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How are you finding newer teachers straight out of college? My school's curriculum in education was quite intense. One who was majoring in Biology education had to follow a program that was very similar to someone who is pre-med. Elementary education majors had to a take a lot of liberal arts courses. When I entered college this was about 10 years ago.
Did the Biology teaching major have to take and pass organic chemistry with a B or better? Some schools like Virginia Tech have made their teacher certification program a program with a combined BS and MS degree. The BS is in pure content so as you suggested the teaching and non teaching major are taking the same credits. The MS is in education and thats where certification is obtained.
I know that in CA you don't have to major in your content area. If you don't, you have to take the CSET. It is used instead of the PRAXIS II I believe it is called. From what I have been told, the CSET is one of the harder state tests for certification.
Did the Biology teaching major have to take and pass organic chemistry with a B or better? Some schools like Virginia Tech have made their teacher certification program a program with a combined BS and MS degree. The BS is in pure content so as you suggested the teaching and non teaching major are taking the same credits. The MS is in education and thats where certification is obtained.
Yes, they had to take organic chem. And you needed to get a B- or better in all classes in your content area. I wasn't a Bio Ed major, I was just using it as an example.
Do you think public school children are lacking in exposure to diversity of opinion/ideas these days? How about lack of exposure to facts in favor of the trivial? If I had school aged children today, that's why I'd want to homeschool. That, and results statistics.
I wonder how many qualified parents would prefer to homeschool their kids if they were monetarily compensated for it so they wouldn't take such a financial hit by staying home?
Do you think public school children are lacking in exposure to diversity of opinion/ideas these days? How about lack of exposure to facts in favor of the trivial? If I had school aged children today, that's why I'd want to homeschool. That, and results statistics.
I wonder how many qualified parents would prefer to homeschool their kids if they were monetarily compensated for it so they wouldn't take such a financial hit by staying home?
I've thought about this. Not so much in say salary but why not have it so everyone could choose where their school taxes could go, including homeschooling. Or even a tax deduction for each child being schooled at home. I believe in Minnesota you can deduct your school supplies, including books you might purchase to supplement public school. Too bad all states don't to that.
If a voucher system of some sort ever takes effect, it would be nice to use that voucher money towards curriculum materials for a homeschooled student. I looked at Calvert and the entire program per child per grade averages around $1300. Not everyone spends this much on homeschooling; its just an example.
If a voucher system of some sort ever takes effect, it would be nice to use that voucher money towards curriculum materials for a homeschooled student. I looked at Calvert and the entire program per child per grade averages around $1300. Not everyone spends this much on homeschooling; its just an example.
After my post I thought, "Hmmm, sounds like what they already do for charter schools. Maybe I should revise that." But you already put that out there.
I don't think I'd ever buy a fulll curriculum through just one resource. While the consistant ideology may benefit some, I like to have a wide range of ideas. First, so many homeschooling curriculums are religious based so the ideas can be heavily biased and weighted to one side, not that it is bad for those looking for it. I do find it a benefit to stick with a particular learning style individually for each subject though.
While some homeshoolers may spent $1300 on all the material their kid may ever need, I think we spend more than that a year. An excyclopedia set, Southwestern Handbooks (for me more than the kids to make sure they are on track since our subject material comes from multiple sources), Sequential Spelling, over 200 books for science, history, art, and social studies and a I'm building my collection of literary classics (I really like the Town's End Books. Leather Bound Books by The Easton Press) Not to mention poetry and children's classics, which have a special place in my heart, including Hans Christian Anderson and Brothers Grimm, among many others (and I'm a sucker for Suess.) We have 5 book shelves full, with around 1000 books just for reading from birth to grade 3 or 4. And our daughter likes book series like Eragon, Inkheart, Series of Unfortunate Events among others so we're add more and need more shelves!
When you add the "fun stuff," foriegn language, photography, violin, and DVD's, (and I know I'm missing some) we've spent a TON just in the last two years, not including excurricular activities outside our home.
**Note**Before I get some backlash on DVD's, I'm not talking about Baby Einstein, ect. Schindler's List, historical documentaries, and others along that line.
While we could save tons by checking out books in the library, we really love books and will be keeping them til death tear us from them, lol. We do go to the library also. My daughter will pick out 40 books and be ready to return them in 2 days. And I like to have a wide variety of books on hand to answer any and every question that comes up right before bedtime, you know...the ones that delay going to bed...but I love that part too and stay up a little later answering them.
I can see where spending could get "out of hand" compared to what the average homeschooler spends, however, any cut would help.
I'd love to have an encyclopedia set, but, wow, the cost. I am going to get the CD version of either World Book or Britannica or both. There is something about thumbing through one that is so much more fulfilling than the computer version.
I hear ya on the book thing. I would love to have a wall of bookshelves with a rolling ladder, like in older libraries.
How are you finding newer teachers straight out of college? My school's curriculum in education was quite intense. One who was majoring in Biology education had to follow a program that was very similar to someone who is pre-med. Elementary education majors had to a take a lot of liberal arts courses. When I entered college this was about 10 years ago.
I regret if this makes me sound like someone should blow the dust off me once a decade or so, but the newer teachers in our area (not merely at my school) are the ones who are most sadly and notably lacking in skills most people would consider fundamental for their content area. Specifically for English, basic knowledge of grammar seems to be nearly nonexistent, and by "basic," I mean "being able to explain parts of speech and identify major parts of a sentence," not necessarily "being able to whip off the six primary verb tenses in English from memory" or "diagramming sentences for fun." Both at first- and at second-hand, I've heard newer teachers explain how they "weren't comfortable" teaching grammar.
This also goes for composition. In what I think is a laudable (but misguided) effort, many newer teachers think that they need to teach "creatively," or have their students do "creative" projects. Again, this is a laudable goal, but it comes at the expense of teaching students how to think in words and use language to prove a point in writing -- far more crucial skills for AP and college courses in all disciplines.
I'm very glad to hear that your school's curriculum is academically demanding! I wish those same demands were more universal.
I'd love to have an encyclopedia set, but, wow, the cost. I am going to get the CD version of either World Book or Britannica or both. There is something about thumbing through one that is so much more fulfilling than the computer version.
I hear ya on the book thing. I would love to have a wall of bookshelves with a rolling ladder, like in older libraries.
My husband was on this one. His mother bought him a set when he was a child and read every page, mostly on days he was skipping school, lol. He wanted to do the same for his kids someday and did. It’s a Scholastic set for under $600. We could have got a set more in depth but it works for the kids and right now is when they need it. Later they will be cross referencing such a large variety of references that it would hardly be practical to own a big set later when visiting the library and going online for the information will be more practical. But it’s the late night reading with the big book across our laps and all four of us crammed into on chair that will build a love for learning and memories that they will cherish forever. (I hope anyway.)
But I mentioned this because you can go online and look up Scholastic. It's not a little kid version or anything either. Its pretty decent. They have it where you can pay them monthly payments if its too much cost all at once. A relative balked at the price and said I should have looked for a set garage sales but we wanted a new one that was more up to date.
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