Noah is a little freaked
He’ll be officially going from second to third grade next week when our friend comes over to do his evaluation. In Ohio you can either have your child take standardized tests or else they can have a portfolio evaluation with a licensed teacher. Our friend, Chris, has his teaching license (his masters is in Phys Ed but he’s taught regular school, too) and he’s an unschooler so he gets what we’re doing. He and his daughter will come over for pizza next week and he’ll talk to Noah, look at some of the things he’s done this year, talk to me and then pass him.
Noah’s been taking classes with Chris for a long time now and they know each other pretty well. I already know what to expect from Chris’s evaluation.
Anyway, Noah doesn’t want to move up because he likes to be exactly where he has been at all times. Even though I’ve told him that third grade is just a name for where he is anyway, he’s unhappy about it. He says he’d like to be a second grader forever.
I do have some plans for how third grade will be different though. I’m going to ask him to start being more formal in his interests. I told him this morning that part of being educated is being able to share your interests and passions with other people and so I’d like him to start thinking about what his interests are and how he could share them. The example I gave him was that if he were into plants and wanted other people to be into plants (he’s not, by the way, interested in plants) then maybe he would want to make a record with our digital camera of the way his favorite house plant is growing. Or he might want to make a chart showing people how to take care of a house plant. Or he might to write a report about the growth cycle of plants, etc.
I asked him to make a list of things he’s interested in learning more about and then I told him that we (Brett, Noah and me) will brainstorm some project ideas so we could buy supplies. I told him that the list won’t be set in stone but that we needed to start thinking about budgeting.
He was excited about this but didn’t want me to notice since he was still pouting about being promoted to third grade.
I find homeschooling much harder with dear old Madison around. We need a space where we can set up and leave projects without worrying about baby interference so we need to make some changes in the playroom. Also finding time to do things with Noah is really hard. Right now I just wing it while the baby runs around like the crazy toddler she is but if we’re going to do more formal work, we’re going to need some real time. Hopefully this fall Madison will be ready to have someone come play with her two or three times a week. My vision is that we’ll have a table in the playroom and that I’ll work while Noah sits with me and works and that I can help him as need be. He’s good at independent projects but he likes company and sometimes he needs a hand.
Homeschooling would be easier if I didn’t have to work and work would be easier if I didn’t have to homeschool. Oh well. It is what it is so I have to figure out how to work around it.
It seems like I’m always trying to re-figure things out. I wish I were more comfortable with chaos.
The portfolio system is what our school uses. We also do student led conferences instead of parent/teacher. The kid pulls out their portfolio and shows you examples of “their best work.” There is always a self portrait and a letter to a child of the grade below. Though we don’t call them grades, Noah would be entering Middle Childhood right now, that’s 3rd and 4th. I like the system a ton. The report our teachers give us 3 times a year is a coupld of pages long. The parents love it, but the teachers are wiped and talking about simplifing it.
Mallory wants to go to Evergreen College in Washington because they use a portfolio system instead of grades. They are also so liberal “No War” can get mowed in the grass and no one cares. There is a protest there practically daily.
Our middle childhood focus is on the Oregon Trail and our state history. The kids actually walk through out the year (in costume) at different times to reenact the Oregon Trail. We go on a huge camp-out in Baker Oregon at the end for several days.
Homeschooling sounds appealing to me because you can get the work done in such a short period of time compared to a 7 hour school day. However, I am not very creative in thinking of things to do, and I would be a bad motivator. It sounds like you are a natural born educator.
Lisa, your daughter’s school sounds awesome as well but I can see how it would be tiring.
Dawn, it sounds like you are doing such a great job with Noah. If you figure out a place to put school projects so they can be free of toddler interference, let me know! We have not yet found a securely safe place for K’s stuff. Toddlers are into EVERYTHING!
Hi there, really enjoying reading about your family and your choices in how to bring them up… the link in the post looks like it got a little messed up. Hope you can fix it soon, would love to read the whole thing!
Sounds like your kind of homeschooling is fun!
The one area that I’m really freaked out about when it comes to getting approved to be adoptive parents.
So far, it has gone over like a lead balloon.
Which is really weird ’cause we are a pretty happy lot (you know, sort of).
In 3rd grade our state standards requires us to teach the solar system and most kids find this their favorite lesson(s). We also teach matter which takes some students awhile to understand, but they find it facinating. Lots of hands-on activities.