Why we Ditched Spelling

For years I stuck with spelling lists.  Even while using the Heart of Dakota curriculum, I kept using spelling lists.  Or I would use Ace Paces’ Word Building (etymology).  My older daughters completed the full spectrum of Word Building books. 

I always wanted to use the Dictation plans included in Heart of Dakota.  I tried it with my older daughter.  She hated dictation.  She had come from public school and spelling was what she knew.  She asked for the spelling lists.  She likes the Word Building compared to the dictation.  So, I let her continue with it.

But then came my youngest.  She is the one that has never attended public school.  She tried the Word Building paces and began to dread them.  (She wasn’t a big fan of workbook curriculum.). With her, I thought, I could start her with dictation and see if it was truly something that I could trust to give my child a good spelling foundation.

She likes dictation.  Even when we wandered through a couple years of delight directed studies, we stayed with dictation. Occasionally we got our dictation out of McGuffey Readers.  Mostly, we used the dictation provided in the Heart of Dakota guides.  

I love the seamless, steady progress of the passages.  I love that my daughter is putting words into writing, not just memorizing lists.  I love that we can take the time for her to study the passage so she can learn it in her own way. 

Her spelling is good.  Occasionally she misses a word and must redo the passage.  She’s a bit of a perfectionist and gets easily frustrated when she misses, but I just keep encouraging her and we progress slowly forward.  

The spelling and grammar carry over to her other schoolwork, also.  Spelling errors are infrequent.  I believe this is because when you are reading quality literature and writing often, you naturally pick up how words are spelled by seeing and writing them correctly in context often.  With that comes vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, and a host of good writing habits.

We will continue dictation through high school.  I love to read blog posts from the Heart of Dakota sisters (Carrie and Julie) about how dictation skills carried over into other areas of schoolwork and into college.  

Here are a few posts they have written about dictation:

https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2020/09/09/not-just-a-spelling-list/

https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2019/11/07/dictation-skills-help-many-areas-of-childs-education/

https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2019/02/13/a-breakthrough-in-spelling-charlotte-masons-method-of-studied-dictation/

https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2018/11/06/charlotte-masons-method-of-studied-dictation/

https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2018/05/01/is-dictation-good-for-struggling-spellers/

As you can see, using dictation instead of spelling has many benefits.

The dictation passages chosen by Heart of Dakota come from an older book set used in schools long ago.  They were published in the early 1900s.  The books are called Dictation Day by Day by Kate Van Wagenen.  With each level, new words are in bold.  Many of the passages are from quality literature or are quotes from famous men and writers.  These writers consist of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Shakespeare, and Daniel Webster... to name a few.  They come from quality works like The Bible or other great works of literature. Not only are the students learning spelling, grammar, and sentence structure, they are exposed to great snippets of writing and the thoughts of great men and women in history. 

In our home, we have developed a system or routine for dictation.  Dictation is part of our morning time studies, which also include Bible time, Writing, Language Arts, math, and Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (Literature) assignments.  

We keep dictation simple.  On day 1 of a new passage, it is used as copywork.  We do this because I think it is a good practice to write to learn.  By copying the passage exactly, my daughter is cementing the spelling of new words, seeing which words are capitalized, and where punctuation goes.  

On day 2, the passage is dictated to her, phrase by phrase.  She has to write it perfectly again.  The Heart of Dakota guide books say that, if there is a mistake, she corrects the error, again cementing the correct spelling in her brain, and then redoes the passage the next day.  Most of the time that is what we do.  Occasionally the mistake is simple and she corrects it as soon as she sees it.  In that case, we will often just move on to the next passage. However, many times the error is one where I insist the passage be redone.  The next day she will redo the entire passage through me restating it, phrase by phrase.  She rarely has to repeat a passage more than once.  

Having used this method now for several years, I am impressed with the simplicity of this Charlotte Mason method. It takes only a few minutes a day, but the slow, steady, incremental growth is apparent when we see how far we progress from the beginning of a year to the end.  Often we cover more than one level in a school year.  And while a small snippet may not seem like much in the day to day, it adds up to a quality education. 

Spelling is one of those subjects that, coming from a public school mentality, is the most difficult to release.  Dictation is a natural way to learn not just spelling, but writing and grammar.  And while we do separate writing and grammar programs, trusting dictation to be enough for spelling is scary at first.  It has been ingrained that we need those lists and rules.  Heart of Dakota asks that parents give dictation at least a year before trying to measure progress because it is a different way to learn from the way we all grew up with in the schools. 

The early years of dictation actually do begin with lists.  As a child is beginning to learn the write, each word in a list follows a spelling pattern, such as: grow, show, tow, throw, stow, etc.  After a year or so of the lists, the first dictation passages are introduced. Spelling patterns are repeated with extra words added that match the dictation.  For instance, the very first dictation passage is:

Sue has a bird.

It can call and sing.

king ring wing

This begins the gentle, incremental climb that continues through graduation.  

I can attest that I have seen the growth and it more than covers the lists.  Each week, with just three different dictation passages, there are fifteen to twenty new words (at my daughter’s current level.).  The upper levels of dictation are quite challenging, with longer paragraphs being included of top quality works that hold a depth of sentence structure and a rich vocabulary that makes those lists a sad substitute.   So while the earlier dictation passages are simple, through the years they advance to impressive levels. 

I encourage other homeschool moms to try dictation for a year.   If you hate it, the lists will always be there.  There is no shortage of spelling programs, both free and expensive, available.  Dictation is different.  I believe it is better than the lists.  I wish I would have stuck with it with my older daughters.  While they are good spellers, using a dictation program teaches so much more than how to spell. 

Sick Days

It’s been a rough start back to school with my daughter not feeling well.  She did some school yesterday.  Today, she slept until 11 and is currently laying in bed waiting for medicine to kick in and help her feel better.

Watching The Miracle Worker

But...  we’ll get to it.  I’m not going to push.  I’m not going to get frustrated by illness. It’s not in my control.  

A lifestyle of learning is about so much more than books and organized learning.  A lifestyle of learning will roll with the ups and downs.

Yesterday was actually a pretty relaxed learning day, despite the illness.  My daughter felt better after a fever reducer.  She did some reading and began to study Alabama.  She watched the movie The Miracle Worker, which was set in Alabama.  

