Nina Sutcliffe

You might also have a bit of fun and turn it around and 'quiz' them on their
times tables! (tee hee)
:->

Nina

> From: [email protected]
> Reply-To: [email protected]
> Date: 9 Mar 2001 04:03:46 -0000
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Digest Number 1032
>
> What to do about rudeness? Because I think that's what this is. Well, I am
> not a nicey-nice person so I would say something snotty ("we're not doing
> math quizzes right now, could you check out my daughter's merchandise now" --
> with a real "after all who is the paying customer her anyway" type attitude)
> but you have to do what you want. Come back here and go to other unschooling
> and hsing lists and kvetch about rude people all you want though. I think we
> have all seen it.

Nina Sutcliffe

Hi Valerie..

thanks for your kind response - before we moved up here I went to the WHO
site and discovered that I didn't have to do anything until 8... but being
that we moved from CA where other than sending in a form declaring our home
a private school, we don't have to do nothin', the testing part unnerved
me... (and bugs me, to be honest!) I was getting worried in advance!! I do
my best worrying that way...

I have discovered FLO (I was on the WHEN list for awhile) and I'm intrigued
by the evaluation option. Did you do that or the test?

Again - thanks for your response...

Nina

> From: [email protected]
> Reply-To: [email protected]
> Date: 9 Mar 2001 04:03:46 -0000
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Digest Number 1032
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 14:06:02 -0800
> From: " Valerie Stewart" <vlos@...>
> Subject: RE: hello!
>
> We recently moved to Washington state with it's yearly testing laws which
> threw me into a tizzy
>
> **Hi Nina. If your kids are only 7 and 3 you don't even need to register as
> homeschoolers in WA. That starts at age 8. Have you looked into Family
> Learning Organization (FLO) for testing? I did that last year for the first
> time and it was great. Just $25. Anyway, you don't need to worry about it
> yet...
>
> Valerie in Tacoma

Nina Sutcliffe

> Message: 15
> Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 18:31:04 -0500
> From: "A. Yates" <hooperck@...>
> Subject: Re: hello!
>
> Nina, Could you tell us about the book Learning at Home? I've never heard of
> it. I don't think my library has it, but I'm still searching.
> Thanks,
> Ann

Hi Ann -
I'll try and give this a shot.. you'll have to excuse me if I ramble and
wander a bit...

The book is called Learning at Home A Mother's Guide to Homeschooling by
Marty Layne. She lives in Canada, the book was written in 1998 and at that
time her youngest was 17 I think. She doesn't actually call herself an
'unschooler' per se, but refers to herself as an unstructured homeschooler.

It's a very gentle book that shares some hows and why's of what they did,
the anxieties she had, the mistakes she made, the insights she had. She also
discusses the emotional component of learning, the rythm of learning. She
talks about what a parent can expect in terms of output. She talks about
reading and writing and how it happened in her home with her kids
differently and why she thinks it did.

In a nutshell, she used her children's interests to help them gain a mastery
of what she considered to be the skills necessary for living in the world
today. She feels those skills are: being able to read fluently and with
pleasure, write fluently, understand arithmatic well enough to balance a
checkbook, learn how to manage money, understand basic nutrition to maintain
health. learn how to pursue an idea or project and learn how to think
critically and imaginatively. Learning how to aquire information has been
her focus. As Debra so eloquently put it when describing her grandmother, we
have no clue what our children's future will look like, and helping them
have the ability to figure out what they need to know is probably the best
gift we can give them.

She did not do structured learning sessions, but she did feel it important
that her kids learn to read, write and do math as above - however, she
worked with them on their time table... her kids were reading fluently
between the ages of 8 1/2 to 12, depending on the child.

Marty has a nice, gentle clear way of painting a picture of what that
learning looked like in her house, and why it did, why it looked different
for each of her kids. I have a stonger feel of how to support my children
in their process of learning, as well as an affirmation that I'm on the
right path.

As Nance pointed out, we all waffle and wonder, have strong days and weak
ones - this book, for me at least, left me feeling stronger and clearer
about what the heck it is that I'm doing, and what it can look like in our
home!

I hope that helps...!

Nina

Valerie Stewart

I was getting worried in advance!! I do
my best worrying that way...

I have discovered FLO (I was on the WHEN list for awhile) and I'm intrigued
by the evaluation option. Did you do that or the test?

Nina

**Oh Nina, you were born to be a mom if you excell in worrying. :)

We did the Metropolitan test thru FLO. I chose that one because it was the
shortest. Just $22 I think. It's like a shorter version of the CAT. They
sent it to me. I "administered" it to my 10 year old daughter. We mailed it
back. They sent the results. It was much simpler than I expected. This was
my daughter's first test. We've never even done worksheets, so I wondered
how she'd do. Now I know these tests are bogus, but (since we opted to play
the game) it was great that she did so well. She tested at a 5th grade level
and scored anywhere from grade 4.5 to 11.0. That really reassured the
grandparents---ha. So it wasn't any big deal. We're the only ones with the
test scores. FLO doesn't turn it into anyone else. And I'm sure no one will
ever ask to see them, either. I know a mom up in Edmonds with 8 kids...has a
box stuffed full of annual tests...and is disappointed that no one ever
wants to see them. (she's kidding about being disappointed of course) We did
evaluations for the 2 years prior to testing. That's great, too, depending
on who's doing it. I think we'll stick with testing just because it was
simpler and shorter.

Valerie in Tacoma

A. Yates

Thanks Nina...it sounds interesting. Wish my library had it. Oh well. I'll keep
my eyes open for it though.
A