I don't really need to have any new reasons for hsing, ds and I are commited hsing through high school. But if I ever need reminding why I homeschool, it's always useful to hang out with some of ds's friends for an hour or two.
All of ds's friends are in public school. They will sometimes do their homework over here while visiting. One friend was over here last week, his younger brother was making too much noise, so he asked to write his take home LA test at our house.
Ok, don't even get me started on "take home" tests (what's the point in testing if you're going to assign it as homework? Does that mean that there is no point in testing? Or you think kids have too much family time and you need to cut into it that much more?) But listening to this kid talk about his assignment, and the class in general, had me shaking my head.
Now, this is the same program I pulled ds from 1.5 years ago, because of the general useless, make work environment (he got colouring homework from his cooking teacher, something she apparently gives out every January when she can't think of anything better to do. This was in grade 7!!!) So I'm biased to begin with, it's also the program that took my read 10 novels a month kid and turned him into a non-reader in less than 2 months. But I don't think I'm biased in thinking this class is a useless waste of time:
Ds's friend told me that they had yet to study any piece of literature, no poetry, no novels, no short stories. They had spent the first 5 months of school studying transactional essays. Not even writing, pre-writing. Ds's friend was supposed to spend 4 days at home pre-writing his essay (on how to apply for a job), and he will be graded on his brainstorming and thought bubbles and organizational trees, before he'll be allowed to actually start writing.
Am I the only person who thinks it's stupid, pointless and frightening to teach (and grade on) an approved thought process? And I suffered through some really bad LA teachers in high school, and I know that many of them just suck all the joy and interest out of literature, but sending a kid through a full year of LA without reading any literature? That's like teaching math with calculators and work books and nothing else. The reason we study literature is to understand and grow from the thoughts and ideas of our predecessors, and interact with 2 millenia of thinkers, and to find inspiration for debate, dissent and creativity. Or am I asking too much for my child's education?
All of ds's friends are in public school. They will sometimes do their homework over here while visiting. One friend was over here last week, his younger brother was making too much noise, so he asked to write his take home LA test at our house.
Ok, don't even get me started on "take home" tests (what's the point in testing if you're going to assign it as homework? Does that mean that there is no point in testing? Or you think kids have too much family time and you need to cut into it that much more?) But listening to this kid talk about his assignment, and the class in general, had me shaking my head.
Now, this is the same program I pulled ds from 1.5 years ago, because of the general useless, make work environment (he got colouring homework from his cooking teacher, something she apparently gives out every January when she can't think of anything better to do. This was in grade 7!!!) So I'm biased to begin with, it's also the program that took my read 10 novels a month kid and turned him into a non-reader in less than 2 months. But I don't think I'm biased in thinking this class is a useless waste of time:
Ds's friend told me that they had yet to study any piece of literature, no poetry, no novels, no short stories. They had spent the first 5 months of school studying transactional essays. Not even writing, pre-writing. Ds's friend was supposed to spend 4 days at home pre-writing his essay (on how to apply for a job), and he will be graded on his brainstorming and thought bubbles and organizational trees, before he'll be allowed to actually start writing.
Am I the only person who thinks it's stupid, pointless and frightening to teach (and grade on) an approved thought process? And I suffered through some really bad LA teachers in high school, and I know that many of them just suck all the joy and interest out of literature, but sending a kid through a full year of LA without reading any literature? That's like teaching math with calculators and work books and nothing else. The reason we study literature is to understand and grow from the thoughts and ideas of our predecessors, and interact with 2 millenia of thinkers, and to find inspiration for debate, dissent and creativity. Or am I asking too much for my child's education?
