Homeschooling...

[lisamoe]

Jesse called me a few minutes ago to beg to be in another Theatre Arts class this fall. He's already enrolled in one, but I caved and said he could do another one if he'd call out there and find out if the classes were full yet and if he could talk his grandma into taking him an extra time a week. Dingo is enrolled in a theatre class also and we're getting him signed up for soccer, plus both boys are going to be in a boys gymnastics class down at Reed Park again and are going to go to a homeschool PE sort of class at Whiteside Park too. All that, along with Campfire and Cornerstone will probably be just about enough classes for the fall. They can sign up for individual special events, but I don't think we're going to need any more ongoing obligations.

Jesse has looked over the PASS skills for 4th grade and decided that he wants to knock those out first (he's already through a lot of them of course) so that he can concentrate on his own interests the rest of the school year. We're very willing to follow the kids' interests as far as what they study in depth, but we always make sure they finish the year having completed all the PASS standards for their grade level in addition to whatever else they studied. Jesse is still very interested in geography, other cultures, creative writing, and math, so I expect he'll be doing a lot of those this year.

This is Dingo's first year of school and I expect he's going to want to work on math too (he seems to like it a lot) and on simple astronomy, science and learning about animals, which seems like enough for a kindergartner, since he's already pretty much done with his kindergarten PASS skills. He needs to work on his reading and writing, but we didn't push that with Jesse and probably won't with Dingo either. Jesse reads and writes fine now, but was slow getting started with it and I think Dingo's going to be the same way; he'll get there when he's ready. I don't want to nag him about reading until he ends up hating it. Both kids love to draw almost incessantly when they're not doing something else and I can see constant inprovement in their drawings, so I think we have art class covered for now.

Sounds like a busy school year, no?

Comments

[gentlemaitresse.livejournal.com]

It does sound like a busy school year. :-)

So you're homeschooling the boys? I get asked sometimes how a working mom could homeschool, and I often tell people that they could probably do it in the same amount of time they currently spend helping their child with homework. Do you think that's pretty accurate?

We're doing theatre arts this year, too. I'd love to hear more details of your children's classes, to compare to ours. I'll be happy to share details of my daughter's classes, too, or at least as much detail as she shares with me. She's 13, ya know. ;-)

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

My Mother does the bulk of the homeschooling and she's with them all day, but in fact, you could homeschool and work if you wanted to. The main problem would childcare and getting them to field trips and daytime activities if you wanted to do that. The actual sitting down studying could be done in about the same time as homework, just as you say. When I was in school I remember how much time was wasted getting everyone seated, taking roll, getting everyone on the same page, stopping to deal with note passing, talking, discipline problems, kids who didn't have their supplies, questions I already knew the answer to, etc, and the actual time we spent on learning was fairly negligible, at least in the younger grades. When my Mom schools them, the actual classroom instruction is almost never more than a couple of hours a day, if that, and they're working ahead of grade level in most things. You could do that in the evenings or on weekends, easily. And when they're older, if you have good learners, you can give them assignments and independent study that you can go over when you have time.

My friend Ann works full time and homeschools, but she's a nurse and works all weekend so she can be home during the week for activities. I know a few women who work from home or work part time and also homeschool. As with anything else, you can probably manage it if you're willing to be flexible and busy. Of course some states may have requirements for how much classtime you have to have or how you have to teach, but Oklahoma doesn't so that makes it easier here to structure your school to fit your time. Oklahoma is very non-restrictive of homeschooling due to the way the OK constitution is written, yay!

In the theatre classes the boys are in, they'll study a single musical for the whole semester and then put on a performance of selections from the musical at the end. Kind of like their summer classes were, but they'll get to work on it longer. They rotate between acting lessons, dance and movement, and singing. Dingo will be doing Jungle Book and Jesse will be doing Sound of Music and if he enrolls in another class he wants to do High School Musical. After this year of classes, if Jesse is doing well, I'm going to encourage him to audition for children's parts at other theatres when there are open auditions if he's still interested. He's had small parts in a few comic plays that his Dad has written and is very comfortable on stage already.

[a-spirited-soul.livejournal.com]

Which class at Theatre Arts? I have seriously considered letting Jillian go. I think she'd love it. There's a class that's doing Annie.

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

Dingo is in Jungle Book and Jesse is in Sound of Music and maybe in High School Musical.

[oldmanpops.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think Dingo is pretty well ready for reading now. I agree in not pushing him, but I think if we can find grade level appropriate stuff he is interested in, he is ready to take off.

[angel-ent.livejournal.com]

Ok, educate me . . . PASS???? Where do you find this and how do you determine if your children have the grade levels down?

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

If your kids are in public school (or probably even private school) the schools should be making sure they can do these things by the end of the year already, but here's a link to the standards so you can see for yourself. Most the homeschool families I know don't use these standards specifically, but we do, if just to make sure that we're not falling behind in some area that we should be covering.

http://www.sde.state.ok.us/home/defaultie.html

There's a link on the left of the page that says PASS.

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

We're in luck, lol. I have shelves of grade level appropriate stuff left over from his brother. I think R has a bunch of the kids' books up in Dingo's room at his house too.

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

I know you probably don't need even more theatre input. It sounds like you have it covered for the year. I posted an Audition notice for Seussical in Tulsatime if the kids are interested in auditioning. I also got an email from Clark Theatre you might be interested in. Here it is:

Here's what you've been waiting for. Clark Laughing
Matter and more! Pay particular attention to the new
Play Reading class. Besides reading plays, this is
where we'll get information to decide on what to do
next year. Frank Gallagher will be moderating the
discussions and we'll all read the same play(s) during
the week. All other Kids Council activities,
including the actual voting on next season, will
remain the same.

As always, enrolling in OnStage or in Footlights gets
you into all classes free.

Clark Laughing Matter
Students will learn performance improv games and have
a show sometime in the fall.
For ages 12-18, the class meets Saturdays from
September 9 through December 16.
Class time is 12 pm to 1:30 pm
Cost $30 for semester.

Play Reading
Read and discuss a variety of plays, from classic to
contemporary.
Saturdays 11 am to noon from September 9 through
November 25. Ages 10-18.
Cost is $20.

Scene Painting Workshop
A hands-on introduction to basic faux finishing
techniques for stage scenery.
For ages 10-18, the class meets Saturdays 2-3 pm,
September 23 through October 21.
Cost $35.

Preteen Voice
Taught by musical theatre director Joyce Shank.
Tuesdays 6-7 pm from September 12 through October 17.
For ages 8-12.
Cost $50.

Home School Drama
Deborah Bradshaw teaches acting fundamentals for
home-schoolers between 10-18.
Mondays 1-3 pm from September 18 through December 4,
ages 10-18.
Cost $85 for the semester.

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

We were looking at the Clark Theatre homeschool drama classes, but hadn't decided yet. I'd like Jesse to try out for the Seussical, but he's never auditioned before and I didn't know how professional his audition would need to be, or if it would be a lot of pressure. He's very much a novice at this, no matter how much he's taking to it.

[teevnus.livejournal.com]

PASS - Priority Academic Student Skills.

A lot of teachers initially resisted being "told what to teach", but I think most are on board with it now. I don't know about other districts, but grade schools in Tulsa use a report card based on all the PASS objectives for that grade and the students are marked as either not assessed, assessed but not mastered, or mastered (or something to that effect) for each objective.

[merzacademy.livejournal.com]

We use PASS for reference / guidelines, too.

[shackrlu.livejournal.com]

Just remember it IS community theatre! Which means that most of the people auditioning are FAR from professionals. Kids have to start somewhere and I know the director knows that. I hope Jesse decides to give it a try, even if it's only to see what auditions are like.

[merzacademy.livejournal.com]

Where do you find this info about P.E. classes?! I can never find anything... or when I do, it's WAY too far away from me. I have a P.E. curriculum in place now, but I've wanted to find a class for a long time.

The Tulsa Parks website used to offer a list of courses available, but I can't find the information on their new site. Any hints for me?

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

There's a brand new book of Parks and Rec. classes out this week. You can grab one at any of the recreation centers. We have them in a "parachute" class for right now where they do group activities with a big parachute, but I know there's an actual homeschool PE class and homeschool gymnastics and a variety of other things. It seems like when I looked there were a fair number of activities at Whiteside. Of course there are after school activities as well that aren't specifically for homeschoolers too. I don't know what your work schedule is, but if you have to pick up the older kids in the middle of the afternoon, that might interfere with some of the daytime classes. The gymnastics we have the boys in is just a regular class, not specifically homeschool, and it's at 5 or 5:30.

[angel-ent.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the information!

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

Homeschool PE-Whiteside,Tuesdays, 1:30-2:30. $25 for 9 weeks. Starts Sept. 19