Random Ramblings and What We're Learning

First off, your dose of random ramblings:

Hashtags

I think everyone has the friend or two guilty of excessive use of hashtags. You know the ones. They're making dessert and their post reads like this:

Making cookies! #chocolate#chip#oven#350#for#10#minutes#memories#batter#spatula#milk#yummy#pauladeeneatyourheartout#nestle#bettycrocker#burnedmyfinger#ouch#coldwater#stillhurts#bandaid

Seems like a bit much to me. I don't use twitter but now that it's everywhere, I can't help but think in hashtags. I don't even know exactly how they work but I'll be at Walmart and think things like #crowded#nolanesopen#friedchicken#noPublix#inpajamas#peopleofwalmart#lowprices#thisscooterhasscabies

Things like that. Not sure what it means but it's probably nothing good.

Car Decals

We live in a southern town that is rife with y'alls and hunting. These decals are all over:



I swear I thought it was a person on fire that was dancing. Imagine the snout (or muzzle?) as the person's right arm bent at the waist, hips jutted out in a saucy manner, hair aflame. I can only assume that he or she is listening to Gloria Estefan or something. (If you, like me, only saw the people on fire...this is a deer head)

Then I saw this decal and thought "Aw, two people dancing together, heads aflame."




My Girl

This is my 6 year old, reading the Children's Illustrated version of Oliver Twist. She reads and reads and reads. She is my girl indeed. I asked her what the story was about, just to make sure she was understanding it. She told me a sad tale of a boy whose mother died and he lives with people who are mean to him. He has only two people who are nice to him and Oliver is concerned that if something happens to those people, he will be stuck with the mean ones. I told her to carry on.

What We Are Learning

Adoption is hard. Really, really hard. But that's a whole different post. It's extra tricky when you homeschool. There is no break during the day when the older ones skip off to school (we have segregated the kids in olders and littles, thus pitting them against each other for life). Our last year of homeschool has basically gone to seed. Lots of movies, lots of "Please be quiet! I'm on the phone with Department of State!" type days. Now that we're back I'm dealing with dueling toddlers and a sweet little girl who frets when I'm out of sight, afraid that I have left her as all the other adults before me have. We're supposed to be learning about the Middle Ages but all we've done recently is watch "A Knight's Tale." I'm checking it off anyway, even if it means that when the kids play knights, they chant "We will, we will, rock you!" It's nothing if not authentic.

There are so many evenings when I think "A whole day has gone by and we haven't learned anything." But I have to hold on tight to God and trust him that they will be ok. And as I watch my kids throughout the day, I realize they are learning. Nothing that will be on a test - but nothing that truly matters usually is.

Talitha is learning that she can trust us. That we are family and we are permanent and it's ok to be sad or stressed because we will be here to hold her. She is learning that we will be there every morning when she wakes up. She is learning that a mama kisses and rocks and reads silly books and gets her bottles of milk because that's what a mama does. Always. At this point she still eats and eats and eats like every meal could be the last. She is learning, one day at a time, that she will not go hungry here. Through the years she may grieve for her past and I will there, holding her tight and kissing her cheek while she cries. Everyday her trustbank grows a little bit more until one day it will be full and she will know she is forever safe.

Jack and Kate are learning that there are things in life that are worth fighting for, worth sacrificing for (and yes, I know you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. But that's not important right now). They are learning that money is just money after all and that a child's life is more important than the slew of nice things we could buy instead. Sometimes Jack will tell me that he wants to provide heart surgeries for free for kids like his sister. And then when Noah gets upset with Talitha over a toy, Kate will quickly tell him "No, no, sweetie, we are nice to babies. We love babies." And I know that they are learning after all.

Rabbit Trails

This past week we took a break from homeschooling. I homeschool all year round, for a few reasons. I like the continuity - long breaks in the summer mean we have to review for the first month back or so and that's just a waste of time. It also allows us to take more frequent breaks throughout the year. A couple of us are sick - no big deal, let's break out some movies. At this point we homeschool for a couple hours in the morning. There's no stress over making sure we hit a certain number of days or making time for field trips and playdates. And lots and lots of outdoor play makes for happy kids.

