Rigor threads

[LucyStoner]

There comes a time when you stop caring what other homeschoolers are doing. It doesn't matter what curriculum, style, method, etc. they use. You use what you need to use for your kids and spend the time needed for each. I cringe at the word rigor because it is so vague. It can intimidate, comfort, isolate, make one feel superior, but it is rarely definable except in an independent way.

 

Also, it seems like rigor is not so much discussed as others' lack of rigor. I don't have the time or energy to worry about other people's kids. My kids see that other families do things differently than we do. Oh, well. What another family does isn't going to change our methods, unless there is a definable reason.

 

For me, and I hope I don't offend anyone, comparing ourselves actually is a distraction. :001_smile:

 

:iagree: Very well said.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I see a lot of anti-intellectualism in a couple of segments of the HS community. One seems to do it for religious reasons ("I'd rather my kids get into Heaven than Harvard" as if the two destinations were mutually exclusive) and the other seems to do it for crunchy-granola reasons (the radical unschoolers).

 

I agree about this sentiment-I've seen it more than once. I have always joked that I hope to prepare my kids for Harvard (and Heaven if possible) and then let them make the choice about what they do. Without the preparation they won't have a choice.

 

Here's a challenge: This year, refuse to lower your expectations. Instead, raise them. And then exceed them. Enough of the whining and complaining and self-indulgence. Teach, **** it. Lead. Coach. Motivate. Inspire. Give your students the best that you have to offer every. single. day. Remember: The goal is a lifetime of excellence, not a day or two here and there. A lifetime. Begin, then, with raised expectations -- of yourself and of your students.

 

I agree with this 100%. I find that every year I homeschool I realize more and more that the rigor I expect depends more upon me than it does on the students. It depends on my spending more and more time with them, reading alongside them, turning off the TV/computer and doing something else with our spare time, being better prepared, and just plain keeping myself and both our home and school on schedule. When the rigor part fails (in my eyes that is) it is often a result of my actions and the kids' reactions. The motivation to keep myself on track is hard to find some days and I have to dig deep. As Sebastian (a lady) said-it's like learning to run. One brief jog at a time will lead to the marathon.

[Colleen in NS]

I'm quoting this from another thread on the K-8 curric. board. You can click on the arrow to the right of the poster's name to get to the thread if you want. I thought this quote was appropriate for this particular thread, too. In this gem are good thoughts about teaching. This is the kind of discussion I crave here. It's so good to hear how others are actually teaching their children.

 

I don't read the general board, so I have no idea what was posted there.

 

My experience is that rigorous is one of those ambiguous words that means different things to different people. People could look at my siggie and see my list for my Ker and 4th grader and make the assumption that we are not rigorous. I mean, I don't have long lists of things that they are doing daily. Nor do they spend all that much time doing academics. But, then, obviously those same people might be confused when they look at my 10th grader's list b/c obviously he is achieving quite a bit. ;)

 

So what makes academics rigorous?

 

For our homeschool, an appropriate workload for age that encourages the child to perform at their highest level of ability is the simplest definition of "rigorous" that I can come up with. My children when they are little all have short days. What is done during those short days varies from child to child w/their abilities, but my advanced kids have not spent any longer daily than my avg kids nor vice versa. I focus on the child and really pretty much ignore everything (and everyone ;) ) else.

 

My experience over the yrs is that my younger kids probably do far less than the avg homeschooler. But, by middle school they are typically doing more. By late high school, they are pretty much doing far more.

 

So there you go. How do you measure "rigorous?" If the goal is how many subjects my kids do when they are little, my answer would have to be nope, I am definitely not rigorous and nor do I want to be. If the goal is to have well-educated high school graduates that are used to strong academic challenges, then I guess my answer would be yes, I am. I am in this for the long haul (I'll have been homeschooling for 34 yrs by the time our youngest graduates.)

