Well, it is now official

[Captain Smollett]

We'd been talking about this for a while, and tonight we made it "official."  We filled out the "Third Option" compliance group membership application for homeschooling our daughter, Hunter.  Jonathan's will come in about two years.

In case anyone is interested, SC has some of the 'best' homeschooling laws in the US.  If your plans are to homeschool/boatschool, SC would not make a bad base of operations for cruising.

It seems like an oxymoron, but I actually feel liberated by the notion of committing to work directly and daily with my children for what amounts to the next 20 years.

[oded kishony]

We homeschooled our daughter through the last part of high school. She expects to graduate before her high school classmates.

I believe very strongly in the concept of public education but I've come to realize that the current system in the US is inflexible and inadequate. An important lesson my daughter has learned from being home schooled is to direct and be responsible for her own education.

Oded Kishony

[s/v Faith]

We'd been talking about this for a while, and tonight we made it "official."  We filled out the "Third Option" compliance group membership application for homeschooling our daughter, Hunter.  Jonathan's will come in about two years.

In case anyone is interested, SC has some of the 'best' homeschooling laws in the US.  If your plans are to homeschool/boatschool, SC would not make a bad base of operations for cruising.

It seems like an oxymoron, but I actually feel liberated by the notion of committing to work directly and daily with my children for what amounts to the next 20 years.

  Congrats!

  John, you will not regret it.  What a teriffic investment in your childrens futures!  Fit's in nicely with plans to go cruising whenever you want / can also!



 

[AdriftAtSea]

Part of the problem with the public education system is a lack of resources and a focus on teaching to the "test".  IMHO, home-schooling can be far more effective, especially given the availability of many good teaching materials over the internet nowadays. 

[s/v Faith]

Part of the problem with the public education system is a lack of resources ......

  Without turning this political... that is a fallacy.  There was an excellent 20/20 special called 'dumb in America' where they proved that lack of funds was not the problem it is made out to be.  Forces like the NEA, and other outside influences had more of an impact, on what is clearly an educational defect in this country.

  [/rant]

Whatever the cause, John's families decision is clearly a good one..... Children who are home schooled preform better across a wide spectrum of assessments.

[sailor]

We'd been talking about this for a while, and tonight we made it "official."  We filled out the "Third Option" compliance group membership application for homeschooling our daughter, Hunter.  Jonathan's will come in about two years.

In case anyone is interested, SC has some of the 'best' homeschooling laws in the US.  If your plans are to homeschool/boatschool, SC would not make a bad base of operations for cruising.

It seems like an oxymoron, but I actually feel liberated by the notion of committing to work directly and daily with my children for what amounts to the next 20 years.

Congratulations John,
I'm curious if you are going to follow any of available curriculums, go unschooling or design your own?
We are planning to do this when we cast off.
For now our Little Sailor is two years old and we think about signing him up for a Montessori school next year.
Our Tiny Sailing Wench is only two weeks old so we still have some time to decide about her.

Which reminds me that I forgot to properly announce her arrival here, Tiny Sailing Wench joined our crew on 12/09:



Weighted 8lbs and 2 oz and 21 inches long. Tiny Sailing Wench and Momma Sailor and Little Sailor are all doing great.
Dad Sailor can accept grog in her name  ;)

Sailor

[Zen]

Congrats on the new crew member !

Grog all around!

[Captain Smollett]

I'm curious if you are going to follow any of available curriculums, go unschooling or design your own?

Our plans best fit the "design our own" description.

One of the best discussions I saw on this topic was from one of the cruising forums (I cannot pin down the link right now, but if I dig it up, I'll post it).  There was a debate about using a canned curriculum vs. 'roll your own,' and one guy described his experience crossing the Panama Canal.  On another boat, they were using a canned curriculum and were studying Greek mythology during the Canal crossing.  On his boat, they made math (tonnage per day through the Canal, volume of water in a given lock, etc), social studies (the Panamanian culture), history (the building of the Canal, the history of the indigenous population), etc relevant to their crossing.  In his experience, it was a much richer exploration and it had his children looking OUT and EXPERIENCING their learning rather than focused INSIDE and being 'bookbound.'  That story always impressed me, and fit nicely with what I hope to accomplish by home/boatschooling.

To me, a canned curriculum is too restrictive; the regimentation of institutional learning is one of the reasons I 'rebel' against it.

We are planning to do this when we cast off.

Congrats!  I'm always glad to hear this.  I find the interaction with my children through my involvement with their education extremely rewarding.  It is hard some days, but overall, I 'feel' like I am getting some experiences with them that others willingly throw away.

What we have done is talked to as many homeschoolers as we can.  We tried to get an accurate picture of what it "can be" as well as what our goals are.  If there is anything you'd like to ask me, fire away, but I am 'just learning,' too, even though we've been planning this since before our oldest was born.