For many reasons, this simple, delight-directed learning style brings me peace.  I find myself excited to explore my own passions as my daughter explores hers.  She is still going through her history rotation once or twice a week, but it’s scaled back quite a bit.  I want her to dig deep when it peaks her interest.  Not everything will.  My job is to expose her to different time periods, different ideas, and great literature.  My job is to make she she knows how to learn and to guide her through the tougher subjects or skills when they arise. 

Sick days come and go.  Realizing that I don’t have to be stressed out all the time, pushing all the time, has been eye-opening in all areas of my life, even homeschooling.  

The Pressure to Measure

It is in our nature to want to measure and evaluate, to have definite standards where we can line up growth and achievements on a chart or a scale, that we can then show the world or know exactly where we are succeeding or where others are lacking.  Babies are often evaluated by growth charts and given the percentile of their growth compared to other children their age.  They are also measured by when they achieve certain skills, such as when they roll over or crawl or walk.

In school, the same type of mentality exists.  The average first-grader should meet standards chosen by “experts” or they are considered learning disabled.  Often these experts will set standards that have nothing to do with what science and psychology says about child development. Earlier and earlier children are pushed and asked to do more and more in ways that unnatural for them.

For years I have been pushed and pulled in one direction and then another.  What is best?  I want my children to academically excel, but I also want them to grow at their own pace.  I have homeschooled now for well over a decade and graduated three students.  In those three children, I had some very unique learners.  None of them were exactly the same.  They didn’t learn the same way or have the same interests or personalities.  They didn’t excel in the same areas.  They each struggled in areas that came easy for others and soared in areas that others found challenging. 

One thing all of my three graduates did have in common was they spent some time in public school.  All three had been exposed to the “school mentality.”  They had been measured by those standards the experts chose.  Those standards changed multiple times through the years.  New testing was introduced, new benchmarks of achievement.  Each child, whether it was for three years or ten years, suffered in some way in the comparison-based, over-tested mentality of the public schools.  Even those that did well still felt the sting of a teacher that favored certain students and a system that, much like society, tended to focus on the squeaky wheels more than the quiet workers. 

Each child, when they came home to be homeschooled, battled that mentality that had so pervaded their thinking.  As a homeschool mom that was public schooled, I also fight that mentality.  It’s ingrained in the culture to think that testing and grades are the best way to measure success in a child.  Even though academic success does not predict career success, we have been led to believe that it does. 

Dr. Adam Grant stated the following in “What Straight-A Students Get Wrong”:

“Academic grades rarely assess qualities like creativity, leadership and teamwork skills, or social, emotional and political intelligence. Yes, straight-A students master cramming information and regurgitating it on exams. But career success is rarely about finding the right solution to a problem — it’s more about finding the right problem to solve.”

My youngest child never went to school.  She should be immune to the same way of thinking.  She isn’t.  She isn’t because it pervades culture.  It’s on every television show and game and YouTube video.   She isn’t immune because her mom, her main teacher, has battled so many fears that she is failing her child when her child struggles in an area due to her own pressures from public schooling.  My youngest child should be free, but she still gets grilled by strangers occasionally if she is outside during “school time.”  She still deals with others that believe a child that is homeschooled is inferior in some way because she isn’t in the school environment or being tested into oblivion to see how she measures up to those arbitrary standards set by the “experts.”  

It shouldn’t be easy to overlook her strengths, which are many, and see only the areas that haven’t clicked yet.  Those standards race through my head, and I see where she hasn’t met them...  not where she has exceeded them. And the truth is, the standards are arbitrary and she has more than conquered some of them.  So what?  

I shouldn’t be asking, “Am I failing her in this area?”  I should be asking, “Does she love to learn?”  “Is she curious?”  “Does she have passions where she loves to dig deep?”  “Does she love Jesus?”  “ Is she kind?”  “Has the light gone out of her eyes about learning?”

Often, too many of us, including me at times, will trade the positives just so we can fall back on human nature and our public schooled-mentality and measure everything.  I have had to ask myself, “Will I trade the light going out of my daughter’s eyes for me showing she has met standards I don’t even believe are healthy?”

It would be stupid to say yes, and yet so many of us don’t even realize this is what we have done. 

I had a conversation with another homeschool mom recently.  She was stressed about the areas where her children were struggling and trying to complete all of a curriculum.  In truth, she was afraid she was failing her children.  I wanted to hug her and tell her that I have done the same thing a million times, that I still fight the compulsion to do the same.  I wanted to tell her that curriculum is simply a tool.  She was afraid her kids would miss something vital if she skipped anything and she would regret it later. 

I have learned that it is impossible to learn everything you need to know before graduation.  It is more important to know how to learn what you need when you need to learn it.  It is more important to love learning and be a life-long learner, not just someone with a head full of stuff.  

To be honest, I don’t remember most of what I learned in school.  But, I’m a reader and a researcher.  If I want to know something, I can usually figure it out.  When I decided to research autoimmune diseases, I spent two years reading everything I could.  When I wanted to take my photography more seriously, I found free online courses, books, and played with my camera until I understood more.  When I needed to learn things for college that I had forgotten or never learned in the years since high school, I did what I needed and learned the necessary skills. This is how we naturally learn. 

And so, to my struggling homeschool moms... and to myself... I say, “Relax.”  Have some fun with your children.  Laugh.  Go on adventures.  Read together.  Pray together.  Break the tough stuff up... or put it off a bit until young minds have matured enough to grasp the concepts.  Be balanced in your thinking.  Remember your child’s strengths, not just the areas of struggles.  Be creative.  And most of all, know that God is still in control.  He knows the plan He has for your child.  

Adult Learning Principles Applied to Children

In studying for a college class in library science, I came upon some interesting information.  The article I was reading was discussing how adults learn in relation to designing training programs to teach copy cataloging in a library environment.  The author of the article quotes some essential points from a book The Modern Practice of Adult Education and The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles.

In the book, Mr. Knowles lists six principles that describe how adults learn. 

1.  Adults need to know why they need to learn something before they learn it.

2.  The self-concept of adults is heavily dependent upon a move toward self-direction.

3.  Prior experiences of the learner provide a rich resource for learning.

4.  Adults typically become ready to learn when they experience a need to cope with a life situation or perform a task.

5.  Adults’ orientation to learning is life-centered, and they see education as a process of developing increased competency levels to achieve their full potential.

