May 6, 2010 10:09 p.m.
I have a friend who lives nearby. She has decided to homeschool her two sons, who are now preschool age. She apparently has been doing quite a bit of online reading and research on the topic of homeschooling. She knows we use Calvert, and have been doing so for seven years (I can't believe it!). I invited her over yesterday to take a look at what Calvert is like, fully advising her that my goal was not to persuade her to use Calvert, but rather to just give her an opportunity to get an up close and personal look at one curriculum. This way, she would have a benchmark in her mind for comparison with other educational materials.
Having said that, I honestly feel that I couldn't have made a better curriculum choice, and that some other choices might mean that I would not have survived these past seven years of homeschooling.
So she perused some of the books, glanced at Sweet Girl's work portfolio, and chatted with me about homeschooling ideas for an hour and a half. After she left, I reflected upon how much about Calvert she may still not know.
As a somewhat homeschooling "veteran", I have made some of the following observations.
Children tend to try to negotiate themselves out of doing work tasks that they don't like, or that require extra mental effort than a simple rote worksheet. Examples range from answering "I don't know" repeatedly to
critical thinking questions, to whining and complaining when a composition is assigned ... again. "That's two this week, Mom!" You want to set in place ground rules for your children, and for yourself, on what work items are negotiable, and what are not. This is especially important in composition, where the effort-to-production ratio is high, but the need for practice is often greatest.
This is where I appreciate the Calvert lesson manual. For example, I will make all "Enrichment" items optional, for the most part, based on special interest in a topic. But work tasks classified as "Applications" I
will generally consider mandatory (unless I decide in advance the task is worthless, which occasionally happens, and then I won't even mention it on lesson day). Tasks classified as "Practice" I will require only when there seems to be a problem with doing the exercises correctly, as in Math. I have had to hold the line, and if I firmly believe in the value of a task, I have been known to say "but Calvert requires it" when he/she has balked (regardless if it is an A.T.S. requirement.) If I am inconsistent about this, showing myself to yield more easily on some days than on others, then they will try to negotiate their way out of anything that calls for higher order thinking, and then I will have additional battles to fight. I don't like to fight battles that I can head off in advance.
I realized today that many of the benefits of our curriculum are invisible to a person who is merely looking through a stack of books and written assignments, as my friend was yesterday. For example, there are many features of Calvert's daily lessons that I neglected to mention to her in detail. So I advised her afterwards that when she is evaluating other curricula, she should try to find hard evidence that the curricular material challenges the child to do high order thinking tasks. This is not always evident from brochures and sales materials. For example, some homeschoolers I know have discovered over time that their language arts programs appear fine on the surface, but don't dig deep enough or challenge the student enough. One mom recently told me about a popular languages arts program. In this case, the product was attractive, the literature was engaging, but the depth of the material was lacking. This only became evident to this mother after a year of use, after which she was in search of something else for the next year. I see why the homeschool convention season is in the month of May!
So I wanted to list here examples of some of the common higher-order tasks that Calvert calls for in the lesson plans, things that I might not think to do on my own, or be motivated to do, without seeing it suggested there in the lesson manual. These are the types of things one should look for when evaluating other
curricula. Please note that I am referring to the requirement of my daughter, during her First and Second grade years.
a. Create a Venn diagram displaying similarities and differences between characters' personalities in two separate reading selections.
b. Either read aloud, or have the student read, a short passage and have the child identify the main idea, the setting, and the characters. Be sure the student expresses himself with complete sentences, either orally or in
writing.
c. Answer a broad range of comprehension questions / critical thinking questions / inference questions ranging from the simple recollection of story details to the drawing of conclusions about an unstated moral or theme in a passage. Have the student answer in complete sentences, whether orally or written. This often requires a lot of patience on the part of the mom, in order to draw out the child's thoughts, which take effort for the child to formulate and express. The mom may find it tempting to short circuit this process by spoon-feeding too much of the answer too soon. (**grin** Been there more than I care to admit).
d. Create tables / charts / word webs with the student supplying information classifying and categorizing a variety of details from one or more stories recently read. The student fills them in to compare and contrast poems, characters, and ideas brought forth in reading selections, to classify and categorize events, animals, characters, etc.
e. Read and/or listen to a selection and narrate the story back in the child's own words.
f. Have the student summarize a story, without telling too much, or too little, information.
g. Have the student create a sequence of events for a reading selection, and/or recognize an incorrect (illogical) sequence of events.
h. Have the student narrate an original story to the mom to be written down. Make sure the story has all the elements: characters, setting, a problem to be solved, and a resolution, and that the story proceeds in a logical
manner.
