No Longer A Hectic Homeschooler

I wonder if everyone goes through this:

Right now I just want to scream. I am sick of accepting changes from people. I am sick of sucking up to people whom I'm not really sure even like me. There have been so many things I have wanted to say, but know to keep my mouth shut. Over the past few months, I have closed many different chapters in my life. I've had to pick up the pieces and move on.

And when it rains, it can't just rain in my life. It just has to FLOOD.

I wanted to blog the morning of June 5th. That was one of the many days I cried. I don't even talk about most of the times I cry. Over the past year, I have cried myself to sleep more than I have "passed out" from exhaustion. June 5th was a little different form all of them.

I closed our last report cards at Explorer Academy. We actually spent four years at one school. Even though it wasn't really a school as anybody would normally think of it, I spent four years working with teachers and homeschooling my kids. I had Explorer Academy as a resource for the years I didn't have the cash for our own curriculum.

Giving up homeschooling was not something I wanted to do. I feel forced to by my new situation as a single mom. After five years at home, attempting to domesticate myself, this is the hardest challenge in my life. I spent five years at home with my kids, trying to support my husband. May of last year, he announced to me his intention to divorce.

I felt I was making progress in homeschooling. I was connecting with my kids in a way I had never been able to before. I was teaching and learning with them in a way I wish I had been able to as a kid. Closing report cards this year was a huge step for me. One of the doors in my life was now closed. Maybe someday, when Bogfoot and Beadgorl have kids of their own, they can reopen the door to the joys of homeschooling.

And The Final Three Top Reasons For Using k12 Begins

And so it would be that the life of this hectic homeschooler got just a little too hectic to keep up with her own blog. But then again, my life doesn't always give me the time to sit and write in front of the computer. Once again, I'm back to my continuation of my top ten reasons for using k12. My number 3 reason would just so happen to be:

k12 writes directions with a purpose.

I've learned in life there are two types of directions.

One type of directions is designed to exercise social control over people. I've found, through experience that this type of direction is designed by people and given by people for the pure purpose of watching the victim person execute the directions. I'm not sure what thrill people get out giving directions for the pure pleasure of making someone else do something. I find this behavior oppressive and revolting. May someone please bring the porcelain goddess? I'd like to throw up from over exertion of social control.

My dad Dick Fife is very good at doing this. I remember being asked to do stuff just so he could look important. He never gained any respect out of anything he asked us to do. then again, we never felt respected in the first place.

School teachers are another good example of directions being given for personal pleasure. Frequently, I hear from parents, complaints about directions teachers give. I hear all about Johnny's teacher tells him to do something just because she wants him to. Or I hear about how Johnny gets bored in school because she spends so much time giving directions that there isn't time left for doing the work he's supposed to do in the first place. I've heard it all. I've witnessed it all.

If there is a teacher reading this post, please tell me in non-union speak what kind of example you think KNOW you are setting. For the desire to see if you can handle practicing what you preach my sake, and my sake only, I can only accept scholastic format essays with your bibliography in AP format. Please send me a "Thought for the Day" comment requesting complete instructions.

Notice my kids aren't in a regular school anymore for a reason.

Bigfoot was subjected to a teacher who did this. Yes, I would happen to be talking about the last teacher he had in a school. She turned him off from school by using social control as a silent excuse for giving the directions that she did.

After all, If a child has a math worksheet sitting on his desk when he comes back from recess. Wouldn't you think the child already knows he's supposed to complete the work? I would think so. So, Bigfoot (before the big feet came) would find a worksheet on his desk, take out his pencil and do the work. typically, he would finish before she would even begin the math lesson. Of course, this means he now has nothing better to do than dance on his desk, talk to third graders, talk to second graders (who were doing the worksheet he had already finished), read a book, fall out of his chair, and just be generally distracting.

Her response? Get ready for this. She would tell him to sit down and follow along.