 

My personal opinion is that evaluating the quality of academics by a curriculum list is based upon a faulty premise. How are the children being taught? Are they being handed a stack of books and left to learn independently? How are they encouraged in their efforts when they approach new and unusually challenging material? What sort of unique connections is the student guided toward making? My list of evaluations for myself as teacher is a pretty nasty self-critique and often leaves me rolling up my sleeves to figure out where I have gone off track and what I need to do to get my child and I back in the right direction. No list of curriculum can accurately assess what takes place over 13 yrs of teaching. :001_smile:

 

Sorry if that is more of a philosophical answer than you want. it is what happens when I can't sleep and have sick kids. :tongue_smilie:

[-M-]

Here's a challenge: This year, refuse to lower your expectations. Instead, raise them. And then exceed them. Enough of the whining and complaining and self-indulgence. Teach, **** it. Lead. Coach. Motivate. Inspire. Give your students the best that you have to offer every. single. day. Remember: The goal is a lifetime of excellence, not a day or two here and there. A lifetime. Begin, then, with raised expectations -- of yourself and of your students.

I agree with this 100%. I find that every year I homeschool I realize more and more that the rigor I expect depends more upon me than it does on the students. It depends on my spending more and more time with them, reading alongside them, turning off the TV/computer and doing something else with our spare time, being better prepared, and just plain keeping myself and both our home and school on schedule. When the rigor part fails (in my eyes that is) it is often a result of my actions and the kids' reactions. The motivation to keep myself on track is hard to find some days and I have to dig deep. As Sebastian (a lady) said-it's like learning to run. One brief jog at a time will lead to the marathon.

 

YES!

 

It all begins with me.

 

This has been a refrain (both stated and understood) in my posts and entries about home education over the last dozen or so years: The quality of the educational endeavor cannot exceed the quality of the teacher.

 

(And since someone mentioned it up-thread a bit, I will tack this bit on: The "Life gets in the way" excuse used by so many homeschoolers to explain their "relaxed" approach or a rough year (or more!) is one of dozens of reasons why my family rarely reveals that we home educate.

 

I wrote about this five years ago, but I could certainly revisit the subject, given all that our family has experienced in the last fifteen months. And if I were to revisit it...

 

I'd say the same things:

 

We have an obligation -- in fact, a legal responsibility -- to educate our children. While homeschooling certainly gives us some flexibility in terms of coping with life's challenges, it does not give us a "pass" on getting the job done. Teachers in traditional classrooms also experience life's upsets, great and small, but if our children were their students, we'd have every expectation that despite the other demands, those teachers would teach our children.

 

And so we must have the same expectation of ourselves.

 

Life happens, but the teaching, learning, coaching, studying, and all the rest must continue.

 

If I found myself in a perpetual round of skipping lessons and work assignments to cope with life, I'd need to evaluate seriously my ability to continue with home education.)

Edited February 4, 2012 by Mental multivitamin

[swellmomma]

 

Life happens, but the teaching, learning, coaching, studying, and all the rest must continue.

 

If I found myself in a perpetual round of skipping lessons and work assignments to cope with life, I'd need to evaluate seriously my ability to continue with home education.)

 

 

I am someone who has life get in the way at times. I think though for some families it's not at cut and dry as the above. For example, The life that gets in the way for us most often is the appts for th ekids, mood swings/meltdowns fromt eh oldest, and now visitation for the oldest 2 with their dad (he picks them up before lunch every other Friday).

 

If we are having a bad week with oldests moods, have his therapy appt, ds8's SLP and OT and it is a visitation week, we will be lucky to have a 1 day school week. It is the nature of our home. This year we have been pretty consistent with a 3 day school week due to appts etc. During our school time we buckle down and expectations are high but the fact is there is only so many hours in the day and if we are dealing with all of that in the day school has to be put aside (we still listen to audio books, watch doucmentaries and read those days but we don't get into our actual studies). Many would say I would need to reconsider my decision and ability to homeschool but realistically putting them in ps would not be any better. I would still have to pick them up to take to all their appts (those therapies do not happen in the school in my town, you have to take you kid to the next town over for them), so they would still miss a lot of school time, and in that situation the teacher keeps on teaching so they would really miss, where as at home it is just picked up on our next school day. The same with ds's mood swings/melt downs, he can't learn and focus during that time, and so not only would he not be learning in ps those days but neither would anyone else in his class due to his disruptions. ANd I would still be keeping them home every other Friday to go with their dad (he lives 5 hours away so picking them up before lunch means they are off the highway and back to his house before dark and in time for dinner). In our situation even less learning would happen at ps than it does at home due to confusion of material after missing so much time.

 

Since I have brought the kids home to focus on their special needs, and while education is important to me if they can not function in society all the academics in the world won't matter. For our situation sending the kids to a b&m school would not increase their time spent on academics at all, and would in fact make it worse. I have looked at all angles of this so I guess I have evaluated if homeschool is stll the best decision with so much of life always there.

 

When I hear families talk about life getting in the way I take a look at what specifically is happening etc. SO yes they are taking it easy for a couple months right after a new baby (as I did when I had my 4th) but then I look to see if they are only being more relaxed for a couple months, or is it for the baby's whole first year kwim. I look to see if that life is filled with medical issues of the children or a parent, or if that life is the newest release of a video game, or it snowed, etc.

 

SOmetimes life really does get in the way for a couple years. That does not mean the parents should toss in the towel and quit homeschooling, it just means the focus has to change. I am thinking once again of things like medical issues, or special needs, or major change (like the house burned down and now the focus is on rebuilding a life rather than grammar kwim)

 

I understand what you are saying in principle but there is too many factors I think to assume that a family that has so much going on that they say "life got in the way", to right away think that they need to reconsider if they should be homeschooling or not. I think that one can still see education as very important but have no choice at this point (even for a few years) to accept that somethings have to come first for the family and that they have to relax more on the academic front.

[Audrey]

 

Life happens, but the teaching, learning, coaching, studying, and all the rest must continue.

 

If I found myself in a perpetual round of skipping lessons and work assignments to cope with life, I'd need to evaluate seriously my ability to continue with home education.)

 

:iagree: 100%. In fact, I've been at that point once, where life was getting overwhelming and encroaching on education too much (in my opinion, at least). I did have to stop and do some serious thinking on the matter. I came to the conclusion that I'd have to MAKE the time to put education back on top of the priorities list, and so I did just that.

 

I really don't buy most of those excuses re: "life getting in the way." In the decade I've been on these forums, I've seen plenty of families who decide to put the kids in ps during a rough patch. Sometimes they take them back later to homeschool again. Sometimes they find out that ps is the better option for them. IMO, there is nothing wrong with that, but there is something wholly, fundamentally and inexcusably wrong to let one's child's education stagnate or go untended for stretches of time. If no educational progress is made, then one is no longer home educating. One is simply home child minding. Nothing more.

[Robin M]

YES!

 

It all begins with me.

 

This has been a refrain (both stated and understood) in my posts and entries about home education over the last dozen or so years: The quality of the educational endeavor cannot exceed the quality of the teacher.

 

(And since someone mentioned it up-thread a bit, I will tack this bit on: The "Life gets in the way" excuse used by so many homeschoolers to explain their "relaxed" approach or a rough year (or more!) is one of dozens of reasons why my family rarely reveals that we home educate.

 

I wrote about this five years ago, but I could certainly revisit the subject, given all that our family has experienced in the last fifteen months. And if I were to revisit it...

 

I'd say the same things:

 

We have an obligation -- in fact, a legal responsibility -- to educate our children. While homeschooling certainly gives us some flexibility in terms of coping with life's challenges, it does not give us a "pass" on getting the job done. Teachers in traditional classrooms also experience life's upsets, great and small, but if our children were their students, we'd have every expectation that despite the other demands, those teachers would teach our children.

 

And so we must have the same expectation of ourselves.

 

Life happens, but the teaching, learning, coaching, studying, and all the rest must continue.

 

If I found myself in a perpetual round of skipping lessons and work assignments to cope with life, I'd need to evaluate seriously my ability to continue with home education.)

 

 

 

:iagree:

 

Thank you so much for this discussion. It really is what I needed right now as we we're in the midst of deciding whether to put kiddo in ps for 7th. I was really stressing about it. Plus I found I really had lowered my expectations of what my child could do. Going to reread Thomas Jefferson Education, read The Student Whisperer and really learn how to be a better mentor and teacher for my child. Going to accept Melissa's challenge and raised my expectations. I know he can do more and shouldn't accept mediocre.

[Jumping In Puddles]

I feel like we have rigorous academic standards, I just don't do school 6 hours a day. <>

Rigorous does not have to equal time. Especially in lower grades. When we finish seat work, there is lots of time for legos, painting, drawing, creative writing, and yes.....video games (some educational, some just fun). He works hard so he can play hard.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

Some might consider us relaxed because we don't school all day long but with my kids (both grammar stage), that would just be counter productive.