On Grades and Grading Systems

Another excerpt from the book I am writing on homeschooling called Almost Unschooling Grama.  I'm making progress! I need a graphic artist to design a book cover and an editor. Contact me if you are interested!

When I was a kid, my folks took me for swimming lessons every year. I could never get past the “guppy” class because there was a particular move that was required before they would pass you into the class where you actually learned to swim. I could not, for the life of me, do this move, year after year. My dad finally got disgusted with it. He demonstrated to me how to do the butterfly stroke and the dog paddle and explained to me that I needed to kick my feet. Then he put me in a row boat, took me out to a place in the lake that was over my head and told me to get out. I did and I swam! The “school” my parents sent me to actually held me back and kept me from achieving the purpose for which I had been sent there.

The “grade” structure of a typical school often does the same thing. They focus on weaknesses instead of building on strengths. As a result, many kids come out of the system convinced that they are failures and unable to function well in society.

The beauty of homeschooling is that each child can work at their own pace in every area. It is very common for homeschooled children to be reading at a “5^th grade level” while working on math at a “2^nd grade level” and visa-verso. With the method of homeschooling that I am going to show you in this book, the bright 7 year old isn't limited to the 2^nd grade curriculum and the 10 year old who is still learning her multiplication tables isn't forced into doing fractions.

Another problem with the typical school is the A, B, C, D, F grading system. This grading system was setup to give parents and students an idea about how the student was preforming in any given subject, but it is very limited. It doesn't actually give any details about what the child has learned. Different school systems have different things that are taught in different grades so an A in one school system will mean something entirely different in another system.

Grading even varies from one teacher to another or from one grade level to another. Some teachers and schools recognize that children cannot excel in all subjects at a certain age, so they grade according to ability. This is noble, but when the child gets into a competitive setting they fail and the parents can't understand why. I've had several parents come to me and say, “My child was getting As in ______ until she got into 7^th grade and now all of a sudden she's flunking.” When I would sit down with the child, I would find they were way behind in basic skills for that subject.

Grading encourages mediocrity and contributes to low self-esteem. People in general are driven to conformity. This tendency is even more pronounced in children. If a child is talented when it comes to book smarts, he will be taunted by the others as “too smart”. The temptation will be to just skim by with a B or a C. If children are not as capable in an area, they come to believe they are worthless or defective in some way.

Mastery learning is a much better practice. Children should be encouraged to practice what they are learning until they are able to do it with excellence. You can get by in life with “B” or “C” work, but you will never truly succeed. When kids have a chance to work at something until they master it without being compared to everyone else they learn about what it takes to be excellent.

They also learn about their strengths and weaknesses without being shamed. Mastery learning focuses on building strengths instead of fixing weaknesses. That's not to say that weaknesses never need to be dealt with, but often times it's just not necessary for the child to grow up to be a successful adult. There are multiple ways to accomplish and learn. If a child is having difficulty grasping something, (like the move required in my "guppy" class) there are other ways you can help the child master an area in spite of her weakness. History can be learned through documentaries if a child is not a proficient reader. And how many adults do you know who use a calculator for basic math calculations? My youngest son will probably never be an excellent reader, but driving trucks and tractors doesn't require that. He is able to back a semi into a space 6 inches wider than the trailer without hitting anything. That is excellence. Mastery learning encourages children to become excellent in the areas they are capable of being excellent.

Homeschooling parents are able to encourage their children to do this because they are there. They know what the child is learning and what she is capable of and they can tailor the child's “curriculum” to fit that child exactly.

What do you think about grading systems? 

Have you experienced mastery learning? 

I'd love to hear your experiences and opinions!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

The Weather Outside is Frightful - But Look What's Growing!

Well, the weather outside is frightful,

But the fire in the corn stove is so delightful.

 

Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!

