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Common Core? It’s probably not what you think it is….
With the new rush to homeschool I see people planning to homeschool that are in a rush to take a break from public school only for the Covid virus with plans to return. The comment I keep seeing is that they are want to do everything like school but they are not going to do common core because they just can’t do math like that….
Common Core was developed for schools to set a standard for subjects like Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Math in order to make it easy for students to transfer from one school to another having studied the same general lessons at the same time – so for example… 6th grade in science here in Illinois is following NGSS common core and will be learning about understanding cells as one of their lessons.
Any parent that wants to be able to transfer back to public school at the end of Covid Homeschooling should be aware of the standards for the subjects and grades that they are covering. Including more material is great! One misconception though is common core math. Common core math is simply the standards, but one of the things that changed with common core was for students concentrating on understanding numbers and operations as opposed to rote memorization of facts. By teaching an understanding of mathematics, by the time students reach high school, they should be able to grasp higher math concepts easier as well as scientific methods.
I know at our house we have trouble with the questions that involve estimating…. The questions always give numbers and then ask us to estimate. It’s not here’s a container that is this size filled with marbles, estimate how many marbles are in it. It’s instead, you have 100 people buying 12 tickets each, estimate how many tickets are bought? They want and answer like 1,000 but we always come up with 1,200 because seriously, we have the numbers! So for us that has always been our issue with common core math standards and assignments. I do understand what is being asked, but the way of going about it isn’t exactly the best way in us….
What I see most people object to though is the fact that numbers are disassembled. Addition like 13 + 7 is the same as 10 + 3 + 7. What’s funny is that some of us do that mentally and don’t even think about it. To me 3 +7 is 10. So as soon as I see the 3 and the 7, I take the 10 off and pair the 3 and 7 to get a 10 and I’ve got 20. If it was 33 + 7, I’d do the same sort of thing but it would be 30 + 3 + 7 giving me 40. That’s all they really are doing with common core. It just looks like a lot because to start with they write every step out. This is similar to telling little kids how to do just about anything. First you open the package… No there is a zipper type opening, don’t cut it, now take out just want you want… Wait put the package back in the fridge, don’t leave it on the counter. And step by step it goes. So yes, that’s where common core math goes. You can teach memorization, but the steps that students would learn early will have to get added at sometime.
Planning Curriculum
I just saw in an email that curriculum materials are the new toilet paper… Luckily we had started early. No matter what we do though I’ll second guess my decisions. We know we definitely want something secular, and we were hoping to follow the common core standards to be sure we cover everything. Sticking with, but adding to the current school year plan.
I had went onto Amazon and searched each of the topics I wanted to cover and then ordered a textbook for that subject and our grade level. I added books that had great reviews that looked good for resources. We had also gotten the common core standards for each subject from IXL. Our mistake we found was the textbooks turned out to be from before common core. They didn’t follow the requirements. We had hoped to stick with the common core standards to make sure and not miss anything important and to leave the option to return to public school when it becomes safe.
So far I’ve ordered a list of books that included the older textbooks, some additional workbooks that had great reviews, and some online resources. We had already signed up for Brainpop, quizlet, tynker and Mangahigh. I’ve now added IXL, Scholastics Science and Math magazine subscriptions (with the teacher online components), Newsela (the free log in so far), Medium (not sure if I will keep it), and I may add more.
For subjects, we made sure to look at Social Studies, Math, ELA (Reading, Writing, and Vocabulary), Science, and I added Spanish and Computer Coding. I’m still looking at what to include for art and PE. I have a subscription to Craftsy for myself, so I may use some of those classes for art. Finally for PE, I think we can pick sports this year and look at how they are played and also look at some health and healthy eating topics.
I’m currently using chalk to plan out our schedule. Our goal is to record everything we can to be sure to document everything we do. We are debating how to evaluate progress, but we are hoping the IXL subscription will help with that.
No Distance Learning Available?
Our school came out with a draft plan and it doesn’t include distance learning. The school mentioned possibly including distance learning for students that are home bound for medical reasons, but that lets out a lot of families. Most families are torn on going back to school. I know our family really wants the social and believe me I’d love to have the ‘free’ time each day, BUT I also worry about the virus and the lack of social distancing with our school planning to have all the students go back full time.
We do like our current school, though I have to admit as an older parent we do seem to have a completely different mindset from a lot of the other parents. That being said, I just can’t risk my child going to school, when it seems even getting takeout is a huge risk right now.
So the planning begins! For us, I’ve started joining homeschool groups on Facebook, though I’ve always kept up on the information in the past. I’m also still following the news from our local school district just in case something changes. If they were to offer virtual as an option we would quickly pivot. I also have though about any letter ‘withdrawing’ stating that we would like to include part time services of any remote activities that the school offers. Our state does include include in their plans that homeschool parents can request to be included in the local school part time. They included that for sports and driver ed, but I’d love to use it to my advantage.
I’ve also went on Amazon and ordered the books for each of the classes that I though we needed for our grade level, checking each review along the way. I included: ela, vocabulary, writing, social studies, science and math. I also ordered a few workbooks to go with as well as some hands on activity books that included geography. I’d love to get started planning out the first couple weeks. I’ve also gone on IXL to pull up the standards for each topic, for us 6th grade level and I’m creating a planning board in Trello to make sure I don’t miss anything.
Once I have my first week planned out I’ll share it.
Puzzle and Visual Skills
Growing up my family did a lot of puzzles. There was always a puzzle on a card table sitting out in a room that we could drop past and spend a few minutes or several minutes to give it some time putting it together. Recently a friend posted a puzzle board that had drawers on each side and a couple edges, so I was excited to get one ordered. I can keep it on the coffee table and move it off when I want to use the table. I somehow thought the whole family would get excited to join in. So far I’ve completed one puzzle and I’m still by myself…. and my skill have gotten rusty. I feel like I need to practice a lot more.
Working with a puzzle I think helped me develop better skills for processing images in my mind. By high school I enjoyed taking notes writing backwards. I never completely understood that others couldn’t write backwards – Even now I don’t completely understand how it could possibly be difficult to see backward writing and have a hard time reading it. Looking at the letters A P backwards and forwards is just as easy to recognize.
Over time I’ve gotten a little out of practice, but I still enjoy writing backwards when I have a chance.
What is Autism? I keep hearing about it.
Every so often I get asked “What is autism? I keep hearing about” – and it frequently includes a family member (child) that they think has it. – Well first off knowing someone is autistic isn’t going to change the person. It may change what help you look for or who you think you include in meetings or appointments. It might even help you explain why things happen. – But the person you loved before the diagnosis is the same kid you love after the diagnosis.
There are so many different parts to autism. Our house, rules and schedules are set in stone. Kids with autism frequently have SPD – sensory processing disorder also. Some seeking sensory input and some avoiding it. My son has issues with loud noses, strong smells, lots of different tastes as well as more. There is also the confusion between won’t and can’t, I hear so many times, “just make him”. There are so many things that my son can’t do. He has phobias and anxiety and he can’t, it isn’t a simple won’t, he can’t and no amount of ‘making him’ is going to change that. He also takes things very literally and everything may have a totally different meaning than they have for someone else. Just because you knew what you mean, doesn’t mean it was crystal clear to him. Social interactions are tough too. I was so worried about the fact that no one would come to my son’s birthday party, but when a friend brought siblings my son pulled me aside and asked if he and his two friends could go inside and leave everyone else outside to do whatever they wanted. We also have to watch for what triggers meltdowns and deal with the issues before they become a problem. For us if it builds up, the item, place, person, may never be seen again if we don’t stop things from escalating while we have a chance.
Our house also has things that are off limits that are just ‘unwritten’ rules. I have a pillow that I love, it says Blessed on one side and striped on the other. Every time I turn it to say Blessed, my son turns it back to stripes. He watches like a hawk for when that pillow turns and flips it as soon as I try to turn it. Year ago I remember having a rug that had a map for toy cars to drive on. He would walk careful around that rug every time. Every kid is different though and they are all amazing.
Things that you can do:
- See kids for who they are
- The kids see the world differently
- Kids with autism want friends too
- Behavior can be a way of communicating
- Transitions are tough, give them time to adjust to change. Routine is important.
- They have anxiety, sights, sounds, textures, tastes, change, new things, new people, they all worry them.
- Focus on what they can do, not what they can’t.
Exercise can be educational! and Pacing is our favorite Stim…
Right now there are so many cool options for exercising and learning at the same time. Being at home, no school, no social options, exercise on a treadmill seems to be an option. It’s great when we can combine exercise and education. I’m lucky to have a treadmill that links to an online app that can control it, but there are lot of other options. In the past we have done BigGym that does tours and uses the camera on your ipad, but my treadmill has the iFit option built into it. With iFit we’ve been working our way through the Egypt pyramids tour for now. We’ve learned about the Great Pyramid of Gyza and just started on the Bent Pyramid. A tour guide walks us around showing us the area and explaining everything while we walk around with him.
We’ve also explored national parks, famous old world cities, and even our neighborhood through virtual walks. My middle son discussed how cool it would be to have the option to use a VR headset while walking, but personally I could see falling off the back of a treadmill if I was using that option.
My youngest loves pacing, especially walking around in circles, but walking on the treadmill has been added as a new favorite. He hates that bugs outside… So when you add in a treadmill indoors without the risk of bugs and he can control the incline and speed – he’s happy. He started slow going .5 Mph and has worked up to 3.5 mph and added an incline. I suspect this will continue even after social distancing is a thing of the past.
About Me
I am a SAHM/WAHM of three boys ranging in age from 13 to 29. We are working on saving enough for college at the same time as dealing with school and our older independent kids. I author a few blogs, including http://teched4kids.com. I have in the past taught computer information technology classes for the local university and taught workshops for kid's in technology education besides being the Kentucky State FIRST LEGO League Championship Coordinator from 2005 to 2008. I now work as a computer consultant, run a handmade home business, and am available for workshops. Life here is always an adventure!
