Tuesday, May 10, 2011

How productive is Public School?

Really, whether you liked school or not, how productive would you say it was? Did you dread going to class? Was it more like recess for 8hrs or did you learn? Was it constant testing or pop quizzes?

I ran across this article on wcpo.com
Posted: 05/10/2011
Last Updated: 11 minutes ago
CINCINNATI - The man with the stethoscope addressing an eighth grade Language Arts class in the Bethel-Tate School District isn't really a doctor.
He's a teacher in disguise.
The students are listening to every word as his physician character describes his version of a mythical calamity in Silver City, Colorado.
What the eighth graders are learning is crossing the boundaries of language arts, environmental science and deductive reasoning.
The results of this kind of innovative teaching are part of the reason the Bethel-Tate School District has been listed by compareohioschools.org as the most productive school district in the state of Ohio.
"That's not a real surprise to us," says superintendent Jim Smith.
While it may not be news here, he says it is raising some eyebrows across the state.
"A lot of districts and schools have come out to take a look at our operations," Smith says.
What else is making them take notice is that Bethel-Tate doesn't have a lot of money. In fact, Smith says his district has the second lowest per pupil spending of any district in the state.
Educators see the lack of resources as a challenge more than an obstacle.
"I think we've taken the fine art of being frugal, and taken it to the next level," Smith says.
Apparently, it's working.
"Our percentage of kids going to college has just soared in recent years," he says.
And so, while the students learn about positive and negative variables in physics by building a roller coaster, the faculty and staff say they're learning the same about academic achievement and a tight budget.
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/compare_schools.phpI have also been reading the homeschool apologist, which ROCKS! go read it!!!

I think with more and more articles and blogs like this, more people will realize Homeschooling the way to go!!!


Monday, May 9, 2011

Letters and Nature

Over the weekend I picked up some letter tiles (not sold anymore- yay for Thrift stores!) and Candice loves em. We are starting to work on Sight Words now, which means the blog 1+1+1=1 is awesome for resources on that. CLICK ME I have a list of sight words I got from Mrs Perkins and I am using her printables but the ideas from 1+1+1=1 for how to use them and then combining the letter tiles. I am also getting simple to read books from the library and trying to get Candice to play more word games on Zoodles and sound out more words when shes asking "what does this say?"

On other notes we have been taking advantage of this nice weather, few and far in between here in Ohio, and going to the park. Today we worked on Compound Words and Silent E. We spelled Turtle and Jellyfish. She did really well. 

We are also working on workbooks to finish catching up. She can officially count to 20 when she feels like it and Lana is learning colors and can count to 5.


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

LeapFrog movies!

At the library I checked out Leapfrog Letter Factory. Candice and Lana both love it! I even went and checked out the number one! Although Im on hold for it. I am hoping it will teach her the letter sounds, she seems to have a bit of trouble with them.