State Testing: An Education Super Fail

It's 4:16 AM.  Instead of sleeping, I'm here drinking coffee and blogging.  Why?  Because today was absolute utter hell in my home, and my daughter just got to sleep about two hours ago.  I'm still running on pure adrenaline and righteous anger.

Let me back up a bit.

Last year, I began homeschooling my children.  The reasons are many, but it mostly comes down to my belief that education is not one size fits all.  My children are both diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, and my son additionally has a diagnosis of expressive/receptive speech disorder.  Both of them also have sensory processing disorder.  Mostly, in everyday life, this means little.  They have coping skills, they are really great kids, and they deal with the things that pose challenges like a couple of champs.  We realize, though, that it is having the freedom to be who they are in a supportive and loving environment which allows them to really shine like they do.  A public bricks and mortar school was not that environment.

K12 seemed to be a perfect fit for us.  I loved the curriculum.  Yes, I am using past tense words here, because I am beginning to realize that K12 is susceptible to the very same pitfalls, in terms of actual education, that any other public school suffers.  Perhaps it hit me extra hard this year because the language arts curriculum reading materials were severely slashed in terms of quantity, while at the same time we received a pile of test preparation materials which seemed more than a bit over the top.  The only reason I can think of to remove so much of the reading materials is that kids struggled with the amount of it, and spending additional time working through it would mean less time spent on test preparedness.  It also affects the kids' grades, and thus the school's reputation.  Now, I'm not blaming K12 for this at all; the state regulates their schools just like any other public school.  If anything, I think K12 is fucntioning exceptionally well given the circumstances and all of the red tape.

I wondered to myself, what would a curriculum look like if the schools were not being judged and the children were not being dragged through this nightmare known as state testing?

Today, I sat beside my daughter as she worked through a math Scantron assessment, her eyes welling up with tears, shaking with frustration, rocking back and forth.  She is good at math, but she hates it.  Her mind is definitely geared more toward right-brain activities than the logic-based, left-brain activities involved in math.  She hates math that is typical for her grade level, but this is the type of problem she had to work on:

Forgive me, since it's been quite some time since this was first introduced to me, but isn't this something you'd expect 7th-9th grade students to be working on?  I know a lot of adults who would struggle with this.  I almost wonder if they gave her the wrong assessment or something, because the problems were almost all at this level of difficulty and this was complete and utter torture for a 3rd grade child who detests math to begin with.

I have no idea what is in store on the actual state testing, but if it's anything like this, I have no idea at all what the goal is.  This is ridiculous.

I hope I feel better about things at some point, but right now I've had a rough day and I'm not feeling very warm or fuzzy about any of this.  Kids should not have to go through what my daughter went through today.  And you know, I'm quite sure that these state tests and district scores won't mean a damn thing in 100 years, but the contributions these children make to the world because of actual knowledge and experiential learning (read: not from tests for pretests for pretests to prepare for the pretest for the actual test) will.  Einstein, Tesla, George Washington, Hippocrates, and Galileo did just fine without all of this state testing crap.

Alrighty, then.

3rd Grade, K12, Teachers, and Learning Coaches

Miss Reezle had an opportunity to meet with the 3rd grade K12 teacher via internet/phone conference today, and for the first time ever, actually expressed an interest in doing math.  I was impressed.  I'm not sure what changed, and I kind of wonder if it is the attention her little brother gets for being brilliant at it, but I'll take it.  Math has been a struggle when it comes time for lessons, and not because she finds it difficult; Reezle simply doesn't like math.  Well, until today.

The conference went well; Reezle enjoyed it, talking about her hobbies (photography and hooping, a girl after my own heart) and excitedly announcing that she was going to send her teacher an e-mail weekly.  Oy.  After reading a few passages and word lists, the teacher asked Reezle if she read a lot.  When Miss Bookworm announced with great enthusiasm that she does, the teacher told her that she'd just been reading a list of 5th grade words.  Reezle grinned proudly from ear to ear.