6. The motivation for adult learners is internal rather than external.

I found this fascinating, because while Mr. Knowles pertains the learning to adults only, having homeschooled for over a decade, I think all people, young and old, learn best in these ways. I want to go through these items, one by one, to explain why these principles apply to children as well.

1.  Adults need to know why they need to learn something before they learn it.

So often we set things in front of our children and expect them to learn it without them knowing why.  There is always one child that asks, "When will I ever use this?"  The truth is, sometimes they learn things they will never use, but is just an essential part of a well-rounded education and exposure to the world.  Other times, they spend time learning stuff that is pointless and is often forgotten once learned.  I don't believe most education is ever wasted.  Sometimes learning something that won't get used is just a way to grow the brain.  However, many times adults won't try to learn things that are unnecessary.  They have energy and attention that must be divided between various responsibilities, and delving into things they don't need to know would take away from the priorities in their lives.  So, they want to know why they need to learn something. 

We may not always owe a child an explanation of every single concept that they have placed in front of them to learn, but often understanding why they need to know something helps them to see that the world is vast and complex, and they should have an understanding of many of those various complexities.  That means understanding about plants and Geometry.  It means learning how to balance a bank account and understanding history. 

2.  The self-concept of adults is heavily dependent upon a move toward self-direction.

I don't believe this principle is just for children.  What is self-concept?  It is a collection of beliefs about oneself.  In other words, the direction a person moves in life will depend upon what they believe about themselves.  For children, education is often about learning the material placed in front of them.  If they do well, they believe they are intelligent.  If they struggle, they believe they aren't as intelligent.  In all actuality, how they learn often has nothing to do with intelligence, but if what they believe about themselves will determine the choices they make in their future.  A person, child or adult, that is given the freedom to learn in a way that fits them the best will make better choices because they won't feel that they don't measure up if they don't learn like the person next to them. 

This means that children often learn best when they have some autonomy in their studies, some say in what they learn.  They will have an interest, a curiosity, and that will help motivate them to learn about that area.  That self-direction will help them retain what they learn, causing self-concept to grow into confidence, which will help them to go deeper or branch out into wider selections of studies.

This isn’t to say that every subject they learn has to be a burning passion.  Like chores, some things aren’t necessarily fun but necessary.  Striking a balance gives children (and some adults) the tenacity and discipline to push through when things are not easy or pleasant, but also allows for delving deep into areas that they love. 

3.  Prior experiences of the learner provide a rich resource for learning.

Again, this is true for children as well as adults.  From birth we are learning.  Let your child explore the world.  Let them play in nature.  Let them read about what interests them.  Fill their world with stories.  Give them time to use their imaginations.  Those experiences will be a fertile soil for growing new ideas and interests.  

4.  Adults typically become ready to learn when they experience a need to cope with a life situation or perform a task.

My husband knows and understands Excel better than I do, though I have more experience with computers.  He had to learn it for his job.  He is a hands-on learner, and so he learned what he needed to do his job effectively.  I learned Excel for a math class, and I have forgotten most of it because I simply don't use it daily. 

The same is true for children.  They learn what they need to learn when they need to learn it.  Exposure to a variety of skills helps, but they won't master something until they do it often or need to use it in some way.  Learning about how to teach and how children learn in books has given me ideas and helped me in educating my children.  However, it hasn't been until I applied what I had read to the education I was giving my children that I saw the theories I had only read about come to life.  I can say that phonics helps a child learn to read, for instance, but until a child is sounding out a new word they encounter in a story, it is just a theory. 

5.  Adults’ orientation to learning is life-centered, and they see education as a process of developing increased competency levels to achieve their full potential.

Adults learn based on what they need to know or desire to know.  When I wanted to understand autoimmune diseases because they are impacting my family in such a detrimental way, I went on a research campaign to learn all I could.  I studied literature that was way over my head educationally, and looked up many of the terms to gain understanding.  

When I began to research my family s genealogy I didn’t know what to look for except to look at the “leaves” that were hints on Ancestry.com.  Then I stumbled upon multiple people with the same name living in the same area.  I had to learn to look for other clues, such as common relatives and important dates.  Eventually I was using Google translate to understand a Dutch genealogy site, looking for records Ancestry.com didn’t have...  and I discovered my family’s name in Hola d had been spelled differently.  

This is how most of us learn.  We dive into areas that spark an interest or that we need to know and we build from basic knowledge to more advanced knowledge. 

The same is true for children, but we often limit what they want to know in exchange for what we think they ought to know.  We want to have breadth at the expense of depth. I have struggled with this lately, and feel there should be some balance.  Yes, some concepts are built incrementally.  Other concepts will be learned as interest in them is sparked.  I am attempting to strike a balance between assigned and delight-directed studies.  It is new territory for me, but one that I believe can make a huge difference in learning.

6. The motivation for adult learners is internal rather than external.

This goes back to the concept of we learn what we need to know or what sparks our interest.  In children, most of the time the learning isn't internal, it is external.  They are told what to learn and when.  And, like I stated above, I am learning to strike a balance in this.  The learning that sticks with a child the longest is the learning that occurs when they are curious.

Yes, my child has to learn her math facts.  But does it matter if she studies horses for a year instead of plants?  How much math will she learn, to add to the foundation she already has, when she starts learning about horse racing and how horses are measured and weighed?  Won't she study some agriculture when she studies a horse's diet?  Life isn't separate subjects, and while we separate things much of the time, it doesn't have to all be divided up.  Learning is more innate and natural when it is following interests.  One area bleeds into another, and suddenly a child has learned about a dozen subjects in a short amount of time because their interest in one topic exposed them to a variety of others.

The best learning is learning that happens when the motivation is internal, whether as an adult or a child. 

I found these principles, while written for adults, were also applicable to children in so many ways.  Knowing that these principles are true for children is very counter to our public school system and the ways in which we educate them.  In a homeschool environment, however, it might just be the key to a top-knotch education. 
 


 

When Your Child is "Behind" in Math

My two youngest daughters aren't "math" kids.  The struggles and doubts I went through with my daughter that recently graduated over her math were intense.  We went through years of trying to get her to retain her multiplication tables.  I bought extra programs.  I felt like such a failure when we would have a school break, and she would lose months of work in weeks.  We would then have to spend time brushing up and relearning what was lost.

