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(thanks Jade xx)
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9 months ago
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher
One of the people most influential to me when I was researching home education was/is John Taylor Gatto.
As a former school teacher, he became acutely aware of the problems of institutionalised learning & has subsequently made a career out of sharing this knowledge. He does not bag teachers, but criticises the system they work in. If you haven't read any of his work, I implore you to do so. I promise he will change the way you think about education & learning.
I have just read another article of his that was shared by the lovely Meg @ 'Unlearnt At Last' and it concretes a lot of what I've said or alluded to in my previous blog posts. Please consider.....
http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html
As a former school teacher, he became acutely aware of the problems of institutionalised learning & has subsequently made a career out of sharing this knowledge. He does not bag teachers, but criticises the system they work in. If you haven't read any of his work, I implore you to do so. I promise he will change the way you think about education & learning.
I have just read another article of his that was shared by the lovely Meg @ 'Unlearnt At Last' and it concretes a lot of what I've said or alluded to in my previous blog posts. Please consider.....
http://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html
Friday, 1 April 2011
April Fools!
Ahhhh.....1.30am & Jasmine went to sleep a short time ago. An early night by her usual standards! I figured this would be a good time to review the last week :)
Jasmine's hanging out for the morning. She can't wait to play tricks on me/us in the spirit of April Fools' Day. Not that she doesn't like joking around every other day, but she's happy to be able to legitimise her shenanigans. It will be interesting to see if she remembers or not. Tomorrow is her regular fortnightly "help Daddy read books & sing songs to the little kids at the library" day, which means an early start for her. Hopefully, that will keep me safe for a while!
I tried cleaning up the house today (HAAAA!!!), but there are some times it just does.not.work with a child following you around, finding new & creative ways to fill the spaces you just cleaned. It's Jasmine's 6th birthday next week, so I really want to have the place at least semi-sorted before family arrive from interstate for the occasion. Hopefully, D will find things for them to do away from home tomorrow & I can crank the music & sort this place out. I get frustrated when we can't even do activities because every horizontal surface, and some vertical ones, are covered in STUFF : / But that's a whole other therapy session ;)
Now, to engage the brain & recall the events of the week.
Jasmine has discovered these tubes of bubble mixture at Big W that are $1 each & have long wands, so bubble blowing retains its status of 'favourite outdoor activity'. She asked me several days ago how water was made - a recurring question, so maybe my answers are insufficient? Anyhooo, when I saw some conjoined bubbles floating in the breeze today, I took the opportunity to explain basic molecular structure. I still don't think she can quite grasp how two elements that are usually invisible gases can form a liquid, but there's plenty of years to cover that :) We also covered wind direction & velocity - AKA "which way do I have to hold the wand to let the wind do all the work?"
There's been a bit more activity in the kitchen, too. I got breakfast in bed this morning (toast & vegemite, per my request), which was accompanied by professions of her immense love for me.....awwww! Preparing food (acts of service) really is a major love language of hers :)
Of course, getting her to leave there was somewhat of a challenge. I was still feeling poorly after Zumba and needed to get home. I hadn't actually planned on spending that time at Franklin & I had a lot of work to do to get ready for my first market the following morning. Jasmine had previously agreed to go to bed early as she wanted to help me at the market - which meant leaving home @ 8am. She did try, but just couldn't sleep. She agreed she'd stay home with D instead & sleep through the morning. Well, that was until 7am when she decided 4 hours sleep was enough & she was indeed helping me at the market.
We we're set up, ready to sell about 20 mins before the market officially started. Twenty minutes can seem like an eternity when you're five and patience is not one of her strong points (I wonder where she gets that from? ;-) ). She did a bit of colouring in the books she had with her, but got bored with that quickly. She walked around a bit, checking out other stalls, killing time however she could.
Once the people started coming in, she was in her element. I couldn't have asked for a better PR person! She loved saying 'Hello' to everyone & would have a good old natter, asking if they liked this bead or that LOL. Eventually, food was ready & I think any profits I made were spent just as quickly by Jasmine on food and other bits & pieces (and any Taswegians wanting fantastic Vietnamese food need to try Dobab, who work from markets and, if the rumour's true, may be opening a store in Cygnet). When it came time to pack up, Jasmine didn't want to leave. I think she really enjoyed the atmosphere & the people...and the food ;-) If her career in dancing doesn't eventuate, she'll be great in sales & marketing!
I'll sign off with a pic she drew on her blackboard wall the other night. It's the ocean, the sun & the stars, because she loves me "as much as all the Earth & the Sun & the planets & the stars in allll the Universe" xxx
Jasmine's hanging out for the morning. She can't wait to play tricks on me/us in the spirit of April Fools' Day. Not that she doesn't like joking around every other day, but she's happy to be able to legitimise her shenanigans. It will be interesting to see if she remembers or not. Tomorrow is her regular fortnightly "help Daddy read books & sing songs to the little kids at the library" day, which means an early start for her. Hopefully, that will keep me safe for a while!
