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If I'm not doing boxed curriculum, how do I know if we are really accelerating?


Maus
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I may eventually answer my own question if I ruminate on it long enough, but maybe the more experienced parents already know this.

 

What does acceleration look like if you aren't doing a boxed curriculum? (Or an online or otherwise leveled curriculum?) With those sorts of curriculum, your child does everything, you buy the next level, and you move on, and your child's progress is obvious.

 

Almost everything we are using is for multiple grades. How do I know if we are doing two years in one? Or when we are ready for High School?

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I may eventually answer my own question if I ruminate on it long enough, but maybe the more experienced parents already know this.

 

What does acceleration look like if you aren't doing a boxed curriculum? (Or an online or otherwise leveled curriculum?) With those sorts of curriculum, your child does everything, you buy the next level, and you move on, and your child's progress is obvious.

 

Almost everything we are using is for multiple grades. How do I know if we are doing two years in one? Or when we are ready for High School?

 

 

I'm sure my answer is going to be vastly different than most posters on this forum b/c I am very low-key and I don't view acceleration through most subjects as even something I pay attention to. I simply provide my kids material that meets them where they are functioning.

 

W/the exception of math, I have no "classification" for level. They write and read on the level of which they are performing. Those determine what materials I select for them to use across the board. I simply want to see progress beyond their current level. I have individual objectives for everyone of my kids b/c every single of one has performed at a different level at different ages.

 

The simplest way to approach it for me would be basic progressive objectives like moving from single paragraphs to mutliple paragraphs to writing essays to writing cited essays, etc.

 

I do not see subjects like science and history as grade quantified.

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In my case, I simply get what fits my DD next. Right now, for next year, that means that, for the most part, I'm looking at materials that are designed for the 2nd cycle through history/science, because the ones for the first cycle are either things we've already done, or look like they don't have the depth she seems to want/need.

 

As far as ready for high school...personally, I suspect that it will be a case of "DD is ready for college when SHE decides that she's ready"-and that we'll worry then about whether there are gaps that need to be filled before she can go to the next step. I'm hoping that when she gets to high school level content there will be enough of a variety and enough to interest her that she won't need to go through it at the pace she's needed for elementary level materials, and that maybe she might even be willing to spend more than 4 years on it.

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I'm sure my answer is going to be vastly different than most posters on this forum b/c I am very low-key and I don't view acceleration through most subjects as even something I pay attention to. I simply provide my kids material that meets them where they are functioning.

 

W/the exception of math, I have no "classification" for level. They write and read on the level of which they are performing. Those determine what materials I select for them to use across the board..

 

I agree. I do not use "graded" curriculum.

But you notice very easily that you are accelerating if your student is doing something that other students typically do not do at this age. If my 6th grader is doing algebra, which is taught in 8th or 9th grade in ps, I know how accelerated we are. If a high school freshman is taking college classes, that's accelerated.

Beyond this, I have no quantifiable measure of acceleration. I vaguely know that other 6th graders would not study Steinbeck and write essays about Of Mice and Men, but we don't do some other things they would do.

I do not worry about "how accelerated" we are. My kids work at a level that is appropriate for them, and when they have fulfilled *my* graduation requirements, they are done and go to college.

 

ETA: You know you are ready for high school if high school materials are an appropriate fit for your kids. And if they are high school age and find the high school materials fluff and too easy, you use college materials instead.

Edited by regentrude
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For subjects like history and English, writing and so on, we do whatever maintains delight and interest. I do not know if we will ever get to a point where he wants to write research papers. :001_smile:

 

For math and science, we just do the next thing. Resources we use have became more complex and high level in approach and style and level of math knowledge and math reasoning. There isn't anymore focus on facts practice because almost everything has been solidified but we do encounter one or two gaps which are easily solved.

 

There is an obvious shift in mental stamina to work on problems, reason what is being asked, and ability to not throw fits and simply realize that he will need to come back to certain problems later because they require more careful thinking.

 

Math changed from being able to work most of it mentally and mom being okay with it to having to show (write down) the obvious progression from one step to another (multi-step problems in algebra) and being able to prove and reason why something is the way it is as well as draw in 3D (geometry) and also finding connections (algebra with geometry, geometry with algebra).

 

In physics so far, to be able to work out what exactly is being stated in the given problem, to calculate answers, convert answers to other units of measurement and reason whether the answers make sense if it's a real life situation. To be able to set up a lab with no help from an adult (unless safety is an issue) -- we are still working on this though.

 

ETA: Saw regentrude's reply after I hit submit.

I agree. I do not use "graded" curriculum.

But you notice very easily that you are accelerating if your student is doing something that other students typically do not do at this age. If my 6th grader is doing algebra, which is taught in 8th or 9th grade in ps, I know how accelerated we are. If a high school freshman is taking college classes, that's accelerated.

Beyond this, I have no quantifiable measure of acceleration. I vaguely know that other 6th graders would not study Steinbeck and write essays about Of Mice and Men, but we don't do some other things they would do.

I do not worry about "how accelerated" we are. My kids work at a level that is appropriate for them, and when they have fulfilled *my* graduation requirements, they are done and go to college.

 

ETA: You know you are ready for high school if high school materials are an appropriate fit for your kids. And if they are high school age and find the high school materials fluff and too easy, you use college materials instead.

