Comments on: School orientation http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2007/08/14/school-orientation/ dawn friedman's blog Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:15:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Lilian http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2007/08/14/school-orientation/#comment-5750 Lilian Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:49:48 +0000 http://www.thiswomanswork.com/?p=1529#comment-5750 Hmmm, that's a good post for me right now. Can you believe I haven't yet decided what the schooling "fate" of my son will be this year? Of course it's "only" kindergarten and he's not even fully fluent in English yet (EXTREMELY articulate and with a great vocabulary in Portuguese) and... we don't even know where we're going to live yet!! I'm very wary of cyberschooling for the very reasons you described. In the one we were checking out apparently one CANNOT take vacations and has to login every single day of the PA school year. So if we went to Brazil I'd have to login and kind of "fake it" or do actual work. Yikes. But I only checked one cyber school, I have to check others. The other problem is my lack of discipline. I know I can't do it, only "unschooling"... Well, good luck with Noah and cyber school. I guess if Brett is excited, it may work just fine, especially now that he's home too. Hmmm, that’s a good post for me right now. Can you believe I haven’t yet decided what the schooling “fate” of my son will be this year? Of course it’s “only” kindergarten and he’s not even fully fluent in English yet (EXTREMELY articulate and with a great vocabulary in Portuguese) and… we don’t even know where we’re going to live yet!! I’m very wary of cyberschooling for the very reasons you described.

In the one we were checking out apparently one CANNOT take vacations and has to login every single day of the PA school year. So if we went to Brazil I’d have to login and kind of “fake it” or do actual work. Yikes. But I only checked one cyber school, I have to check others.

The other problem is my lack of discipline. I know I can’t do it, only “unschooling”… Well, good luck with Noah and cyber school. I guess if Brett is excited, it may work just fine, especially now that he’s home too.

]]> By: dawn http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2007/08/14/school-orientation/#comment-5752 dawn Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:24:23 +0000 http://www.thiswomanswork.com/?p=1529#comment-5752 Meira, I am so glad to hear that!!! Thank you for writing it up!!!!! Meira, I am so glad to hear that!!! Thank you for writing it up!!!!!

]]> By: Meira http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2007/08/14/school-orientation/#comment-5751 Meira Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:17:13 +0000 http://www.thiswomanswork.com/?p=1529#comment-5751 You may find that your actual "teacher" is pretty laid back about things -- I know some people have talked about logging the previous week's hours on Monday morning. And I suspect the vacation & sick days stuff is only so that the teacher has some defense in case the school district should come investigating -- S. went on vacation shortly after we started and I emailed the teacher and she was like, "Oh, great!". Also, I was basically told to 'test out' of whatever I felt was behind him -- so if you think the language arts is beneath him, spend a couple days testing out and then ask for the next grade. And I was told they were wanting to see 10-15% progress each month. I know I was really nervous that they'd be on my back all the time, but it hasn't been like that. If anything, it seems like it's a safety net to make sure *I* stay motivated. And S. loved talking to the teacher when she called -- they had a long conversation about Harry Potter, and she was able to glean his progress/comprehension from that. You may find that your actual “teacher” is pretty laid back about things — I know some people have talked about logging the previous week’s hours on Monday morning. And I suspect the vacation & sick days stuff is only so that the teacher has some defense in case the school district should come investigating — S. went on vacation shortly after we started and I emailed the teacher and she was like, “Oh, great!”. Also, I was basically told to ‘test out’ of whatever I felt was behind him — so if you think the language arts is beneath him, spend a couple days testing out and then ask for the next grade. And I was told they were wanting to see 10-15% progress each month.
I know I was really nervous that they’d be on my back all the time, but it hasn’t been like that. If anything, it seems like it’s a safety net to make sure *I* stay motivated. And S. loved talking to the teacher when she called — they had a long conversation about Harry Potter, and she was able to glean his progress/comprehension from that.

]]> By: mariah http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2007/08/14/school-orientation/#comment-5749 mariah Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:49:58 +0000 http://www.thiswomanswork.com/?p=1529#comment-5749 You could check your state department of ed's website for current grade level standards, and use the K12 online stuff in conjunction with those, basically as a supplement. You could check your state department of ed’s website for current grade level standards, and use the K12 online stuff in conjunction with those, basically as a supplement.

]]> By: Kris http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2007/08/14/school-orientation/#comment-5756 Kris Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:49:45 +0000 http://www.thiswomanswork.com/?p=1529#comment-5756 I have - during those occasional panicked moments of wondering if unschoolish approaches really work - considered doing some sort of umbrella school with my kids. I worry about the loss of freedom, though like you, have no qualms whatsoever with simply skipping the dumb stuff. I will watch with interest to see how this works for Noah (and you!). I have - during those occasional panicked moments of wondering if unschoolish approaches really work - considered doing some sort of umbrella school with my kids. I worry about the loss of freedom, though like you, have no qualms whatsoever with simply skipping the dumb stuff. I will watch with interest to see how this works for Noah (and you!).

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