FCAT Fiasco

Kids in the fourth grade can’t write a decent sentence, and their test scores reflect that. What is Florida’s solution to the problem? Lower the threshold for a passing score:

Amid suggestions that Florida schools did not receive adequate information about changing scoring standards for the FCAT writing, the Florida Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously reduced its passing score on the test from 4.0 to 3.0 for purposes of assigning school grades.

I know a little about this test, as you might have guessed. Each of my three older children took the test every year from grades three through ten.  Passing the test your tenth grade year qualifies you for graduation in conjunction with the minimum GPA required. I’ll let the readers ponder the logic of that.

The writing test has always been something of a joke, especially at the fourth grade level. For years, my children battled conflicting information from me and their teachers.

They were taught that conventions don’t matter as much as descriptive, flowery wording. In other words, focus on using exciting vocabulary, and disregard proper punctuation and sentence structure, and you will pass the FCAT. Kids who followed those instruction did indeed pass the FCAT, and children being human beings after all, appreciated this path of least resistance.

This year, the state decided to do what they should have been doing all along, and raised the standard for acceptable writing. The kids bombed the test, and the parents and school administrators caused a public ruckus:

During more than an hour of public input, parents and teachers criticized the amount of testing that occurs in Florida. “This is one indication where teaching to the test has become a problem,” Miami-Dade parent Donna March said. “It is doing harm to my kids.”

They also made clear that they did not have enough information to understand the changes put into effect for the FCAT writing this year. ”We were a little out of touch, obviously, with what the expectations were,” writing teacher Holly Wallace told the board.

The Florida Department of Education plans to release the full FCAT writing results by the end of the week, if possible. Robinson said the department intends to improve its level of teacher training on writing expectations and standards. In response to a teacher’s comments, he said the department also is considering giving students more time to take the test in order to meet the higher expectations.

Now whether or not there is too much testing and too much teaching to the test is open for debate. I think there is certainly something worth discussing. However, the answer to the current “crisis” isn’t to lower the standards, but to raise the level of instruction, and hold accountable those teachers that fail to meet the standard.

I know. It’s never gonna happen, which is why we have made different education choices for our younger children as they approach school age.

Monday’s Musings

As always, I do hope your week is off to a good start!

Reason #3,896 that I stopped watching Christian television: I’m a little late getting to this one, but when the story broke I was livid on behalf of spouses who have been faithful partners and then find themselves stricken with Alzheimer’s disease. For those out of the loop, televangelist and talk show host Pat Robertson recently advised a man weary with the toll of his wife’s Alzheimer’s and eager to date that he could divorce her and it wouldn’t be wrong because Alzheimer’s is “a type of death”. Therefore he wouldn’t be betraying his marriage vows. I don’t think there is anything to add to that. And yes, I know that not all televangelists are like that. Duly noted.

It Ain’t Always About Race, Folks: Apparently acclaimed Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman has come out to say that the Tea Party is racist. That they want to defeat the President solely because they feel that they need to “get this black man outta here.” I think this is ridiculous on its face, to assume that anyone who opposes the President is doing so on the basis of race.

Now understand, I am no fan of the Tea Party movement mainly because I believe they’re a bunch of hypocrites on the very fiscal issues they claim to be crusading on. But being a cognitively dissonant hypocrite doesn’t make one a racist. Whatever happened to being able to argue something on the merits instead of using inflammatory language and accusations to shut the voice of the opposition?

Herman Cain wins Florida GOP Straw Poll: And make no mistake about it folk, this was an upset to the Perry campaign first, and the Romney campaign as well. Apparently the FL straw poll has predicted the GOP nominee in the past several presidential contests. I still don’t know that Cain, a business man and ordained minister can go the distance. If he does it certainly would take the race card off the able, wouldn’t it?

Homeschooling update: We’re settling into a nice rhythm now that I have resolved to focus on what I think is important and not on all the things I could be teaching Lil’ Princess and all the things we could be doing based on reading too many homeschool books, blogs, and websites. They have inspired me greatly but I also found myself overwhelmed. I have resolved that as Lil’ Princess is only 5 years old, this year will be centered largely around four things: reading, writing, mathematics, and Bible. That’s it. We learn science as the situation arises, conduct impromptu experiments as well, which is almost daily as it happens, and we touch the edges of all kinds of topics from geography to government in our day to day conversations. However, with 5 children and all the demands that come with a large family, I had to streamline this first year. We are making much more progress now that I have relaxed a bit. And having much more fun!

