No notification??

In reviewing the Home School Legal Defense Association website, I noticed 10 states require no notification of authorities that parents intend to homeschool their children. One of those is my husband’s home state of Idaho. “The state probably believes it’s the parents’ responsibility,” he shrugged. Other states requiring no notification include Alaska, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey and Connecticut. My home state of Massachusetts, on the other hand, requires not only notification of the local school district but also submission of an educational plan, which the school committee must approve, and, at the end of the academic year, a portfolio of work completed. HSLDA considers Massachusetts a state with “high regulation.” Other states listed in this category are Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania and North Dakota.

Grade 8 curriculum

Here is our eighth-grade course of studies, based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. The list of textbooks is included under each subject. This curriculum has been approved by our local public school district:

ARTS*
Dance: Jazz & Tap, Musical Theatre
Music: piano and music theory or voice
Theatre: Basic Acting and Improvisation, playwriting or other
Visual Arts: two-dimensional and three-dimensional art
Field trips: attend a theatrical performance, attend a concert and visit an art museum
*courses taken as available through local organizations

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
Word origins, vocabulary, spelling, grammar

Texts: The 100+ Series Grammar by Mark Dressel, Grades 7-8
Using the Standards: Building Grammar & Writing Skills, Grades 7-8
Spelling Puzzles, Grades 6-7

Composition
Autobiography, biography, process analysis, comparison/contrast, persuasion
Test essays
Researched report with proper documentation
Poems
Script (see ART above for playwriting)
(All composition instruction will include discussion of grammar, usage, mechanics, research, spelling and vocabulary.)

Texts: Notebook Writer’s Guide by American Educational Publishing
Using the Media: Fact, Fiction and Opinion, Milestone

Study skills
Developing strong study habits, taking notes and outlining

Text: Note Taking & Outlining, Grades 6-8

Reading
American authors, Colonial through Civil War
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Poetry
Short stories

Analysis of language styles in literary works using selections outlined in the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework, page 102

Discussion of genre

MATH
Number sense and operations
Patterns, relations and algebra
Data analysis, statistics and probability
Measurement
Geometry

Texts: The 100+ Series Standards-Based Math, Grades 7-8 by Harold Torrance
The 100+ Series Mixed Skills in Math, Grades 7-8, by Marge Lindskog
Spectrum Math, Grade 8
Math Twisters by Joseph A. Kunicki, Ph.D., Grade 8
Skill Builders Geometry, Grades 6-8
Skill Builders Algebra I, Grades 6-8
Algebra Made Simple by Theresa Kane McKell, High School

SCIENCE
Scientific Method (including experiments with lab reports)
Physical Science
Life Science
Earth and Space Science
Science and Technology
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
History and Nature of Science

Texts: Spectrum Science, Grade 8
Science Up to Standards, Grades 5-8, by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood
Inexpensive Science Experiments, Grades 5-8, by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood
50 Terrific Science Experiments, Grades 5-8, by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood

SOCIAL STUDIES
World History, 1500 to present
American History, Colonial Era through Reconstruction

Texts: The Complete Book of World History, Grades 4-8, American Education Publishing
U.S. History People and Events, 1607-1865 by George Lee
Highlights in American History from its beginnings to 1850 by Grace Kachaturoff
Highlights in American History from 1850 to present by Grace Kachaturoff

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: FRENCH
Stage 2: Student uses sentences, strings of sentences and recombinations of learned words, phrases and expressions with frequency of errors proportionate to the complexity of the communicative task.

Texts: The Ultimate French Review and Practice with CD-ROM by David M. Stillman, Ph.D. and Ronni L. Gordon, Ph.D. (audio modules included)
Easy French Reader by R. de Roussy de Sales

HEALTH
Human life cycle and body functions
Genes and heredity
Diet and nutrition, nutrition labels, safe food handling, eating disorders
Sexual education
Sexual discrimination and harassment
Feelings and self-esteem
Peer pressure and relationships
Hygiene
CPR
Addictive behaviors
Environmental and ecological health
Public health and safety

Text: Instructional Fair’s Health and Safety Curriculum, Intermediate

PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Tennis, swimming, golf, dance or other instruction as available

Summer slide

You’ve heard, no doubt, about summer “learning loss.” Summer slide is the reason every school year begins with review of skills mastered the year before. As a teacher, I don’t fret about so-called learning loss because if a student has truly mastered academic skills, he or she will recall them when book learning begins. For homeschoolers and others, summer presents the perfect opportunity to introduce academic subjects in a fun way. It’s a time for field trips, outdoor exploration and special projects. If your family has the money, you could invest in enrichment classes, but if you’re looking to cut back on spending, as I am, focus on freebies:

1) Check out programs at your local library. Public libraries often offer free reading programs, as well as other activities, in the summer.

