How would you implement the Swann plan while doing WTM?

[rafiki]

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[Haiku]

I personally do some of each, depending on the kid and subject, but I still find it very challenging to make material last an academic year, and next to impossible to stretch it a full calendar year.

 

Ok, I get that. Perhaps you didn't see where I edited my comments to make the observation that a curriculum that has 12th-grade material that can be accomplished by an 11 year old doesn't seem particularly strong to me.

 

Tara

[Murphy101]

That is true. No curriculum teaches everything. But whichever curriculum you choose, if you cut the time of that curriculum in half, I just don't think it's possible to do the curriculum justice.

 

But who has said that is what is happening? If I only take 4 weeks off per year, that's an additional 12 weeks added to the standard 36 school year. If I also dedicate that time fully for 3 hours a day vs including sick days and various other issues, you have a LOT more getting done in that 36 week school year AND you are adding another 12 weeks to that calendar. You are NOT cutting anything in half. You are simply making the very best use of your time. If you do that for 2 years in a row, you are nearly through at least 1 an entire grade level further than if you didn't.

 

Let's say I only take 4 weeks off per year and do school 48 weeks a year, which is an additional 12 over the usual academic calendar.

 

Year one would be let's say 36 weeks of 1st grade + 12 weeks of 2nd grade

 

Making year 2 be 24 weeks of 2nd grade + 24 weeks of 3rd grade

 

and so forth ... That is not even including being able to get more academics accomplished in the given time, which is often likely in at least some of the subjects.

 

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that any curriculum that has 12th-grade work that can be accomplished by an 11 year old seems, to me, not to be a strong curriculum. I realize that there are some extremely bright kids who could do this, but the odds of having ten of those kids in one family are, as my dad would say, Slim to None, and Slim just left town. The other thing is that if a 12-year curriculum can be completed in six years, I don't think it's a strong curriculum. The amount of thinking, reading, discussing, and writing that I am planning for my kids in the logic and rhetoric stages is just not something that can be compressed into a short amount of time, imo.

 

Tara

 

I both agree and disagree. I think if a kid who doesn't have an education leading up to that point does it - then yeah, not very rigorous.

 

OTOH, if you have been educating progressively up towards that point, then it just makes sense. It's not a 12 year old doing 12th grade work. It's a 12 year old just doing the next step.

 

Some people are able to use curriculum as a guide, hop in the driver's seat, teach the concepts, have the dc demonstrate, and move forward at the dc's pace.

 

Others need to completed every page, every problem, cover to cover before they call the curriculum completed.

 

 

:iagree: Altho I rarely skip. For the most part, I lean toward completely every problem cover to cover.

 

 

Take the aspects of the Swann's you like and tweak it to work in your family.

 

As far as curriculum, any that fit your teaching style, family size, kid's learning styles, and keeps them progressing will work.

 

:iagree:

 

Another thing I do is to start something when we finish something. With having three kids, one is always finishing or starting something and the other two are excited for them. School is fun here and UPS and FedEx are confused by kids stalking them and jumping up and down over new school materials.

 

I think you can challenge a child, stimulate their strenghts, passions, and interests and still allow them to be called by their age-grade level for paperwork purposes.

 

:iagree: No matter what academics my kids are doing, I tend to just say, "they are __ age." and leave it at that.

Edited May 23, 2010 by Martha
Math typo. Sorry.

[justamouse]

I am vastly impressed with the Swann family, but I could not be more underwhelmed with Calvert.

 

I don't think the richness of a WTM education should be rushed. It is a twelve year banquet, so there should be many opportunities to push the chair away from the table for awhile.

 

This. Completely.

 

After reading the article, she gives a few hints-she's extremely organized, highly structured, and she picked a packaged curriculum that she could plow though. And they plowed through it.

 

That's not why I homeschool-not to 'school at home'. It's works for them, awesome, but I love this rich tapestry we're weaving.

[Haiku]

You are NOT cutting anything in half.

