This is a response I posted to a home school group....in response to a rather new home schooler who has three young children with one on the way! She expressed concerns of feeling behind and having difficulty tending to the oldest child's needs as she met the needs of her youngest child. She reminded me of my early days of home schooling - very fond memories. There are many things I would do differently as I have gained new knowledge regarding child development and learning. Moreover, I have matured and perhaps I am more settled now that I have one in college and I have witnessed the many benefits of home education. In the early years, this educational choice was unknown and unexplored by me! I remember having some of the same concerns; but, the veterans were always willing to give words of encouragement. Hopefully, I can do the same for others.
Response:
Many of us have been where you are and it does get better....
I have several thoughts I'd like to share. First, I wonder if a teacher EVER feels like he or she is running right on schedule? I have taught in public, private and home school situations and I always feel as though we are running a little behind. But, persistence seems to win out and the students do learn. That said, I am sure you are definitely not alone in that regard.
My three are 19, 15 and 13 so when they were little, I was quite busy. I used Accelerated Christian Education's preschool/kindergarten phonics program with all three of my children. I modified it rather heavily to fit the learning needs/styles of each child but at the younger ages (preschool and kindergarten) we'd work in about 2 half hour spurts per day...I continued with ACE for first and second grade because it was self-paced, heavy on reading and my children could work on their own unless they had a question about something. Literally, the curriculum taught my children reading and basic math and I was 'available' for help. I did have them read much of it out loud so I could ensure they were improving, but as they got better, I backed off of this a bit and they began reading silently. At this age, about an hour or two 3-4 days a week was plenty of time to get the work done. We do home school year round with fall, winter, spring and summer breaks (rather than two months off in the summer) so this probably helped. Developmentally, play, pretend, talking, helping mom with the baby, helping mom with cooking, working in the garden and freedom to explore are excellent opportunities for learning - all of which support literacy, math, science and critical thinking. There are also a number of web resources (games such as those found at http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/)that support learning as well. This is another activity that frees mom/teacher to take care of other children/needs from time to time.
During these early years, I made sure the children had plenty of opportunity to play with other home schoolers, take lessons of some sort (dance, tennis, art, music, etc.) and participate in church (through attendance and service). Again, these all support learning and literacy.
Once they got older, I began to vary the curriculum more (remembering, even early on, I always modified ACE and added things I felt were important such as trips to museums, plays or working in the garden - also, once I saw they grasped a mathematics concept.....I let them move on rather than continue with repetitive problem solving. ACE always offers review so I knew they'd get to review the concept again down the line). Now, we use Khanacademy.org for math - it's a free online learning site. We may not use it forever, but they boys enjoy it for now. We've also used Liveonlinemath.com for geometry (my weak spot in Math) and the teacher for this was very helpful. Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS) has been a great help as well - parents are able to choose their level of involvement with SOS. We can help with projects, lessons, etc.; but, if baby starts crying or someone is sick, SOS is great with tutorials, games, quizzes and tests that allow the child to keep learning. SOS is the guide - same with Teaching Textbooks.
I remember that people always used to ask me how I could do it with such varied ages - and, I think the curriculum and activities I chose was one of the keys. I did not choose labor intensive curriculum. Choosing a curriculum that helps teach the child really helps out those of us who have our hands full. Also, reading aloud and learning could easily have occurred in the evening or weekends when I had an extra set of adult hands. It's amazing what 15-20 minutes a day can do to improve reading skills. I even used to have the kids sit next to me while I nursed and we'd read aloud. Plus, we always remained active outside the home. Two-three days were set aside for field trips, play groups, social gatherings, outside lessons or community service. These are tremendous learning opportunities in and of themselves.
All that said, there are other sources of encouragement I'd like to share with home schoolers - really, any educator....
School Can Wait - a book by Raymond Moore (might help with those feelings of never getting enough done and getting behind)
Creativity - this is a presentation on creativity and how traditional education has a tendency to squelch it. Perhaps we need to change the way we think learning should occur? Dr. Ken Robinson has some very interesting things to say.
Sudbury Valley School - this is a school that sees learning very differently and they have a great deal to say about letting children learn what they want to learn at a pace that fits their individual needs.
Also, the unschooling channel on youtube has several experts discuss 'learning' today. Now, I'm not a typical 'unschooler' but I keep these ideas in the back of my mind and consider them because I believe there are some very valid points to this view of learning......however, I think the public school teacher in me causes me to feel as though my children must be able to pass the SAT with flying colors in order to get into the university of their choosing. So, we do work on the basics (although for high school we focus on their passion - my daughter focused on music and she is now a music education major at a local university and my son is interested in health so we focus on science).
