It's this time of year when I am reminded that I am required by Ohio law to have a certified teacher assess our school year and affirm that each child is learning and performing according to his or her abilities. Yikes. I always intend, at the beginning of our school year (the line for which blurs with each year that passes - we don't really have a stop and start), to keep records as we go and to keep samples of their work neatly organized, so that this time of year will involve no scrambling to collect a representation of our year. Yeah, well, I used to be much better at that, but in recent years, we've just been too busy living each year. We read like crazy, had plenty of adventures, and amassed quite a collection of papers, loosely grouped into each child's school crate. Really, really, loosely. Maybe I could just take a picture of the crates, and the papers, and the list of fines on our library cards....
Thankfully, I think our assessor would be good something like that! She is very family-oriented, and I love that about her. So when we get together over coffee, instead of poring over the kids' worksheets, she'll ask how I thought our year went - what was good, and what (in my opinion) needed improvement?
Indeed. So let's see.
I think I would have had to try to keep the kids from learning and progressing, for one thing. As to how they measure up with their peers, I really only have the vaguest idea. Grade levels don't mean much to us, except as a guide in deciding which math book to get. Even then, Chase does math from a collection of his siblings, books, so that doesn't even apply to him. And Aimee did not finish her 7th grade grammar book - not by a long shot - but did write a novel (which a writer friend of mine is helping her to edit, and that friend says Aimee's writing is quite good) and read things like Les Miserables, Sense and Sensibility, and Jane Eyre. So does she pass 7th grade? Drew continued to store away trivia from all kinds of topics and subjects, and to read like his life depended on it, although a number of his workbooks remain unfinished. (His spelling book I can just reuse almost in its entirety - we did all his spelling out loud, when we did it at all. And when, from time to time, I clean up the scary jungle that is his room, I always find scientific observations, bits of stories, notes about weaponry and war tactics, etc, etc... and the spelling is always spot-on. So.) 5th grade completed? Ryan read, progressing nicely to short chapter books and into the "Mom, I don't need you to read that to me" phase, tinkered with things, and breezed through his math book. 2nd grade - check. Chase...well, Chase ran around with as little clothing as he could manage, as usual, explored the yard and the neighborhood, figured out passwords for all the electronic devices and how to get to any website he wanted, increased his reading skills (but only on his terms), and surprised us with knowledge we didn't know he had acquired during the year, since he does hardly any "formal" school. (He knows the really important stuff, like if his brother is playing the computer, and his turn ends at 9:30, how much time until Chase's turn if it's currently 9:16? "He has 14 minutes, Mom! And I'm going to count down every one...." It's something, anyway.) Kindergarten, 1st...? We don't even really know, actually. But the bottom line is that yes, I certainly think they each learned and matured through the year (again - how was this not going to happen?).
In addition to what we did at home, we also enjoyed another year with our co-op, which is relaxed and happy, filled with friends and fun learning - just the way we like it. I saw an email about a registration deadline for next year, and I had a moment of panic, thinking that I might have missed something, because if something happened that prevented us from participating in co-op, I have no doubt my kids would mutiny. It would be ugly. (Our dear coordinator assured me that I had already secured our spot for net year, by the way - crisis averted.) With co-op we did a few field trips, the kids enjoyed myriad activities with church (I was just thinking the other day about how much I love that we never have to drag the kids to church - it's the idea of missing anything there that inspires dread), and they went on some excursions on their own, as when Aimee readily joined her dad on a relief trip to Oklahoma. Aimee joined a writer's group at the library this year, the boys did basketball and karate, they all joined their friends in starting a 4H group. And of course we were involved in Bible Quizzing, with Aimee this year eligible for the higher levels of competition, and making it to District finals. That's always worth its weight in learning gold, as it involves memorization, Bible knowledge, sportsmanship, and social skills. Ah, the ever important social skills! Did we make sure we didn't miss developing them? Those who don't know my kids may ask, while those who know them would probably laugh hysterically that there is even a question about that. How these kids came from me, their very introverted mother, is sometimes a mystery. In other words, YES, social opportunities and skills - check and check.
But more than the results, the things I can write down as completed - or that I could, if I were keeping records - I am really interested in the process and each child's character as they grow throughout the year. It can't be measured on a test or touted in statistics proving that homeschooling works, but it's the thing that matters most. I know we can't get everything done or read every book there is to read (and neither can any brick and mortar school offer that), but if my kids develop good character and the ability to learn and to think well, then they can go after whatever it is that interests them, on their own time. Of course, it's often hard to see character results while parenting - it's a lot of repeating the same things over and over - but I can in fact look back over our year and see that they grew in that area. I can see that Aimee was more patient and less likely to act like she wanted to murder the person who wrote her grammar book. Ahem. She worked through problems rather than giving up on them. I can see that Drew's attention span lengthened. The Spring day that he completed an entire Saxon math lesson on his own, without getting up and without skipping problems was a day of miracles. I can see that Ryan and Chase were a little less likely to interrupt during a read-aloud , although when Dave tries doing read-aloud time, he still says things like, "They won't be quiet long enough for me to read!" and I still say cheerfully, "Oh, that's not a problem. Read louder!" But those times are getting just a little less chaotic. They are getting a little more patient, a little less quick to anger, more diligent, more responsible. They are growing up and maturing. As if I could stop that! But I do hope that Dave and I are paving the way for good growth.
It's such a strange concept, talking about a year as though something has stopped, when in fact, as I mentioned, we may be letting formal learning rest, but we haven't really stopped anything. Even in practical terms, we were in the middle of learning about the Revolutionary War when we realized we needed a break, and in another week or so, we'll just start there again. We didn't feel like we were done with it. We finished some workbooks in other subjects, but most of them we'll just pick up where we left off, if, as with Drew's spelling, we pick them up at all. So I don't feel we can package up a school year and set it aside. I will meet with our assessor soon and talk about our progress, and she'll sign the papers the school board wants to see, because they need to measure and define, stop and start. That's fine. But on we go with our lifestyle of learning - aka, life - that doesn't stop, start, or fit into grade levels. It isn't about expectations or statistics; rather, it's about trust - trust that our Creator made us to learn, to grow, and to fulfill our individual purpose on this earth, trust that he made our minds to explore and to think, and trust that our kids, when placed on a path of truth and given the freedom to learn, will take off without out very much interference from us.
We just have to hang on for the ride!
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