Homeschooling Specifics: For reading we are using The Ordinary Parents’ Guide to Teaching Reading. We were using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons but for some reason that wasn’t going over as well as the ordinary parent’s guide. Lil’ Princess likes the Jessie Wise book much better. Go figure. For math we are doing Saxon K. For writing, I put together sheets from this site to help Lil’ Princess learn to write legibly and properly. For Bible we are using BJU Press’ K-5 Bible Truths.

I’m unclear on how we can help Europe with its debt woes: But, our government is joining the rest of the Western world in trying to surmise how we can “contain” Europe’s debt crisis before they plunge the world into an even deeper depression recession. Well okay, then. The stockpilers and survivalists don’t sound as extreme to me as they did a few years ago.

What’s cooking:

Sunday: Baked chicken, mushroom risotto, broccoli

Monday: BBQ Chicken tacos, salad

Tuesday: Spaghetti

Wednesday: Potato soup

Thursday: Chicken Alfredo bow tie pasta, salad

Friday: Toasted roast beef subs, baked french fries

Getting Ready…

Can I be honest? I have a little over a month before we are “official” homeschoolers, and it terrifies me a bit. Even though we’ve been loosely “doing school” for the last year or so, I still despair that I’m not going to be able to do this successfully. What if I miss this? What if I forget that? Have we chosen the right approach (classical)? There is something about becoming official that piles on the pressure.

As we move into the grammar stage, I’ve decided to steal Joanna’s approach and pre-organize Lil’ Princess’s daily lessons into a binder so that every day we’re ready to go. Sweetie Pie will be doing Before Five In  A Row. Everything sounds great, right?

I think so, too, and still I wonder: What about art? What about music? We’ve got to spend more time outdoors! That last one is easy in the fall, winter, and spring. In the summer down here, we venture out either early in the morning or late in the evening- if the strong thunderstorms don’t squash our plans. Don’t even get me started on the mosquitoes!

I don’t know what the point of this post is, but a light just came on. I’ve been reading books on Charlotte Mason and I’m despairing that we haven’t spent enough time out of doors this summer, ergo, I’m not “doing it right.” even though my kids spend far more time outside than they would in a commercial or public institution of learning. And they know a lot, too. I’m feeling better already, though I’m still not sure what the point of this post is.

Writing is cathartic! Y’all have a blessed weekend now!

Children’s Books We Love

I’m always on the lookout for great children’s books for little one’s in the age range of Lil’ Princess and Sweetie Pie. Here are a few (a couple are even modern!) that both the kids and I like.

• The Berenstain Bears Love Their Neighbors, by Jan Berenstain: This one is a retelling of the parable of The Good Samaritan, from a civilized bear family’s perspective, of course. Great lesson here, and I have always enjoyed the Berenstain Bears.
• The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin: What’s not to love about this engaging tale from Beatrix Potter about the impertinent little squirrel named Nutkin?  It’s one of Lil’ Princess’ favorites.
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit: Another Beatrix Potter classic that my kids love to have read to them. Peter’s adventures in Mr. McGregor’s garden never gets old.
• Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey: Even though we’ve read this one numerous times before, Sweetie Pie grabbed it during our trip to the library this week. I like it, too.
• When I Grow Up, by Al Yankovic: Yes, that Al Yankovic. I stumbled upon this one recently and just thought it was really funny. I’ve always like Weird Al Yankovic’s humor, which might explain why I liked this book.
• Brer Rabbit Tales: My girls really enjoy hearing the stories that tell of the escalating rivalry between Brer’ Rabbit and Brer’ Fox.
• The Big, Green Pocketbook, by Candace Ransom. This story about a young girl’s trip into town with her mother is one my girls loved instantly.
• Alphabet City,  Stephen T. Johnson, illustrator. Using NYC as inspiration, this author captured each letter of the alphabet as it occurs naturally in city surroundings.

Those are just a few of my little ones’ favorite books. But the whole point of this exercise is to pick your brain.

What great children’s books do you suggest for kids aged 3 to 5?

In case you’re curious about what I am currently reading, I’m reading End the Fed, by Ron Paul. I’m also reading Jane Austen’s  Mansfield Park.

Y’all have a great weekend!

Book Review: For the Children’s Sake

Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.

This was Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education and it’s the central theme of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book, For the Children’s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School.

I enjoyed this book because it presents an educational philosophy built on the premise of educating the whole child. A philosophy which appreciates that there is more to education than the three R’s. Of course, most homeschoolers know this instinctively, which is why they have chosen to homeschool.