 

There are 4 shelves and an ottoman full of plants in my living room. This window faces north east, but fortunately I have some grow lights that I put on when the sun starts to go down. I leave them on till I go to bed. That doesn't seem to be quite enough light, but I've only killed one plant so far! One of my momma aloes is on the left, Then I have a pot with some lemon grass and some volunteer chard. Do not ask me how it got in there, but it has tasted good this winter. Next winter I think I'll dedicate a whole pot to it! On the bottom there is a partial onion that I found at the back of my fridge that was growing. Thought I might as well put it in some dirt. 

This is the bottom shelf of the northeast window. I'm pretty sure I killed the thyme, I'm waiting to see if it will come back. If it doesn't, I have a few catnip seeds that I'm gonna plant in it. I put the packet in the  pot when I found it the other day so I don't loose it. There's also basil, some local rosemary and a celery base that I stuck in some dirt.

This is the southeast window. I've got some lemon balm, a begonia start that one of my elderly clients gave me, the orange tree than my grand kids planted and the rosemary that I brought home from my mom's house in California the last time I visited there. 

This is the bottom shelf and the ottoman. I've got some holy basil on the far left, a sweet basil that isn't doing so hot at the center  back, an elderberry start, some lavender and a ton of aloe! I gave away one of my momma plants and several babies after the markets ended last year, but I will have plenty when the markets start again in the spring. I've had to plant a bunch in cups and put them in a basket lined with a plastic bag. They are sitting on the ottoman because the only other window in my house that has anything to sit it on is in the kids room and I keep it closed when they aren't here. It just gets to cold there.  I have  a grow light on them at night too.

What do you have growing in your house?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

My Bible Translation Project and A Message From God

When I opened my word processor yesterday to finish this chapter up, every word had red squiggly lines under them indicating they were misspelled, except the words "I AM LORD Yehovah". He is our deliverer! Check it out!

Exodus 12


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Keep Your Fruits and Veggies Fresh

Whenever you bring fresh fruits and vegetables into the house, from the garden, from the market or from the store, give them a short bath in cold water with a splash of vinegar for a few minutes. This kills much of the bacteria that cause decay. Then rinse them with plain cold water before putting them away. Rinsing removes any vinegary taste.

Most fruits and vegetables like a little moisture so place them in an airtight container with a few drops of water still on them.

Green beans are an exception. make sure to let them air dry before putting them away. They turn brown and black if they are stored wet.


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

6 Days of Creation

God created man in His image. Every one of us is creative. I used to think I wasn't very creative because I couldn't draw or sing, but that is just plain wrong. The way I  read it, God spent 6 days creating and then spent the 7th reviewing all that He had made. . So, on Saturday's I post some of the things that I created the previous week.

Here goes:

Sunday, I spent the day playing with my floor plan program creating a 2000ish square foot floor plan that could accommodate a family as it grows from birth through death. Check out this inter-generational house plan if you missed it before. Click here

Monday, I created my own special meatloaf and blogged about it. If you missed it go to Grama Sue's Meatloaf

Tuesday, I created a report to present to the multi-township board that supervises my assessing work. It wasn't much of a report. Not many people have been doing building around here.

Wednesday, I created a bit of security for myself by hitting the stores before the big storm was supposed to hit. You all can have your big bank accounts, gold and stocks. For me, the only worldly security I think is worth having is a roof over my head, a little bit of land that I can grow some food on and a stockpile of food that will last me through a crisis. But I know that even that can be snuffed out in an instant. True security is knowing the God who has created it all. I've seen Him do miracles when there was nothing I could do in the natural to provide for myself. He is enough.

Thursday, I created a huge pot of chili. I blogged about it too! If you missed it, check out Grama Sue's Chili. Click here.

Friday I created more chili. I still have at least one more batch to put up :) Should have about 45 quarts when I get it done. That should last me for a while!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Friday Favorites - Permaculture

For the past couple of years I've been drawn more and more to a concept called permaculture. It's a different way of looking at agriculture and living in general. Permaculture focuses on working with nature to produce food rather than working against it.

