Road Scholas

Show your children democracy in action, rather than democracy inaction: Take them to a political rally!

Perhaps rather insensibly, but with a great sense of spontaneity and duty, I've organized a road trip up to Washington, D.C. to attend Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. Sarabelle, Grice, and another friend are all licensed drivers which will make the trip so much easier, and we still have room for one or two more.

This should be great fun. And so educational!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
March to Keep Fear Alive
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Floating along

Not completely slacking, contrary to the prior post, as a little time travel through my calendar and email accounts shows that we actually have had a few quality lessons lately...

Grice had to attend and critique a live concert performance for her dual enrollment music appreciation course. Fortunately for us, our local symphony had one last show, "Classical Spice," before the end of the season, featuring Bizet's "Carmen," Ravel's "Bolero," Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez," and, what turned out to be our favorite, Gershwin's "Cuban Overture." We arrived an hour early for the pre-show lecture where we were introduced to several of the unusual horns used in "Bolero" and the 19-year old special guest harpist, Greta Ásgeirsson, whose instrument was once owned by Harpo Marx and used in the movie A Night at the Opera (Becky, I thought of you!) The best part was that our little local symphony has free admission for children with a paid adult, not one child per adult either. I took my three girls and the older two's best buddies for the price of my ticket alone, a very reasonable $30.00. I will definitely be supporting this cultural gem next season.



Another great night, and school-based event, was a picnic under the stars. The Parent Teacher Organization invited the collegiate high school students and their families to enjoy some food and games and then a telescope viewing and highly entertaining lecture from the astronomy professor at the college's observatory.

The next bit of 'accidental' learning came by way of this terrific resource, BANG! The Universe Verse Book 1. Author Jamie Dunbar explains the origins of our universe with comic book-like illustrations and Seuss-like verse and has graciously made it available for free. Anything that makes science so accessible and fun for the kids while helping science-challenged me get it as well gets two big thumbs up. I'm looking forward to enjoying Jamie's other titles.

Jorge traveled down to Haiti. I'd like to say it was for purely humanitarian reasons, but that's only if you count trying to keep our own head above water altruistic and charitable. He headed down looking for work and to try and help, stimulating the economy as he went. We've always been interested in Haitian art and he just could not refuse this strange post-earthquake canvas from the poor artist who chased him down the street. It was only later Jorge's traveling companion looked at the painting more closely and noticed the bodies. Like a tragic Highlights hidden picture, we've found three so far.



Plans were to return soon with Elle -- we both think a dose of third world reality will make her less susceptible to any princess tendencies; unlike her sisters she was too young to remember Belize -- after determining the risks involved (it is both very safe and terribly unsafe at the same time.) Instead Jorge is being redirected to Nashville where one of his brother's real estate investments is currently under the Cumberland River.

And I overcame my hesitation about gun-toting crazies and stopped in at our town's Tax Day Tea Party for a little education of my own. Because, really, who could resist rubbing elbows with the likes of these people?



The fun began with an introduction disavowing the evil left's charges of racism, an introduction met with hearty cheers and lots of flag waving (including one from the oh, so obviously not local, Culpeper militia), but as the first guest began to speak, a heavily accented Cuban immigrant campaigning for a spot on a future ticket testifying to his firsthand account of the horrors of socialism and communism, members of the group next to me murmured, "Is he even a 'Merican citizen?!" and when the second campaigner got up there, a black man from Miami, they stomped off in disgust.

The Washington Post

It's interesting having notable neighbors. Not celebrities, but Googleable, and in some cases, Wikipedia-listed personalities.

Like our current landlord/mortgage holders, a former senator and UNESCO education director and his museum director wife; and our old island next-door neighbor who is more notorious than famous for her real estate shenanigans.

And then we have our new island next-door neighbors. He being Army Corps brass and she being a, well, here are just a few highlights from her webpage:

"...architect of Heritage's 2008 national radio campaign with Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and the 2009 partnership with Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh."

"...vice president of communications for WorldNetDaily.com"

"named one of the nation's "Top Ten Evangelical Women," and one of the 12 "Great American Conservative Women."

Oh, give me strength.

Safeguarding Marriage...

...From the Evils of Divorce:

RescueMarriage.org

I do?

I will!