2) Investigate volunteer opportunities. Community and cultural organizations often seek free help, and this provides an opportunity for your teen or pre-teen to do some service learning. Examples: a local hospital seeks teens to deliver mail and flowers to patients; an outdoor museum seeks “junior naturalists” to assist with children’s programs; a community theatre seeks help with ushering, putting up posters and creating sets; a local child-care center seeks volunteers to read and play with children.

3) Consider entering projects in your county fair. If you live in a rural area, check out the myriad opportunities to exhibit items at the county fair. Your state university extension service can provide more information. There’s no charge to enter items at our county fair, and for exhibiting, we gain free admission: a $30 savings. The county fair offers children the opportunity to exhibit in a variety of areas (and maybe even to win a ribbon!): from arts and crafts to science projects. We’ve seen some amazing work by youngsters over the years in the areas of quilting, floral arranging, baking, woodworking and more.

4) Focus on health. Summer is a great time to cover subjects in the health curriculum: skin cancer prevention, thunderstorm safety, water safety, bicycle safety, good nutrition, benefits of exercise and more.

5) Attend free concerts. Many communities offer free outdoor concerts in the summer. Check your local newspaper for listings. Allegra and I recently attended a free indoor piano concert and lecture on ragtime, blues and jazz. It was educational and fun.

6) Looking to get rid of unwanted possessions? Stage a yard sale and enlist your children to help. They will learn how to price items, keep an inventory, display merchandise, interact with the public and handle money. For a simple math lesson, teach them how to add up the cost of merchandise and to make change. Promise them a percentage of the profits and let them figure out how much that will be.

7) Get together with other homeschoolers or neighbors to stage a Great American Bake Sale to end hunger in America. Visit http://www.strength.org/. Baking is kitchen chemistry. It also teaches math (proportion and measurement). As with a yard sale, children will learn to interact with the public and to use everyday math skills. But they will also learn to help others in need.

8) Play board games that reinforce academic skills: card games that require math such as cribbage, word games such as Scrabble and history/geography games such as Great States. The whole family can join in the fun of learning.

End-of-year evaluation

At the end of the academic year, the local school district requires homeschoolers to present evidence of what they’ve accomplished during the academic year. Otherwise, there is no oversight: At no other time during the school year does the district request progress reports. For our end-of-year evaluation, we submitted a box containing folders of important work (essays, lab reports, tests, researched papers) from every class, as well as a large art portfolio containing special projects. Allegra took digital pictures of 3-D projects too cumbersome to transport, such as her small-scale models of a Roman aqueduct and a Greek temple. We also provided a separate folder with standardized test results. When I called the school district to ask about procedure for end-of-the-year evaluation, the secretary for the director of teaching and learning instructed us to “drop off” work samples at the office at our convenience. Once we arrived, she called out the director to meet with us. At a glance, the director of teaching and learning determined Allegra had met the district’s educational requirements. But, to her credit, she spent about 30 minutes talking with Allegra about her homeschooling experience. I sensed we submitted too much material when she advised us to bring only “showcase pieces” to next year’s evaluation. I left the evaluation feeling it would be too easy for homeschoolers to neglect their education.

Allegra's take: After my talk with the director of teaching and learning, I, too, felt that I could have presented her with nothing but a poster, an essay, and a test and she would have believed that I had been properly educated. Homeschoolers (or, in this case, half-schoolers or unschoolers) could easily do nothing throughout the year but create those “showcase pieces” and still be approved.

However, those homeschoolers who have been genuinely teaching and learning have to deal with the predjudices of those who have witnessed the Unschooled. Often, officials make assumptions; for example, our director of teaching and learning informed us that we should put emphasis on math and science and blend English/Language Arts with those subjects, when, in fact, we were already doing just that. One look through my math and science folders would have proved this.

The key for evaluations is to strike the right balance. If you specifically present several showcase pieces but also have a few folders on hand to show that you did actually work, your evaluation will be a complete success.