Those advocating permaculture believe in poly-culture rather than mono-culture food production. The basic agricultural system in this country is mono-culture. We plant  40 acres of corn or try to grow 1000 chickens in one building and then deal with the problems that come from having to many of one thing in one place.

Permaculture on the other hand seeks to diversify the plant and animal life in a specific area. It involves studying the natural strengths and weaknesses of the property and designing a food system that produces the maximum amount of food with the least amount of chemicals, labor and energy possible.

I spend quite a bit of time on http://www.permies.com/   trying to learn about this and how to apply it to my land.

OK, it is taking me forever to write this post. I keep getting lost over at Permies trying to pick from the myriad of topics they cover to give you a taste of what's there. Just go see for yourself!


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Grama Sue's Chili

What do you do to celebrate a blizzard? Why make chili of course! It's turning out to be kind of a dud on the blizzard scale, maybe a 2 on a scale where 10 is a serious blizzard, but I had planned to spend the day off the roads so last night I dug out enough chili beans from the store room and brought in the tomatoes and the hamburger I would need today.

I start out with 5 gallons of tomatoes, 6 pounds of ground meat (I've used hamburger, ground turkey, ground venison and ground pork. They all taste a little bit different, but all are good.) and 6 cans of chili beans.

 

Today, I used 3 good sized yellow onions. I usually use dried onion tops, but when I went to look for them this morning, I found I was out. I was rather disappointed. The green onion tops add some color to the chili. I used to use green peppers and the onions didn't much matter, but Grampa Tom seems to have developed an allergy to green peppers in the last year. 

The spices I use are chili seasoning, dried hot peppers, sea salt, black pepper and cocoa. Yes, cocoa! I know it sounds weird, but years ago I found a recipe that called for it and whenever I forget it, my family really notices. 

I use my heavy pressure canner pot to make the chili in because regular stock pots tend to burn anything that you are going to simmer for hours. It's kind of a pain, because I have to put all the soup in jars and then hurry up and wash it, but it just works better that way. Maybe someday I'll get another big heavy pot like this. 

The first step is to thaw and brown the ground meat. I like to have all my chili done by the first part of January, but the last time I thought the weather would be right for chili, Grampa Tom reminded me that we would be getting a lot of hamburger when we butchered the cows and suggested I wait instead of buying more ground turkey. So, I waited.

The next step is to peel the tomatoes. I love the way I do this now. I just cut off the stems and any bad parts and throw them in the freezer. When I go to use them, I just put the tomatoes in warm water and the skins slip right off! Don't even need a knife.

I put the tomatoes whole into the pan with the ground meat. Some people would puree the tomatoes and the onions, but I like my soup chunky.

Then I put in the beans. Someday I'm going to grow a bunch of kidney beans and figure out how to season them to make my own chili beans, but I haven't got there yet. 

I also need to figure out how to make my own chili powder. I'm sure we grow all of the ingredients. Goals, goals, goals. Oh, sorry. Rabbit trail. I add 3 tablespoons of sea salt, 1 tablespoon of black pepper, and 5 heaping tablespoons each of chili powder and cocoa powder.

Then I chop up some hot peppers and add them. I'm not real picky about what kind they are. I think today I ended up putting in a combo of jalapeno, chilies, cayennes and habaneros. 

I also chopped up the onions and threw them in.

And then I let it simmer for several hours.

Once the tomatoes are falling apart, I hot pack the chili into quart jars. I think this recipe makes about 12 quarts, but I've never made it without feeding my family before doing the canning. I pressure can the jars at 10 pounds for 90 minutes. If you left the meat out and used only red tomatoes, you could get by without a pressure canner and just add the meat later. 

I like to have lots of chili on hand. I use it for more than just soup. Lots of times I'll add a bit of flour to it to thicken it up.

And use it for filling for tacos.