Finally, Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, gives a brief comment about learning - how we've got it wrong and what we can do to better serve our students. I think it might help us to see that perhaps we are not as far behind as we might think. Perhaps the schedules and standards we are so often urged to follow are incorrect? The link to the clip is - here
Happy home schooling everyone - it is a wonderful way to live and to learn!!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Multiple choice and essay in early education
My latest adventure included the opportunity to teach assessment strategies to future early childhood educators. I was thrilled at the opportunity and really it all happened by chance. I began sending out application packets when I finished course work thinking that I might find an adjunct position. As it happens, I found so much more!! Alas, I was not ready for the work ahead.....
For this particular endeavor, I was given a handy dandy little text book entitled Assessing in early childhood (5th ed.) by Sue Wortham. It was not a bad text although I might have chosen one that spent less time on standardized testing. Still, appropriate practices, and discussion of such, were plenty so I was content in this regard. Unfortunately, I soon found that I had little use for the text. It seems that I was mandated to teach developmentally inappropriate practices for the bulk of the semester (despite assurance during the interview process that I would have some academic freedom and could choose many of my own assignments with student input).
In this instance, efforts to meet accreditation requirements required students buy membership to a portfolio management system. In this system, they would deposit uniform assignments that each instructor/professor must teach. Different courses carry different portfolio assignments that must be submitted. I understand this practice. I know that in the history of higher education, lack of standards made some degrees from some schools more valuable than others. Teacher candidates at one university might be learning something completely different than teacher candidates at another university (although, this may not be all bad if we consider varied needs across our nation)(Boning 2007; Silver, 2006). However, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be required to teach early educators how to administer a 20 item teacher made test that included multiple choice, short-answer and essay items. Moreover, these future early educators were required to administer a pretest to all their young students at once. Then, they would teach to the weaknesses noted on the pretest and retest at the end of their learning unit. Testing 20-27 children 8 years of age or under with such a tool, at the same time, is absolutely not developmentally appropriate!! We are working with teachers who will teach children, age 0-8!! Many of the children are just learning to talk. The seasoned teachers working with the early childhood candidates often expressed dismay at such antiquated methods of working with young children.
This was an embarrassment. I have spent five years pouring over literature, making observations and working with young children in an effort to do better for our children. I know better than this but, for at least the foreseeable future, I would have had a huge fight on my hands in an environment resistant to change. Indeed, I was expected to spend the bulk of the semester on this monstrosity while neglecting early intervention, developmental check lists, rating scales and teacher observations. Further, alternative learning environments were not explored, at all. The traditional classroom reigned supreme.
This reminds me that I gave full disclosure. I am not a fan of the traditional classroom and have no intentions of preserving it. Our children deserve freedom from oppression and I will fight for nothing less. Hence, I have refocused my efforts on dissertation. I have no idea where I will fit in the larger scheme of things but I intend to be much more careful about who I align myself with in the future. I must remember to protect my reputation as well - it would be difficult to gain good reviews when working in an environment in which one is philosophically opposed! Thus my explorations into the world of academia have begun.....
Boning, K. (2007). Coherence in general education: A historical look.
The Journal of General Education, 56(1), 1-16.
Silver, H. (2006). ‘Things change but names remain the same’: Higher education
Historiography 1975-2000. History of Education, 35(1), 121-140.
For this particular endeavor, I was given a handy dandy little text book entitled Assessing in early childhood (5th ed.) by Sue Wortham. It was not a bad text although I might have chosen one that spent less time on standardized testing. Still, appropriate practices, and discussion of such, were plenty so I was content in this regard. Unfortunately, I soon found that I had little use for the text. It seems that I was mandated to teach developmentally inappropriate practices for the bulk of the semester (despite assurance during the interview process that I would have some academic freedom and could choose many of my own assignments with student input).
In this instance, efforts to meet accreditation requirements required students buy membership to a portfolio management system. In this system, they would deposit uniform assignments that each instructor/professor must teach. Different courses carry different portfolio assignments that must be submitted. I understand this practice. I know that in the history of higher education, lack of standards made some degrees from some schools more valuable than others. Teacher candidates at one university might be learning something completely different than teacher candidates at another university (although, this may not be all bad if we consider varied needs across our nation)(Boning 2007; Silver, 2006). However, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be required to teach early educators how to administer a 20 item teacher made test that included multiple choice, short-answer and essay items. Moreover, these future early educators were required to administer a pretest to all their young students at once. Then, they would teach to the weaknesses noted on the pretest and retest at the end of their learning unit. Testing 20-27 children 8 years of age or under with such a tool, at the same time, is absolutely not developmentally appropriate!! We are working with teachers who will teach children, age 0-8!! Many of the children are just learning to talk. The seasoned teachers working with the early childhood candidates often expressed dismay at such antiquated methods of working with young children.
