Many home school students face biases and judgment from others who don’t understand the thought and care that goes into their education.
In my experience, parents who choose to home school do so with much planning. They worry not only about exposing their children to appropriate and challenging academic materials, but also worry about engaging their children with their peers in positive ways.
I recently came across a wonderful reading and writing opportunity for home school students, a new series which publishes the perspectives of home school students. Caffeinated Thoughts has a new article, “I’m Glad I was Homeschooled” by Kelsey Lamb: http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2013/06/im-glad-i-was-homeschooled-do-you-have-friends/.
It provides an interesting perspective and challenges one of the many assumptions others make about children who are home schooled.
If you or your child is interested in submitting an essay about your experience, go here.
http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/contact-us/
Happy reading and writing!
So, it’s officially back to school.
Though many schools no longer follow the traditional school year and begin school after Labor Day, that Tuesday reality sets in that it is a long ten months until June.
Even home-schoolers get back-to-school blues according to Danielle Ali Shah in her blog about returning to homeschooling. But it helps if you keep in mind the “four agreements for home schooling.”
1. Follow your heart when making educational decisions.
The numbers are out and it seems more and more families are choosing to home school their children for a variety of reasons. It seems odd that this would be news since we have always believed that parents are a child’s first teacher. Parents often lament not following their hearts when making decisions about the education of their children. I pulled my son from a well-regarded public school and never regretted it.
2. Don’t take anything personally.
Unfortunately, many home-schoolers continue to feel ostracized by the established educational community. As a public educator for over 24 years, the one thing I have learned for sure – I may be an expert in my field of study, but I am not an expert in another person’s child and my job as a teacher or tutor is to provide a service for that first teacher and child expert.
3. Find your tribe.
Luckily, many families are finding ways to home school which best meet their needs at home and in community.
4. Always do your best.
This may seem obvious, but it is nice to be reminded that we do the best we can and forget the rest. This is true for parents and for students.
So, as we all get back to school, we relearn to juggle our life commitments with our educational commitments – and look forward to Winter Break.
There are many things to consider when choosing to home school a high school student including choosing the appropriate curriculum, choosing knowledgeable tutors or instructors and preparing your child for university.
Luckily, many universities and colleges have programs to help with this preparation.
Our local community college allows high school age students to enroll in classes through concurrent enrollment. Students are required to have a grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 of higher, basically a B- or better, and be in 11th grade. Students are not allowed to take a full course load because the courses should be in addition to other high school level coursework being completed. This has proven to be a wonderful opportunity for high school home school students to get a taste of college level work and earn credits toward university completion.
Another opportunity universities offer home school high school students are outreach programs. For example, Thomas University offers a Home-school Connections Program (http://moultrieobserver.com/local/x1236702451/Thomas-University-announces-Home-school-Connections-Program). The program offers free concerts, events and exhibits to all age groups and specifically invites high school students to join their book club and creative writing club. High school students, as well as community members, are invited to attend free lectures given by scientists weekly.
Finally, home school students are invited to use the university library and its resources.
I can imagine that one challenge for parents who choose home schooling for their high school age children is being able to provide a rich and diverse experience. Luckily, local colleges and universities are now welcoming home school students to join their activities and are providing parents with one more option.
There’s a great website, Homeschooling Programs, http://www.homeschoolingprograms.net/homeschooling-programs/ which gives readers basic information about homeschooling programs, such as what to consider when choosing to home school, types of programs available for homeschooling, and resources for homeschooling. This website, and most home school websites, focuses on children of elementary school age.
All of the students I tutor have been at least middle school and high school age. Actually, I have referred some tutoring jobs to friends because I did not feel competent teaching writing to younger students since all of my experience is grade seven and above.
The trend toward finding alternatives to traditional high school for students is growing.
Many parents choose to continue to home school through high school though it used to be common practice to home school until high school, then find a more traditional approach to ensuring children were taught all the subjects required in high school.Many parents decide to home school using an online curriculum during high school because of the poor quality of the high school in their area. Many parents choose to continue to home school because they want to ensure their children stay excited about learning.
One great resource for navigating homeschooling though high school is Home School Legal Defense Association’s page “Homeschooling Thru High School” at http://www.hslda.org/highschool.asp. The site provides an overview of considerations and frequently asked questions about graduation and university preparation.
I especially appreciate the advice that parents might want to hire a tutor. As a tutor, I tell parents to be thoughtful about two things. When hiring a tutor, be sure that he 0r she is going to be responsive to your needs as the parent guiding your child, and be sure the tutor has the required knowledge of instructional strategies to meet the needs of your child. Referrals from other parents or from home school associations is a good way to find the right tutor.
Home school programs are no longer just about young children being taught by their parents, but now includes young adults learning the skills necessary to succeed in the larger world.
Another school district has decided to offer an online curriculum option (http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20120712/NEWS01/207120321). I’m all for online learning just as I am all for finding what works best for each student. As a matter of fact, I have applied for a grant for my public school classroom to purchase what is considered an e-course in writing. But this all reminds me of…
Many years ago, my husband, Bill, went to the doctor. He had been sick for awhile and kept thinking that it was a virus and if he rode it out, it would go away. It didn’t so he finally got an appointment with a doctor to see what was up. When he got home, he was a bit concerned. He had a prescription and planned on taking it, but he was still a bit worried.
“The doctor had this book, like the encyclopedia of medical symptoms.” Bill’s eyes narrowed before he continued. “I told him my symptoms. He flipped the pages and would ask questions like, ‘Is it a dry or wet cough?’ then flip some more until he came up with a diagnosis, wrote me a prescription and sent me on my way.”
He held up the prescription bottle like it was snake oil.
And isn’t that what an e-course does? At least the smart ones. You do some work. It has a program which will diagnose where you are having trouble and it sends you on a path to practice those problems until you “get it”.
The trouble is the program is flipping through a book, its program. Bill could have looked up his symptoms and diagnosed himself, like many of us do today on the internet. But we still end up going to the doctor to get confirmation and a course for getting better. Only a person trained in the field is able to do this.
As I said, I think on-line courses are great, but not a complete picture. To really improve in any area, you have to go to someone who knows more, who can diagnose what is going wrong with your writing.
This week I am attending the Tin House Writing Conference because I need help. Some of my essays are not getting accepted for publication. Something is wrong, and my workshop leader – Stephen Elliott – pointed it out to me immediately. Okay, many things were wrong, but the major thing – he saw it right away and told me the course to take to make it better. (He didn’t solve my acne or my aching back.)
If you are going to use an online curriculum with your child, student, learner – be sure to augment it with a tutor, someone who is an actual audience reading your child’s writing, someone who has enough experience to see exactly what is ailing a writing project, and someone who can send the writer on a path to making things better.
Improving one’s writing is always what we want, as writers and students. A tutor or writing teacher will always send you on the path to improvement.
Today in the Star Tribune, Asha Anchan examines the approach of some home-schoolers to “unschool” in her article, “The DIY Approach to Education” http://www.startribune.com/local/161685515.html. It’s an interesting look at the idea that children do not need a set curriculum to be able to “learn”.
As a public school teacher, I recognize that the reason we work with a curriculum is to be sure that we have met the needs of all students through exposure to key concepts the powers that be have deemed important for future success. Remember, in the public arena, teachers are no longer in charge of their curriculum. Instead state standards and common core standards dictate what we need to teach and curriculum companies put together books to ensure that we teach these concepts. Then students are tested to be sure teachers have taught these concepts to our classrooms full of 30 – 40 students… but I digress.
As a tutor for students who are homeschooled, I do not work through a set curriculum. I basically use the technique of”unschooling” my pupils. Does this mean I let them write what they want? Of course. As a writer myself, I get to write what I want. Granted, sometimes what I want to write is something that will earn me money – and it’s important for students to write sometimes for a grade, but still, I tailor all my writing to projects I want to complete, money or no money.
Yet, I do have goals in mind. As a trained public school teacher, I know that if my home-schooled pupils ever transfer to the public school, there will be certain expectations for them. I also can’t shake the notion that all students should have certain aptitudes, especially when it comes to writing.
So, how does this translate into “unschooling.” The student and I discuss what he or she is interested in and then we craft a writing project geared toward helping the student further explore the topic. I set up the parameters by guiding the student to selecting the type of writing which would best fit his or her interest and skill level.
One of the key elements of making a writing project successful is choosing the right genre for the project. The expectation is that younger students understand narratives (stories) because they are used in so many other genres of writing. Writing a narrative requires that students be able to summarize and describe, both essential elements of all other genres.
Once the student has mastered narrative, we work toward mastering persuasion and compare/contrast essays. These types of essays require that students analyze subjects and explain their ideas. Finally, we move onto complex essays which include literary or research analysis.
And this is where a writing curriculum fits in. Following a curriculum for writing a persuasive essay is so much easier than attempting to muddle your way through it. Setting up clear expectations for the assignment using a grading rubric http://www.rubrics4teachers.com/writing.php, using specific examples for models, providing ways of thinking about drafting an essay with graphic organizers or outlines http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/, and reviewing key transition words or vocabulary used in the genre is the curriculum. It’s possible for anyone to hobble together this curriculum, but it makes more sense to use one already thoughtfully put together – hopefully by an expert.
Does using a curriculum contradict the idea of unschooling? That’s like saying using a GPS contradicts driving.
In the online New Zealand newspaper, “Nelson Mail,” the topic of whether or not home schooling children is effective was raised and answered in the article, “Fear home school can’t make the grade.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/7226245/Fears-homeschool-can-t-make-grade
Though in New Zealand there are no government checks on home schooling and the curriculum, the discussion boiled down to the same thing – learners got individualized curriculum and attention meeting their needs and interests.
I especially liked the example of the parent who had hired a tutor for his son to learn Danish before his trip to Denmark. According to the dad, “Once you get to a certain level of knowledge where you can’t provide those resources… that would be the time that you get somebody else in.”
As a writing tutor myself, I have appreciated being able to individualize instruction for students who are learning to articulate their opinions and ideas in writing, but have also appreciated the parental involvement.
The other interesting idea was that home schooled children fail to be exposed to other cultures would lead to a “narrow world-view.” This struck a chord with me because I used to also believe this as a public school teacher. But, what I have found while working with home schooled students is that they are no different from their same age peers in trying on different identities and finding their place in the world. If anything, in my experience these students have a stronger sense of self than students in the public school arena. Students in the public school arena often give in to negative peer pressure, whereas home schooled students are not faced with this negative pressure to conform.
The article points out many of the misconceptions about home schooling and makes us realize that home schooling faces the same misconceptions beyond the United States.
writingforhomeschoolers 