Re: Digest Number 48
Tanya in WA
Hi all,
I too have a question about the testing. My oldest daughter is 5, at what age
do we start testing? Also, if I am not mistaken, the test(s) is supposed to
be given once a year, right?
Tanya
I too have a question about the testing. My oldest daughter is 5, at what age
do we start testing? Also, if I am not mistaken, the test(s) is supposed to
be given once a year, right?
Tanya
>From: David Albert <shantinik@...>---SENT FROM A FREE INTERNET AND EMAIL ACCOUNT FROM WWW.FREEi.NET!---
>
>> I have a 2 questions: (1)do I have to report my 8 year old to
>> the
>> school district? I have not yet filled out any paperwork or notified
>> them that he is homeschooling. When am I supposed to do this?
>> (2)I've heard some about testing. Is it required and when and how?
>> How
>> do you do testing and unschooling too?
>>
>> Thanks for sharing all your stories. This is great!
>> Kelly
>> WA state
>>
>
>In Washington (we live in Olympia), you are supposed to register your
>child with the school district as a homeschooler when she is over age
>8. It's no big deal. Then you have a choice -- either a standardized
>test (MAT, CAT or any of the other alphabeticals), the results of which
>you do NOT have to give to the school district or to anyone else, or
>have the child "evaluated" by a certified teacher - again, you are NOT
>required to share that evaluation with anyone, just prove that you did
>it.
>
>David Albert
>
>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Give back to your community through "Grow to Give."
>> http://www.onelist.com
>> Deadline is June 19. See homepage for details.
>> -----------------------------------------------
>> ------------------------
>> Check it out!
>> http://www.unschooling.com
>
>
>
>
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Kelly Thielen
Hello everyone,
I am new here and have never been to a support group(homeschooling)
either. I have been trying to catch up on mailing list before I
introduce myself, but cant' seem to catch up, so here goes.
I am a unschooling my 2 kids in Central Washington state. My son,
Skyler is 8 years old, and my daughter, Cheyenne is 6. Since my oldest
was a baby, I was curious about homeschooking and that is when I first
started to read about it(read some John Holt & others). It sounded
wonderful to me, but I didn't think about it too seriously since it
seemed I had all the time in the world(before school age)back then.
Meanwhile, I realize now, I was unschooling both of my children since
birth.
The first day of school arrived much quicker than I could've imagined.
I had a lot of mixed feelings, but my son did attend Kindergarten. I
was very layed back with my son when he was in Kindergarten, allowing
him to stay home often for "no good reason":), and his baby sister and I
would volunteer in the classroom at least once a week. This went O.K.
and it was only 2 1/2 hours a day. I noticed right away that he was
probably the only child in the classroom(30 kids) that had never
attended some sort of daycare or preschool. I couldn't believe it! I
noticed he got very little 1-to-1 attention from his teacher, as she had
29 other 5/6 year old to attend to, and many of them needed help(which
is why the teachers like students like Skyler, who listen well, follow
directions, learn quickly, and work independently), because they don't
need the attention. I was actually told this one day. Maybe that is
when I started thinking more about homeschooling? For me, my early
school years were fairly pleasant. I liked school, until I got older,
for the most part, always did well, and was usually the teachers pet. I
excelled at school, I suppose you could say. I just didn't want to
decide to homeschool, in case my son might like school.
Then, when my son started 1st grade, I think our little unschooled
family went into some sort of culture shock, hehee! Seriously, he was 7
yrs.old, and suddenly he was gone for 7+hours a day, 5 days a week. Boy
did this take some major adjusting. I was very depressed at first, but
I adjusted. My kids adjusted too, they grew apart, and started
quarelling more. My son would be very tired, and irritable upon coming
home. He was always so tired, and didn't like school much at all. He
said they always had to sit still on the floor for long periods of time,
and listen a lot, and he was bored. One thing my son rarely was back
then(at home) was bored. So, I went once and observed. 50
students(ages 6-8), 2 teachers. It was enough to convince me I had to
make a decision. I basicly let my son make the decision, and he
decided, rather easily(more easily than I), he wanted to come home. He
also got picked on on the playground by some older kids, and teased
about having curly hair(after which he always wanted it cut very short,
and became overly self-conscious, I feel). So, even that short
experiencs with the ps, had some negative consequences. I am just so
grateful that I decided to pull him out of ps as soon as I did, and had
the courage to go through with it, because I was very unsure at first.
Since that time(year and 1/2), I have thought about using curiculum,
but in my indecision, have wound up unschooling. I love the philosophy
of child led natural learning, and really it's so simple because it's
what I've been doing all along. I just need to learn to trust myself,
my own intuition, and this process more. The support of this group will
surely help immensley.
I have a 2 questions: (1)do I have to report my 8 year old to the
school district? I have not yet filled out any paperwork or notified
them that he is homeschooling. When am I supposed to do this?
(2)I've heard some about testing. Is it required and when and how? How
do you do testing and unschooling too?
Thanks for sharing all your stories. This is great!
Kelly
WA state
I am new here and have never been to a support group(homeschooling)
either. I have been trying to catch up on mailing list before I
introduce myself, but cant' seem to catch up, so here goes.
I am a unschooling my 2 kids in Central Washington state. My son,
Skyler is 8 years old, and my daughter, Cheyenne is 6. Since my oldest
was a baby, I was curious about homeschooking and that is when I first
started to read about it(read some John Holt & others). It sounded
wonderful to me, but I didn't think about it too seriously since it
seemed I had all the time in the world(before school age)back then.