                                               

                   
Sometimes we're running full tilt, blazing down this path of learning. Latin, history, science, math - we're right on target. Other times we take rabbit trails and see where they go. I love the full tilt, feel like we're productive, checking things off a list time. And I love the rabbit trails. No schedule, no plan. Children are innately curious. Sometimes it sticks with us as adults - the wonderers of society, the group that asks "what if?" Sometimes it dies out as we age or gets squashed when no one has time to figure out the answers. I want to have time to answer these questions together, to not rush around trying to become so educated that we miss learning all these beautiful things.

This past week the kids spent a lot of time outside, happily climbing trees and playing cops and digging. We went to Legoland for a day as a family and went about our usual routine of homeschool PE at the Y and dance lessons. Jack took a day and figured out which direction the world turns based on the sun's position. Kate spent hours and hours thumbing through my books, deciphering words. For no other reason than that they wanted to. Sometimes the rabbit trails are richer than the actual path.

A little bit of our jaunt down the rabbit trails:

CERN Now Certain It Has Discovered the Higgs Boson - Forbes

    We're almost positive we have. Definitely an absolute just about found it.

How Home Schooling Threatens Monopoly Education - USA today

     Not sure the numbers are big enough to threaten. But it should make the powers that be take notice. The money should follow the kid, not the other way around. As always, almost everything in life comes down to money, regardless of our ideals.

How "Fast" is the Speed of Light? - NASA

     Spinning off a discussion on how fast we would get to Legoland going at the speed of light. Check out the  wealth of stuff on the left side of the page.

Phil Robertson - Deciding to Follow Jesus

      One of the guys from Duck Dynasty. Simple, amazing testimony.

    Reading this aloud to the kids. One of my favorite childhood memories is of my older sister reading this
to me and my younger sister in the evenings. The Grand High Witch has a sort of Transylvanian accent and my sister doing the voice was the best part. My kids today get a kick out of it too and walk around saying "You may rrrremove your vigs."

Lots of morning spent giggling on the couch, all four of us snuggled under a blanket, perfecting our accents.

We run the path, we meander the trails and oh what lovely things we find all along the way.





               

School Plans Fall 2012 Part 1

The school year is off and running for us. My plans for us are to quietly and politely discuss philosophy, maybe in Latin, passing each other wheatberry scones. When I ask "Who would endeavor to diagram this sentence?" I would be met with an eager chorus of "Please, Mother! Allow me the honor!"

The reality is that we are usually discussing how much toilet paper to use so as not to clog the toilet. And what I usually ask is "Would you please, for the love of all that is good in this world, stop picking your nose?!" And what we usually eat is Goldfish, right out of the box (in fact, as I write this, Noah is eating Goldfish off a metal folding chair).

Nonetheless, hopes run high. I'll go into my plans for this school year in a little more detail (probably, if I remember) but right now I'll just give you an overview of what we do. This probably won't interest you unless you homeschool but you'll just have to suck it up and wait for the next post and hope it's funny.

Jack and Kate are in first grade and kindergarten (respectively, of course). Jack could be in second but his birthday is August so I red-shirted him ( Definition here). That way, in case he gets into the system at some point, he'll be one of the older ones instead of younger. Of course, it doesn't really matter for us what 'grade' they're in. Everything is kind of tailored to whatever stage they're in (for example, Jack is doing 2-3 grade math but is only 20 lessons ahead of Katie in reading). Noah basically just lumbers around and grabs pencils and eats bits of food off the floor. It's real fun.

Homeschool Plans Fall 2012

Math

Math U See is the program we use primarily. The kids watch a lesson on the dvd (they each have their own level) and do a worksheet. Math U See has manipulatives that the kids can use to solve the problem and they really like them. I plan on using Teaching Textbooks next year for Jack as he is getting more independent and would appreciate being able to do his lesson on the computer.

We also love Life of Fred. We have the entire elementary series. The kids love reading the books and doing the problems at the end of each chapter. I can definitely see us using this series all the way through.

This morning we didn't do either of those things for math.

Instead we read this book and solved the problems in it which lead to watching a video on Fibonacci's Sequence.

There are so many cool videos on math and reasoning (Khan Academy, Donald Duck in Mathematics Land, Schoolhouse Rock,etc) it never gets boring. If one way of explanation doesn't make sense, try another.


Reading

This has been a tough issue for me the past few years. I am a natural reader. Jack is not. It bugs him to no end that rules concerning phonics don't apply for a lot of the words. So I can tell him "Two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking" and he'll accept it and apply it to every word he reads with two vowels in the middle. Oh wait - don't use that rule with 'boot' or 'steak' or 'boil.' And then he'll ask me what the point of the rule is. He likes that 2+2 always equals four and that operating a lever or pulley will follow the laws of physics and give the same result every time. So I have to tell him not to use phonics to sound out the sight words (of which there are about 220) because he'll get frustrated every time. Over the past few years, I've tried countless reading programs, read books about reading and spoken with lots of people whose opinions I respect concerning education. Should I really push this issue, requiring a lesson a day and plowing ahead because goodness sake - look at all those kindergarten students reading fluently! I have failed! I'm a terrible person, holding my kids back from enjoying novels at age 6 all because I don't know what the heck I'm doing! Or...should I take a laissez-faire approach to this? Based on numerous articles, boys especially may not be cognitively able to read well until about 8 or so. And maybe this is one of the pros to homeschooling. I can step back and say "Ok, now what do I know about this one kid? Is this is a reading disability and one that requires specialists, tools, interventions? Or is this just plain the way he is wired? Do I give him a little freedom to be who he is? Do I take into account that his glasses prescription is so strong that only one place in Jacksonville can make it - and he's only 2/3 of the strength he actually needs?" Obviously, a basic education is being able to read and write reasonably well and to do everyday math. But there is a little leeway here. A kid who is a buttoned down scientific type will probably struggle a little with something as loosey-goosey as the English language. Let's be honest here. Our language is a little whacked out sometimes.

Katie takes these rules and exceptions in stride. It doesn't bother her one bit. Sweet little Kate, she breezes through life without much of a worry. And that's a good thing (as opposed to her big brother, who - at 7 - is worried about getting into a good medical school.)

They are both at normal levels for reading. It's hard, though, not to compare your kids to others, wondering if you're doing a good job. Or at least good enough.

Anyway, I told that long rambling background story to say that we use Click N Read phonics. I tried so many reading programs but Jack would get frustrated, trying to learn all the different tricks of each program and stating that the words were so small his eyes would hurt. Finally, after thinking about it and doing so more research, I tossed the workbooks aside and tried this program. I was initially hesitant because I try to limit screen time. They don't get to watch tv on a regular basis. Anything I usually show them is almost always educational in value. Every once in awhile they get to watch a movie and it's a big deal to them. I'm the same with computers. I'm all for kids knowing how to navigate their way around one but at 5? I don't really see the value in that. Anyway, we really like this program. Every lesson incorporates blends, letter sounds, sounds at beginning or end of words, sight words, and reading sentences.

We also use Bob books and Spelling City. We play games with sight word flash cards where the person has to jump up and say the word when they see it. Or they'll take their clipboards to the couch and write the words I say. Sometimes they'll copy sentences or words on primer paper.

Since I pretty much took a whole day to cover just reading and math, I'll have to make a part 2 for everything else. I'll try not to blather on so much.

Things to Think On - August 2012

Things we've watched, things we've read...

• An Open Letter to the Scientific Community - really enjoyed reading this and the thought behind it. Science is overwhelmingly in favor of the Big Bang/Evolution (as it regards to new species development). The odd thing is, there are quite a few inconsistencies as well as unproven ideas that the entire theory hinges on. Science should be a continual quest for truth, even if it goes against the grain of what is universally accepted.

• College for All?  - Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs - a Matt and Jack favorite) is on a quest to bring awareness and respect to the very-much-needed blue collar job sector. Our relentless pursuit of college for everyone is creating a country where MBAs are a dime a dozen and plumbers are in short supply. I know that the prevalent view in our society is that college is absolute, regardless of what career a student desires. When I was in high school, everyone was 'college prep' - there was no question about it. The average college student changes majors 8 times, making me wonder if we aren't pushing something expensive and time-consuming on young people who don't really know what they want to do yet. As a society, we need to place equal importance on all careers, whether it's medicine/law/academia or trades like electricians and plumbing and stop blindly pushing every kid into college.

         

       "In high schools, the vocational arts have all but vanished. We've elevated the importance of "higher education" to such a lofty perch, that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled "alternative."  Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job training opportunities as "vocational  consolation prizes," best suited for those not cut out for a four-year degree. And still, we talk about millions of "shovel ready" jobs for a society that doesn't encourage people to pick up a shovel." 