For now our Little Sailor is two years old and we think about signing him up for a Montessori school next year.
Our Tiny Sailing Wench is only two weeks old so we still have some time to decide about her.

Cool.  It's never too late to start.  As a friend of mine says, everybody homeschools until kindergarten anyway.  With just a few minutes each day, Hunter was able to learn her abc's by her second birthday.  Now we do about 1-2 hours of "formal" work each day (okay, most days) and though she is four, she just complete her K-5 math book and is nearly done with her K-5 reading book.  She reads roadsigns now as we drive.

So, it really does not take a super LOT of effort to make noticeable progress.  Sometimes Becky wonders if we are pushing her too hard, but for the most part everything is at her own pace.  The only real pushing we do is when she says "I can't" when I know she can.  All we ask of her is that she try when we ask her to do something.

The point of my diatribe is that we started adding some semi-formal 'work' to the daily play routine at about two, as well.  Now at four, she has (mostly) learned that there is a time to work and a time to play.  It is my opinion that if you start now, it will pay off when he has to sit and work a bit more formally at four or so.

Which reminds me that I forgot to properly announce her arrival here, Tiny Sailing Wench joined our crew on 12/09:

Weighted 8lbs and 2 oz and 21 inches long. Tiny Sailing Wench and Momma Sailor and Little Sailor are all doing great.
Dad Sailor can accept grog in her name  ;)

Sailor

Well Congrats on that as well!!  What great news.  Here's some grog for her, poured into your glass.   ;)

[Captain Smollett]

  Without turning this political... that is a fallacy.  There was an excellent 20/20 special called 'dumb in America' where they proved that lack of funds was not the problem it is made out to be.  Forces like the NEA, and other outside influences had more of an impact, on what is clearly an educational defect in this country.

I would like to point out that earlier in my teaching career, I had the opportunity to informally interview a small number of public school teachers who were no longer teaching.  Not one single one claimed they got out due to low salary.  Every single one said it was because of administrative 'fluff' with which they had to deal that had nothing to do with their interactions with children in the classroom.

Also, as a counterpoint to the 'more money' claim, consider the state of New Jersey's 2004-2005 expenditure data as but one example: over $13,468 per student per year (and that's an increase from $8,000 for 2002-2003).  The average student:teacher ratio was 12:1 in 2004-2005, so that's $161,616 per year per class.  In 2003, only 3 dollars out of each 5 spent went to teacher's salaries, textbooks and instructional expenditures and supplies.  You gotta wonder, then, where are the other two dollars?  Anyway, that's a WHOLE HEAP of money for a state that in 2005 had only 36% of eigth graders at or above "proficient" in math and 38% at or above "proficient" in reading.  For science in 2005 (Becky and I both value science education), NJ had only 33% at or above "proficient."

Whatever the cause, John's families decision is clearly a good one..... Children who are home schooled preform better across a wide spectrum of assessments.

Thanks. :)  Our decision was based a whole bunch of factors, not the least of which was outcomes based.

You can also look at it this way.  The NEA and various teacher/education groups are always crying about more parental involvement.  Well, you could say we are taking their advice. We'll be involved to the point that we don't "need" the public school system.  ;)

Data Sources:

National Center for Education Statistics - Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education

National Center for Education Statistics - State Profile (NJ)

[AdriftAtSea]

Sailor-

Congrats on the beautiful new crew member...she'll be bossing you around soon enough. ;)

[CapnK]

John - I have to echo what Craig said:

What a terrific investment in your childrens futures!  Fit's in nicely with plans to go cruising whenever you want / can also!

Congrats on being a teacher at work and at home. ;D

And also Congratulations to Sailor, on the new Crew! Hooray! :D

Grog fer both the daddies. :)

[AdriftAtSea]

Without turning this political... that is a fallacy.  There was an excellent 20/20 special called 'dumb in America' where they proved that lack of funds was not the problem it is made out to be.  Forces like the NEA, and other outside influences had more of an impact, on what is clearly an educational defect in this country.

I didn't say funds... I said resources... that also means qualified teachers, access to good information sources, books, diversified educational programs—like music, art, etc, and a curriculum that is not narrowly focussed on teaching to a less than meaningful test.

[Norm]

Homeschooling/boatschooling.
I was home schooled during sixth and seventh grades as we cruised the US East Coast and Bahamas.  When I went off to a private school in Florida in 1963, I was as educated as my traditional curriculum peers. 

We spent about two hours a day on formal studies.  The rest of the day was busy reading or messing around in boats.  Our education was rich in context, richer than my traditionally educated friends was.

The problem I had entering eigth grade was that things like schedules and dress codes.  School work wasn't a problem.  I socialized quickly, learned to study in a timely way, tie my neck tie, tuck in a shirt and such.  while cruising i had lots of friends my age.  Just that we didn't have to get up at 0630 for chapel, breakfast, classes.

Years later, my mom and dad allowed that they found home schooling harder on them than we kids did.  I never forget to thank my folks for providing such a rich education.  My kids were traditionally educated and are VERY jealous of my schooling aboard our old yawl, Thetis!

If you're up to it... homeschooling is the best.

Norm

[Captain Smollett]

(sorry so long)

I didn't say funds... I said resources...

Fair enough.  But it IS common that when you hear/read "resources" the connotation is "money," especially when talking government programs.

that also means qualified teachers, access to good information sources, books, diversified educational programs—like music, art, etc, and a curriculum that is not narrowly focussed on teaching to a less than meaningful test.

Except for you last point, teaching to the test, most schools have those resources now.  As I said with my NJ example, nearly $200,000 per class per year and 60% at least goes directly to the educational mission.  (I agree most of the other 40% should be diverted back).  Maybe music and art programs are suffering, but there is no shortage of books, internet access and other instructional materials to nearly every school in the US.

Ah, the question of 'qualified teachers.'  On this point, I think Craig hit it square on the head - the NEA is problematic.  Now, we DO have to be careful as we are lumping a LOT of educational specialization into a general discussion, but if I may focus on science at the high school level at the moment, I will again quote some stats that illustrate the problem; apologies for the oldness of these numbers....

In the early 1990's, there were about 22,000 high schools in the US, and virtually all of them offered at least one chemistry class to their college prep mission.  At that time, there were less than 6000 chemists (BA in Chemistry or higher) teaching high school chemistry.  Who taught chemistry at the others?  I am a Ph.D. chemist, and know many others, that have pursued teaching high school chemistry, only to be turned away by that pesky little "certification" requirement.  Now, mind you, I've been teaching college level chemistry for going on 20 years, yet the teaching UNION, to protect it's OWN powerbase, says I am not qualified to teach high school chemistry, and simply because I have never had a class that taught me how to write a lesson plan (I actually had one lady tell me this...that I was not qualified to be a techer because I did not have that coursework in how to write a lesson plan).

That's garbage, no matter how you cut it.  The only Ph.D.'s I personally know teaching public high school science are at the specialized schools like the NC School of Science and Math or SC's Governor's School of Science and Math.  I'm sure some public high school's have folks with advanced degrees teaching science classes, but they are the exception not the rule.  I was very lucky - both my HS Biology and Chemistry teachers had masters in their fields.

But, I have to contrast that with my HS history teacher - who had an English degree.  Or my Government teacher, who also had an English degree.  What about my middle school chemistry class?  Taught by a person with a math degree (close, but no cigar).

And, you mention textbooks....ah, the textbooks.  Therein lies a HUGE part of the problem, in the sciences anyway.  The schools don't lack textbooks, they lack well-written, content rich textbooks.  I have around here somewhere the results of a study done around 2003 in which the quality of middle school physical science textbooks were evaluated.  In short - they are garbage.  They are too cutesy, contain too much fluff, are confusing at best for the students and overload the students with colors, web site links, ancillary and trivial information and too much 'coded' info (this font means one thing, blue text means something else, a marginal note in black is a definition, etc, etc).

Why are the books like this?  The answer is simple.  They are written for the teachers that DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TEACHING.  I could easily teach a 7th grade chemistry (or physics) class off my head without a book at all - even now, when teaching at the college level, I refuse to use (and am professionally insulted by) 'Teacher's Editions."

The University of NC at Chapel Hill School of Education is the largest trainer of teachers in the state of NC, and their middle school SCIENCE emphasis Bachelor's of Education has only 34 hours of science requirements - ALL at the Introductory level (ie, 100 level courses, CHM 101, PHY 101, etc).  There is only one sequence in any given field (CHM 101-102, for example).  So, even if you are lucky enough to have a middle school with a chemistry teacher who has the BS of Education, Middle School, Natural Science degree, they only had two chemistry courses and both at pretty much the level they are teaching!

So, even the 'advanced' middle school science teachers "need" (or think they need) a textbook that can hold their hands.  The textbook writers and publishers understand this, and that's what they give.  You end up with text books full of non-depth, so the TEACHER has the resources to NOT LOOK STUPID in front of the class.  The end result is science non-education.  As I said earlier, NJ's proficiency numbers for 8th grade science are something like only 1 in 3.

And all of this is directly attributable to the NEA's stranglehold on demanding the certifications as the laws are currently written.  It's also why private schools tend to outperform public schools in science (and other specialized areas) - private schools have the flexibility to hire QUALIFIED teachers, as you put it.

It's the laws that need to be changed - in a number of ways.  Ultimately, the problem is cultural, though.  For all the talk and lip service we give, as a country, we really don't care about education all that much.  We give more cultural energy to one single football game (coming up here in a few weeks) than we do to really examining the problems and issues that need to be solved to make the education system better.

Again, sorry so long.