 

Very clearly expressed! We use what is typically considered 9th grade math and science in 4th grade.

Edited by quark
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We aren't using a boxed curriculum, but we are using levels curriculum. For example, we are using Teaching Textbooks for math, Writing With Ease for early writing, First Language Lessons then Hake for grammar. We are also using IEW and Killgallon for more writing, that is the only one that is not on a "grade" level, but gives a general idea.

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I'm sure my answer is going to be vastly different than most posters on this forum b/c I am very low-key and I don't view acceleration through most subjects as even something I pay attention to. I simply provide my kids material that meets them where they are functioning.

 

W/the exception of math, I have no "classification" for level. They write and read on the level of which they are performing. Those determine what materials I select for them to use across the board. I simply want to see progress beyond their current level. I have individual objectives for everyone of my kids b/c every single of one has performed at a different level at different ages.

 

The simplest way to approach it for me would be basic progressive objectives like moving from single paragraphs to mutliple paragraphs to writing essays to writing cited essays, etc.

 

I do not see subjects like science and history as grade quantified.

I agree. I do not use "graded" curriculum.

But you notice very easily that you are accelerating if your student is doing something that other students typically do not do at this age. If my 6th grader is doing algebra, which is taught in 8th or 9th grade in ps, I know how accelerated we are. If a high school freshman is taking college classes, that's accelerated.

Beyond this, I have no quantifiable measure of acceleration. I vaguely know that other 6th graders would not study Steinbeck and write essays about Of Mice and Men, but we don't do some other things they would do.

I do not worry about "how accelerated" we are. My kids work at a level that is appropriate for them, and when they have fulfilled *my* graduation requirements, they are done and go to college.

:iagree:

Also, it is different, I think, when you follow a classical approach and expose children to a different scope and sequence than most children are exposed to.

DS10 has been reading Shakespeare on his own the past few weeks. Is that accelerated or something that most people don't think elementary age children would enjoy, much less understand?

 

ETA: You know you are ready for high school if high school materials are an appropriate fit for your kids. And if they are high school age and find the high school materials fluff and too easy, you use college materials instead.
:lol:

Or when they take off with their dad's old engineering books from college. (And understand what they are reading.)

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:iagree:

 

I don't get too concerned about grade levels, even when I'm using a leveled curriculum. I was looking at some materials a few days ago and looked at samples at a 4th grade level, because I thought that was the ballpark. Then I looked at 5th, because the 4th looked too easy. That's pretty much how I pick. Sometimes I ask DS to come look at the samples and ask him what he understands, etc.

 

The only other time I think about grade levels is when I'm trying to involve someone else in his education. For example, I was working with a librarian to find some picture books he would enjoy, so I explained that he reads between 4th and 6th grade levels, but he's 7, so he's more interested in 7 year old things than 12 year old things. But I don't think it's necessary to be exact on levels -- just a general idea.

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I do not see subjects like science and history as grade quantified.

I agree. That's why I prefer things like Mystery of History that are written for multiple levels, so you can choose any level of depth for any particular lesson that is appropriate for the child you're teaching. Certain things, like math or reading, will be graded, but most things are on a sliding scale of grade level. What one publisher calls 3rd grade might be 4th for another or 2nd for another. It really doesn't matter. I choose what works best at the time, and when we finish it, we keep moving. We end at logical points (like a chapter break) when we want to take time off from school, but for the most part, we just keep going.

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There is one single, solitary aspect of boxed curriculum that appeals to me, and that's the clear road map from here to there (college). Sigh.

 

....The simplest way to approach it for me would be basic progressive objectives like moving from single paragraphs to mutliple paragraphs to writing essays to writing cited essays, etc.

 

I do not see subjects like science and history as grade quantified.

I suppose what I need to do is work backward through the objectives for each major subject area, until I've mapped out from college back to where we are now.

I agree. I do not use "graded" curriculum.

But you notice very easily that you are accelerating if your student is doing something that other students typically do not do at this age. If my 6th grader is doing algebra, which is taught in 8th or 9th grade in ps, I know how accelerated we are. If a high school freshman is taking college classes, that's accelerated.

Beyond this, I have no quantifiable measure of acceleration. I vaguely know that other 6th graders would not study Steinbeck and write essays about Of Mice and Men, but we don't do some other things they would do.

I do not worry about "how accelerated" we are. My kids work at a level that is appropriate for them, and when they have fulfilled *my* graduation requirements, they are done and go to college.

 

ETA: You know you are ready for high school if high school materials are an appropriate fit for your kids. And if they are high school age and find the high school materials fluff and too easy, you use college materials instead.

If only reaching those levels would happen at the same time for every subject!

 

When we finish a book, program or curricula set, we move on to the next thing. If it's easy, we finish it quickly or I find something more challenging. ;)
Most of curricula we are doing have High School levels, so, as long as each of those things continue to work for us, I guess we'll know when we get there.
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On the how do you know---when you start looking for supplemental materials for your 7 yr old's Greek book, in which SHE happily read through the first passage and gave a translation without a pause, and the first three you pull up are all materials and syllabi connected with COLLEGE classes. 1000 level college classes, admittedly, but still college classes.

 

Guess that explains why I'm struggling a bit....

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