For someone like me, who has been steeped in 13 years of an educational model built largely on the ever-looming standardized test, a mental shift was required when considering the true meaning of education. This is particularly true since we decided to opt out the system for our younger children because of our dissatisfaction with the level of academic instruction. This, despite the fact that our children are all honors/AP students.

It wasn’t until I began doing my research that I began to get a greater understanding of the importance of creating an atmosphere conducive to learning rather than depending on an artificial learning environment. For The Children’s Sake does an excellent job of taking the ideas of Charlotte Mason and condensing them into a book that touches on all of the important aspects of educating the whole person.

Helping children to become lifelong lovers of learning, giving them the tools to teach themselves the things that interest them as they become old enough to do so, and not neglecting the importance of playtime and exposure to the classroom of nature were all themes that resonated with me. Most of all, the book frames its discussion of education from a Christian perspective:

“Education is a life. That life is sustained on ideas. Ideas are of spiritual origin, and God has made us so that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another, whether by word of mouth, written page, Scripture word, musical symphony; but we must sustain a child’s inner life with ideas as we sustain his body with food.”

I enjoyed this book a great deal and appreciated that it offers a picture of education that is radically different than the traditional model our society has come to accept as the only “right way” to educate. A “right way” which incidentally, is being exposed more and more as a dismal failure by people of all educational persuasions.

I give For The Children’s Sake a grade of A-. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a book that succinctly captures the spirit of a Charlotte Mason education.

The Countdown

The countdown has begun. We got a notice from the high school’s “official photographer” that we need to make an appointment for Bright Eyes’ senior pictures. She has made her schedule for the fall and she’ll be spending the better part of her day not on the campus of her high school, but at the local college. She’ll be at high school two hours a day and has boldly announced that we should probably consider getting her a car so that my homeschooling schedule isn’t too upset by increasingly complex schedule.

And even though we knew this day was coming; and even though her plan is to live at home while she earns her undergraduate degree, we can’t help but be painfully aware of the fact that our family dynamic is about to change. It’s a joyful but disconcerting time for me. When did the little girl I carried next to me in a snuggly become the young woman driving my SUV, requesting something smaller to putt around in?

This is just the beginning of two years of this family’s transition because she has two siblings right behind her. In fact they’re all taking college classes this summer and SAM and I keep thinking: Where did the time go? I have come to terms with the fact that I have to let my girls go, but I don’t have to like it, do I?

We’re doing mental checklists of all the little lessons we forgot to teach. Is it too late for some of them? Is it still too soon for others? One lesson we’ve always felt a strong compulsion to drive home is this: Do not measure success by this culture’s standards. It would be one of the worst mistakes they could ever make.

I am proud of their academic accomplishments, and I think their acquiring of a college degree is perfectly acceptable, especially since they’ve chosen a route that is cost-effective and doesn’t amass a mountain of debt. Still, the idea that college and career is the only path to a successful and fulfilling life is wrong on so many levels I won’t even attempt to count the ways. If the numbers of depressed, unfulfilled, mean-spirited people in out midst is any indication, that life path leaves a great deal to be desired.

What if rather than finishing college, God sends one of my children to the mission field? What if He leads one of my daughters to a life of marriage and family when she is 20 rather than 30? As Christians our first responsibility is to God when guiding our children. They are His, not ours, and we should direct them to follow His leading, even if it means sacrificing the perks and conveniences of the culture.

A sacrifice, as described in scripture, must die. We must die to our own ways, plans, and desires if we are to be fully formed into the image of who God wants us to be. I’m still working on making this a reality in my life, so that by example  I can encourage my kids to do the same.

It’s an ongoing process, but right now I’m just savoring the moments. I  encourage you to do the same. The time really does pass quite quickly. The baby you’re rocking now will be the young man or woman asking for your car keys before you know it.

One More Reason NOT To Borrow for College (as if we needed one)

SAM and I were both taken aback by this little diddy. The Dept.of Education sent a S.W.A.T. team into this guy’s house, put him in handcuffs, and stuck him in  a patrol car with his kids, because of his wife’s defaulted student loans. 

Department of Education Breaks Down Stockton Man’s Door

I bet we don’t sound so unreasonable now, do we? And yes, of course people should pay their bills and honor their commitments. But there are times of illness, financial catastrophe, involuntary joblessness, and other factors that sometimes make it impossible to do more than what is required to subsist. When that happens, one shouldn’t need to worry about a S.W.A.T. team breaking down the door.

Borrowing for college is an increasingly bad idea.