I tried cleaning up the house today (HAAAA!!!), but there are some times it just does.not.work with a child following you around, finding new & creative ways to fill the spaces you just cleaned. It's Jasmine's 6th birthday next week, so I really want to have the place at least semi-sorted before family arrive from interstate for the occasion. Hopefully, D will find things for them to do away from home tomorrow & I can crank the music & sort this place out. I get frustrated when we can't even do activities because every horizontal surface, and some vertical ones, are covered in STUFF : / But that's a whole other therapy session ;)
Now, to engage the brain & recall the events of the week.
Jasmine has discovered these tubes of bubble mixture at Big W that are $1 each & have long wands, so bubble blowing retains its status of 'favourite outdoor activity'. She asked me several days ago how water was made - a recurring question, so maybe my answers are insufficient? Anyhooo, when I saw some conjoined bubbles floating in the breeze today, I took the opportunity to explain basic molecular structure. I still don't think she can quite grasp how two elements that are usually invisible gases can form a liquid, but there's plenty of years to cover that :) We also covered wind direction & velocity - AKA "which way do I have to hold the wand to let the wind do all the work?"
There's been a bit more activity in the kitchen, too. I got breakfast in bed this morning (toast & vegemite, per my request), which was accompanied by professions of her immense love for me.....awwww! Preparing food (acts of service) really is a major love language of hers :)
On Playschool one day, they were making a cold rice noodle salad. Jasmine asked if we could have it for dinner. You should of heard the shrills of delight when I informed her we already had most of the ingredients here! We embellished somewhat on the Playschool version & it was a hit all 'round.......
Then another night, there were baking requests coming from all sides. D had a hankering for scones with homemade blackberry jam & cream, while Jasmine has a thing for cupcakes & HAD to make some that night. There really is no stopping her when she has something in mind to cook! Suffice to say, it was a hectic night in the kitchen, but we did manage to discuss the alchemy of cake making in amongst the craziness :)
(and oh, how I can see my side of the family in this pic!!!)
Continuing along the food theme, we spent a couple of hours at the 'Focus on Franklin' last Saturday. We ran into a couple of other families we know, watched the dragon boat races, waited around for ages for the fairy floss machine to be fixed (power kept tripping), walked back & forth across the oval countless times for no particular reason other than a change of mind & watched the kids' Zumba class. I even joined in the adults' group, but just about blacked out after two songs (damned migraine), so I think I'll stick with the DVD's at home. In between the Zumba sessions, they had a Pizza Toss. Each contestant got 2 turns to throw a cold pizza into a hoop. Jasmine saw what was happening, so joined in towards the end. No one had managed to get a pizza in the hoop yet, but her first shot landed smack bang in the middle! She literally could not contain her excitement & jumped up & down continuously until her final turn. Unfortunately, her beginner's luck did not continue & it ended up being a draw between her & a boy who was at least twice her age. Her prize was a little fairy snow globe which she was thrilled about & she added it to her collection when we got home.
Of course, getting her to leave there was somewhat of a challenge. I was still feeling poorly after Zumba and needed to get home. I hadn't actually planned on spending that time at Franklin & I had a lot of work to do to get ready for my first market the following morning. Jasmine had previously agreed to go to bed early as she wanted to help me at the market - which meant leaving home @ 8am. She did try, but just couldn't sleep. She agreed she'd stay home with D instead & sleep through the morning. Well, that was until 7am when she decided 4 hours sleep was enough & she was indeed helping me at the market.
We we're set up, ready to sell about 20 mins before the market officially started. Twenty minutes can seem like an eternity when you're five and patience is not one of her strong points (I wonder where she gets that from? ;-) ). She did a bit of colouring in the books she had with her, but got bored with that quickly. She walked around a bit, checking out other stalls, killing time however she could.
Once the people started coming in, she was in her element. I couldn't have asked for a better PR person! She loved saying 'Hello' to everyone & would have a good old natter, asking if they liked this bead or that LOL. Eventually, food was ready & I think any profits I made were spent just as quickly by Jasmine on food and other bits & pieces (and any Taswegians wanting fantastic Vietnamese food need to try Dobab, who work from markets and, if the rumour's true, may be opening a store in Cygnet). When it came time to pack up, Jasmine didn't want to leave. I think she really enjoyed the atmosphere & the people...and the food ;-) If her career in dancing doesn't eventuate, she'll be great in sales & marketing!
I'll sign off with a pic she drew on her blackboard wall the other night. It's the ocean, the sun & the stars, because she loves me "as much as all the Earth & the Sun & the planets & the stars in allll the Universe" xxx
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
What a sap....
....Moon, that is :)
Sap Moon, Wolf Moon, Super Moon, Maple Moon, Sugar Moon or even Worm Moon - whatever you want to call it, we've just had the biggest one in about 18 years. It was cloudy here on Saturday night, so we missed it at it's peak, but Sunday night was lovely & clear, so we went out to take some photos. It's times like these I wish for a really good digital SLR, but alas, our regular camera had to suffice. The moon didn't look particularly large, but it was very bright - actually too bright for our camera to pick up the craters, but you can see them in the reflected blue moon.
