I'm so clever!

And apparently a little prideful as well.

I had an idea that I wanted to share.  Anyone who is teaching children who have different learning styles knows that you have to be able to adapt to what works best for them vs what is traditionally done.

Having said that, I was in a little bit of a pickle with my eldest's science this year.  I had bought a great science curriculum for 8th/9th grade used.  Of course with it being used all the workbooks and test sheets were also used.  I figured at first that I would just go online and order the workbook and test booklet - only to discover that they were really expensive.  My next thought was that I would just skip the workbook and have her read the text and take notes and then answer questions in a notebook.  That has worked fine for the workbook - but I still have the matter of the tests.  She isn't a great test taker, she tends to get frustrated easily and even though she knows the material she doesn't do as well on a "test".  So I decided to forgo the chapter tests and have her concentrate on the semester and final tests as long as she was putting in the proper time studying.

As far as the Semester and final tests go - we had figured to just type them out on our computer and them she can take it.  Which brought me to my next dilemma - I have very little time on a daily basis and so the thought of typing out a 100 questions was very daunting.  Then my Ah Ha moment came.

She can type it out.  I gave her my test key, and she is typing out all the questions on the test.  This actually helps with her typing skills, helps her to study for this test because since she is reading and typing the questions on her own she is more likely to remember them when she is studying over the next few days before she takes the test.  And she is seeing the answers in my booklet and that is allowing the proper answer to "get into her head" so she is more likely to retain this information well past the day of actually taking the test.

Now some may think that this is encouraging her to cheat so to speak - kids who have different learning styles need to learn according to the way that their brain can retain information - by her "touching" this information several times, she is more likely to retain it vs what a test reveals about memorizing the right answer.

For me and my husband - test taking is just another tool for learning, important but not the final word on what she knows.  I took many tests when I was school and did well, but it wasn't until I put something into practice or saw it for myself that I actually retained the information.

Be open to different possibilities in educating our children - trying to keep everything in the same box is just as damaging as not learning at all.

Semester Update

We have almost finished our first semester, what a learning process - for me!  The girls are doing well considering I am constantly changing things up (or at least it seems that way).  I am figuring out what I like and what I don't like, what the girls respond to and what they don't respond to and overall what seems possible to accomplish and what I may need to let go of.

One thing that is bugging me is the record keeping, last year I downloaded a spreadsheet form from another blogger, that worked well but I seem to have a hard time filling it in.  I joined a free online record keeper this year and am really impressed with it, but am still having a hard time keeping up with filling everything in.  Also, because of our slow internet, it takes forever to update each activity and fill in all the subjects each day.  I have attempted to just leave the laptop on all day and go back and forth between chores/schooling and filling something in.  Keeping track of everything  if mainly for my choice to be accountable since our state does not require us to submit records to them.  I know that when #1 daughter enters high school next year I will need to keep good records for her transcripts.  I figured I should get in the habit now.  I am a little torn because of the amount of time it takes and I feel like it takes away from actually teaching time.  I am considering just going to a simple form that can be put into their planners or mine to help keep track of everyday activities and just enter graded tests and reports into a record/transcript creator type program.

Another thing I have discovered in the last semester is that we have gotten a good jump on the core subjects but I have really slacked off on the electives.  This is bothering me because it is the electives that really set apart our home school from traditional school.  Bible, arts, foreign language options etc.  So when we start back tomorrow I am going to figure out a schedule for making sure we accomplish ALL that we have committed to learning.

Finally, I am learning that not all curriculum is created equally and that it is ok for me to decide that something isn't working well or to decide to try something new instead.  At first I was really hard on myself about what I had chosen and sticking it out.  Now it is really getting into my brain that it is ok to say "let's take a break from this" or "lets do this differently."  Homeschooling is very forgiving!