This is the first homeschool update of the 2009/2010 school year. We finished our first week on Tuesday and are off to a good start. There were big changes for both of the kids this year that are a continuation of some things we started last year. Those changes all have to do with the kids taking on more of the responsibility for planning their studies. I still direct the material they study, but they plan how and when they engage with the material. An example of that is the way we the kids are assigned books. In the past, I always assigned a specific number of pages or chapters to read on a given day. Last year, I assigned Kelly a book with only a completion date and the assignment of a way to show me that she had read the book usually in the form of a book report or a discussion of what was read. That worked well for Kelly and Christian has switched over to that very same method for this year. The kids are getting more adept at negotiating their studies so they can perform the work successful.
For instance, when I assigned Christian one book per week for the entire 36 week school year, he came back to me and said, “Dad, these are not all one week books. Some of these books are two or three week books and some of them are two or three day books. Why don’t you let me arrange my reading so that I am always reading two books at a time. That way I won’t be stuck reading way too little one week and way too much the next. The order that I write the book reports might change a little, but I should still be able to delivery on report per week and even out my reading load at the same time.”
That sounded like a very good idea to me, so that is what we are doing. We have upped the ante with Kelly quite a bit in hear reading. Since she will be in college full time next year (ala Ruthie’s Tisse), I am giving her a fixed reading schedule of scholarly books. She is actively working through methods to get through heavier material, Rodney Stark’s Victory of Reason being the first, than she has read in the past. She has looked through some of her “how to study” books trying to find better ways to do the reading. The material is interesting, but sometimes it gets more technical and uses vocabulary that makes comprehension a little more difficult.
The things that have not changed so much are the math, science, music, memorization, bible, and exercise. Both of the kids are more heavily engaged in CLEP preparation. The kind of work they have to do to prepare for those tests is the same, there is just more of it.
Sounds like things are going very well. Keep up the great work, Kelly and Christian!
~Luke
Thanks Luke!
Oh Ken, you give me WAY too much credit! Tisse will take 2 classes each semester only. French and something else. I think it is very good to have them read more ‘scholarly material’ as they progress towards college. Did you read the ‘how to study a boook’ books as read alouds? I am going to get those downa and dust them off. I have 2 such books.
There are many hiccups that we have encountered the first week and a half with Emma at college full time. She has changed her schedule around, dropped and added classes, lost her keys and phone (got them back), got locked out of one of her classes for being 2 minutes late, emailed her homework to the teachers then returned after class to speak with them and got full credit for being there (learning how to figure things out on her own),got the news in class that one of her classmates had died in a car crash….and a few more things. Needless to say we are looking forward to the 3 day weekend!
Wow. Talk about trial by fire. I think that is what every kid needs, but sometimes it is painful to watch them go through it. We did not read the “how to study” books aloud. That is really a good idea though. I think I might add that to our reading aloud list this year. I have always wanted to read Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book, anyway.
Yes, it has been a trial. I said that everything that could have possibly gone wrong has gone wrong….we are all weary! I have that book and also How to Read Slowly by James W. Sire. How do you underline and link the name of the text? I need some tech lessons.
I will pop you an email because anything I put here just shows up as a link. It is very easy.
We’re are experimenting with the kids doing some of their scheduling this year also. A friend and I are using The Well Educated Mind as a how-to book to read through the classics together. We’re having a really great 1st week too! Today we made a salt map of an imaginary country to learn 28 various land forms. Tomorrow we will go on a nature walk and notebook our results. As well as all the history, math, literature, science, etc. etc!
That is great Audrey. We got thrown into the “kids do their scheduling as long as they finish what Dad has on the plan” mode for a couple of years now, mostly because I am the one who does the planning and am not home during the day. Lorena does the administration. It sounds like you are off to s SUPER start. We LOVED your article (it came in the mail). We will try to call you about it after convention!