I have been called a slavedriver and mean

[SonshineLearner]

She has 7 kids. When she graduated her oldest she was fairly inexperienced. She put her kids in Classical Conversations and, believing it to be rigorous, thought her son was well-prepared for college. Her son was totally floundering the first year in math and science. He called home midway through the semester, begging her not to let this happen to any of his brothers or sisters.

 

I'm curious how long he was in Classical Conversations. I've seen it one year here and ours is great. Maybe he was only in the group for a year or so?? I know that the program in many states is young, but even one year in a program that isn't the best for your child wouldn't make college that hard. Hmmm...wondering what the problem was....mainly so I don't repeat it....

[choirfarm]

I've been keeping grades for the first time this year and using homeschool tracker. I'm really glad I started this year so I can get up to speed by next year. I'm not sure exactly how I was doing it as I have seen you can't get credit for high school work in 8th grade. But, I was going to maybe add an 8th grade section. I may have him take the CLEP test for Biology and/or Algebra. We are using Apologia Biology. Still thinking about how to show it. We will probably do Chemistry in 9th grade at co-op and then Physics in 10th grade and after that it would probably be dual credit at a local college. Still thinking...

 

Christine

 

Christine,

 

My ds 8th is also doing Bio this year, but I was not planning on putting it on his transcripts. What will your Science sequence look like, in terms of your transcript?

 

What are you using for Bio?

 

Ds is doing PH Bio Exploring Life. He reads, makes vocab cards, does the guided workbook, takes 2 tests per chapter & he watches Thinkwell lectures weekly. We are doing at least 15 Bio labs this year. We have done 3 light labs thus far while we've been waiting for the kits, specimens and microscope to arrive.

 

Thanks for any scoop you might have on the transcript issue.

[Holly IN]

You can still give credit for 8th grade Biology. The way I am doing my transcripts is year by year not grade by grade. It is a high school level course and I want to give credit when its due.

 

 

 

Holly

[Moni]

What a complete and utter waste. To "plow" through for nothing and have nothing to show for it

 

I'm sure they don't consider it a waste, and they may have a different definition of "waste" and different goals at the outset.

 

Others may think you are wasting your child's teenhood doing what you are doing.

It's in the eye of the beholder.

 

And remember that just because at the end they don't have what you plan to have to "show for it" doesn't mean they have "nothing" to show for it, considering opportunity costs and all of that.

 

Just some comments :)

[Moni]

my relatives are STILL concerned that we aren't giving our kids the "best" education

 

Well that is certainly not one of my goals.

The definition of "best" is in the eye of the beholder anyway, and can change from season to season. It kind of becomes meaningless as the definition changes from person to person.

 

My personal goal is not "the best" education.

So they would be right about me I suppose ;)

[Beth in SW WA]

You can still give credit for 8th grade Biology. The way I am doing my transcripts is year by year not grade by grade. It is a high school level course and I want to give credit when its due.

 

 

 

Holly

 

Thanks, Holly! Yes, Bio is definitely high school level. It consumes a large part of our week. Even Latin has taken a back-burner to Bio. For shame! :)

[Storm Bay]

Well that is certainly not one of my goals.

The definition of "best" is in the eye of the beholder anyway, and can change from season to season. It kind of becomes meaningless as the definition changes from person to person.

 

My personal goal is not "the best" education.

So they would be right about me I suppose ;)

 

I think that there is no one best education, because what is best depends on both the student and the student's goals. for eg, I hardly think it appropriate to demand someone who has always struggled to complete calculus in high school, but that could well be part of what's best for an aspiring math major. Eventually students will begin to specialize, and they could take math to trig and move on to plumbing, Consumer math and become an English major (not that there aren't English majors out there who took Calculus), etc.

[Karen in CO]

Well that is certainly not one of my goals.

The definition of "best" is in the eye of the beholder anyway, and can change from season to season. It kind of becomes meaningless as the definition changes from person to person.

 

My personal goal is not "the best" education.

So they would be right about me I suppose ;)

 

:iagree:

One of the reasons I homeschool is so that my kids can have the right education which is what is best for them.