Then, middle school, it was like a switch was flipped.  She still wasn't fond of the lessons, but she seemed to grasp the concepts easier.  She remembered her lessons.  She made rapid progress and was totally ready for Algebra in the ninth grade.  (I know many schools now teach Algebra in 8th grade, but that isn't always he best path for every child.)

I learned a lot of lessons about how children learn.  Some children don't develop the ability to understand abstract concepts until they are older.  In that case, math can be challenging since so much of it is abstract, especially in upper levels.  Some children are naturally great at math and progress quickly.  Some struggle and struggle, but with lots of practice and reinforcement, coming at concepts from multiple ways, they will learn.  Eventually they might, as my daughter did, make a leap once her brain develops the maturity and ability to understand concepts that are more difficult.

Schools want everyone on the same level, or in a narrow margin.  The problem with that is not all students develop at the same rate or learn in the same way.  I wrote a few months ago about why levels are often a better system of development than "grades."  This is because the child begins in a place where they can succeed and build skills incrementally, precept upon precept, at a pace where they can master topics.

My daughter that gave me the math woes in the early years needed a spiral program where she was repeating concepts over and over daily.  She did best with that system, because the constant review let her keep the concepts fresh in her brain.  She was "behind" for awhile, but once her brain was ready, she caught up quickly.

My youngest daughter needs a more mastery approach.  She needs plenty of review, but she also needs more time and practice on a single concept before jumping around.  She also does better with math taught through stories and plenty of fun games.  And so, what I use for her is completely different than what worked for my other daughter.  Using different materials doesn't work in schools, as everyone is expected to learn the same way.

When my youngest doesn't understand a concept, we can review using other materials or math games until it "clicks."  That could be a couple days or a couple weeks.  Sometimes, I completely back off for awhile and just review other stuff.  This gives her brain a chance to rest from the stress of something it is struggling to grasp.  Most of the time, when we revisit the concept, it will suddenly make sense. 

For my youngest, I break her math up throughout the day.  She is ADHD, and conquering thirty math problems first thing in the morning can bring her to tears and take a couple hours.  Instead, I split up the assignments.  She will do half in the morning, half in the afternoon.  This means that her mind gets a break and goes on to other things and comes back later.   She doesn't get as frustrated and overwhelmed.  She doesn't procrastinate or get as distracted.  What would take forever in one session actually moves much more quickly and smoothly when broken up into two sessions.

I also rotate types of math learning.  For instance, this year, she will do workbook work in the morning.  I will add in Khan Academy videos or math games to help explain and practice the concepts being learned, but not every day.  In the afternoon, I rotate between Life of Fred, which teaches math through story, games, and an additional workbook page.  The first part of this school year has my girl studying mental math videos a couple times a week, to try to build her mental math skills and build confidence in her math abilities. This may mean slower progress on her workbook work, but the skills gained in mental math lessons make it worth it.  Again, it is about gaining skills and growing her brain, and sometimes that requires coming at topics from multiple ways.

I am more concerned with progress than meeting some elusive standard, which varies by school, state, and curriculum.  I have seen certain concepts taught in second grade in one curriculum, but not taught until fifth grade in others.  My goal is to slowly build skills, and be able to adjust when her brain matures a bit and the concepts "click." 

I love materials that aren't labeled by "grade" level.  When my child is growing and making progress, I don't want her to feel like she is inferior in any way because the number on the outside of the book is lower than where she feels she should be. I have already explained that the concepts inside the books vary greatly depending on the curriculum and publisher.  I like "levels" better.  She needs to master the concepts inside the books, not feel like dirt because she is working at a different level than what she thinks her friends are doing.  With the dismal performance of the United States school systems in international testing, a large number of students aren't mastering the concepts.  They move on before they have full understanding, and then feel as if they are constantly trying to catch up and understand what is just a bit beyond them.  Some quit, having no confidence, feeling as if they are just "bad at math."  This is why so many students graduate high school and have to take remedial courses before they are ready for college-level subjects.

I also feel we rush the process, like with every other subject in public school.  It has all become a race to do more, do it faster and earlier, as if our children are machines and not humans.  I don't think the science of child development supports this.  In fact, I have seen that it is often detrimental to learning and to healthy mental and emotional development.  The result is that children have higher rates of depression, suicidal thoughts, and even PTSD.  Surely abusing our children in order for them to achieve academic achievement earlier and earlier is counterproductive.  

It would seem like building strong skills, a strong foundation, more slowly would be best.  Research seems to show that giving time for students to play, to be in nature, to get away from technology, all aid in tremendous mental, emotional, and physical benefits.  Schools across the nation are slowly starting to add to their recess time, and are finding that attention issues are diminished in class environments.  This is because children aren't meant to sit for hour upon hour at a desk doing intense book work. 

Math skills have been pushed along with science in the last decade.  STEM careers have led to STEM classes.  Having dismal rates in international testing in math and science seems to show our students aren't measuring up internationally.  Pushing concepts earlier and earlier has not improved test scores.  Teaching Common Core math has not improved test scores.  Instead, they slowly worsen.  As a nation, we scored higher when childhood was respected.  Children gain a lot of math knowledge by building forts outside and baking with grandma.  At the very least, their brains develop on deeper levels than what occurs with video games and YouTube videos.

There are materials that aren't labeled with certain "grade" levels.  Or, like Saxon, they cover a couple years and can be used where developmentally appropriate.  Perhaps they are advanced, as many homeschooling materials are, and you can ignore the "grade" level on the front.  Maybe your child is advanced and those grade levels make him or her feel superior in some way.  In truth, maybe his or her brain matured more quickly in one area, but he or she may struggle elsewhere.  Working from levels instead of "grades," mastering concepts and moving forward, whether fast or more slowly, keeps the child focused on learning the material, not comparing himself to others and making everything a competition.

I have become a proponent in going back to traditional pacing in math, or of letting children learn at their own pace.  While some children may excel, and should be allowed to move forward at the pace that suits them, a lot of frustration for students and parents could be avoided if children are developmentally ready to learn and not forced too quickly.  Other homeschool parents have discovered the same thing in educating their children, as I discovered here, here, here, and here.  In fact, there are hundreds of homeschoolers that have learned the same thing.  Guess what?  It works!  Homeschoolers test much higher on standardized tests than public schooled students on average.  That doesn't mean that every homeschool student is above average.  It means that most students get a strong foundation and master the concepts. 

