<kgharriman1@...>

We live in Queensland where to be legal you register your child with the Queensland government home education unit. I have had the ominous looking and most distasteful wad of papers on my kitchen bench fir a few months and procrastinating. This wad of papers that explains how to write the report that proves your child is receiving a 'high quality education' and lists the samples of English and math work you are to submit. The report is due April 11. I am fairly certain the teachers who make up this unit are familiar with natural learning but not radical unschooling. It's all a bit hideous and I was wondering how radical unschoolers put such a report of proof together when there is very little tangible proof of the things that matter to these teachers (but not us) such as composition (and all the grammar and language arts therein), math facts and abilities etc. Our daughter us very smart. In a school setting she would be average or below because she hasn't been drilled on math a and spelling etc. This does not bother us in the slightest but it might bother the "authorities" and might not pass us on that basis. Right now as I type this she's happily texting her new pen pal and asking me heaps of words to spell. Great learnings are happening but how do you show that? Has anyone else successfully proven invisible learning??

Sandra Dodd

I don't usually let posts through that are about laws or rules or tests or documentation.  I let this one through because there's an important distinction I want to make.

-=- Right now as I type this she's happily texting her new pen pal and asking me heaps of words to spell. Great learnings are happening but how do you show that? Has anyone else successfully proven invisible learning??-=-

The important thing is to learn to see the learning.

If she's texting something interesting, take a screenshot of it, or a cut-and-paste.  Put in on a blog post, or print it out to use for a portfolio, maybe with a comment by you about what's interesting about it to you—some particular sort of construction or phrasing or grammatical maturity that you want to show.  

When a family lives where there are testing requirements, it can potentially keep them from unschooling.  When that's the case, they can take what they need from these discussions, but we can't help people teach to the test; it's beyond our topic and intent.   

When a portfolio or interview or report is what's required, some ideas can be found here, and at links leading from this and the pages it will go to.

Sandra

chris ester

I live in a state (in the the US) that requires documentation.  We have an option of using an "umbrella" program that is more understanding of unschooling and a lack of paperwork from a child.  In our state, we are required to show that we, as parents, are implementing a "thorough and ongoing" course of studies that would enable a child to learn what most children their age would learn.  

In short, the parent is really the one being "reviewed".  This is a subtle, but important distinction.  Have you read your homeschool law and understand it?  This is the most important step to take to know what you are legally liable for and what the government has the right/responsibility to ask for.  There have been instances where a state functioanarie has attempted to elicit paperwork from parents that is not legally required.  

I have learned over the years to put our everyday unschooling lives into language that a teacher can understand.  For example, strewing becomes "presenting age appropriate and engaging materials".  Texting and facebook and internet use becomes utilizing electronic media to use language and writing in real time situations.

Reviews, portfolios, and documentation is just a way to communicate what you and your children are doing that results in learning.  
chris


On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 4:58 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
 

I don't usually let posts through that are about laws or rules or tests or documentation.  I let this one through because there's an important distinction I want to make.

-=- Right now as I type this she's happily texting her new pen pal and asking me heaps of words to spell. Great learnings are happening but how do you show that? Has anyone else successfully proven invisible learning??-=-

The important thing is to learn to see the learning.

If she's texting something interesting, take a screenshot of it, or a cut-and-paste.  Put in on a blog post, or print it out to use for a portfolio, maybe with a comment by you about what's interesting about it to you—some particular sort of construction or phrasing or grammatical maturity that you want to show.  

When a family lives where there are testing requirements, it can potentially keep them from unschooling.  When that's the case, they can take what they need from these discussions, but we can't help people teach to the test; it's beyond our topic and intent.   

When a portfolio or interview or report is what's required, some ideas can be found here, and at links leading from this and the pages it will go to.

Sandra


K Pennell

We need to meet with a teacher who writes a report which gets submitted to the state  where I live in the US. I worried about that too.