People are sometimes confused when I mention my children's teachers.  "Aren't you their teacher?" they ask.  Well, yes and no.  They're independent learners, and I do present material to them and explain it in various ways to meet their unique learning styles.  I answer questions when they have them, supplement material that is relevant to our lives and in areas where they need additional enrichment or a better understanding, and basically do the things a teacher does.  K12 calls me a "learning coach".  I don't like the term; I'm not merely standing on the sidelines cheering my kids along.  All parents are teachers.

Each child is assigned a teacher (or teachers, depending on grade) by K12 for their grade level.  This person is the child's primary school contact, does assessments, holds online connect sessions like reading and math groups and other fun and educational events, and helps keep the kiddos on track.  Contact, for us, is minimal, as my children are typically pursuing their own interests and learning well beyond the assigned school day.  We might put in an hour a day of Spanish for attendance, for example, but we're speaking it and going over the words right up until bedtime.  Our learning never really stops, and the kiddos are always walking around with workbooks, notebooks, and pencils in hand.  They love to learn, and my husband and I love to teach them.  It is not uncommon for the kids to be snuggled up in the recliner with Daddy when he gets home, going over binary code or fractions, playing some strategy game like chess or Solitaire, or playing Sudoku puzzles.

Those are a couple of G's illustrations depicting fractions.  And, of course, they read so much and so fast that I can barely keep up with their books!  Not that I'm complaining...

Wrapping Up Week Two

As we wrap up our second week of this new school year, two things are absolutely certain; Little G still loves his math, and Reezle can't seem to get enough Spanish! She chatters her newly-learned words at every opportunity, and she seems to have a really good understanding and comprehension of the material.  Some words we are currently working on include: planta/plant, cara/face, hoja/leaf, formas/shapes, círculo/circle, triángulo/triangle, cuadrado/square, maleza/weeds, hermano y hermana/brother and sister, nosotros/we, ¿Por qué?/why, jugar/play, jardin/garden, ve/see.  Again, not a complete list, but ones we are becoming more familiar with in addition to the previous words.


 Despite being good at math, it remains Reezle's least favorite subject. Getting through the lessons can feel like I'm dragging her through the entire way. I wish she would realize that attitude is everything. Well, 98%, anyway. She makes it more difficult than it needs to be by creating her own distractions, those being her mood and behavior. I have no idea where she gets this trait from. At all. Ahem.

 

On the bright side, Reezle is an absolute delight to work with in every other subject. She's a smiling, interested, and enthusiastic learner, and that makes my part a lot more enjoyable. She also eagerly helps her brother when he runs into any issues, though honestly, this is very rare. Perhaps that is part of the allure! When she was in a traditional public school, she had many opportunities to help her classmates and really enjoyed being able to do so. Interestingly, she seems to be at such a similar academic place with her brother that they probably require each other's help about equally as often. I love it that they ask each other questions, and both enjoy helping the other figure something out.

We're going to do some work this weekend, in hopes of being able to escape to the larger "classroom" of the world sometime this coming week for a field trip.  The nice weather is calling, and fall is in the air.

Happy Friday!

Our First Day of Homeschool 2012-13

Today was our first official day of school! In continuing tradition, we celebrated in our pajamas.

Little G writing 575 in expanded form

I was a little concerned about how Little G would handle a full load of courses this year, affording him less time to do the things he enjoys independently. I expected boredom and frustration on his first day, but there was none! He handled his first day as a 1st/2nd grader like a pro.

Miss Reezle worked on math, language arts, history, and health. She also spent roughly 45 minutes playing Poptropica, which is surprisingly educational. She did great on her first day as a 3rd grader! Her spelling list for this unit is:

objects, insects, facts, products, plants, trucks, napkins, hundreds, numbers, gashes, boxes, foxes, riches, sandwiches, inches, bosses, dresses, *systems, *pencils, *presidents

The red one we need to work on. Mostly, she does fabulous with the root words; she just has a bit of difficulty with some of the suffixes. This morning, there were a lot more red words in that list. Once she reviewed them, she did great. I shared some tips I hope will be helpful for knowing and remembering which suffixes fit. She seems to have caught on very quickly, so we'll go through the spelling words list tomorrow and find out if it sticks.