i. Have the student determine the meaning of new vocabulary words strictly through use of context clues in a sentence or paragraph. Have him indicate which clues helped determine the meaning. This should be done, even if the word is already in the child's working vocabulary.
j. All new vocabulary words or sight words should be used in complete oral sentences that demonstrate that the meaning of the word is understood.
k. Recognize the difference between fact and opinion in a selection. State one's own opinion and back it up with facts or details.
l. Recognize the difference between fantasy and realism in a selection. Be able to identify elements of a selection that demonstrate one, or both. Be able to recognize the difference between fantasy and realistic fiction, or realistic vs. unrealistic fiction.
m. Have the student stop reading, periodically, and make predictions about where the story may lead. Then have them compare the actual outcomes with their predictions at the end. Have the student propose alternative outcomes to a story as well.
n. Have the student be able to distinguish between important and minor details in a selection.
o. Creation of K-W-L charts for a topic to be studied, as in science (three columns - what I KNOW, what I WANT to know, and what I LEARNED). These charts I really hate to do, and I sometimes skip them, although I see why they are useful for subjects such as science topics.
That's all I can think of right now, after brainstorming and looking more closely at some of Sweet Girl's 1st and 2nd grade work. These types of tasks we usually do through oral discussion and on the dry-erase board.
Therefore, I had little in the way of "hard copy" evidence of their accomplishment for my friend to peruse. As a result, I feel that she missed picking up on the full richness of Calvert. They are tasks that can take time and patience; for which coming up with the ideas demands mental energy and creativity that I don't ordinarily
possess. They also require the student to really evaluate and to think, exercise their brains, and practice precise, succinct oral expression. I don't know whether many other curricula do these types of things so
regularly, but they are the types of exercises that one should look for in a curriculum, activities that are worth doing (even if they can be rather laborious at times).
There. Now I've said it.
I have a friend who lives nearby. She has decided to homeschool her two sons, who are now preschool age. She apparently has been doing quite a bit of online reading and research on the topic of homeschooling. She knows we use Calvert, and have been doing so for seven years (I can't believe it!). I invited her over yesterday to take a look at what Calvert is like, fully advising her that my goal was not to persuade her to use Calvert, but rather to just give her an opportunity to get an up close and personal look at one curriculum. This way, she would have a benchmark in her mind for comparison with other educational materials.
Having said that, I honestly feel that I couldn't have made a better curriculum choice, and that some other choices might mean that I would not have survived these past seven years of homeschooling.
So she perused some of the books, glanced at Sweet Girl's work portfolio, and chatted with me about homeschooling ideas for an hour and a half. After she left, I reflected upon how much about Calvert she may still not know.
As a somewhat homeschooling "veteran", I have made some of the following observations.
Children tend to try to negotiate themselves out of doing work tasks that they don't like, or that require extra mental effort than a simple rote worksheet. Examples range from answering "I don't know" repeatedly to
critical thinking questions, to whining and complaining when a composition is assigned ... again. "That's two this week, Mom!" You want to set in place ground rules for your children, and for yourself, on what work items are negotiable, and what are not. This is especially important in composition, where the effort-to-production ratio is high, but the need for practice is often greatest.
This is where I appreciate the Calvert lesson manual. For example, I will make all "Enrichment" items optional, for the most part, based on special interest in a topic. But work tasks classified as "Applications" I
will generally consider mandatory (unless I decide in advance the task is worthless, which occasionally happens, and then I won't even mention it on lesson day). Tasks classified as "Practice" I will require only when there seems to be a problem with doing the exercises correctly, as in Math. I have had to hold the line, and if I firmly believe in the value of a task, I have been known to say "but Calvert requires it" when he/she has balked (regardless if it is an A.T.S. requirement.) If I am inconsistent about this, showing myself to yield more easily on some days than on others, then they will try to negotiate their way out of anything that calls for higher order thinking, and then I will have additional battles to fight. I don't like to fight battles that I can head off in advance.
I realized today that many of the benefits of our curriculum are invisible to a person who is merely looking through a stack of books and written assignments, as my friend was yesterday. For example, there are many features of Calvert's daily lessons that I neglected to mention to her in detail. So I advised her afterwards that when she is evaluating other curricula, she should try to find hard evidence that the curricular material challenges the child to do high order thinking tasks. This is not always evident from brochures and sales materials. For example, some homeschoolers I know have discovered over time that their language arts programs appear fine on the surface, but don't dig deep enough or challenge the student enough. One mom recently told me about a popular languages arts program. In this case, the product was attractive, the literature was engaging, but the depth of the material was lacking. This only became evident to this mother after a year of use, after which she was in search of something else for the next year. I see why the homeschool convention season is in the month of May!