Health Care

It's been dead silent for several days on a certain Yahoo group since my last few remarks. In my typical passive-aggressive way I replied to a message, one of the increasingly irritating partisan posts, one marked "I don't usually foward to my entire mailbox but this is to [sic] important". I knew the original comment was off-topic and out-dated, being a link to a YouTube video that has made the rounds for some time already, but I channeled a little Howard Beale, stuck my neck out, and let them know, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

In a nice way, of course.

Mr. Rogers's remarks are full of exaggeration, and rather than pick apart his every fabrication, acknowledging the original bill has undergone revision, I tried to make a few simple points:

The 15% of uninsured Rogers refers to includes the hardworking self-employed, not only the welfare "weak" (who, incidentally, already receive health care through Medicare and Medicaid.)

Against the idea of government subsidized health care? What about veterans, civil service employees, and anyone receiving Social Security disability payments who already benefit from various plans?

The insurance companies obviously don't want to forfeit any profits and are lobbying hard to kill any public program. Why support their greed?

Got yourself a nice 9-5 with adequate health insurance? Good for you. Why not make an affordable government public OPTION available to the remaining uninsured? Why punish the rest of us?

Maybe they're thinking about it...

Private School

So I'm a bit of a procrastinator. It was back in early '05 I started tossing around the idea of establishing my own private school, essentially an umbrella school as allowed by the Florida State statutes, out of sheer annoyance at jumping through homeschool hoops. Sure, Florida is minimally intrusive, a letter signifying your intent to homeschool and a yearly portfolio review or submission of standardized testing results plus a letter terminating your home education program, but we moved around a lot and registering, unregistering, re-registering, hoping the newest batch of county officials wouldn't overstep their bounds, and keeping track of heaps of papers, most of which invariably ended up in storage at the bottom of an enormous stack of boxes in the garage, got to be tiresome. With the additional complications and costs involved in securing non-profit status and incorporation, and difficulties experienced by another friend attempting to set up her own umbrella school, I got discouraged. After a while, when I was confident I sorta kinda knew what I was doing as far as homeschooling went, and had standardized test scores to back me up (for all the doubters out there), as well as having the added advantage of Permanent Australian Resident status to confuse and confound the authorities, I let the idea lapse and we simply dropped off the homeschool radar entirely (at least until we got to Australia, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Now though, with Sarabelle preparing for college, our conversations with college admissions officers over the acceptance of courses taken in a home education program have been varied and frustrating. The officer at one of her preferred schools was skeptical about the idea and indicated they would readily accept a homeschool diploma certified by the state or county board of education (no such thing in Florida) or a GED. However, in Charlotte County, any student under the age of 18 interested in taking the GED first has to obtain a special waiver, attend a career counseling meeting, and take a pre-test. Based on the results of the pre-test, tutoring may be required before the student is permitted to sit the actual GED exam. Even if the student in question plans not to drop-out but to go directly to an institution of higher learning. Idiotic. Would the prospective college have any problem accepting a student from a small, unaccredited private school? Not at all. Thus the renewed interest in the umbrella school.

I initially looked into joining my local friend's pagan unschooling group which had a low fee but has since closed, and more recently planned to sign Sarabelle and Elle up (since they've been picked up on the county radar) at Florida Unschoolers, Nance Confer's most generous free umbrella (with the best acronym around), but with both groups I felt like an imposter. As much as I love the idea of unschooling, I am too uptight to let go completely. I have been known to cast all books aside as any more interesting learning opportunity presents itself, but still prefer to rely on classical materials. My preferred methodology comes a la Ben Franklin, where students get basic instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic but are still free to follow their interests and play and experiment, picking up those more difficult but necessary books later, at their own pace.

I was all concerned about the name once upon a time. Now, though it's terribly redundant for anyone who knows what "schola" means, it looks like it'll probably be Schola Classical Academy, the name I hastily filled in on the department of education's online form. Maybe it'll impress some admissions officer somewhere, without deterring anyone not following a hardcore classical program. And I can't wait to specify "Not Applicable" under the Denomination heading. Our motto, since every good school should have one: Cave Ab Homine Unius Libri, Beware the Man of One Book.

My special thanks to Nance, who has been helping me navigate the governmental stumbling blocks that discouraged me the last time around. I hope to have this thing off the ground shortly.

Tea

Well, after spending one half an hour looking for a parking spot and then walking toward what we determined was the crowd gathered at one end of the park, we were surprised to find ourselves at an outdoor bar and grill. The only demonstration had been at the entrance to the parking lot where a group of about 100 people were carrying protest posters. One bubbly old lady thanked my kids for paying her bills which amused them. But that was it.