 

For example, my ds took 4 semesters of Japanese in community college while in high school. Plus he had a year of Spanish, a year of French, and a year of Italian. He "only" squeaked by in pre-calc and would have never considered calculus. He also took art every semester. He had the best education for him, but it would have been the wrong education for many other kids.

 

Best is very subjective.

[laughing lioness]

I've seen a lot of sloth in the homeschool community over the years. Parents who are too concerned about their kids comfort or ease rather than raising them up. Parents who don't want their kids to struggle so just put the lesson away. Parents who can't organize themselves and just want everyone to have fun. Parents who are sure their girls are called to homemaking so "take a season to train in homemaking skills" - the season lasts their entire high school years and they've never once cracked a book. Definitly not what I would call responsible homeschooling- but then those kids aren't mine to school.

 

I loved what someone said over on the K-8th board, "Best advice you've recieved as a homeschooler: Keep your eyes on your own work." :001_smile:

[Peela]

I remember grammar, I remember my French verbs and masses of French vocabulary, I remember lots of Science, all from highschool...I dont agree kids just don't remember stuff from highschool. Sure they probably forget lots, but I do think it is still in there somewhere and much easier to recall or build on than if it were never studied at all.

There is always going to be different standards amongst homeschoolers, and you just have to learn to trust yourself and deal with any criticism as graciously as possible. Really, it is rude that people offer their opinion without it being asked for, anyway.

[Laura K (NC)]

The problem was that there were mommies in there teaching subjects they didn't know much about. In my experience that works well up through middle school, maybe 9th-10th grade, and with literature, history, logic, and rhetoric, but for foreign languages and math, it doesn't work. The boy in question did not have the proper preparation in science and math for his chosen major (engineering). Apologia is what they used at that time, I think, and it was not nearly the same as AP Physics B and C, which was what all the other successful engineering students were taking in high school in addition to AP Calculus AB and BC), and what her younger sons are doing now. None of her kids are in Classical Conversations anymore. But then, homeschoolers in our area have access to individual AP courses through the public schools, and they are tougher than community college classes (which we also have access to). Leigh Bortins used to live here, and my friend knew her well and taught in some of the classes until just a few years ago.

 

I myself have found Classical Conversations to be found wanting in more areas than math and science. But as this thread has illustrated, everyone homeschools differently and with different emphases. Classical Conversations might be just what your kids need, but it might not be a good fit for others.

[4wildberrys]

by a fellow homeschool mom. I am kind of getting frustrated with her and a few other moms.

 

They asked me specifically what I am doing with Biology and what my requirements are for my son. I told them that I give a vocab quiz, require that he does vocab flashcards which he has to turn them in to me, require him to do the learner journal (ala Teaching Company's "How to be a Superstar student"), require him to do a lab book which I grade (very very loosely here), require study guide questions and the module summary. That is it. I also teach some of the difficult sections of whatever module we are on.

 

She accused me of being way too hard on him. I told her that I did try the hands off approach and ds doesn't work that way. He works better when he has alot of pressure on him (from my dh and I). She said that at the struggling learner conference the speaker said that nobody remembers anything about Biology, Latin or grammar or whatever it is. She says to plod through and they will get it in college. I told her that I remember her saying that but my ds is not a struggling learner. He is plain lazy!! I have a child who is a struggling learner (my dd) and that is why I went to the confernece. I told her that what she said up there doesn't apply to every child. It only applies to those with learning disabilities.

 

My son is very very gifted but extremely lazy. He really needs to be pushed hard.

 

Anyway my feelings are being ruffled a bit when she was telling me all this. I really feel that she thinks I am taking my kids education too seriously than what I should. I told her that I am not homeschooling my kids to make it easy on them. I am homeschooling them to give them a much better education than they would get in the school system as well as a Biblical education.

 

Anybody been there heard that??

 

Holly (getting ready to write up another post)

 

Hmm--your son sounds like mine! But it is my kids that call me the slavedriver/mean :lol: I would just tell my friends "Thank You" the next time they criticized my hard work :glare: I think your hard work is intimidating to them, and they feel the need to put you down for it to make themselves feel better.

