Raise the chickadees such that they are well adjusted, self sufficient, capable, courteous, secure adults by the time they are released upon the world at large.
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
I home school the boy, you probably know that. NC has very few regulations for home schooling which is nice, but I sure wish they would help a bit more than they do. There are only two written in stone rules for NC. One is that you register with the state - duh, the other is that you administer some standardised test each year.
People home school for many reasons. Some good, some not so good. Our reasons are many, some better than others. But one of the biggest reasons is that I know on any given day I can move my kid/s much further down the road in their education working one on one than some poor harried public (or private in many cases) school teacher with 20 or more kids who learn at varied rates, ways, and on varied levels - teachers who must deal with government paperwork/rules/regs and parents who are sometimes clueless, pushy, uninvolved, and difficult and do it all with a smile. But eventually (high school) I do put them into the public system. Not because I can't teach at a high school level (more about that later) but because it facilitates the process for getting into college.
Because we do put the kids back in for high school I'd love to administer the same year end tests the state uses so that, when we re-enroll, the school has a good idea where my kids are in relation to how the school classifies their students. It gives no real indication how advanced or how broad their education as been because these tests do not cover on all the areas we teach, but at least the yard stick would be pretty much the same as is used with the other kids. But guess what, the schools will not allow my kids to sit for the same tests, never mind I pay the same education taxes everyone else pays. So, not only do I have to buy all my own materials (gladly) but I have to pay for the year end testing as well.
The first year I tested my girls, some 10 years ago now, they both blew the top out of the test I administered (CAT). This made me a little nervous that the state would not believe their scores so the following year I paid a bunch more money and took them to a testing center for year end tests. They blew the top out of that one too (except spelling, we are all congenitally challenged in spelling - but we use spell check very well) so the following year I switched to what is known to be a tougher test (Iowa) and hired a friend to administer in my own home. The girls continued blowing the top out, but at this point we had a track record that showed it didn't matter which test or how it was administered, they were just good at these tests.
Now we are getting close to the end of this "school year" (schooling never really stops around here) so this week is test week for the boy. He just finished his first section in 1/3 the allotted time and the second section in half the allotted time. Another perk to home schooling, testing is not a week long high stress period. We generally finish in a couple days, and that is with lots of other stuff happening too.
If any of you are interested in home schooling, how we do it, why we do it, whatever let me know and I'll spend a lot more time on it. I could write a book. If it bores the snot out of you I'll spread the posts on the topic and not bunch them together too much.
People home school for many reasons. Some good, some not so good. Our reasons are many, some better than others. But one of the biggest reasons is that I know on any given day I can move my kid/s much further down the road in their education working one on one than some poor harried public (or private in many cases) school teacher with 20 or more kids who learn at varied rates, ways, and on varied levels - teachers who must deal with government paperwork/rules/regs and parents who are sometimes clueless, pushy, uninvolved, and difficult and do it all with a smile. But eventually (high school) I do put them into the public system. Not because I can't teach at a high school level (more about that later) but because it facilitates the process for getting into college.
Because we do put the kids back in for high school I'd love to administer the same year end tests the state uses so that, when we re-enroll, the school has a good idea where my kids are in relation to how the school classifies their students. It gives no real indication how advanced or how broad their education as been because these tests do not cover on all the areas we teach, but at least the yard stick would be pretty much the same as is used with the other kids. But guess what, the schools will not allow my kids to sit for the same tests, never mind I pay the same education taxes everyone else pays. So, not only do I have to buy all my own materials (gladly) but I have to pay for the year end testing as well.
The first year I tested my girls, some 10 years ago now, they both blew the top out of the test I administered (CAT). This made me a little nervous that the state would not believe their scores so the following year I paid a bunch more money and took them to a testing center for year end tests. They blew the top out of that one too (except spelling, we are all congenitally challenged in spelling - but we use spell check very well) so the following year I switched to what is known to be a tougher test (Iowa) and hired a friend to administer in my own home. The girls continued blowing the top out, but at this point we had a track record that showed it didn't matter which test or how it was administered, they were just good at these tests.
Now we are getting close to the end of this "school year" (schooling never really stops around here) so this week is test week for the boy. He just finished his first section in 1/3 the allotted time and the second section in half the allotted time. Another perk to home schooling, testing is not a week long high stress period. We generally finish in a couple days, and that is with lots of other stuff happening too.
If any of you are interested in home schooling, how we do it, why we do it, whatever let me know and I'll spend a lot more time on it. I could write a book. If it bores the snot out of you I'll spread the posts on the topic and not bunch them together too much.
Patti's Parenting Primise number D - nobody is perfect and no matter how hard we try as parents we will in fact make mistakes. An occasional mistake does not a failure make and most mistakes can be corrected.
Patti's Parenting Premise number tres - do not try to be your kid's best friend. That is not your job, your job is to be your kid's best PARENT.
Patti's Parenting Primise numero dos - If you are not ready to devote yourself to raising children, please don't have any. Children are not window dressing for you, they are future citizens that will be unleashed upon the rest of us about the time they are taken for their first outing to the grocery store.
Patti's Parenting Premise numero uno - Children are not born civilized. They must be civilized.
This is for any of you who fear my boy may learn more verbiage from your sites than I might approve.
