Marketplace Mission Homeschoolers Blog

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Homeschooling and Rework.withgoogle.com

Google offers a website dedicated to create an employee-to-employee learning program that includes defining goals, making learning a part of the culture, and develop and use tools.

Homeschoolers, how about we adapt this powerful program to our students?

We educators can create a learning culture that encourages curiosity and knowledge sharing where we help our student become a lifelong learner who owns their own learning. Students and their learning partners can achieve this goal by designing their own courses, mentoring themselves and developing learning materials. This means defining goals, defining learning and developing a plan to create a learning culture.

Defining learning goals requires learners:

To understand that they have a right to learn in any location from multiple sources and from multiple organizations.
To take responsibility for their learning, for their school, for their home, for their family, for their community, for their country and for their earth.
To trust that others are smart, capable and motivated to help them learn.

A learning culture defines learning:

As a process and not an event that requires motivation, opportunities to practice and continuous feedback.
As something that happens in real life in transactions and in challenging moments.
As a personal experience through different styles and levels in day-to-day events.
As something social where learners advise, teach and support each other.

To create this learning culture we teachers must:

Provide strong leadership where teachers and parents model the importance of learning by showing their commitment to learning.
Show their connection to learning culture as a core value where teachers and students share responsibility and ownership of the learning culture.
Start early with clear expectations for both teachers and students, trust people to do great work, jointly develop learning tools and feedback methods, show how a learning culture connects to the big picture and then step aside and become a student beside our student.

For more information about Marketplace Mission Learning Center's Homeschoolers program using
Ignitia's 200 courses for grades 3-12 see our website.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Does your student need triage?

Triage - the process of determining the priority of the patient's treatment based on the severity of their condition with labels such as "Immediate," "Delayed" and "Minor."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repors that 17 percent of high school students in 2017 said they thought seriously about attempting suicide. Females were twice as likely as males to report that they seriously considered suicide. Students in this state of mind need “Immediate” triage.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). High School Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System [data tool]. Retrieved from https://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx.

Wikipedia lists the following factors that may contribute to problems at school and at home.

Eating disorders	Drug abuse	Divorce	Trauma
Financial Problems	Bullied	Social rejection	Anger
Guilt	Disability	Academic failure	Grade retention
Loneliness	Misunderstood	Insecurities	Mood swings
Loss of loved one	Depression	Bipolar disorder	Other disorders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_suicide_in_the_United_States

How can a parent/caregiver identify if their student needs triage? Follow the methods listed below. Observe, question your student, their teachers, their friends to see if a problem exists. Now break the problem into variables such behavior , chemical (drugs, nutrition, food), emotions and physical. Look at the parts of school like teachers, courses, friends, the atmosphere of the school, short term goals and long term goals.

What did you find - no problem, a “minor” problem, a “delayed” problem or an “immediate” problem. Face the green of minor problems day-by-day. The yellow of delayed problems require class changes, tutors, new activities, new after school activities. The red flag of immediate problems demands life changing decisions such as changing schools or being homeschooled. A student may go back to their school after a year or two of an alternative school or homeschool. Remember, the experimental nature of these choices require validation to see if your student achieves the target responses. Problems faced in sixth grade sometimes disappear by eighth grade. Problems faced in ninth grade may disappear by eleventh grade.Your student grows out of many problems in a safe, quiet, supportive, confidence building environment. A year at Marketplace Mission Learning Center can provide that environment.

Scientific Method

Make an Observation.
Identify Variables.
Form a Question.
Design an Experiment.
Develop a Hypothesis.
Conduct an Experiment.
Observe and Measure Data..
Analyze the Data.
Draw a Conclusion.

Business Method

Clarify the problem - What really is the problem?
Break down the problem - What are the pieces of the problem?
Set targets - Develop countermeasures by observing symptoms, gathering facts and analysis. How can we address the problem and identify our targets?
Determine the root cause by asking: What? How much? By when?

5. Develop countermeasures

6. Implement countermeasures

7. Confirm results of countermeasures processes

8. Standardize the countermeasures processes to sustain the gain

Use containment, corrective and preventive action

Notes: Universal principle - “vital few and trivial many” and Pareto’s Principle or 80/20 Rule - 20 percent of something always are responsible for 80 percent of the results.

PDCA - Plan, Do, Check and Act

For more information about Marketplace Mission Learning Center's Homeschoolers program using
Ignitia's 200 courses for grades 3-12 see our website.

What is unschooling?

Homeschoolers adopted the label, unschooling, from John Holt who founded Growing Without Schooling (GWS) America’s first home education newsletter in 1977. Unschoolers encourage the learner to determine what to learn and how to learn. Unschoolers help their learner learn to love learning for its own sake. A typical “unschool” day may include a visit to the library, a nature walk, working in the garden, taking care of pets, cooking, doing spelling exercises and math worksheets, reading, writing, and working on an art project. No more than 90 minutes may be spent on formal school work.

Unschoolers believe that the inefficient “factory model” school stifles their natural learning children. Unschooling adapts to different learning styles and different growing rates. Unschooling parents support, guide, inform and advise their learner. The unschool environment frees the learner from the fear and the anxiety that often burdens learners in traditional schools.

Critics of unschooling and homeschooling cite the neglect of socialization, the danger of isolation and attachment parenting. Critics question the qualifications of the unschooling parents. Critics question whether the unschooled child will proceed to develop for a happy and successful adult life. Unschooled and homeschooled children may experience the lack of standardization, the lack of measurement of progress and the lack of respect for authority.

Dale Stephens, an unschooled learner from grade six, founded a UnCollege movement, received a Thiel Foundation grant and wrote the book, Hacking Your Education. Stephens started The UnCollege Gap Year Program where students “Voyage” for ten weeks living and volunteering in one of five countries, “Launch” for ten weeks attending workshops, networking, and building a portfolio in San Francisco, and “Intern” for twelve weeks to work pursuing a project and to launch the project.

John Holt’s first book, How Children Fail published in 1964, sounded an alarm for the modern school system and helped launch the educational reform movement of the mid 60's. John Taylor Gatto, after 30 years of teaching, published the underground classic, Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling in 1992 and continued the revolution. Gatto asserts that the compulsory schools confuse students with an collection of courses and information, that schools teach students to accept their class affiliation, that self-confidence requires constant recognition by teachers and that they are always supervised. These lessons make students emotionally and intellectually dependent and indifferent.Today two million homeschool students represent 4 percent of the 50 million K-12 students.

For more information about Marketplace Mission Learning Center's Homeschoolers program using
Ignitia's 200 courses for grades 3-12 see our website.

References

Collier, Lorna. "Unshackled and Unschooled: Free-Range Learning Movement Grows." Mind/Shift. May 2, 2014. https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/05/02/unshackled-and-unschooled-free-range-learning-movement-grows/.

Gray, Peter. “Self-Directed Education-Unschooling and Democratic Schooling.” Oxford Research Encyclopedias. April 2017.http://education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-80?platform=hootsuite

Holt, John, GWS (Growing Without Schooling). “Homeschool and Unschooling Resources” includes “Common Questions and Answers about Homeschooling” from Chapter 3 of Teach Your Own (17 questions). http://www.johnholtgws.com/frequently-asked-questions-abo/

The Florida Department of Education Sent MMLC the Following Email at 1:54 September 1, 2017

Dear Educators,

Suicide is a major health concern nationwide and in the State of Florida. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2014). In the State of Florida (2015), suicide is the leading cause of death for ages 10-19 and the second leading cause of death for youth ages 20-24; 296 deaths by suicide were reported in Florida alone for ages 10-24 (Florida Suicide Prevention, 2015). In 2014, suicide accounted for 5,505 deaths in the United States for persons aged 10-24 (CDC, 2014).

Statistics regarding the suicide rate in the United States indicate the following:

· The suicide rate was highest in the American Indian and Native Alaskan population for both males and females; White males had the second highest suicide rate. The percentage of Latina females attempting suicide is higher than most other female racial groups (Kann et al, 2014).

· Suicide is the second leading cause of death among Asian Americans and Pacific Island youth between the ages of 15 and 24 (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2013).

· Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are also at an increased risk of suicide (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2008). Factors such as not coming out, being outed by someone else, or being ridiculed are specific stressors for this population, not necessarily being LGBTQ (Bontempo & D’Augelli, 2002; Russell & Joyner, 2001). African American and Latino LGBTQ youth are at an increased risk because they are less likely than White youth to come out to family and friends (O’Donnel et al., 2004).

