I am a newbie to this whole thing.. so please forgive me if I speak ignorantly... I have been doing some research lately on the many methods of homeschooling, curriculum, etc. Unschooling caught my attention because my 10 yo is constantly asking questions and wanting to learn things. Actually, I have used that trait in him to encourage him to complete his Math, English, etc. by reminding him that the longer he procrastinates, the less time we have to learn what he wants to learn.. and it occurs to me how silly this is on my part. After all, I am homeschooling him, in part, because I want him to retain his joy of learning. I believe I have a firm grasp of the ideals and philosophy/ mindset behind unschooling.. and I have plenty of material still at my disposal.. but one thing I cannot seem to find (or find broken links to), is documentation for unschoolers in those states which require it. I'm a PA resident, and I am very curious how one might go about building a portfolio, keeping records, etc. Just as a side note, I am not currently using a curriculum, per se. I have a few workbooks I picked up in the basic range of subjects, and we use a lot of books, encyclopedias, the internet, etc. I apologize for the rant! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. TIA J.
I unschool, but he's in K. That's a different issue altogether. I do, however have a good friend who does things this way: She unschools 4 days a week, and leaves one for her to decide what they do. She logs all the work they do every day. Then she uses the weekend to figure out what subject (if anything) needs to be covered in order to make the state requirements. Then she will plan fun stuff for Monday that cover that subject. Now, there are tons of other HSers who unschool 100% and make it work. I know some of them will chime in here, but I wanted to let you know if you were really worried about meeting requirements, you can build in ways to ease your mind.
hmmmm... I know there are those in PA that do it, but with the laws as strict as they are I'm terrified to try it. We are pretty relaxed, but I make sure he covers every subject required by law, and in some aspects "keeps up with the Jones" in case the situation ever arrises that he has to return to ps. My hubby's cousin had homeschooled her 8 kids all their lives. Recently they relocated to an area with stellar schools. A few of the kids decided they wanted to give it a try, they had unschooled pretty much the whole time at home. They were tested by the district prior to starting, and sadly all of them were behind. Two of them were more than 2 years behind. Like I said I know it can be done esp if you find the right evaluator, but I have little to no experience with it. You may want to do more like a child led learning style and let him pick a subject and incorporate as many aspects in the curriculum as you can in it. I think I will always keep math seperate, but if we read for science or social studies it's still reading if you know what I mean.
Thank you both for your replies. Actressdancer, that's a good idea! crazymama, I know exactly what you mean! I was just discussing moving to Alaska this morning (jokingly) with dh because there are practically zero requirements. I cannot imagine the freedom! Sadly, I am still somewhat befuddled on the requirements exactly. I know what subjects must be taught.. but what I'm not sure of is how often, how much, what to cover exactly, etc. I selected an evaluator, and it just so happens that she sub'd for my son when he was in PS and was very happy to hear I would be HS him. I asked her and she said the law doesn't give the specifics. ~~~chews left pinky fingernail briefly... (lol) I know that at the end of most days.. I am distinctly holding back the urge to draw blood.. lol.. because Dyl is this strange wonderful concoction of sweetie-pie precious doesn't wanna work he wants to daydream!! I started a "log" about 3 quintillion times already, only to start over from scratch because he would completely not do something that I already logged he was doing and then he didn't do correctly, so I would make him do it again.. (insert whines and moans here).. and it would not get done. By then, I had other entries already.. so..This time I am just jotting brief notes in pencil. Sighs. Back into center field.. lol.. I think I will keep doing the required subjects.. and hopefully be able to enjoy the fun stuff at some point while I am still young and relatively sane.. lol. ..
btw.. When I said he didn't do the assignments correctly, I mean he would do things like copy every other word spelled incorrectly from the book.. and silly things like that. At that point, the only thing for me to do was ask him to rewrite the page.
Yes, I've been to pauline's. What a great site! That one gave me one big sigh of relief! I've also been to PA Homeschoolers, I posted a question on the portfolio there.. still waiting for a response.
My log itself is now very vague.. I list thing on a "check off list" and when he does that subject he checks it off. On Mondays we do math, grammar and spelling.. oh and music On Tuesdays we do reading comprehension and social studies and art On Wednesday we do math, grammar and spelling again On Thrusday is reading from a "fun book", and science On Friday we do math, grammar and spelling again On the weekends we usually go somewhere for a walk as a family so that is PE I just list the subjects on my log like this Monday: __Math __Grammar __Spelling __Music and then he checks them as they are done.
TY for that.. My log right now is very similar.. only I jot down what exactly we did in that subject. i.e. 10-24-07- English- prep. phrases as adjectives, etc. I wasn't sure if that was necessary or not.
I know they are!! Sheesh! I can understand legalese to a degree.. but they are vague! And intimidating!
PA HS laws make me sad. I want to move back home SOOOO bad, but after enjoying the freedom of MO, I can't say that I would.
I can't say I blame you! I get tired of feeling like I'm crabby and limited and tired b/c of the worries about the laws. Everyone says that will change after a year or so.. so I'm hanging in there.
I list what topic we covered.. like for math today we did division so I will just jot down division after the word math. Grammar today is writing an interesing story beginning so I will just jot down something like composition or something. Spelling is a test so I will write that down "spelling test 12/12"
After I found my evaluator and she assured me that she was working for me not the state I eased up alot!
IC. I may adopt that method.. seems simpler than mine. What about the book log? Right now I go day by day, jot down an abbr. of the book title, pgs used. Is that what they want?
I have him put every book he reads on a pile and when I have time I sit down and write a list of them all down. If it is a library book I list it right away. I use a form from Donna Young for that.. I would tell you which one, but right now my computer is empty and I am currently dling adobe reader because I just wiped it all out the other day.
If you were closer we could get together and I could show you my portfolio from last year.. but right now with my truck being down I'm not traveling very far in a borrowed minivan...lol
ok.. that download is done.. I have to restart and make lunch, I will post again after that is all done
