Schedule for Year: Part 1 Basics

Living in New York, I actually have to document and validate what is in my brain. I will hurry and post this as is as I listen to my three year old pounding nails into hopefully the board he is supposed to (with baby brother looking admiringly on), older kids packing upstairs and take a deep breath before almost a month of awesome historical field trips and visitors!!

(Tomorrow Gettysburg and next week Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg!!)

I have also updated our daily schedule to more accurately reflect our current schedule.

September 13, 2016

Dear Medina District support team for homeschoolers,

Statement of Intent: I intend to homeschool _________ Biesinger for the 2016-2017 year. They will be in _____ grade. We will turn in quarterly progress reports and test them at the end of the year.

I will submit reports at the end of October, the end of December, the end of March and the end of the year in June, along with testing in June. Thanks for all you have done to make our experience in New York a success so far!

Hours of Education:

As for the number of hours that we homeschool our children, that is difficult to measure. They get at least as much learning time in as any child does in school and perhaps more, when one considers the “down time” that happens as teachers address behavioral issues or the repetition of instruction necessary when teaching 20-30 students. What I can tell you is what we don't do. We don't have electronics (video games/computer games) at all in our home. The limited number of programs we watch during the week all have educational purpose. Truly, my children are being educated almost constantly when one looks the many ways a child can be educated:

--doing chores

--personal reading of quality literature (my kids don't read “fluff” books like “Captain Underpants” :).)

--writing to record thoughts or when accounting for the learning done in a day

--service rendered in the community

--family sports activities

--nature study

--moral education through daily family devotionals and scripture study

--anger management and socialization through play

--drawing

--playing games: custom skill (depending upon the game: i.e.Monopoly—math, economics; Scrabble: spelling, etc.), sportsmanship, communication, perseverence, how to lose, strategy

--cooking

--sewing

--exposure to quality books through parent-led family reading times twice daily (books like “Don Quixote,” “I am Malala,” and “Tom Sawyer”)

--painting

--meal-time conversations together about what we have learned, world events (like 9/11) or concerns

--home improvement projects

--music lessons for sign language, piano and choirs

--self-discipline through accountability and self-directed studies and planning

--field trips and preparation for those trips (Gettysburg, National Zoo and Smithsonian, Williamsburg)

--discussion of world events as they come up in a home with parents who love learning

--reading done aloud on the way to and from church events and field trips, not to mention the quizzing initiated by my husband, road games developed, crisis management and patience and resilience learned with siblings in close quarters

Truly, in light of the fact that we carry on our learning schedule through the summer with slight variations (more field trips, swimming lessons, cultural events like Shakespeare plays in the park), you can see that they are educated almost year round. To try and compartmentalize the education into bite-size, measureable packets would be extremely difficult as you can see. I can only assure you that they are exceeding the required about of study time for their grade level.

Material Covered: I would ask you to indulge me for a moment as I try to briefly illustrate my approach to educating my children.

Weekly Accountability:

#1 Weekly charts

I will include a sample page of ______'s weekly chart, which covers material like math. Be assured that I am mindful of where my child is at and am always seeking improvement. Some children learn skills like mathematics at different speeds and I believe that a child that has confidence in their learning will learn faster than one is constantly being pushed into the ZPD, or the zone of proximal development.* (See end notes)

However, I believe that daily exposure and immersion in math skills and logical processing is important. We use the following:

--Proficiency level (not grade level) Saxon math books

--”Hand's On Math” curriculum

--dice and other math games

--flash cards and hand's on practical application of mathematical skills: i.e. measuring and cooking

Similarly, I require my children to do writing, piano and many other worthwhile tasks daily. These must be fulfilled before they get any privileges on the weekend that involve the media or friends.

#2 Monthly Outlines

I have monthly outlines that follow a theme that will strengthen both the “core” and the “crust”** of my children, as well as expose them to the four “lenses of learning.” (See article and chart on attached sheet.) As you can see from the chart and my lesson plans for the upcoming two months, my children get a scope of learning that will serve them well. I don't only want to fill their minds with knowledge. I want to teach them how to process it and apply it to the world at large in a meaningful way.