There are no C's in my homeschool.  My daughter is to correct materials she gets wrong, not just get a lower grade.  She doesn't turn in assignments and receive a grade.  She turns in assignments, and then corrects any errors.  This is about learning, not measuring her against anyone.  In correcting errors, she reinforces the right way to do things.  It may mean we move at a slower pace, but it is a pace where she knows what she is doing and is confident in her abilities before I move her to something more advanced.  She isn't going to miss three on one assignment, miss four on the next, and not see where she is struggling.  Neither of us are going to accept a bunch of errors, not because we expect perfection, but because errors tell me that she needs more practice or more explanation or more time to grasp what she is learning.

If your child is behind in math, make sure they are working at a level they can understand.  Then, work steadily through concepts, ensuring mastery and a lot of review.  Keep progressing.  If they hit a concept they simply aren't getting, go back and review other things for awhile.  Then try again.  Don't let your child feel inferior if they don't understand right away.  Come at concepts from different angles.  Use whatever resources you can, from games to stories, to help your child advance.  Split the lessons in half so they aren't overwhelmed.  You are homeschooling.  You can tailor the lessons to your child, if necessary.  Slow down for awhile.  Speed back up later when their brain matures and concepts "click."  Most of all, keep positive and encourage your child every day.

Christmas Break is Nearly Here!

Megan is finishing her her school lessons this week before we break for Christmas Vacation.  Laura finished her work last night so she could be free today.  Then we will have a couple weeks for a break.

A break from formal studies doesn't mean that learning ends.  One of the reasons I am studying Library Science in college is because one of the main core values is promoting lifelong learning.  According to the American Library Association:

"ALA promotes the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of a learning society, encouraging its members to work with educators, government officials, and organizations in coalitions to initiate and support comprehensive efforts to ensure that school, public, academic, and special libraries in every community cooperate to provide lifelong learning services to all."

When I thought about what my core values were, after my faith, it is lifelong learning.  Homeschooling has taught me that we should never stop learning.  I have learned so much from teaching my children... things I never learned in school!  I don't know if I would have been confident enough to go back to college after twenty-five years out of school if I hadn't been learning and studying for the last decade in preparing lessons for school and church and researching how children learn.  These areas made me more certain that learning should never stop. 

My faith has taught me that study is a form of worship.  Learning about God and the world He created has grown my faith.  As I have learned, when we pray we speak to God.  When we study, God speaks to us.  And God did not create out minds to rust.  He created our minds to continually grow.  This is why we can keep learning for life, not just when we are children.

This is why different experiences are important.  Different experiences grow our brains in new ways, in ways that expand horizons.  A break from formal studies doesn't mean that experiences stop.  It means that learning is different. 

I often find that the more relaxed atmosphere of a break can help create more opportunities to learn. There is more time to spend in the Word of God.  Time is available for more free reading.  We do more hands-on things at Christmas time, such as baking and crafting.  We also make memories with family and friends. 

When we do go back, we are refreshed and ready to tackle the next semester.  Even more, we have used our brains in different ways. 

Still Homeschooling?

Occasionally I run into people I haven't seen in a few years.  They always seem to ask, "Still homeschooling?"



"Yes."  I state without apology.

When I first began homeschooling, I felt like I had to justify my reasoning.  I no longer feel the need to explain my reasoning or why my husband and I have made the decision we have made.  Some will agree.  Others won't.

My girls back in 2008.

Year after year, I stick with it.  Homeschooling is simply a part of our family now.  It is a part of our family culture.  It is what we do. When I first began homeschooling, I wrote a blog post that listed some of my reasons why.   The last one on the list was, "I homeschool because God put it in my heart to do this and I need to be obedient even though it isn't always an easy task."  It still isn't an easy task.  I have learned many things over the years.  My reasoning has changed somewhat in some areas.  Experience has been a good teacher.  Each year I don't have to come up with a list of why I homeschool. I simply keep doing so.  When I compare the list I made back in 2008 with how I feel today, I am astounded at how little changes in my reasoning make a big difference.  I am also surprised by how much has stayed the same.

My First Homeschooled Daughter in 2008

(When I wrote the list in 2008, I had five daughters under 17. Three were in public school.  One was only eighteen months old.  Eventually I would homeschool four of those five daughters.  As of 2017, two have graduated.  The "daughter" I allude to in the 2008 post is now in her last year of high school.  The eighteen month old is a ten-year old fifth grader.)

Reason 1:
2008 - I homeschool because I want my daughter to love Jesus, and to be free to love and learn about Jesus without feeling pressure to do otherwise.

2017 -  I homeschool because I want to be able to teach my children about Jesus, the Bible, and our faith without apology.

What's different? - I have learned that, while I want my children to love Jesus, this is a decision they must make for themselves.  They can't live on my faith.  I can set an example, teach them the way they should go, but they have the free will to make their own decisions.  I still create an environment where they can learn about the Lord freely.

Reason 2: 
2008 - I homeschool because she can learn about the world with a Christian worldview, not a sheltered worldview that keeps other theories from her. She will learn about evolution, but she will also learn that it is not a theory we believe. She will learn about her creator.

2017 - Still true.  I don't believe in a sheltered worldview.  I believe in age appropriate.  I also believe in teaching what they world believes, such as evolutionary principles, because this is not something my children can escape.  However, I still believe in teaching fully about young earth versus old earth, and why I believe the way I do.

What's different? - Essentially, if I have made them critical thinkers, my children will be able to make determinations for themselves and defend their position.

Reason 3:
2008 - I homeschool because my daughter was beginning to feel negative about herself, already feeling like she had to measure up to everyone else and be like them.

2017 - I still hope that the environment I provide at home will be nurturing and build up my daughters, not tear them down.

What's different? - I may keep my children from some of the pressures and negative social aspects of public school, but I cannot protect them entirely.  The world will still try to tell them who they are.  To a large degree, my children might still compare themselves to others and find themselves lacking somehow.  I have learned that homeschooling may help, but it is not a cure-all or a protection against self-doubt.

Reason 4:
2008 - I homeschool because I get to spend quality time with my daughter any time I want to.

