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MacBeth
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Probably at the beach...
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| Posted: April 26 2005 at 1:42pm | IP Logged
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Design his own curriculum/assignments? Tell us about it!
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God Bless!
MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog 
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Karen E.
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| Posted: April 26 2005 at 5:04pm | IP Logged
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Not entirely, but they certainly have input. Some kid-initiated projects and studies this year have included Black History month projects, a Japan study and overwhelmingly voting to do owl pellet dissection with a friend rather than to further pursue a rocks/minerals unit (I breathed a huge sigh of relief ... I was bored to tears with rocks ....)
Oops -- out of time but wishing I had more time to catch up with the board ....
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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Leonie
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| Posted: April 26 2005 at 6:49pm | IP Logged
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Well, we just moved. I am aware that I need to show that I am following the outcome statements/syllabus documents for registration as a home educator in my new state.
So, I suggested that the boys look for a project to do. I gave some ideas, based on things we are currently involved in or interested in. As usual, their ideas were more creative than mine!
Thomas is making a lapbook on Heraldry. Anthony is making a lapbook on the Sydney Royal Show. And when I downloaded some ideas for file folder games and made these myself, this inspired Anthony and Thomas to make and design file folder games, too.
Alexander is writing a research paper on GK Chesterton and his works.
Jonathon is doing a course through Open University on Film Art.
So, yes, I wasn't a radical unschooler in my suggestion of a project. But the boys have run with the idea!
Leonie in Sydney
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Patty
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| Posted: April 27 2005 at 3:08pm | IP Logged
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Yes, my kids design lots of their own studies. 19yo ds who is in college is a self-taught in the areas of computers and electronics. He can repair computers, build one from scratch, and do tech support. (We really miss that part now that he is in another state!) When he was nine, my parents gave him a little Radio Shack electronics kit for his birthday. He experimented a lot with that. He began checking out piles of libary books; he built his own work bench in the garage; he bought old stereos, computers, etc., at garage sales to tinker with. We gave him broken VCRs, radios, whatever we had.
Some of the coolest projects he did: when he was about twelve he built a working turntable with K'nex, an old motor, and a sewing needle! He played my old LP's on it. The only thing it lacked was something to amplify the sound. When he was thirteen he made a computer program on a dinosaur computer using the card game Set. He numbered every card in the deck, and then he could punch in any three numbers, and the computer could tell him if he had a "set" according to the game's rules. Once he made a water clock with his K'nex. It resembled a ferris wheel, but held plastic cups of water where the seats would be.
When he was fifteen he began working for a retired Air Force guy who had a home business building computers and doing tech support. Our son even got a few jobs of his own by word of mouth. He thought about majoring in computer engineering in college.
Now he's in seminary college! Go figure.
I could give lots of other examples from the other kids, too, but I better stop now.
God bless,
Patty
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stefoodie
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| Posted: April 27 2005 at 3:26pm | IP Logged
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14-yo aisa's doing her own study of the 18th century. i got tired of putting together all kinds of lists, and decided it was her turn to do it (since half my plans don't get followed anyway:D). i told her what my goals were for her: that she should have an understanding of important events at the time, why they happened, who the major players were, how it's important in the "big picture"/salvation history, that i'd like her to be familiar with some of the music and art of the time, some of the saints, scientists, etc. so she designed her own study, chose her own books, is writing a paper right now. we're both more relaxed but i don't think we're going to do this all the time. she's surprised us at the dinner table with a few facts that she's learned, and we've all had some interesting discussions, so it's neat to do this for at least some of our studies.
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stef
mom to five
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Willa
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| Posted: April 27 2005 at 4:30pm | IP Logged
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If my older kids are "into" a course they are doing, they will make their own supplements and tailor their own assignments. My daughter is using MODG Natural History as a spine for science this year but her nature notebook has become quite a part of her life and she has read quite a few books on her own in addition to the list. She is even inspiring her 9yo brother to keep his own nature book and go on long expeditions with her.
If one of my kids has a special interest, I let it "count" for something academic. I tried to get my 9th grader interested in Apologia Biology but it was pretty much a no-go. So instead, he's reading tons of books on areas of interest -- trees, mammals, etc.
My oldest has always had a fairly major say in what he is studying at a given time. He is pretty motivated in general so when he criticizes an assignment or asks if he can change it, I assume he knows what he is talking about. He likes me to give him a general overview of what I think he ought to do but then he works out the details himself, coming to me if necessary.
Years back when they were younger we used to have "Teach yourself month" every February where the kids would basically follow their own interests for that whole month.
So I guess none of my kids have ever designed their WHOLE curriculum but they do help and sometimes will do most of the tailoring for one or two of their own courses.
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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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Cassandra
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| Posted: April 29 2005 at 6:56pm | IP Logged
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My 11 year old daughter has constant ideas of trails she would like to run down. In fact, I can hardly keep up with her. I really love this forum and I am learning soooo much by reading the entries. I would love to let loose and let her fly, but quarterly reports make me feel as if I need to "stick to the plan."
What usually happens though is we or she reads a book (Johnny Tremain, Gentle Ben, Calico Bush) and she is off and running. She spends time on the internet, in encyclopedias, copying passages, drawing pictures. She loves lapbooking and notebooking to pull it together. It is amazing how naturally it all pulls together, and she is actually on grade level without me even trying.
Now, math is different. We are following a typical math program which they dread. However, when I give them choice of Monopoly or made up math contests they enthusiastically jump in. I would like to be a little more free in that department.
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Cassandra
Wife to Jeremy and Mom to 5 little lambs
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Leonie
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| Posted: April 29 2005 at 7:53pm | IP Logged
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Cassandra,
I think your dd sounds like a delight! She is making her own rabbit trails.
With Maths, I know that Cafi Cohen has suggested a week on/week off approach for middle schoolers.
A week on using Maths texts and a week of real life Maths ( or games or Maths projects).
I was thinking of this in relation to a post on the Living Maths folder but thought I'd also share the article here.
Re-Thinking Middle School Math
Leonie in Sydney
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Cassandra
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| Posted: April 30 2005 at 3:22am | IP Logged
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Thanks for the link Leonie! I knew they were learning things when playing Monopoly!  I think I need to allow them some time to have alternative math. I have really said "no" for too long thinking we'll get to the alternative later, but of course we don't. We own Family Math and they have loved it whenever have played a game from there. I'm looking forward to next week because I know the children will LOVE the change of pace. I think we all need it .
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Cassandra
Wife to Jeremy and Mom to 5 little lambs
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Cassandra
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| Posted: May 05 2005 at 3:03pm | IP Logged
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Just wanted to say big "JUST WHAT WE NEEDED" by taking an alternate math week. Kids have played hour and more of Monopoly every day for math, knowing that they are hitting the books again next week. Laughter was pronounced during this time, and that, even more than the "skills" they were practicing, was the best part! 
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Cassandra
Wife to Jeremy and Mom to 5 little lambs
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Marybeth
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What is Family Math? Does it have ideas in it for younger students ie: 2nd and 4th grade? I would like to have some fun ideas for working with my nephew and niece this summer. They like when I allow them to chose their assignments for the day. I insist they work on math and grammar daily.
Thanks for the advice!
Marybeth
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momwise
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| Posted: May 17 2005 at 8:53am | IP Logged
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Marybeth,
Family Math is full of activities for a family math program. But you can do all kinds of math related activities and stories with resources from the library and used book store if you don't want to use Family Math.
I use the Middle School edition for pre-algebra skills but for the younger children I use a lot of library books and manipulatives like geoboards.
If you type in math activities or just do a search for "fractions," "mulitiplication," etc. at the library, you should find plenty of activities and games plus videos and living math books to keep a 2&4 grader busy. Check out MacBeth's opinion
God Bless,
Gwen in Denver
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Does your child... (Unschooling)
