tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7996566617043488147.post8702443789026987182..comments2024-02-23T01:43:35.828-07:00Comments on Prairie Home Therapy: Words from the WiseAlana in Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08440969357242099169noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7996566617043488147.post-48538405949840151092008-02-06T05:11:00.000-07:002008-02-06T05:11:00.000-07:00While I appreciate and agree with the sentiment ex...While I appreciate and agree with the sentiment expressed by SWB in her response to the question, I wonder if it wasn't non-sequiter. <BR/><BR/>Classical homeschoolers in general have been accused of doing "developmentally inappropriate" work with their kids and this charge is leveled for no more reason than the fact that the homeschooler is achieving more than peers in public school. When the curriculum of the public school is to be examined it can be determined that time isn't being used efficiently and a lot of assignments are fluff. Remove the fluff and make wise use of time and the results might be similar to what homeschoolers are able to accomplish.<BR/><BR/>More specifically Saxon math does not make efficient use of an individual's time. It wasn't designed for one on one teaching. It's designed to give enough practice so that almost every kid out there will "get it" and in a public school setting every kid who gets it right away is required to go through the motions (inefficient use of instructional time) anyway. Furthermore, there are many topics in the earliest grades of Saxon which are NOT math topics. For example, while calendar reading is a necessary skill in life, it is not a prequisite to arithemetic. <BR/><BR/>These people that are using the Robinson method, are skipping "the fluff", teaching basic math facts and algorithms which is the prequisite to Saxon 5/4 and then going straight to that level. <BR/><BR/>While I can't speak for the engineering mommies and daddies rushing to get their kid to Calculus as soon as possible, I know even finishing the entire arithmetic program by the end of the 5th grade and beginning algebra in 6th does not give us enough time to teach all the math that we want to teach. <BR/><BR/>Algebra I takes longer than a year since we are taking an axiomatic approach. We have enough supplements that provide depth to elemetary algebra that it effectively adds another year on top of that. Geometry will take at least a year, Algebra II is scheduled to take two years and pre-calc topics include group theory.<BR/><BR/>By sticking with a conventional schedule we only nominally cover "algebra" and geometry and then in the most superficial way. <BR/>For those interested in a Liberal Arts education, "higher math" is usually synonymous with engineering calculus and "doing good on the SAT." If that is one's perspective of the field of mathematics then it would make sense not to worry about rushing there.<BR/><BR/>It's just as developmentally appropriate for a sci-math parent to begin algebra early as it is for a Liberal Arts leaning parent to begin Latin and its declensions in the 3rd grade. Why "push" Latin in the 3rd grade when all the kids get to Latin lit in high school anyway? Because the literature that a kid fluent in Latin has access to is completely different from that which a kid who is just finishing up the study of Latin grammar in the eleventh grade has access to. Sure, they both technically get literature, but the kid that was fluently reading Latin by the 8th or 9th grade has made massive inroads in the literature four years later, while that high school senior who delayed it until high school is superficially covering literature in a highly glossed anthology.<BR/><BR/>What do you think about Saxon 5/4 in the third grade? Depends on the educational goals of the parent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7996566617043488147.post-82617393409431785172008-02-03T11:12:00.000-07:002008-02-03T11:12:00.000-07:00Thanks Wende and scb.Friday night we did actually ...Thanks Wende and scb.<BR/><BR/>Friday night we did actually do a few things after supper--we made paper Iroquoian longhouses and did some science. The kids resisted in a huge way, but later called it "fun."<BR/><BR/>About why we do what we do: 1) a rigorous academic education is important to me and 2) this approach fits our parenting philosophy (if not the practice!) best. I've decided to start a homeschooling blog and the first entry is the <A HREF="http://schoolofthesacredcows.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">backstory</A>Alana in Canadahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08440969357242099169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7996566617043488147.post-30093087878456191792008-02-03T08:24:00.000-07:002008-02-03T08:24:00.000-07:00Can you make time for a post that shares with us w...Can you make time for a post that shares with us what the reasoning behind homeschooling is for your family? I know The Pioneer Woman does it because they're so far out in the country that transportation to the public schools is painful... Reviewing why you do it may re-ignite your enthusiasm for ploughing ahead. <BR/><BR/>One thing that's puzzling me -- and this is an observation, not a criticism -- is that the justification behind homeschooling used to be partly that learning would follow naturally from the child's curiosity during daily activities, while the people on your messageboards seem to have developed a more structured, more onerous day than what the children do in school.drwendehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10583869876969470655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7996566617043488147.post-42428569216951635652008-02-02T19:19:00.000-07:002008-02-02T19:19:00.000-07:00I've been wondering if it would be at all possible...I've been wondering if it would be at all possible to do a school session (of the quieter subjects) from 9 to 12 p.m., if the three of you are going to be awake anyway? (If nothing else, it might make the kids suddenly want to go to sleep at 9 p.m.!)<BR/><BR/>Just a thought.scbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12048966584552769915noreply@blogger.com