Out with the old, and a bit of Disbelief.

This is the time of year when old curriculum is gathered together and either donated or sold to make room for new books, and manuals. Homeschool fairs pop up all over the country as well as used swaps in nearby parking lots. Some wait until the new season for school begins, but this is the time of year that our family has begun to think of purchasing what we will use for the coming year, though this year there will be no deleniation between actual years since the children will homeschool even through the summer. For the last 3 years we've used sonlight 1 and sonlight 2 for our children's history, bible, and language arts. We were blessed to find a friend who sold us sonlight 2 for really pennies compared to its retail price, and now we're about to gather all these things up and ebay them in hopes of purchasing Sonlights Core 3+4 program. This is a program that covers the age range of 8 to 12 years of age depending on reading and comprehension abilities. It is adaptable for the younger and even older so the 3+4 is not necessarily a grade designation.

There have been occasions when the neighborhood children talk of their school experiences and are suprised to learn we keep no grades, and track no attendence. We use a redo until correct method. When there are wrong answers the child is simple asked to try again. In out school settings there is really no time for this as there are too many students for a teacher in keeping with schedules and time restraints to allow for this. We test very little. Spelling tests are the bulk of our testing and in truth through the use of various curriculums is minimally required. These facts catch many on the hop. Much about our lives surprises people. Most believe it necessary for us to keep the same degree of information collected of children in "out" schools, but as we are always in touch of their progress or lack there of personally grades are merely unnecessary, and as we attend to one another on a daily basis keeping attendance is hardly required. I say this of elementary students however, and as they progress in a few years from elementary years to middle years and highschool years it will be increasingly important for us to keep such records for the sake of their having a transcript for college but not much beyond serving this purpose.

There was a time in the not too distant past when we were called upon to keep records as the state we lived in required. We are blessed now to live within a state that is less intrusive and in so freeing of bureaucracy that we may focus on the sole task at hand. I will continue to keep a portfolio or year book for their pleasure. I hope they will one day seek to look back on the work and projects they completed as a source of pride. On rare occasions I will see them pull out a set and reminisce about old work or field trip photos. I really love when they do that.