Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Joys of Teaching Your Own Children...

So the kids were having "project day" and Zeke decided that they were going to do something related to Ancient Egypt, his favorite subject matter right now. They found their book on the people who built the pyramids and then they disappeared into the bathroom. Now I knew that this generally means some kind of makeup/dressup debacle, but it was so much better when they came out.

They both had green penciled around their eyes ("mom, kohl was black or green") Zeke had removed his shirt and they were both wearing towels safety pinned into kilt-style. then they proceeded to make big huge dangly earrings out of paper and taped them to their ears. :-) We ended up going to Belen's physical therapy looking like this. :-)

I love seeing history come alive for Zeke and Abish and I love watching him read until there's no more light to read with. The path we've chosen is definitely not the easiest, but I know it's right for us. I also know that any parent who wants to can do the same thing. No one knows how to make a child excited about something better than his/her parents.

Someone from our homeschool email group sent a link to a youtube video of a 20/20 clip about education in America's schools. I won't lkink to it here, because I wasn't impressed, but I'm sure you could do a search and find it if you really wanted to. It was supposed to be about how stupid America's students were and how awful our education system is. Chaos was rampant and drugs and violence were everywhere. Anyway, after I had been watching a while, it became clear it was just a thinly veiled pro-voucher piece that also had some very pointed remarks as to the harm that the National Teacher's Union is doing (which is rather surprising as the Union is a very strong lobby as I understand it and has a lot of pull with generally liberal media). I could be way off base here, but that was a blow I was not expecting to see. After it became clear that the piece had it's own way of solving the education problem, I had a hard time finishing it. Couldn't there be another way to fix the system than just using vouchers? They kept talking about the choices available to Eropean parents and all of the schools they could choose to put their children in. Forgive me, but I thought most Governments in Western Europe ran ALL of the schools, not just most of them. Giving parents a choice between s "state-run" public school and a "state-run" private school doesn't sound like a whole lot of choice to me.

Enough venting. somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I'd like to know your opinions.

9 comments:

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Oh, Karin, I will tell you the same thing I told karatemommy a few weeks back when she brought up public education--don't ask me to comment unless you really want an earful. :) I have actually been thinking about your blog for the last thirty minutes or so, thinking how to frame a response, or what I actually wanted to respond to.

First of all, I haven't seen the 20/20 piece, although from what you said, I get the impression it was hosted by John Stosel. He is very combative, and even when he says things that make good sense, his manner is almost too condescending to bear watching. He is actually fairly conservative and spends time blowing holes in everyone's arguments. Mostly though, I think he is just a real die hard capitalist skeptic. To this end, he hates anything that is big government and public education, regardless of constitutional guarantees of state control, is big government at (almost) its worst. The teachers don't get a fair shake from the liberal media. The truth is NOBODY thinks public education is doing a good job and the politicians (blue and red)are at a complete loss and keep passing ideas that are mostly disliked by the teachers' association and then (big surprise) they don't work. The teachers have a few good ideas, but mostly their lobby group spends time fighting suggested ideas.

Secondly, I think your kids' learning about Egypt sounds exciting and wonderful and I'm glad you are so supportive of their creativity and their independence.

I do, however, disagree with something you said. "No one knows how to make a child excited about something better than his/her parents." While that may be true in your case, I have worked with hundreds, maybe thousands, of parents and students over the last decade, and many parents, especially of young teenagers, have no clue how to make their kids excited about education. The typical home school response I've heard to this is, "Well, it is because they've learned to hate school because it is all desk work and boredom." That isn't always true either. That may be just what the child reports school is like.

The parents I have seen least prepared to make good educational (or other) types of decisions for their children are often in the neighborhoods where the schools struggle the most. Schools are failing because homes are failing. "Chaos is rampant and drugs and violence were everywhere" because their homes and their training offer no alternatives, not because there is something inherently wrong with school. Even the worst teachers are not teaching this stuff; in fact, for many of these kids, school may be the only place they hear a voice of reason.

Like many things in life, kids take from school exactly what they put into it. If they go to school tired or hungry or abused or emotional or unprepared (and a shocking number fall into this group), even the most dynamic, intelligent, and energetic teacher will have trouble motivating them. Furthermore, not every child learns to read as easily and quickly as Zeke. In fact, there are a huge number of them who are just very average. As you well know, students who have trouble reading, or read late, have much greater troubles learning everything.

In my own area of teaching expertise, science, I see such a shocking lack of education in this area when it comes to most of the home schooling parents I've been in contact with. Many of them seem to do a decent job with language arts and history subjects, and math can be taught mostly from a book if a parent is committed, but other than a twice yearly trip to the nature center to talk about the majesty of God's creations, there is very little science going on.

I'm not being specifically critical, more generally. I agree that children must be taught the joy and wonder of nature, but school is not just about exploring the thing you find the most interesting. It is about being exposed to things you'd never see at home (not necessarily a negative thing) and finding new things to have joy in. It is also about being prepared to enter life. In real life, you must learn to get along with people outside your own family. In real life, you must learn to be disciplined enough to do things that aren't always pleasant. In real life you have to use math and reading skills even if you don't love math or reading. School can teach these things.

