Our three and a half months of homeschooling have drawn to a close: I had my homeschool review on Thursday. And how did it go? As per usual, I was all stress-y leading up to it, worrying that we didn’t have “enough.” Now in some areas I clearly was more than amply covered. In others, not so much.
In a change from last year, the review was done in the MCPS auditorium at Hungerford Drive. There were about a half dozen tables scattered around the room, and despite my misgivings, the setting really wasn’t that bad. Once again I had new reviewer. When RSPVing I was given the option of requesting a specific person, but couldn’t remember the names of my past reviewers. As it turns out the person to whom I was assigned was the Pupil Personnel Worker who had sat in on all of my Educational Management Team meetings for A. and C. Now that would have been an interesting reunion…maybe. But I had to reschedule, so that didn’t come to pass.
Because M. is older, and has so much responsibility for her learning, I decided to have her accompany me to the review. I know this is kind of a no-no among homeschoolers (fears of students being “quizzed,” etc.) but I figured that her presence could only be a testament to the fact that she’s very bright and learning. She could fill in with narrative because documentation would be pretty bare bones.
- English. Go big. I pulled out the big gun, the Stanford U. EPGY course. Complete syllabus, impressive reading list and a sample of two papers that were each at least 4 pages long. I gave the reviewer a nice long time to look those over, plus lots of description, and clearly s/he was impressed with M.’s writing. S/he commented that another person that day had also relied on an EPGY class and s/he seemed intrigued. That plus a number of books, novels, and we’re good.
- Math. Shared a few Hands on Equations algebra worksheets, noted that the tutor is an MCPS teacher, meeting twice weekly for one-on-one sessions. M. asking for and doing math homework between sessions. We’re good.
- PE. Photo from weekly fencing, plus skiing and rock climbing. Self explanatory.
- Art. Sketches plus photos of adorable set design M. did for a Levine School production of Seussical. Sufficient.
- Music. PBS’s Broadway: The History of the American Musical. Great series. Also saw a performance of Hairspray, and watched additional videos such as Chicago and Every Little Step. As for writing, concrete product…not so much. Nothing really.
- Health. Spun daily reading of the New York Times Health Section as well as cited a Teen Self Defense workshop. The joke around here: “Don’t drink. Don’t have sex. MCPS Health. Done.” Too bad we attended Capitol Pride after the review.
- Science. Deep breath. MIT Kitchen Chemistry. Good syllabus and texts. Wish I had remembered to take photos. Accidentally deleted M.’s homework, so had to recreate it the night before. Even with a slew of videos (Nat Geo, PBS, Discovery, etc.), felt a bit thin to me. She’ll continue it through the summer.
- Social Studies. The area she has done the most in–and for which we had the least to show for. Highlighted the Lukeion workshop, IDing coins, the Roman reenactors, the videos upon videos, books….and yet.
- Other. Starting Ancient Greek with Dad and some Rosetta Stone French.
In the end we passed, the reviewer noting that clearly M. knows how to write and is doing a lot, but s/he did ask for some more written work to be show next time.
On the way out, I was asked to fill out a customer survey type form (what’s up with that?) and was given a laughable little slip of MCPS homeschooling resource suggestions: links to the Maryland State and MCPS Home Schooling websites, MCPS Curriculum website, and phone numbers for MCPS Placement and Assessment for special ed services and the MCPS Homeschooling Office. Gee…thanks.
Good heavens, I’m amazed. How many schooled kids have accomplished anything like this in the past 3 1/2 months?
I’d like to see the homeschool reviewers talk to schooled kids by comparison, and then pass or fail the relevant schools. How many would pass?
What grade level is this supposed to be equivalent to? 2 4-page essays in 3 months seems like about a 6th/7th grade equivalent to me, but I don’t remember M.’s age.
7th. Those were only samples. There were weekly assignments that included response paragraphs, etc. One essay used a poem C. analyzed this year in MCPS 10th grade IB english.
One problem with a portfolio review like this is that it is sometimes difficult to tell “samples” from “complete works”. How do you address that problem when convincing the reviewers? Do you have a list of everything, with a few starred examples that are included in the portfolio?
I’m not currently home schooling (we’re trying public high school next year), but the odds of our home schooling seem to go up each year (we were up to about 30% probability this spring), so I’m still mentally preparing myself for it.
I’m with FedUP. My daughter could polish off a stack of books in a week. How many public school English programs can claim that?
But yikes. Compared to you, we barely had to do anything to show progress. I’m just across the river from you, in Northern Virginia. In Virginia, all I had to was submit an NOI (Notice of Intent) at the beginning and a Proof of Progress at the end. In the middle, they left me completely alone. I loved that freedom, not having our education prescribed and dictated for one blissful year.
For NOI, I wrote a letter. VA Organization of Homeschoolers advises keeping this short, a few paragraphs suffice. The rationale is that if you go overboard, it may prompt the superintendent to start asking that of all families. But I couldn’t help myself, I was really jazzed about all we were doing. Mind you, we did a fair amount of unschooling, I noted that exuberantly and never had a problem with school brass. DD also took three CTY on line courses (geometry and writing) and my husband taught in the evening; physics and a nifty course on the history of math, something schools barely touch on. Where did Calculus originate, for example?
That’s ALL I had to do. It was easy as pie. For Proof of Progress, most people I know just do testing. Evaluation is one choice and most homeschooling folks don’t opt for that. One family I know did a portfolio because their child has some aversion to testing. I had planned on having DD take the SAT again (8th grade, she took it in 7th for continued CTY eligibility) but the June date conflicted with a wedding so there went that. My daughter had been accepted to a magnet high school so I used the admissions test from December. They accepted it! We didn’t even have to devote any home time to testing.
