With Obama's new "National Curriculum" that he is proposing, HSLDA is concerned they will come after homeschoolers as well. They want everyone to keep good records so that there would be a strong showing of true education going on in families around the country. So, how does a TJED family keep records? Each child will have a different "plan" with different "records" at different "ages/grades". How does this translate into the kind of thing the conveyor-belt system is used to seeing/requiring?Interestingly enough, the idea of transcripts and diplomas have been plaguing my mind even before I attended this conference. My father-in-law has asked me several times how I'm going to graduate my children. His comments come out of concern and love for my children, so I have given them great thought. In Missouri, there is no recognized "homeschool graduation" and they say homeschoolers need to take the GED for a diploma. Many homeschoolers are against this because they feel this makes their children look like high school drop-outs.
While spending some time pondering this, I ran across an article about transcripts by subject (I wish I could find the source). The mother developed a detailed transcript of each subject and gave it to the colleges her child was applying for. The list by subject included textbooks and other books used and an explanation of what they did for each subject. HSLDA has a sample transcript by subject here. The one I read about was more detailed by far (7 pages long).I decided that I want a transcript and diploma in case we are ever questioned and to give my children a sense of accomplishment that what they are doing is going to be transferable to the world. I took books from the TJED Books for Youth and the TJED for Teens lists and made a book list for each subject. As my children read/study these books we check them off. Once an area of study has been completed during their Scholar Phase they have completed the "course". How is that different from some of my high school courses? It's not. I took Children's Literature and Mythology, which had a book list that we read and studied together, I wrote a couple of papers and then I got a grade.
Here are some examples:
Shakespeare (All Plays are read) - 1 English Credit
- The Tempest - Watched movie
- Julius Ceasar
- All's Well That End's Well - watched movie and wrote a paper
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Hamlet - attended a performance
- Othello - Wrote a paper
- Romeo and Juliet
Government (all are read) - .5 Government Credit
- The Constitution of the United States - Wrote a paper
- The Declaration of Independence - Watched a documentary on the signing
- The 5,000 Year Leap - Discussed each Principle
- The Federalist Papers
American History (all are read and some are watched/listened to) - 1 History/Social Studies Credit
- "I Have a Dream"
- "Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death"
- "The Gettysburg Address"
- "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
- "Let America Be America Again"
- The Last of the Mohicans
- The Making of America
- The Real Thomas Jefferson
- The Real George Washington
- The Real Benjamin Franklin
- Field trips to civil war sites and attended a reenactment
I think it's so true that we may not realize how much our kids are actually learning until we examine it and write it down.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you want/need Karen Packer's e-mail address. At the HIP night last month, she passed around the transcripts she wrote for her older kids-- and she had two BYU Hinckley scholars come from her house! Great stuff. :-)
You are one inspired lady! Thanks for this great post.
Hugs,
Rachel
Saw this link from your facebook page. When you say Missouri requires you to keep records, what does "records" mean?? Just a list of what you have accomplished? A book list? Grades? Seems vague but maybe that is just me not understanding. I really like how you were able to translate what you do into "courses" with credit. That's great! Definitely something for me to remember when I get to that stage. For now, almost all their "subjects" have some sort of hard copy - copywork, nature notebook, handicraft, and I write all their narrations down - an that is what I use for "records."
ReplyDeleteRachel - I do have Karen's email...I'll contact her and ask about her transcripts. THANKS! I need all the ideas I can get.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this post! I have struggled also, with knowing how and when to start keeping a written record of what my kids learn. I had kind of thought that I wouldn't need to start that until the age of 8 years old (since my homeschooling affidavit gives an option for waiting until age 8 to start formal education). Do you have any thoughts on that, Celeste? I am not mathematically inclined, and though I could probably figure out some way to keep track of "grades", I have no clue about it. Grades are so unnecessary in homeschooling, from a leadership education point of view, though I do want my kids to feel a sense of accomplishment that is recognizable to colleges and the outside world. This topic has always baffled me, as to what to do and how to go about it. Your idea looks awesome! Please let us know how it works out for your family! :)
ReplyDeleteRanee - Check the laws in your state, I do not think you need to do any record keeping in Arizona before age 8, so don't! The attorney for HSLDA said that once you start keeping records the state you live in will say that you are educating your child and therefore must continue to keep records. In Arizona, you don't need to do that.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I grade is Math. The papers my kids write in Love of Learning are mostly journal entries. In Scholar Phase, I follow the "Acceptable" or "Do It Again" grading system. I read that in the transcripts some parents put that they focus on mastery of each subject and therefore do not keep grades because everything would be an "A", thus their child has a 4.0 GPA.
I think this is the route I'm going to go, put an explanation that my children have one-on-one tutoring until they master each subject and therefore the traditional grading system does not apply.