Hello!!! He is already DONE! Why aren't you following along with him? His answers are correct. What is your problem? He did what you expected him to do. He finished early. Give him more work. Let him work two pages of math to everyone else's one.

Every time she would give directions, as far as I can figure out, she had no other purpose but to keep the kids where she wanted them. If anything moved beyond her box, she lost all understanding of her classroom. Every time I was in that classroom, I got the message that she wanted these kids to follow her pace for no other reason than to keep them where she wanted them.

Will someone please educate me as to how kids are expected to grow mentally if they're repeatedly told to be controlled by another person? This is nothing more than the same social control of Red China. I don't dig it.

On the other hand, there are directions that can be given that will actually help kids become better people. This type of direction is meant to make the world a better place.

I have come to the conclusion that public schools aren't allowed to exercise this type of direction giving. Kids may become high achievers out of their own individual gifts rather than the suppressed work force that now drives Bill Gates into India for employment recruiting. Kids may end up sounding intelligent if given directions made for sheer purpose of generating a greater good.

Which brings me to why I dig using k12 for homeschool material. There are no directions given out of social control. All directions given come with a purpose designed for learning. My kids need to write some of their math answers using complete sentences, not for the sake of passing the waste-of-taxes WASL, but for the development of communication. My kids are put through directions explaining the writing process, not as a waste of time, of clearly to teach the benefit of thinking about what you really want to say before you say it. I've never seen directions given in any k12 material that didn't have learning clearly in mind.

As a result, my kids now have a better understanding of handling their schoolwork. They both understand what needs to be done, and the benefits that come from it. I have better listeners in my kids (for the most part). I have two kids on their way to becoming better citizens.

I can't help but enjoy it.

My Top Ten Reasons to Use k12 Continues

This last spring, I began, through the inspiration of our off-campus enrollment, a ten part series on why I love using the k12 program. Somewhere along the line, I fell off my own bandwagon. I can go into further detail about that later. It feels good to be back on my own track.

My #4 top reason for enjoying the presence of k12 in my life...

On-line lesson planning.

Every morning, I log into k12.com check our daily lesson schedule, and attempt to set two kids into gear for the day.

Lesson planning isn't entirely done for me. I have to participate in the planning process just as much as the program does. I have to pay attention to everything Bigfoot and Beadgirl are doing.

If they need more work to do, I can add to their day. If they need to spend more time on certain material, I can adjust the daily lesson plan to meet their needs.

All of this on-line convenience sure beats writing out lesson material for everything. Before our discovery of k12, I was hand planning everything. That meant going through each textbook, deciding how much of what to cover, assigning it, and hoping nothing distracted the plan.

Like that never happened.

k12's Top 10 , Part 5

Will someone please get out the camera? We have a Kodak moment here. If you use high enough resolution, you can get a really good shot of the steam coming from the ears today.

I had to really stop and think about this series today. I never really intended to run a ten part series on using k12. Originally, this was meant to be only one post with a list of nine, then the number one post would take the bulk of the entry. I found, as I was writing, I had more to say about each section than I planned.

Each post in the series has been pretty easy so far. "This is why I like using k12." I've tried giving consideration to each reason and where I place it in my top 10. I know most of these haven't really been funny at all. They've been more of a soapbox for right now. That's okay in this case. I'm saving the fun part for last.

So, here it is. My #6 reason for using k12 is...

BASICS.

Basic concepts get taught everywhere and at all reasonable levels. Sentence structure, essay structure, SPELLING (now that's one we don't see too much of anymore), vocabulary, reading skills, and math computation all get taught as essential learning needs over teaching "skills we'll need as adults."

Teaching of basic concepts that develop and strengthen basic skills is a realm of success for the k12 corporation. If a child doesn't have a clue how to write a sentence, what good does it do to expect an essay? These people understand this. K12 teaches grammar, parts of speech, and sentence development before they put any focus on analyzing how well a student has developed communication skills.