We enjoyed a nice walk along the Sarasota waterfront in absolutely perfect Florida winter weather and consoled ourselves with a take-out lunch from the nearby Whole Foods Market.

I was there merely as an observer. I'm inclined to think some sort of bailout may be necessary at this point, but certainly not the free-for-all currently being legislated. I'd prefer Americans just toughen up and ride out the storm. This from someone who admittedly feels no economic pinch. Yet. I think a free market is really our best option and have the sneaking suspicion we may be selling our children into slavery.

Tea Party, Anyone?

I have to take Sarabelle to the doctor this afternoon at 3:30, but the kids and I are going to try to be there, at either the Fort Myers or Sarasota location. I can't believe there are three within a relatively short drive from our house.

Insane

Via Joanne Jacobs:

Are books dangerous?

I plan to continue exposing my children to these potentially lethal items. Does this make me a criminal?

Blowing Sunshine

From a posting on our local support group:

Governor Charlie Crist invites Florida students to participate in the Florida Sunshine Week essay contest. The essay contest is open to all Florida school students in grades 9-12, and winners will be notified the week of March 9, 2009.

The first place winner will receive a $3,500 scholarship, the second place winner will receive a $2,000 scholarship, and third place will receive a $1,500 scholarship. All winners will be invited to attend an event at the Governor's Mansion.

The essay topic is: "Describe the various public records available under Florida's open government laws and how access to these records strengthens citizens' civil rights and liberties." For more information, visit: http://www.flgov.com/og_sunshine


I guess they're not talking about the right to privacy...

Yes we can.

That’s the true genius of America, that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

I voted early. After my absentee ballot went off in the post I had weeks to second guess my third-part candidate decision, weeks to worry whether my vote would be tossed out for any number of unethical reasons, weeks to wring my hands as it appeared the dreaded McCain might be closing in on Obama, and weeks to plead Obama's case, refuting family and friends' weak arguments, appealing for an anti-McCain vote to any one of the other presidential hopefuls:

Pro-life? Why support a man who intends to occupy Iraq until all threats are gone? One hundred years is a long time. How could you vote for the candidate that jokes about bombing Iran? Personally, I don't like the idea of abortion, but I believe that in America, a free country, a woman should have the right to decide what to do with her own body. Freedom of religion means freedom from religion as well. That's what our country was truly founded on.

Upset that Obama won't wear a flag pin on his lapel? Or won't place his hand on his heart during the pledge? Since when did that become a requirement? Doesn't living in a free country give you the right not to? I don't pledge my allegiance to a 100% 2-ply, spun woven polyester piece of fabric. Or a 200 Denier Nylon weave. Or even a 100% heavyweight cotton bunting, for that matter. Nor the republic, a governmental entity, for which it stands. I do pledge allegiance to the idea of liberty and justice for all, it just doesn't require my chest-thumping avowal.

Against redistributing the wealth? What about compassion and love for the least of our brothers? Afraid of socialism? You should be more afraid of theocracy.

Not going to vote for a black guy? At least you're honest. There are other candidates.

On numerous occasions I've bitched about the lack of freedoms and abuses of power here in Australia, a constitutional democracy with socialist tendencies, but I admit to enjoying the benefits as well. It's a fairly good blend of ideologies here, but America has the added benefit of a Bill of Rights -- as watered down as those rights have become lately -- that will continue to protect our essential freedoms. It's not all black and white, people. I believe America can find a happy shade of gray between the absolutes of democracy and communism. Like Obama stated in his first speech as president-elect, America re-invents itself constantly. That's what makes it a great country.

It's time to start perfecting that union.

Skeptical

A response to the senders of the excessively stupid and numerous emails clogging my inbox:

Recommendations Concerning the Upcoming Presidential Election

1) Check your sources. Bill Cosby didn't say that. And neither did Andy Rooney. Ditto for the Book of Revelations. Snopes.com is a good place to start. You know Snopes, it's the link I send in response to most of your emails. Bookmark it and use it before you think about forwarding some piece of bigotted hate mail to me. Snopes advises you don't simply rely on them either. Do your homework. Find primary sources to check the veracity of these stories. Don't bear false witness.

2) Think about it. If Revelations, the prophecy told to John by Jesus, is true, the Antichrist will be a world leader come to power after fooling everyone with talk of peace. If you vote for McCain, then he is the Antichrist and has fooled you as well. If you think Obama is the Antichrist and are voting for McCain in order to defeat the wicked one, then you must believe you can alter God's pre-ordained plan. See you in Hell!

3) Stay home November 4th.

Grade 3 - The Reality

This is barely recognizable as the Grade 3 Plan, altered as it has been from the time it was first submitted to the authorities to the time real life kicked in, like now, during her spontaneous trip to Florida with her father. I should have definitely included the coda at the end of last year's proposed plan: Or not, and will be sure it makes it into this year's written review.

We stuck to the basic idea of using relatively few classic, if not purely classical materials, quality versus quantity and depth versus breadth still our goal, and much was left unplanned for those fascinating rabbit trails to lead us off on tangents, but the exact materials varied quite a bit from the ones originally stated.

First of all, I found it tiresome and trying to mesh all her language arts with whatever books we were reading at the time. I'm not interested in creating a curriculum from scratch (not anymore, anyway.) And besides that, I've decided Charlotte Mason pretty much matches my preferred style of teaching and Elle's preferred style of learning: Short, gentle instruction; not boring her to tears over-analyzing an otherwise enjoyable tale. I say 'pretty much' because we are adapting it for our own purposes following The Well Trained Mind's four-year chronological history plan, but remaining a bit looser than Ms. Mason would probably have preferred. Becky at Farm School gets the credit for that. Out with the Harvey's and in with the First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 3, a book that works well within a Charlotte Mason framework, particularly for a child like mine who enjoys workbooks. The grammar lessons are short and incorporate usage, mechanics, diagramming, memorizing selections of poetry, copywork, dictation, and narration. Most importantly for her, there was not a lot of writing. We had done the first book (covering First and Second Grades) orally so she was familiar with the program. Elle needed a separate, specific spelling program. Trying to manage something on my own was too scattershot for my not-quite-natural speller, so instead of re-researching every single last option I just went with Spelling Workout which we'd used before. Level C was a good fit and she likes it because it's a workbook. The Commonplace Book is now dedicated to her non-schoolwork journal writing.

We read Andrew Lang's Fairy books as planned, but I switched to Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and added Otto of the Silver Hand because the library had the first one and I had the second one. Our little local council recently merged with the big city council and access to a really good library system seems to be the only benefit to the amalgamation so far, but I'm very pleased. The new and improved library enabled us to supplement with many more topical books than I originally planned. We might get to Pyle's The Story of King Arthur and His Knights when she gets back.

Where we did stick to the plan was with Latin. She finished Prima Latina and is ready to begin Latina Christiana I.

Math-U-See Alpha was completed but we haven't even begun Beta. We'll pick this up when she gets back and move through it quickly enough to get her into Saxon 5/4 by early next year. She doesn't care for the manipulatives and I don't care for the constant reminders to "use the blocks!"

We're nearly at the halfway point in the Story of the World 2, and we'll keep going until we finish it.

Tennis lessons never materialized after our coach hurt his back. Elle dropped Aikido, deciding one day she hated it and didn't want to go back. Exercise and socializing was instead unstructured and took place at friends' houses and playgrounds. We still play chess. She can beat me. Maybe when she gets back, if we can coordinate it with Sarabelle's afterschool activities to save on fuel, she could take gymnastics or dance down in town.

I am ultimately flexible. It will be fun to see how well the authorities deal with spontaneity and deviation.

Hmmmm...

The clock is running. Thirty seconds to explain who I’m voting for.

To be honest, I don’t know yet. I’m one of those accused of throwing my vote away, voting my conscience rather than for the lesser of two evils, for the candidate I believe most likely to avert disaster politically, economically, socially, and ecologically; restore our freedoms; and protect our rights.

I don’t want a dream of change (that’s what concerns me about a certain candidate that sounds too good to be true), I want real change. Big change. Can you affect that from within the same old oligarchical system? I’m doubtful.

So here I sit, a No Party Affiliation libertarian-leaning voter, on the other side of the planet, away from the media saturation and drama, all sound bites and spin doctors, studying voting records, comparing stances on issues, analyzing the choices of respected peers...

...and while I can’t decide yet who will get my vote, it sure will not be this guy.

Tax Day

Generally I am the sort of person who upon receiving my W-2 or 1099 forms has her return in the mail to the IRS the very same day, so replying at such a late date to the Thinking Parents Wiki has me feeling like the time I sat in line in my car at the post office at 11:57 PM to personally hand my husband's return to the poor postal slob on duty that night. Yeah. I file separately. You can probably see why.