(h/t: Vox Day)

Edited to add: Apparently all the links to this story from American news outlets keeps disappearing. In the event that the link I have above becomes a problem, here’s a link to a British news organization that covered the story:

A little over the top? SWAT Team launch dawn raid on family home to collect unpaid student loans

I think it’s safe to say that this (foreign) link will remain available for public viewing.

Monday’s Musings

Happy Memorial Day. Don’t forget to thank a vet!

1.      Curriculum Delirium: That’s the syndrome I was suffering with by Saturday night, but I feel much better equipped moving forward on our homeschool journey than I did when the weekend began. I don’t envision myself attending this homeschool convention every year. It’s too much to take in and I gather the more years of homeschooling you have under your belt, the less you learn at these things. It does a seem an excellent place to go to remind yourself that there are lots of other “strange” families who have chosen to eschew the conventional education route for their children.

My favorite workshop was one on teaching literature to children. This guy was the best speaker I heard over the course of the weekend, bar none. I don’t know that I’ll ever read a children’s book quite the same way again. SAM, who prefers science and math to literature, even enjoyed it.

I mentioned on Friday that I only saw a few very large families. That changed on Saturday. I noticed many more the second day. Still, I saw a lot of families smaller than my own. Many of the mothers I spoke to while looking at different curriculum or standing in line to register were moms of two, three, or four. And a good number started out in public school and were switching course. Didn’t see many denim jumpers or long skirts either, which further illustrates my point. That homeschoolers rarely fit into a neat little box.

Hearing the woman who hosts this site was probably worth the cost of the convention. Lil’ Princess (4) is very bright, but highly distractible. In fact, her temperament has caused a couple of people to insinuate subtly and not so subtly that I need to put her in school to learn to sit-down-and-pay-attention already. Private school is not an option and public school would just bore her even more. She’s already beyond what the average kindergarten class teaches, and would promptly be labeled ADD, ADHD, hyperactive, or whatever else they’ve come up with that I haven’t heard of yet. No thank you. I’m not buying it, and I was thankful to run across someone who has gone where I am headed.

2.     Three Weeks, 12 pounds. No, not me. SAM. When he decided  few weeks ago to get into better shape, the testosterone kicked in and the extra weight fell off. In a snap. I’m still laboring to get off the last 13 pounds that I wanted to shed by the end of June.

To be honest, I haven’t been working all that hard. I’ve done enough not to regain any of the 22 pounds I’ve lost since January, but not enough to lose the rest. In truth, I need to lose 23 more, but I was resigned to be satisfied with simply losing the 35 pounds I gained from Sweetie Pie. He does in 3 weeks what I couldn’t do in 3 months. Who says men and women aren’t different?

3.     Elliptical, Schmiptical:  Piggybacking on the previous thought, my girls and I decided we would start doing this. Given my endurance on the elliptical machine, I thought it would be a piece of cake even for a 39-year-old whose 20 pounds overweight. Boy, was I wrong!

Running 200 yards on pavement is not the same as “running” a mile on a machine. Ditto free weights versus  a weight machine. It occurred to me that what I need is not more time working out, but workouts that are a bit more efficient. Machines that provide much of my momentum are slowing me down. So, a change of methodology is underway. I was doing the P90X program, but I need to get outside more to exercise. So I’m alternating between the weight training DVD’s and the running program every other day. Maybe the change of pace will give me my fitness momentum back, because I still have a way to go. We’ll see.

4.     I tuned in for the last Oprah show:  I’m a sheeple, I guess. I hadn’t watched an episode of her show in a very long time, but memories of when I was a regular viewer (as a teenager and very young wife) caused me to see how she was going to end this “dynasty” she’d built over the past 25 years. It was the most boring, sanctimonious thing I’d ever seen. The first 20 minutes at least, until I decided to shut off the set and try my hand at baking a gluten-free soda bread recipe to serve with dinner.

On second thought, she did say one thing I agreed with before I stopped watching: You are responsible for your life. I remember finding her assertion a bit ironic even though I wholeheartedly agreed. So I guess it wasn’t all bad.

Happy Monday, all! and Happy Memorial Day!

This Will Probably Be Irrelevant to Most Homeschoolers

Bright Eyes (16) recently recounted an interesting conversation she had with a friend. Her friend is a fellow high school junior and part-time college student taking a level 1 civics class this semester at the local community college.

She excitedly reported to my daughter everything she’s been learning about the legislative process, the Constitution, and other inner workings of government. While Bright Eyes was pleased that her friend was excited about what she was learning, she didn’t pretend that she was learning anything new.