Writing education actually goes into detailed lessons. When working the program, kids develop skills in writing quality introductions, essay bodies, and conclusions. At the end of a unit, each kid has a final piece of work to be proud of. In the process of getting to the final production, a student learns about the value of grammar and sentence structure in writing while learning to develop thoughts into written word.

Spelling is taught from lists that cover the rules of English. There is actually a reason "i" comes before "e" except after "c." There is a time and place for "ph" and a different time and place for "f" to be used. K12 takes the time to help kids understand the difference. There aren't too many programs out there in schools that make the effort to help kids understand the background of how to spell. It takes more than practice to win the spelling bee. It takes understanding.

Communication skills are even more well developed when a child understands the words he's reading, and knows how to use them. This is why k12 teaches vocabulary. Teaching vocabulary may be dabbling into more in-depth and advanced skills. A strong vocabulary may just make a person a better communicator. In the process of learning the usage of our own English language, we are developing dedicated work habits.

The program developers at k12 are not worried about weather or not a child reads for a variety of purposes. They just go ahead and let the kid do it. They care that a child enjoys reading. When a kid loves reading, there's no need to worry about why he reads. Its far easier to teach a child to understand reading material when the child is willing to read.

Right along with the ability to communicate comes the ability to compute the numerical side of life. K12 doesn't use calculators. I respect this decision with high regard. I just don't comprehend how someone can even learn math processes if he doesn't know how to add or subtract without a machine doing it for him. Besides, learning math is kind of one of those "practice makes perfect" fields. Just keep working at it, add some encouragement, and you get more than just really good math skills. You may just find the development of delayed gratification, a stronger work ethic, and a self-developed sense of accomplishment.

Oh my, it looks like the teaching of skills doesn't really need to be "taught" after all. looks more to me like we need to just teach basic content with a little bit of practice. The "skills" come with the flow of learning.

Part 4, Why I Love Using k12

7. Material is selected and written with homeschoolers in mind. Instructions speak to kids as well as adults. Looking back at some of the other programs I've used, I wonder how we ever did anything without the kids already having a college degree.

This brings me back to rambling on about Everyday Math and the two years I struggled using it. I don't recommend Everyday Math as a homeschooling program. The teacher's guides don't speak well to parents. I found myself spending more time on Google learning about the topics Bigfoot was covering than he spent in actual learning time.

Please understand there are some things about Everyday Math that are quite good. The connective development between language and math skills excels beyond most math programs. Developing the connection between concrete and abstract thoughts creates a well understanding person. This is all about The ability of a person to connect and communicate with a variety of people in the world holds the key to making proficiency in a field matter.

Application of math in the real world has always been an issue with public schools. Everyday Math does a very good job in this category. Everything taught in Everyday Math has a practical application to it. There isn't much of a point in teaching anything if it can't be used.

Now come the issues I have with Everyday Math. Why teach a pre-calculus concept if a child doesn't even understand how to do the work? Everyday Math has very little focus on basic skills. Parents are realizing this more and more as our public schools carry lower and lower math scores in Washington State. Homeschoolers for years have sworn by programs that teach basic computation skills over advanced applications. I didn't like the idea of not having a clue of what was going on in Bigfoot's math program just because I don't have a college degree. I became uncomfortable real quick with spending half my time on Google learning about what he was supposed to be learning.

Which brings me back to why I like k12. The program developers speak to kids. Kids should be able to read instructions and be able to follow them without translations into plain English. Material is explained in a way parents can help kids understand. A great weight has been taken off my shoulders this year. I don't feel uneducated in our learning process.

If the purpose of education is to develop the future of America, are we doing any good in writing directions our kids can't follow?

I don't think so.

k12's Top 10, Part 3

8. I will always know just what my kids are doing. Even if they work far ahead of the regular lesson.

I'm a firm believer that kids should work at their own pace. Sometimes, this means kids progress slower than others. Other kids whiz through everything. No problem for me here, specially when k12 is in our lives.

