This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Pblk Education, Part 2
May
11
2010
Alpha has taken our teaching to heart.
For those who don’t know the story, go read the original Pblk Education first.
Okay, now that you’re back, take a look at his recent paper (click on the picture for a larger version):
Every single word has the wrong number of boxes for letters. I’ll give them the one box for “sh” since that’s one sound and that’s the lesson for the day and they made that box slightly larger. But they’re still short by one letter every time.
Alpha adds boxes where boxes should be. If they don’t give him enough spaces to spell a word correctly, then he makes the spaces himself. The curriculum might not know how to spell, but he knows that he knows how to spell and he tries to do things the right way (okay, “shrit” isn’t exactly right, but we’ll tell him that and he’ll learn that it’s “shirt”).
There are a bunch of ways I could go with this topic, but I’ll choose this one: it’s good to know that my child is listening to his parents over the school. I hope it stays that way. And it’s good training for the future – “I don’t care if the government says it’s legal; it’s still wrong.” He has already learned that people in power can be wrong.
Except for his parents, of course.
My goal is that he learns something more than spelling – that there is right and wrong and that is ultimately determined by God. He needs to do what is right regardless of the culture.
There are gray areas too, and he should understand that not everything is either 100% right or 100% wrong. But we’ll work on that concept later. Spelling, grammar, and math work better without gray areas.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 10:31 pm and has been carefully placed in the Life category.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
I still do NOT understand why the people who wrote that curriculum wrote it that way. If anything, just have one big box for the kids to try to spell the words fonetiklee.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
And people wonder why U.S. test scores lag behind other countries…
It would be fun to apply this philosophy — teach them the wrong way first so it’s easier to measure progress towards the right way — to other pursuits. Drivers education would start with students running red lights and crashing into other cars. Gun safety classes would start with students “accidentally” shooting other people. Youth soccer would begin with the kids passing the soccer ball around with their hands.
May 12th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
As some one who has extreme trouble spelling, if you gave me the wrong number of boxes not only would I spell the word wrong then I would for the rest of my life. It is hard enough for me to learn how to spell the word once let alone having to learn it all over a second time. Way to make a person with a problem feel stupid pblk skools!
May 15th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
The creators of the curriculum were probably from Detroit. Hookt on fonix reely workt fur mee.
http://www.theroot.com/views/detroit-school-leader-otis-mathis-cant-write