Erika Shupe's homeschooling abilities

[16strong]

On the Large Families on Purpose Facebook page (100% not private), Erika Shupe posted a picture of something her 8-year-old wrote in church. Now I don't want to be that person, but I was writing in cursive at 8-years-old, not spelling basic letters backwards. I went to ebil heathen public school.

 

facebook.com/LargeFamiliesOnPurpose

 

[Inky]

I wouldn't judge -kids develop at very different rates. The note reminds me of what it was like with my son in school (he's 33 now) as a "beneficiary" of the whole language program. Eventually he got better at spelling and letter formation.

[flubber]

I think it depends on the kid.

My 8yo (here is OZ) has just started to do 'joining' writing at the end of this year - not the actual joining but just forming the letters properly. If he's taking his time and has lined paper - it's pretty neat. But being a boy, he quickly reverts back to messy, printing esp on plain paper. Some schools encourage it from the start here.

Me, I'd rather he learnt to spell and write (as in text/stories etc.) over being able to do cursive.

I have no recollection of what age I started writing in cursive as a child.

[mostlylurk]

Looking at the kids' ages in her various schedule posts, it's possible that she has a new 8yo (i.e., her son Riley may have turned 8 in the past couple of weeks). The writing looks well within the range of normal for a 2nd grader.

[Coco]

Is the 8 year old a boy? That might be part of it, but i don't know.

eta: according to the ages on her website sidebar (which might need to be updated) she has a 7 yr old boy and an 8 yr old girl. Then 5, 4, 3 and 3.

crazy times in shupe-ville.

i definitely think the child who wrote the note would be further along in a focused school setting, just considering the burden of so many younger kids to corral, and we all know Erika is not going to let anything slide cleaning-wise...

[lawfulevil]

Hmm- if it's just one or two subjects, I wouldn't worry. My handwriting wasn't any better, it's still pretty godawful, and I manage to get along in the adult world. I know an English professor who can't spell worth a damn without a dictionary. It's only troubling if this is representative of the kids' overall educational progression.

Isn't 8 a third grader, though? I know I was 10 the entire fifth grade, my youngest sister was born when I was 10.

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

Oh, wow, Wikipedia says long division is a common fifth grade curriculum. I remember our curriculum covering imaginary and complex numbers that year, I was very impressed by cube roots. I went to public school, I guess they vary a lot.

[SamE]

My soon to be 9 year old daughter is learning multiplication in 3rd grade. They also have to use cursive on all of their school work. They just finished Charlotte's Web in literature.

My 11 year old, sixth grade son is doing the work I did in Algebra I as a 9th grader. Cursive is required. They also have to read 500 minutes a month for literature class. Where the Red Fern Grows, Tom Sawyer, and Huck Finn are 3 of the books DS has read this school year.

THey go an evil Catholic School....

[julie paradox]

Well, the writing may not be great, but the picture is better than I can do.

[kpmom]

The handwriting and spelling are not bad for her age. I do wonder about that backwards B though. Every other letter is well formed and facing the right way. What's up with the B?

[JHeathen]

My daughter will be 8 in February, second grade, and this looks about right to me. She confuses her b's and d's, still. Teacher said that and backwards letters are normal and not a cause for concern. They are not learning cursive yet, but my daughter wanted to learn, so I got her a practice workbook.

[heidi]

I teach fourth/fifth grade. What's interesting to me is that "would" and "hurting" are spelled correctly, but "right" and "person" are spelled incorrectly. I would guess that she's having her kids memorize word lists for spelling instead of looking at word patterns (which is what my school does).

[quiversR4hunting]

The handwriting and spelling are not bad for her age. I do wonder about that backwards B though. Every other letter is well formed and facing the right way. What's up with the B?

a transposed B and D (or b and d) are very common in developing writers. My understanding it is common for J and L are often written backwards, too. I would worry if this child hadn't corrected this behavior by the end of the school year (regular brick/mortar school that goes to June) I have a child that does this and the teacher said this is very common. Here is some more info on b & d reversal. specialed.about.com/od/teacherstrategies/a/reversal.htm A couple articles stated it depends on when you start the reading program for the child, etc but all said sometime around 7 or 8 they should grow out of it with practice.

