#but i feel like after 7th grade math was taught to me so poorly

[antisisyphus]

i wish i could go back in time and teach myself math in a fun way

[homeschoolbase]

Persuade a reluctant spouse

Persuade a reluctant spouse

My 13 year old has been going to public school since he was three (!) and was thriving until maybe last year. We chalked last year up to “meh, 7th grade is awkward but next year will be better!” but if anything, it has proven to be worse.

It really seems like the middle school he attends is poorly managed, and I get the impression the administration is coping by doubling down on what they’re already doing wrong. There are teachers who clearly don’t understand their content areas, the administration is cutting music and art programs, and the math teacher is loading the kids up with enough homework to kill a small donkey every night.

My husband isn’t happy with the situation, either: he’s trying to fight the system and they’re politely telling him to get lost. I think it’s time to put homeschooling on the table but want to do it in a way it might be received better.

He went to a good public school, was inspired by a particularly gifted teacher and went on to graduate from a teacher education program. But he never actually taught. He got cold feet about teaching as a career right after graduating and went into a different field.

Unfortunately for my case, I have occasionally ranted about how stupid your average public schoolteacher is... usually prompted by some elementary school teacher sending out semiliterate “fliers” or someone posting idiotic self-pitying crap to fb.

(Maybe I just know a lot of unusually stupid teachers, but I’ve seen more than a few who seem to think they’re the only college educated people to have to take work home and not be millionaires. It’s beyond absurd at this point.)

But ranting about teachers is obviously insulting HIS intelligence and training, which is not something I really thought about until afterward, because I have never thought of him as a teacher. (Now who’s the idiot? The second grade teacher who can’t reliably distinguish between “are” and “our” at least knows not to throw shade at people you want to get on your side.)

He was never homeschooled, doesn’t know a lot of homeschoolers, and thinks it’s weird/scary/extreme. I was homeschooled until middle school and always had the option afterward to return home, so “if you’re not happy at school then don’t go” sounds like a practical solution to me. To him that sounds like jumping out of a train.

He likes that I’m scrappy and willing to dive into new projects without waiting for someone to hand down permission/instructions from on high... but I feel like he doesn’t really get why I’m like that. If you didn’t grow up in the system, you don’t learn to wait around for it. And I have fond memories, just like he has fond memories of his own childhood.

Anyway, I just feel like I’m currently letting my son get caught in the gears of a broken system for no good reason. I’m worried I’m letting him learn helplessness at an age where he SHOULD be learning how to become a creative net contributor.

The boy has taken to sending me videos about how the PS system is failing, but what he doesn’t know is that he’s already preaching to the choir: it’s his dad he needs to convince. (Or, more likely, he does know that and is asking for my help. Kids are smart.)

Anyway, I would welcome suggestions about how to help get someone onboard who is really just weirded out by the whole thing. He HAS met a local homeschooling family but honestly... they’re pretty “out there” and he wasn’t impressed at all.

He’s not a real political guy, other than being vaguely-euro-style-democratic-socialist, he’s not religious or anti-religion... he just wants everyone to chill out and have a nice time together.

See! He’s a perfect homeschooler already... I just want to help him see that ;)

[carolinetaffet-blog1]

This I Believe About Teaching Writing

I began writing in first grade, sitting at my desk in Mrs. Hample’s classroom, pencil in hand. We were writing stories about what we did this summer on paper formatted for a first grader to attempt handwriting a story. Each year of elementary school my teachers incorporated different writing assignments to develop different skills and knowledge of forms. Each year we wrote personal narratives, and informational pieces like current events.

In middle school, we began writing more about literature, less about life. We transitioned from telling to analyzing. There were brief instances of narrative thrown in. In 6th grade, my teacher had us keep a writing section in our notebook, and we practiced different forms of personal writing. In 7th grade, we had Writing Lab for half the year. I think we practiced some creative writing, but in all honesty the class was run so poorly since we were the first students taking the class that it left little to no impact on me. I clearly did not develop any skills from the class, or I would remember it. In 8th grade, my teacher was out on maternity leave in the middle of the school year. Little to nothing was accomplished with our substitute. I think we had some writing assignments.

From fifth to eighth grade I wrote on my own using the Fanfiction website. I kept this to myself because I was embarrassed to be writing about books like The Clique and Twilight. No teacher ever encouraged creative writing, so I was ashamed by it. I had no idea if it was good or not, because all I knew of creative writing was from the fictional novels I read growing up. I was comparing myself to professional writers at the age of 11. This hobby slowly dwindled as I became more and more discouraged. My family found out about it, and I had this idea in my mind that what I was doing was wrong, despite no one telling or even hinting that it was. This was the only period in my life I would have truly considered myself a writer, but I did not.

High school came around, and it was all essays all the time. Essays devoted to themes in Romeo and Juliet, symbolism in The Great Gatsby, satire in The Canterbury Tales, the dangers of education and science in Frankenstein are just a few examples of the close readings and analysis high school focuses so heavily on. And for what? It worked for me because I happened to love analyzing books and my appreciation for English grew. But what did English classes accomplish for those interested in science or math? It probably discouraged them. Most people do not feel giddy after forming a thesis about Arthur Miller’s critique of American values as present in The Crucible. Friends of mine that love to read hated English in high school because of how constrictive and structured it was. Even the class discussion was so prescribed. We’d come into class, take out the book we were reading that day, and talked about plot with some analysis. English was reading centric, and any writing became about our reading.

People that are so fervently passionate about English are few and far between, and their minds are directed towards literary analysis because that is all anyone remembers being taught in school. I used to write creatively all the time. But life took over, and I went so long without it that I cannot just sit down and think up a story. I have no trouble analyzing or forming personal narratives, because that is what my teachers always encouraged. No one ever told me “it’s okay to practice writing on your own” or “you should practice writing at home”. There was never a true emphasis in my most memorable experiences in education, being high school, on writing.

I believe teaching writing is about encouragement and emphasis. The opportunities exist in classrooms to dive into different types of writing in high school. There is just little encouragement and emphasis on it. We did not have Writer’s Workshop or even something remotely similar to it in my high school. We had AP Comp, but people were far less inclined to take it instead of AP Lit. My high school teachers never encouraged me to write on my own, with the exception of one teacher who inspired me to pursue teaching. Teaching writing is finding a way to encourage all students to write, because every student has a voice worth expressing. I am confident in myself as a writer of literary analysis, and now am more confident as a writer in general because of the course Teaching Writing. There are plenty of people incapable of writing for themselves due to a lack of confidence in their abilities. Writing is a powerful tool that anyone should be capable of using. Teaching writing needs to be encouraged and emphasized in every English classroom. Every person should have the means to express themselves through writing, or explore ideas creatively.