| Author |
Message |
    
Jo Dee (Jodee)
| | Posted on Monday, September 16, 2002 - 02:07 pm: |     |
1.
I found the comparison a bit humorous, sad, but humorous.
After reading SHFH, I also thought there was a "hands-off" approach for young children. But right after I read the book, I sent a request off to the Moore Foundation for a catalog. I then ordered Mrs. Moore's tape on children younger than 8-10. That cleared up my thinking right away.
2.
Working with your children on chores, in my opinion, is not mandatory once they do well on their own. That is the goal, isn't it? When a child is mature enough and physically able enough to do chores on their own, I think they should. Naturally, I think from time to time a helping hand is what is needed emotionally, for fellowship, for time to discuss things in a non-threatening way, and for just plain fun.
When I was pregnant this last time, there were many things I couldn't do because my stomach was sticking straight out and got in the way of many things. Being short made some things even more difficult. My children willingly volunteered to do things on their own. Now that they've had a taste of the independence, they enjoy it. Granted we will all do our own chores at the same time, and sometimes help each other, but we don't have to do the same thing together.
3.
Oops on Aaron! Opal doesn't have any chores right now except to be fun, learn to walk, and learn to not turn off the computer!
4.
We have no testing requirements in Texas. We don't even have to tell anyone we are homeschooling!
5.
Anchors are in place for rising and bedtime (these can be adjusted up to an hour, either direction, depending on if church was late the evening before - or if we have to get up earlier the next morning). We also have consistent mealtimes, which I will admit, become flexible when someone is ill, or when the baby starts to change her habits (nap and feeding time.)
Jo Dee |
Susan (Susan)
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2002 - 11:03 pm: | |
Dear Friends,
We have already talked about the Five Principles (or Anchors) of the Moore Formula. They were:
1. Scripture Memorization
2. Observations Skills
3. Work and Service Education
4. Building Skills
5. Guided Questioning
We've learned the difference between content subjects and skill subjects, and how to teach several children at once using unit studies, how to create a unit study, and how to incorporate most of our subjects into these units of study in a very low-stress way, how to group two or more children together on projects and reports, and how to record our work to show what we have accomplished.
We've covered preschoolers, and how to incorporate them into our schooling.
Several people have voiced this concern, however: "Okay, I understand how to put together a unit of study, and how to record what we have done, but how do I know what type and how much work to require of each of my children? They are in different grades, and I am afraid I might be too easy on the older ones or too difficult with the younger ones."
The next 4 sections deal with elementary through high school age groups. The first two cover elementary, the third covers jr. high and the fourth, high school.
In this overview, I am going to cover the first section, the primary grades, and the next installment will cover the upper elementary. Since these are the two groups over which most of the children in this group are represented, and usually the two groups most likely to be working together most of the time, we'll take a short break between these two sections and the next two and discuss how to choose appropriate activities from these given topic lists and the "show what we know" lists for each child so that we know the work for each is appropriate, yet related to each other so that we are all working on different aspects of the same unit study.
Not only do I have a child in each of these two age groups, but my children's abilities span both grade groups as well. My daughter is lower in math skills, but ahead in reading skills, while my son is the opposite, doing fourth grade math but first grade reading.
Now, the nice thing about these sections is that all four tell us what to expect as far as skills from these age groups, how long lessons should be, what type of content subjects should be covered, and there is a list of ways for the children to "show what they know" for us to assess their comprehension of the material covered. The junior high school and high school levels also help us assess time spent in subjects for credits, how to calculate them and assign values to work completed for high school students.
That said, let's begin this section.
Quote from first page:
"If young children, 5-8 should not be pressured with traditional schooling, does that mean I will do nothing at all?"
"It means you'll work at your child's development level, rather than placing him in a classroom mold."
I think we all know that already, don't we? By this section, we have figured out how the Moores feel about formal education for young children. But the nuts and bolts may still be eluding us, so we shall go through this section carefully, although some of it may sound repetitious.
First, the next two pages, D-1 and D-2, give us a comparison and definitions of the terms "traditional education" and "creative education".
Traditional education means using a "set" curriculum (what I call a "curriculum in a can") with a formula for teaching that is applied to every child, regardless of learning strengths or differences, to achieve a predetermined result. The end product is a "worker bee" for society, carefully molded to fit the norm. The traditional education requires that the student sit down at a desk, complete the assignments and fill in the workbooks. Parents measure learning by how much work is completed. Child is made to finish the book rather than explore own interests. Learning is confined to "school time" and child is taught that learning is something that is done TO him, so he becomes increasingly dependent. Parents constantly feel the pressure to complete the curriculum, and push the child, who in turn stresses out, and there is constant friction and resistance from the child.
Creative education means allowing your child to develop at his own pace, freedom to explore all areas of interest, and change interests as they like, ask questions, and learn by doing! This method allows a child to mature into his skills, rather than being pushed into them in a stressful manner that actually may hinder learning, and destroy the joy found in learning something new. The young child being taught in a creative education environment is working alongside the parents throughout the day. The parent measures progress by child's motivation and eagerness, questions, and projects.
