Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Willow in the Hundreds

Last night, hanging out at the table with me while I worked on some lists (To-Do before Homeschool: figure out local/state laws; decide on a system; make a PLAN!!!), abacus in front of her, pencil with eraser in hand, Willow completed, for fun, the following worksheet:
I'm not sure what the second graders are like over where this book publisher lives, but as a kindergartner Willow can't be THAT far behind the collective humor, and when I finally read her the answer, the culmination of her hour's work, she was all, "Secretary bird? What does that even mean?"

This morning, as I sat again at the table, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, Willow suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, my math!", and ran to get her abacus, pencil, and math workbook again (said math workbook having been scavenged from the Recycling Center who knows when?). She sat down and, after I explained the first two problems as we did them together, completed the following worksheet:
With that, and as much time as possible playing with small dinosaur figures and plastic ponies, I think homeschooling will go just fine.

8 comments:

  1. Wow! That's great work!

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  2. I know you are probably already knee-deep in homeschooling research, but I thought you might like to peruse this lady's homeschooling blog. She has a very large website, but this is the section that is devoted to homeschooling ideas/experiences.

    http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/

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  3. I'm still not convinced that public school is inferior. Perhaps the "education" is inferior, but the "experience" is not. A young'un's education SHOULD be flawed (to a certain extent)...not ideal (subjectively, of course).

    And how else will they realize that Earth is populated by many Scalawags and scofflaws?

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  4. Eh, my personal philosophy is that anything the public schools can flaw, I can flaw better.

    I'll check out that website--I'm currently compiling a list of homeschool blogs, like the one that I currently have of crafty blogs.

    And the experiences? That's what I'm excited about. There are more experiences to be had in the world at large than there are in one school building for seven hours a day.

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  5. My closest friend and roommate at BSU was homeschooled until she went away to college, as were all of her siblings. They were taught at home by their parents and they attended a educational co-op in Indianapolis. One of the best things I think my friend's parents did was to get them involved in extracurriculars that allowed them to socialize with other kids that were not in their homeschool group. Ballet, synchronized swimming, karate, gymnastics, civic theatre, and orchestra to name a few. Did I mention there were 9 kids in this family? Yeah. I think they did a great job with all of them.

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  6. I meant not "experience" as in "experiences" (i.e. activities and occasional interactions), but in the general "experience" of school (public or private).

    Now, this relates to my objection towards homeschooling AFTER middle school.

    I wholeheartedly support home instruction through grade 5.

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  7. I have a theory that one's opinion about public high school depends on which movie your own public high school experience was most similar to--Pretty in Pink? Better off Dead? Mean Girls? Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Stand and Deliver? Lean on Me? American History X?

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  8. "my personal philosophy is that anything the public schools can flaw, I can flaw better"...hah! Absolutely perfect! You should make bumper stickers for the homeschool crowd. ;)

    One of my favs is, "Socialization: it's the reason why I homeschool".

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