The short answer to the question is, yes, relative to the services we receive from the government we do pay too much in taxes.

We live in Florida. Aside from the sub-prime debacle and the general sluggish national real estate market, Florida has the added burden of sky high property taxes affecting real estate sales. Homestead exemptions reduce tax valuations on a primary residence by $25,000 (for typical owners) and lock in a low maximum 3% annual increase, which is wonderful if you've owned your home for years, but not so wonderful if you're buying these days. The exemption does not transfer over with the property to new owners so they get socked with taxes based on the new, much higher rates. That sure won't speed along any recovery.

Let's see, county taxes on my primary residence support roads, water, sewer, garbage collection, schools, emergency services, all average, nothing special.

But.

We also own another teeny house in the same county. It was our primary residence for years. It's on a boat-only island. There are no roads, water, sewer, garbage collection, schools, or emergency services. Sure, the Sheriff will show up sooner or later if there's a big problem, but if someone needs immediate medical attention, you had better hope you fueled up the boat and the weather holds. There are no county facilities for home owners to access the mainland, meaning we pay for boat slips at local (expensive) marinas over and above the taxes for non-existent services, where at least most of us can access dumpsters for trash disposal. Because this teeny house is waterfront, we pay the same amount in taxes as the bigger house on the dry lot. The county occasionally proposes special new taxes to help establish some of services that we already pay for and don't have out there. Luckily for us they're a rather backward lot.

On a federal level, we pay more for the option of filing married but separately and for not bothering with deductions. It's lazy. It's simple. It's our choice. We pay more than our fair share and we ask nothing in return.

But.

We are also permanent residents of Australia. We rent but do own some investment property that we pay local council rates on. It's inexpensive and a bargain for the infrastructure involved. On a federal level, tax laws in both countries have us paying income tax on any income earned in either country. Money we make in Australia gets taxed as income to us in Australia and in the US. Money made in the US gets taxed as income to us in the US and Australia. Even though we can only earn and live and spend in one country at a time. Fortunately, in one respect, we haven't made much money in Australia. The general income tax rate is around 30%, but with a little bit of legal wangling we can reduce it to nearly half that. Here though, we have free health care and that makes all the difference. Say what you will about socialized medicine (but maybe watch Sicko first), whatever we pay in taxes here is worth it. Three trips to the emergency room for kids' stitches and one overnight with follow-up testing for me in a two month stretch would have been a huge hit to us in the States, being self-employed and uninsured. But here? No charge. Just part of what every Australian is entitled to. What we pay here is very fair compared with the services we receive, if only the IRS didn't have its greedy mitts out too.

Happy April 15, everyone.

Teaching to the Test

The letter came in the mail detailing the procedure for Elle's manadatory participation in the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy for Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. She will sit the test at the public school she briefly attended May 13, 14, and 15.

The information listed several websites for sample questions and instructions, so I took a look, because not much can make me as a home educator as anxious as the idea of standardized testing when we ourselves are not standardized, and I wanted to see if the material we have been covering matches what is on the exam.

Of course it doesn't.

The first day's work, Language Conventions, is comprised of 50 questions, half on grammar and punctuation, the other half on spelling. The grammar and punctuation part might be a bit of a challenge because we are not following the same scope and sequence, but nothing we can't brush up on. The spelling part? Gah. Elle is not a natural speller. I've only been lucky enough to have one of those so far, Sarabelle, who led me into a false sense of security that all children, or at least those of my genesis, would pick up spelling as readily as I did. Not to mention, should there be any on this test, I'm sure she will suffer for her Americanization of certain words. Instructions to identify the word "spelt" incorrectly may have her scratching her head. Next up is the writing test. Students have 35 minutes to compose a story on a given topic. If they can read her chicken scratch (we are working on penmanship though she constantly lapses back into a bizarre monkey-like grip, an on-going battle for the past three years) she might be alright except that telling her a topic to write on is to her mind less an instruction than a mere jumping-off point. Why do I have to write about my first day on Mars? Can my story be about a scary birthday present a little girl gets? What if her birthday party is on Mars? Or! I know, a story about Lulu flying a plane? No? But what if Lulu flies a plane to Mars? Where is the test for negotiation skills I wonder.