Meanwhile, I realize now, I was unschooling both of my children since
birth.
The first day of school arrived much quicker than I could've imagined.
I had a lot of mixed feelings, but my son did attend Kindergarten. I
was very layed back with my son when he was in Kindergarten, allowing
him to stay home often for "no good reason":), and his baby sister and I
would volunteer in the classroom at least once a week. This went O.K.
and it was only 2 1/2 hours a day. I noticed right away that he was
probably the only child in the classroom(30 kids) that had never
attended some sort of daycare or preschool. I couldn't believe it! I
noticed he got very little 1-to-1 attention from his teacher, as she had
29 other 5/6 year old to attend to, and many of them needed help(which
is why the teachers like students like Skyler, who listen well, follow
directions, learn quickly, and work independently), because they don't
need the attention. I was actually told this one day. Maybe that is
when I started thinking more about homeschooling? For me, my early
school years were fairly pleasant. I liked school, until I got older,
for the most part, always did well, and was usually the teachers pet. I
excelled at school, I suppose you could say. I just didn't want to
decide to homeschool, in case my son might like school.
Then, when my son started 1st grade, I think our little unschooled
family went into some sort of culture shock, hehee! Seriously, he was 7
yrs.old, and suddenly he was gone for 7+hours a day, 5 days a week. Boy
did this take some major adjusting. I was very depressed at first, but
I adjusted. My kids adjusted too, they grew apart, and started
quarelling more. My son would be very tired, and irritable upon coming
home. He was always so tired, and didn't like school much at all. He
said they always had to sit still on the floor for long periods of time,
and listen a lot, and he was bored. One thing my son rarely was back
then(at home) was bored. So, I went once and observed. 50
students(ages 6-8), 2 teachers. It was enough to convince me I had to
make a decision. I basicly let my son make the decision, and he
decided, rather easily(more easily than I), he wanted to come home. He
also got picked on on the playground by some older kids, and teased
about having curly hair(after which he always wanted it cut very short,
and became overly self-conscious, I feel). So, even that short
experiencs with the ps, had some negative consequences. I am just so
grateful that I decided to pull him out of ps as soon as I did, and had
the courage to go through with it, because I was very unsure at first.
Since that time(year and 1/2), I have thought about using curiculum,
but in my indecision, have wound up unschooling. I love the philosophy
of child led natural learning, and really it's so simple because it's
what I've been doing all along. I just need to learn to trust myself,
my own intuition, and this process more. The support of this group will
surely help immensley.
I have a 2 questions: (1)do I have to report my 8 year old to the
school district? I have not yet filled out any paperwork or notified
them that he is homeschooling. When am I supposed to do this?
(2)I've heard some about testing. Is it required and when and how? How
do you do testing and unschooling too?
Thanks for sharing all your stories. This is great!
Kelly
WA state
David Albert
> I have a 2 questions: (1)do I have to report my 8 year old toIn Washington (we live in Olympia), you are supposed to register your
> the
> school district? I have not yet filled out any paperwork or notified
> them that he is homeschooling. When am I supposed to do this?
> (2)I've heard some about testing. Is it required and when and how?
> How
> do you do testing and unschooling too?
>
> Thanks for sharing all your stories. This is great!
> Kelly
> WA state
>
child with the school district as a homeschooler when she is over age
8. It's no big deal. Then you have a choice -- either a standardized
test (MAT, CAT or any of the other alphabeticals), the results of which
you do NOT have to give to the school district or to anyone else, or
have the child "evaluated" by a certified teacher - again, you are NOT
required to share that evaluation with anyone, just prove that you did
it.
David Albert
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Give back to your community through "Grow to Give."
> http://www.onelist.com
> Deadline is June 19. See homepage for details.
> -----------------------------------------------
> ------------------------
> Check it out!
> http://www.unschooling.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 6/4/99 9:42:37 PM PST, tbone2@... writes:
<< Hi all,
I too have a question about the testing. My oldest daughter is 5, at what
age
do we start testing? Also, if I am not mistaken, the test(s) is supposed to
be given once a year, right?
Tanya
they are 8. What this means is that if your child's birthday is in November,
you do not need to do ANYTHING until the FOLLOWING year, when she would be 8
at the school entry deadline. Does that make sense? Another way. If your
dd turned 5 in November, she would not have attended school that year, as the
cutoff date is Sept. 18th(?). So, apply that rule to when she turns 8, and
that is when you need to register, and test.
Mary
<< Hi all,
I too have a question about the testing. My oldest daughter is 5, at what
age
do we start testing? Also, if I am not mistaken, the test(s) is supposed to
be given once a year, right?
Tanya
>>Tanya, in Washington, you do not need to register your child until the year
they are 8. What this means is that if your child's birthday is in November,
you do not need to do ANYTHING until the FOLLOWING year, when she would be 8
at the school entry deadline. Does that make sense? Another way. If your
dd turned 5 in November, she would not have attended school that year, as the
cutoff date is Sept. 18th(?). So, apply that rule to when she turns 8, and
that is when you need to register, and test.
Mary
David Albert
Tanya in WA wrote:
No testing required till after she turns 8.
David Albert
> From: "Tanya in WA" <tbone2@...>Dear Tanya -
>
> Hi all,
> I too have a question about the testing. My oldest daughter is 5, at
> what age
> do we start testing? Also, if I am not mistaken, the test(s) is
> supposed to
> be given once a year, right?
> Tanya
No testing required till after she turns 8.
David Albert