Or in taco salad.

Sometimes I just drizzle chili on tortilla chips, add some cheese and pop it in the microwave for quick nachos. Don't have a picture of that though. 

I know, using chili for these things is a little weird, but it's quick and it's easy, it's filling and it tastes good! On a busy day that's just important!

If you like this recipe and would like to see more, I try to put all of my recipes on Grama Sue's Recipes and Hints. Just click on the link and check it out!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Snowed In - A Love Story

Well, not yet. It's supposed to come tomorrow afternoon. I went to town this morning and made sure we had plenty of supplies for the next couple of days. It used to be if we got a big blowing snow like we are supposed to get tomorrow that we would be snowed in for several days. Now we usually get out within a day. We kinda miss the coziness of being snowed in!

Grampa Tom's family has owned the ground we live on for 100 years now. His Great Grandpa Heberer bought 135 acres in 1913. We only own 3 acres now, but it was very rewarding to me to raise a fifth generation on this land. My family was a transplant in this area. The closest relatives we had were 4 hours away, so roots were something I never had growing up. Grampa Tom and his mom would tell my kids about how they did the same things in the same places when they were children.

The first time I stepped foot on this property was in 1979, a couple of months after Grampa Tom and I met. This is the old house that my kids, Grampa Tom, his mom and his grandmother grew up in. His mom and his grandma were actually born in this house.

I was going to college in Keokuk and working at a disco in town. Grampa Tom was going to school Burlington, but he frequented the disco I worked at with his friends. That's kind of amazing given the fact that he doesn't dance! Anyway, that winter was a constant storm. Grampa Tom and I both lived in the country off the main roads, so getting home was often impossible. One of the guys I worked with had a fairly large house that was just 4 blocks from where we worked, so several people wound up living there whenever we couldn't get home. Grandpa Tom usually closed the place down so he  wound up there quite a bit too.

After one particularly bad storm, we weren't able to even get out of Keokuk for 3 days. When the highways were finally cleared, Grampa Tom (who was just stud Tom then) and I went for a ride. He brought me up the highway just west of here and showed me where he lived. He said, "There's 11 kids and no adults there right now. " I was flabbergasted. He explained that his folks were on a trip and that the kids had a few friends over after school the day the snowstorm hit and their parents hadn't been able to come get them. I asked how far the house was from the highway. He told me it was about a half mile. I suggested we walk over and check on the kids.

He parked his truck at a neighbor's house and we crawled over the fence. The snow was waist deep. We thought it was probably just deep because of the fence and pressed on. It took us two hours to get to the house. The snow was waist deep all the way. We didn't get out again for another 3 days.

Up until that time, Grampa Tom and I had only been casually dating. I had been resisting a serious relationship because I'd had my heart broken too many times, but after spending 6 solid days with him, I pretty much gave up. While we were snowed in, I told him I needed to take a vacation from him because I was getting to attached, but I never did.

This picture is of Grampa Tom and I on June 22 of that same year. We were so cute!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Spelling!

Throw out all the fancy spelling programs! The following is an excerpt from the book I am working on about homeschooling:

For several years I tried to teach my children how to spell. Every year I would get a new “curriculum” and follow it precisely, but nothing worked.

Finally came up with my own...

1st day:  Find 2 words they don't know how to spell. Have them write
those words 7 times. 

A good source of spelling words is a list of most commonly used English words. You can get this on the internet by clicking the link or googling "most commonly used English words" . You can also use words your kids misspell in their own writing.

2nd day:  Test to see if they know yesterday's words,  if they do, add 2
more. If they know one, find another word and have them write that and the
one they missed 7 times.

Keep adding to the list until there are 20 words, then let your child
scratch out the oldest words while always keeping 20 words on the list.

If they are having a bad day, I limit the amount of words they have to
write to the first two that they missed. 

Throw in a spelling rule now and then as needed.

Seems to simple to be true, but it works!

