Tuesday March 31, 2009

It's Tuesday and that is our Impact Homeschool Academy day. Even before leaving at 7:30am (for daily Mass and then school at Impact), Connor completed 6 math pages in unit 7. After Impact, we will again attend Chinese class, finally arriving home from school at 5:30pm. Today I mailed my quarterly report, and I ordered the PASS test to administer in May. This is a big downside to homeschooling. We have to pay for all the materials, including the state required standardized tests, yet we get no reduction on our school taxes. We pay over $8000.00 per year in school taxes, plus $10,000 a year for Austin's tuition to attend a private school, and now we have to pay for all of Connor's activities--including the state mandated tests!! I don't even believe that standardized tests are a true measure of knowledge, but pay for and administer them I must. If Connor was falling behind, the state would be required to drop mega dollars to try to get him up to state standards, but because he is a few grades ahead, he must fend for himself. If we want to teach our child at his academic grade level, we have to pay for all his classes and all the state mandated tests too! There's definitely something wrong with the system.

Monday March 30, 2009

Morning Mass was at 8am at St. Mary's, and it was rather uneventful today. After Mass, Connor completed unit 7 in the vocabulary book, and created vocabulary flash cards too. I bought him a plastic container to keep all the cards in, and Connor sorted his words alphabetically to store. After vocab., Connor completed six Math pages in Math Journal 2, studied Chinese, practiced guitar, read a chapter in his Chemistry book, made flashcards for his Chemistry vocabulary, and filled in some more blank maps. Although Connor can place all the countries in the world very quickly on Sheppard software, I'm finding that the skills do not always transfer to the blank map. On the geography software, the names of the countries are listed. When I present blank maps to complete, sometimes Connor struggles to remember the names. We are going to spend more time on blank maps this week.Connor finished Summer of My German Soldier and he started Jacob Have I Loved. He's been choosing to read mostly historical fiction lately.This afternoon Connor asked me if he could take the McQuaid placement exam this month. At first I said no, but then I paused to ask myself, why not? If he fails, then he learns that he still has more to learn. If he passes, he feels successful. If he passes with a high mark, then we can sit down with administration and decide how to proceed. So I called the office and asked if Connor, a ten year old, would be allowed to sit for the 7th grade exam. The administrative assistant was quite hesitant, and she said she'd check with the Dean and get back to me. I should have just signed him up for the test, and not asked if Connor's age prevented him from taking the exam. My mistake.

Sunday March 29, 2009

Yesterday, Connor and I attended the NYS boating safety class from 9a-5pm. It was a very long day. At the end of the class, as the Sheriff/instructor (who also happens to be Connor's former art teacher at Geneseo Central School) passed out the test, he asked me if I wanted to go out in the hall and help Connor with the test. Connor was the only child there, and the Sheriff said that the test is at a 10th grade reading level. I responded that Connor can read at a 10th grade level, and that is why he is not at school anymore. The teacher said he wondered what happened to Connor, but he didn't know. Then he again said that the wording of the questions and the directions are confusing (many double negatives) and that he didn't think Connor would be able to pass it without an adult's help. I said, "That's ok, if he doesn't pass it then he can take the course and test again next month." One of the other attendees turned around and congratulated me on my decision. He was "old school," he said, and that is how people learn. Sometimes they must fail. This goes back to my concern about schools making so many accommodations to help students succeed that they forget how to fail and learn from the experience. In the end, Connor scored an 86% without any help from anyone, and he could walk away proud of himself because he passed without extra help.

Sat. March 28. Quarterly Reports

It's Saturday, and I have a few minutes to blog before Connor and I head to the boating safety class. I've already blogged about how school is not 9-3 at our house, so it should be no surprise that we are attending an eight hour class on a Saturday. What I want to address is the issue of quarterly reports. Earlier this week,while I was waiting for two hours in Warsaw during Austin's Civil Air Patrol meeting,I met several other home-schooling mothers. Since several of the mothers have been home-schooling for 15+ years, I asked them questions about the quarterly report that I have to file at the beginning of April. I have been recording on this blog every day,keeping every test, museum ticket stub, and taking photos of Connor's various activities for almost ten weeks. I went through all my notes, and spent hours and hours filling in the form the school district sent me. One of the mothers told me that I am wasting my time because no one will even bother to read my report. Huh? I read on a few blogs about various school districts investigating home-schoolers to the point of harassment. Therefore, I have gone to great lengths to make certain that I am in compliance with NYS guidelines,and I spend hours every day documenting our studies, and no one is even going to read my report? Holly told me that she writes less than one page, and she uses the same report (with only slight changes) every year. Her friend writes "See IHIP" on her quarterly report and that's all. One part of me is happy that rural school districts leave home-schoolers alone, but the other part of me really wants someone to acknowledge that Connor is learning a whole lot more at home than he could ever learn in any public school. As I write this, he is upstairs working on his Math pages. We calculated that he has 9 more units to complete (journal 2, 5th grade Math) and only ten more weeks of school. He wants to get it finished early so that he can be done with school when Austin is done, which is June 11th. Xiao has school until June 29th, and that is how I paced our curriculum, but Connor wants the extra time off. Ha ha. Like he will really be completely off, ever. But that goal keeps him pushing forward, and that is a good thing. Off to boating safety now!

Friday March 27

Connor was feeling a little better today, so we headed out to Mass at 7:30am. It was further away today, in Leicester. We got home from Mass at 8:45am, and had just enough time to complete 5 Math pages, and then we headed off to Chess. I was asked to take charge of this session of the home-schooler's Chess Club, and I was gratified to see 18 (instead of the usual 10)participants. This means that the price goes down to $30 (from $55) per student. After Chess, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the Rochester Museum and Science Center. We hit more areas today than we did last week, and then we stayed for the Dinosaurs Alive show at the Planetarium. We didn't get home until after 6pm! What a long day of learning. After dinner (we ate pancakes with Connor's hickory bark syrup!) Connor responded to his new Pen Pal, a boy in China!! He is now upstairs reading his newest historical fiction, Summer of My German Soldier.

Thurs. March 26

Connor is still contagious, so we didn't go to Mass again today. He's NOT happy about missing church, but I insisted we stay home. We also have a whole lot of work to do today, after missing yesterday. First thing this morning Connor reviewed his vocabulary flashcards in preparation for the cumulative test, units 1-6. He took that test, and then took the cumulative Math test for units 1-6 also. He still feels quite sick, and I sort of felt bad having him take the cumulative tests. Guitar practice came next, and then he answered the comprehension questions on The Witch at Blackbird Pond. For a break, I suggested he make a batch of hickory bark syrup. We got the recipe when we went to tour our friend's syrup making operation a few weeks ago.Connor had collected Hickory bark last weekend and has been asking to make the syrup. After boiling down and straining the syrup, Connor wrote a five paragraph essay in response to a writing prompt I gave him on The Witch of Blackbird Pond. For fun, Connor identified famous painters for awhile on freerice.com, earning 750 grains of rice. At 3p he went to a horseback riding lesson. I almost canceled the lesson because he is still quite sick, but I would feel bad canceling last minute. Now it's 4:30 and he's downstairs working on his web page. Tonight he has to study Chinese. That is all I had left on his list for today.

Wed. March 25

Connor has strep throat and a fever. He didn't do much today except stay in bed and read. Poor guy was miserable all day because he missed his boat-building class. Hopefully, the antibiotic will kick in soon and he'll feel better by tomorrow.