowing the story, we misinterpret the meaning and come away with a very different understanding of the conversation than was intended. When we have made the effort to seek out the information we are missing, we have been astonished at the sudden depth and richness that can be revealed by a simple phrase.

In making the collection of those references a part of Jack's education, we not only make him better able to participate in the greater cultural conversation, we also help ourselves!

Our goal for Jack's education, then, is to help him to get a thorough understanding of the world he lives in. Not just the 21st century, western society, but where humans started and all that we have accomplished over time. We want to help him see what extraordinary creatures we humans really are!

Given the example of humanity's development--from a hunter-gatherer whose lifestyle wouldn't look too unfamiliar to a bear or a wolf--to a creature that can escape the bonds of gravity to go exploring our celestial neighborhood, how can he not learn to believe in his own potential?

To help him to see how we have developed so many forms of musical expression over our existence -- to help him delve to the depths and soar to the heights with a broad variety of expression from simple drumming to the ornate symphonies -- can't help but give him a better appreciation of his own talent and to understand that beauty doesn't look or sound just one way.

Seeing and hearing the best of what humanity has developed, in all of its multitude of guises, will also help him set his sights for his own achievements higher. He may never paint like Millais, compose like Bizet, or write like Shakespeare -- but knowing that such heights are possible can help him to set his own sights higher than he would if his own scribblings were his only measure. What he is good at, he can stretch to be great at. What doesn't come to him easily, he can see what more there is to learn.

To set him loose to figure it out for himself would seem akin to asking him to plan and prepare his own meals without teaching him to hunt, gather, shop, and cook, with no knowledge of nutrition or kitchen chemistry. He would probably find something to eat and be quite happy with his choices, but he wouldn't eat as richly and as well as he would if we spread a banquet before him and offered him abundance to choose from. He won't find everything on our intellectual banquet table equally appealing, but he may well develop a taste for some of it as he matures. At least, he will be aware that it's out there.

Classical education, approached correctly, can also help to nurture the spiritual side of a child. Nature study, while it prepares us to explore science, can also help us to find the stillness at our center as we sit with nature and observe. Reading beautiful literature and poetry can bring us to a deeper understanding of the human condition, and what all people have in common and how we differ. Listening to beautiful music can stir the spirit or bring tranquility by turns.

There's far more to say, I know...but I found this unpublished from two years ago because there was just so much more to say -- so I'll press send now and return to the ideas if I get a chance.

Why We Homeschool

School has started again. And again, Jack is being questioned about school at every turn. Leaving the library on Tuesday, he was asked by another library patron why he “wasn’t in school today.” Our answer was, of course, that he is always in school. That caused some confusion, of course, but it’s easier than taking on the assumptions of strangers. I find that non sequiturs are often the best response to a nosy question.

Interestingly, we are starting to discover that many people who surprised us by supporting our homeschooling endeavors have very specific reasons. They don’t approve of homeschooling per se, it seems, but rather they acknowledge that it’s the best choice for Jack because “he’s different”. That’s cool, I guess … at least they support us. I have to say, though, that Jack’s particular nature doesn’t have much to do with why we chose to homeschool him – we knew we would pretty much from the time we decided to have him. There are so many reasons that homeschooling appeals to us for any child!

So, why do we homeschool?

First, we choose home education because we believe that a child’s natural curiosity and excitement about learning are frequently damaged by a group school setting. Schools, pretty much by necessity, discourage curiosity that is outside of the current lesson plan and mostly limit the children’s access to knowledge and experimentation to what can be made accessible to lowest common denominator. That means they work on whatever is on the agenda at the speed of the slowest student and go as deeply as the average child can handle. That’s not always the right speed or level for the specific child and rarely does it match up with the burning passion to know that lives in the heart of a child. It may be just right for some and close enough for many others, but some children will be left behind and others will be bored out of their minds and all will have to postpone learning about what interests them until they get home…if there is time and energy after home-work and dinner and chores.

