Friday, August 19, 2011
Mentor Circle
Last night was the mentor circle, and I had a lot of fun interacting with other mentors as well as new families coming into the program. Because most of the concerns discussed were things I had issues with last year, I felt comfortable talking about them, and what solutions I came up with. There were a lot of really good suggestions on how to deal with the beginning of the year, including take it slow, start with one subject and work your way up, be patient, be patient, be patient. This is a scary undertaking, you are assuming responsibility for some pretty major challenges, and it is daunting! There is a ton of information and a ton of material to go through, and some things just get lost in the shuffle. Backtracking is a part of the process, regardless of how frustrating or time consuming, this isn't something you get right in the beginning, and you aren't going to get it right everytime. Laugh at your mistakes, but learn from them, and don't let them become obstacles!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Mentor!
I have been invited to participate in the K-12 mentor circle program, which means I get to interact with new homeschool parents as they come into the program. Two things that I have been asked to share are area of expertise and a piece of advice. Oy! So of course I had to think about this.
The easiest is the piece of advice...be patient, be flexible, and be ready to be amazed! When I first started this journey, I had this shiny image in my head of getting D.C up with his brothers, getting the younger two off to brick and mortar, then sitting down at the kitchen table to begin 'our day'. We were going to follow the lesson plan exactly, we were going to be structured, consistant and efficient. And that worked for about 2 seconds, because I went back to bed! We actually spent the first few days just trying to get everything organized in a way that worked for us, we tried to put his supplies in his room, as thats where his computer is, but I spent as much time retrieving things as he did, and he spent more time in the living room on my computer than he did on his own. The only thing we did consistantly was stray from the lesson topic, as they would usually lead into branching discussions that took us away from the objective, but were valuable nonetheless. It took us about a month to come up with a system that worked, that usually included a lot of time on my part to get things organized and to think of how I needed to present the information for him. I had to learn all over again how my child thought and how he processed new information. My learning process is scattered all over the place, I make intuitive leaps where I can connect one concept to another without all the middle stuff, D.C. however thinks like a turtle...not slow, but very methodical. One step at a time, and do not, under any circumstances, leave anything out. I finally understood why his teachers would get so frustrated with him, and he with them. At the middle school level, they expect a certain amount of leaping, and he just does not think that way. They were giving him new concepts, but not showing him how they connected with earlier ones, just assuming that he would. Math was very difficult for us, I love math, he doesn't, just for this reason. Elementary school provided him with visual aids for fractions and groupings, middle school assumes that those visual aids are now imprinted. D.C couldn't make that distinction without working it out for himself. One turtle step at a time. He could draw a pie chart for adding fractions, but he couldn't write down two fractions and add them together at the beginning of the year. His classmates at b&m were flying past him, and he just kept getting more and more behind. By the end of the year, however, he had made the transition from visual to cerebral, he gained the ability to visualize it in his head, quickly and correctly, and was beginning to make conclusions about math that was beyond his grade level. So be patient and be flexible with your child and your schedule. How you think it's going to work isn't how it's really going to work!
The not so easy is my area of expertise...how do you define this? My best guess for us would be maintaining a balance between homeschool and brick and mortar. The younger two children had a lot of school programs last year, and in the beginning D.C. was hesitant to attend. He had attended this elementary school for 6 years, and was very well known to all the teachers and students. The first time he was confronted with the question "how is middle school going", he about fell apart. We had just begun K-12, and his perceived failure in himself was still very fresh, he was humiliated by his middle school experience and was not prepared to discuss it with anybody outside of the home. He simply responded "I go to K-12 now" then fled to the bathroom. His former teacher confronted me about it (her timing was completely inappropriate, it was in the middle of my youngest child's performance) and basically asked me if I had lost my mind! I (somewhat) calmly explained that he had had what amounted to a cascading catastrophic failure at school, and for his sake, I had to get him out of there. D.C. now has an answer when confronted about his decision to homeschool, "I get the same learning at home that I did in public school, but I don't have to deal with bullies, lockers or bell schedules". I also had to learn to balance education and socialization with his friends. We did a lot of work in the mornings, saved research and reading for night, spent time getting to know each other again, and let him play with his friends. I didn't realize how much of a stranger my child had become until he was home every day, or how much I had missed out on with his development. He was becoming a young man, and I was missing some very important stages of his life. I think I learned as much last year as he did, and as many important things, both about him and myself, and I will carry these lessons with me for the rest of my life.