Mr. G's spelling words list for Unit 4 was:

spot, stop, sled, brush, speck, swim, crib, drum, crab, splash, trot, grin, prop, slip, fled, brick, crush, grab, frog, crash, won, and busy, with bonus words travel, dragon, and crunch.

He got them all correct, easily, so we moved on to the unit review and wrapped things up.

As a little surprise for the kiddos, I downloaded several children's books to my iPad. Today we read Pete The Cat: I Love My White Shoes. This story was awesome. Both kids are well beyond the book in terms of reading level, but the message was fun and useful. Basically, no matter what happens, keep a positive attitude.

That's a message even I could learn something from. And Sticky, too, apparently, because she joined right in the reading break with us! What other school offers a furry friend to snuggle and pet while you're going through the day? We love our (home) school!

Summer Wrap Up

I have no idea where the summer went, but the beginning of the new school year is less than a week away now. I feel at peace about that, and I'm looking forward to a year of new opportunities, experiences, and challenges. Little G can't stop talking about his Math Orange workbook, and it's been very difficult to keep him from starting (and finishing) it before school even starts. I suspect he will be joining his sister in Math Purple (3rd grade) before long. Reezle is certainly capable of working at grade level, and Little G is helping her understand things she gets stuck on.

Little G's K12 teacher called yesterday, and we had a chance to discuss the upcoming school year and G's various diagnoses. She seems very nice, and I think G is finally accepting the fact that his teacher from last year cannot be his teacher this year. He doesn't like change. Mama understands.

I have not spoken to Reezle's new teacher yet, but that should be happening soon. I don't think my little girl is quite as excited as her brother is to start the new school year, but she much prefers K12 to her former school experiences. Once we start planning trips to the museums and other various places, I know she will be more enthusiastic.

Autumn is fast approaching, and it's so nice to have cool evenings instead of 80-degree temperatures through the nights. Mornings come later, the sun sets earlier, and there is a distinct chill in the air after the sun sets each night. I love this time of year, remembering the fun we had over the summer, looking forward to costumes and trick-or-treating, watching leaves turn, and celebrating the kids' birthdays. Before long, we'll be planning our holiday dinners and cooking and baking more. Reezle talks endlessly about the things she wants to bake when the weather is cool enough to use the oven more frequently. She has a real interest in cooking, so I hope she inherited her Daddy's talents and not my, er, lack thereof. Ha!

For now, I am off to enjoy this lovely quiet morning with a cup of coffee and a determination to finish the blanket I'm crocheting for my daughter's birthday. I have all the yarn I need and plenty of free time in the mornings; no excuses!

Hooray For August

August is here! For the first two years of my daughter's elementary education, I dreaded this month because it meant there were mere days remaining before I had to put her on a bus five mornings a week and not see her again until evening. I hated that. It didn't feel right. But now August brings excitement and anticipation of all the cool things we'll be learning and doing this school year! The kiddos are literally counting the days until their lessons appear in the OLS (online school) and are looking through their materials eagerly awaiting the day they can start using them.

I love this. I'm so grateful that we have this option, and that our first year of homeschooling was such a success that they look forward with such enthusiasm to this new year and all that it will bring. If homeschooling is in your heart, but you're worried about whether you can do it, I really urge you to look into K12. No, I'm not encouraged to say nice things or compensated for my opinion in any way - I just genuinely love this program and how much flexibility and support there is. Most of all, I love how happy my kiddos are and how they genuinely want to learn.

School Supplies Have Arrived!

I'm actually a little late on this; our school supplies arrived last week! A new school year is just a mere month away, and the excitement in our home is similar to that which precedes a major holiday. "It feels like waiting for Santa!" Reezle announced as I dragged the huge boxes of school supplies in the front door. Little G literally jumped up and down, yelling, "Yay!"