We want to encourage Jack to follow his curiosity down every rabbit trail, which homeschooling will provide the time to do, but we also want to provide an enriched academic background both broad and deep in its scope to encourage Jack’s very capable mind to stretch, along with the extra support he needs in those areas where he is weak, because we want him to reach his maximum potential in all areas, not just those where he is strongest.

We want Jack to remain excited and involved in his education, a partner with us in determining the goals of his academic career. We can provide the broad academic environment at just the right pace through which Jack can explore the basics of what there is to learn and know, and we will encourage and mentor him in going much deeper to sate his intellectual appetite in exploring those things that truly catch his interest.

We will work hard to provide the information Jack needs, so that as he matures and is more able to determine his own academic and life paths, he has an understanding of the vast reservoir of possibilities open to him.
We are also concerned that mass-education could damage Jack’s image of himself as a capable human being. That could happen if a teacher chooses to emphasize his ‘failure’ to learn as quickly as others in those areas where he is maturing more slowly than the average or doesn’t seem to value the areas at which he excels. If he’s bad at what matters and what he’s good at doesn’t matter what is he supposed to think?

Perhaps even more important, we want to free Jack to grow up an “unbranded child”, sheltering him from the marketing onslaught that so much of modern life, and especially the group school setting, has become. At home and in the community, Jack will have the opportunity to forge his view of himself apart from consumer culture, based not on ‘the cool brands’ but on his own values, talents, preferences, and goals.

Homeschooling lets us provide Jack with the logical tools he will need to evaluate marketing on his own, but just as importantly, he will be able to think through political, economic, and social issues that he will encounter in his adulthood. He will have the tools he needs to base his opinions on clear logic … and to understand when logical argument isn’t relevant.

We want to nourish Jack’s love for the natural world and the planet. We want to share with him the wonder of the plants and animals that surround and support us, and to see clearly the web of life of which we are an integral part. That can be done best if he gets to spend hours every day outside, exploring and experiencing nature.

We also want him to be familiar with the history and stories of both of his countries of origin and to be aware of the social and cultural web of connections that tie together his world village. We want to show Jack the threads of culture and history that make up the tapestry of world history and share with him other places, other peoples, and other times, so that he can see where we as a species have come from, where we are, and perhaps envision where we can go. We also want him to have the opportunity to be familiar with several languages and fluent in at least two that he has chosen for his own reasons.

We want to allow Jack, too, to avoid the “fast food jungle” of the mass education lunchroom. By teaching him ourselves, we can help to moderate the influence of peer pressure and marketing that make eating poor quality, processed foods seem “normal” and even preferable, and we can ensure that he has access to high-quality, nourishing foods, any time he’s hungry. We can also provide a constant stream of quality health and nutrition information, so that as he gets older, he’ll be in a better position to make his own well-informed nutritional and health decisions, improving the odds of his having a healthy adulthood.

We want Jack to have a well-rounded social network. While he operates from within the family, he can meet people of all ages, cultures, and belief systems within the community and work alongside them as equals. Coming from a broad social environment, he will be more able to see beyond the shallow pool of people his own age and social class to the broad spectrum of emotional, social, and cultural development that is humanity. By being exposed regularly to people of all ages, he can come to understand what it is to grow into an adult, rather than being caught up in the “perpetual adolescence” that is so commonly a result of the relegation of young people to “childhood ghettos” of people from their own neighborhood and within nine months of their own age, for 6 to 8 hours per day for twelve years or more.

We want most of Jack’s early social contacts to be safe ones, moderated by adults who care about him, so that he can learn to socialize comfortably with anyone, anywhere, rather than learning early to be a social victim or a social aggressor. With a loving mentor supervising his relationships and advising him in his early years, we believe he will be better able to create healthy social and emotional relationships on his own, avoiding either bullying or being bullied or being drawn into other unhealthy social dynamics.