So I wanted to list here examples of some of the common higher-order tasks that Calvert calls for in the lesson plans, things that I might not think to do on my own, or be motivated to do, without seeing it suggested there in the lesson manual. These are the types of things one should look for when evaluating other
curricula. Please note that I am referring to the requirement of my daughter, during her First and Second grade years.
a. Create a Venn diagram displaying similarities and differences between characters' personalities in two separate reading selections.
b. Either read aloud, or have the student read, a short passage and have the child identify the main idea, the setting, and the characters. Be sure the student expresses himself with complete sentences, either orally or in
writing.
c. Answer a broad range of comprehension questions / critical thinking questions / inference questions ranging from the simple recollection of story details to the drawing of conclusions about an unstated moral or theme in a passage. Have the student answer in complete sentences, whether orally or written. This often requires a lot of patience on the part of the mom, in order to draw out the child's thoughts, which take effort for the child to formulate and express. The mom may find it tempting to short circuit this process by spoon-feeding too much of the answer too soon. (**grin** Been there more than I care to admit).
d. Create tables / charts / word webs with the student supplying information classifying and categorizing a variety of details from one or more stories recently read. The student fills them in to compare and contrast poems, characters, and ideas brought forth in reading selections, to classify and categorize events, animals, characters, etc.
e. Read and/or listen to a selection and narrate the story back in the child's own words.
f. Have the student summarize a story, without telling too much, or too little, information.
g. Have the student create a sequence of events for a reading selection, and/or recognize an incorrect (illogical) sequence of events.
h. Have the student narrate an original story to the mom to be written down. Make sure the story has all the elements: characters, setting, a problem to be solved, and a resolution, and that the story proceeds in a logical
manner.
i. Have the student determine the meaning of new vocabulary words strictly through use of context clues in a sentence or paragraph. Have him indicate which clues helped determine the meaning. This should be done, even if the word is already in the child's working vocabulary.
j. All new vocabulary words or sight words should be used in complete oral sentences that demonstrate that the meaning of the word is understood.
k. Recognize the difference between fact and opinion in a selection. State one's own opinion and back it up with facts or details.
l. Recognize the difference between fantasy and realism in a selection. Be able to identify elements of a selection that demonstrate one, or both. Be able to recognize the difference between fantasy and realistic fiction, or realistic vs. unrealistic fiction.
m. Have the student stop reading, periodically, and make predictions about where the story may lead. Then have them compare the actual outcomes with their predictions at the end. Have the student propose alternative outcomes to a story as well.
n. Have the student be able to distinguish between important and minor details in a selection.
o. Creation of K-W-L charts for a topic to be studied, as in science (three columns - what I KNOW, what I WANT to know, and what I LEARNED). These charts I really hate to do, and I sometimes skip them, although I see why they are useful for subjects such as science topics.
That's all I can think of right now, after brainstorming and looking more closely at some of Sweet Girl's 1st and 2nd grade work. These types of tasks we usually do through oral discussion and on the dry-erase board.
Therefore, I had little in the way of "hard copy" evidence of their accomplishment for my friend to peruse. As a result, I feel that she missed picking up on the full richness of Calvert. They are tasks that can take time and patience; for which coming up with the ideas demands mental energy and creativity that I don't ordinarily
possess. They also require the student to really evaluate and to think, exercise their brains, and practice precise, succinct oral expression. I don't know whether many other curricula do these types of things so
regularly, but they are the types of exercises that one should look for in a curriculum, activities that are worth doing (even if they can be rather laborious at times).
There. Now I've said it.
2 comments:
I'm truly jealous that you have found a curriculum you are so happy with. I'm afraid I am a hopeless curriculum junkie; I research and review, but never settle on one single plan. I wish I could settle on something like Calvert, but I know myself well enough to know that anything so well-planned, structured, and nicely laid out wouldn't work for me--I would follow it for two weeks then start looking around for something new and different! My brain just doesn't follow structure very well :-( I've decided we'll be doing a series of short unit-studies this next year, with plenty of room to change course midway--because I know I'll be doing that anyway!
I love Calvert for all the reasons you indicated. I love that it causes the child to develop reasoning skills, regardless of whether he wants to! I also appreciate that they have unusual classes every year - Mythology in 3rd grade, all the art history courses, that sort of thing, that enrich our children's educations.
That said, I don't make the boys write out everything. I choose my battles carefully, and writing compositions is more important, for example, than writing the answers to the History questions in the book.