We unpacked our boxes and looked over this year's materials. Much of it was very similar; K12's K-2 science, music, and art materials don't vary much, and Little G is a grade level ahead of himself so we're doing our second year in a row of 2nd grade math and language arts. He is so excited to have the same Math Orange materials as he envied all of last year. Of course, now that Reezle has Math Purple, I'm sure he will want that as soon as the novelty of Orange wears off.

We have far fewer books this year, which is, admittedly, disappointing. However, we read plenty on our own and this just means I'll be hitting the library and bookstores more often. No complaints there.

Reezle and I got her personal learning space set up. Little G will share it for now, since we only have one functioning laptop despite buying two brand new Dell N5110s not very long ago. There should be a second one in G's learning space, but thanks to Dell, there is not. The one we purchased specifically for homeschooling, in November 2011, failed just weeks out of the box. It currently functions as a paperweight and nothing more. Despite numerous calls to Dell to rectify this, I've gotten nowhere. That was actually our third Dell to experience some catastrophic failure, so I'm now a Mac user. Forever. My personal advice to you, regardless of whether you are a PC or Mac user, would be never to buy from Dell. I digress.

Our living room book shelf is now home to some of our new school materials, while the kids elected to keep their favorite, and likely to be most frequently-used workbooks on the bookshelves in their own rooms. Little G is so jazzed about school starting that he says he wishes summer was over. (For the record, I don't wish summer was over...but I am excited about school, too.)

Our art, math, and science cabinet looks basically the same as it did last year, with a few minor additions. Seeds, paints, chalks, a graduated cylinder, math manipulatives, goggles, and various extras occupy this cabinet. I try to keep things near where we typically use them for quick access.

Reezle (and G, by default) will be taking Spanish this year. I've already begun getting them familiarized with it by asking each day, "¿Que día es hoy?" and having them reply with, "Hoy es jueves," or whichever day it happens to be. It's good practice, I think. I took Spanish in college, and it's coming back quickly for me, which is kinda cool. They already know their primary colors and numbers 1-20, so that's also a benefit. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Congratulations to Our Girl

Miss Reezle had her end of year Aimsweb assessment yesterday afternoon. For reading fluency, the goal for the end of second grade is 90 words per minute. Reezle's reading fluency was already 142 words per minute at the beginning of the year, went to 158 words per minute at mid-year, and is now at 179 words per minute. For perspective, most adults read at about 175-180 words per minute. She is 8!

And it's not just her ability to read the material that quickly, she truly does understand what she is reading. Now, I love reading, but I am a very slow reader. Reezle appears to have my husband's ability to devour large chunks of text in very little time, with complete understanding of the material being read. It is not uncommon for either of them to finish a lengthy book in one sitting. I'm so pleased that she has this gift!

Reezle also did a math assessment. She scored perfect on the math at mid-year, so there was really nowhere to go since she was already at the ceiling. The problems were a bit more difficult this time around, and I was concerned when she shrugged and opted to do the test in her head without so much as scrap paper, but she scored perfect again. For a kid who isn't a huge fan of math, that's impressive.

Her K12 teacher and I discussed the coming year in depth, and we both agreed that picking up a language is a great idea. Reezle will be taking Spanish. We also discussed what happens if she chews right through the third grade curriculum, considering her progress thus far. Unless something changes, I stand by my decision to keep her at grade level so she does not become overwhelmed or frustrated. She has an incredible amount of interests outside of or in addition to the curriculum, and being able to master things quickly has provided her with many opportunities to really dig into what she loves. She's been reading biographies about interesting historical figures, watching many documentaries on various topics from history to science to sociology, and taking her interest in birdwatching and identification to the next level. I know I have mentioned this before, but her interest in birds has developed into something our whole family enjoys. We all delight in being able to identify a bird by their song.

We are so proud of Reezle for all she has accomplished this year. K12's curriculum is challenging and very rich, and independent learning requires self-discipline and commitment. Reezle has risen to the challenge in every way, surprising me at every turn. I could not be happier for her, and I know she feels a tremendous sense of accomplishment for all she as achieved.

Congratulations are in order, Miss Reezle! We love you and are so proud of you! And now, a special dinner of her favorite food, and a celebratory cake we will bake and decorate together!