 

I see what you are saying. I still think, however, that a good curriculum takes into account developmental stages, and I, personally, believe that kids need time to consolidate and reflect, so for me, doing a 12-year curriculum in six years IS cutting it in half. I understand what you are saying, though. I guess we just differ. :)

 

Tara

[StartingOver]

Let's say I only take 4 weeks off per year and do school 48 weeks a year, which is an additional 12 over the usual academic calendar.

 

Year one would be let's say 36 weeks of 1st grade + 12 weeks of 2nd grade

Making year 2 be 24 weeks of 2nd grade + 12 weeks of 3rd grade

 

No matter what academics my kids are doing, I tend to just say, "they are __ age." and leave it at that.

 

I hadn't heard of Swann's till today. But I do follow this basic idea.

 

Here in Texas children are at the age of consent at 17. I think that is a large issue with a lot of the high school dropouts. Or at least is in my area, here 2 in 5 do not graduate. Even though the kids have to be in school from 6 - 18 unless graduated ( Yeah ok, let me know how to do that ? Stupid law age of consent, and mandatory schooling. They should jive.)

 

So I aim to graduate my children before they are 17. It isn't that much of a stretch to add a few weeks here and there. Two of my older children graduated at 16 and one at 15. Even if I didn't let them know it LOL. This left them a whole year or two to sample different jobs, do tons of volunteer work, research colleges, or look into the military, etc. While continuing with advanced studies at the community college.

 

I have one in college, one in the Navy taking college classes, and one in the Army also taking college classes.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

Wow! Lots of replies. I will try to address some of the concernes/opinions I have read, but I can't multi-quote. Can't. Can't do it. I have tried multiple times and I get a big fat .......nothing. Nothing happens. I am multi-quote impaired. (perhaps if I had been educated using WTM I would be able to do such things?)

 

I don't beleive that the Swann kids missed out on anything. They only did school for 3 hours per day. That leaves a LOT of time left for making forts, playing in the creek, catching frogs, etc. I actually think that the fact that they graduated so early was really GOOD considering that they were early homeschoolers and some could have said,"well, if you are only doing schoolwork for 3 hours per day then maybe you aren't really learning very much!"

 

 

While I never got an overly punitive/coercive feel from the articles the mom does state that their 3 hours of schoolwork was very focused. No talking, no goofing off.

 

Someone pointed out that their daughter referred to her mom as "mother". I see this as cultural more than anything else. Some people just call their female parental unit "mother". I don't, so it always sounds formal to me, but whatever.

 

I will be honest here, I am NOT overly organized and structured, which is probably what attracts me to this plan. I want what she has. lol. I'm not saying that it will work with my family. Maybe we will take some parts that work and toss the rest, who knows?

 

My five year old son learned to read last year with 100 Easy Lessons (same book his older sister learned from many moons ago) and we have done a sloooooow progression through BOB books and any books he laid his hands on. I have answered hundreds, nay thousands of "what spells_______?" questions lately. All good stuff. He has picked up multiplication tables from his older sister. (although, he argues about some of them! My little math skeptic!) :lol:

 

Now, this 3 year old sister (turning 4 next month) has shown little interest in reading until this week when she noticed Jake writing his own name and she wanted to do the same. So.....we shall be progressing through 100 Easy Lessons this summer and we will go from there.

 

I will spend this upcoming school year in a combo kindegarten/first grade (because, quite frankly, I find some overlap) and see where they are at the end of the "school year" or at the end of the books we use. (PaperPlate Math, Family Math, FIAR, Mudpies to Magnets, Little Man in the Map, Song School Latin (although, the SSL may wait until the following year.)

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that in the first year and the summer preceeding it and following it I plan to take it slow, take it easy and continually monitor and asses where we are/where we need to be.

 

I went WAAAAY too slow and easy with the oldest and I regret it. I won't make that mistake again!

 

And, ftr, I see the accelerated schedule as a way that a kid can fully develop their own skills, talents, and interests. My son wants to be a rock star and has a fascinating musical ability (can sing a song perfectly on pitch after hearing it once. I totally see him as the next Lindsey Buckingham!) He has some trouble with his R's, though so he says, "I wanna be a Wock Staw!"

