'Year End' Thoughts

What are my thoughts now that the 'year' is over? What do I think was good, bad, ugly or downright wonderful? Do I have anything that I would like to do differently?

My first thought is: YAY!!! The year is over!

Exams

Okay, continuing on with my year end thoughts... I am looking forward to a break. That said... I am not entirely pleased with finals week. I am not sure if my questions were too difficult or too ambiguous. Perhaps they were not descriptive enough; didn't give enough instruction. Or was it just that the kids' thought that since the 'exams' were not graded they didn't have to do as well..since they couldn't 'fail'. ~Yes, they could fail...but I didn't tell them that~ Do I simply expect too much from them? Are their answers fine and I am looking more for perfection? I really disliked the public schools acceptance of mediocrity, honestly. My ds used to turn in papers with one word answers (when the instructions plainly stated answer in complete sentences) and the answers were 'just fine' for the teacher. I want to know what's in their heads; what have they learned? By simply filling in bubbles I don't see that it adequately measures that. But perhaps my expectation of them writing detailed, complete and comprehensive answers is just too much to ask. I don't want to know that they can ace a test; I couldn't care less. What I care about it is that they know something and can communicate the knowledge.

I intend to follow AO's exam schedule* somewhat. I say somewhat because we are not quite on the same schedule but I will try to give exams at the end of each 12 weeks. Should I have a cumulative exam at the very end? I always hated those in school/college! I still do... dread them, really. No, I think I will just plan on 12 week exams; no cumulative. *Each 12 weeks. The link takes you to the Booklist and Schedules page for all Years.*See here if you would like examples.

The more I sit here and think about the questions I came up with for the exams, I think they are actually too broad. Even though I included the words "describe", "in detail", I don't think I emphasized enough that I wanted loooong answers. By loooong answers I mean ones that required them to dig in their minds and memory to recall with detail what they learned. Perhaps I need more questions for each subject/book. I don't know...

Ds suggested/asked for questions on the exams to include the option of illustrating/drawing the answers. I am not sure I am okay with that...but perhaps it would work- for some of the questions. They could draw the 'answer' and if I do not understand (or even if I do) they could explain it to me.

Method

Alright, moving past exams. For the year in general, I definitely think I personally need to focus more on what I want them to retain. I need to include more activities or in some way present the information better to them so they will keep it in more than just the file of important things to know (perhaps also in the file of interesting to me facts) in their brains. That way, when stored in more than one location, due to the fact that they were able to process the information in more than just one way (such as simply by reading it in the book versus reading, reciting, acting it out, watching it live), they will be able to recall it quicker and easier. I was always a book learner; I preferred reading it to doing it. I know that my kids are not that way. Nor is it always beneficial to be that way. I need to give them more opportunities to stretch themselves (which involves the ever painful task of stretching myself) to learn the things that they not only want to but need to learn.

I have been somewhat using AO's curriculum for these past 3 months. How has the Charlotte Mason methodology worked for us? Well, honestly, I don't know because I have not figured it all out and therefore have not been implementing it as well as I would like. I have a tendency to find something (a certain method, philosophy, book, curriculum, etc) that I think will work great for us and I begin to research about it in particular. Usually, and this has been the case with CM, I jump in before I have done adequate research, or I get to the point of thinking that it is too much work; all because of lack of fully researching. I do have CM's six volumes saved on my computer and I have started to read volumes 1, 4, & 6 a few times (we even have volume 4 in print- ordered from here). I have never made it very far, sadly. I have relied on what others have done to try to understand what the Charlotte Mason method of learning is. That probably is not the best way to go about that.

Where am I going with that...? I do not intend to throw in the towel with the CM method because from the bit I have learned, it is a sound method. There may be some things, parts, that need to be modified for individuals/families but when done with her basic principles in mind, I think that it is a good idea. I intend this summer to read all of her volume 6. The first volume, I believe, is directed to parents with children under the age of 9; mine are almost 11 and 14. I would like to have an idea more of what her philosophy of educating is all about. I will most likely begin with volume 6.

Curriculum

Simply: I love it! I found Ambleside Online over a year ago, before we even began homeschooling and I just love it. At the beginning of the school year, even after I found AO, I still went with a boxed curriculum to start. I dumped some of it half way; the rest fell off about 3/4 of the way through. I was going to slowly implement AO into our school but 'jumped in' with the core subjects in February and we have continued with it since.

Is there anything that I plan on changing, dumping, or am I happy with it the way it is? Since we didn't start with AO and only picked up the core subjects late in the year, the things I plan on changing are the electives (as I call them) of Artist and Composer Study. By 'changing' I simply mean including them.

I had intended on using MEP for math but instead we are using Life of Fred (check out Cathy Duffy's review here). However, I will be changing that, in the sense that I will include some things from other sources but most likely not MEP right now. Some other sources I plan to use are Khan Academy, ThinkQuest (I don't like their web title -Math for Morons Like Us-..but do like their information!), MathTV, and various others that I may have listed on my links page, under math.

Also I need to make sure that copywork is done on a regular basis. We started out strong on it, but it went by the wayside. I would like for the kids to pick their own copywork but they both seem to have a problem with that.

I would like to include fun activities, maybe lapbooks, for some things. We started a few of these before switching to AO but I think that we were trying to implement AO and the lapbooks fell by the wayside as well. They, and I, really thought the lapbooks were fun and an interesting way to present our knowledge.

Overall, I don't think there was much that was bad about the year. Well, other than the fact that I initially chose a, what I now call, horrid curriculum. We have adapted well. I do not think my kids know the same information that is being taught in the schools (that's good and bad) but I do feel that they are learning and I know what they are learning.

Now it's summer time! Well, now we get a month off :)