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Email a FriendPosted by Joan on Saturday, Jan 2, 2010 10:59 AM (EDT):
It tickled me this morning when there were no comments here ! Nobody is thinking about education this week. I know I’m not! ; ) A Happy, Healthy New Year to all!
Reading, Writing, Math & More
Coffee Talk: Education
Posted by Danielle Bean in Family on Friday, January 01, 2010 7:00 AM
(Join each day’s Coffee Talk discussion: Mon: Parenting; Tues: Open Forum; Wed: NFP; Thu: Marriage; Fri: Education; Sat/Sun: Homemaking)
Whether your children attend school or are homeschooled, this is the spot to ask questions about curricula, religious education, parent-teacher relationships, or academic concerns of any kind.
Please join us!
Comments
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, Jan 2, 2010 3:05 PM (EDT):
My 10 yr old daughter has been taking violin lessons for almost 2 years. She loves it but she is not progressing. I practice with her when I can(maybe twice a week), but she has to practice alone at least 3 or 4 days a week. She is still in beginning books and is having a very difficult time coordinating all you have to do to play well. The teacher is good but has high expectations. The teacher thinks she isn’t practicing because she is not progressing. How do I know when to give up and stop sinking $$ into this? Or do I let her keep going because she likes it? I have 6 other kids and homeschool, so I have found it difficult to find time to devote to her practicing, but it seems that several of my friends kids practice alone and do well. Anyone have experience with this?
Posted by Jo on Saturday, Jan 2, 2010 4:33 PM (EDT):
I can only share my own experience! I took recorder then flute lessons from age 4 until the end of college and went through various phases. There was a time when I hated practicing and since my parents weren’t forcing me to, I didn’t do much. Of course, I did not progress much during that time! Then I changed teacher and started making very steady progress. It’s a little different from your daughter’s case, but maybe finding another teacher who might just fit her style of learning better could help? Maybe a different instrument would do it? It would be sad to make her stop if she likes it…
Posted by Alice on Sunday, Jan 3, 2010 2:48 PM (EDT):
Piano teacher here. A ten year old should be practicing on her own. You should be checking in now and then, but she needs to work independently. Based on what my students do and I did myself, I suspect that your daughter spending her practice time playing her violin instead of practicing. This sort of “practicing” can be worse than not practicing at all, so the student sometimes plays better when (s)he didn’t have time to practice than when (s)he did.
The first rule of good practicing is to set a goal. If the goal is to have phrase 3 of the piece learned, then your daughter should be able to play phrase 3 perfectly by the time her practice session is over. This requires slow, steady work. Frequently, I suggest that my students find ways of altering the phrase so that they avoid playing mindlessly. Talk to your daughter’s teacher. If she has no suggestions to help your daughter use her practice time better, it may be time for a new teacher or you may want to sit down after every lesson and work out a “lesson plan” for your daughter to follow every day that she practices.
On a more general note, is your daughter exposed to music outside of her violin lessons? To become fluent in music a student needs to listen to music, just like a child needs to hear their native tongue to become fluent in it. If you don’t already have a general music class in your homeschool, you might want to consider adding one next year. There are inexpensive programs that offer an introduction to classical music, note reading, sight singing, etc. that are good, even for parents with little musical experience. Playing the recorder is a great tool for reinforcing note reading and ear training. Plus, playing/singing in a group is an important skill to develop.
Finally, please don’t compare your daughter with other children. Each child learns differently. I remember on my first day of music theory class in college, our professor told us that students who persevere despite being “slow”, are more likely to finish college music programs than those who have a great deal of talent.
Sorry for the novel. 
Posted by Jennifer on Sunday, Jan 3, 2010 6:56 PM (EDT):
If it were me, I’d cut the lessons out for awhile and see what happens. Maybe she’s not really into it and would rather not play the violin. Maybe she’s just doing it to please you. My daughter takes violin at school so I’m not paying for lessons. If I were, I’d be certain that it was something that she really wants to do. If not, I wouldn’t spend the money on it.
Posted by mommy on Sunday, Jan 3, 2010 1:40 PM (EDT):
my 10 yr old plays piano and practices on his own. he has a sheet he has to fill out each week with his practice time recorded, so his teacher can see how much he practiced. Also, he has a scheduled practice time each day. Is it that she’s not practicing, or that she’s not able to focus enough, or remember all that she’s supposed to do when she’s practicing? If that’s the case, maybe you or your husband do need to sit with her during her practice- maybe you could schedule a time for it to make sure it actually happens? I read somewhere once that violin is one ofthe most difficult instruments to learn to play.
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, Jan 4, 2010 1:12 AM (EDT):
It is definitely possible to homeschool high school. My mom took me out of public school at the beginning of 9th grade, waaaaaay back in the mid 80s. There weren’t any real curriculum available so she put books together for me. I graduated with honors from nursing school and went on the get a MSN with no problem. I knew how to write papers because my mom had me read tons of good literature and write reports, study a country and write a report, etc. I wasn’t used to someone feeding me all I needed to know so I became very good at paying attention to what I was reading.
My kids are just entering high school this year. I would suggest you google Regina Coeli online academy, Kolbe academy, Seton, or Mother of Divine Grace. See if there is a catholic homeschool conference in your area this spring and just go check it out. No commitment.
You will obviously need to make sure your child is on board and will cooperate with your authority. Hopefully, you have children that respect and obey you no matter where they go to school, but there HAS to be some accountability and discipline or it will fall apart.
Pray about it daily and really ask God if this is truly what He wants for your child. If it is, you will succeed despite yourself!!
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, Jan 4, 2010 4:49 PM (EDT):
One of the benefits to homeschooling is that there are so many different ways to make it work for your family. The down side is that you have to figure that out for yourself. Every home is different. I have a 1, 3, and 4 year old, plus 1st, 4th, 7th, and 8th graders. My husband is very supportive but works long, long hours. I have no family around. The choices I make are not always what I think are the ideal way to school, but what works for us. My 3 and 4 year olds go to preschool a few mornings a week until noon so that I have at least relatively less commotion. It also gives them somewhere else to do messy crafts on a regular basis…..! My older two are doing mainly an online academy (Regina Coeli) this year and I use a combination of Sonlight (literature based), Catholic Heritage, Teaching Textbooks math, with a Charlotte Mason/classical flair. If I had a husband home earlier than 8pm or family around to help out, I may tweak it differently. I do, however, think that classical mixed with Mason is the overall way to go. The Regina Coeli is classical and very catholic. My girls have really benefited from more deadlines, tutors available for difficult questions, and catholic friends. I supplement them with Sonlight books and subscribe to a yahoo group for Sonlight users who are Catholic so I can give them our perspecitve on things like the Reformation.
Homeschooling is a tremendous blessing. My kids are very normal and fit in well with their friends on swim team, at music lessons, ballet, etc. However, the negative peer pressure is not overwhelming to them so far, because they get our influence MORE. Homeschooling is hard. It is a huge commitment. It is like having a job with great benefits but lots of responsibility. It is so worth the sacrifice, to not be able to identify with people who think I should not be able to stand my 14 year old.
There is no way to tell you how to teach several students at once without knowing you circumstances. What ages are your kids? Would Dad be willing to help check work, read at night, review math problems, etc? Do you have kids close in age who could be combined for science, history (easy to do with Sonlight), religion, etc? Usually they need their own math and language unless they are at the same level (not age). I do alot of combining for those subjects, even with the 1st and 4th grader.
Do you have any specific questions? Do you have any idea of what style you lean towards? Have you done any research or is this all new to you? I have lots of ideas and ways to find info. What are your goals with homeschooling? Academics, discipline, character formation, to remediate a child who is lost in the shuffle?
God bless
Posted by Kris on Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010 3:39 PM (EDT):
I just looked at the Regina Coeli website and all I can say is “wow.” That is the education I wish I had had! My main reason for looking into homeschool options is the cost of Catholic high school where I live. My kids attend our parish elementary school now, but the only Catholic HS within a 30 min. drive is $10K per year, no multiple child discount. I have five kids spaced close together (10, 8, 7, 5, 3) and that would be a financial hardship for the two years that three will be in HS at the same time. I won’t consider public school as an option. My husband is home by 5:30 all but one day a week, so I do think he could help in the ways you mentioned.
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010 9:45 PM (EDT):
If your child does all RCA classes, it would be around $3000 a year. Still alot of $, but nothing like $10K. You can pick and choose classes too. If you don’t think you can do math but you love science, you can have RCA teach math for you. Or they can do it all if you wish. You could keep the cost down by only using them for what you are not comfortable teaching. So far I am very impressed by what my girls are learning. The teachers are high quality, and they are pretty much all homeschool parents of larger families so they understand the struggles particular to homeschooling.
You also have to consider the $ saved in gas, FUND RAISERS (the most miserable part of school…), clothing, etc. Although homeschooling will take a significant amount of time, I feel like I am spending the same hours that I used to drive back and forth, go to conferences, help with homework that someone else thought was important, and using them to read, discuss, and be with my kids.
I would highly recommend that you find a homeschool conference near you. http://www.setonhome.org/conferences.shtml There may be others out there too. I go to the one in St LOuis each year. It is also nice to go to a bigger conference that has lots to see and become familiar with your options. I would recommend books by Maureen Whitman, Elizabeth Foss, and Laura Berquist as a good start. Find yahoo groups to ask questions. There is a yahoo group called Magnus Opus that is especially for larger catholic homeschool families and they would love to answer your questions on how to balance several kids. You can also look for the Sonlight catholic yahoo group. Many of them use Sonlight along with other methods so there is a nice balanced perspective.
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