causes most home ed blogs to have long bouts of silence. I try to plan ahead and have at least some interesting links, videos or something up as I know that the warm weather, outdoor activities and outdoor responsibilities take up a good majority of my day - especially with CJ on the road so often -, but I thought I would take just a few minutes to write a sort of wrap up to our 2011-2012 educational year.
KM has stayed the course and continues to excel as she has for quite sometime now. She is really at a point that she is taking charge of her education, enjoys the lessons that she has chosen and works pretty independently. She has been very busy with volunteering, activities at the library, and finishing up her spring session lessons. She is finally feeling better and we have been able to be out and about quite a bit. She should be able to finish things up over the next week so that she will have the full month of June as a break from book work and will begin her summer lessons the week after the 4th of July. She is really looking forward to getting into her cosmetology books, working on her GED essay skills and to continue studying Japanese.
DN will be working over the summer and things will be a bit different for him in the fall. He will begin working toward his GED with no extra studies. We have all tried to peak his interest in something, but it all just seems to be a waste of time. I don't know if he just truly doesn't know what he is interested in or if he just has no authentic interest in anything. His retention skills are extremely limited to things that we have physically done - certain science experiments - and/or covered repeatedly - the basic information about the revolutionary war - and then he often needs hints or multiple choice to get the answers correct. He wants his hand-held through every step and at nearly 16, that is just not reasonable when there is no positive outcome. It really is frustrating for all involved and feels as though it is just a waste of time. I have to wonder if the situation would be different if he were here all the time, but as that is not an option, I try not to let my thoughts dwell in that arena for any length of time.
Before I get attacked by anyone who might say something like - "Just because he cannot regurgitate the information for a test, doesn't mean that he is not getting something out of it." I want to clarify a few things; first of all I fully acknowledge that this is true, he is getting something out of it, at the very least he is being exposed to things that he otherwise would not encounter. Secondly he not only doesn't remember things in a "sit down and take a test" situation, but even basic conversation or contextual situations he doesn't recall information that he read about, watched a show about, did a project on or even discussed at dinner - I don't want to get into disclosing the specifics of the information, but believe me I have tried everything and been quite astonished at the things that have gone in one ear and out the other. Thirdly, I am quite aware that all kids learn differently and at different ages, so this is not a "you need to know this by this time type of situation," by any means. I have tried strewing books on things that he has mentioned having interest in, going on field trips to places he says he wants to go or that have things we think he might like, going to the library to look up information on a topic of interest, searching the internet for the answer to something that we weren't sure about, all to no avail. So for this child, who is unlikely to go to a four year college that would accept a transcript for a home educated student the GED really seems to be the best route to the next stage of his life. It will give him a wide variety of options, including starting out in a community college and then moving on to a four year if he find it necessary, but not limit or cause him to be looked down upon if his application just says "homeschool graduate." Also focusing specifically on GED related materials will free up his time and lessen the stress on his relationship with all the adults in his life that feel as though they are pushing him and although there is no resistance, there is no results. This will give him a concrete end goal.
KM has stayed the course and continues to excel as she has for quite sometime now. She is really at a point that she is taking charge of her education, enjoys the lessons that she has chosen and works pretty independently. She has been very busy with volunteering, activities at the library, and finishing up her spring session lessons. She is finally feeling better and we have been able to be out and about quite a bit. She should be able to finish things up over the next week so that she will have the full month of June as a break from book work and will begin her summer lessons the week after the 4th of July. She is really looking forward to getting into her cosmetology books, working on her GED essay skills and to continue studying Japanese.
DN will be working over the summer and things will be a bit different for him in the fall. He will begin working toward his GED with no extra studies. We have all tried to peak his interest in something, but it all just seems to be a waste of time. I don't know if he just truly doesn't know what he is interested in or if he just has no authentic interest in anything. His retention skills are extremely limited to things that we have physically done - certain science experiments - and/or covered repeatedly - the basic information about the revolutionary war - and then he often needs hints or multiple choice to get the answers correct. He wants his hand-held through every step and at nearly 16, that is just not reasonable when there is no positive outcome. It really is frustrating for all involved and feels as though it is just a waste of time. I have to wonder if the situation would be different if he were here all the time, but as that is not an option, I try not to let my thoughts dwell in that arena for any length of time.
Before I get attacked by anyone who might say something like - "Just because he cannot regurgitate the information for a test, doesn't mean that he is not getting something out of it." I want to clarify a few things; first of all I fully acknowledge that this is true, he is getting something out of it, at the very least he is being exposed to things that he otherwise would not encounter. Secondly he not only doesn't remember things in a "sit down and take a test" situation, but even basic conversation or contextual situations he doesn't recall information that he read about, watched a show about, did a project on or even discussed at dinner - I don't want to get into disclosing the specifics of the information, but believe me I have tried everything and been quite astonished at the things that have gone in one ear and out the other. Thirdly, I am quite aware that all kids learn differently and at different ages, so this is not a "you need to know this by this time type of situation," by any means. I have tried strewing books on things that he has mentioned having interest in, going on field trips to places he says he wants to go or that have things we think he might like, going to the library to look up information on a topic of interest, searching the internet for the answer to something that we weren't sure about, all to no avail. So for this child, who is unlikely to go to a four year college that would accept a transcript for a home educated student the GED really seems to be the best route to the next stage of his life. It will give him a wide variety of options, including starting out in a community college and then moving on to a four year if he find it necessary, but not limit or cause him to be looked down upon if his application just says "homeschool graduate." Also focusing specifically on GED related materials will free up his time and lessen the stress on his relationship with all the adults in his life that feel as though they are pushing him and although there is no resistance, there is no results. This will give him a concrete end goal.
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