Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As some of you know from my previous posts, I partially homeschooled my 5th grader in LA/Lit. this year. His public school curriculum was supposedly preparing him for all the natl. assessment tests. Yet, when I replaced the public school curriculum with a more classical education, his SAT and MAPS scores increased over 15% in just 4 months.
I replaced his school basal reading textbook with Greek/Roman mythology, classic fables, unabridged short stories/novels, classic literature from my own copies of The Great Books. I completely dropped the multiple choice/fill-in fact-based reading tests (e.g. What was the middle name of the protagonist?). His reading response was either essay or short answer (e.g. more focused on story themes/conflict, metaphors, character development, historical background/influences). It was completely different from how he was being taught in school. I was so worried that his test scores would all drop as I have absolutely no LA/teaching background. Yet, he made amazing strides!
Six months ago, my son was only interested in reading Sports Illustrated. Now it's summer break and he chooses to continue his Reading curriculum. He's now reading Swift and Thoreau, who has inspired him to start a nature poetry journal. For us, moving into a more classical curriculum has inspired my child's love for reading/learning and has resulted in deeper thinking and analysis.
He does attend public school for all other subjects. I have been very happy with his school's gifted math/science program which BTW is not Everyday Math (It is accelerated Prentice Hall with some Continental Math League/Math Olympiad modules thrown in). So I feel we have the best of both worlds....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggy001
To be or not to be– that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous teaching,
Or to take arms against a sea of educators
And, by opposing, end them. To read, to count
No more – and by an education to say we end
The phonetics and the thousand everyday Math classes.
"Alas, poor Y-intercept! I knew him well, Everyday Math Ratio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most exasperating frustration; his reference book hath been thrown against the wall a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My 5 gallon pail of gas and a match rises at it. Here hung those mean, medians, and modes that I hath beaten my head against a wall explaining to my 4th-grader I know not how oft. Where be your hellish function boxes now?"
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
