Report Writing

by Hillary Harvey, November 11, 2009

It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which, after all, is what school is all about.
-Professor Umbridge, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

It’s not that I don’t like making lists, because, believe me, I do!  It’s just that there’s something about a list that results in a report that ultimately must be delivered to a sort of government agency, or at least to someone who has the job of evaluating me and my family and possibly finding us lacking, and then ultimately, possibly, finding me unsuitable somehow and then maybe taking my children away from me or something…  Not that I’m spiraling or blowing anything out of proportion at all.

Yup, you guessed it.  My first quarterly report for the school district is due.

Going back through our days and figuring out what we did with each one is a bit daunting.  And it’s not that I don’t have it all written down somewhere.  I read on one of the Yahoo lists that some people keep a calendar and mark it for each day they homeschool.  So, in the beginning of the year, I got a weekly calendar and have, since then, marked it.  First, just making a mark; now actually writing down each subject we covered and what lesson or pages from the curricula we used, if any.  But that’s the thing: the “if any”.  While the majority of what we do can be traced back to books of curricula or workbooks that were purchased online through the manufacturers’ or an Amazon-type website, lots of times, we discuss something without using a book.  Or we read a book we stumbled upon from the library, or a magazine, or do research online.  Do I write down each and every thing we read or saw?  And what about those afternoons when we didn’t necessarily sit down for lessons, but still did a lot of learning?  When we did baking projects, or went to a museum, or had a playdate that was filled with educational fun?  No wonder I’ve been procrastinating.

My biggest fear with the report is that we won’t have spent enough time learning.  Kids in school have 6 hours of lessons, five days a week!  Do I need to spend 6 hours a day teaching my kid at home?  I’d planned for two.  When I talk to other homeschoolers, it sounds like two hours is plenty.  And those are kids in the higher grades.  Their moms tell me that two hours is maybe even too much for a first grader.  As evidence, people site all the time in school spent waiting.  Waiting in line, waiting your turn, waiting for someone to sharpen her pencil and get back into her seat, waiting for the kid who is always a disruption to stop, waiting for the teacher to finish with that kid so you can ask a question.  One friend estimates that the amount of time actually spent learning is maybe two hours, but spread out throughout the day.

As I look back through my calendar, I can see that’s it not as bad as I think.  For the most part, we sit down to do lessons three times a week.  I protect this time from other appointments, playdates and classes, scheduling them for after lunch.  We begin with math, move on to phonics, then either grammar or spelling, handwriting, history and finish up with science.  During the rest of the day, Zoë spends her free time writing books (writing, phonics, grammar, spelling, handwriting, art), helping me bake or cook dinner (reading, math, safety skills, vocabulary), drawing pictures while listening to a story CD (art, literature) or reading a book or magazine (reading).  On our way to someone’s house or a class, we listen to music (music) or NPR (current events, culture, history, science, music) in the car.   Every night, she’s read to (literature and poetry).  Add on our classes (geography/culture and dance on Mondays, French on Tuesdays, science and drama on Wednesdays, library book club on Thursdays, and either chorus, a monthly book club or art on Fridays, depending on the week), and maybe we do spend 6 hours a day learning… at least.  Not to mention the weekends.

When you look at a-day-in-the-life through the prism of homeschooling, suddenly everything becomes about learning.  How many conversations do I have a day about the various words I choose to speak (vocabulary)?  How many times does a question lead to the computer, a book or a map for research (science, history, culture, geography, literature, research skills, computer skills)?  How many spontaneous performances do I witness (dance, phys. ed., music, drama, performance art)?  Even when Zoë is playing alone with her animals (drama, story-telling, science, zoology, math), she is learning.

So I went through it all and wrote up a list based on the format of the reports other people had shared with me or on the group lists, tweaking it to make it my own.  I went through the table of contents from our workbooks and curricula and expanded upon the notes I’d jotted down in my calendar.  I spent about an hour, start-to-finish, and, in the end, I felt much as I had about doing our IHIP: impressed with myself.  Not only is my kid learning all this cool stuff, taking all of these great classes with these amazing moms, and generally having my own college experience (meeting other curious, intellectual, creative and talented people and the world being an oyster and all that) right from the start of her education, but this is something that I can do with her and for her, something completely within my reach to make happen.  I’m excited to hand in my report.  I can’t wait to share it with the principal.