One of the (very few) benefits of having a nocturnal child is that we can sit outside late at night while the rest of the town sleeps, waiting to see shooting stars and discussing the various constellations. I love hearing the awe in Jasmine's voice as she asks questions, and when I'm pointing out the Southern Cross, the saucepan, various planets & other celestial bodies, I have flashbacks to my own childhood as I remember my Mum pointing them out to me :) Thankfully, for the stars I'm not so sure about, there's Stellarium. This is a great free program that gives you a 3D view of the stars from your local coordinates. The only problem we have at the moment is that it's on the PC inside the house - not exactly practical when we don't have a transparent roof! I think we're going to have to snatch D's notebook when he's not looking so we can load it onto that & take it outside with us.
What else was on the cards this week? Well, cards! We bought a new deck of cards & they're getting a good workout with Snap & Go Fish, Jasmine's favourite card games (AKA number recognition exercises ;)). And........
One of the (very few) benefits of having a nocturnal child is that we can sit outside late at night while the rest of the town sleeps, waiting to see shooting stars and discussing the various constellations. I love hearing the awe in Jasmine's voice as she asks questions, and when I'm pointing out the Southern Cross, the saucepan, various planets & other celestial bodies, I have flashbacks to my own childhood as I remember my Mum pointing them out to me :) Thankfully, for the stars I'm not so sure about, there's Stellarium. This is a great free program that gives you a 3D view of the stars from your local coordinates. The only problem we have at the moment is that it's on the PC inside the house - not exactly practical when we don't have a transparent roof! I think we're going to have to snatch D's notebook when he's not looking so we can load it onto that & take it outside with us.
What else was on the cards this week? Well, cards! We bought a new deck of cards & they're getting a good workout with Snap & Go Fish, Jasmine's favourite card games (AKA number recognition exercises ;)). And........
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| More dancing |
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| Lots of bubbles - a good lesson in wind direction & speed today! |
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| A mumma duck created to look after all the little chicks Jasmine bought the other day |
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| Saving seeds from the parsley, ready for planting out soon |
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| Jasmine's garden bed got a tidy up, ready to fertilise & grow the next crops. I was impressed by how long she spent on this - usually, she lasts all of about 2 mins. She REALLY wants to be fully self-sufficient in the fruit & veg department. I suggested we'd need a few more beds made before that could happen. She decided to pull up the plants & dig up the bulbs in the 'decorative' half of the bed so we could plant veggies in the whole thing. She thinks it would be a great idea to grow everything we need so we don't need to buy things from the shops. Smart chicky :) And yes, she's had her hair chopped short. I'm so glad she finally agreed! She was really anti-brushing, so we had about 2 months worth of dreadlock (yes, one massive mat) to get rid of. Nearly a full bottle of conditioner wouldn't shift them/it, so instead of freaking out when I suggested the scissors, she said "OK". I nearly died of shock! Now, she loves it so much that she never wants her hair long again. |
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| Even Crusty tries to "help" :/ |
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| She spent ages checking out this little snail |
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| And wanted to hug the surviving parsley plant - LOL |
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| The 98% cleared garden bed - the parsley will probably stay there |
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| (you have no idea how many pics there are of him!) |
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| And I didn't think I'd ever say this, but here we are at 'The Wiggles' concert. I'll admit, it was actually a good show, despite my general disdain for them. Jasmine laughed lots & I was admiring how fit they were....win-win ;) I was disappointed by the adults in the crowd, though. They really weren't giving a lot back to the performers, which always makes it tougher for them. I came across the MathRider game the other day via a Yahoo! Group email. I thought it sounded great for Jasmine, but I wasn't sure if she was ready for it. They say generally from Grade 2 upwards, so it would be better suited next year. I downloaded the trial anyway so she could check it out. Yep - a bit to fast for her at this point & she started to crack under the pressure of coming up with answers in a short time frame. She's just starting to get some maths concepts, so I don't want to push anything that's going to turn her off. Maybe next year... In the mean time, she's been playing lots of games on Nick Jr & Sesame Street. She's also SUPER excited to have mastered Dino Den on the PS3. And for anyone wondering - no, we didn't get to the other gymnastics class last week. In fact, we haven't really been getting to anything remotely in the first half of the day for a while now. Maybe we should just go outside & hang with the bandicoots & potoroos all night ;) Still, I'll keep trying to get her to go to sleep earlier. I'm having a stall at the Huon Valley Growers & Makers Market this weekend, hoping to sell some more jewellery, so I have to be out of here about 8am. Sufficient sleep would be really nice!!! Alrighty - signing off now xx |
Thursday, 10 March 2011
We blinked and missed Summer.....
It's Autumn already??? I think we had maybe 3 or 4 days over 30C this summer - even snow on the mountains in February. That's a pretty mild summer, even by Tassie standards. I am thankful though that we avoided the floods (except for the East coast), fires & Cyclones that affected the Northern Island this year. However, I am really struggling to get a grip on time and days at the moment. Hours, days, weeks & months all just seem to blend together. I'm sure we'll get into a rhythm soon.
At the moment, Jasmine has contemporary dance on Mondays, trampolining on Tuesdays and ballet on Wednesdays. By Thursday, we're both ready for a quiet day at home! Although each class is only 45mins long, it's the whole thing of having to remind her when we need to leave home, remind her again, made sure she's eaten her food, got the appropriate clothes on, get frustrated when she's still not ready at the specified time, drive there (about 22kms), do the class, get in the car, have her beg to go somewhere other than home (usually for food), sometimes agree / sometimes disagree, drive home, then start thinking about dinner. Because Jasmine's such a nightowl (common on my side of the family), we often don't get to sleep until the weeeeee hours of the morning. As such, breakfast and lunch roll into one and there's only a couple of hours before we need to go out to classes. There's very little time to do much else during those days, so a lot of learning happens later at night.....and the cycle continues. I am thankful the natural learning is so accommodating of different body clocks - I hate to think of the struggles that may ensue if Jasmine needed to be awake early to fit into a regular school schedule.
Howeverrrrrr.....last year, a few of us mentioned how good it would be to have gymnastics classes for homeschoolers at our 'local' club. They have them further afield, but too far & the times clash with other activities. Then yesterday, I received an email to say another home ed parent had organised classes locally, with classes starting this morning at 10.45am. I knew this was not going to happen, but some friends took their kids along & were really happy with the class. I had a chat to Jasmine about it, telling her it was a gymnastics class just for homeschoolers & a lot of her friends would be there. I said she'd need to get up earlier than normal & she just couldn't contain her enthusiasm. When I said that meant going to bed earlier, she asked, "like about 12?"
"No - that won't really let you have enough sleep. More like 11."
"How about 100?"
"Hmmm, noooo. How about 11?"
"OK then."
Soooooo....now to test out that theory. She agreed in principle on other occasions, but it never lasted. It will be interesting to see if the motivation is strong enough this time. If it is, and she does indeed wind back her bedtime, then we may consider dropping trampolining next term & having a longer day on Wednesdays. We'd have gym n the morning, then go somewhere for lunch, spend a couple of hours at the library before heading back to the same centre for ballet in the afternoon. We did this for a little while last year when we had some time to kill between classes & she really enjoyed it. Needless to say, there were squeals of absolute delight at the suggestion.
I think part of me is hoping she does like this other gym class. The class is nearly half the price of the current one, and twice as long = better value for money, we'd be saving some petrol money, we'd free up another whole day to either do stuff at home or to go out & explore more of the world, and she'd get extra time at the library, which she really enjoys. Everyone wins really :)
I also think Jasmine's going through some emotional changes this week. It's not surprising - it's her birthday in 3 weeks & a lot of her milestones happen a month either side of her birthday. D noticed her stutter is back to a degree (something I hadn't noticed until he mentioned it, but always a sign of development for her) & I've noticed a return of the auditory processing disorder-like symptoms that had diminished greatly in recent months. She's also been wanting more one-on-one time with me & telling me she loves me approximately every half hour. Her desire to tell me has given her the motivation to learn how to write some more, as well :)
At the moment, Jasmine has contemporary dance on Mondays, trampolining on Tuesdays and ballet on Wednesdays. By Thursday, we're both ready for a quiet day at home! Although each class is only 45mins long, it's the whole thing of having to remind her when we need to leave home, remind her again, made sure she's eaten her food, got the appropriate clothes on, get frustrated when she's still not ready at the specified time, drive there (about 22kms), do the class, get in the car, have her beg to go somewhere other than home (usually for food), sometimes agree / sometimes disagree, drive home, then start thinking about dinner. Because Jasmine's such a nightowl (common on my side of the family), we often don't get to sleep until the weeeeee hours of the morning. As such, breakfast and lunch roll into one and there's only a couple of hours before we need to go out to classes. There's very little time to do much else during those days, so a lot of learning happens later at night.....and the cycle continues. I am thankful the natural learning is so accommodating of different body clocks - I hate to think of the struggles that may ensue if Jasmine needed to be awake early to fit into a regular school schedule.
Howeverrrrrr.....last year, a few of us mentioned how good it would be to have gymnastics classes for homeschoolers at our 'local' club. They have them further afield, but too far & the times clash with other activities. Then yesterday, I received an email to say another home ed parent had organised classes locally, with classes starting this morning at 10.45am. I knew this was not going to happen, but some friends took their kids along & were really happy with the class. I had a chat to Jasmine about it, telling her it was a gymnastics class just for homeschoolers & a lot of her friends would be there. I said she'd need to get up earlier than normal & she just couldn't contain her enthusiasm. When I said that meant going to bed earlier, she asked, "like about 12?"
"No - that won't really let you have enough sleep. More like 11."
"How about 100?"
"Hmmm, noooo. How about 11?"
"OK then."
Soooooo....now to test out that theory. She agreed in principle on other occasions, but it never lasted. It will be interesting to see if the motivation is strong enough this time. If it is, and she does indeed wind back her bedtime, then we may consider dropping trampolining next term & having a longer day on Wednesdays. We'd have gym n the morning, then go somewhere for lunch, spend a couple of hours at the library before heading back to the same centre for ballet in the afternoon. We did this for a little while last year when we had some time to kill between classes & she really enjoyed it. Needless to say, there were squeals of absolute delight at the suggestion.
I think part of me is hoping she does like this other gym class. The class is nearly half the price of the current one, and twice as long = better value for money, we'd be saving some petrol money, we'd free up another whole day to either do stuff at home or to go out & explore more of the world, and she'd get extra time at the library, which she really enjoys. Everyone wins really :)
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Ever the performer, Jasmine has really been getting into videos lately. I have to take videos of her doing everything - photos just won't suffice! I'm sure it won't be long before she has her own YouTube channel for all the performances & tutorials she's producing ;)
I also think Jasmine's going through some emotional changes this week. It's not surprising - it's her birthday in 3 weeks & a lot of her milestones happen a month either side of her birthday. D noticed her stutter is back to a degree (something I hadn't noticed until he mentioned it, but always a sign of development for her) & I've noticed a return of the auditory processing disorder-like symptoms that had diminished greatly in recent months. She's also been wanting more one-on-one time with me & telling me she loves me approximately every half hour. Her desire to tell me has given her the motivation to learn how to write some more, as well :) Our car schooling today focussed on the sun. The conversation went something like this......
"Why hasn't anyone been able to capture the sun and pull it in yet?"
"Because it's a giant ball of burning gasses & you'd burn up completely before getting anywhere near it."
"So there'd be no bones left?"
"Nope. No bones. Nothing. All gone."
"Hmmm...no bones. (pause for thinking) So how close could you get before you started to burn?"
"Well, your skin will start to burn if you go outside for a few minutes (this is Tasmania people - the sun burns real quick!!!!!) but I'm not exactly sure about the gravitational pull of the sun so I can't say right now how close you could get (inside a space craft) before you'd be incinerated."
"OK. (more of a pause) The sun is like electricity. The sun is power! You could cook a pizza in the sun."
"Yes you could, if you had a solar oven." (we've made a really crappy one in the past)
"Yes, you just need some tin foil. Tin foil's all you need to make an oven."
"Well, you can make it from other things that would be more effective, but foil is the cheapest option."
"Yeah" (mind wanders.....)
One of Jasmine's favourite TV shows is Mister Maker. I have to admit, he creates some pretty cool stuff :) She'd seen a stencilling technique using black paper, chalk and round household objects to create a solar system picture & was hanging out to try it.
Of course, I had to get the camera out & record her doing a tutorial ;) She enjoyed it so much, she did another picture using the same technique, this time layering the colours & noticing the new colours that were created as a result. The second pic also saw the addition of a shooting star. And yes, got that on video, too!
There was also much excitement earlier in the week when the new 2-part David Attenborough series 'First Life' aired on the ABC. Fossils have been a bit of an obsession for Jasmine in the past few months, so she was fascinated to see "the BIGGEST trilobite EVAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" amongst other creatures.
Finally (you didn't think this post would ever end, did you? :P), there's a girl who lives diagonally across the road who's about 4 months older the Jasmine, yet they'd never played together. Tonight, this girl was standing in the middle of our loungeroom, looking slightly terrified. I said "Hi xxxxxx, what are you doing here?" She'd seen us outside playing with a giant bubblewand that we'd picked up from Big W earlier for $1 & wanted to have a turn. Jasmine had come inside to tell me the bubble mixture was finished when the girl arrived, so after establishing that yes, her mother did know she was here, I refilled the tube with more mixture & sent them outside to play. After the bubbles, they picked blackberries, bounced on the trampoline & had a wonderful time. I was just about to leave D with the girls while I went to the supermarket (7.30pm & very hungry by this point) when the mum came over to take her daughter home for bedtime. Jasmine asked me afterwards why the girl was going to bed while it was still light. I explained that she needed to get up early to go to school the next day, as all children who go to school need to do. I think Jasmine felt sorry for her new friend ;)
And on that note, it is now 2.40am & about 5.5 hours since I started this post. I did spend an hour and a half of that time trying to get Jasmine to sleep, but was instead reminded why I lean towards a Zen bedtime. OK - off to snuggle on the lounge (I'll try not to snore) and watch First Life on iView.
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Our first week - a review
We are now a week into the Tassie school term & I feel the need to document what's happened in that time. I'm not diarising our days or anything like that at this point, but I know how easy it is for one day to blend into another & to forget the moments along the way.
The start of term meant a return to the activities of last year, plus new ones. Jasmine has gone back to her beloved Contemporary Dance classes, along with a few of the same kids from last year & a couple of newbies.
Last year she was doing Wrigglers, which is a gymnastics class for 3-5yo's. After a year and a half of that, it was time to move up. She tried the older FunGym group last year, but had a breakdown during one of the classes when asked by the instructor to do something she wasn't ready to do & she vowed never to go back. We talked about it for a while & she agreed to return to the Wrigglers group for the rest of the year. She was happy again, except for the times the FunGym instructor was standing in for her regular Wrigglers instructor. As soon as she saw him, she froze & refused to move a step further. It really was like a PTSD reaction. Because of all of that, she really didn't want to move up to FunGym this year. Her best apparatus was the trampoline (and she loves using her tramp at home), so this year she's started Bouncers, which will eventually lead on to more advanced tramp skills if she decides to stay with it. She seemed to enjoy the first class, despite dripping with sweat, looking like a beetroot & feeling "completely exhausted". She had spent a couple of hours before that playing with her favourite friends, so it had been quite an afternoon for her.
For the trifecta, Jasmine started ballet classes today. Dancing and performing are such a big part of her life, so after a couple of years of being hassled about ballet lessons (she insists she's going to be a ballerina when she grows up), I finally agreed. Her genetic makeup means she's never going to be built like a ballerina, but there's a strong family history of dancers and her technique really is impressive. I'm sure she'll grace many a stage in her lifetime :)
Now, driving to classes three times a week has seen the return of auto-education. No, not exactly autodidactic education - more education in an automobile ;) For some reason, that drive to the sports centre always inspires a barrage of questions and observations on all sorts of topics. Thankfully, I know enough to answer most questions as they're asked. For the others - well, there's the internet when we get home :)
Things covered this week include:
There were lots of others, but I really need to carry a notebook around with me so I can make notes before the next dozen questions make me forget. One thing that did make me smile was listening to D teach Jasmine the rules of Chess. He just bought a set so they can play it together.
Homemade pizzas are always a hit here (although unfortunately, they're gluten-free these days - just not the same). She knows too much cheese will result in a soggy pizza, so she's really getting the hang of just the right proportions and distributions of toppings. It's always a good time to discuss fractions, too ;) Now, she didn't admit to this, but I'm SURE I heard her say this (repeatedly) as she was oh-so-artistically scattering the toppings: "A little dash of this! A little dash of that! A little dash of evil!" So THAT's her secret ingredient?!? o_O
The start of term meant a return to the activities of last year, plus new ones. Jasmine has gone back to her beloved Contemporary Dance classes, along with a few of the same kids from last year & a couple of newbies.
Last year she was doing Wrigglers, which is a gymnastics class for 3-5yo's. After a year and a half of that, it was time to move up. She tried the older FunGym group last year, but had a breakdown during one of the classes when asked by the instructor to do something she wasn't ready to do & she vowed never to go back. We talked about it for a while & she agreed to return to the Wrigglers group for the rest of the year. She was happy again, except for the times the FunGym instructor was standing in for her regular Wrigglers instructor. As soon as she saw him, she froze & refused to move a step further. It really was like a PTSD reaction. Because of all of that, she really didn't want to move up to FunGym this year. Her best apparatus was the trampoline (and she loves using her tramp at home), so this year she's started Bouncers, which will eventually lead on to more advanced tramp skills if she decides to stay with it. She seemed to enjoy the first class, despite dripping with sweat, looking like a beetroot & feeling "completely exhausted". She had spent a couple of hours before that playing with her favourite friends, so it had been quite an afternoon for her.
For the trifecta, Jasmine started ballet classes today. Dancing and performing are such a big part of her life, so after a couple of years of being hassled about ballet lessons (she insists she's going to be a ballerina when she grows up), I finally agreed. Her genetic makeup means she's never going to be built like a ballerina, but there's a strong family history of dancers and her technique really is impressive. I'm sure she'll grace many a stage in her lifetime :)
Now, driving to classes three times a week has seen the return of auto-education. No, not exactly autodidactic education - more education in an automobile ;) For some reason, that drive to the sports centre always inspires a barrage of questions and observations on all sorts of topics. Thankfully, I know enough to answer most questions as they're asked. For the others - well, there's the internet when we get home :)
Things covered this week include:
- Tell me how bones work (this is the lead-in to all questions on human anatomy & physiology)
- How does the eye work again? Why is there a cord going into the brain from the eye?
- Why is the television tower so much bigger than the telephone tower?
- Tell me how rain works again (following on from a conversation we had about evapotranspiration the other night whilst watching juices drip off the chicken roasting on the rotisserie)
- Why did you take your hands off the wheel when you were explaining that to me? (Ooops!!! I'm sure I was Italian in a past life ;) )
- Why are some clouds darker than others?
- How do we make water? (and the mention of oxygen was followed with, "and when we breathe out, the trees breathe in")
- Why aren't there any more dinosaurs? (the dinosaur phase has just started, following on from a fossil obsession)
- Why do flies have worms in them? (after squashing a fly she found in her room birthing maggots - noice!)
- How was the Earth made?
- Why do we blink?