· Although most people who have a mental illness do not die by suicide, having a mental illness may increase the likelihood of suicide compared to those who do not have one (National Council for Behavioral Health, 2016).

Youth Mental Health First Aid, offered by the Florida AWARE Project, teaches an action plan to help a young person experiencing a mental health crisis. The program further teaches how to look for signs of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, non-suicidal self-injury, or other harmful signs. Florida AWARE is committed to increasing youth mental health by including raising awareness on the topic of suicide. Listed below are a list of resources that may help your agency.

For more information, please see the attached handout or contact Dr. Sandra Sosa-Carlin at ssosa@usf.edu.

For more information about Marketplace Mission Learning Center's Homeschoolers program using
Ignitia's 200 courses for grades 3-12 see our website.

Resources:

Youth Suicided Awareness and Prevention Training

The Florida Department of Education, in collaboration with the Statewide Office of Suicide Prevention, established criteria for reviewing youth suicide awareness and prevention training materials and compiled a list of nationally recognized youth suicide awareness and prevention trainings. A list of approved trainings may be found here: http://sss.usf.edu/resources/topic/suicide/index.html (Student Support Services Project website). Another resource shared by Florida’s Emotional/Behavioral Disability (E/BD) department is https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides suicide prevention information and other helpful resources to behavioral health professionals, the general public and people at risk at https://www.samhsa.gov/suicide-prevention. In addition, SAMHSA provides additional resources and toolkits free of cost: Suicide Safe – The Suicide Prevention App For Healthcare Providers: https://store.samhsa.gov/apps/suicidesafe/ and Preventing Suicide – A Toolkit for High Schools: https://store.samhsa.gov/product/Preventing-Suicide-A-Toolkit-for-High-Schools/SMA12-4669?WT.ac=EB_20120622_SMA12-4669

For information on the Youth Mental Health First Aid training program, and how we can train at your agency, please review the attached YMHFA handout or visit https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/cs/take-a-course/what-you-learn/

Specific Dates of Awareness:

► September is dedicated to Suicide Prevention & Awareness Month

► National Suicide Prevention Week – September 10^th – 16^th

► World Suicide Prevention Day – September 10^th

Sources:

Bontempo, D.E., & D’Augelli, A.r. (2002). Effects of at-school victimization and sexual orientation on lesbian, gay, or bisexual youths’ health risk behavior. Journal of Adolescent Health, 30(5): 364-374.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ten Leading Causes of Death by Age Group, United States – 2014. Atlanta, GA: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/images/lc-charts/leading_causes_of_death_age_group_2014_1050w760h.gif

Florida Suicide Prevention Coalition (FSPC). Resident Deaths by Age Group, Florida, 2015. Florida: http://www.floridasuicideprevention.org/the_facts.htm

Kann, L., Kinchen, S., Shanklin, S.L., Flint, K.H., Hawkins, J., Harris, W.A., Lowry, R., O’Malley Olsen, E., McManus, T., Chyen, D., Whittle, L., Taylor, E., Demissie, Z., Brener, N., Thornton, J., Moore, J., Zaza, S., & CDC. (2014). Youth risk behavior surveillance – United States, 2013. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries, 63(SS-1).

National Council for Behavioral Health (2016). Mental health first aid USA: For adults assisting young people. Washington, D.C.: National Council for Behavioral Health.

O’Donnell, L., O’Donnell, C., Wardlaw, D.M. & Stueve, A. (2004). Risk factors influencing suicidality among urban African American and Latino youth. American Journal of Community Psychology, 33(1/2): 37-49.

Russell, S.T., & Joyner, K. (2001). Adolescent sexual orientation and suicide risk: Evidence from a national study. American Journal of Public Health, 91: 1276-1281.