Teaching tips for instructors suggest, "Children can prepare for this kind of writing task by learning how to 'read like a writer'. During reading lessons, explore the stance writers take and the choices they make about subject matter and how it is organised. For example, they can identify how a textbook uses nominalisation." There are so many problems with those three brief sentences: Aside from British spellings and the obvious directive to teach to the test and the reliance on textbooks, there is the recommendation to help them identify nominalizations. Grammatical or lexical? Isn't this a bit arbitrary and advanced? Do you know what a nominalization is? Is there any indication that good writers should avoid them? Not on the one webpage, an amateurish uncredited page with a lesson on the water cycle, given as an example. It would have been interesting to see what the other two websites given as examples were all about, but both .edu sites (one Miami University in Ohio) were dead links.

The next day is a reading test, basic comprehension, 35-40 multiple choice and a few fill-in-the-blanks. The hardest part will be staying inside the lines filling in bubbles.

Finally, numeracy. Again with the different scope and sequence. I'll try to pass on a few tips for solving some of the problem types we haven't come to yet, try the sample test questions, yes, teach to the test in other words, but honestly, her best is good enough for me.

But here's the rub. Should she do her best and not come up to measurably approved standards, there is the implied threat that she could be forcibly returned to school. This doesn't concern me too much, because the time it takes to make things happen here is often protracted and nothing a legal advocate couldn't slow down even further, and by then we'd probably be back in Florida anyway, but what about the other unfortunate homeschoolers stuck in this situation?

And what about the kids regularly attending school who don't perform to the standards? What is their punishment?

Approval

It is always a pleasant and wonderful experience when I call our friends' house. Good afternoon! D______ speaking! or Hello, _______ residence, B_______ speaking! Growing up we were always instructed to be cautious, never identify yourself, and so my children answer the phone, as I was taught, with a simple but cordial, Hello?

Or at least they did until the other day when Elle picked up the phone and sweetly blurted out Who is this? Where that came from I don't know. I startled her with shrieked corrections Hello! Who's calling, please! and she managed to pass me the phone with a quizzical look and a timid Here she is...

The woman on the other end commented that my daughter sounded "lovely" on the phone. I apologized for her uncharacteristic bluntness and she laughed saying that at the last number she had called a little boy answered the phone with a curt Hang on! and then promptly disconnected her. She then introduced herself as the official from the home education department calling to follow up on our application. Of course.

She had a few areas of concern: how I would exactly describe our plan, and where was the science. As it was all in the painstakingly detailed package I submitted, I patiently re-explained that it was to be classically based, but interest-led. Apart from observing nature, we don't do a formal science program, it falls in with our regular studies (the example I wrote of described a day of spontaneous experiments on water displacement after reading Aesop's "The Crow and the Vase.") She was all too happy to offer materials and I readily accepted realizing she was not forcing any particular study on us because she felt ours inadequate, but because she sincerely wanted to assist. Satisfied that she had filled her obligations, my cooperation virtually assured our stamp of approval.

We had a friendly chat in which she confirmed my suspicions about staff changes causing a backlog and apologized for delays, and I asked about the status of the state advisory committee. She said she couldn't really discuss it, but mentioned it is not moving along as swiftly as they had hoped with higher-ups dragging their feet.

A package with science materials and our certificate of approval is in the mail.

Grade 3 - The Plan

Below is the plan as submitted to the state authorities in our homeschool renewal application. I neglected to add the following coda to the end of the report: Or not.


Educational Program for [Elle]
Application for Registration for Home Education
Item 6


SUMMARY:

We have chosen to home educate [Elle] using classical materials organized along a chronological study of history, guided by the principle of multum non multa: not many things, but much, and incorporating ideas of self-led learning as espoused by Benjamin Franklin and John Holt.

Timeless imaginative literature, fairy tales, legends, plays, and poetry will be utilized as a foundation for language lessons. Along with the reading of classics, [Elle] will be engaged in a formal study of grammar using selections from these same books. Narration, penmanship, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation skills will be incorporated according to her ability. [Elle] will also keep a Commonplace Book, a daily journal of lessons or ideas particularly interesting or important to her, not limited to language arts. Language skills will be further enhanced with a continuing study of Latin.

Mathematics will be taught using a manipulatives-based program and exposure to real life math in everyday situations.

History will continue to be studied chronologically focusing on the Middle Ages using readings from our spine texts and appropriate supplementary literary selections. Exposure to the arts and culture of the historical period will be accomplished through corresponding themed craft projects selected to capture her interest, and her chess skills will be honed as another thematic tie to the era under study.