The easiest is the piece of advice...be patient, be flexible, and be ready to be amazed! When I first started this journey, I had this shiny image in my head of getting D.C up with his brothers, getting the younger two off to brick and mortar, then sitting down at the kitchen table to begin 'our day'. We were going to follow the lesson plan exactly, we were going to be structured, consistant and efficient. And that worked for about 2 seconds, because I went back to bed! We actually spent the first few days just trying to get everything organized in a way that worked for us, we tried to put his supplies in his room, as thats where his computer is, but I spent as much time retrieving things as he did, and he spent more time in the living room on my computer than he did on his own. The only thing we did consistantly was stray from the lesson topic, as they would usually lead into branching discussions that took us away from the objective, but were valuable nonetheless. It took us about a month to come up with a system that worked, that usually included a lot of time on my part to get things organized and to think of how I needed to present the information for him. I had to learn all over again how my child thought and how he processed new information. My learning process is scattered all over the place, I make intuitive leaps where I can connect one concept to another without all the middle stuff, D.C. however thinks like a turtle...not slow, but very methodical. One step at a time, and do not, under any circumstances, leave anything out. I finally understood why his teachers would get so frustrated with him, and he with them. At the middle school level, they expect a certain amount of leaping, and he just does not think that way. They were giving him new concepts, but not showing him how they connected with earlier ones, just assuming that he would. Math was very difficult for us, I love math, he doesn't, just for this reason. Elementary school provided him with visual aids for fractions and groupings, middle school assumes that those visual aids are now imprinted. D.C couldn't make that distinction without working it out for himself. One turtle step at a time. He could draw a pie chart for adding fractions, but he couldn't write down two fractions and add them together at the beginning of the year. His classmates at b&m were flying past him, and he just kept getting more and more behind. By the end of the year, however, he had made the transition from visual to cerebral, he gained the ability to visualize it in his head, quickly and correctly, and was beginning to make conclusions about math that was beyond his grade level. So be patient and be flexible with your child and your schedule. How you think it's going to work isn't how it's really going to work!
The not so easy is my area of expertise...how do you define this? My best guess for us would be maintaining a balance between homeschool and brick and mortar. The younger two children had a lot of school programs last year, and in the beginning D.C. was hesitant to attend. He had attended this elementary school for 6 years, and was very well known to all the teachers and students. The first time he was confronted with the question "how is middle school going", he about fell apart. We had just begun K-12, and his perceived failure in himself was still very fresh, he was humiliated by his middle school experience and was not prepared to discuss it with anybody outside of the home. He simply responded "I go to K-12 now" then fled to the bathroom. His former teacher confronted me about it (her timing was completely inappropriate, it was in the middle of my youngest child's performance) and basically asked me if I had lost my mind! I (somewhat) calmly explained that he had had what amounted to a cascading catastrophic failure at school, and for his sake, I had to get him out of there. D.C. now has an answer when confronted about his decision to homeschool, "I get the same learning at home that I did in public school, but I don't have to deal with bullies, lockers or bell schedules". I also had to learn to balance education and socialization with his friends. We did a lot of work in the mornings, saved research and reading for night, spent time getting to know each other again, and let him play with his friends. I didn't realize how much of a stranger my child had become until he was home every day, or how much I had missed out on with his development. He was becoming a young man, and I was missing some very important stages of his life. I think I learned as much last year as he did, and as many important things, both about him and myself, and I will carry these lessons with me for the rest of my life.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Starting from scratch
Well, we are heading into our second year of K12, supplies have arrived and are all organized, and we are both anxious to begin.
I guess some background first, might make whats coming a bit easier!
I have three amazing boys (I know, what mom doesn't have x amount of amazing kids!), 13, 11 and 9. Last year, my oldest started middle school, not without a fair bit of trepidation at such a massive change to his world. The first couple of weeks were horrible for both of us, missed busses, tardy to class, late assignments, then everything seemed to smooth out and I assumed we were in the clear. Boy was I wrong! Turns out, my son was so dissapointed in himself, that he quit sharing his problems with me until there were so many problems, he was ready to explode. The bell schedule at his school only allowed for 3 minutes between classes, the kids are not allowed to carry their backpacks with them, and the class schedule put first period and second period on opposite sides of the school. My son spent half of first semester in detention for being tardy to his second period. He would be so upset about this, and afraid he was going to get in trouble at home, that he would miss instructions from his teacher, or miss assignment due dates, his teacher quickly became frustrated with him, which made my son feel worse. At that point, the day would be ruined, and he would walk around in a fog of misery and fear. At the end of the semester, he was so far behind, it was like he hadn't attended school at all. The school was already talking holding him back, and my son had gone from a happy, confidant, brilliant child to a sullen, mean creature. The final straw came when we spent 4 days attempting to complete required assignments for English class, only to miss one and be told that because of that one missed assignment, he was going to fail English. I checked him out of public school that day and he hasn't been back. We enrolled in K12 at the beginning of the second semester, he completed all the requirements within the academic year, and he made the Honor roll. It took a lot of very hard work on both of our parts, I made sure he understood that he wasn't doing this alone, and that made a world of difference in his academic achievements. He is once again proud of himself, confident of his abilities, and trusts that no matter what, I'm going to be there for him. I have my kid back!
The purpose of this blog is to document our adventures, to chronicle what I learn, and to interact with other homeschooling parents around the world.
I guess some background first, might make whats coming a bit easier!
I have three amazing boys (I know, what mom doesn't have x amount of amazing kids!), 13, 11 and 9. Last year, my oldest started middle school, not without a fair bit of trepidation at such a massive change to his world. The first couple of weeks were horrible for both of us, missed busses, tardy to class, late assignments, then everything seemed to smooth out and I assumed we were in the clear. Boy was I wrong! Turns out, my son was so dissapointed in himself, that he quit sharing his problems with me until there were so many problems, he was ready to explode. The bell schedule at his school only allowed for 3 minutes between classes, the kids are not allowed to carry their backpacks with them, and the class schedule put first period and second period on opposite sides of the school. My son spent half of first semester in detention for being tardy to his second period. He would be so upset about this, and afraid he was going to get in trouble at home, that he would miss instructions from his teacher, or miss assignment due dates, his teacher quickly became frustrated with him, which made my son feel worse. At that point, the day would be ruined, and he would walk around in a fog of misery and fear. At the end of the semester, he was so far behind, it was like he hadn't attended school at all. The school was already talking holding him back, and my son had gone from a happy, confidant, brilliant child to a sullen, mean creature. The final straw came when we spent 4 days attempting to complete required assignments for English class, only to miss one and be told that because of that one missed assignment, he was going to fail English. I checked him out of public school that day and he hasn't been back. We enrolled in K12 at the beginning of the second semester, he completed all the requirements within the academic year, and he made the Honor roll. It took a lot of very hard work on both of our parts, I made sure he understood that he wasn't doing this alone, and that made a world of difference in his academic achievements. He is once again proud of himself, confident of his abilities, and trusts that no matter what, I'm going to be there for him. I have my kid back!
The purpose of this blog is to document our adventures, to chronicle what I learn, and to interact with other homeschooling parents around the world.
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