[dragons in the flower bed]

She said that at the struggling learner conference the speaker said that nobody remembers anything about Biology, Latin or grammar or whatever it is. She says to plod through and they will get it in college.

 

You know, often, people are not so much talking to you as to themselves. If this is how she justifies her own decisions with regards to her childrens' education, then it's going to be important to her to assert that it is true in the face of the evidence you and your son provide to the contrary.

[Mommyfaithe]

.

 

The other day a homeschool mom told me I was crazy for making my dd read the entire Iliad and Odyssey.

 

I want my dc to have a rigorous classical education. That is one of the reasons I homeschool, and can be hard to find friends IRL with that goal. That's why I have come to value the hive mind so much!

 

This is funny...because I guess I am such a meanie...my kids think reading the Odyssey and the Illiad are fun...no really...and you should have heard them beg me to read Beowulf in the dark again..hahahaha

 

Faithe

[NCMom]

The problem was that there were mommies in there teaching subjects they didn't know much about. In my experience that works well up through middle school, maybe 9th-10th grade, and with literature, history, logic, and rhetoric, but for foreign languages and math, it doesn't work. The boy in question did not have the proper preparation in science and math for his chosen major (engineering). Apologia is what they used at that time, I think, and it was not nearly the same as AP Physics B and C, which was what all the other successful engineering students were taking in high school in addition to AP Calculus AB and BC), and what her younger sons are doing now. None of her kids are in Classical Conversations anymore. But then, homeschoolers in our area have access to individual AP courses through the public schools, and they are tougher than community college classes (which we also have access to). Leigh Bortins used to live here, and my friend knew her well and taught in some of the classes until just a few years ago.

 

I myself have found Classical Conversations to be found wanting in more areas than math and science. But as this thread has illustrated, everyone homeschools differently and with different emphases. Classical Conversations might be just what your kids need, but it might not be a good fit for others.

 

Just to clarify... and wonder.

CC does not teach - it's a 1 day per week program were the material is presented. The parent teaches. This is made clear up-front. (We use it for the group experiences that we can get here much more cost effectively than online classes. We are fortunate that our tutor is a gem since there is no part-time access to public or private school.)

 

If moms teaching math and foreign language in high school doesn't work then how the heck do any of us get kids into college?:confused:

 

CC does not use Apologia for Physics and I'm ~fairly~ sure they never have. (I agree 100% that Apologia is weak which is why, should we continue on in CC we will do other science programs to replace or in addition to this one.)

 

No matter where your child is being educated, it is your responsibility to make sure they are prepared for the next step on their path.

 

My thoughts on the OP-do what works for the child. Ignore all other weirdness as best you can.:001_smile:

 

Georgia

[Storm Bay]

 

If moms teaching math and foreign language in high school doesn't work then how the heck do any of us get kids into college?:confused:

My thoughts on the OP-do what works for the child. Ignore all other weirdness as best you can.:001_smile:

 

Georgia

 

I think it can work, but you're not going to get the conversational aspects of the foreign language. Nathaniel Bowditch managed to teach himself Latin, among other languages. He did need help in pronouncing French, which he got from someone he helped, but not with Latin. Nowadays there are recordings for this, but you might not be able to have a conversation. He got so good at math (also self-taught, at least everything beyond basic arithmetic) & Latin he found errors in Newton's Principia (do I have that spelled correctly?) Granted, Bowditch was brilliant and motivated, but it can be done by others. And Latin often does count as a foreign language. Bowditch never even did high school and ended up with an honourary degree from Harvard.

 

As for math, some kids CAN learn it from well written books and/or CD Rom courses. I learned most of my highschool math that way. There's no hard and fast way that homeschooling high school has to be done. We won't be doing CC as there are none close enough. We do have the option of taking classes at the local high school, though, which not everyone has. We certainly can't afford $4K per year but plan on getting a great education, thanks to our great interlibrary loan system (we can renew and have books up to 8 weeks that way, then we can always put new holds on them if we have to return them. We'll still buy texts, etc.)