Obsessive/Compulsive Mathematics

My husband asked me, "Do all homeschoolers finish the math book?" The answer is "OF course not!" The truth is, some homeschoolers have their child do every single problem in every math book before moving on. Other homeschoolers skip many problems or even chapters each year without giving it a second thought. I encourage people to come down firmly in the middle of this controversy. What's important is NOT how many problems they do, or how many days of school you have. What's important is that the students are learning. If they can learn math with only 1/2 the problems, then that's great! Don't punish them with additional math problems that might beat the love of numbers right out of them. On the other hand, it's not helpful to move on before a child understands the math concept they are on. Balance is key.

Blessings,

Lee

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The Great California Homeschool Earthquake?

The media seems to be saying this is THE BIG ONE.

Here is a link to the Fox News story, but I've heard the same on other news programs.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335808,00.html

"California parents who don't have teaching credentials no longer can home school their children, according to a recent state appellate court ruling."

But here is a summary from a California Homeschool group:
http://californiahomeschool.net/howTo/updates.htm

"The law in California has not changed. This is the opinion of one court. CHN strongly believes this opinion is incorrect, and homeschooling by using one of the alternatives to public school currently available under California law remains legal. The implications of this ruling and possible actions are currently being discussed by CHN, along with HSC, CHEA, Family Protection Ministry and HSLDA. "

And another summary from Homeschool Association of California
http://www.hsc.org/Appellatedecision

My internet friend, Julie, expressed it this way:

"People are getting phone calls from relatives that they are doing illegal activities. I went with my kids to cook a meal for the homeless at our church, something we do once a month, and I was hit up with the questions about legalities. " and "While leaders are paying attention and being vigilant, it isn't any reason to panic."
Julie in San Diego
http://www.livingmath.net/

I know that it is concerning to hear these inflammatory statements on the news, but I don't think there is a need to panic. It might be a great time to write your own state legislators, and let them know how important homeschooling is to you. It's a great exercise for kids as well - a good civics lesson. But keep in mind that California law has not changed, and state and national agencies are currently working on the problem. Let's watch, and keep our eyes on reputable sources. Try to avoid listening to news reports from agencies and people that don't really know homeschool laws.

Blessings,
Lee
www.TheHomeScholar.com
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Never Ending Record Keeping

Never ending record keeping

Are you writing your own comprehensive records for your student? Frustrating, isn't it! One thing to remember about the Comprehensive Records - you're never done until graduation. It's like homeschooling in that you never really "finish." You can add touches and change things.... At some point you have to add final grades and final graduation dates. So don't worry that it doesn't feel complete. You won't until your student is finally away to college. Even if your student takes community college classes, you'll still be adding things to the transcript. Try to relax and have fun with it as you constantly edit, review, and revise. And if you need some help with the process, I'm here for you!

Blessings,

Lee
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Rethinking Failure

Recently I've shared with some of my homeschool "failures" like literature analysis and nature studies. I didn't even mention art and Washington State history! Everyone feels like they have failed at some points. I think it may be an issue with motherhood in general: a chronic feeling of guilt.

Now that my kids have graduated from homeschool, I can see that these "failures" weren't really failures at all. Many times it was me adjusting my homeschool to meet the learning style of my children. I perceived them as failures because I wasn't able to get them to love learning by meeting MY learning style. Love of learning came when I met THEIR learning style. Now with my 20/20 hindsight, I can say that I didn't "fail" at literature analysis, nature studies, art, or state history. Instead, I adjusted the way I taught to match my children's way of learning - and that is a success.

Someday when you are looking back on your homeschool, you may find that some of your "failures" were actually successes as well! Just something to think about the next time you're feeling guilty....

Blessings,

Lee

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Our Charlotte Mason High School - or Maybe Not

Charlotte Mason would have loved my pond. Only a half-mile from our house, the pond has river otter, blue heron, and other fabulous Northwest wildlife. When we moved here, I thought I would spend hours at the pond with my children, doing nature studies. A short distance from Puget Sound, I fantasized about oceanography units and marine biology studies.....I dreamed of examining algae under a microscope and I was positively giddy about the ducklings.

Except.....it didn't happen. It's one thing to focus on "delight-driven" studies, but what about driving "non-delightful" studies? My boys would whine and complain the whole time we did nature studies. They loved physical exertion, and didn't mind getting out for a bike ride or a swim, but they didn't want to just "sit there and look at stuff." All they wanted was books and bikes. Sigh! What's a Charlotte-Masony Mom to do?

I finally had to conclude that the "delight" in delight-driven was about them, not me. I had to let go of the fabulous nature studies and focus on the ways my children learned instead. "Let them have books!" I decided.

Now that the kids are in college, my husband and I frequently walk to the pond, and walk to the beach, and enjoy our nature studies together. And he doesn't whine... usually....





Blessings,

Lee
--
The HomeScholar
www.TheHomeScholar.com

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I Hate Literary Analysis - Part 3

Last summer, when the kids came home from their first year in college, I felt like I could finally say I had succeeded in my goal. "For fun" they went to the library to get some reading material. My son Alex read the entire Shakespeare collection, my son Kevin read CS Lewis and some Dostoevsky. I may have been stressed out when they were in high school, but I can honestly say that I achieved my goal: they LOVE reading. Yippee!

Blessings,

Lee

www.TheHomeScholar.com
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I Hate Literary Analysis - Part 2

The truth is I always felt guilty about not doing literary analysis.... I decided early on that my goal in teaching the Bible was for the kids to LOVE their Bible. So I finally decided that my goal for literature would be the same - teaching them to LOVE literature. I didn't want to "beat the love of books out of them" with analyzing everything.

In retrospect, it all ended up great. They are able to do college literary analysis in their honors "great books" class without a problem, and getting A's. Great 20/20 hindsight, but at the time I really stressed over "reading comprehension" more than just about anything else.

Keeping the focus on "love of learning" is so hard, though, when you are faced with a kid who may only answer "fine" when you ask them about their reading :-)

Blessings,

Lee
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I Hate Literary Analysis - Part 1

True confession: I really admire people who do literary analysis, but I simply wasn't capable. It seems odd that someone who is such a fan of literature based curriculum should say that. I primarily used Sonlight, and later The Well Trained Mind. Sonlight was the easiest to use, but after a while we had read most of the books, so I switched to The Well Trained Mind reading lists and other "reading lists for the college bound" and tried to tie in the reading with the history. We didn't do any "literature analysis" we just enjoyed the books. My kids loved it so much they both signed up for the great books and honors courses in college and did very well with it.

Blessings,

Lee
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