All k12 lesson plans are accessible by students. Should Bigfoot and Beadgirl finish early, they can move onto the next set of lessons. However, there are times they need more time to fully learn a concept. Taking the time is great. I'd rather they learn completely than hurriedly. Kids need to learn at their own pace, not at the schedule of a teacher or set program.

We faced that many times in school. I found I was paying tuition for a private school to control Bigfoot's learning schedule. This particular school was using ABeka; a fabulous program I even used as a kid through first grade. ABeka provides a comprehensive curriculum. Everything under the sun gets covered with a Christian viewpoint.

This is a very good program at what it does. If you know how to apply creativity to the program, ABeka is fantastic. If you only stick to the material, everything will get repeated to the digging of the grave. I do not give high recommendations for ABeka to parents of children with Edison-like brains. Nothing stands still very long. Bigfoot was bored at school. I didn't realize just how bored he was until we took him out of school. He understands things quickly and doesn't do well with over-redundant repetition.

For the past two years, we've used Everyday Math. This was the same material used in our local public school system. Everyday Math is an excellent program for gifted kids. So long as they understand basic math concepts. Kids do some pretty advanced stuff in Everyday Math, such as statistics and calculus. Have the time, I wouldn't have a clue what was going on. Eventually, I found myself spending more time on Google trying to learn about what he was supposed to be doing.

There were some days over the last two years, I'd not even know what point he was at in the lesson plan. I could hand him his math book last year, and in one hour, he'd have a full unit finished. Sometimes, I couldn't tell where he was in the lesson plan.

My lesson plan worries are gone. Now, I log onto the k12 website. I can see everything each of the kids did for the day. I can tell if Beadgirl needs help in her Social Studies, or if she's doing just fine. Using k12 allows me the ability to see where both kids are in the lesson plan and what they are learning. I'll always be there for help when they need it.

The hectichomeschooler reason for k12 Top 10... Part 2

9. Worksheet material is provided. Everything considered a reproducible worksheet or black-line master is provided for the convenience of your family. All worksheets are bound in books titled by subject and grade. Workbooks are even color coded by subject, therefore allowing parents and children to pull the appropriate material from the homeschooling bookshelves for the correct subject. Children who choose to loose material books can simply locate them by color.

I will always know science is green, math is blue, and language is purple. Fortunately, nothing is coded in pretty-girl pink, mauve, or lavender. I realize those are very good colors for girls. Anything feminine responds well to pink, lavender, and mauve quite well. On the other hand, I can't say testosterone-infused brains fair nearly as well. By the intelligence given by God, the k12 organizers chose much more gender neutral colors for the program. I am a firm believer in education equality. Yes, that means you cater to everyone, not just a certain group of people.

Since Bigfoot and Beadgirl like to loose everything, workbooks aren't always readily available. k12 knows my kids very well. All of their workbooks are fully available on the Internet for printing. When Bigfoot decides he "can't" find his student pages, everything he needs is readily available. Just click "print" and make sure there is still paper and ink for the printer. Out come all needed pages for the day's work. Now I just wish he'd just get into the habit of looking for the books first. My Costco case of paper if half-full and ink for the printer isn't cheap.

Oh well. At least we've eliminated his lack-of-materials excuse for not doing his work.

And My Top 10 Reasons for Using k12 Are... Part 1 of 10

10. It's "free" to use, as a courtesy of my school property tax dollars. Personally, I'd like to see property tax allowances for families who homeschool. Thus allowing parents to spend on their own children the money they would have paid the school district for less than quality programs and teachers who don't really care about kids in the first place.

Most of your education alloted tax dollars don't buy program. They buy teachers. How many of these teachers do you actually trust? I've heard enough union whining I'm not convinced these people really want to bother working in schools.

Teachers whine over anything they can. I've heard about class size.

The classes are too big. I have 20+ kids in this room. I can't keep track of everything that goes on in here. I just don't have the time for your child's needs. He needs to enter special programs.

I thank God you don't work in business, retail, or food service, especially management. You'd never survive. If you can't handle 20 kids, you'd be eaten alive in the adult world.

