If you don't want to read my little, pissy, mini-rant about homeschool monitors or reviews for homeschooling, please scroll down to the line of asterixes.
We officially started our "school year" of 180days in mid August. We are learning all of the time, so it is hard to say we started or finished or will start on such-and-such day, etc. We are living, and growing, and learning all of the time. We never really stop or finish out schooling, our learning.
It is that time of year when I have to schedule the annual meeting with the homeschool moderator/reviewer for our area. This always makes me feel anxious-- like someone is going to say I'm not doing enough. I don't want to get into a fight. Really, I don't. But, I am a rebel at heart. I detest the idea that anyone could tell me that my kids are not learning enough or that they're not learning exactly what they need to learn based on someone's arbitrary guidelines of what is important for such and such age or grade.
The review is supposed to be an interview. It is supposed to be about assessing what needs we have as homeschoolers-- they come across as helpful, but there is an undercurrent. "Do you have any samples of your children's work to share?" "Did you fill out and bring your weekly schooling schedule so that we can place it in your file?"
I can wear a smile through it all, even when I want to tell them it's none of their friggin' business. Even when I want to tell them that they need to focus on the schools and the kids who are in the system and leave all the people who "opt out" of their form of compulsory schooling alone. I honestly and completely do not know one single homeschool mom who is neglectful or homeschooling to be lazy or raise lazy kids. I do know lots of homeschoolers. I also know homeschoolers of just about every kind, who teach and guide and parent in any number of ways that are different from the way I choose to do things. I could no more judge their schedule or children's work than they should judge mine.
Last year, what did I do?? Well, I brought my schedule in and NOT ONE SINGLE PIECE OF "SAMPLE WORK". Yes, it was the rebel in me. I proceeded to tell the reviewer that my kids write like crazy, have blogs that they put their creative time and thought into, Irish dance, do math on the computer and through games, were doing an "intensive" on weather patterns and natural disasters for science and plotting out where the rifts and fault lines were for learning about the Earth's seismic activity and how the eruptions of the volcanoes affect the atmosphere-- how earth quakes affect climate. I talked about doing a huge block of science fiction, classical through current works dealing with dystopian societies and the resulting lessons about current and past governments- what works and what doesn't work and what could work in theory. I talked about car trips and field trips and our obsession with the library. on
I could have talked for hours, but I focused on what I knew would best appease her- coming from a public school model of thinking- Math, Language arts, Science, Social studies and geography, and a bit of history too. I didn't overwhelm her, but she wrote and wrote while I smiled and talked with great energy about our fabulous homeschool adventure. I didn't lie- didn't need to. I also, did not bring any sample work in.
My kids do not go to school. I don't want them in the schools. This is not an elitist thing on my part, simply a choice that we have made for our family and for our kids. My kids do not need their work filed in a file with gold stars or a lack of gold stars and approved or disapproved of. They also do not need someone giving suggestions on how to improve what they are doing. I do not need those things either. I never needed someone to tell me I am parenting correctly or that I am qualified to parent (God please forbid this always!), and I see our homeschooling as an extension of that parenting.
I have never taken well to unasked for parenting advice, and the rebel in me still doesn't want someone telling me how my bright and learning and unique children need to do one single thing differently. Period. If I'm having trouble, or if they're having trouble, I will seek out help from sources that I trust. They also seek out help from sources that they trust already. They know when they need help, and they ask. I get asked a billion or more questions a day by my children. My children are inquisitive and constantly improving on what they are doing because they want to, because what they are doing pleases them and makes them feel proud and because these things they ask about and improve on become a springboards for even more questions, improvements, adventures, and learning.
I can't always show physical proof that they are learning, and this stresses me out a bit especially at this time of year where I am making the dreaded review appointment. How does one show proof when there are days that we don't write a single thing on paper or decided to do a workbook page, etc? I can see that an outside person who only has the public school model to base their observations on would not see the concrete "proof" of learning. Even on days that would be perceived as lazy, my kids are learning and asking and doing tons of things. They are building and cooking and organizing and learning to read sheet music and playing instruments and creating concoctions and cleaning and digging and drawing and learning how to resolve conflicts and reading and...... *phew* *taking a breath!* How do I show proof of that?? The rebel in me says, "Why the hell should I have to!?" However, I TRY very hard to be mild-mannered- to not let my rebel-self show her true stripes all the time. Confrontation is not what I welcome- especially when dealing with the powers to be with the local school system.
End of mini-rant......... for the moment
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Sooooooooo, with my stress about what to do for this upcoming "review", a friend mentioned that they journal their homeschooling so that it shows how very much is being done in a given day. She said, "Try it. You might be surprised by how much is happening that can be categorized in a way that it works for a report even a county school board homeschool monitor can understand."
Okay, I thought, I'll give it a try. So, everyday or so, I will post little notes about what we're up to. Hopefully, I can keep up with it. I will even post a link or two when we go on rabbit-trails of learning from one thing to the next in our learning adventure in the real world and on the internet.
Please check my next post where I start journaling. Wish me success! :-)
2 comments:
Yep. What you said, girlfriend. Right there w/ya! XOXO
Awwww!! Thanks, JoAnn!! :)
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