Re:" Required Curriculum"
Luz Shosie and Ned Vare
Group: (I sent this to NHEN-SpeakOut also)
For homeschoolers/unschoolers who are required to present a curriculum or
"course of study" to be approved by a school employee:
Preface: In CT, filing a notice of intent to homeschool is optional, and
even for those who choose to do so, the recommendation by leaders of our
various HS groups has been, in spirit, as follows: Offer them as little as
you can. If you opt for a portfolio review, keep it as simple as possible.
The reasoning is that the portfolio review is not a good time to try to show
the state what a wonderful and thorough job you are doing and, more
important, those who "show off" lots of work might raise the bar for others
unnecessarily.
My own advice:
1. Find out what the school wants or expects from homeschoolers. It should
be a written policy. Ask to see it. If it seems too demanding or full of
busywork or otherwise unreasonable, find out if ALL the school kids are
required to do it all. (if not, they why should you?)
2. The schools are usually required only to OFFER INSTRUCTION. They are not
required to be sure that everyone (really anyone) actually learns anything.
If the school requires Passing Grades on tests, ask how many school kids
passed and how many failed but were promoted anyway (social promotion). The
point here is that you or your child should not be asked to do any more than
the least of the school's students is asked to do.
3. Armed with the above, you can now figure out what would be the least you
can offer them and still be OK. Offer them that...don't offer more or you
might be held to it. Even though you will be doing far more than what is
required, don't include it as a requirement or an offering to them.
4. Figure out ahead of time (at the beginning of the "year" how you will
make your presentation to them at the end. Ask homeschooling friends if they
will show you what they presented in order to find out how little you can
present.
All of this is part of the process of learning that living a normal life (as
opposed to an artificial life of school/schooling) is an educational
experience. Example: For a youth, going (walking) to a hardware store to
buy a part for a bicycle is an experience that's filled with learning. It
can, and should count in anyone's assessment of a child's achievement.
Another: Growing a garden of just one or two vegetables is connected to a
wide variety of knowledge and skills.
Real life is far more "educational" than school can hope to be. That's why
John Holt said things like, The little value that's contained in a year of
schooling can be accomplished in a single morning. John Gatto also says that
everything that's useful in an entire school career can be learned in about
fifty hours.
I would go further...everything of value that's taught in schools IS learned
incidentally (without even thinking about it) by normally curious children
growing up with normal access to the real world -- and it requires no
schooling at all -- not a single moment of it.
Let the children out to play. That's what they need most, and today it's
what they get the least.
Ned Vare
PS We all know how absurd it is for people who have opted out of the public
schools for many good and varied reasons to be required to be judged (or
even "reviewed") by the same people who run the schools we reject, distrust,
and do not respect. It is a classic case of dumb people somehow gaining
power over smart people.
In our ongoing struggle for educational freedom, keep in mind that we are
the people who are educating our children best, and that the public school
system is the only system that is failing. This is not a battle of
homeschoolers against public school employees. It is against bad laws and
irrelevant and stupid regulations, and that battle is being fought in
legislatures, not schools.
For homeschoolers/unschoolers who are required to present a curriculum or
"course of study" to be approved by a school employee:
Preface: In CT, filing a notice of intent to homeschool is optional, and
even for those who choose to do so, the recommendation by leaders of our
various HS groups has been, in spirit, as follows: Offer them as little as
you can. If you opt for a portfolio review, keep it as simple as possible.
The reasoning is that the portfolio review is not a good time to try to show
the state what a wonderful and thorough job you are doing and, more
important, those who "show off" lots of work might raise the bar for others
unnecessarily.
My own advice:
1. Find out what the school wants or expects from homeschoolers. It should
be a written policy. Ask to see it. If it seems too demanding or full of
busywork or otherwise unreasonable, find out if ALL the school kids are
required to do it all. (if not, they why should you?)
2. The schools are usually required only to OFFER INSTRUCTION. They are not
required to be sure that everyone (really anyone) actually learns anything.
If the school requires Passing Grades on tests, ask how many school kids
passed and how many failed but were promoted anyway (social promotion). The
point here is that you or your child should not be asked to do any more than
the least of the school's students is asked to do.
3. Armed with the above, you can now figure out what would be the least you
can offer them and still be OK. Offer them that...don't offer more or you
might be held to it. Even though you will be doing far more than what is
required, don't include it as a requirement or an offering to them.
4. Figure out ahead of time (at the beginning of the "year" how you will
make your presentation to them at the end. Ask homeschooling friends if they
will show you what they presented in order to find out how little you can
present.
All of this is part of the process of learning that living a normal life (as
opposed to an artificial life of school/schooling) is an educational
experience. Example: For a youth, going (walking) to a hardware store to
buy a part for a bicycle is an experience that's filled with learning. It
can, and should count in anyone's assessment of a child's achievement.
Another: Growing a garden of just one or two vegetables is connected to a
wide variety of knowledge and skills.
Real life is far more "educational" than school can hope to be. That's why
John Holt said things like, The little value that's contained in a year of
schooling can be accomplished in a single morning. John Gatto also says that
everything that's useful in an entire school career can be learned in about
fifty hours.
I would go further...everything of value that's taught in schools IS learned
incidentally (without even thinking about it) by normally curious children
growing up with normal access to the real world -- and it requires no
schooling at all -- not a single moment of it.
Let the children out to play. That's what they need most, and today it's
what they get the least.
Ned Vare
PS We all know how absurd it is for people who have opted out of the public
schools for many good and varied reasons to be required to be judged (or
even "reviewed") by the same people who run the schools we reject, distrust,
and do not respect. It is a classic case of dumb people somehow gaining
power over smart people.
In our ongoing struggle for educational freedom, keep in mind that we are
the people who are educating our children best, and that the public school
system is the only system that is failing. This is not a battle of
homeschoolers against public school employees. It is against bad laws and
irrelevant and stupid regulations, and that battle is being fought in
legislatures, not schools.