Trucking Along

Here's a mid-year update on the Nut House Homeschooling endeavor.

As you may remember, we are trying out a fully state-funded program this year. We get the books, workbooks, supplies and computer for free.

As with anything free, though, you are bound to pay a price somewhere:

~Action Man's dyslexia tutoring is not, in fact, paid for by the state. Actually, because he was diagnosed outside of a state mandated facility, I have had to literally wrangle and yell, and speak oh-so-firmly and NYer obnoxiously in order to get him the help he needs. When our teacher finally clued in that I was seriously serious, (around Dec) she finally got her act together and found the correct channels to go through, and we're on the right path. Of course, this delay has only further exacerbated his frustration, but there is nothing to be done about it now. Our teacher was new this year, and TXVA underwent a huge growth spurt *right before* school started which meant extreme chaos for all involved, and thereby shelving all *special* requests for testing and such. I popped a few blood vessels in my forehead, but what's done is done. And now Action Man is enjoying his special one-on-one study halls with his new teacher and smaller classroom situations online as well as tailor-made interventions for his writing assignments. It's been great.

~There is a LOT of culling to be done with this curriculum. Not the K12 part. That stuff is great. But the fact that TEA (The Texas Education Agency) has to have their hands all over it to make sure the kids are learning what is "required" by the state of Texas, makes some of the subjects in need of severe modifications. For example, my kids are using *gasp* textbooks for history. Yuck. Thank goodness for friends who are willing to respond to panicked late night e-mails for ideas on living history books to supplement some dry Civil War textbook chapter.

~Along the same lines, my kids are now *required* to take Health. Now, it's not what you think. No evil S&x Ed stuff. But, they do think my 3rd grade girl really and truly needs to know all about the drug addictions of marijuana and cocaine, as well as eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Hmmm. I don't think so! I take those lesson tests for her and we skip those chapters.

~There's a lot of workbooking and worksheeting going on as well. I'm focusing on the relevant stuff and ditching the "fill in the blank using the word bank" baloney. If the kids are learning about Main idea and Theme, or using new literary terms like personification or onomatopoeia, then fine. If it's map reading or drawing conclusions, great. But some of the stuff was a bit overkill. Thanks goodness for Story of the World! The kids are finally getting to that now and our written and illustrated narrations take up the whole classroom.

~Biggest downside? The dreaded TAKS. My kids have never taken standardized tests, and while I'm not against standardized tests in general, there seems to be an over-emphasis on preparing for them. The few tests we've taken so far, the kids have done horribly. So much for home schoolers doing well on these types of tests. Maybe my kids are just bad test takers, or maybe they really do need a few lessons on "how to take a test." SATs are not that far away.... so even though I'm dreading these things, I'm glad my kids have a chance to see what it's like and what they can do.

~I do love the "hands off" approach of the actual Academy. We have two written compositions and two assignments of Math, History and Science due every 9 weeks. Monthly phone conferences and weekly study halls for the kids, and 3% of the curriculum completed per week is all that is required. I do not have to hand in every single Math worksheet or Literature assignment. As long as the child knows the concept, we can move on. In fact, Sports Fan is 88% finished with his Math for the year, simply b/c I could fast track him through the parts of the 3rd grade book that he already knew and mastered.


Taking all of this into account, we are seriously leaning toward continuing with this curriculum next year. It's been a big money saver, and we are pleased overall with how well the kids are doing with it. The curriculum is solid, and since I'm a bit of a veteran, it's easy for me to navigate the murkier waters. For those craftier moms, it could seriously cramp your style, but I bet lots of lessons would benefit from that kind of talent, and there definitely is wiggle room within each lesson.



Probably more than you wanted/needed to know... but some have asked, and I'm all about pleasin' the masses. (well, the important ones, anyway)

:)