#3 Self-directed Weekly Goals

I am a firm believer in the efficacy of self-directed education: a self-directed learner is a life-long learner. I have weekly interviews with my older children assessing their previous week's goals and then being present with them as they set goals for the upcoming week. Do they always reach their all of their goals? No. However, they learn how to fail and try again, a powerful lesson. And they do try again and improve.

I will attach a few sample sheets of these “Student Accountability Reports” (or SARs) and have the record of every SAR in a folder right next to their weekly charts. At the end of the quarter, I will review them and submit a briefer report but these reports and charts are available upon request.

I love to learn with my children and am looking forward to a great year! Thanks for your support.

*”The zone of proximal development, often abbreviated as ZPD, is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help.[1] It is a concept introduced, yet not fully developed, by Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934)

”Various investigations, using different approaches and research frameworks have proved collaborative learning to be effective in many kinds of settings and contexts.[17] Teachers should assign tasks that students cannot do on their own, but which they can do with assistance; they should provide just enough assistance so that students learn to complete the tasks independently and then provide an environment that enables students to do harder tasks than would otherwise be possible.[14] In the context of adults, peers should challenge each other in order to support collaboration and success.” (Wikipedia, “ZPD definition).

Many educators feel that to push children into the ZPD at too early of an age too regularly will kill their love of learning and confidence. Puberty is an excellent time to push into the ZPD, when a child's confidence is built up from their years in what my co-educators call “the love of learning” phase.

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**“The Core and Crust of Leadership,” by Timothy Clarke

Two weeks ago, the charismatic German politician and heir-apparent to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, resigned as minister of defense. It had come to light that his doctoral dissertation was adorned with more than 300 instances of plagiarism. A spectacular leadership failure to be sure, but why?

A simple way to think about leadership is to divide it into two parts — a core and a crust. The distinction gives us a clearer eye. The core represents those things that are indispensable, while the crust those things that are important. What then goes in the core? And what goes in the crust?

The core of leadership is character. It represents the essence of who you are and what you stand for. It has nothing to do with Churchillian eloquence, a puckish sense of humor or grasp of strategy. The crust of leadership is all of that — all of your knowledge, experience and skills. Both parts are important, but not equally important.

Viewed through the core/crust lens, leaders congregate around three main types:

1. Strong core + strong crust = great leader. If you are strong in both areas, you have the powerful combination of character and competence. This is where greatness lies, because you have the capacity and the intent to help others and accomplish meaningful goals.

2. Strong core + weak crust = nice leader. A nice leader is a person of character who lacks competence. Leaders in this category work hard, care and have integrity, but their lack of competence holds them back from making a fuller contribution. We trust them personally, but not professionally.

3. Weak core + strong crust = dangerous leader. A dangerous leader is a person who combines great intelligence and skill with flawed character. When a leader has significant capacity and directs that capacity toward destructive goals, people suffer.

In the annals of history, great leaders become famous, dangerous leaders become infamous and nice leaders become invisible. Thus, we remember the Lincolns and the Stalins. Everyone else is lost in obscurity.

Now let me ask two important questions: First, where do we spend most of our time — on the core or the crust? Need I even ask? Most individuals and organizations spend no less than 95 percent of their development efforts and resources on the crust. We obsess on growing and deepening the crust. We want our leaders to be clever.

Now the second question: Where do the biggest leadership failures come from? The core, of course. The erstwhile German defense minister is Exhibit A. It’s always a collapse of the core.

The essence of leadership is the process of influencing volunteers to accomplish good things. Leadership begins with the core, with our intent to lead. The first question of leadership is simple: Why do you want to lead? Isn’t it interesting that we rarely ask such a question when we hire or promote our leaders. And yet the question reveals the motivational basis of a person’s desire to lead.

Let me re-emphasize that people are volunteers. This acknowledgment reminds us of a couple of things. First, leaders are no better than their followers. Second, performance is based on discretionary contribution. The history of leadership is largely a chronicle of people being muscled, coerced and pressed into service. Actually, this isn’t leadership at all, but we’ve been calling it that for centuries and now it’s catching up with us. Increasingly, we see a very interesting trend in organizations. In a turbulent, globalizing world, talented people are less willing to put up with core-less leaders, regardless of how clever they are. Next-Gen workers, in particular, seem to have a highly developed sense of smell for dangerous leaders. If you don’t pass the smell test, they will resist your leadership or simply leave. The personal risk is just too high.

There are no shortcuts to becoming a great leader. It takes hard work, humility and self-discipline. Meanwhile, our society is in desperate need of people with that all-too-rare combination — strong core and strong crust. Both will be tested, but the toughest tests will be tests of the core. And they certainly will come!

Timothy R. Clark, Ph.D., is an author, international management consultant, former two-time CEO, Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University and Academic all-American football player at BYU. His latest two books are "The Leadership Test" and "Epic Change." E-mail: trclark@trclarkpartners.com

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From “Teach the Child”:

There are four “lenses” that each child should have to properly view the world. Without these lenses the “student is handicapped in his ability to see things as they are.” Morality is the hub in which these things function to help distinguish between right and wrong.

1. Math (for the ability to induce truth through logic and reasoning - inducing truth)
2. Science (for the ability to deduce truth through observation)
3. Social sciences (for the ability to see truth by widening perspective to see norms and values)
4. Arts and language (the ability to judge truth through beauty/value).

From Introduction to "The Gateway to the Great Books":
There are 4 colors “representing 4 aspects of ourselves as we use words to communicate what we know, think, feel or intend”:
1. Yellow - works of imagination (arts and language)
2. Blue - biographies and histories (humane letters or social studies)
3. Green - mathematics and natural sciences
4. Red - philosophy or theology (morality)

You can see from the visual below how I segregate subjects and skills into different areas in the lenses and identify them as crust skills or a core lessons. Some activities can serve as both: reading a book can strengthen the core of someone's compassion for a culture as well as teach them crust knowledge of geographical or cultural facts. However, the chart gives you a general idea:

Here I inserted the "Core and Crust" visual of how I incorporate the Core and Crust concept with the lenses.  Check out this video to describe it.

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YEAR-LONG TOPICS AND SOURCES

Time Period: Ancient History

Pre-history through Fall of the Roman Empire and Early Exploration

Monthly Break-down:

Month-long activities:

Theme-based devotionals, memorization, and family reading

Spelling lists derived from reading material and project studies, tested 2xs/month

Latin (“Getting Started With Latin”)-1-3 daily exercises

Physical fitness: basketball 2-3 days a week, personal fitness programs (running, biking, swimming) 2-3 times a week

“Authors in the Attic”: free writing group that meets once a week where creative writing submissions are shared (all ages)

The following activities are ongoing throughout the year and are in addition to the monthly outlines

Week 1: Leadership Academy

“Painless Grammar”

Young Men Group led by Dad: based upon “Man-votionals” and “The Art of Manliness” for 11 and older

-readings and discussion

-outdoor adventures

-leadership and planning experience

-personal grooming

Young Ladies Group led by Mom: based upon “Beautiful Girlhood” for 10 and older

-cultural activities

-readings and discussion

-manners and etiquette

-personal grooming

-outdoor activities

Week 2: Geo-conquest

Map studies and testing

Cooking and culture (field trips where possible)

Learn points of interest in continent/area of the month (changes monthly)

How to do Prezi's and Powerpoints: present one during this week

“Book of Rule”: study of governments of region

Week 3: Eureka!

Study symbols and tools of science and math through various awesome books like “Go Figure!,” “The Math Book,” “Mandala,” “Math Games and Number Tricks,”etc.

Focus on one or more examples from “Mathematicians are People Too” and do exercises

“Sharing Nature with Children” activities

Euclid: do geometric proofs

Cover “The Art of Argument” one day

Week 4: Imaginative Arts

Art projects and lessons

Plays: our goal is to do at least one online production

“On Stage” games: acting practice

“Play on Words” and “Common Phrases” for cultural literacy and fun with words!

“Langston Hughes” and other poetry