No, the system is absolutely not perfect. Not even close. Still, even if nothing can be done about the homes, there can be much done about the schools. Classes need to be smaller, or if kept the same size they need to be team taught. Kids need some time every day for PE and music to keep them balanced and develop all areas of their brains uniformly. Parent volunteers need to be in the schools daily at all levels, offering suggestions and help. Emphasis needs to move away from testing and toward preparation to deal with a larger world through summative assessments and portfolios. Money needs to be spent and controlled locally. Grades need to be seen as guidelines and not absolutes. Teachers need to be trained in management systems and learning theories that really work. Teachers need to be paid to attend on-going training and conferences so they will actually attend. Teachers may not need to be paid more, but there needs to be more job satisfaction in the form of good benefits, smaller classes and autonomy. Teacher training programs need to be more rigorous and presitigous so the best and the brightest will be attracted to this most important profession.

In spite of the problems, however, millions of students each year still end up in classrooms with teachers they love and learn from. I had teachers like this. Every year I strive to be a teacher like this; even if only a few respond to my best efforts.

I have known many people who have homeschooled. I have had very mixed feelings about his. Some seem to be doing a great job. Their kids are happy, smart, well-adjusted and high functioning. Other families, well, it is only anecdotal evidence, but the results were not as positive. I knew one young woman who was 18 and taking remedial math classes at a local college to try and get into Ricks. She had difficulty talking to adults who were not her parents, though she seemed to get along okay with kids her age. She got a great opportunity to work at a summer camp far from home the summer she was 18. All of the camp leaders were LDS, though the place was not sponsored by the church. She had a YW leader go out on a limb to get the job for her. She was supposed to go for 16 weeks; she lasted two. She couldn't stand being so far from home. How was she going to make it at Ricks? She had several younger siblings who seemed to be headed the same way. Her older brother was supposed to be earning money for a mission but couldn't even bear to call and ask for a job and had trouble even filling out an application. I knew another mom who was home schooling and she'd barely made it through high school. She pulled four kids out of public school when the resource program didn't capitulate to her whims over the instruction of one of her kids. She'd only worked with them a few weeks before making the decision.

Again, anecdotal. The most effective home schooling mom I ever saw did a combination fo homeschool and public school and met each child where they were at and tried to place them where they most needed to be.

I had a teacher friend once who was one of the smartest women I'd ever met. If anybody could be a great homeschooler, it would be her. I asked her about it once and her reply had a lot of wisdom. She said that there is already so much to teach your children--particularly with our gospel beliefs being what they are--that she just thought it was better for kids to not see their mother as the fountain of all worthwhile knowledge. She also said that she was more comfortable leaving a lot of the knowledge the "experts" even if she herself knew the stuff. She believed that sharing the burden of teaching her children with others, then it made her home run more smoothly and peacefully. She even hired a tutor when her oldest daughter began struggling with math because of the growing animosity between her and her accountant father over the math homework.

Okay, one last thing, anecdotal. I don't know what most other teachers do, and I can only speak from my own (wonderful) public school experience and my own classroom attempts. I became fascinated by Gregor Mendel when I was in high school. Genetics was really cutting edge stuff. My teacher was wonderful, but the college textbook we gleaned most of our information from was HARD. My college genetics class was almost incomprehensible in its difficult. Every time I had now taught science to four different levels--both age and understanding--I have taught genetics. I have spent years perfecting and creating careful handouts to match curriculum (aka testing) goals and to be very high interest. I've designed hands on activities and labs, one of which has probably undergone seven or eight different rewrites from its orginal format to be exactly right. I've collected materials and have tried to carefully sift through the ton of stuff out there to find out what works and what doesn't. When my kids do the Gregor Mendel reading guide from their Heredity textbook they are mostly lost and bored, true. But after six or seven labs, mathematical prediction on paper and in the computer, punnet squares, performing a play, doing an art project of traits in their own family, group research about genetic diseases, class presentations, and a study of current events, it all begins to sink in. The best part is that I have kids who have never even heard of genetics and heredity is just something they've talked about on Pioneer Day express exciting and wonderful ideas about their plans to study genetics or medicine or solve world hunger problems.

I don't think my classroom is unique. There are creative, motivated teachers making their classrooms wonderful places for learning every single day. You are right, the solution is not in vouchers, but there are solutions. I have to believe public education is fixable or I turn my back on some things that are fundamentally dear to me--school as an institution, the American ideal of a free and equal education for everyone, and collaborative, meaningful learning.

Okay, I'm finally done. :)

Karin said...

STM, I think your improvements to public education would make it a place where I would feel confident about sending my children. I've stated before that Teachers need more autonomy.

I'm glad you clarified John Stosel for me. (I'm still in the dark ages with no television and only remember what 20/20 was like when I was in high school) That explains a lot. I don't believe that schools are only chaos with drugs and violence rampant, that was just what the piece showed and I quoted very tongue-in-cheek.

Most of my own public education was not terrible, but rather the opposite. There were some shining teachers who really made learning come alive for me. There were others who only stayed because nobody fired them. Most often, my real education was acquired in spite of the "system" instead of being caused by it. There were teachers who tried very hard and those teachers were constantly fighting to get what they needed to be effective. Of course, this is just my limited anecdotal evidence of a large school in a semi-large city.