 

I see this as very open-ended. We have had to take time off here and there, particularly when my brother was sick, then especially when he was dying. I have no idea what my oldest did for school during that time. Luckily, we were in a co-op then, too so she still had consistent assignments.

 

You may see this as rigid. I don't. I see this as a jumping off point. And... I don't see this as accelerating on purpose so much as, "Okay, we have finished that book for 3rd grade, we of course move on to 4th." It just seems like they moved logically, kwim?

 

 

AAAAnd...I think that after the 3 hours of school if a kid is really wanting to dig into ancient history, how magnets work, etc. they do! They have plenty of time for that!

[StartingOver]

Wow! Lots of replies. I will try to address some of the concernes/opinions I have read, but I can't multi-quote. Can't. Can't do it. I have tried multiple times and I get a big fat .......nothing. Nothing happens. I am multi-quote impaired. (perhaps if I had been educated using WTM I would be able to do such things?)

 

 

I had the hardest time figuring out the multi quote. You click the Multi-quote button ( it turns orange each time ) for all that you want to respond to, but the last one you click quote, and the advanced reply page comes up. :D

Edited May 23, 2010 by alatexan68

[MomLovesClassics]

There is nothing wrong with acceleration, many kids accelerate at different paces. It is rare to finish high school at the age of 10. If this schedule worked for them, great. I question if all her children were truly ready for college at 10 years old. Were they given the option of college courses to take, or possible college campuses to attend? I can't help having doubts about this plan. I have too many unanswered questions in my mind about this plan. I will attempt to find the book and read it to see if those questions can be answered. My kids are accelerated, but not because I expect them to have masters degrees by age 15, or finish high school by age 10.

[angela in ohio]

Which is why it works! We don't do school year around so we can have a masters by 17 but so that we can study more in depth and be spontaneous. We want to be ahead so we can take rabbit trails and still finish the full course on time.

 

I agree. We school year-round, and it allows us to go deeper.

[angela in ohio]

That's not why I homeschool-not to 'school at home'. It's works for them, awesome, but I love this rich tapestry we're weaving.

 

:iagree:

[angela in ohio]

I guess what I am trying to say is that any curriculum that has 12th-grade work that can be accomplished by an 11 year old seems, to me, not to be a strong curriculum. I realize that there are some extremely bright kids who could do this, but the odds of having ten of those kids in one family are, as my dad would say, Slim to None, and Slim just left town. The other thing is that if a 12-year curriculum can be completed in six years, I don't think it's a strong curriculum. The amount of thinking, reading, discussing, and writing that I am planning for my kids in the logic and rhetoric stages is just not something that can be compressed into a short amount of time, imo.

 

Tara

 

:iagree:

[Murphy101]

I question if all her children were truly ready for college at 10 years old.

 

socially? Emotionally? Probably not. They didn't go to college at 10 either though. That doesn't mean they weren't ready academicly, which is likely why they did distance learning, portfolios, and exams.

 

Were they given the option of college courses to take, or possible college campuses to attend?

 

I have no idea. And even if they weren't - I'd be okay with that. For all the hype otherwise, the truth is that most kids don't get to go to any college they want. Very often it boils down to what they can afford and what is nearby. Not every family can afford to send their kids to college, much less send them somewhere far enough to live away from home too.

 

I can't help having doubts about this plan.

 

What a mom who doubts herself and others in regards to plannign homeschooling for their kids? No way!:lol:;)

 

I've been doing that since I gave birth to the first kid 15 years ago!:D

[Carol in Cal.]

I see what you are saying. I still think, however, that a good curriculum takes into account developmental stages, and I, personally, believe that kids need time to consolidate and reflect, so for me, doing a 12-year curriculum in six years IS cutting it in half. I understand what you are saying, though. I guess we just differ. :)

 

Tara

 

And, for non-gifted children, a curriculum that enables them to finish high school at age 11 is unlikely to have brought out the kind of depth of thinking that I hope for at that level.