little breakthroughs

Ahhh Summer. I'll admit is is hard to do school in the Summer but really what are they doing all day.  Once swim team is over there will be a lot of hours to fill. Today we worked on writing, which I think will prove to be our biggest challenge. It is hard to write and it takes a lot of patience. Sarah and I are not known for our patience so I think this will be interesting. The revising and editing process is particularly difficult for her. Her mind wanders,  she gets bored and she just wants to put down anything to get it over with.  I can understand her frustration because it is frustrating.  We fight and today she cried a little but in the end she said to me " Oh I guess I can do it myself" This is a huge breakthrough. Sarah thinks she is unable to finish the work without a ridiculous amount of help. What she calls help is basically giving her the answers.  When she finally does accomplish the work on her own she feels proud, even if it is not perfect.  I feel proud too.

Math Camp and The French and Indian War

Summer school is underway amidst swim team, play dates and camps. Sarah has been really great about doing some school everyday.  This is a kid who LOVES routine. Every morning after she returns from swim practice, she showers, gets dressed and comes downstairs with her backpack ready for school. Some days we can only fit in a couple of hours but hey, it is summer.  


Today we started the French and Indian War.  I am noticing that on most curriculum sites and textbooks, Fourth graders study the Revolutionary War. Sarah has not studied the birth of our nation but she has heard of it.  I guess that's something. 


 She also went to Math Puzzle camp this afternoon for a couple of hours. To Sarah's surprise it is more Math than camp. It really is a mix of kids from third to fifth grade. When I picked her up, a little girl came up to her, said nothing, but handed her an elaborate origami  bird made out of a piece of notebook paper.  I thought it was very sweet. Sarah was also arguing with another girl about passing notes in class...she will find the drama wherever she goes but it sparked a conversation on the way home.  

Mr Poppers Penguins

Last week we read Mr Poppers Penguins. I say we because I read it as well as Sarah. I am  figuring out that I will be doing a lot of reading because I need to read everything she does.  As a reward for finishing the book and because we love movies, we are going to see the movie tonight. Now Sarah can be one of those obnoxious people who leaves the theater saying " the book was so much better than the movie".  


We are taking most of the day off...Shopping for Fathers Day gifts and enjoying a perfect day at the  pool  Finally!!  It hasn't felt much like summer so far so we are all excited to get some sun. 

Grade it!

 I realized how fond Sarah is of grades. She likes As and she will try to do what she can to get one. I explained it was a writing exercise and that I would not be grading it but that would not fly. She Screamed GRADE IT!! I  complied and I thought it was a C.  By the third draft she was much improved and I was happy to give her an A. I think I have to go out and buy more red pens. Whatever works.....

She also wants to keep her books in her backpack and take it to her room at night. She loves routine, so we will have to keep things very ordered which is inherently hard for me. At first I argued saying, no keep everything in one place and she cried. I had no real basis for my point except preference. Why not?

The Eve of School

Tomorrow is the first day of home school. I have been so focused on math and reading that I haven't fully researched Social Studies. I was going through the curriculum and it was about ancient civilizations. Sarah has learned nothing about this. I looked back at the fourth grade in our online program and saw that fourth grad included an introduction to this topic. I can"t very well start the fifth grade without the basics from fourth grade. The fourth grade also covered the Revolutionary war which Sarah has only really heard of. I honestly do not know what they did in fourth grade SS at her school. They learned about map reading and the regions of the united stares and I really think that is about all. A whole year, 45 minutes a day and all you learned was how to read a map and limited geography of the regions of the US. I am a little  mad at myself that I didn't pay attention more to her studies. Her SS spiral notebook came home at the end of the year and there were about ten pages filled out.  Now I know. I feel like I learn so much everyday. 


Although we are doing an abbreviated school day in the summer, tomorrow should be fun. I think we will work from 10- 12 and see what we get done. I will gage Sarah's attentiveness and a lot will depend on the weather. If it is a hot day she will go swimming in the afternoon..if not maybe more school. Either way it is the beginning of year round school.  I will try to chronicle our progress in this blog so I have a record of our journey into homeschooling.  I am nervous and excited and hope I can work out some kinks in the next 2 months.  