Homeschool, for us, is more of a journey. I didn't expect Zeke to read as early as he did. I assumed it would take longer. I also wouldn't presume that I am the only person that can teach him with any effectiveness. It wouldn't be fair of me to lead him to believe that his father and I are the only ones who know anything. there are so many opportunities for other teachers... "experts" of their field. We can and have taken classes offered by other teachers/parents. Cache Valley is a great place for resources. I also know that this is working for us now. It may not work in the future, or we may find some part-time arrangement that will work better at other times. I am trying to keep my mind open to that possibility. I do believe that whatever your choice of education for your children, in order for them to succeed, you *must* be a part of that process as a parent. Whether that means communicating with your child's teacher regularly, volunteering, or teaching yourself, it is nobody's responsibility but a parent's to make sure that a child is educated.

I am grateful that I belong in a country where free education is available. It's a wonderful value in our society. It should be protected. The responsibility of teaching my kids weighs heavily on my soul, because of what I believe religiously. It is because of that I keep them home for now. Maybe in the future it won't be so much of an issue.

Thank you for your food for thought and your opinions. :-) I'd appoint you to Head of Education.:-)

...in High school debate, we would always joke and fantasize about "when I'm president of the US" and how much we would "fix" things. I still feel very much an idealist even though I'm not quite as naive as I was then.

Science Teacher Mommy said...

It is certainly true that more people need a "think outside the box" approach to education. I commend ANY parent who wants to get involved in the process. Too many of them see pub ed as daycare for the price of property taxes. I think following your heart and listening to your intuition is a very important part of raising kids. I'm sure you'll do the right thing for your children. You and your husband are two of the brightest people I've ever known; if anybody has the resources to teach their kids at home it would be you.

Tola said...

no pictures? awwwwwwww

miranda said...

I think it's great that you have the patience to homeschool your kids. I could never do it. I don't have the patience.

Also, just a quick note on the "liberal" media. It's not that liberal. Many journalist lean liberal, but there are plenty of conservative pundits to balance that out.

In truth, the media (even the news) is a business. And it's hard to be too liberal when your corporate overlords (and nearly all news media falls in this category) are, in general, the status quo.

miranda said...

Back...And this time weighing in on European education.

A lot of the "choice" comes from types of schools. When I lived in Austria for a brief time, I found that they had basic prep, and then you could choose to learn a trade. So choice was between continuing on the college track, or learning trades.

It would be good to have that kind of choice...offering kids opportunities apprenticeships and allowing more votech and professional type options would probably help. Not every wants, or should be led to think that they should attend, college.

Doreen said...

Pretty much what Miranda said in her last comment. I personally think that the whole "everyone on college track" idea is a big problem with education in America. I think it would be possible to offer a lot more to students who choose to go on the college track, and I think it would help with drop-out rates if students were given the opportunity to graduate earlier and go to a vocational school/do an apprenticeship. It wouldn't solve every single problem there is, but I think it would help. Not that it relates to homeschooling at all, just saying. :p As for homeschooling, I think it definitely has its place. I also believe that the key factor in a child's success is parent involvement. Some people just shouldn't homeschool, and some kids are much better off at home than at a public school. And for some, a combination of the two works. And that's my 2 cents. :p

Science Teacher Mommy said...

I'm on the voc-ed bandwagon too. If school doesn't prepare for life, then it is just an intellectual exercise for the idle rich--the way it was before the 19th century.

Sylwia said...

In the US there are both wonderful and dreadful public schools. we just moved from Iowa where my kids attended public school. The schools in Iowa are the second best in the country and I would never home school in that state. I loved the school in des moines and my kids loved it too. a lot of their learning was done in a montersori type way. there were centers all around the room. the kids had a certain amount of work to finish in a week. they could do a lot of it at their own level. if they were better at math or reading they would do things in their centers that were harder. they could quietly talk to their friends while working. they had 3 recesses , wonderul art and music classes, and lots and lots of school parties. they loved learning and going to school everyday. i felt that the school was doing a much better job than i ever could at home.

now we've moved to georgia which has the second worst school system in the country. and it really is dreadful. my kids hate going to school. they dont have art and they hardly ever get to go to recess. they are expected to be quiet and sit at their desk for nearly 7 hours! i can't even do that! and i'm a chubby lazy adult lady. how can a school expect energetic little boys to do that? so my kids hate school, but they deal with it. isaiah has pretty bad handwriting so i started teaching him cursive. well, when the teacher saw him writing in cursive she called me and told me that isaiah is not allowed to write in cursive at school. when i disagreed, she got the principal on the phone to tell me that it's not allowed unitl third grade, so isaiah is not allowed!

we may just be here one year, and if that's the case I will let my kids suffer it out. afterall, one day they may have a job that they hate and I dont want them to learn the idea that it's ok to quit just because you hate your job or school. next year if we are still here i may homeschool them...

so i think a voucher program is a great idea. there really are awesome public school in this country and there are some real bad ones as well.

sylwia