I've heard it all about ADHD.

Johnny is a brilliant kid, but he's so out of control. I want you to make him behave in my classroom. I just can't handle him. What am I supposed to do? You need to take him in for an evaluation. I really think he needs medication.

What did you go to college for? Pizza and beer? My boy was born with more testosterone than estrogen by God's will. I don't expect him to behave like a girl. Why should you? Don't even think about mentioning medication. I can haul your tush into the principal's office and have a nice legal/disciplinary chat about medication. I already told you his doctor is not recommending it. You're the one with the college eduction. Act like it.

I've heard it all over personal salary.

I just don't make enough in this job. I can't live on this job alone.

I have several things to say here. First off, I do realize teachers don't get paid well compared to everything else that requires a BS or BA for entry level work. I also realize teachers are pushed in MA programs to a point I feel the MA in Education has lost its core value. I'm not opposed to salary increases for teachers. I don't dig the whining over it.

In the real world, no one is ever paid what they're worth. If your income is supported by tax problems and you have a problem with that, I suggest you get another source of income. Try owning a business where you have to sign someone else's paychecks. You may learn something about your school district income. Besides, why should your income be an issue? Isn't the greatest reward in education the satisfaction of teaching kids?

Your tax supported income is a matter of perspective. I realize living under your means is not always easy. Toys and bling are tempting. I know. But if I can go without stuff simply because I don't have the CASH, why can't you?

I've heard it over expectations.

I have all this stuff I'm told to cover. They want it covered this way. I have to teach the material using this method. I can't just veer from the program. We all have to do exactly the same thing. Even if what your child is doing makes no common sense what so ever, I can't make any exceptions to the rules. I have to stick to what I'm told.

Do you do any thinking for yourself? Are you even teaching my child HOW to think? Or is it more like WHAT to think? No wonder America is so messed up in the head. We quit developing thought processes.

Whining makes me sick as it is. I don't need my kids being sent to whining class just because someone has a personal issue with her job.

Can I leave the computer now?

I know no one ever said carrying a job while homeschooling two kids, decorating a Blue lodge, running around with the Shriners, teaching Sunday school, and supporting an at-risk group of hyperactive Cub Scouts was easy. Oh by the way, I sew, knit, embroidery, and coming soon: quilting and crochet as well as everything I mentioned before. Somewhere in all that, I do manage to find time to wash laundry, cook, and clean up after everyone.

Earlier this month, I took a job working from home as a Human Resource Representative. My job is to interview, hire, and arrange training sessions for applicants. I really do like this job. I wasn't exactly ready for the work load I've had in the last few days. My "working" days try to run from 6 to 9 am here in my time zone. Most of the applicants I interview are in other parts of the country where daylight is occurring. After nine, I try to limit everything to pre-set appointments. Lately, I've been working non-stop until noon or later.

Now that I'm back down to five hours of sleep or less, I am beginning to remember how exhausting working in the early morning hours can be. Before I became a homeschooling parent, I had a job in food service. My day started at 3 am on a regular basis, and eventually dropped to 1 am before my company lost the contract I worked under. The only part of that gig I miss is the customer base I serviced every day. I don't miss corporate flack, extremely early hours, or falling asleep while driving.

I enjoy being able to converse with a wide variety of people in my new job. Enjoy the fact that I can leave the desk to grab coffee, food, obnoxious kids, whatever. I can let the dog out between phone calls, let him back in between calls, make lunch, do laundry, clean the bathroom, whatever.

As far a homeschooling while I work, I'd die without www.k12.com and the virtual lesson planning, guidance, and personalized pace program. I have never liked having to write out lesson plans or schedules. Mostly because I always ended up off track and never quite sure of where to get back on. Blame it on my ADHD. My kids respond very well to the k12 program. This is a major step up for us from the struggles we've been through in the past. I've never been one to want to fight over schoolwork. eventually, I'll be able to get them to do an entire day in one day.