[chaotic life]

I have a young 8 in second grade, but she's way too advanced for her grade level, so it would be entirely unfair to compare this writing to hers. I would expect that to be typical for the age and grade. My child self taught cursive and is frustrated she's only allowed to use it to write her name. She also rarely misspells a word but she's reading at a 6th grade level and the lowest grade she's brought home all year was a 98. She's bored to tears academically but a social butterfly and deeply offended by any talk that she could do more academically if she came back home.

[kpmom]

a transposed B and D (or b and d) are very common in developing writers. My understanding it is common for J and L are often written backwards, too. I would worry if this child hadn't corrected this behavior by the end of the school year (regular brick/mortar school that goes to June) I have a child that does this and the teacher said this is very common. Here is some more info on b & d reversal. specialed.about.com/od/teacherstrategies/a/reversal.htm A couple articles stated it depends on when you start the reading program for the child, etc but all said sometime around 7 or 8 they should grow out of it with practice.

Ah, ok. I didn't know that was common.

[reina]

I'm sorry but she is not doing her kids any favour. My daughter is 9 years old and she wrote like that when she was probably 5 years old. And that this child can't spell simple words like "right" and "person" at 8 is worrying. I know that some children have bad handwriting, but this is not handwriting. This is scribbles that a toddler does when it's staring to learn. And at 8 years old a child should be able to write in a sort of a straight line. But that takes a lot of practice over time. You can see that this woman doesn't spent too much time homeschooling. Probably just the minimum required. Such a shame

[ILoveJellybeans]

My 9 year old writes like that, but he is working well below average for his age and gets special help at school.

[Four is Enough]

At my children's ebil Catholic school, this would have been completely unacceptable for a second grader without a noted learning disability. They started manuscript printing in kindergarten; spelling is a subject beginning middle kindergarten; and cursive begins in late second grade. I know schools vary greatly but this seems behind.

ETA: beginning second graders at said school are still permitted to use the lined paper to help form the letters... the one with the dotted line in the center of the page, but by Halloween, that is completely OUT.. and regular college rule paper is used. Some lined paper may have helped the person do a bit better with lining up his words.

[PennySycamore]

Ah, ok. I didn't know that was common.

I didn't transpose my "b"s and "d'''s, but I did make my 3s backwards when I was leaning to write. It turns out that I'm mildly dyslexic and I'm perhaps worse with numbers. There were things I'd look up in my organic chemistry book (like the structure of aspartame) and I'd transpose the page number every time.

[church_of_dog]

I teach fourth/fifth grade. What's interesting to me is that "would" and "hurting" are spelled correctly, but "right" and "person" are spelled incorrectly. I would guess that she's having her kids memorize word lists for spelling instead of looking at word patterns (which is what my school does).

It looks to me like the "l" in "would" has been added after the fact. Both times.

[Pammy]

My kids' school focuses on writing for communication, and allows for 'kid spelling' (phonetic attempts at words) at least for rough drafts, right up to grade 4 (so far). They also teach spelling, but they encourage kids to write what they want to say, even if they are unsure of the proper spelling of those words.

In grade 2, a quick worksheet sentence, done (probably) on one's lap, at church, as busy-work on unlined paper... It isn't the same as an assignment during schooling. It's an example of minimal effort, and it seems ok, contextually, to me.

[August]

I've discussed spelling with my kids school. Memorising words, as a PP mentioned, is not great. They sort words by pattern nowadays, and don't correct spelling at all in K, because they want to focus on having them write. Spelling comes in 1st and 2nd.

Hmm- if it's just one or two subjects, I wouldn't worry. My handwriting wasn't any better, it's still pretty godawful, and I manage to get along in the adult world. I know an English professor who can't spell worth a damn without a dictionary. It's only troubling if this is representative of the kids' overall educational progression.

Isn't 8 a third grader, though? I know I was 10 the entire fifth grade, my youngest sister was born when I was 10.

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

Oh, wow, Wikipedia says long division is a common fifth grade curriculum. I remember our curriculum covering imaginary and complex numbers that year, I was very impressed by cube roots. I went to public school, I guess they vary a lot.

I think you're misremembering, or learnt it at home. Imaginary numbers are high school, grade 10 or 11 level.

[divadivine]

This is Erika Shupe's child. The child should be perfect (smile).

[August]

This is Erika Shupe's child. The child should be perfect (smile)*smile*.

Grammar, Diva, grammar.

[16strong]

Grammar, Diva, grammar.

:lol:

[divadivine]

Grammar, Diva, grammar.

I'm off to the prayer closet. :doh: