Selena finishes another year at ARCC

For Selena, Friday marked the end of another semester at Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC) and the last year with the PSEO program (Post Secondary Education Option). She has been taking classes for the last 2 years at ARCC and plans to finish her A.A. next year. After that, only she will know... She's had some interest in transferring to a college in Washington called Evergreen because they have an approach more suited to her unschooling background, but also because of the various programs in environmental studies. Please let me know if you are acquainted with other colleges or universities that are more "unschooly".

Some weeks ago I asked her if she was looking forward to the end of the semester and she replied that, "no, not really". This surprised me a LOT since my own experience as both student and teacher has shown the exact opposite. Most people are happy to get outta-there. Anyway, we've talked some about this and, in general, it's the stimulation of getting out and going to class that she likes and will miss during the summer. There are some things that she really enjoys about taking classes (listening to interesting lectures, reading some of the books and writing papers that she's interested in), and then there are other things that she won't miss (doing small group activities, reading textbooks, and doing book reports on online articles). These categories align with the kind of learner that she has always been; listen, read and write.

Well, school is out but learning continues. Selena has a summer reading list that includes "Don Quijote", "Love in the Time of Cholera (Garcia Marquez), and "House of the Spirits" (Isabel Allende). We'll also be starting Spanish on a daily basis, so maybe she'll be able to read these novels in Spanish someday. (When I was a student in Spain my initial goal was to be able to read "Cien Años de Soledad" in the language that it was written.) Also, she'll be studying for her driver's permit, which she can get without a blue card when she's 18, in August.

Well, that's my Selena! She doesn't always offer things that I can blog (brag!) about so I'm grateful that she allowed me to do so this morning and take her picture.

                                             Selena enjoys a good book with Skippy Lu.

Let the kids play!!

I'm stealing another fellow unschooler's blog idea! I came across this video on Kelli's unschooling blog and felt compelled to share it here. Here's a brindis to getting our kids out of a lot of these structured activities and letting them explore the world through play! Heck, while we're at it, we adults need more playtime, too. The highway would be a happier place if people were enjoying the ride.

*****Utube Homeschooling Video

Whether you homeschool or unschool you'll be able to relate to this short video. On a daily basis we confront these weird attitudes and assumptions that have nothing to do with the reality of our lives. This video turns that around by harpooning conventional beliefs about education. I kind of "stole" this video from Alex, a fellow unschooler's blog (Thanks! Alex.)

Overachievers, Speechs, and a Fixtation on Letters

Author: Selena
Has it been a long time since I wrote in this blog? I suposse it has since the blog seems longer and more drawn out than I remember it. Are you getting tired of us yet? I think I might be getting tired of myself. However, that's not the point I was trying to talk about was it. The title after all starts with "Overachievers" so, I'll get back to that...
At Anoka-Ramsey Community College there is a girl who is in my Reading class, is also PSEO, and if you were viewing her from the angle of academic would be labled "Overachiever". She fascinates me, and you will wonder why. She's obviously very intelligent, makes wonderful connections to the books that we're reading (Jack and Rochelle by Jack and Rochelle Sutin, Edited by Lawrence Sutin), she's outspoken and loud, and knows how to manage time.
In this class sometimes the teacher leads us to a computer center and sets us on a little diversion called "Ultimate Speed Reader" I love this teacher but do not care for this odd program which makes no sense to me (why would I want to read at 750 words a minute like I'm trying to give myself an adreniline rush when reading a book when I could pace through it and enjoy it?) The thing is, you get extra credit for doing these labs and giving yourself adreniline rushes. The girl I have told you about wants to know (quite adamently) how many points she gets for doing the labs. Even the teacher seemed puzzled as to why someone would want to do fill out all these labs and why someone would want to know precisely how many points you get for all of it.
When we did a presentation on the book Jack and Rochelle she wanted to know how many points you got if you volunteered to go on the first day (which I did do but merely for the porpose that I was ready and didn't want to terrify myself by thinking about it for two more days).
When we went into a "smart" room to do our presentations she said that she had a three hour English class on Wednesdays in the same room because that's the only time she could fit it in (three hours? Is is she sucididal?).
Now here's my point, the letter of her grade seems very important. Maybe two years ago this may have made sense to me but now? How can your intelligence which is so wide and vast be determined by one measly letter or number or a few short words the professor writes on your essay? Did Jack or Rochelle get a letter grade for surviving the Nazis and fighting as partisans or living like animals in a Polish forest?

Selena is accepted at Anoka Ramsey Community College (ARCC)

Last week we were elated to receive an acceptance letter from ARCC for Selena to attend in the fall as a Post Secondary Education student. The Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO) is a Minnesota program for High School students to take college courses while they are still in High School. The meaty side of this option is that the state pays for all of the classes and books for a maximum of 2 years.

In order to gain acceptance to ARCC for the program as a homeschooler she had to score higher than 68th percentile on a standardized test, such as the CAT. Last year, as an 8th grader, she scored a 63. Also, in order to get into the program THIS YEAR she would have to jump a grade (to 10th grade). The program only involves students in 10th-12th grades. Also, she had to take a placement test for any core courses that she takes at ARCC.

It was late February when Selena decided that she wanted to try some college classes. We took a month to prepare for the placement tests. She had excellent scores for the verbal and reading sections. We were not surprised either that she did not do so well in Math. So, she would be able to take Freshman English but would have to improve in Math in order to take college classes.

The next step was to prepare for the 10th grade CAT (California Achievement Test) that she would take in mid-May. She worked hard during these months studying in all areas for the test. We listened to many podcasts from various Universities. Our favorites were the history and geography courses. Also, she worked incredibly hard on math. I ordered math lessons on DVD from Netflix.com and she continued working in her Saxon Math books.

Finally, she and Xavier took the CAT in May and we received her score a couple weeks later, just in time to send in her application to ARCC. Her score was 87 percentile. She improved 15 percentile points in Math since last year. We were SO happy, we were jumping up and down in the kitchen!

For 2 and a half years Selena has not been in school, she hasn't followed a curriculum nor studied any Math or grammar or anything else. Everything that she has learned she has done on her own and by following her own interests.
It's AWESOME!