Use the same method to build vocabulary words by adding the requirement that the word be used in a sentence.

Math facts can be easily learned using this method as well.

Fun games like Scrabble and encouraging your child to use the computer to write, e-mail and chat are great ways for your children to reinforce what they learn in their daily drills. Teach them how to use the spell-check and watch with amazement as they pick it up!

Have fun!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Grama Sue's Meatloaf

It's true. There are as many different ways to make meatloaf as there are people who make meatloaf and mine is no exception!

My basic ingredients are a pound of hamburger, an egg, a medium onion, oatmeal, salt, pepper, Woshestershire sauce, ketchup and mustard.

I chop the onion and add the egg, about 1/4 cup Woshestershire, 1/4 cup of ketchup, and about 1/8th cup of mustard. I also add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper. Sometimes I might add chopped  peppers or chopped olives. And occasionally I will add some chili powder or some Italian type seasonings like basil or oregano. Just depends on what I'm feeling like.

Then I mush it all together. You could use a spoon, but I really think that fingers do a much better job of squishing all the ingredients together. It's messy and there's definitely an "ewww" factor, but it does the job. 

I only use one hand because I want the other hand to stay clean so I can grab oatmeal from the container. I use enough oatmeal to firm up the mixture so that it makes a nice loaf. Tonight, it took 3 handfuls. The size of the egg and how much of the other liquid ingredients I use make the oatmeal amount vary. 

Now here is where my meatloaf really differs from everyone else's. I put it on a broiler pan. When Grampa Tom and I got married there was this crazy lady who was preaching that eating fat was the cause of being fat. She advocated totally eliminating fat from the diet, and the government food guidelines said the same. In fact, the eating of meat (especially red meat) was demonized as the cause of heart problems along with a host of other health issues. I bought that whole line of thought and wound up with diabetic symptoms as a result. Fortunately, Grampa Tom talked me into trying the Atkins diet when I was about to go to the doctor. I lost tons of weight on the Atkins diet and all the symptoms went away!

Ooops! Rabbit trail. Anyway, back then, I was feeling guilty for indulging in meatloaf occasionally so I placated my guilty conscious with putting my meatloaf on a broiler pan so the fat could drain off. I still can't stand the thought of letting my meatloaf float in the fat in a bread pan like most people do.

If you do this, ALWAYS fill the pan with water! The fat dripping on a dry pan will cause your house to fill up with smoke! Yes, I do know this from expierence :) There are a couple of extra advantages to cooking your meatloaf this way. #1 You can flatten your loaf more than you can in a bread pan. A flatter loaf cooks quicker and uses less energy. #2 You don't have to cover the meatloaf when it is cooking. The water under the loaf keeps it nice and moist. I've never had a loaf pan with a lid on it, so covering for me involves aluminum foil. This method has saved me a ton of money for aluminum foil through the years.

I put the meatloaf in the oven and cook it at 450 degrees until it is nice and brown on top. This takes about 30 minutes in my convection oven, 45 minutes in my regular oven. 

Once it is browned to Grampa Tom's satisfaction (He likes his meatloaf almost burnt) I pull it out and cover it with grated cheese.

Then I return it to the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Yum yum!

Yes, this is yet another by guess and by golly recipe! Exact measurements just grate against my creative personality.  If you like my methods, hop on over to my recipe page.  I am trying to compile all the recipes I put on this blog over there so they are easier to find. 

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

The broiler pan I use when I'm just feeding Grampa Tom and I is a mini broiler pan. Fits perfect in my little convection oven!

The Gentleman Farmer

Today I spent most of the afternoon dreaming up a 2000ish square foot home for the gentleman farmer. Take a peek over at Grama Sue's Floor Plan Play Land. Let me know what you think!


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

6 Days of Creation

God created man in His image. Every one of us is creative. I used to think I wasn't very creative because I couldn't draw or sing, but that is just plain wrong. The way I  read it, God spent 6 days creating and then spent the 7th reviewing all that He had made. . So, on Saturday's I post some of the things that I created the previous week.

Here goes:

Sunday - I spent the day creating a fever and lots of white blood cells. Immune building is so not fun. Sometimes if I take a hot bath to create an artificial fever I can beat it so I spent a good deal of time creating under water perspiration too.

Monday - Better, spent the day creating property record cards for assessing.

Tuesday - Creating more white blood cells and high temps. In spite of the fuzzy head and my normally spacially challenged confusion, I managed to create a new label for our egg cartons. This was a doozy. The label maker I use for our egg cartons doesn't have a 2 x 8 template so I had to use an 8 1/2 x 11 label and figure out where the 2 x 8 labels would fit on it. Immense amount of prayer went into this one! All I can say is that "With God All Things Are Possible"!

Wednesday - Better. Added another page to the book I am creating about how to give your child a better education than a regular school can while spending less money than you would sending them to a public school.

Thursday - Took our grandchildren to Chick-Fil-A for Valentines. Created lots of smiles!

Friday - Created yummy thick cheeseburgers from the beef that Grama Tom raised. The locker plant asked if I wanted patties made, but somehow pre-formed patties are never as appetizing as the ones you form yourself and fry in a cast iron pan so I declined. Sticky messy hands are so worth the result!


God Bless You All!


~Grama Sue

Friday Favorites

I love The Simple Homemaker. She follows her musician husband around in a camper with 7 children. If that isn't a feat in itself, she writes a wonderful blog with great recipes, tips on everything from homemaking to marriage, to organization and beyond, all spiced with incredibly light hearted funny snippets from her life, her kids and her husband.  And her Face Book page is just a riot! She always makes me smile.

Check out her latest post on how to mail a hug :)

http://www.thesimplehomemaker.com/



God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Happy Valentines Day!

Thank you so much to all you who are reading my blogs and to those of you who are clicking on the ads! It's only the middle of February and I've almost made as much this month as I did all of last month. Last month I made $2.71 and this month I've already made $2.57!  Now granted  $2.57 may not seem like much, but if I can keep doubling my readers and income each month it won't be long until my little musings will actually contribute substantially to our little farm. Please help by sharing posts that interest you with your friends and family! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

New Carton

When we went to order more egg cartons, we found that the price had jumped from 40 cents a carton to 60 cents. We didn't want to raise our price by 20 cents so we looked around for something else. We have always used the tri-fold plastic egg cartons because they show off our pretty eggs. The only ones we could find that were similar were these bi-fold cartons so we decided to give them a try.

We don't like them. They don't close as well. They are bigger over all so they don't fit well in the crates we transport our eggs in and we have to use a stick-um type label instead of our plain paper labels. It takes about 3 times as long to fill and label a carton with these. 

We haven't decided what to do. In order to get the same price as we had with the tri-fold cartons, we had to order a large volume. There are enough to last us a couple of months anyway. We are wondering if we ought to go ahead and order the tri-folds next time and raise our prices or switch to paper cartons that are cheaper, but don't show off our eggs. 

What do you think?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

80 Degrees in the Frozen Midwest

This is a small low tunnel type green house that I planted and covered on the 19th of January. It was 34 degrees out this afternoon according to the weather app on my phone, but it was beautiful and sunny so I decided to find out just what kind of heat it was producing.

Took a  probe style thermometer out and poked it through the plastic.

80 degrees! 46 degrees difference! Isn't that amazing? 

We haven't had to many sunny days around here lately, but I decided to poke my head in and see if anything was up anyway. There's a couple of little volunteer garlic shoots coming up. The lettuce and chard won't be to far behind. It's supposed to be sunny the rest of the week. We might very well be looking at a bed of green by the end of the week!

I've got a friend in Hamilton (about 15 miles south of here) that says she's got robins in her yard. Spring isn't to far away!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue