That's not what unschoolers are talking about, though. See my post above for examples.

Haven't read the whole thread yet, but I have to chime in on this one, as I was active in the unschooling community for a few years, most of them when my kids were "pre-school" age. I think homeschoolers should be aware of what unschoolers do and advocate, if they aren't already. Here are some real quotes from unschoolers -- most of them well-known in the community, unschooling conference speakers, etc. Some of these were specifically said AT an unschooling conference. "When my daughter was about eleven, she went through a period where she watched Roseanne reruns for eight hours a day for about six weeks. It was great because she learned a lot about plot and character development." "My teenage son is getting a fabulous education from watching World of Warcraft about thirty hours a week, most of it while we're asleep." "My daughter still couldn't read when she was eleven, but she had better social skills than most kids her age. " "My five year old has unusual sleeping needs, and sometimes I have to get up at midnight to make her macaroni and cheese and things like that ... yes, it's a pain, but I try to do it without complaining." "My five year old refused to brush or comb her hair for a year. Sometimes it made me cringe, but I hung in there, and finally after a years she made the decision herself to let us cut out the big greasy wad that had built it. Hurray!" "My kids can sleep anywhere and anytime they want." "My five year old has different sleep needs than I do. Often I wake up in the morning and pass her in the hallway, as she is heading to bed!" "I overheard a woman at the park tell her children, 'I packed some strawberries, but first eat a few carrot sticks.' That is abusive parenting." And don't even get me started on the "don't ever insisted that they clean up after themselves or do any chores" bit. I tried and tried to make that work, as everybody insisted that it made their kids wonderfully generous, helpful, and have tons of initiative. I could not make it work for us. I always feel a little like an "unschool failure" because apparently it works well for a lot of people. I never took it to the extreme most of them do, and sometimes I felt guilty about that. I don't think about it or follow those sites anymore, but seeing this thread brings back a lot of memories! Okay, now I will read the rest of the thread, and then probably weigh in again.

Last summer we did something fun during swim team -- every day we came home after the kids's practice, they all showered and changed, we ate lunch, and then hung out in the living room while I read a chapter of two of The Westing Game. I want to do that again this summer, and am trying to find a good read-aloud for a 13 year old girl, 11 year old girl, and 8 year old boy. I would do the Little House books, but we've read them all already. Any great suggestions? Thanks!

Well, the interesting thing is that this test didn't ask things like fact vs. opinion, or main idea, etc. They were sentences where you filled in the blank with a missing word. So I'm not sure what the lacking skill is or how to address it ... I guess inference? I'm thinking of trying Reading Detective with her. She did great on the decoding/phonics part, so that's not the issue. What would cause a bright child to do really well on phonics, but poorly on comprehension?

We have been using Six oclock scramble for over four years now and love it. We have been eating healthier than ever, have a lot of variety, and get all kinds of compliments when we have company over for dinner. The only downside is that the ingredients can be kind of expensive, but I think that's the price you have to pay for eating well. Of course we would eat cheaper if we had frozen pizza on sale and mac and cheese out of the box. My kids all have their favorite Scramble meals that they practically beg for, so they like it too.

We have been using Six oclock scramble for over four years now and love it. We have been eating healthier than ever, have a lot of variety, and get all kinds of compliments when we have company over for dinner. The only downside is that the ingredients can be kind of expensive, but I think that's the price you have to pay for eating well. Of course we would eat cheaper if we had frozen pizza on sale and mac and cheese out of the box. My kids all have their favorite Scramble meals that they practically beg for, so they like it too.

Just had my kids take the Woodcock Johnson as an end of year assessment 1) My fifth grader scored at an eighth grade level for decoding/phonics/word attack. BUT she only scored at a low fifth grade level for reading comprehension. That's not so terrible, but I consider her to be very intelligent and the type of kid that would be in a "gifted" program, and I feel that she should be doing better, especially if her phonics score is so high. Other than "have her read more," does anyone have any suggestions how to address and improve this? 2) My seventh grader scored at a tenth grade level in reading comp and phonics/decoding, and an eleventh grade reading vocabulary. BUT she scored at a fourth grade level in "Reading Fluency" (which is where they have to see how many yes or no questions they can read and answer in 3 minutes -- so it's basically a speed thing.) Again, any suggestions how to bring this up? Thanks!