2017 - I don't regret one moment of the time I have had with my daughters that I have been blessed to homeschool.  This lesson was reinforced recently when I enrolled in college classes and was over- scheduled.  I was still here with my daughters, but I wasn't enjoying them because I was stressed out and overly busy.

What's different? - I am older and have more experience.  Three of my girls are grown.  The "daughter" I referred to in 2008 is graduating high school this spring.  Time goes by quickly, and I know the memories we made together are priceless.

Reason 5:
2008 -  I homeschool because I know what Laura is learning, how she is treated, and that she is safe.

2017 - If anything, since 2008, I not only still believe this, but feel even more strongly now.

What's Different? - Bullying, school shootings, suicides...  these things seem to be on the rise.  I know that perhaps the media shows these things more often, but the fact remains that it happens.  It happens often.  At home, my daughters can learn without the fear that they will be bullied walking to class.  I dealt with a lot of bullying, and even assault, when my older children were in public school.  It may happen other places we go, but I don't fear that my children will face it in their learning environment.

Reason 6:
2008 - I homeschool because I can make sure Laura is working at the pace for each subject that ensures she knows what she is doing and works best for her.

2017 - After several years of homeschooling, tailoring an education for a child has become something I feel is vital.  I homeschooled one child that came to me with an IEP from her public school.  She did well at home.  I know my husband struggled with undiagnosed ADHD as a child, and the school wasn't equipped to help him.

What's Different? - I know my youngest battles ADHD as well, and most schools would insist she be medicated. At home, I can find ways to fit the learning to her, instead of trying to get her to adapt to the learning.  She can work at her level, mastering one level before moving on to the next level.  In many ways, this works so much better than the school methods.

My 12th grader that was my first student in 2008.

Reason 7:
2008 - I homeschool because God put it in my heart to do this and I need to be obedient even though it isn't always an easy task.

2017 - God has never told me that He has a new plan for me.  He has never taken away the desire to homeschool my children.  The task is still challenging.  It still requires that I lean on Him.

What's Different? - After all these years, I have seen God walk me through tough times.  I have gained experience in teaching children and seeing what works and what doesn't.  I have seen how God walks with me and guides me in choosing curriculum and tackling subjects.  The difficulty of the task hasn't changed God's mind in what He has asked me to do.  I still must be obedient.

My daughters today. 

ADHD Challenges

Some days are rougher than others.  My youngest child has what has been labeled as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  She was never diagnosed by a doctor.  At this point, with a strong genetic factor in the family, I don't need a professional to tell me the symptoms.  I have experienced it in my husband and step-daughter for years.  I have researched, and have seen that the brains of those with ADHD are different.   However, is being different an illness?  Aren't the brains of many different from the norm?  By this standard, those with genius level IQs would have to be labeled as having an illness since brain scans of those considered geniuses often show differences from most of the population. 

There was a time when I didn't think ADHD was real.  There are still those that publish articles saying that it is a made-up disease.  However, I have spent a long time researching it. I think the symptoms are exacerbated today.  I believe this is due to many factors, such as how television and screen time rewires brains.  I also believe that nutrition, or the lack thereof, plays a significant role in brain changes during all stages of development.  I also think that it was misdiagnosed or was simply treated differently in the past.

In the past, childhood was treated differently than it is treated now.  Children didn't always start school at ages three or younger.  Most children didn't start school until age seven when compulsory schooling began moving the age younger and younger.  Now, it is rare in America to see a child not begin formal schooling until age seven.  This means that children that struggle with attention issues are being forced to pay attention at younger and younger ages for longer and longer periods of time.  This makes the struggle with ADHD all the more challenging.

Second, children were outside.  They had chores.  They played.  As a child, I was outside all the time, if possible.  We had recess in the cold weather, in snow, several times a day.  We were outside, climbing on the monkey bars and swinging on the swings. Summers were spent outside, from morning till night, having adventures.  I was a bookworm type, and I was still outside most of the time. 

The correlation between the decrease in children playing outside and ADHD has been made by several organizations.  Want to read for yourself?  Try this article, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one.

In America, the first line of defense is often medication.  Parents are often bullied and pressured into medicating their child by the schools, even though the law states that it is illegal to require a child be medicated, and CPS has even taken children from their homes if parents won't seek treatment and medication.This leaves parents in a tough spot, if they are uncertain about medicating their child.  Most will compromise, medicating during school time, but forgoing meds during breaks and weekends. They want the best for their child, including a quality education and fitting in with social norms, and if medication can help achieve this, then it is simply a fact of life.

I think the decision to medicate your child is one that must be made carefully, but it is a decision that is up to the parents.  My husband and I have chosen not to use medication at this point. We never medicated my step-daughter, and we are trying not to do so with our youngest.  We homeschool.  There are various reasons for this, but one main reason is so that we can work around her ADHD.

Other countries have proven that a different way to handle ADHD can be beneficial.  In America, approximately twelve out of one thousand children are medicated for ADHD.  I found this article from Psychology Today to be very informative about the differences in how America treats ADHD and Finland, a country that commonly scores in first or second place academically in the world.

Children with ADHD are often developmentally behind.  Depending on the child, this can leave them at many different places academically.  Socially, having ADHD can leave them isolated if they have not developed as quickly as other children their age.  The Child Development Institute believes that ADHD children can be as much as three years behind in areas such as "attention, concentration, emotional regulation, and flexibility"  This means that my ten year old may be responding in many ways like a seven year old.  She may be in the fifth grade and able to handle much of the fifth grade course work, but in other areas, such as attention, she may struggle with giving the attention typical of a ten-year old fifth-grader.

This morning my daughter freaked out because her dad is trading in his bass guitar for a different one.  Her inability to handle a small change shows a lack of being able to adjust for her age level.  She often overreacts to simple things, such as being teased by others.  She is not emotionally mature enough to grasp teasing, and struggles with a level of impulsiveness that causes her to lash out when upset.  This shows a strong immaturity on her part that is possibly due to slower maturity in her brain.  Sadly, many of those around her don't understand that she will outgrow this like all children do, but at a slower rate.  Provoking her seems to be fun for some, and she doesn't understand.  Many other parents aren't very considerate either.