This was an embarrassment. I have spent five years pouring over literature, making observations and working with young children in an effort to do better for our children. I know better than this but, for at least the foreseeable future, I would have had a huge fight on my hands in an environment resistant to change. Indeed, I was expected to spend the bulk of the semester on this monstrosity while neglecting early intervention, developmental check lists, rating scales and teacher observations. Further, alternative learning environments were not explored, at all. The traditional classroom reigned supreme.
This reminds me that I gave full disclosure. I am not a fan of the traditional classroom and have no intentions of preserving it. Our children deserve freedom from oppression and I will fight for nothing less. Hence, I have refocused my efforts on dissertation. I have no idea where I will fit in the larger scheme of things but I intend to be much more careful about who I align myself with in the future. I must remember to protect my reputation as well - it would be difficult to gain good reviews when working in an environment in which one is philosophically opposed! Thus my explorations into the world of academia have begun.....
Boning, K. (2007). Coherence in general education: A historical look.
The Journal of General Education, 56(1), 1-16.
Silver, H. (2006). ‘Things change but names remain the same’: Higher education
Historiography 1975-2000. History of Education, 35(1), 121-140.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Learning without scripts....
With qualifying exams behind me, I am now refining ideas for dissertation. In the process, I have happened upon some treasures that I have, regretfully, missed for so many years. First, I've finally met Paulo Freire - not in person, but through one of his books. In Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare teach Freire (2005) mentions that the rigidity of structured educational environments makes it such that some people are "...forbidden to be" (p. 16). The control of teachers and students is insidious and freedom is squelched.
Somehow then, I went from Freire's democratic ideas of education to the topic of unschooling.The idea of democratic learner centered education is not new to me. After all, I home school my children and try to help them explore their natural abilities and interests. But, I have not been a typical 'unschooler'. I have utilized curriculum to teach too many subjects probably.....or, this is what I've told myself since I heard Howard Gardner and James Gee on Edutopia recently. This belief that I have erred in my ways has been made stronger by my introduction to unschooling. Dr. Ricci, Sir Ken Robinson, Johh Taylor Gatto and George Land have opened a whole new educational world to me. The more I hear from these people, the more excited I get.
Initial thoughts are that I agree with Dr. Robinson when he says that we zap creativity out of children because of our methods of schooling. I agree with Dr. Ricci when he says that we have too many rules for learning and if we leave children to explore, they create rich learning experiences on their own. I like that Dr. Gatto recognizes mass compulsory education is similar to herding animals. And, I look forward to reading Land's books on creativity. I believe these new resources will help me explore my dissertation topic further and I believe they will help me become a better teacher - one who promotes freedom, individual creativity, and democracy.
Somehow then, I went from Freire's democratic ideas of education to the topic of unschooling.The idea of democratic learner centered education is not new to me. After all, I home school my children and try to help them explore their natural abilities and interests. But, I have not been a typical 'unschooler'. I have utilized curriculum to teach too many subjects probably.....or, this is what I've told myself since I heard Howard Gardner and James Gee on Edutopia recently. This belief that I have erred in my ways has been made stronger by my introduction to unschooling. Dr. Ricci, Sir Ken Robinson, Johh Taylor Gatto and George Land have opened a whole new educational world to me. The more I hear from these people, the more excited I get.
Initial thoughts are that I agree with Dr. Robinson when he says that we zap creativity out of children because of our methods of schooling. I agree with Dr. Ricci when he says that we have too many rules for learning and if we leave children to explore, they create rich learning experiences on their own. I like that Dr. Gatto recognizes mass compulsory education is similar to herding animals. And, I look forward to reading Land's books on creativity. I believe these new resources will help me explore my dissertation topic further and I believe they will help me become a better teacher - one who promotes freedom, individual creativity, and democracy.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
We are hot again!
6/29/2010 - With an unofficial job offer (anxiously awaiting the formal job offer) I decided to get reconnected. I'll have much to prepare for with fall semester approaching and the prospect of teaching four college level classes solo (can't wait) and assisting in one class (can't wait for this either)....not to mention comprehensive exams and dissertation. I'm very excited for the future and feel very fortunate.
So, now we have internet up and running again; however, I have not reconnected dish television. We lasted almost two months without everything (except cell phones). It felt good. For now, weekends, Tuesdays and Thursdays are media free (unless someone has work, school or otherwise). Even without television, there seems to be more interaction and bed time is not a fight anymore. Kids are actually tired and ready for bed at a decent hour despite being teenagers. I have no intention of turning on the tube anytime soon so we'll see how life goes without it for awhile. And, I'm hoping we keep internet access under control - if not, everyone around here knows what I might do!!!! ;)
I hope to continue this discussion with myself and my family as we let the internet back in and we keep the television out for awhile longer.
