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For Roosevelt Island mom Ellen Labiner, homeschooling offered a happy medium between public school’s focus on teaching to the “lowest common denominator” and the opposite extreme at her daughter Arielle’s Manhattan private school, the Park East Day School. “They pushed her very hard. I wanted her to have time to enjoy her life,” says Labiner, who pulled Arielle out of the school after fourth grade. (Younger sister Sarah, who had just completed kindergarten, began homeschooling at the same time.)
Now the girls roll out of bed at 9am, have breakfast, and then tackle spelling, grammar and math. When it’s time for science, Labiner relies on a course from Sonlight Curriculum, a company that specializes in homeschooling courses. Then they embark on a group activity: art history, poetry or music class, a book club, ice -skating or play rehearsal (both girls are in the NYCHEA production of Into the Woods this month; see Calendar for details).
Homeschooling also gives children an opportunity to get involved in their academic planning. Rafaello Adler-Abramo, 12, helped his mother choose his weekly outside classes, which include Hebrew school, self-defense training, a Boy Scouts meeting, physics, mathematical logic and a world literature discussion group. He also often maps out the order in which he will do his work each day.
Elsa Haas
Sat, Mar 01, at 10:04am
About the testing: don't let it scare you off if your child "doesn't test well" - I'll tell you why, with details about what the NYS homeschooling regulations really say, in a minute. But first, here's our experience with our son, a "late reader."
He didn't read until he was 8 (in the summer after "second grade") and we just continued reading books of his choice to him. When he was ready and willing, he moved in THREE MONTHS from being basically a non-reader to reading on what most schools would consider a "fourth-grade level."
We didn't have to label him or pressure him, and since the first time you really have to test is in fifth grade (because it's every other year in grades 4-8), we didn't have to begin to worry about tests at all.
He's now in so-called "third-grade" (where he would be by age if he were in public school) and he still loves books. He reads Calvin and Hobbes, Melvin Beederman and various science and other books on his own, with great concentration, intensity and enjoyment (and I read to him more difficult books, like The Call of the Wild, The Golden Compass, and the original Narnia series - omitting any especially bloody parts). He reads the funnies himself, and I read him articles from The NY Times.
Your child has to EITHER test above the 33rd percentile (better than the bottom third, in nationwide statistics) OR show "one year of academic growth" since the previous year. And if you have a child with special needs, there are other possibilities involving what grade level you declare each year and/or establishing testing accommodations.
Also, you get to choose your test from a list and the score that matters is a composite score - usually the average of the language and math scores, since the tests most parents choose don't include other subjects - so a high score in one area can balance a low score in the other.
Some parents test voluntarily in "fourth grade" so that they have a baseline score for the following year when they have to test - this way they can show the "one year of academic growth" if necessary.
If you're considering homeschooling but feeling cowed by the NYS Regulations, don't!
Also, there is no "curriculum" - you only have to address each of a list of subjects in some way, as Lori alluded to in the article. I'm an unschooler, so I'm VERY creative about how I address what's on the list.
If you have any questions about this, you can write to me at ElsaHaas@si.rr.com (hope that address doesn't get scrambled). I'm the director of PAHSI - Partnership for Accurate Homeschooling Information.