Trying to help my child in all these areas without medication has taken many turns.  I have to be a disciplinarian.  I also have to be a coach and teacher.  I reevaluate what is working and what isn't working often.  I try to instill habits.  I try to get her outside every day, even if it is simply to walk the dog.   I try to give her a learning environment where she can learn at her own pace without a lot of distractions.  Most of the time, she is the distraction for others.

I have taken on the role of coach.  Last summer, every day before play practice, we went over the rules on the drive. They consisted of: no getting angry, no mouthing off, no hitting, ignore the kids that pick fights, be nice, use your manners, do what the adults say, focus, be positive.  She could quote the rules in her sleep, and after a few mishaps at first, I think she improved.  She was one of the younger children, and ADHD made her seem even younger.  I would have insisted she wait until she was older, except she loves performing.  And so, despite the ups and downs, we stuck it out.

At this point, I carefully evaluate the social situations where I allow her to participate.  I find things where there is a time limit, or is more one-on-one, instead of large groups.  I try to be able to supervise, or at least be nearby.   She is around other children, and often plays well with children that are younger than her. One article states that playing with children younger than her is actually a good thing because "friendships with younger kids allow your child to take on a leadership role, a dynamic that peer relationships might not allow for."   Knowing that she will improve as she matures gives me hope.  There are times I have removed her from situations she wasn't not handling well.  I have given her breaks, keeping her out of social situations where she may have had a bad experience.

I have found that giving her experiences that are controllable helps her. One-on-one playtime works great because she doesn't have to adapt to a large group.  Also, we read.  We read ALOT!  Giving her experiences through stories is a magnificent way to help her and teach her about the world because she learns empathy by stepping into the shoes of others.  Not only does she gain all the wonderful benefits of vocabulary and concentration increase, she learns to see other points of view and experience their world from the safety of her couch.

My goals for my daughter might differ from that of other parents.  My methods of helping her definitely differ.  We live in a world where parents are not often supportive of each other.  What one parent does to help their ADHD child may not work with a different child in a different situation.  What I am doing right now may change in a year or two.  One thing I have learned is that I have to take my child's ADHD into consideration often.

I began college classes last winter.  One thing that I noticed is that my ten year old isn't as independent as I assumed she would be, and that has caused a lot of stress.  After two semesters of fighting with her to focus, as well as a whole lot of other considerations, I have realized that going to college full time is not in her or my best interest at this time.  She is ten, but developmentally she is younger.  I would not have considered trying to homeschool full time and go to college full time three years ago, or with any of my children when there were seven or in second or third grade.  And while my daughter is in a higher grade and academically capable, she is not at an age-ten level emotionally or in her attention.  I didn't take that into consideration when I enrolled.  I was overly excited about starting a new adventure, and didn't consider how ADHD would impact that choice... or how my choice would impact my ADHD child.

Having a child with ADHD can make life more challenging at times.  However, ADHD is not the end of the world.  My child is fun and loving and intelligent.  She may overreact and act impulsively at times.  She may waste a lot of time during the day getting sidetracked instead of focusing on her school.  I know I tell her a dozen times a day, "Focus, Megan."

The last thing I want is for my daughter to think there is something wrong with her just because her brain is maturing at a different rate or because she doesn't pick up on certain social clues like other children.  She has nothing to do with the fact that she is ADHD, but so many children are labeled with negative labels.  I want my daughter to grow up assured that God created her special, unique, and loved.  I want her to have worth.  If she feels that she is odd, she might spend her entire life feeling inferior.

Homeschooling has allowed me to tailor how my daughter learns, focusing on her strengths until her weaker areas catch up.  Homeschooling has also allowed my daughter to be somewhat protected from the negative social aspects that come with public school and ADHD children.  She hasn't had to suffer negative side effects from medication. There are times when her ADHD impacts her socially.  That can't be helped.  We take each situation as it comes and, day by day, do our best to make good choices.  That isn't easy.  Some subjects in school will simply always be a little more challenging, but we take a lesson at a time, mastering it before moving on.

And, in all honesty, I can't imagine life without my spunky, spirited, stubborn, beautiful, fun, intelligent daughter.  All the challenges are nothing compared with all that she adds to our lives.  Yes, there are hard days.  The times of joy so outweigh any of the challenges. 

ADHD may mean that things are done differently. That doesn't concern me.  God plans for His people to be set apart.  I see ADHD as practice for all the other areas where we are to make different choices than the rest of the world, to react differently than the rest of the world.  Perhaps, just perhaps, ADHD is a way for God to teach lessons that we might otherwise miss.

Why Levels are Better than Grades

Heart of Dakota: A Leveled Curriculum

I have noticed that, in homeschooling, there exists materials that are "level" based.  This means that they are for a range of ages or grades or developmental stages.  They aren't just for third graders or seventh graders, they are for ages 9 to 11, or grades 2 through 5.

I like this!

I have written previously about how my youngest daughter often is in more than one grade level at once.  My older daughter did the same thing through the years as she was being homeschooled. It was standard to use levels for education in the past.  Take the McGuffey readers, once a staple in the American school systems.  Students were in a "reader" level, not a "grade" level.  Those books, when placed into modern reading levels, go well into college level reading.  This explains why a student that mastered all the McGuffey readers was well-educated.  It also explains why we had a  96% literacy rate and why the farmers could easily grasp The Last of the Mohicans, Shakespeare, Dickens, and The King James Bible all through the 1800s and early 1900s.

The truth is that our modern education system has been dumbed-down in many ways.  And while that saddens me to a great degree, I can pick and choose from the modern educational methods and ones used in the past in deciding how to educate my children. In so many ways, homeschooling brings freedom in that my children can learn in ways that suit them best, with instruction that is individualized to a large degree.

Megan is in the second reader.  She could easily read into the third reader, because she is an advanced reader.  I placed her in the second reader so that her writing could catch up to her reading level.  She probably won't stay there long, as she is telling me that she is bored by the level.  The second reader corresponds to a 3rd through 5th grade reading levels.

I have discovered that this type of learning, progressing through levels, or mastery learning, works in nearly every subject.  We have been doing mastery learning in many different ways this year.  I have a book list sorted by reading levels.  I have math sorted by levels.  Even grammar is sorted by levels.  She works slowly, methodically, through each level, gaining skills and not simply grade levels.

