Dear Parents,

 

There is so much that I want to share with you, but I am going to do my best to be concise. There are two main things that I will share. One is elaborating on a few things that I learned from the 21 conferences I have had so far. Also, I will share some general topics that I have covered with your children that may not have been fully grasped or seen in Transparent Classroom.

Here are some thoughts I had after conferences. Parents may be trying to see a pattern or rhyme or reason as to lessons given or what their child(ren) are learning. I can see how this might be hard to figure out. Essentially, there are some interrelationships between materials, within subjects and/or between subjects. I might see that your child knows something and they ask for a lesson that is unrelated to what the next logical step is for them to learn. However, I may know they have knowledge or are able to skip a step or two. To satisfy their need or desire, I am able to give a lesson that supports them. Then I have a plan to give them a lesson in an unrelated subject, but is the next step based on what they have already learned. So, within that framework, from the outside observer, someone might be rightfully confused. Also, if I give a lesson on say migration, to everyone, some children have had that lesson before and some have not. 

Thanks to my training and the way the lesson is presented, I am able to capture the attention of all ages. Then the expectation of what the take-away is will be different for each child. These types of lessons are given each year. Taking it a step further, I might speak about the Roman Empire and say some group came in and overthrew the Roman Empire. It seemingly goes over everyone's head, until an older child asks, "who overthrew the Roman Empire?" To which my response is, "That is a great thing for you to research and share with me." Usually that child or another child finds out that Odoacer overthrew the Roman Empire, and since they never heard of him, that leads to more research. Then others see someone else is doing it and that sparks more great work! Meanwhile, younger children are engaged in great stories and might just want to copy a chart and think about what I said. Others might take away the knowledge of the slash and burn method. Then, when they hear it again, knowledge builds on that from their interest or they realize they get something more from hearing the story a second time.

I am also reading a great book to the children called "How We Got to Now." This is about six innovations that made the modern world. Some parts are a little over the head of a six year old, but I'll ask questions to engage them and I think it ends up being a good experience for all of them. Right now we are finishing up about the history of glass. Maybe you would want to pick up a copy, read it in your free time, and possibly discuss some things with your children.

There is truly so much going on in the classroom every single day. So many subjects are covered, and by subjects I also consider implementing socialization, conflict resolution, and grace and courtesy as subjects. It is so difficult to communicate everything or most things that are happening with your children everyday. I feel like Transparent Classroom is a great tool that we utilize to help give you a window into your child's day. I also understand that some parents might not look at my tags that often and/or have no idea what certain things are or what they do for your child. I also try to communicate a little snippet about that in practically every tag. 

You may have also noticed that I try to share what the typical grade level or age is that a child would be doing a work that your child is doing. Everyone has a different opinion about the way in which this should be done and I do my best to consider every factor and weigh every good and bad consequence that occurs from making a decision regarding this, doing something different or more or not. I hope you all know by now that I advocate for transparency and I want you all to feel as connected as reasonably possible! It is my hope that all parents are consistently satisfied and have a semblance of where their child is academically or socially. Also, I hope that after our conference you now feel reassured. 

What I want to say is please communicate with me, good or bad, sooner rather than later. If and when you make suggestions, please consider other points of view too. Or, ask me what my thoughts about it are too. This year is off to a great start socially and academically for all of your children. I am very much looking forward to the rest of the year, all that we have planned and all that is not planned yet. Thank you for all the experiences thus far with you and your children!