We want to share with Jack our own pagan belief system, our philosophy of life, and our ethical values, and teach him about all the ways that people approach these subjects across time and across the world, so that he will be able to develop his own beliefs and understand and accept people’s beliefs without feeling pressured to share them.

Mostly, we want to have the time to spend with Jack and enjoy his company. Jack is our fifth child and we are far too aware of how fast children grow up and go their own way. While we don’t want to keep Jack a dependent child or to control what he thinks, we do want the opportunity to watch him grow, develop, and mature into the fine young man we know he will be. We think the family bond that learning together and growing as a family develops will strengthen all of us, not least Jack.

In these ways and others we want Jack to be adequately prepared to live a fulfilling, independent life as a clear thinker who is able to ask questions, find answers, evaluate arguments, and make up his own mind about his beliefs, values, and actions while enjoying an active, healthy, balanced life.

We think we can do this better with our one beloved child than any teacher, no matter how gifted, can do for the 30 children of strangers in her care for one year each.

How to write your own homeschool curriculum, Part 3

OK, you've been reading and plotting and planning. You have an idea for a spine for your curriculum, piles of notes about things you'd like to accomplish, and you have ideas for how you'd like to cover them, and theories about how (your) children learn best.

Are you overwhelmed yet? I think that this is where a lot of people get lost and give up and just buy something.

Now, to get an idea what a curriculum looks like, we are going to visit three sites. (I would suggest that even if you decide to go with unschooling, this would be a valuable exercise. Children can only be interested in what they encounter, and part of your job as an unschooling parent is to make sure that your child encounters lots and lots of concepts. You might find it helpful to have some ideas of what more traditional curricula look like as a prompt to include exposure to ideas that might not have occurred to you.)

First, in another tab, open your state’s department of education website. This is mine. Some are better than others, but try to find the content for the grade you're planning for.

Now read over the material for your child's age group. If you see something that would be interesting to cover at home, feel free to add it, but the point here is to get a look at how your local schools arrange their expectations. This is what my state expects to be covered. (You'll need to click through to see the details, but they don't matter all that much.) It's explained in greater detail in the attending materials, and it's full of legalese, but this gives you a look at what little kids in Michigan are expected to be familiar with.
The main point in looking at this is to see how they relate subjects to one another (or don't) and how they build from one core understanding to the next (or don't). This bit of curriculum is for the science curriculum, and the professional educators of my state have decided on the main topics they want the children to know about, and then decided what subtopics they want to cover in this year.

Now take a look at what you have decided you want to cover. Can you group any of it this way? Or can you split some of your topics into subtopics in this way? If you think you might see some patterns in what you want to cover, try writing those things on index cards and grouping them, then placing them in an order that makes sense.

OK, the public schools was one source of food for thought.

Next open the Core Knowledge Foundation Curriculum Sequence in a new tab. Open the page for your child's age.

I don't know about your state's curriculum plan, but this is a whole lot easier for me to grasp. Again, if you see something you'd like to add to your own ideas, feel free to - but mainly, look at how information builds on itself over time with this approach. Can you see more possibilities with this nice clear example of a curriculum?

Go ahead and organize your cards a little more. As you organize them, you may find that there are "bridge" topics you'd like to add.

As you can see, there is no one way of approaching writing a curriculum, and no two sources agree about exactly what children should know when.

Something to keep in mind as your ideas grow is that with one or two (or six) children at home, is that not every topic is going to require hours of study. That means you can plan to cover more in a period of time in homeschool than would be required at school -- or that you will have lots more time for free exploring. Either is a good thing!

In the classroom, the topic has to be covered and covered and covered again until most of the children have gotten it. Once yours have it, you can move on. That may mean days of discussion...or it may mean 15 minutes. Be careful not to beat a dead horse - remember that the weeks a school class devotes to a topic is intended to reach the 'least able' child and the daydreamer. Because you are able to cover topics in the way that works best for your child and then stop, you're child will catch on to many things much more quickly than he or she would have in school. He or she will be learning in an engaging manner and not bored to death, so daydreaming and trying to understand something taught in a mysterious manner won't be a problem.

