Connor's list

Yesterday I found a list that Connor must have created when he was figuring out his fall curriculum. He had two distinct columns: 1. Activities that I enjoy for homeschooling, and 2.Things I don't like to do, but have to do. On the second list, Connor only listed three things: swimming lessons (which will be over in two weeks), essays, and laundry. I'm laughing as I type this. Since when does laundry count toward his homeschooling? On the list of things he enjoys, Connor listed 12 activities: Reading, Dissecting, building, guitar, Math, Chinese, Tae Kwon do, etc. Pretty much everything that we do for school!! Lucky for me! Our son actually LIKES learning now. Mission accomplished.

Lesson Plans

So,this morning I told Connor that he needed to figure out what he wants to study on Tuesdays, when he goes to Grandma Sue's house. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I decided to go back to teaching at Genesee Community College two days a week. We realized that (as long as I don't have the extra four foster children) we can still homeschool Connor while I work part-time. Most of Connor's learning is independent study anyway; we just can't leave him alone all day without a "teacher" available. Grandma Sue has lots of skills and talents, and she agreed to homeschool Connor one day a week. The other day, Thursdays, is the day I'll have all Connor's tutors come to the house. He currently has a Math tutor, a Chinese tutor, a Chess teacher and a guitar teacher. If I can streamline all the teachers into one day then Connor will not be alone at all. I'll be paying the same for teachers that I currently pay, and I'll be able to keep my career. So--to this end, I had Connor plan his curriculum for Tuesdays. 9am Church, then guitar practice, then the online Computer Programming course, then Reading, Writing and an activity with Grandma, which will vary. She is an expert gardener, she sews, and she's great at word puzzles and Scrabble. Furthermore, she is the perfect person to teach Connor PATIENCE. He is quite impulsive, and we are working hard on developing patience and foresight. Grandma constantly reminds Connor to go a slower pace and think things through. It'll be a win-win situation for us this fall.

Not on the test

This is a wonderful little video about NCLB and the federally mandated tests.

http://www.notonthetest.com/index.html

Lazy Days of Summer---NOT

So, we're now settled into our summer routine. Swimming lessons, reading clinic, guitar, Chinese, horse-back riding, Tae Kwon Do etc. Connor's friend's mom called to see when the kids can get together, and I had to honestly tell her we are not free any day before 2:30p. Yikes! Of course, our schedule will settle down in Aug., but right now it's go, go, go. I'm very happy I postponed the start of Connor's Web Design class until the fall. On another note, Austin has been sending us emails from China (in Chinese). Very cool.

I feel very fortunate

I just wanted to mention, I am so very fortunate to be an Alumni of SUNY Geneseo. We've been spending an hour every morning in the library (while Connor works with his Chinese/Math tutor) and we're taking advantage of all the resources available to educators. I noticed a cool skeleton to build, lots of Science kits, a million puppets, math manipulatives etc. etc. Having top quality materials at my fingertips makes it much easier for me to homeschool Connor and summerschool the other children. The librarian knows all the children by name now, and she even took the initiative to procure special library bags for them to carry their books back and forth. It was amazing how excited they were to have their own library bags! Tomorrow we start swimming lessons, and next week we begin the summer reading clinic, all provided free of charge by SUNY Geneseo education majors. Yes, I'm very fortunate to live where I do and to have these resources!

Thoughts I shared with new homeschooler

Ohio sounds like a dream from this side of the fence. In NY, there is no such thing as state-funded gifted education. NONE. As for telling Connor about our final decision; I put it off until his very last week of school. That is only because I didn't want him to tell his teachers or friends and create problems for us. Homeschoolers are often resented or treated as enemies to education. We had been talking about the possibility of homeschooling for nearly a year before we took the plunge, so I just said one day, "Now that I'm not working, would you like to try homeschooling for a bit?" He jumped on it. I framed it as a temporary experiment, and said if we weren't happy with homeschooling then we'd just re-enroll him in his public school. At the end of this year, I found out my Reading program at Monroe Community College was re-funded, and I could have my job back. After talking to Connor, we decided that homeschooling was more important to us than my career right now. He is, after all, working 4 grade levels ahead of his peers, so we are going to continue for at least one more year.After that, he'll be old enough (though on the young side still) for McQuaid Jesuit.
To answer your other questions, in the beginning, we tried to be loose and casual with the curriculum for a month, as recommended by most homeschoolers (google "deschooling") and then created our curriculum as we went along. I did not want to duplicate school, afterall it wasn't meeting his needs, so I stayed away from all boxed curriculums. Last week, when I wrote his IHIP (Individualized Home Instruction Plan) for next year, I simply shouted down the hall, "Connor, what about Science? What do you want to study next year?" He shouted back, "I want to dissect animals." I wrote on the form, in the Science box: Life Science/Biology. Under the slot for textbooks, I wrote, Microscope and web resources. "Connor, what about Geography?" "I'm supposed to learn the capitols of the states. " Me, "OK." Geography: State capitols. Textbook: The Globe and Maps. What a difference from last year!! In the fall I spent hundreds of hours trying to decide on curriculum, writing up syllabi, and agonizing over materials. Now that I know he is learning, all on his own, we just follow Connor's lead. I'm not going to teach cursive writing at all, since he can read it already and will never need to write it other than his signature, and he hates handwriting. We type 99.9% of the time anyway, and I know that I can't even remember how to write in cursive anymore. I teach grammar in context concurrently with his writing. I edit his writing for grammar at the end of the writing process, using the book The 6+1 Traits of writing as a model. A typing course is on the list for next year. Connor types fast, I'd guess 35 WPM, but does not use "home row" and I think he should know the proper format. He disagrees with me on that one. Connor taught himself to type just because he enjoys writing stories and he hates handwriting. I postponed the John Hopkins course (in Web Design) until the fall, so he'll also begin that in Sep. I don't think Connor will be able to concentrate over the summer, with all the kids here, and summer is busy enough without a 2 hour a day commitment on the computer. Swimming lessons start next week, and Connor meets his Chinese and math tutor an hour every day in the summer. If it works out, I'll have his tutor teach him math and Chinese all year next year. I listed Algebra under the math slot of the IHIP, though he's learning geometry and trigonometry too, and for textbooks I wrote down the text we used last year, even though the tutor doesn't use a text very much. She is from Taiwan, and she teaches him math using logic problems and manipulatives (including the abacus). I think the important thing to remember is that you can't screw up a child's education, really. If you do nothing at all, and just let a child explore his world in his own way, he will learn more than he learned in school. Children like to learn--especially highly gifted children like Connor--we just need to get out of their way most of the time. Like Mark Twain said, "Do not let school get in the way of education."

Yes, it's vacation.. but...

So, I've been taking Connor to the college everyday at 9am to work with a tutor. She's been working with him on his Chinese and Math. What is really cool, is that even when she works with him on math, she makes him say all his numbers in Chinese!! She is young, probably 20, and she brings such enthusiasm to his lessons. Yesterday she brought all her paint brushes and ink, and they spent the lesson writing Chinese characters (which is damn near impossible to learn, just so you know). Anyway, I was compelled to write because I had to complete next year's IHIP. Looking at the form closely though, I was momentarily inspired; it is called Individualized Home Instruction Plan. How cool would it be if Every child had an individualized instruction plan?? Home or not.. I've often thought that the current model of an IEP (for special Ed. kids) would be a great idea for each and every child....