Have I failed my public school-bound twins???

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

My boys will attending the local public school in the fall to fulfill their desire to participate in athletics. This is their decision with the full blessing of my dh and me.

 

We decided to start gearing more of their studies toward the public school method and....DISASTER! Perhaps it is my own insecurity, but I have not been impressed w/ their performance. I am now quite horrified to send them to their freshman year of school.

 

I know a few here have sent their children to school with similar thoughts and experiences, and I think I'm seeking some reassurance. I'm not looking for my boys to be Rhodes scholars, but young men who know how to function in society and be independent. I don't want them to fall into what the ps would consider academically smart. I want them to be able to balance their checkbooks, be hard workers, serve the community and God, and be law-abiding citizens. If they turn out to be rocket scientists, great. Just the same if a trade or service job were in order for them.

 

What I can say, is that my boys are bright young men. They can read fluently, do practical math calculations, and work anyone into the ground. They are quite well-spoken and have fantastic senses of humor (quite British, I'd say...I think from all of the Monty Python :o).

 

Could this just be mom's last-minute panic attack? Perhaps its my own interpretation of what school was like for me. Please throw me a bone here.

 

Your input would be extremely helpful, either way.

 

Blessings,

 

Camy (6 boybarian, 1 little lady)

marymarthame.blogspot.com

[Diana in OR]

Are you concerned they won't be able to do the work, or that it will be too elementary for them?

 

My 9th grader is doing well in ps this year, after always being hsed. I'm not sure what you mean by "public school method". At least I'm finding with my ds that all teachers are different, with different levels of expectation and with different teaching styles and approaches to learning. For example, ds' history and science books are from the same publisher, and have the same basic approach (other than science has labs in addition to the text). In ds' history class, it's pretty much read the book and answer the questions. In his science class, the teacher has a great system of using different learning projects the students can choose from to learn and to demonstrate they've learned the material. It's much like I would do at home.

 

Also, I don't know how it is in your ps, but here students involved in sports have to maintain a certain gpa, and the coaches work very hard to assist students who are having difficulty with that, giving them extra help and having homework time before practice each day.

 

I found my ds adapted rather quickly to the structure of ps, which was waaayyy different than our homeschool. Not saying it is the best choice for all, but be encouraged that it can be a good choice for some.

 

Don't panic :)

[abbeyej]

It's hard for me to imagine that you've done anything but a thorough and conscientious job preparing those boys for school, Camy (and I've missed your posting here, btw).

 

Do you mind if I ask if there's something(s) specific that has you worried? I can't speak as a parent of teens (yet! yikes!), but my siblings and I were home schooled and then made the transition for high school (my younger brother and sister a little earlier than I did), and I've had the chance to do a little teaching of older kids, both home schooled and not...

 

If it's just the volume of work they'll be expected to do that you're worried about, let me say that this is one area in which peer pressure, school culture and expectations may be positives (at least at first). When they see everyone around them doing the work (assuming it's a decent school and most of their classmates will be doing most of the work most of the time), they'll grasp that it simply has to be done, and they'll rise to the occasion.

 

If there's some particular skill you think they may be lacking, you do have time to work on that between now and the fall, but I would just focus on one or two things that will help them in the fall. For instance, if they haven't done note-taking in the past (this is something many kids are explicitly taught in middle school and home schoolers often miss), that might be a worthy project for the summer. Or it could be that they need practice in basic report-writing. Or in organizing assignments.

 

But other than those types of skills, I feel certain that being bright kids with strong backgrounds in mathematics and reading will allow them to do whatever needs to be done in high school. I know when I went to school, we did have to juggle my schedule a bit so that I could do three math credits in one year, because I wasn't "caught up" to the other honors students in my school. But I had a strong background up to that point and I wasn't intimidated, so it worked out fine.

[Only me]

If you could be more specific with your concerns I would be happy to give you feedback and our experience. DD #1 went to public school last year. She is a sophomore at a private school this year. DD #2 will be going to the private school. She is in 7th grade now.

[Mandamom]

went to school for the first time after five years of homeschooling (he really didn't have an accurate memory school experience when he was young) and he did a great job of transitioning to the local public school and now to the private school he attends.

 

I didn't change anything at the end. Just made sure he could read, write and made sure he could take notes and all was well. Actually, he was struggling academically at home and is doing tons better at school -- I guess I"m the homeschooling failure :confused:. I also picked up a Test Prep book that we went through.

 

Anyway, I"m not sure what 'public school' method you are trying to implement but it is probably not needed.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

 

What I can say, is that my boys are bright young men. They can read fluently, do practical math calculations, and work anyone into the ground. They are quite well-spoken and have fantastic senses of humor (quite British, I'd say...I think from all of the Monty Python :o).

 

Could this just be mom's last-minute panic attack? Perhaps its my own interpretation of what school was like for me. Please throw me a bone here.

 

 

Oh my goodness, do NOT worry! I did this last year, complete with the angst. I really was frantic about expectations in science, particularly, since ours was rather informal and dd's recall seemed to be... uh... sketchy. Heh. I worried about writing, because the sheer volume of papers she would be expected to turn out was daunting. And Latin II? Would our kinda "do the best we can and try not to worry too much" Latin I be sufficient? What about the gaps that I knew existed, especially in Latin?

 

Believe me, I should not have worried. Abbey is right: Peer pressure kicks in and they simply *do* it. Up to their own high expectations, actually. Kids who can read and reason and have math skills up at the level they are entering will do just fine. Sometimes better than fine.

 

Be encouraged. Your sons will be more than fine.

 

Camy, if you're interested, I can post what I did to help my dd transition to hs writing without much effort on her part. I imagine you've done a ton of it and telling you about it would be like preaching to the choir, but if you're interested in what worked amazingly well for her, I'll be happy to fill in details.

[RoughCollie]

I was nervous when we sent 2 DS and DD to a parochial school last September. Right away, they took the Terra Nova Achievement Test and I knew the results would reflect the knowledge they had learned during 7 years of homeschooling. I should not have worried. The kids did very, very well and their scores were a testament to the benefits of homeschooling. Frankly, I was surprised and I realized I had spent 7 years of needless worrying that we weren't doing enough and that maybe I was educationally harming my children by homeschooling them.

 

As for teaching PS-style, my kids who are in schooled are bored out of their minds by the classes and hate the slow pace of the lessons. If I pulled that carp in my homeschool, my DS would rebel big time. (Note: I gave DS 3 weeks to decompress after his horrible experience in parochial school and this was his first HS science class in about a year.)

 

My DS are in 8th grade. We had science class today at homeschool, which lasted 1.5 hours. Later, I referred to our science class, and the DS whom I recently pulled out of parochial school said with genuine surprise, "You call that a science class?". Well, yeah. Turns out it was so interesting, DS didn't realize we were having a class!

 

Turns out DS didn't recognize it as a "class" because he was not bored.

 

To digress a bit, the biggest drawbacks my parochial-schooled DC see is that the classes are boring, tons of time is wasted, the way grades are calculated is ridiculous (participation + homework + tests) because it doesn't reflect whether they mastered the material, homework is assigned to make up for all the wasted time in school, and the classes are not rigorous enough.

 

(If these two gregarious DC could have homeschool + lots of kids their ages around all day, they would definitely prefer homeschool. Unfortunately, they get depressed and unmotivated unless there are lots of other kids around. It energizes them to be around a bunch of people.)

 

The biggest adjustments my DC had to make to going to school were these: getting up early and being ready to leave for school at a specific time, remembering to write down their assignments and to bring home the books and worksheets they needed to do their homework, actually doing their homework after they'd already had a full day of school and remembering to turn it in, and realizing that class participation often means just raising one's hand in response to a question.

 

RC

[Perry]

Pam, I'd really like to hear what you did for writing. My dd is going to start ps either next year for 8th grade, or the following year, and I'm panicked about her writing. She has always struggled and while we've made progress, she is still far behind where other middle schoolers are. We can use any tips you can give us.

 

Thanks.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Pam, I'd really like to hear what you did for writing. My dd is going to start ps either next year for 8th grade, or the following year, and I'm panicked about her writing. She has always struggled and while we've made progress, she is still far behind where other middle schoolers are. We can use any tips you can give us.

 

Thanks.

 

One thing I'm thankful that I did, and that you might want to do this summer if such a thing hasn't been a regular part of your work is to take a current event, have them read about it, then ask an opinion question. Such as, oh, I dunno, like "Gas prices have been rising at an unprecendented rate in the US. Should the government step in to subsidize gas prices? Why or why not?" Then have them write a thesis statement (strong opinion) and three supporting reasons for their position. One of these a week. For six week, all they give is the thesis and reasons in a quick sentence, nothing else. (I would usually sneak a discussion of the question in at the dinner table so that dd could flesh out her thoughts verbally.)

 

Then at about the seventh week, I had dd write transition words for her points. In the beginning, she wrote, "First of all, the government must... etc", "Second," "Third," Just to get her feet wet with transitioning quickly. I encouraged her to keep her grammar and style book open and get creative with her transitions, even imbedding them into the supporting topic sentence (which is what those reasons are, of course). So I got her doing stuff like, "The government, first and foremost, must..." Etc. Toward the end, the more subtle the transition words, the better. At the same time, I required a conclusion sentence that wrapped up, as creatively as possible her argument and its points. One sentence only. Sometimes it wasn't all that creative -- sometimes it just reflected back the argument. But that was ok. "Great writing" wasn't the point. The point was quick thinking about one's position on an issue.

 

For the last four weeks that we did this, I had dd take the position opposite her own and argue it. Again, we're talking five sentences, with transition words. I never had her flesh these into essays. They were just exercises in taking a definite position and supporting it.

