Back in November I wrote about our initial impressions of the change to home schooling that our daughter made (with our support). See here for much of the background information that I posted then. It’s now been over six months that we’ve been operating that way and I thought it would be good to post an update about how things are going.
What hasn’t changed
One of things that we’ve continued with
has been the slightly accelerated schedule that I put in place six months ago. This
was necessary because we didn’t make the switch to home schooling until the third
week of October and keeping to the normal 36-week schedule would not have the
boys finishing school until mid-July. Since they have five subjects (Bible,
Literacy, Math, Science, and History), we add one class each day (double Bible
on Monday, double Literacy on Tuesday, etc.) That lets them cover one extra day’s
worth of material each week. That schedule has worked out well. They’ll be
getting to day 30F, i.e., Friday of week 30, tomorrow. With 5 weeks remaining
until the end of May, they’ll cover six more weeks of material by then and be done
on schedule with all 36 weeks of material.
Our daily schedule is also working out
pretty well. In the beginning I was going over to get the boys started with
breakfast 3 days a week and Donna the other 2 days, but now she’s going over
every day so there’s more consistency. I go over about 30 minutes later when
schooling starts. Ethan manages on his own most of the time and goes to Kim
when has questions. I monitor our two third-graders, and Donna works with
Asher. She gotten pretty familiar with the technology involved, but either Kim
or I help out when we have to submit videos. Kim is also going through the material
for third grade each evening to prepare a detailed list of what they have to do
the next day as they work best if they have a list of what they need to do. The
older 3 are generally done by lunch time, but Asher goes into the afternoon
because first grade requires so much hands-on work. After supper Donna sets
things up for the next day – laying out spelling words, worksheets, etc. for
the following day’s lessons, etc.
One of the really great things is that this
type schooling has not been impacted by the COVID pandemic. The local schools
have had days of being closed, or movement to a hybrid model with a combination
of online and in-person classes, etc. We’ve been able to just ignore all that
and have school every day – even on days when the weather results in cancelled
classes in the public schools.
What has changed
There was some adjustment time getting used
to a new method of learning. As the boys have adapted, their average grades
have also improved. Here is how they are doing with only six weeks of lessons
to go. Note that all of them have 95+ in every subject – we have pretty academically
adept boys. One of things that we have added is that the younger three are not
allowed to hit “submit” until we take a quick look to ensure that they are not
skipping things and just trying to get past a lesson. This adds a layer of accountability
that seems to help. We’re not using that step to correct their mistakes. It’s
kind of like when the teacher walks around the room to make sure that the students
are actually working and not just doodling on their paper.
[Grades thus far]
As we noted in the beginning, PA requires
someone (with a current PA certification) to perform an evaluation of the student’s
progress. We’ve scheduled time with someone in our church to do so next month.
In preparation, not only will the evaluator be able to see all the grades that
have been given by LUOA, but each of the boys has a notebook for each subject
where they file all the things that they’ve done for the year. Generally, they
just put their papers in a stack during the week and on Friday we hole punch
any which need it and they file them. It’s a pretty impressive stack of paper
for the year. We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with the notebooks
after the year is over.
We also noted at the beginning that PA
requires students in grades 3/5/8 to participate in standardized testing.
Rather than trying to schedule them to take the PSSAs in a local public school,
we have them taking the Stanford 10 tests which are offered through LUOA. I
have been registered as a “proctor” and do the administration of the testing.
Instead of having full/half-days of testing (which are pretty brutal for a lot
of students – no talking for multiple hours at a time, etc.) we’re choosing to
administer one section of the tests each day for 2 weeks – this week and next.
So, right after breakfast, Donna takes Asher outside for a while, Ethan comes
up from his room to the kitchen where I can monitor him and the thirds go to
their stations in the living room. I set up a testing session for each of them
on the section-of-the-day, start a special browser on each of their laptops, and
sign them into the session. Then I go back to my laptop and accept their logons,
starting the clock (30-45 minutes depending on the subject). They are all
required to stay quiet, can only ask questions if they don’t understand the
instruction, and have to remain at their station until the time is up. If they
finish before the allotted time, they have to review their work and remain
seated and quiet. Once the testing session is over, they go on to their regular
work for the day. It seems to be going quite well. I’ll get a grade report once
the sessions are all over next week (8 sessions for 5th grade, 9
sessions for 3rd grade). One more skill set to add to my resume?
Because we can’t just drop everything else
in our schedule, we’ve also had to find creative ways to be flexible when
needed. Donna and I still have things like doctor appointments (some of which
have to be in the morning). And there are days when one of us is not feeling
well and needs to stay in bed. So, we’ve learned how to cover for each other as
needed.
Going Forward
We’ve already made the decision to continue
with home schooling for next year – and likely through high school. Because we
are using the services of Liberty University Online Academy (LUOA), this decision
is one that comes with a cost – albeit less than enrolling the boys in a
private school. But it’s a cost that we are willing to take on. While the
financial burden is on Kim, the time commitment on Donna and I is also pretty
significant. It means that there is a lot less time to spend doing things that
retirees normally do, as well as things that we might be able to do otherwise –
like taking care of plants, or yardwork. But lives are more important than
things, so we’ll have to make the adjustments needed in our priorities.
We are also not sure what to do over the
summer. While that is normally a time off from school for children, we have
come to recognize that just taking an extended break from all things academic can
be harmful. And with the homeschool focus, we have an opportunity to continue
with some form of learning which would not be available if the boys were in a
traditional public school. No decisions made here yet, but we are thinking
about it.
Finally, we need to look at how/when to
transition the level of involvement that we have for each of the boys. Right
now, with Asher in 1st grade, Donna is pretty intensely involved in
everything he does. The thirds are in more of an oversight/monitoring
situation. And Ethan is mostly self-directed in fifth grade. So, when do Isaiah
and Caleb move into more a self-directed mode? And what does/should it look
like for a 2nd grader next year? We’re not sure yet, but we know
that those changes in the amount of our involvement/oversight need to happen at
some point.
Conclusion
This has been an intense year – probably more
for Donna and I than for the boys. They are reveling in being able to sleep in
each day (instead of having to be out waiting for the bus at 7:30). And when
they can finish by lunch time instead of having several more hours to go, it gives
them time to develop some of the non-academic interests that they have. But
Donna and I only get to sleep in on Saturday. And we have to plan our schedules
around the school day – for example, only one of us can be out at a time, like doctor
appointments or our church’s monthly senior fellowship luncheon. And all other
projects have just been set aside for now.
But this is the path that God has laid
before us. So, we will continue to follow His leading and guiding in our lives.
And I’m grateful that I have a wife who is so skilled in the education of children
as all my prior teaching experience was with adults – so I’m learning too.
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