The last two weeks, we have learned a LOT. We have had so much going on in addition to school that we have found a few weak links in our chain.
First, I vaguely remembered a learning coach certification thingie being mentioned in the handbook. I even printed the pages. It is a list of objectives for the learning coaches to complete in order to receive a certificate each quarter. I remember there being a request for a copy of our daily lesson plan, and a review of certain tutorials. I don't really remember much other than than. I honestly cannot remember if this is mandatory or not, so I will be reading that tonight. The end of the quarter is next week, so I will need to complete it this weekend.
Second, there is a formula for grades. The children do not simply earn the scores they receive on their tests, or they would all have A's and B's since it is a Mastery based program. These formulas are slightly different for each of my children as they are working at different grade levels. Basically, for each subject, they are expected to complete a certain percentage of the coursework by the end of the first quarter. I believe that is a nice tidy 25% for both children with the exception of my youngest who just began a new grade level in Math two weeks ago. She is expected to be at 9%. Next, they have to have earned a certain number of "blue ribbons" in their study lessons. They are also expected to submit work samples and those count for a percentage of their grade. They have recently added a weekly skills check. Another percentage.
I have not figured out how all of this will work out. There are also honor roll and academic excellence formulas. If I understand the formulas correctly, the girls may very well get straight A's...if I do not...we may be in for a surprise. Ahhh..well.. We will know in a little over a week.
Now for the other little tidbits... We were a little less organized this last week and it created a little condition I abhor: Stress. I did not take the time to plan the week last weekend. Each day this week we have sort of muddled through. Where is this book? My children go to work with me three days each week. This meant that each night, we were starting over. I must say that of all of the tips I may have, planning each week has to be the biggest. Even if we were at home every single day, I do not want to have to start my day wondering what we should do next. We are not regimented by any means, but each week, I look over what needs to be accomplished and create two checklists. One has the lessons that are best suited for their time at my office, the other list is the lessons that need a bit more "mom" time. Even though we have the list, I do let the children chose which subject they would like to begin their day with as long as they are not procrastinating. We all are more relaxed when it is written down like this. We can clearly see what has to be accomplished during the week. Looking at the "next lesson" method might work for some, but we found that it increases our stress. Our conclusion: It is not worth it to skip the planning stage.
One other little tidbit. As things were a bit "out of sorts" for us, one of my children chose to "skim" the material and attempt to take the test. She bombed it and looked up the answers that she had missed and took the test again. When I discovered this, (I can see if they took the test more than once... (Getting a 66% and then a 100% 20 minutes later was a bit suspicious.) I immediately had her redo the lesson entirely. I made her take notes as she went. So, lesson learned, children may attempt to "work" the system also. Once I explained that she would be quizzed again on this material and was unlikely to remember since she did not do the work as intended, she was a little less annoyed at having to redo it. Either way, there are cumulative tests, so allowing a child to do this would NOT work out well. Lesson learned by all.
I have also found that perhaps the message forums are not for us. Even the one offered to parents of children who are accelerating left me feeling a little separated. I viewed the message boards as a way to connect with other families with similar issues and support each other. I just did not find what I was looking for there. I am shocked at the amount of posts regarding how much "work" this is for them. I do not know any of those people, so I do not know what they thought this program would be like. I will leave this as enough said for now.
For myself, I am happy to report that my fears have all been addressed, and the work load for myself was not one of them. I knew that for this to be a success for my children, I had to put in the time necessary. I knew that teachers often work late at night after teaching children. I did not think this was going to be a picnic. All in all, I am actually thrilled with how much I do NOT have to do. I do not have to grade most of the tests. I do not have to stay up at night grading papers. I have not had to write extensive lesson plans. I review everything one evening a week and write two lists for each child. Poof. Planning complete. If there is a lesson with more prep time required or suggested, a little alert shows up at least a week in advance. Even if the preparation is to provide construction paper, it shows up. There are no, "Mom, I have to bring 40 ______ to class tomorrow." days. It is just another perk. I will not lie, occasionally, I have to really pay attention when I am reading one of their test questions. There are writing assignments that require my undivided attention when reading. The website will ask me, "Did the student explain the difference between ______ and ______?" I will even admit to looking up the RNA/DNA differences this week in order to answer my parent questions. Ah... it happens. It's still easier than I could have imagined.