 Many of the homeschool curriculum sellers know that mastery learning works.  They write their materials to span grades and ages, easy to customize, with a focus on skills and concepts, not specific to a restrictive narrow age and grade level.

The modern system sets skills they want students to master every year.  The problem is that if a student struggles in an area, they are considered "behind."  If a student can easily master the standards, they are considered "advanced."  Most students fall in the middle, where they can easily master some concepts and struggle in others.  The truth is that, if left to master one concept at a time, taking the time to master the harder to understand ones, then moving more quickly through the ones they can grasp easily, then a student will progress at a more natural pace, often a quicker pace.  They will have mastered concepts by taking them line upon line, precept upon precept.  They won't be rushing through the materials to keep up with a class.  There won't be any moving ahead until a concept is grasped.

This means that most of the time a child won't be moved on to the next skill level if he or she doesn't understand.  Occasionally, when a child is struggling, I have moved on to something different or reviewed other skills for awhile, and then gone back later to the area that was not understood.  I have found that this helps in many ways.  It gives the child's brain a rest from what they weren't grasping.  Sometimes their brain needs the rest.  Sometimes their brain simply needs to mature a little more to grasp the concept.  Nearly every time when I have taken a break and then gone back to the concept later, the child understands it without the struggle they had earlier.  In a classroom environment, this can't happen because the teacher has thirty students and an academic plan that decides what is taught and when it is taught.

Most often, in a homeschool situation, even if a mom has five children, she can easily stop a skill and review.  Working in levels helps in this because it is not a big deal to review skills for a bit before tackling a tough area.  The student is not going to get to a new level and be lost because he or she hadn't mastered the material in the previous level but understood enough to pass.  Incremental steps, a little at a time, building and building, until the student is working at an advanced level, has developed critical thinking skills, and is developmentally ready for the next step means that a child isn't going to feel inferior or superior based on ability alone.

I have seen over and over that learning this way works.  There is one thing that is key in this type of learning... no comparison.  In contemporary education, students are pitted against each other and measured against each other.  They are tested and tested and tested some more.  Competition does not always breed healthy learning.  With levels, students are in competition with no one.  They only have to master the material before them, engage in the learning, not feel that they have to do better or be better than the student next to them.  It becomes about learning, not competing.

This past semester has been one of experimenting more with "leveled-learning."  I took some time off of our regular curriculum with my ten year old, even though it is also level-based, to focus on increasing the level in the basics.  I like the results.  As my daughter makes her way through the McGuffey reader, she is mastering the vocabulary, the sentence structure, the spelling.  We are doing the same thing with dictation.  She is slowly mastering each lesson, one day at a time, growing and learning without pressure.  I even have been doing something similar for math, even backing up a bit and reviewing so that she has truly mastered the concepts before moving forward.

Soon, she will jump back into her curriculum.  She was struggling with the writing.  She will have had a semester of review and slow skill building, especially in her writing, to ensure that she can  more successfully get the most from her studies.  I am slowly moving her from the grammar program we have been using to one that has more writing, to build her skill level even more.  She has focused on increasing her dictation level and completed a lot of copywork through her McGuffey readers.  Mostly, she has done a lot of reading.  In the words of Sally and Clay Clarkson, "If you want your children to be good writers, have them read good books."

There is a sense of relief and peace that comes from leveled learning.  A child isn't pushed to conquer skills that they aren't ready for developmentally, but they are still learning and growing all the time.  They can come at a skill from multiple ways, or maybe just take a break from it for awhile.  Suddenly, their brain matures and they have that light bulb moment.  They learn easily and quickly what was taking them months to previously learn.  It is not uncommon for a student to jump the traditional grade levels in weeks or months.

 My youngest did this in her reading one summer.  She was involved in the summer reading program at the local library.  Every week I would take her to the library for books, and let her check out materials that interested her.  When fall came and we jumped back into her phonics program, she read through material she hadn't gotten to the previous school year as if she had already learned it.  I had her read every book in the program.  What should have taken a year, she completed in two weeks with ease.  Reading for fun had boosted her reading level by at least an academic school year in weeks.  She had been making steady progress in her skills, but giving her brain a break and coming at reading a different way, even if unintentionally, helped her to grow her skills quickly.

Leveled learning is not common, except in environments such as homeschools and tutoring centers.  It is very difficult to do such individualized, leveled learning in public or even private schools where the teachers have large class sizes.  However, it is not impossible, as this is how the one-room schoolhouses of yesteryear taught.

The one-room schoolhouses had students of a variety of ages and levels in one classroom.  They were sorted by levels, slowly advancing in their level, progressing at the pace they learned best.  Not all children in the same levels were at the same pace in those levels, either.  It was very individualized, andA person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read. students learned with some one-on-one time with instructors or older students in their levels of reading and math, and what amounted to unit studies for other areas such as history and science.  Some of the greatest minds came out of those one-room schoolhouses.  Even more, the rate of illiteracy was small.  There were immigrants and a few uneducated that couldn't read.  It was illegal for slaves to be taught to read in the South.  However, there was also an emphasis on Bible reading and understanding the Bible well was of utmost importance.  That couldn't happen if the population was illiterate.  As a result, the literacy rate was high.  Today, the literacy rate is around 85% in the United States, but the problem is not just literacy.  The problem is that many can read, but average materials are at a fifth grade reading level.  High School students struggle to understand our founding documents.  It is no wonder the Constitution isn't a document that is respected when many can't even understand it.

Then there are the people that don't read.  Many people simply don't read and instead choose to gain their information though television and the internet.  In the words of Mark Twain, "A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read." One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.  80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

What does this have to do with leveled learning?  Leveled learning keeps a child engaged because the learning isn't a cause for burnout.  A student may read a thousand books over the course of his or her education, but they are reading at a level they built up to, not one that is above their comprehension and skill level.  The result is that a student won't see reading as the enemy, as a drudgery.  While it might not be a favorite past-time of every student, a student that doesn't see learning and reading as a form of torture will be more apt to stick with what helped them succeed when they were younger.

We have done leveled learning since beginning homeschooling.  We will continue to take this route because it works.  Leveled learning individualizes education, creating a tailored experience, giving the student the ability to reach their potential.  While there are many motivations for homeschooling, this is one of the most important reasons to me.  If a child can learn and grow in healthy ways
, they are more able to be all the God calls them to be.