By Erika Adam
We are going over the time recommended in the Homework Scheduling Chart. What can I do?
The first and easiest way to avoid going over the recommended homework time is to make sure that you are proactive at keeping up with assigned work. It’s so important for parents to have the flexibility to excuse assignments where needed- we are all busy homeschool families with many responsibilities. However, if too many assignments are excused, or if assignments are excused without working with the tutor to determine where excusing an assignment might cause a student to miss out on an important concept- then students can end up in a frustrating situation where they can’t benefit from the instruction in class. And, of course, a student who hasn’t learned well in class has no choice but to try to teach themselves at home, having to look up many concepts to make up for what was missed. This takes a lot of time- usually much more than completing the assignments as originally assigned would have taken.
However, sometimes it’s the case that a student is faithfully completing what is assigned right on schedule, and the work is still taking much longer than recommended. If you are in this situation, we’d like to help! Often it’s possible to create a plan together that can help make things more manageable. Just reach out to CHA’s Academic Support Team (contact information below)! It starts with a conversation. It can end with the accommodations your child needs to be successful at Christiana.
We fell behind a little, and I can tell that my child isn’t “getting” everything that’s taught in class. Help!
It happens! No one at CHA keeps up with everything perfectly all the time. And we don’t expect you to! A certain level of flexibility is built into our policies for good reason.
However, if you’ve fallen behind, communication is key! By working together, we can help you to prioritize what courses of action will have the most benefit, to help get you back on track as quickly and easily as possible. In order to do this, we need to know what barriers might be affecting you at home, while you need to know what is most necessary to help things flow smoothly for your child in class.
Again, it starts with a conversation. First, reach out to your child’s tutor. Make every effort to attend Parent-Tutor conferences (coming up on February 10th!) If you have concerns about the academic curriculum that cannot be answered by the tutor, reach out to the Department Coordinator. If you have concerns about the tutor or your child’s placement in a class, these should go to the appropriate Dean.
My child says that the work is difficult. Does this mean that we’re not a good fit at CHA?
Did you know that good grades are not a good predictor of how much a student will remember later in life, or how skilled they will eventually become in the subject being graded? Similarly, it is well known that having a high IQ does not mean that a person will become successful, either in school or in life.
If having high intelligence and earning good grades don’t make the difference for our children’s futures, what does?
The answer, as it is increasingly being revealed by modern science, is that the act of struggling itself is what produces good and lasting learning.* Or, as rising 9th graders read each year at CHA- it is important to Do Hard Things.
Or, as has been understood by classical educators throughout history- what produces good and lasting learning of the kind that really matters is virtue.
Perseverance.
Prudence.
Self-mastery.
All the Biblical virtues which CHA students recite each day at morning devotions.
When the assigned material becomes difficult, or grades start to fall, it can feel very frustrating. It can be tempting to conclude that there is something “wrong,” or that a different method of learning would be a better fit. But in reality, embracing this and working through it provides a myriad of benefits.
Contact Information for the Academic Support Team at CHA:
Mrs. Erika Adam, Temporary Director of Academic Support, [email protected]
Mrs. Laura Staley, Lower School Dean (PreK-8th Grade), [email protected]
Mr. Louis Stachowiak, Upper School Dean (9th - 12th), [email protected]
* https://cedarclassicalacademy.org/in-defense-of-mastery-our-approach-to-assessment/
We are going over the time recommended in the Homework Scheduling Chart. What can I do?
The first and easiest way to avoid going over the recommended homework time is to make sure that you are proactive at keeping up with assigned work. It’s so important for parents to have the flexibility to excuse assignments where needed- we are all busy homeschool families with many responsibilities. However, if too many assignments are excused, or if assignments are excused without working with the tutor to determine where excusing an assignment might cause a student to miss out on an important concept- then students can end up in a frustrating situation where they can’t benefit from the instruction in class. And, of course, a student who hasn’t learned well in class has no choice but to try to teach themselves at home, having to look up many concepts to make up for what was missed. This takes a lot of time- usually much more than completing the assignments as originally assigned would have taken.
However, sometimes it’s the case that a student is faithfully completing what is assigned right on schedule, and the work is still taking much longer than recommended. If you are in this situation, we’d like to help! Often it’s possible to create a plan together that can help make things more manageable. Just reach out to CHA’s Academic Support Team (contact information below)! It starts with a conversation. It can end with the accommodations your child needs to be successful at Christiana.
We fell behind a little, and I can tell that my child isn’t “getting” everything that’s taught in class. Help!
It happens! No one at CHA keeps up with everything perfectly all the time. And we don’t expect you to! A certain level of flexibility is built into our policies for good reason.
However, if you’ve fallen behind, communication is key! By working together, we can help you to prioritize what courses of action will have the most benefit, to help get you back on track as quickly and easily as possible. In order to do this, we need to know what barriers might be affecting you at home, while you need to know what is most necessary to help things flow smoothly for your child in class.
Again, it starts with a conversation. First, reach out to your child’s tutor. Make every effort to attend Parent-Tutor conferences (coming up on February 10th!) If you have concerns about the academic curriculum that cannot be answered by the tutor, reach out to the Department Coordinator. If you have concerns about the tutor or your child’s placement in a class, these should go to the appropriate Dean.
My child says that the work is difficult. Does this mean that we’re not a good fit at CHA?
Did you know that good grades are not a good predictor of how much a student will remember later in life, or how skilled they will eventually become in the subject being graded? Similarly, it is well known that having a high IQ does not mean that a person will become successful, either in school or in life.
If having high intelligence and earning good grades don’t make the difference for our children’s futures, what does?
The answer, as it is increasingly being revealed by modern science, is that the act of struggling itself is what produces good and lasting learning.* Or, as rising 9th graders read each year at CHA- it is important to Do Hard Things.
Or, as has been understood by classical educators throughout history- what produces good and lasting learning of the kind that really matters is virtue.
Perseverance.
Prudence.
Self-mastery.
All the Biblical virtues which CHA students recite each day at morning devotions.
When the assigned material becomes difficult, or grades start to fall, it can feel very frustrating. It can be tempting to conclude that there is something “wrong,” or that a different method of learning would be a better fit. But in reality, embracing this and working through it provides a myriad of benefits.
- Difficult situations give us what we need to build virtue
- Growth is not possible without difficulty
- Successfully coping with difficulty builds the confidence that students will need for adult life
- Experiencing difficulty helps us remember material better than achievement which is attained without effort
- Working through difficulty together builds strong relationships between parents and children
- All of the above contribute to forming our kids into strong and virtuous Christians, with the ability to succeed in any walk of life
Contact Information for the Academic Support Team at CHA:
Mrs. Erika Adam, Temporary Director of Academic Support, [email protected]
Mrs. Laura Staley, Lower School Dean (PreK-8th Grade), [email protected]
Mr. Louis Stachowiak, Upper School Dean (9th - 12th), [email protected]
* https://cedarclassicalacademy.org/in-defense-of-mastery-our-approach-to-assessment/
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