The kitchen plays a big part in education around here, too. Jasmine loves to cook! Sometimes it's pure experimentation - with some rather inedible results - but other times she presents something really impressive, of which she's super-proud :D We're basically a family of diabetics, so I try to limit sweet stuff when I can, but this week we made meringues. I admit - I have a weakness for them (and fond memories of my mum & nanna making them), so it was hard to say no when badgered into it ;) Jasmine was really interested to know why we used caster sugar instead of regular granulated sugar and why we added it gradually instead of all at once. She also understood that we had to handle the mixture carefully so as not to remove to much of the air we'd just spent all that time beating into the egg whites. It was also a lesson in the fickleness of natural food colourings, as the pink food colouring turned purple when it name into contact with the egg protein.
Tomorrow is a much-needed downtime day. As much as she loves seeing friends & doing the classes, she does share my homebody tendencies & just craves some time to chill out rather than go out. We'll probably pop down to the fruit & veg shop at some point as she's hanging out to make some soup, but apart from that, we're both looking forward to a quiet one. Then on Friday, we're going to check out the local homeschool group that meets once a month. We always had something on at the same time last year, so never had the chance to go before. We're meeting up with Mummy Snow and the Snowflakes and I know a couple of other people likely to be there, so hopefully a good time will be had by all!
But now, I am being called to the bathroom for the umpteenth time since sitting down to write this. Last time I checked in on her, she was shaving her legs with a toothbrush. Who knows what she's going to be doing now.....
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Standardised testing...
It is a question I have been asked before - more than once - "Can/do you give them standardised tests?"
Short answer: yes, you can......but no, I won't.
Long answer.......
I was asked this same question by my Dad the other day. He used to be a high school maths teacher, in my early Primary School years. Maths was my worst subject & the hours he spent trying to tutor me always ended in both of us being angry & frustrated. He had been raised by parents who highly valued academic acheivement and success, so all those things combined meant I hadn't really discussed our decision to home educate Jasmine with him. I was biding my time, waiting for the 'right moment' (maybe when she was 18 or something). However, we were 'outed' at my grandfather's funeral when a friend came up & started talking to me about our decision to home educate & how great she thought it was. Dad was standing right next to me. Ummmmm....SURPRISE!!!
Since that time, we haven't really discussed it any further.....until he asked the question about "standard testing" a few days ago. I said no, then fobbed it off with, "that would imply my child is just average". We had a little laugh and the subject was dropped. I did make me think, though. Not about whether I actually should test her at some point, but why testing is seen as such an important measure of learning.
I could write an essay on the history of institutionalised schooling, but a search on Google will fill you in on details if you've never looked into it without me having to ramble on too much to make my point (there's already going to be enough of that!). Basically, schools were set up to train factory workers. Sure, there has been progress since the 1800's, particularly in recent years with more progressive schools & inspirational teachers, but ultimately, they're still focussed on getting children ready to be good workers and tax payers. They are fed the information other people deem 'essential' for them to know. One teacher is in charge of delivering this information to 25-35 children at the same time. Some of these kids will understand the concepts quickly & easily, others won't. At the end of each term, the teacher has to remember as much as they can about each student & grade each one.
Throughout the term, children perform various tests to see if they understand the concepts. I tend to think they're less about understanding, but more about being able to regurgitate information. I was always one of those people who froze in a test/exam situation. The minute I walked out of that room, the answers came flooding back. I just didn't do well with tests. I'd then get a bad result & feel bad about myself. I was already shy as a child, so any blows to my self-esteem were felt intensely.
Also, the regular student grading system is fairly subjective (as I discovered one year when my regular English teacher went on leave - I went from a 'C' student to an 'A' student just by having a different teacher). The subjective nature of term reports is one of the reasons standardised testing was brought in.
A number of factors come into play with institutionalised learning - the learning styles of the children, as I've already alluded to; the training of the teachers; the ability of the teachers to engage & interact with large groups of children of varying capabilities; funding to the school, as well as the socioeconomic background of the families attending & the level of support those families have. In a supposed effort to ensure children have an equal quality of education, regardless of other factors, standardised testing was introduced. I believe such tests tell us more about the teacher than the individual child. Was that teacher able to provide the child with whatever resources they needed to learn the concept/pass the test? Does the teacher have adequate resources & funding to perform their job efficiently?
Now, supporters of standardised testing will say, "But it's all about making sure the child is not falling behind."
I guess this is where your philosophy on education comes into play.
There are countless stories about home educated children who didn't read until they were 11, 12, 13 years old. Most people would be horrified to hear this, but within only a few months, these same children regularly read material well above the level of their peers. Had they undergone standardised testing, they would have been labelled "underacheivers", placed in a remedial program, pressured to do something their brains weren't ready for, stressed & feeling like they weren't "good enough". Is it going to matter when they're adults that couldn't read until several years after they were expected to? No. Will it matter when they're adults that they are self-assured & not afraid of learning new concepts? Absolutely!