Bright Eyes continually answered in the affirmative to her friend’s questions, “Did you know this?”  Her friend was surprised because as an honors student, she knew that the two of them had taken virtually identical classes throughout their school careers.  My daughter shared that most of what she knows about American government  she learned from her parents. Apparently, we are an anomaly.

Our kids understand how their government works, and how it was designed to work (two different things!).  Most of their knowledge was gained through general conversation rather any concerted effort on our part. They heard conversations between their Dad and I, asked questions, and learning took place. They occasionally share these insights with their friends. There are honors students in high school who don’t know that the government gets its revenue from tax dollars until my kids tell them. Seriously. That’s some scary stuff when you consider that today’s honor students are tomorrows leaders.

We have increasingly been sharing with our kids the importance of keeping their priorities in order. Reminding them that the lifestyle we live is not typical around the world, and that there are no guarantees that this will continue. There are never any guarantees, but given the current political and economic climate in this country, a large-scale shift may be imminent. We believe that in the case of our 15 and 16-year-olds, an increased awareness of the world around them both good and bad, is advantageous.  The typical carefree  teenage existence lacks the balance required to be thinking, productive citizens. We Americans are notoriously closed off from world events, and most of us will be caught unawares when the trouble reaches our front doors.

I’d like to think we haven’t spoiled our kids. In fact I know we haven’t when compared to most of their peers. Still, given the apparent economic situation we are facing in America, most of us would do well to let our young adult children in on the realties of life. Most of them have no idea how good they have it, even if they live in a fairly frugal household.

A good place to start, after a strong spiritual and Biblical foundation of course, would be a basic understanding of taxes and spending.

What We’ve Been Learning of Late

There’s a lot going on around here so I thought I’d share a bit. We are knee-deep in homeschooling, even though Lil’ Princess is still shy of the age where we would be considered “official” homeschoolers. Because of that, things are pretty loose around here. The littles still don’t wake up until right before 8AM. This gives me plenty of time to prepare their activities for the day, get some chores done and of course, write.

I’ve been learning some things too and I’m pretty excited about it since they’re things I never envisioned myself learning to do. I changed the oil in our Suburban this past weekend. If that doesn’t impress, I also changed the brakes! If my husband hadn’t hurt his wrist recently, I probably never would’ve taken the time to learn how to do such a thing, but I’m glad I did. The older I get, the more I appreciate how important it is for women as well as men to be well-rounded and equipped to handle whatever the task at hand may be, rather than tagging every chore as “men’s work” or “women’s work.” We saved our family some of the money my husband works hard to earn with my willingness to step outside my comfort zone and do what needed to be done. Now that I’m done bragging on my awesome womanliness, let’s get to the important stuff: Homeschooling!

I found a wonderful website for generating manuscript handwriting worksheets since Lil’ Princess is learning to write her first and last name. That’s all she’s learning to write at present, as the bulk of our  lesson time (she’s only 4) is spent on reading . On the site you type the words, letters, or paragraphs your student will practice writing and you get those words presented with the dotted lines. I know many of you are already familiar with it already but I’m a new  homeschooler and every new find excites me.

I’m getting ready to start Before Five In a Row with our two-year-old, Sweetie Pie. Lil’ Princess enjoyed it and learned a lot through the literature. For Lil’ Princess, I’m considering Saxon math for the fall when she will officially be kindergarten age. On our current track, she’ll be reading pretty well by her 5th birthday later this year.

We spend a total of about one hour per day doing actual “schooling.” Most of what we learn we learn in the context of our day. They help with chores, pour their own juice, and help with breakfast. I read Montessori From the Start late last year and it changed my approach to how I teach my children.

The author noted that we habitually serve our children, often because we think it’s easier to do the job ourselves. I was guilty of that, saw the error of my approach, and changed course. This adds time to some chores and activities, but my little girls are exhibiting much more capability and confidence as they tackle the things they are able to do themselves.

Finger painting, outdoor exploration, and kitchen fun is also a big part of our days. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks so my normal schedule has suffered, but I’m hoping to fall back into a regular routine after our the long weekend. Here a couple of pictures of things we’ve been up to:

Painting is always fun for the girls. Also, we found 3 lizard skeletons in a flower-pot in the corner of our backyard recently, and they insisted on taking them out. The critters opened the door to all kinds of learning as we did research to find out what kind of lizards they are, what they ate when they were alive, and the different parts of a lizard’s body. Of course I have pictures of our recent scientific discovery:

Even Sweetie Pie, who hates touching any critters, dead or alive, was fascinated enough to pick these up.

That’s just a snippet of what we’ve been doing. As always any tips, resources, or great finds that may enhance our learning are welcome!

Enjoy your Monday!