Little House

     Sarah finished reading Little House in the Big Woods yesterday. Her assignment was to write a paragraph about Mary and Laura's  relationship and compare it to her own with her sister Jessica. The paragraph was adorable. She wrote that she couldn't really compare it because she and Jessica get along perfectly and are so alike.
    We are trying to write often so that eventually it is not overwhelming.  After I gave her the assignment this morning, she just sat at the table and when I asked what was wrong she said that she didn't understand it. I said "you can ask me if you don't understand something" She just smiled. I think she is so used to just trying to figure it out and getting frustrated that it didn't even occur to her to ask for help. She often asks for help when she actually knows the answer to things but I think she is really just asking for affirmation.
 

The first day of Summer

Today was the first day of Summer Vacation and it began with rain and 60 degree temperatures coming off of a brutally hot week. I heard my first "Im Bored" today which was a little surprising being that it is the first day and all. The problem was solved when friends began arriving at the door so they could all be bored together.


 On Monday we begin our first day of fifth grade. Although the summer will be a modified school day it will at least get the ball rolling.  I think we will work from a minimum of 2 hours a day in the summer. 10-12 am seems like a good schedule at first, after swim team practice and before the pool opens at noon. Like everything it will be trial and error at first.  I am reading The Well Trained Mind  which is a guide to classical homeschooling. I will post my opinions as I get into it. It seems a little overwhelming at first but pretty comprehensive.

More validation and summer reading

Today I received a call from a parent who is also pulling her child from our school for basically the same reason that we are. This is an involved parent with a background in education who is respected. Although the circumstances are slightly different the reasons are pretty much the same.  Wow, I wish I had known some of these things earlier, I would have gotten Sarah extra enrichment. The bottom line is the school believes ability grouping and tracking is a good way to teach.  Maybe it is just a difference in philosophies. I think perhaps that is the question we should be asking of our schools is How do you teach as opposed to what do you teach. As every day passes I know my decision is the right one or at least the better one.


This was the true last day of school. It was only Mass and then distribution of report cards.  Sarah received all As and a  B+ in reading and spelling.  A pretty good report card, you would think she is ready for fifth grade. Think again. We also signed up for Summer Reading at the library.  This is be the first summer we will actually participate and I am really excited. Sarah seems to be excited about reading which is huge. Tomorrow marks the first day  of summer vacation. I think we will take a few days off and start school on Monday.  This will be the first day in recent memory where we have absolutely nothing to do..I mean nothing!  

I Agree

Today was the annual Founders Day Celebration at Sarah's school. I volunteered at the school which was very hot but nice. While at school, the word got out that we were not going back to the school next year. I continue to be surprised by the reaction. So many parents agree with me that the education is not so great.  Why didn't I know this sooner? Parents agree that it is ridiculous that they have to pay for tuition as well as tutors for their kids. They know many of the teachers aren't good and the curriculum is not always challenging.  What the hell!!  They weren't surprised that the principal didn't take my concerns seriously.  I am honestly surprised at the reaction I am getting. It is a lot of I understand..we will miss you but we see your point. Many people are facing the same concerns that I have but feel it is the best option. If I wasn't able to home school, I would feel it is the best option too. It is pretty sad that we have to settle for not great education because there aren't many other choices. What really does it mean to have a great school district when the whole system is mediocre? Great means better that crappy but not necessarily good.


When Sarah took the ITBS test last fall, we got her results which were all over the board.  It was interesting to me that you only receive a percentile not a percentage. You can get a percentage if you ask but it is not in the file or sent home. So... the mean is 50% of course. Sarah may score in the 80th percentile but have actually only scored 70% on the test. It could happen in the reverse but that is less likely on this test. So in some categories I thought she did well, but realized she just did better than some other kids who couldn't pass the test either. Is this really the standard?  If she takes the test and completely misses  a section like capitalization..then what? Do we go back a help her learn that category? We all know the answer. Because the parent never receives the individual scores we never know where the problem is.  We just get a general language arts or math score. They do have the breakdown though if you ask for it. Why wouldn't a parent be given that information?

Why we are leaving a school we love.

I told the school today that Sarah would not be coming back and I fought back tears. It is very hard to leave a school as well as a community that we love and a place in which we have great memories.


These are the reasons we are leaving:


Sarah is close to a straight A student; however,  she struggles with reading and writing.  The school put her in Small group in third grade and it went down from there.  The small group allows her to get extra tries on answers, have everything read to her and get easier tests and assignments. It did not bring her up but held her back.