OK, one last look at another idea. Open the World Book Typical Course of Study in a new tab. This is quite a different take on what your child can be learning. It looks more like your list at the beginning, I'll bet. It sure looks like what I started with at the beginning of all this four years ago. Again, if you see anything you want to add, feel free to do so. But mainly, observe that there is no one right way for your curriculum to look. Note, too, how different the goals for each curriculum are.

Feel better? Your curriculum is going to be just fine.
***

OK, you have lists and stacks and grids and cards. Time to start organizing them to help clarify your thoughts.

First, write down each topic you want to cover on a separate card. Try to use all one colour for the main topics (science, math, etc.). Next, use another colour for the subtopics. Math (blue) -> counting by 2s (yellow). As you do this, note on each card any ideas you have for how to cover the topics. (Book, field trip, experiment, etc,)

Now, organize the subtopics into a logical flow. Use a paperclip to keep major topics and subtopics together and in order. Next, print another copy of your curriculum grid, and copy the topics onto that in order.

But wait! You're not done with the cards yet! Next collect all the topics that you know you want to cover, but don't yet have an idea how to cover it. Keep them sorted by topic.

It's getting to the time of day to do other things, and you have plenty to work on. Next time, we'll get to the part you probably came here for. ;)

Have fun!!

A Discovery

Thanks to Sue, over at A Mother's Heart, I have a new discovery -- a fairly painless way to figure out what level your child is reading at.

Sue pointed out the Leveled Book Lists. The Leveled Books List site is hosted by the McCarthy-Towne School in Acton, Massachusetts. It lists common elementary-level books and their grade-level assessment. I can, if I decide to, pick up a book from each level and sub-level, and have Jack read them to me. When we get to the place where he gets frustrated, or stops understanding what he's reading, I will know what level he'd reading at.

Cool!

I have checked some titles Jack has been enjoying a lot, but I don't know that I'm going to make time for a real analysis any time soon -- but it's cool to know I could do it for free and with just a trip to the library.

Thanks, Sue!

Some days, it's just obvious that it's working.

I don't know of any parents who home-school, who don't occasionally wonder whether it's going to work the way they hope.

If we didn't have faith, we wouldn't persevere, of course. But as conscientious parents, we wonder if there's something we ought to be doing differently.

And then, there are the days when we can see that things are going as well or better than we had hoped. I've had several of those experiences lately.
***
I was out in the garden at the crack o dawn several mornings in a row. Jack later woke up and came out to join me.

One morning, he sat near the garden eating an apple -- and answering the birds with their own songs. He was also able to make a formal introduction for me. A little bird had been scolding me all morning from the tree next to the garden. I had been chatting with him, but I had no idea who he was or what he wanted. Jack told me it was a chickadee and pointed out that the little guy had been introducing himself all morning. "Chicka-dee-dee-dee". Once I called him by name, the little bird flew off, evidently satisfied.

***
As we finished up homeschool time this morning, Jack told me that he didn't want to stop, even though he was clearing having trouble keeping his focus. I asked him why and he said

"I want to get through this to get to the Romans. They have been buzzing in my brain and I want to know more about them. I already know about this stuff!"

What could I say? I handed him his choice of books about the Romans.

***

One of Jack's greatest enthusiasms is to dig up one of his science experiment books and do one experiement after another.

***
Jack has been doing multiplication in his head. He isn't really great at it yet, but he really *understands* the concept, even if his grasp on the specifics isn't quite there yet.

Wow.

***
Having been working with him on homeschooling for a couple of weeks, I am starting to reconsider the curriculum. It seems to be giving him "more than he wanted to know" on some subjects and a lot less on others. This has been an extremely valuable interlude for me.