Next Level Learning
What a treat it has been to see all the youngsters grow and think and learn with these college classes. Buds and I have gotten to have different types of discussion with them and restart the collegiate parts of our brains. Grammar and semicolons, and ideas and ethics and how to kindly support yet respectfully disagree.
Yessa and Buster are in the same composition class. Yessa also has math and ASL. Buster has sociology.
Monkey is in a 200 level composition class as well as ethics.
In addition to textbooks they are using magazine articles and essays from current authors which has been interesting. They also do a lot of reviewing or reading of their classmates’ work in this online environment where that is their main connection to each other.
Buster and Yessa had to write a response to Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay, “It Is Expensive To Be Poor.” As part of the process the class could post their rough draft for others to give feedback. We had a great discussion about the essay, but also the array of ideas coming from their classmates and the political spectrum that is hinted at by people’s feelings about taxes and the social safety net. There are a couple people in class our kids feel pretty sure they would vehemently disagree with in any welfare discussion.
I’ve been so impressed with the work ethic and ability each of them have shown. Buds and I are also enjoying relating to them about the college experiences that haven’t changed after all these decades.
Don’t want to work on something you need to get done?
We understand.
A paper isn’t due for two days and that seems like so much time then suddenly it’s due in the next five minutes.
We understand.
Caring too much or caring too little.
We understand.
Monkey’s two classes are challenging in different ways. Her composition professor hasn’t posted a full semester syllabus. They post the weekly assignment in shot gun bursts at the beginning of each week. Monkey’s gotten the flow of it now, but that first week when there were suddenly five things due was a bit of a shock.
I’ve also loved seeing her work her way through the ethics class. She wants to talk through an assignment, seemingly a little unsure how to proceed, then she’ll present a beautifully written response for us to review. It’s delightful. She’s not a fan of the grayness of ethics, but she’s handling it beautifully.
A new piece of learning puzzle has been the rubric. They were just coming into vogue in education as we were leaving grad school. The professor could give whatever grade they wanted back in our day. Now there is a chart that lays out exactly what the professor expects for each point. Hopefully that means fairness across grades. Our kids certainly review them before they submit their work.
I am grateful they all seem to be finding value and interest in this experience. A homeschooling goal was always to keep the joy in learning and so far that seems to be continuing.
Watching them learn and getting to be part of the journey is certainly a delight for us.