So what do we do, then? Pay attention to our child's interests, involve him in our work, and recognize that learning is taking place, and document it.
Page D-3 is a Sample Conventional Homeschool Program for Children under 8 to 9 years of Age
9:00 Bible (stories, felts, puppets, fingerplays, songs)
9:30 hands-on math (in the kitchen or workshop, while shopping or doing chores)
10:00 recess
10:10 Language arts (read alouds, word games, child-created stories dictated to parent, talking while working together to develop language skills and organizational thinking skills)
10:50 Science (collect things on walks, visit zoo, farm, aquarium, keep track of the weather, talk about different parts of the body and how to stay healthy, read nature stories.)
11:20 Recess
11:30 Creative Arts
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Storytime/Rest
2:30 Practical Arts (woodworking, gardening, cooking, baking, etc.)
3:30 Social Studies (while running errands to the store, post office, bakery, doctor, take the kids with you.
In reality, according to Mrs. Moore, this schedule is too structured, but would be fine as a general schedule to present to school officials if they require one, but the basic curriculum should be one of bible study, nature study, work and life experiences. She also tells us to list educational aids, enrichment experiences, etc.
We are warned not to let anyone test our children until the age of 10 or so, or until after they have had at least one or two years of formal schooling.
Traditional Learning is not the same as what the Moores call "formal learning". Formal learning can be begun at age 9-10 (unit studies, instruction in skill subjects), but Traditional Learning should never be a part of our children's curriculum.
Page D-4 is the "Recipe for Traditional Learning (or how to stunt creativity, thinking skills, and a love of learning)" Very good example of creative writing, and basically describes a typical education in a public school. Very tongue-in-cheek, slightly sarcastic, and we are told to follow this recipe if we would like either a rebellious frustrated child or an unthinking robot.
Page D-5 is the "Recipe for Creative Learning (or how to facilitate happy, self-directed learners)" which is written in the same style as the previous page, but describes a child who is nurtured in God's word and God's creation, allowed to follow his interests, and taught the value of work and service. This will produce a child who is motivated, happy, loves God, serves others, and will pass on this heritage to his children.
Pages D-6 through D-9 give us instructions and a blank form for developing a daily schedule with the anchors we have mentioned so many times before, regular bed time, waking time, rest, devotions, and meal times. To this schedule we add our household responsibilities, service projects, and lastly, school work. The anchors do not change from day to day, while the work, service, and school work may vary. The learning should be kept casual, fun, and active.
Page D-9 gives us approximate time allotments for subject areas, which we have also discussed before. For this age group, only about 15 to 20 minutes per subject, and only about 10 minutes for penmanship. Most subjects are to be covered within our units of study, and science, social studies, and health are covered in blocks of study. The length of these blocks of learning will vary depending upon content, projects, field trips, etc.
Page D-10 is Education from Daily Happenings (Recognize and Document) This page gives some examples of daily learning experiences, and how to record them for school records. The example given is the child asking the question "How does the vacuum work?" and all the experiments that can result from that question. Then talking about other types of hoses, what they are for, siphoning, suction, etc. Another example given of children using maps, compasses, etc. to track a family road trip.
Pages D-11 through D19 are a list of learning objectives (what some of us call a scope and sequence list) for grades K-3. The list is not broken down into each grade level, on purpose, because children develop different skills at different levels. Basically, by the time the child finishes third grade, he should have covered most of these areas. I don't really think I can list them out for you without infringing on the Moores copyright of the Manual. The basic subjects are all covered though, Bible, History, Science, Reading and Language Arts, Mathematics.
Pages D-20 through D24 is the section on "Ways We Learn and Show What We Know". Several examples are given for each of these categories: Identify, Illustrate, Demonstrate, Communicate, Create, Analyze, and Organize.
These are to be used instead of writing reports and answering multiple choice questions on tests. Things like making a diorama of a scene in a favorite Bible story, using a yardstick to measure, writing a letter to Grandma, drawing a picture, making a clay model, labeling a leaf collection, etc.
D-25 and D-26: The most important part of our child's education comes next, and it is "Activities to Promote Spiritual Development of Children (ages 5-8)". Bible stories, discussions about physical laws being "pictures" of spiritual laws, exploring themes of bible stories such as creation, God's love, forgiveness, etc. and related projects.
D-27 through D-29 is about creative writing, and basically how we should be taking down their stories in dictation form for the non-readers and non-writers, and a good way of helping the child ready to begin writing by having the child draw a picture, then tell you about it, and you write down the words on separate pieces of paper, and as you ask more questions about the picture, add more description as the child tells you about it. Then help the child arrange the pieces of paper underneath the picture and glue them down. Expand on this as the child is ready, moving from this to writing directly on the paper, and increasing from one sentence to two and three, then more.
Page D-30 is about making books with our children. (Sonja's favorite activity, right?). Have the child dictate a story about the subject being studied. The add a few of the child's drawings to it. Make a cover with construction paper, and have the child think of a title for it. Bind it with yarn, a plastic spine, or at the copy shop.
Another idea is to make the book in the shape of the thing being studied, such as a whale or a flower or an apple or a truck.
As the child progresses from dictating stories to writing them himself, we are reminded that phonetic spelling is normal, and is part of the learning process. Use some of the words for spelling lessons later on. This uses a child's own experiences and writing to teach reading, writing, and spelling.
Page D-31 deals with Work and Service for the small child. This is mainly done within the home environment, and is the training for later work skills outside the home. Work with the child on tasks rather than sending him off alone. This should be established before worrying about school subjects. Small businesses such as baking cookies to sell to friends or dad's co-workers, and figuring out the math involved to make a small profit are all part of the "curriculum".
Other ideas for work-service include writing thank you notes, playing with a mentally challenged neighbor, reading to an elderly neighbor, planting or hoeing a garden, sorting laundry, setting the table, etc.
D-32 and D-33 is the list of activities to develop fine motor skills. We've already talked of these.
D-34 is about Grades or Rewards. We are told that children like to be rewarded for work well done, so let him choose a sticker or other small reward.
Why Grade at all? The Moores suggest O for outstanding, S for satisfactory, SM for satisfactory progress according to child's maturity. If he cannot at least obtain Satisfactory, then the subject matter is probably not right for him, and he needs more time to mature before further instruction in that area.
Competition: Avoid it. Do not compare one child with another. The child's self-worth should be built upon how special they are to God, not how much better they are than Johnny or Sally. A delayed skill does not mean less ability when grown. Children do enough comparing of themselves to others on their own, without having it emphasized by the adults they care about as well.
Okay, so discussion/confession time begins....
1. Those of you with manuals, did you find the little "recipes" for Traditional versus Creative education helpful or amusing? I always thought, from reading SHFH and their other books like BLTE, the Moores meant "traditional" when they referred to "formal" schooling. This cleared up my mind on this subject. Now I realize they meant any "formal" instruction in the skills, not "traditional school".
One thing I always wanted to know, though, was that from reading their books before I got the Manual, I thought they felt school was fine after about the age of 10 or 11. And certainly their books never discussed home schooling teens, so I never considered that I would home school past elementary school level. Have they changed their views about school? Or did I misinterpret the books from the beginning? After corresponding with the Moore Foundation about this, it appears that at first the Moores did think that putting the children in school after about age 12 was ok, but given the unGodly state of our public schools, they have withdrawn that view and now think that homeschooling is best through high school.
2. I have a confession: I don't work with my children on most chores. I know I *should*, but usually they do them independently. I used to, but have fallen into the habit lately of saying, "Go do this or that" instead of "Let's do...". Now that they are capable of doing the jobs themselves, I don't spend the time together working with them as I should.
3. Another confession: Aaron has NO chores. Can you believe it? By the time he came along, all the chores were assigned and done well by the older kids, and I just totally dropped the ball on chores for him. Now he thinks he shouldn’t *have* to do them. Some serious training needs to take place.
4. “We are warned not to let anyone test our children until the age of 10 or so, or until after they have had at least one or two years of formal schooling.”
I tested Sarah when she was 9, at the end of third grade. The only reason I did it was to see where she was academically, and to help her get over her fear of testing. Since we have religious exemption, we are not required to test, but many VA hsers are.
But many states require testing of homeschoolers, even first graders, at the end of the school year. So how do we get out of it if it is a requirement? In VA we are allowed to either have an evaluation by a certified teacher, or submit a portfolio of schoolwork to the state that demonstrates ability in all subjects. What do you all do about testing?
5. ANCHORS: “Pages D-6 through D-9 give us instructions and a blank form for developing a daily schedule with the anchors...”
Okay, who has anchors in place? We've been talking about this for a couple of months now. I am STILL struggling to keep them in place, partially because it was summer and we were hanging out more and doing more things on the spur of the moment, and partially because I never really truly got them in place in the first place!
6. Page D-9 gives us approximate time allotments for subject areas. This I really like, although we don't always stick to it, except for instruction in skill subjects. I tend to blend our other things into our unit study. I liked not having to force the children to do 45 minutes of math a day, or spend 30 minutes per subject so that we get our alloted “5 hours” of school-at-home done. How freeing to only have to spend 1.5 hours per day on school, and yet know that they are getting a GREAT education without all that busywork!
7. “Page D-10 is Education from Daily Happenings (Recognize and Document) This page gives some examples of daily learning experiences, and how to record them for school records...” I REALLY like this idea, as I like the fact that my kids are learning all the time, and that it COUNTS!
8. Pages D-11 through D19 are a list of learning objectives.
This is good, since it is spread over 4 years, it is very "do-able", in my humble opinion, yet it is a way of checking things off, measuring progress, and feeling like we are moving "forward" with our schooling. I need to feel like I will have something to show for this period of informal schooling...
This list of learning objectives kept me from panicking (most of the time)because I knew we had a plan and a goal and a path we were walking.
9 Pages D-20 through D24 is the section on "Ways We Learn and Show
What We Know". Did anyone else breathe a sigh of relief here? I am glad that there are 150 other things to do besides trying to make up multiple choice tests for my kids ;-)
Any other observations and comments from y'all? Don't be shy, speak right up! |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page