I”m not sure I’d want the review but I realize you have no choice. On the one hand, it would have been exciting to let them know the year we’d had. On the other hand, “long walks in the frozen winter woods to dissect the finer points of Charles Dickens” might not have gone over very well, although they were wonderful literature discussions. After all, if you’re not sweating over a deadline assignment at midnight and coming to school bleary eyed and foggy, it’s not learning, right?
J., I’m too cheap to pay for a an “umbrella.” And I feel that it’s important to deal directly with the system, to go toe to toe as it were and demonstrate that my way of education is just as valid as their’s.
Question: have you ever heard of anyone where MCPS said they “did not” pass their homeschool review? And if they didn’t “pass” their homeschool review, what happens?
Lyda, I haven’t been immersed in the homeschooling community so I can’t really say definitively. However I do know how of one parent who was threatened with non-compliance, ironically because her son was taking too many university courses. You can read more here: http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2009/04/carver-we-have-problem.html
Here is the link to the Maryland statute http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/nonpublicschools/nplegal/comar/comar_13a_10_01.htm and the relevant passage:
.03 Noncompliance with Requirements.
A. Failure to Consent. If a parent or guardian does not agree to the requirements of Regulation .01B, C, and D, above, a child shall be enrolled promptly in a public school or nonpublic school as defined in COMAR 13A.09.09.02B(9).
B. Deficiencies in the Program. If a local superintendent determines on the review of the home instruction program or inspection of the portfolio that a child is not receiving a regular, thorough instruction program in conformity with Regulation .01C and D, the local superintendent shall notify the parent or guardian in writing of any deficiencies in the program. The following apply:
(1) Within 30 days of receipt of notification of any deficiencies, the parent or guardian shall provide evidence to the local superintendent that the deficiency has been or is being corrected.
(2) If a local superintendent determines there is not a satisfactory plan to correct a deficiency or if a deficiency is not corrected, a child shall be enrolled promptly in a public school or a nonpublic school as defined in COMAR 13A.09.09.02B(4)(a).
To add, I worry about MCPS’ stance on this because it likely discourages homeschooling. Parents who are skittish to begin with, who think it’s like climbing Mount Everest, might be deterred if they feel the county will be looking over their shoulder. Compared to me, SwitchedOn, you had to do a lot of work and stressed a little over it. I wouldn’t want that added stress in my life. In the immortal words of “When Harry Met Sally,” I’ll have what she’s having. That’s what I’d want, what Virginia gets.
Maryland isn’t a wide-open, bare minimum regulation homeschooling state–from what I recall it falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum nationally. What it comes down to then is how the law is interpreted, and how homeschooling is framed. In a small victory, I’m pleased to say that it appears that MCPS has revised its homeschooling page and gotten rid of what had been intimidating and flat out misleading information. For example:
The MCPS webpage USED to say:
Am I obliged to follow the public school calendar?
You need to specify the hours, days, and length of your instructional year during the program review. Weekend, evening hours, and summertime also may be a part of the schedule if you desire. A minimum of 180 days (based on 5 hours of instruction per day, it would be 900 hours) per year of instruction is expected.
In point of fact, the COMAR merely says:
The home instruction program shall: (3) Take place on a regular basis during the school year and be of sufficient duration to implement the instruction program.
Health? You have to provide proof of Health? I’d just tell them she gets ten hours sleep each night. Better than the six to seven she got in public 7th grade. Can’t forget the “health” project that had her up till 2am. Something about celebrities and drugs. I like my health class (read: adequate sleep and water) over theirs any day.
Stop me while I’m still ahead. I’m having too much fun with this! Congrats, SwitchedOn, for a successful review. Will you be continuing homeschooling next year?
Lol. So true. Maybe I’ll submit proof of adequate sleep next time. It’s always important, but I think it’s especially critical in the middle school years.
“J., I’m too cheap to pay for a an “umbrella.” And I feel that it’s important to deal directly with the system, to go toe to toe as it were and demonstrate that my way of education is just as valid as their’s.”
On that, I’m actually with you. And I don’t like umbrella programs anyway.
As said, I might have relished the chance to go toe to toe too and demonstrate that what we’re doing is just as valid (in my eyes, far more) as what they do. That’s why I wrote such a long NOI. I was just drooling over my book list, museum trips, classical concerts, physics days.
I made a point of mentioning how we were doing this on a shoestring budget. It was a subtle blow below the belt. I wanted to show, how with our limited resources we could do so much and public school with that monster budget (I don’t buy they have no money. Scrutinize closely how they spend or waste it) often does so little.
Back then, when I was accessing the most traveled state homeschool yahoogroup, the conventional advice was, when leaving, to not necessarily say why. The reasoning was, you are not asking permission, you are informing. On that I agree. But I do wish parents who pull out of the system, for whatever reason (gifted, 2e, for example), do make a point of stating why. Maybe just maybe it’ll make it easier for the next person who needs services and doesn’t get it.
Good luck and keep up all that dynamic home learning!
As much as I complain about California, at least they’ve got non-intrusive homeschooling laws. I can’t believe MD makes you jump through all those hoops when you’re not receiving any state money. There are families I know who do a similar kind of portfolio review on a monthly basis for a charter program, but they get $1800 per year for curricular materials & classes in exchange for the hassle.
Boy, would that be nice. I would take even a fraction of that; per pupil spending here is something like $15K.
Yes, Crimson Wife, way too much hassle. I continue to be stunned over the years that the folks who are constantly enriching and educating their children, light years ahead of school, have to prove competency the very institution they left because it was not meeting their needs! Chew on that one for a moment. It would be funny, were it not so insulting. I agree with Crimson. Demand compensation!