Thanks to the new laws, my family can finally apply for health insurance through the exchange. We looked at quotes, and know we want a Gold Plan, but there are so many options I'm not sure how to pick. The companies that jump out to me are Humana, Aetna, and BC/BS, and there are probably others too. Any advice -- either about these insurance companies specifically, or how to make a decision? Thanks!

Hi Everybody, this is the OP again. I just wanted to thank everybody. The responses have been very helpful. After much thought, I have decided to work with her on the WWS lessons about two-level outline, then start helping her do that with her History and science. I also ordered ... A book mentioned earlier by Maxwell, I think, and will download SWB's audio lecture later this week as well. Thanks for all the tips and support! OP

Just as an intereresting point - "The Necklace" keeps coming up again and again, but actually that was not a selection that my daughter struggled with. For the most part, it was the non-fiction selections that were incomphresensible to her. I remember a selection about an octopus, one about stars or planets or something, and a couple history ones. Plus that one about soldiers at war fighting and imagining that a saint appearing and won the battle for them - ugh, that one I could barely understand myself! OTOH, when we did the assignments for Rikki Tikki Tavi and Anne of Green gables and, yes, even The Necklace, there were no problems and we both enjoyed WWS quite a bit.

As I mentioned in the above post, I am often wondering if WWS are the same types of readings and assignments kids her age are doing in public schools. All I know is my own experience, which proves nothing, but I NEVER read The Necklace until this year, never read Headless Horseman, and I believe I read TTH and GotM in 8th grade. I should add that this was considered a total "cream of the crop" school district and I was in an advanced LA class where over three-quarters of the class was in the school gifted program, so I would not even consider that an "average" or "typical" representation. But, like I said, I am really curious what of others' experiences and what the current-day reality and expectation is. Surely all middle schoolers aren't all expected to do school assignments that are on a tenth grade level and higher -- or are they???

I would really like to hear answers to this as well. Specifically, I'm curious if "most" 6-7 graders are reading excerpts and short stories like this in school, because if that is "the norm" ... well, then I am totally out of touch, and need to adjust my expectations accordingly. I think about my kids' friends, and the students I had when I worked as a school music specialist years ago, and I just don't see it. But I don't know, as I never taught LA. Would love to hear perspectives especially from people who have more public school experience.

Just did the quick screen test, and she was 6.3.

For those of you who use the WWS lessons with your own readings, could you explain in a little more detail how you do this? I've often lamented that I really love how WWS is laid out, but wish the reading selections were different. Most of them are either dull and/or crazy-hard for anyone younger than 13, IMO. I'm always curious what the reading comprehension levels for those selections are, because I'd be shocked if some of them were on a fifth or sixth grade level. Anyway, I'm a little confused how you could read the lesson, then apply it to your own reading, and would like to hear more about now you make that work. It seems like the lessons - the questions about it, the directions, etc - are directly ABOUT the specific details in the reading passages. How exactly would we do the lesson if we're not doing the reading? If we skipped the parts of the lesson that involve the details of the reading, it seems like we would skip almost everything. Thanks! All the replies have been very helpful.

What I meant was that saying, "Well, let's not do WWS this week" or "Let's take a break for a month before we go back to it" would not be solving anything or addressing the problem. There's no reason anything will be any different next week or next month.

My daughter is in seventh grade. She started WWS in her sixth grade year. It was often tough for her, so we took it slow and steady, and did about half of it last year and have been doing the second half this year. It has always been challenging for her, and sometimes even a struggle to the point of tears, but now she has started the section on two-level outlines and it's just been getting harder and harder, to the point where she is miserable. Several of the readings in the book she cannot even understand, let alone write about. I'm not sure I just want to set it aside for a while, because it would just feel like procrastinating. I'm a little bit concerned why this is so difficult for her. Isn't this supposed to be a fifth grade curriculum?? But my main question is, what do you suggest we do now? Is there some sort of "bridge" activity or curriculum that is not quite so difficult that will help her get to that level? Btw, we did do all of WWE 1-3 and about half of WWE 4. Thanks for any thoughts

A big fat WORD. I was going to try really hard to avoid commenting, but this exactly how I feel and why it bothers me a little that many many homeschoolers are getting all up in arms about this.

Wow, that really surprises me! I always got the impression that most public schools were almost completely ignoring grammar these days. I guess it's not true!

I also put this in the High School forum, but then thought it made more sense here because I'm talking about a child who is currently in seventh grade. ***************** At the moment, we are planning to send our oldest child to a public high school magnet program. She has never attended school before and has not even taken things like co-op classes. I would love to hear any kind of advice or experience in making that transition. 1) What you and/or your child good or bad about the high school experience? 2) What, if anything, surprised you? 3) What areas, if anything, was your child not well prepared for? 4) Any advice what to do in the months before - either academically, documentation-wise, socially, etc? Thanks!

At the moment, we are planning to send our oldest child to a public high school magnet program. She has never attended school before and has not even taken things like co-op classes. I would love to hear any kind of advice or experience in making that transition. 1) What you and/or your child good or bad about the high school experience? 2) What, if anything, surprised you? 3) What areas, if anything, was your child not well prepared for? 4) Any advice what to do in the months before - either academically, documentation-wise, socially, etc? Thanks!

Uh-oh, it sounds like my husband might be right, then, about needing accreditation. Do you remember any details about this? GA Tech is definitely one of the main places we're considering, as my daughter wants to be an engineer for NASA!

Could you explain what and where this is?

Our oldest is still in middle school, but we're looking ahead. My husband was just talking to someone whose children are homeschooled teens, and she said she has them in a private school "independent study" that, if I understand correctly, looks at what you're doing and what curriculum you're using and tell you what "counts" and what you "need," and then you actually get a state-accredited high school diploma from that private school. I have always been a little confused about this. I have been told that in GA that you "cannot get high school diploma" unless you go through a place this either this or Bob Jones or something. I have also heard people say they just write their own transcript and portfolio (and take the SATs) and college accept that fine. Anyway, my husband heard about this route and got very excited. He said he can't imagine bringing a portfolio to a college admissions person and that they would actually sit for hours and carefully read everything and "grade it," so to speak, to determine if it's equivalent to American Lit, then some more stuff equivalent to enough credits for a FL, etc, and finally determine if what you did for four years "qualifies" as a high school diploma. I, on the other hand, find the idea of accreditation interesting, but it doesn't really appeal to me. First of all, I would hate to lose the freedom I have now ... for example, what if they tell me I "can't" use Life of Fred anymore, and have to switch to math textbook we all hate? (The horror of having to stop Life of Fred! :)) Second, it sounds like a few hundred dollars a year, for them to basically tell me what to do and "approve" what I'm doing. If that's totally unneccesary (and possibly even annoying), I'd rather spend those hundreds of dollars on other things. So ... here are my questions: 1. First of all, if anyone knows about how a homeschoolers actually gets a high school diploma in GA (or a link to that info), I would appreciate it. I have heard that many homeschool parents just write their own diploma and sign it themselves, which sounds a little odd. Really? Does anyone take that seriously? 2. If you've used a service like this, what made you choose to go that route, and what is it like, exactly? Do they tell you what curriculum to use? Grade everything? Was it helpful? Would you recommend it? 3. Do "most" people get accredited somewhere, or do "most" people just make portfolios? (Yes, I know this is a difficult question to answer, but if you have any observations to share, I would appreciate it? 4. Do "most" colleges require or prefer something more official like that? 5. If you've gone the "portfolio" route, how did that work for you? What about my husband's concern that admissions would prefer an actual diploma as opposed to having wade through and evaluate years of work? Do you wish your kids had gotten a state-accredited diploma? 6. Any other advice or thoughts for people like us trying to decide "which way" (and maybe there are other ways!) to go, and how to make those decisions. Thanks!

What is the difference between the WJ achievement and cognitive tests, and why is it important thwt its not cognitive? Which one is more typically given

Maybe so, but my husband feels its important to test them every year, so thats what I'm doing. My comment on the scores not being accurate is based on threads here. someone once told me that if my kids arent finishing, that doesnt really tell me whether or not they know the material, just that they need more time or are more careful or whatever, which I think is a reasonable point Many people have said the grade equivalents are pretty much meaningless. Other people have said that ITBS gives a false sense of accomplishment. Personally, i just found some of the questions goofy and was frustrated that they couldnt finish. I guess that's just the thing -- what I'm looking for is, in fact, a test that does evaluate what they know.