 

This has served her so amazingly well. She rapidly outlines in class essays without even blinking. Writing is not the stressor for her that it is for many of her classmates. And I would have, honestly, considered her a weak to mediocre writer in sixth and seventh grade. Only approaching decent in 8th. But wow, how strong now in 9th with that foundation and excellent writing teachers! Because she doesn't get bogged down with the structure, she's free to be strong with content and to modify the structure so that it’s not formulaic anymore. Writing to form in those tiny amounts for a short time freed her to expand and think on her feet when called upon to do so in a school setting.

[Jodi-FL]

for asking the question. my 3rd child, 1st boy, will be headed to public high school for his freshman year in the fall too *if* we move back home (to PA, dh's choice for everyone that's not in high school yet-so children #3-6, #7 is only 2.5). I, too, have been trying to prepare them for what they might be weak in at ps. I think for me my son is afraid of the writing. It's his worst subject. My dd who will be in 7th should have no trouble. She's good at math, loves writing, art, socializing, etc. Ds who will be in 4th has vitiligo (white patch) in the front of his hair, is short for his age, but has amazing blue eyes and a warm/outgoing personality that people love. His challenge will be penmanship and not being put down by others. Then there's the one who will be entering Kindergarten who is already reading and way beyond the math scope and sequence for ps k. I've tried to explain that to dh, but....just don't know what to do with this kid.

 

so, I'm interested to hear from all of you who have btdt as to what worked to prepare them.

 

be blessed, Camy-

Jodi

[Camy-7 boybarians 1 lady]

How I praise God for you all! It was certain that you'd make me realize that this situation must be looked at from a logical perspective rather than from a panic-stricken "mom" point of view.

 

Mandamom, you mentioned something interesting...the fact that you thought your children may have struggled in homeschool. It makes me wonder if I am too critical, at times, over some of the work that my sons do. You also thought that my "public school method" may not be necessary...LOL..you are most likely correct. My method is probably a bit over the top, a last minute "shove all the knowledge that can be learned into their brains" technique...LOL. NOT productive for them, that's for sure. Perhaps it helps me vent my anxieties (laugh!)

 

Diane, the issue of GPA and sports participation is an issue at our school. Believe me, I have mentioned this to my boys (they would tell you that they have heard it PLENTY of times...LOL!). "Sons, if you don't maintain a decent GPA, you WILL NOT be able to participate in your lifelong passion: football!" (picture them looking through me and thinking "Here she goes again!") It is reassuring to know that if they do need help, the coaches will express interest in getting them what they need.

 

Ab (so nice to hear from you!!), I like your viewpoint of peer pressure in this instance. I'm also hoping that personal grooming will be one of those standards affected by peer pressure (LOL!). Thanks for mentioning outlining and notetaking. We do need to work on this. It helps me narrow down the multitude of material that is needed to prepare them better for the fall enrollment. I'm hoping to have as good of a report as you and your siblings!

 

Pam, your use of the word "frantic" was spot on! This almost feels like the panic attack I had when I imagined giving birth to my seventh child :o). Well, maybe not "that" bad, but I sure can get myself worked up inside. I resonate w/ what you said about "sketchy recall" and "informal science." I also appreciated the transition info. you suggested. I will certainly begin working on their use of persuasion and argument in written format. This most certainly needs practice and honing.

 

RoughCollie, you spoke of how grades were calculated and that it was ridiculous. This is another issue I think about. I know my boys would tell you that I have literally sledgehammered this into their brains :o). "Boys, you think you have to work hard at home???? Wait until they tell you that 150% of your grade depends on the final exam!!!!!" LOL. My poor boys have to hear me say things like that often these days.

 

Jodi, it sounds like you are evaluating your children very well! My identical twins make this very interesting. I wonder how their differences (and they are opposite in personality!) will show up in school. Narrowing down what to work on before fall is what challenges me at this time. I pray all will go well for you and yours, whatever happens.

 

Overall, ladies, thanks for bringing me back down to earth. I know that my biggest concern is math. I have kept them purposefully behind by one year in this subject, due to the fact that this pace has been practical for them to master the material. It astounded me that in Michigan (our state), high school freshman have only Algebra I and higher math courses to choose from! No general math. I know that I wasn't even ready for algebra my high school freshman year. I've decided to homeschool them in pre-algebra and have them take Algebra I their sophomore year. I'm not confident that they could do well in this their first year.

 

I know that I could have done better homeschooling them, yet it could also have been a lot worse. There have been many times of inconsistency in our schooling at home, usually when real-life entered the picture. However, we have year-round schooled for this purpose. It helped us to not fall too far off the wagon.

 

We also talk constantly of current events, logic, common sense, etc... I do believe they won't have trouble expressing their ideas and beliefs with confidence. I have been assured by watching them deal w/ their peers in the past. They have been leaders.

 

So, I guess I'm just going to keep praying that God will guide us and take away the worry. After all, didn't Jesus question why we should worry, and if this would add a day to our lives?

 

Exhale.....I know it will all work out. Thanks so much for your tips and reassurances! You will most definitely be informed of our upcoming public school adventure! (btw, I don't mean to sound "down" on public school. I just can't help it sometimes!)

 

Thanks so much!

 

Blessings,

 

Camy (6 boybarians, 1 little lady)

marymarthame