1: To validate to anyone that may wonder what we are doing as far as our Home School Curriculum is concerned. Such as lessons, handling of 'Educational' issues and problems we are encountering.

2: In an attempt, to let other parents interested in Home Schooling; see what it takes, how well children adjust to Home Schooling, and lastly... I like to brag about my kids ability to overcome issues.

Week 1

8/30/05 Created a small packet of mixed problems of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Starter Algebra, Reading Comprehension and Logical Thinking.

Their book reports are due for their summer reading lesson on 9/1/05. Nothing major a simple report is good enough. I will give them tomorrow to work on them, and finish them up.

Week 2

9/1/05 Well the girls are doing well, I printed some stuff off the web that was grade appropriate, as well as lesser and advanced. Just to see where the girls are. Both are doing pretty good, I am actually proud of how hard they are trying. Both girls worked a solid 2 hours on math and word problems. Both are doing pretty well so far, they work well together. Soon I will get them going in their own grade level, but they need this refresher badly.

I noticed that Heathers Simple multiplication is weak, so we need to work on that, as well as her ability to tell time using a clock with hands. So these will be worked on here and there. I will slip something in to get her learning what she apparently missed out on in Public School.

Melissa is doing well in math. Her reading comprehension and recall is off. She tried to argue the fact one character said something he didn't say. But she found out she was wrong and apologized.

I gave both of the girls a map and a match up list of states and capitals. Took them a while, but they got it.

Book Report due. No questions or excuses. Book reports were good, nothing fancy; for now anyway.  

9/2/05 What have the schools been teaching my kids? NOTHING!!!  Melissa is having troubles with simple comparative analogies? Example, Camera is to Photographer, as Bicycle is to ______?  The only logical answer out of 4, Cyclist! She is in tears, because she doesn't understand comparative analogies, and she can't even use a dictionary; she is getting flustered with the situation? What the hell has all these tax dollars been going to schools to pay for, donuts in the teachers lounge?

These are simple comparative analogies, nothing complicated. A subject she should have covered in 4th and 5th grade.  Glad I am doing this refresher stuff. Showing me just how little she was taught.

Week 3

9/5/05 through 9/9/05 As the week progresses, things are getting better, and the girls have settled into the routine. They are working diligently on their assignments, and finishing them quickly. So, of course I have added another subject to make sure they keep focused during the education time allotted each day. At first it was like, "Oh man"; now it is, "What's next?" Can we say proud?

My oldest has problems with simple fraction and properly converting them, but I think she has the idea of how they work. Doing good! Example: 6/7+9/7=15/7 OR 2 1/7, going to spend a day or two here for sure.

Now as for higher math, she can determine the value of 'X over Y times 10 to the 7th power equals answer' in similar problems, with little or no difficulty. GO FIGURE!

Spelling, well they are doing fine there. Anything they miss they correct for the extra credits. Youngest gets additional credit for neatness. She has beautiful handwriting if she slows down.

With the CD from Accelerated, and the girls doing well from books, I have shifted to the CD more. Even though it doesn't have 100% of the things you need (as if everything does). It does have links and so on, to sites you can download worksheets, experiments, etc. So that is a big plus, since I can focus on weaknesses right now, and get them going in a more acceptable direction. 

I am not interested so much in Grades as I am correcting mistakes and learning why such mistakes have been made. Wife is more into the grade part. Personally I see them as an obstacle, forcing the child to measure up to someone else's standard of what is acceptable. I admit, sometimes I want to pull my hair out, but all in all, this has been a good experience for not just the girls and me, but our relationship.

GPA wise, girls are pretty much 100%. I make them go back and fix their errors. This way they get the best possible grade, and are given acceptable credit for each correction (I give them half the point value for each correction). In all cases so far, bringing a failing 'grade' to a 'passing' one. 

Oldest started reading from the CD, which has several good books on Theory, Theology, Logic, etc. She said Plato and  Socrates sounded weird (laughing here). But I am directing her towards less intensive subject matter, since those are more towards the 11th and 12th grade levels. Even though she can read and comprehend at second and third year college level, I want to make sure she is firmly schooled in the appropriate reading level. I did tell her she was free to read the ANY book on the CD.

Week 4

About the same, girls are doing fine. I think the adjustment to home school is setting in. I have one problem with the youngest, she hates going back to correct her answers. But, I am more oriented to the work being correct, and the girls understanding how the answer was achieved, than I am about grades. I think that is the only stressful point of our Home School. We are getting to a point where they just want a grade, so they can move on. Wife thinks grades are the point, I think learning is the point. So, you can say we have interesting discussions:))

Week 5

Youngest isn't much for the more complicated math. She also has some problems writing. So I am handling each with more intense expectations, by using her own need for recognition. Basically; she has been given slightly tougher math problems, requiring more of her mental capacities, and less of a calculator. Unfair? No, but I am not only teaching her math, but self reliance. I don't understand how she could get so far, with some of her output.

As for her writing, I am basically making her read a book, nothing to exhaustive, 13 chapters. From this, she is to summarize each chapter in no less than three paragraphs. Right now she is reading the David Crockett book on the A2 CD, under the 6th Grade Section. Her first draft was, well for the lack of a better word, incoherent! HOW, I MEAN HOW, was she able to write like this in the 5th grade, and make a passing grade? She was required to make total corrections to the work. I explained she needs to write the paper, just like she was telling someone about it. She can do Oral Reports, but we all know that Written reporting is the standard in the real world.

According to her, my teaching skills are more demanding than her Public School Teachers ever were. GOOD!

Oldest is doing good. She worked through her Fraction problems, and now is working through her Scientific Notation and Intro-Algebra. She is doing pretty well all around, and wants to try more complicated math, but only to the point she can comprehend. I can respect that.

Week 6

Well, this is the end of our six weeks. Kids are averaging between 85 to 100 on their studies. I haven't been all that easy on them, and their mom of course wonders if I am being hard enough. From tears to accepting the load, the kids have endured and conquered a lot of their deficiencies, those they have yet to conquer, are minor strides for them. I think they have the idea of what I expect and what I know they can accomplish. 

The youngest has improved on her writing skills in just a couple of weeks. Her hand writing is more legible and her ability to convey a thought to paper is improving greatly. Her oral reporting skills are greatly better than her written, and through the begging for that option, being refused and instructed in some reasonably acceptable writing form; she has improved. I think she go tired of seeing me shred her unacceptable work. If it isn't right, or as near as a sixth grader can come, it isn't acceptable.

Oldest has improved on a lot of her basic math skills, and she is able to work with fractions with more proficiency. I plan to start her on more intense and grade appropriate math. She is still having some problems with Scientific Notation, so it looks like I will be getting some work online for that. There is a Math CD Set, sold through Wal Mart, and according to what we have read, it will do exactly what we need. I think the price is around $30.00... We can work with that.