Monday, June 14, 2010
6/14 - Media free living update
Found an interesting article about tech addicted parents from the Huffington Post. A link is given to both an article in the New York Times and a CBS show on the subject. Sherry Turkle is mentioned in the NY Times article. She's from MIT and is a well respected expert in this area. After perusing the information provided, I must say "guilty as charged" and I am happy to have taken this break.
Still, I wonder if I can keep this up. Can I keep a job and maintain a media free living environment? Brad has so far....lol. My middle son has said he can live without it - in fact, his exact words were "it doesn't bother me, I don't care". Wow! What a surprise. Every time I think about reconnecting, I shudder. I don't know that I want to. I long for the convenience of the tools; but, I also enjoy the freedom, and the limits, we have now. One and half months tomorrow and the countdown continues!
Still, I wonder if I can keep this up. Can I keep a job and maintain a media free living environment? Brad has so far....lol. My middle son has said he can live without it - in fact, his exact words were "it doesn't bother me, I don't care". Wow! What a surprise. Every time I think about reconnecting, I shudder. I don't know that I want to. I long for the convenience of the tools; but, I also enjoy the freedom, and the limits, we have now. One and half months tomorrow and the countdown continues!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Media Free Living Spaces - One Month Update
6/4 - It's been about a month since I disconnected incoming media (internet and satellite television - not cell phones or radios) from our home. It's been interesting.....
I still have a few channels with infomercials coming in. I could disconnect the boxes and have a black screen but then I would not have access to the view of earth from space accompanied by classical music. For now, I will leave it. We've cheated and watched a health show or two but over all, the television never comes on. I thought I'd miss a couple of shows and, in particular, the news but I don't miss the shows. I do miss the news occasionally. Like many, I've been praying for the oil to stop spewing into the ocean and I have to wait until I turn on the radio, go to an internet cafe or go to the library to get an update. Still, I am not uninformed and I don't really mind the scheduled news brief.
I had a weak moment (or maybe it was a flash of sanity) last week and decided to call it quits. I've got work to do and thought I should make our house 'hot' again. I even made the call to reconnect but alas, I woke up the next day to find unauthorized use of video games. Come to find out the games have been used in bed at night (after the lights were out) and I now know why some people are tired when I wake them in the morning (after a full 9 hours of sleep mind you)!!! I won't mention any names..... ;) I realize this is typical childhood behavior; but, this behavior becomes dangerous when the technology can take them, unwittingly, into ugly places. Hence, my resolve returned full force.
It's difficult, though. I admit it and when I think about my delicious account, my prezi account, my wiki, my blog, and resources such as Worldcat I get withdrawals and wish I had access. Fortunately my Endnote library is FULL of articles I need to read. The side benefit is that my lack of internet access at home prompts me to take care of items I am often distracted from.
For everyone else, feelings are mixed. My husband still says he likes it. The peace is nice, the organization is nice and the lack of negotiating media usage is pure bliss....my daughter wishes that our home was 'connected'. She doesn't like the inconvenience of having to drive to access internet. BUT, she does appreciate the lack of 'arguing' (her words) we are experiencing. Her brothers' nightly negotiations are not missed! The youngest says he hates not having media.....he misses playing Webkinz with his friend. My other son does not like it either. He misses interactions with friends on XBox. He has discovered that he can buy a cable for the XBox that will allow him to connect to a laptop so some social gaming may be coming in the near future.
It's interesting that the negotiations for time with tech tools was such an ever present occurrence in our home. I like to think I can manage a home and back and forth banter is kept to a minimum when I make a decision. I see this isn't the case with technology and wonder if the draw to the tool is the problem or is it my parenting? Sigh......
Sometimes I look forward to August (when we reconnect) and other times, I have second thoughts. I really enjoy the peace and the talks we have at night.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Media Free Living Spaces - One Month Down
6/3 - I've been neglectful of my updates. Still, while I am short on time today, I would like to make a quick note of our progress.
Positives:
No fighting over media time.
We devour books.
At night, we sit and talk before bed.
Our garden is AMAZING compared to previous years.
My house is cleaner.
My media use is planned and more on target - less browsing.
The kids go to bed at night with little or no direction from me.
We are connecting with people face to face more.
No porn.
No viruses.
Negatives:
Sometimes I feel out of the loop - my social networking is down and I miss updates.
My media use is so structured, I have less time to browse and explore.
The library kicks me out at 6:00!!!
Till next post when I hope to have more time to discuss my recent tech support experience and thoughts from my family.
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