Her teacher assured me that Sarah was getting the same tests and assignments as everyone else. I found this to be untrue and had to confront the teacher. When a teacher lies to you it doesn't sit well..twice


I eventually spoke to the principal about my concerns after weeks of conferences and emails with the teacher. It took me three weeks to get a conference with him and he was 2 and a half hours late. I expressed my concerns and asked for some answers. I never received any follow up, that was a month ago.


The school has tracked Sarah and really doesn't seem to care. They have very low expectations of her which is why they feel it necessary to dumb down her curriculum  just so she can get an A. 


We have little or no homework. Almost everything she gets Sarah seems to be able to finish in class. They say she learns differently (slower) yet she has time to finish all her homework in class.


I feel like I will regret not giving Sarah the best chance to really learn if I keep her here and that would be really unfair. I need to see how far she can soar academically.


So that is why we are leaving in a nutshell. 


 Here is what we love and will miss.


We love the faith based education.


We love the k-8 model and how the middle schoolers interact with the little ones.


We love the discipline and the uniforms and the clear cut rules.


We love the structure and the history of the school and the involvement of the church and pastor.


We love the friendships we have made


We love May Crowning, the School Play, Fish Fry, Girl Scouts and all the way the principal addresses Sarah by name in the morning. 


We will miss all of these things but we look to school to educate first and foremost. I am confident we will raise a lovable, moral, christian, empathetic person with good values.  And let's face it ,many kids around this age do not act in a way that that is particularly christian.  I see a lot of mean, gossipy bullying children. This is everywhere and I am sure Sarah is not above some drama, in fact I know it.   If in the process of getting her to be a better reader, writer and thinker, we by pass some of the drama, all the better.


Of course I go back and forth but mostly it is my own insecurities because Sarah is excited about the next year and deep down so am I. Telling the school was a big step toward our next adventure into homeschooling and  I  am glad it is done..onward.

Bargain books

    We think we are going to save money by homeschooling but I am not so sure. I went shopping at my favorite no frills book store. It is basically a huge storefront in a strip mall with tons of cheap books on tables.  Yes, it smells like a locker room instead of cappuccino but it's super cheap. They don't even have a wrap stand, just a guy at a table with a calculator. It is my kind of place, it is like a garage sale everyday and it's  right near where Sarah takes Piano lessons.  Since I only have half an hour it keeps me in check because I could go crazy. Where else can you buy Great Expectations for $2.99.  We bought reference books, classics and an atlas.  They have cute journals and bookmarks too!

Drama

      Sarah came home from school yesterday with the usual drama. I am hoping all that will go away but she is who she is and I think drama will follow her. I do have to say that some of these kids are down right mean. I am not saying she is above it but there does seem to be sort of a mob mentality. Nice kids individually can become nasty when they are in a group. Ganging up..exclusion...mocking..especially girls. One on one they are pretty good, but together, the claws appear. It is the age old thing, if I put you down and talk smack about you, you aren't talking about me. I guess it is sort of a survival technique especially for girls. I guess I thought in a catholic school the kids would be more, I don't know...sweeter. I think overall they are but kids are kids and you can't expect them to act like adults. Lets face it adults don't even act like adults and that I have seen first hand.  

Writing

   Writing is not as easy as it seems. Clearly it is more than just putting words on a page.  In The fourth grade I am not sure what is expected. I remember when I first began to write. I wrote poems mostly, and some short stories. I thought that I was quite the talent. looking back at some of my writings, I can see now that I was pretty passionate and yes..pretty good. Of course I was young and the subject matter was a little dramatic but overall I think my work had some merit. I remember being proud of my writing. I remember getting feedback. I never liked the editing process because I was always very impatient and a little stubborn. Hindsight tells me that much of work could have used some revision.


Sarah is in Fourth grade and for whatever reason she has not grasped onto the writing bug. She is creative and imaginative and is constantly replaying stories in her head. But, like me she is impatient and it is difficult for her to finish things. I am hoping homeschool gives her an opportunity to really learn to write.


 We bought a little Mother/daughter journal from a local paper store. The concept is that she writes something and then I respond and we leave it on each others nightstand. The book give us some prompts like: what were you like as a daughter when you were my age? and what will you be like as a mother? It is very sweet and really gives her a way to write without it feeling like an assignment. I highly recommend it!