Suicide Prevention Resource Center. (2013). Suicide Among Racial/Ethnic Populations in the U.S.: Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians. Waltham, MA: Education

Sincerely,

Non-Public Schools
Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice
http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org
"Increasing the Quantity and Improving the Quality of Education Options"

DOE Nonpublic Schools Administrator

1:54 PM (4 hours ago)

Considerations when deciding whether or not to pull your child out of school

Your child wants to drop out of their school. This isn’t just a passing complaint. You and your family must address this question. How do you and your family make the decision to pull your child out of school? This decision has three characteristics: reversibility, “nowness” and the “failure” issue. Your child can attend a private school or do homeschool which includes unschool and then later return to the public school at grade level. From 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 at Winterberry Christian Academy and from 2011 to 2018 at Marketplace Mission Learning Center, the school I started, I have taught many students who successfully returned to the public school. ” A “now decision” has two aspects: you can’t postpone this decision indefinitely and “now” because it is not about the future such as college. Your child needs to complete some education successfully now, and by successfully I mean that your child learns to learn, learns to value learning, learns that they can learn and learns that they like to learn. The “failure” issue means “quitting” the traditional school. How about you and your family decide to “fire” the traditional school and “hire” another school - private or homeschool. So how should you make this reversible and “now” and not a “failure” decision? First, who should make this decision?

Remember the “Five W’s?” How about seven questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How and How Much. Think of your child’s traditional schooling as your child’s job.

Education is your child’s job. What work conditions would drive you to quit your job and seek another? Are those conditions there for your child at school? School when and where you went to school is not the school your child attends. Your child is not the academic, athletic, social child you were? Your neighborhood, your friends, your classmates when you were in school are not the same people for your child. Listen to your child. What is your child’s school world really like for your child? You only have now with your child, not a month or a year, just now. Let your child help make this decision. Have your child go through decision making processes such as listing the pros and cons, taking hourly decision polls by listing leave or stay each hour, and following a seven step process: identify the decision and/or goal, gather information, identify alternatives, weigh the evidence and consider the consequences, choose among alternatives, take action and review your decision.

Deciding to pull your child out of traditional school is not a self-evident, a “known knowns” decision, unless you were pulled out of public school and home schooled or sent to a private school. Don’t be susceptible to “entrained thinking” and blinded to new ways of thinking by your past experience, training and success. Don’t be complacent and react too late. Your world is not the world your child lives in every day. The complicated “known unknowns” in this decision exist in your worry over did I make the right decision for my child’s future, so do research and seek expert advice. If the decision is a family group decision, if the child buys into the decision, if you have sought expert advice and if you have followed a decision making process, then it is the “right” decision for now. “Analysis paralysis,” deciding not to decide, is a decision for which you are responsible. Your child’s world is like the Brazilian rainforest not like a Ferrari. An expert mechanic can take apart a Ferrari and put it back together. The car is a static whole that is the sum of its parts. The rainforest is in constant flux where the whole is far more than the sum of its parts. Your child’s world is in a constant flux both internally and externally and is far more than the sum of its parts. This is the complex realm of “unknown unknowns” and this is the world of your child both internally (intentionally) and externally (extensionally) ever changing moment by moment.

The Cynefin framework offers five decision-making domains (contexts or environments): simple, complicated, complex, chaotic and disorder which give decision-makers a “sense of place” from which to view the situation. Simple Domain represents “known knowns” where the rules or best practice create a stable, cause and effect environment. Complicated Domain represents “known unknowns” where a range of right answers require analysis and judgment. Complex Domain represents “unknown unknowns” where cause and effect can only be deduced in retrospect with no right answers and only instructive patterns can emerge. Chaotic domain represents the world where cause and effect are unclear so an “act-sense-respond” behavior is needed to establish order to find where a sense of stability is present and where it is absent and then to respond to transform the situation from chaos to complexity. Disorder Domain, in the center of all four domains, represents situations where no clarity exists and leaders argue and cacophony rules and where decision makers must work to break down the situation into constituent parts and assign each part to the other four domains. How would this apply to your child? You believe your child’s desire to leave the traditional school is in the Simple or Complicated Domain, but to your child this situation is in the Complex or Chaotic Domain and maybe even drifting into the Disorder Domain which means your child could be thinking about purposely failing, running away, self-harming, using drugs to escape the chaos and even suicide. Are you listening to your child, really listening? The world your child is describing is their “now” world. Is their world simple or complicated or complex or chaotic and moving toward disorder?

So probe, sense, respond, reach out, reflect, interact, look for patterns, try different tactics, create environments and experiments that allow positive patterns to emerge. In the flux and unpredictability of your child’s desire to leave the traditional school be patient and together make a decision.

For more information about Marketplace Mission Learning Center's Homeschoolers program using
Ignitia's 200 courses for grades 3-12 see our website.