First thing to keep in mind is that he is home schooled. If he were in public school (or private for that matter at this age!) he would be in middle school now - 6th grade. When most of us were in school that was still elementary, as I believe it should still be. But now 11 year olds are folded in with 13 year olds in Middle School. Remember what the general conversation between boys that age would consist of? How often would a smuggled copy of pr0n be the contraband of choice? My bet is that sort of thing is still the norm - and have you listened to the music these kids follow? Or the movies they discuss? The actors they follow-Brittney Spears? P A- L E S E! One of the host of reasons I home school is to maintain some degree of control over this sort of exposure. Kids today are not allowed to be kids for nearly long enough. They only get one crack at it, and I jealously guard the right mine have to those precious few years.
But of course the first comment anyone and everyone has to the idea of homeschooling is "socialisation", and being able to handle the "real world." Just because I try to keep him/them from porn, trashy language, trashy music, and pants around their knees does not mean I shelter him/them from reality. By no means is this the case. I actually use every example of such we run across as a teachable moment. I generally point out these sorts of things when we come across them and explain why someone would behave this way, and why they are wrong to do so. We discuss it all. That way my chickadees are aware of uncivilized behavior and are armed with the tools to resist following the lead of such examples. It is not that I try to shelter him but that I want to be the one who influences his perceptions of the world and the behavior of those around him, both good and bad.
How does this apply to you all? Well for starters you are all adults and he knows that. He knows that some things are more acceptable for adults than for kids. He knows that I will turn him every which way but loose if I hear certain words pass his lips, simply because he is still young. He understands that we use certain expletives at certain times to make a pithy point, but that he may not do the same. Add to that he does not read the comments, which is where the majority of pithiness tends to appear. He knows that what we write is not necessarily the way we would speak in public, just 'cause some of you use F Oprah regularly on line does not mean you walk about saying it! Look at your posts my dear friends - most of what goes up there are photographs (of dogs, flowers, and family for the most part), news reports, and well thought out intelligent commentary on the moronic behavior of the "leaders" of our country, or better yet commentary on the moronic writing and ranting of those who claim to be journalists. These are not things from which I need to shield him. These are the things I want him to see and hear. You are the sort of Americans I want him to be aware of. You are good people, caring people, patriotic people. You are the good stuff that makes this country great. Maybe you get frustrated, but usually for very good reason - the same reasons he actually hears me rant.
Of course there are a couple on my list of links that he has been advised not to check, ever, without asking me first :) And he actually listens to me so I don't worry too much.
So, please, don't let it cross your mind that my 11 year old might be reading you today - after all, this stuff is on the net, someone else's 7 year old might be reading it ;)
First thing to keep in mind is that he is home schooled. If he were in public school (or private for that matter at this age!) he would be in middle school now - 6th grade. When most of us were in school that was still elementary, as I believe it should still be. But now 11 year olds are folded in with 13 year olds in Middle School. Remember what the general conversation between boys that age would consist of? How often would a smuggled copy of pr0n be the contraband of choice? My bet is that sort of thing is still the norm - and have you listened to the music these kids follow? Or the movies they discuss? The actors they follow-Brittney Spears? P A- L E S E! One of the host of reasons I home school is to maintain some degree of control over this sort of exposure. Kids today are not allowed to be kids for nearly long enough. They only get one crack at it, and I jealously guard the right mine have to those precious few years.
But of course the first comment anyone and everyone has to the idea of homeschooling is "socialisation", and being able to handle the "real world." Just because I try to keep him/them from porn, trashy language, trashy music, and pants around their knees does not mean I shelter him/them from reality. By no means is this the case. I actually use every example of such we run across as a teachable moment. I generally point out these sorts of things when we come across them and explain why someone would behave this way, and why they are wrong to do so. We discuss it all. That way my chickadees are aware of uncivilized behavior and are armed with the tools to resist following the lead of such examples. It is not that I try to shelter him but that I want to be the one who influences his perceptions of the world and the behavior of those around him, both good and bad.
How does this apply to you all? Well for starters you are all adults and he knows that. He knows that some things are more acceptable for adults than for kids. He knows that I will turn him every which way but loose if I hear certain words pass his lips, simply because he is still young. He understands that we use certain expletives at certain times to make a pithy point, but that he may not do the same. Add to that he does not read the comments, which is where the majority of pithiness tends to appear. He knows that what we write is not necessarily the way we would speak in public, just 'cause some of you use F Oprah regularly on line does not mean you walk about saying it! Look at your posts my dear friends - most of what goes up there are photographs (of dogs, flowers, and family for the most part), news reports, and well thought out intelligent commentary on the moronic behavior of the "leaders" of our country, or better yet commentary on the moronic writing and ranting of those who claim to be journalists. These are not things from which I need to shield him. These are the things I want him to see and hear. You are the sort of Americans I want him to be aware of. You are good people, caring people, patriotic people. You are the good stuff that makes this country great. Maybe you get frustrated, but usually for very good reason - the same reasons he actually hears me rant.
Of course there are a couple on my list of links that he has been advised not to check, ever, without asking me first :) And he actually listens to me so I don't worry too much.
So, please, don't let it cross your mind that my 11 year old might be reading you today - after all, this stuff is on the net, someone else's 7 year old might be reading it ;)
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