If the child decides they want to pursue a tertiary education, those educated at home are considered highly as they tend to be more self-motivated & less burnt-out than someone coming straight out of high school. Only about 40% of uni placements go to school-leavers. The other 60% go to "alternate entry" students - mature-age entrants & home educated students who did not sit ACE tests (or equivalent). Home educated children tend to out-perform school-educated children if/when they do sit the same tests & exams. It has been estimated that each school child gets about 6 minutes per day of individual attention from their teacher(s). I'm pretty sure Jasmine gets more than 6 minutes of my time each day ;)
I hope I have not come across as self-righteous in this post - passion & belief can often be misread that way. But no, I will not be testing my child. She will learn what she needs to learn when she is ready to learn it and her self-esteem will be all the stronger for it. That is going to be more important in her life than if she was able to do exactly the same thing at the same age as her peers in childhood.
ETA: Coming back to this a week & a half later to add a link to a fantastic blog about unschooling & the inherent issues with modern schooling. Click here & spend a bit of time reading the various posts :)
Short answer: yes, you can......but no, I won't.
Long answer.......
I was asked this same question by my Dad the other day. He used to be a high school maths teacher, in my early Primary School years. Maths was my worst subject & the hours he spent trying to tutor me always ended in both of us being angry & frustrated. He had been raised by parents who highly valued academic acheivement and success, so all those things combined meant I hadn't really discussed our decision to home educate Jasmine with him. I was biding my time, waiting for the 'right moment' (maybe when she was 18 or something). However, we were 'outed' at my grandfather's funeral when a friend came up & started talking to me about our decision to home educate & how great she thought it was. Dad was standing right next to me. Ummmmm....SURPRISE!!!
Since that time, we haven't really discussed it any further.....until he asked the question about "standard testing" a few days ago. I said no, then fobbed it off with, "that would imply my child is just average". We had a little laugh and the subject was dropped. I did make me think, though. Not about whether I actually should test her at some point, but why testing is seen as such an important measure of learning.
I could write an essay on the history of institutionalised schooling, but a search on Google will fill you in on details if you've never looked into it without me having to ramble on too much to make my point (there's already going to be enough of that!). Basically, schools were set up to train factory workers. Sure, there has been progress since the 1800's, particularly in recent years with more progressive schools & inspirational teachers, but ultimately, they're still focussed on getting children ready to be good workers and tax payers. They are fed the information other people deem 'essential' for them to know. One teacher is in charge of delivering this information to 25-35 children at the same time. Some of these kids will understand the concepts quickly & easily, others won't. At the end of each term, the teacher has to remember as much as they can about each student & grade each one.
Throughout the term, children perform various tests to see if they understand the concepts. I tend to think they're less about understanding, but more about being able to regurgitate information. I was always one of those people who froze in a test/exam situation. The minute I walked out of that room, the answers came flooding back. I just didn't do well with tests. I'd then get a bad result & feel bad about myself. I was already shy as a child, so any blows to my self-esteem were felt intensely.
Also, the regular student grading system is fairly subjective (as I discovered one year when my regular English teacher went on leave - I went from a 'C' student to an 'A' student just by having a different teacher). The subjective nature of term reports is one of the reasons standardised testing was brought in.
A number of factors come into play with institutionalised learning - the learning styles of the children, as I've already alluded to; the training of the teachers; the ability of the teachers to engage & interact with large groups of children of varying capabilities; funding to the school, as well as the socioeconomic background of the families attending & the level of support those families have. In a supposed effort to ensure children have an equal quality of education, regardless of other factors, standardised testing was introduced. I believe such tests tell us more about the teacher than the individual child. Was that teacher able to provide the child with whatever resources they needed to learn the concept/pass the test? Does the teacher have adequate resources & funding to perform their job efficiently?
Now, supporters of standardised testing will say, "But it's all about making sure the child is not falling behind."
I guess this is where your philosophy on education comes into play.
There are countless stories about home educated children who didn't read until they were 11, 12, 13 years old. Most people would be horrified to hear this, but within only a few months, these same children regularly read material well above the level of their peers. Had they undergone standardised testing, they would have been labelled "underacheivers", placed in a remedial program, pressured to do something their brains weren't ready for, stressed & feeling like they weren't "good enough". Is it going to matter when they're adults that couldn't read until several years after they were expected to? No. Will it matter when they're adults that they are self-assured & not afraid of learning new concepts? Absolutely!
If the child decides they want to pursue a tertiary education, those educated at home are considered highly as they tend to be more self-motivated & less burnt-out than someone coming straight out of high school. Only about 40% of uni placements go to school-leavers. The other 60% go to "alternate entry" students - mature-age entrants & home educated students who did not sit ACE tests (or equivalent). Home educated children tend to out-perform school-educated children if/when they do sit the same tests & exams. It has been estimated that each school child gets about 6 minutes per day of individual attention from their teacher(s). I'm pretty sure Jasmine gets more than 6 minutes of my time each day ;)
I hope I have not come across as self-righteous in this post - passion & belief can often be misread that way. But no, I will not be testing my child. She will learn what she needs to learn when she is ready to learn it and her self-esteem will be all the stronger for it. That is going to be more important in her life than if she was able to do exactly the same thing at the same age as her peers in childhood.
ETA: Coming back to this a week & a half later to add a link to a fantastic blog about unschooling & the inherent issues with modern schooling. Click here & spend a bit of time reading the various posts :)