Participation in extracurricular activities including membership in local junior tennis club lessons and aikido lessons will round out her need for social development and provide physical fitness opportunities.

Lessons will be short with an emphasis on excellent execution for focused attention and variation, and to enable [Elle] to enjoy creative free time. Character development will be a priority.

CORE RESOURCES

Commonplace Book

Harvey’s Elementary Grammar – Mott Publishing
The Red, Blue, Green, Yellow Fairy Books – Andrew Lang
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table – Roger Lancelyn Green
The Adventures of Robin Hood – Roger Lancelyn Green
Tales From Shakespeare – Charles and Mary Lamb

Latina Christiana I – Memoria Press

Math-U-See Alpha – Ethan Demme
Math-U-See Beta – Ethan Demme

Story of the World Volume 2: Middle Ages – Susan Wise Bauer
Story of the World Volume 2: Middle Ages Activity Guide – Susan Wise Bauer
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia – Kingfisher

Tennis Lessons
Aikido Lessons
Chess

Aye, 'tis

"...it's a very affirming day for the standards and accountability movement."

-- U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings on the latest math and reading test results supporting No Child Left Behind.

Accountability

A large manila envelope arrived in the mail Friday from the department of education. Was this my long-awaited acceptance to the homeschool advisory committee? Would there be a train, or better yet, plane ticket to Brisbane for our first meeting? No and no. It was the pre-end-of-the-year-reporting package.

The ability to continue writing your own course of study is dependent upon the department's acceptance of your report and plans for the following year's study. Required are two writing samples, two math samples, and four additional samples from two subjects of my choosing, each collected three to six months apart to clearly indicate an increase in learning. But we work for mastery. As part of Elle's Classical Writing - Aesop projects, the finished products have been edited into their best form, so you don't get to see the spelling or grammatical errors or their improvement. The only indication of an increase in learning might be seen in the length and complexity of the narrations and the more advanced vocabulary. Submitted material must also be an original work of the child's, no photocopies are allowed -- under the reasoning that the fine work cannot be appreciated in a reproduced state, color laser copiers notwithstanding -- so books must be pulled apart and her precious original Aesop retellings and illustrations sent off to sit in someone's file cabinet never to be seen again in order to satisfy their demands. For math, I will gladly tear apart the Queensland Maths book we began and then dropped to show how much confusion it inspired, and submit a couple of our own timed addition drills to show an increase in speed and accuracy, a skill the authors of their math book did not concern themselves with. Accompanying each set of exhibits must be an analysis of the skills learned, challenges that occurred, explanation of how the second example shows more learning has happened, what did or did not work, and what is next. In conclusion their recommended format asks for the child's remarks on what they learned and what they enjoyed about the submissions.

For the two other elective subjects, one area for consideration is sporting activities, one I will include as we have concrete evidence. Recommendations for documenting efforts include collecting trophies and awards, but how, exactly, following their own guidelines, do those show advancement in learning? Elle received a free McDonald's cheeseburger participation certificate, an encouragement award, and a first place trophy. That might suffice, but she didn't win them in that order. How, in their words, "does the achievement relate to the rest of the students [sic] learning/life? Are there lessons in the sport for other areas of achievement/personal development?" Latin, history review questions, and memorized poetry recitations have all been done orally. If we had been keeping audio recordings of them, who's to say she didn't just read the poems like a script? Who's to say she didn't just record them yesterday? Other history papers were merely coloring sheets from The Story of the World Activity Guide. She's probably staying inside the lines a little better, but that was not one of my specific short term goals for her.

What does this reporting process prove?

That I will not be using their recommended format.

That the authors of the reporting sample rely on spell check only and do not carefully proofread their own work.

That when I write my report using my own format the opening comments will probably contain a quote or two from Holt along the lines of, "[Children learn by seeing] the world as a whole, mysterious perhaps, but a whole none the less. They do not divide it up into airtight little categories, as we adults tend to do. It is natural for them to jump from one thing to another, and to make the kinds of connections that are rarely made in formal classes and textbooks."

That choosing the Distance Education option, which most people schooling at home do, is much easier.

That the qualities that makes homeschooling unique and valuable are not really understood by Queensland's powers that be nor most of the people calling themselves homeschoolers.

Not one single thing about what Elle has or has not learned this year.