Do you have any type of accountability system for yourself and your homeschool? Or in other words, do you have someone, or some system in place, to help keep you on track regarding schooling your children and meeting your personal goals and/or state requirements? I'm just curious is all. I'm not of the opinion that homeschooling parents *should* or *should not* (apart from what's legal in your state) be kept accountable - it's totally a personal choice. I just know that I don't do as well on my personal tasks or goals (exercising, eating right, cleaning, etc) when I go at it on my own motivation. I guess that's just how I am. I do MUCH better when there's a game plan, and someone checking up on me (in lovingkindness, of course). So if you do have an accountability system... how does it work?
Here in Louisiana, homeschools are not required to test, not required to follow any particular curriculum, just send in registration papers annually, on which you promise that you're doing school 180 days with a sustained curriculum "at least equal to" that of the public school's at the same grade level. (THAT is sooooooo not difficult to do!) There are two homeschool options: 1) Approved Home Study, where you do have to send in "proof" (either test results or letter from a certified teacher or a portfolio) every year, or 2) Non-Approved Non-Public School, where you only have to send in the aforementioned registration with promises and nobody ever checks on you or anything... If you go with option 1, and jump through their hoops as far as what tests you take and courses you claim on your transcript and such, you can get your state scholarship the same as any graduate of a public or approved private school. But if you go with option 2, you don't get the scholarship but you can go to college just the same. BTW, we register as a Non-Approved Non-Public School, because dh and I are teaching Other People's Kids. I do give an annual achievement test, to keep the parents informed, and to tell me how we're doing, because I don't report anything to anybody else.
Are you a homeschooler? I am guessing that you are not, not that it matters. We live between two states. In NJ there are no requirements what so ever. No testing, no record keeping etc. When we were in NJ I still kept a daily planner and if my children were at an age where testing is normally done in PS, I would have had them tested. In SC you must join some sort of Accountability Association. They require certain subjects to be taught which we were doing already and they require 180 days, again which we were already doing. As far as motivation to stay on task, I don't see homeschooling as being a chore. Sure, there are days I am not as motivated to get things done, but that doesn't mean that I feel I need someone/thing/gov't to monitor me more. I homeschool my kids because I know its better for them, and because it gives me great joy to watch my children learn something new every single day.
Not a problem at ALL for me. I'm terrible about eating right, exercising, etc., but when it comes to my kids, you can bet I'm on the ball for every single thing. (A little too much at times, I imagine.) Add to that my OCD tendencies for organization and my life-long obsession with education, the only person I have to fear is myself. There are no requirements in Texas, and I'm thankful for that. I don't want or need someone else telling me how to teach my own kids.
I would say that most hs'ers take their job very seriously. We do what we do because we WANT our kids to learn, and EXPECT them to. We know first-hand the lousy job the public school system is doing in spite of their "accountability". Why the heck should we be accountable to them, when all they do is tie us up in red tape?
I don't have anyone but God, myself and my children to be accountable to and for me that is enough. Honestly I know that if I mess up royally on my children's education that I will be accountable for that later in life when they are unable to get a job, go to college, or whatever else, also I know I will someday answer for the education I provided my children when I stand in judgment before the Lord. I want my children to succeed in life, and while they are young it may seem we don't do much school believe me when I say learning is taking place, and I believe that my boys will be just fine in the end of it all. I will not sit back and let my children fail, and I don't need any government, or school official to hold me accountable for their education.
Mandated by my state, I am required to have my dd tested once a year. Alternatively, I can get together with a teacher to go over a portfolio of her work. I was also required to sign a piece of paper stating I would teach her for a specified number of days, and that I would teach her certain subjects. BUT- that is not the reason I work so hard to teach her. I'm FAR FAR from trying to teach her to 'pass the test'. I keep track of all of her written work in a giant binder. I keep daily attendence logs, and have a written 'plan' for her most troublesome areas. AND I am teaching her far more than the 'scope and sequence' for her grade, since I think some of it is laughable. I check daily to make sure she is absorbing the knowledge, and if not, we go over it again and again until she has. We discuss things endlessly to make sure that she not only has the information, but that she can give me examples of her own. So yes, I DO keep records and I AM accountable to the state. But I am more accountable to myself. So then.. who was accountable for the 2.25 years ps let her fail? Who is accountable in ps for not teaching her the alphabet, not helping her make her 'th' sound correctly so that she would say '13' (and therefore they would discover WOW she DOES know her numbers)? Who was accountable for teaching my 6yo that she couldn't learn, and that it didn't matter how hard she tried or how nice she was? Who is accountable for the smirking teachers, telling me behind their hands how little she knows? Who is responsible for the notes from meetings that somehow failed to report the two factors I SHARED with them that would have turned her entire ps education around, before I decided enough was enough? Who is accountable for my heartbreak, and more than that, for the tears she shed over the teachers that she felt thought she was dumb? I don't mean to sound.. well... it rhymes with 'witchy'. I just.. don't honestly understand why it's assumed that I care LESS or invest LESS in her education than a group of people who not only weren't willing to accomodate my dd, they weren't even willing to admit there might be a problem with the system that was designed to teach her. I know you aren't the ps system, OP, and I apologize if I sound like I'm coming unglued on you. I promise I am not. Your question just picks a wound that was already there. NO ONE on this planet wants my beautiful, smart, spunky, creative little girl to succeed more than I do. I'll be the last one to fudge her numbers, or ignore her education when my favorite little girl is depending on me to do what is right.
Hugs and cheers for you, Meghan. To echo everyone else - what holds me accountable are my children's needs and future. If I applied the same dedication and work to my diet as I do to their schooling...LOL...I'd be back in that size 8!
I am accountable to God who entrusted their lives to me, to myself as a parent, to my husband who works hard everyday, and to my two incredibly intelligent, bright, fun loving kids. I took them from the PS not because the school couldn't educate but, because the school was killing their love of learning. The curiousity that they had was dying in the social melee they call 'socialization'. My kids are thriving here. I DO NOT go easy on them when it comes to learning. All that said. Our province doesn't require anything from us. I do not have written tests. But I do ask questions all the time to gauge their learning. And surprisingly most of our conversations as a family are about learning something. I read an excellent blog post the other day about evaluation. And the mother said she wasn't testing her kids because they have enough pop quizzes by the general public who want to see if they are really learning. You know the type. 'Oh your kids know multiplication at seven?' Then they turn to your child 'What's 12 times 36?' Then they quiet when the kids give them the right answer. lol
No, DH and I are not homeschooling yet, but the Lord has called me to homeschool our children and I'm in the preparation stage. (He has even given me a specific curriculum to use). I was homeschooled up until age 16 when I started taking classes at the community college. I was a very self-motivated learner and eventually graduated from a university. My mom was very active in our schooling when I was young, but dropped the ball by the time I was 11. My younger sibling's schooling consisted of doing a few pages in their Horizon math books or reading storybooks. They usually just played and watched tv. They always did extremely poorly on their state testing each year. Some of my sisters did not learn to read until age 10. My mom was in constant fear of CPS, and we were all coached to NEVER talk about what we were doing at home each day. We rarely attended church, so we stayed home most of the time. A lot of this had to do with my mom's mental illness and other health factors. She often did not leave her bedroom until my father got home in the evening. So it wasn't a great situation, and I only wanted to escape. So after all of this I am wanting to do something much better for my own children. I am scared of turning out like my mom. I wish someone had intervened in some way when my siblings and I were younger.
It sounds as if your mother was an exception. Please don't judge all homeschooling by her. I can understand your concerns. Have you discussed these with your husband? He should be your FIRST line of accountability. Are you involved in a church? If so, when you start homeschooling, you might consider meeting with a veteran homeschooler, a solid Christian woman, who would be willing to mentor you. Some sort of accountability could be built into that. Sometimes homeschool groups have moms meetings that can also provide what you are looking for.
Oh, Ardeur, I'm so sorry to hear about your own situation as a child. Obviously, you can see the problems with what happened to you and your siblings, and you desire something much better for your own children. When we first started our homeschool journey, I realized that this was going to be a huge task, and thus I choose to commit each day to the Lord, and ask for wisdom and guidance. I live in NJ, which does not require any reporting to the state, but as others have said, no one love my kids more than I do, and cares about their school success more than I do. I do have my kids take standardized tests periodically, through our homeschool support group, just to give them practice with those sorts of tests. We also exceed the usual 180 days that are required. I plan out the year in advance, compete with assignment deadlines, and my kids are held to those deadlines. I strongly suggest that you hook up with a local support group. It's great to have friends to bounce ideas around with, and encourage you on a regular basis.
Jackie - I know my mom was the exception and I do not judge all homeschoolers by that experience (please don't assume that I do). My reason behind posting is very personal: I want to avoid doing what my mom did, because I know it was not healthy and right. I know homeschooling can be very different from my experience, and I am VERY excited about my future homeschool. I have a great passion for learning and teaching (which I've done professionally in a public setting). And those are good suggestions for accountability: my husband, church, a wise lady, and other homeschooling mothers. I was just looking for examples of how other mothers might approach this. I have discussed my concerns with my husband, and he says we'll have to put our children in PS if start on that path (which would devastate me). He honestly doesn't expect that to happen, though. He supports me 100%.
Sounds as if you're heading in the right direction. You are facing your concerns head-on and finding good ways ways to avoid falling into unhealthy patterns. I think you're acting in a very wise manner. And it sounds as if you've a gem of a husband! Good luck to you!
Meghan! You Rock! I am accountable to my daughter. If I fail her as her teacher she will be the one who suffers, not me, not anyone else. I feel like I owe it to her to give her the best education I can, be the best mommy to her that I can. Nobody is going to care about her like I do so I try and do my very best everyday.
