Am I Doing Enough?

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If you ask yourself this, you are not alone! In fact, a few years back, I did some research for a homeschool game along the lines of Family Feud: “We asked 100 homeschool families what their biggest fear was in homeschooling…” and you may be surprised to learn that the number one answer — by a mile! — was Am I Doing Enough? (or some similar version of Am I Ruining My Kids?). Didn’t matter if they had homeschooled ten days or ten years—it was a common concern for parents to wonder if they were “doing enough.”

An hour of one-on-one instruction is roughly the equivalent of three hours in a school setting, so many children can accomplish a “full day’s work” in just a few hours, leaving time for other projects, reading, independent learning, or activities. Many parents are concerned that if they aren’t sitting at a desk doing book work for most of a school day, they must not be doing enough. [Disclaimer: Do check your state requirements, as there are a handful of states with specific hours requirements — but generally speaking, even in those few states, HOW you accomplish those hours can vary greatly and largely be up to you. For suggestions on what might be included as schoolwork, from a practical perspective, I’m happy to consult individually.]

What is enough?

If your child is moving forward on the education continuum and is neither bored nor frustrated, you are likely doing enough. (Well, okay, we all have some of “those days,” but we’re talking in general, here.) But of course, children advance at different rates, so “doing enough” is a relative term. If you wonder what is typical for students to learn at various levels, or what’s next on that learning continuum, you might read What Should I Be Teaching My Child?  (This article has grade-level skills checklists at the end that can help you see what a typical student at his grade level might have learned or if there are any significant “holes” in his learning that may impact his progress.)

If your child is bored, you can certainly move along more quickly in an area or two. If you are concerned that s/he is not moving forward as you’d like, you can adjust in an area or two; in that case, you’ll want to determine if the need is more work/practice, more maturity/time to be ready for the work, or more explanation of the topic.

Keep in mind that math and language arts are sequential skills subjects, with new concepts building on earlier concepts. But science, history, and other similar subjects are content based (vs skills based), so think outside the grade-level box and think of all childhood history or science knowledge/experience as selections from the larger menu, not necessarily in a specific order.

Timetables! We act as if children were railroad trains running on a schedule…But children are not railroad trains. They don’t learn at an even rate. They learn in spurts, and the more interested they are in what they are learning, the faster these spurts are likely to be.   – John Holt

Most parents are more comfortable somehow periodically assessing their child’s progress. This could be chapter tests in your materials, or skills checklists, or goals evaluation, or any other method that you choose to use to assess how your child is coming along in your homeschool program.

One option is to download this free pdf checklist (Hewitt) of suggested learning objectives for grades K-8 OR the Typical Course of Study (World Book) for your child’s grade level. Either checklist can help you identify what skills your child has already been taught and mastered and which still need to be addressed this year. You can use this information to help guide your plan for your student throughout the remainder of the year. (These checklists can also be found at the end of the What Should I Be Teaching article linked above.) Please remember to hold these lists loosely and simply use them as tools!

Some parents are more comfortable with an actual test of some sort. While a standardized test is not the best indicator of what a child KNOWS (it is a better indicator of how he COMPARES), it can be an inexpensive starting point or baseline for the skills subjects of math and language arts. There are many options available to homeschoolers when it comes to standardized tests. Tests specifically for end-of-kindergarten include: Iowa (ITBS), Stanford 10 (on paper), CAT6/TerraNova2, CAT5. For information about what tests are available, where to get them, and test-taking tips:

Again, these are all simply tools for you to use as you determine the best journey for your child.

I have also included a few other links that may be of help to you, below:

If you are concerned that learning may be harder than typical for your student, this article may be of help: Why is Learning So Hard?

But at the end of the day…. if you have spent time with your child, have helped him grow in character and understanding, facilitated his exploration of the world around him and God’s plan for him, and/or he’s learned or reinforced his knowledge in some way … sure sounds like plenty enough to me. How about you?

 

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