Pam S., a while back, offered a Document Log, of sorts, to keep track of things. I've used these forms the past couple of years. It lists What dear child has been:
reading, talking about, doing, making, writing, watching, listening to, places visited, etc... for the week of...At the end of the year, I make a list of books we've read, field trips, tv shows and documentaries we've enjoyed.


chris ester

I am one of the reviewers for the umbrella organization that I belong to.  I usually suggest to unschoolers that they keep some sort of journal of their activities.  Even if you just write a sentence or two for each day.  This should trigger your memory.

And get a box for brochures, ticket stubs, etc.  
Also, photos are great, but make sure to back them up onto some safe medium life a flash drive and have redundancy--more than one copy.  
Library receipts are good, but copy them with a photocopier because they are usually that slippery receipt paper and the ink will fade.  
Keep a file on your computer to keep track of websites, youtube channels, blogs, tumblr, etc
Keep a file somewhere of television watched, dvd's, etc. and the subject of the shows--not just "how it's made", but "how it's made-stetson hats and guitar string"  you can look up most documentary shows and not a few entertainment shows that will give dates and times for airing if you need that and will give information on what each episode is about.

For example; one year I listed several episodes of "that 70's show" for health because we watched the show and then spontaneously talked about drugs, alcohol and fears about substance use/abuse.  (Health class!)

If your child creates something, keep pix or copies or the actual creation.  

Keep track of things regularly, do not let it sneak up on you.  Give yourself a number of weeks before you have to turn anything in to start pulling things together into a cohesive narrative of what your child has been learning.  

The amazing thing that I found is that once I sat back and looked at whatever my kids had done through the year, there were definite patterns and groupings that could be talked about in definite schooly terms.  My daughter took an interest in media and body image in girls.  At the time, she was just surfing the net for articles about advertising, body image studies, Barbie, etc... She kept a log for me of the sites that she really read and explored and emailed it to me regularly.  She and I talked and read about this stuff together, she told me all about what she read and what she found and her observations and experiences.  I mostly listened and occasionally asked questions and rarely gave my opinion.

As I looked at what she was reading (way after the fact) I realized that she probably constructed a college level women's studies course for herself.  And that is how I documented it.  

I have to admit that I actually get a kick out of constructing our end of year review now because I get to review all of the stuff that we have done for the past 8/9 months and realize how much they have learned.  A little "atta girl" for me, if you will, because doing the review forces me to stop and look at what we have done, not just keep flowing along through life, even though that is a lot of fun.  It gives me something to say when someone asks me what my kids have been learning.  

It also helped my son at one point when he worried that he "wasn't learning anything".  
chris





On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 5:11 PM, K Pennell <mrsringsabre@...> wrote:
 

We need to meet with a teacher who writes a report which gets submitted to the state  where I live in the US. I worried about that too.

Pam S., a while back, offered a Document Log, of sorts, to keep track of things. I've used these forms the past couple of years. It lists What dear child has been:
reading, talking about, doing, making, writing, watching, listening to, places visited, etc... for the week of...At the end of the year, I make a list of books we've read, field trips, tv shows and documentaries we've enjoyed.



<plaidpanties666@...>

>>The amazing thing that I found is that once I sat back and looked at whatever my kids had done through the year, there were definite patterns and groupings that could be talked about in definite schooly terms.<<

One of the tricks I learned, back when I was taking care of record keeping for Ray, was to cheat a bit - use what he had been doing for the last "semester" as the "learning plan" for the next. That way I wasn't trying to guess what he might learn, what kind of reportable data he might produce. I plan on doing that again when we switch over to an umbrella school for Morgan for "high school". 

---Meredith

chris ester

Thankfully, we never had to write any kind of predictive document.  A friend of mine who has to turn in a learning plan says that she regularly just doesn't follow her learning plan, that there is no law that says you actually have to follow it.  
chris


On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 9:03 AM, <plaidpanties666@...> wrote:
 

>>The amazing thing that I found is that once I sat back and looked at whatever my kids had done through the year, there were definite patterns and groupings that could be talked about in definite schooly terms.<<

One of the tricks I learned, back when I was taking care of record keeping for Ray, was to cheat a bit - use what he had been doing for the last "semester" as the "learning plan" for the next. That way I wasn't trying to guess what he might learn, what kind of reportable data he might produce. I plan on doing that again when we switch over to an umbrella school for Morgan for "high school". 

---Meredith


Sandra Dodd

-=-A friend of mine who has to turn in a learning plan says that she regularly just doesn't follow her learning plan, that there is no law that says you actually have to follow it.  -=-

Teachers don't always follow their lesson plans.

chris ester

I think that it is very important that all homeschoolers, not just unschoolers, work toward a sense of confidence that what they are doing is just as valid as what a classroom teacher does. 

Through the years, I have come to realize that many homeschooling parents have a sense that they are somehow gaming the system and doing something that isn't as special or expert as what a classroom teacher does, that they are somehow taking a shortcut. 

I have spent a lot of hours trying to get parents to see that while working a classroom of strangers and covering state mandated curriculum does take a certain amount of expertise, living life with the intention of being engaged with your children to help them learn and grow into who they are going to be, who they want to be, takes an entirely different set of skills that most parents can cultivate by paying attention and working it every day.  No, it isn't easy, and it isn't the same set of skills as a classroom teacher (well some may be similar) but it is a set of skills that we start developing the minute our children are born and the fact that there isn't a degree program in homeschool parenting (or radical unschooling), or parenting does not make it any less valid as a skill set.  

I am reminded of a friend who always states that she decided to homeschool because she did not want to share custody of her child with the state, only getting physical custody for nights and weekends.  It has become normal to contract out care for our children during most of their waking hours.  Family time is not the normal circumstance, school and institutional care are the normal circumstance and time at home with family is the unusual situation now.  The belief that children are some sort of public resource and so not to be trusted to the sole purview of the parents is probably the reason for this historical anomaly.
chris


On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 5:26 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
 

-=-A friend of mine who has to turn in a learning plan says that she regularly just doesn't follow her learning plan, that there is no law that says you actually have to follow it.  -=-


Teachers don't always follow their lesson plans.


Pam Sorooshian


On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 2:26 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
-=-A friend of mine who has to turn in a learning plan says that she regularly just doesn't follow her learning plan, that there is no law that says you actually have to follow it.  -=-

Teachers don't always follow their lesson plans.

No teacher or parent can follow a "learning" plan. "Teaching" plan - yes. "Learning" plan - no way.

-pam

Sandra Dodd

-=-I think that it is very important that all homeschoolers, not just unschoolers, work toward a sense of confidence that what they are doing is just as valid as what a classroom teacher does. -=-

I agree in a big way.
I have two reservations.

When unschooling is done fully and well, it's more than kids get in school.  If and when it's done poorly, it is less than children get in school.

School-at-home with a curriculum can be less than children get at school when and if the parents are doing it purposesly to game the system—to avoid their children learning about evolution or other cultures.

Confidence is good, but to distribute blanket assurances without knowing whether an individual is facilitating a life of learning can give a sense of confidence to a person or two who might've done better to have had some doubt.

Sandra

Sandra Dodd

Sorry.  I mischaracterized this, in my tangent.  "I think that it is very important that all homeschoolers, not just unschoolers, work toward a sense of confidence..."

I think they should work toward that confidence too.
Chris didn't grant blanket approval.  Some people have in the past and I went to that point.  

Sometimes it seems I'm pressing unschoolers to do better in a blanket way.  That doesn't mean I think most unschooling is lacking.  I think that any unschooling ithat is lacking should be stepped up.

Sandra

<mmarr@...>

>I am reminded of a friend who always states that she decided to homeschool because she did not want to >share custody of her child with the state, only getting physical custody for nights and weekends.

I don't think I've ever seen my own biggest reasons for homeschooling summed up so well. I've got many, many little reasons that pop up every day, some of them downright petty, but none of those are THE reason. Not sharing custody -- that might be the one reason that overshadows all of the others. 

Michelle