                                                                                   -Mike Rowe, 

                                                                                   speaking to Congress

                                                                                

• Einstein's Big Idea - Jack's favorite new video. It's in two parts so it's long but well done and quite interesting. No surprise, but I knew hardly anything about E=MC2.

• This Awesome Lecrae Cover - we love this guy's music but it's more suited for playing tag. This is a beautiful cover and you can just sip your tea while listening.

Why We Homeschool

Homeschooling never entered my mind as a reasonable education alternative before Jack was about 2. My best friend in elementary school was homeschooled and their family was the stereotypical 80's homeschoolers. Ultra-conservative and religious, they eschewed all things secular. TV, public school, music, books - all existed with the purpose of leading their children astray. Halloween was right out.

That was the view I had of homeschooling - extremists on the fringe of society. After we moved to our current town, though, I was dissatisfied with some things about the local school district. Since we don't live in Finland though, there's not a whole lot of other choices. Ether you spend the money and time (driving into the city) on a private school or you homeschool. Matt was the one who suggested it and I totally blew it off at first. I was not going to be one of those people, subjecting my poor kids to such an isolated and low level education. But Matt told me to at least research it, since I do that ad nauseam with most everything. The more I read, the more I liked it. And now I can't imagine not doing it.

Every homeschooling blog I've ever read has a post on why they homeschool. Because I know you were just burning up with desire to know why, I will tell you. In fact, I will list them. It's more schoolish that way.

Time

This is probably the biggest reason. I get time with my kids. My mom has a saying about raising kids - the days are long but the years are short. Every parent who has been a parent for more than a month will nod their head. I try to keep that in mind when the days are an endless cycle of schoolwork and housework, diaper changes and grocery trips. It's like Groundhog Day but with more laundry. And less Bill Murray.

I have time to really know them, to know how they think and what makes them sad and what makes them happy and what makes them worry. Every time they have a question, whether it's about the size of the sun or  why people die, I'm here to figure it out with them.

In regards to school, it can take as long or as short as they need. Finished with math in 10 minutes - understand it well? It's done for the day. Move on to something else. Enjoying your math (yes, it happens - I am not making this up), go ahead to the next lesson. And the next if you'd like. There are no bells to follow, no schedule to keep (well, there's a loose one), no waiting on other people to finish up. What's the statistic? Out of every 60 minutes in school, only 10 is actually spent on actual teaching/learning. The rest is lost in class change, roll call, classroom discipline (I know, it's called management), etc. This way we can get lessons done and spend time doing other things. Whether it's swimming or building a fort or making pizza or playing Uno or reading about Mozart, we have the time.

It's like staying home when your kids are little (except homeschooling is like staying at home on steroids).  It's tough. It can be a sacrifice of money, of sanity. But I remember what my mom says and store up memories of this time, the enjoyable and the stressful, the mundane and the thrilling because I know it will be over much too soon.

Individualized Education

One of the reasons homeschoolers do so well on tests and such is simply because of the nature of homeschooling. All of it is tailored to suit a family or a child's needs/interests. Homeschoolers do well regardless of the parent's level of education or if the parent is a certified teacher or not. Anytime you have a 1:1 (or possibly two if you have siblings similar in age), it's going to be better. 

When Jack was a toddler, I actually had 2 or 3 incidences of public school elementary teachers tell me to homeschool him.  My oldest just has unusual interests for a 7 year old and homeschooling allows him the freedom to pursue those. He loves human anatomy (especially the heart) and physics. He's seen just about every open heart surgery to be found on youtube. He can be who he is and do what he loves without fear of being teased for not liking Pokemon or Star Wars or something. Kate would probably do just fine in public school. But there is something to be said for pursuing your passion, whether it is heart surgery or Winnie the Pooh stories. I want my kids to love learning, to figure out who they are, even if it goes against the current of what is popular (on that note, I would be happy if they went against the current in most cases). If a reading program doesn't work, let's figure out what does. Or shelve it for awhile. If they want to learn Greek or sewing or chart constellations, I will happily oblige.


Academics

I would call our homeschool philosophy classical eclectic. I have done quite literally years of research on homeschooling, the whys of it (and why nots) and the different methods and curriculum. One of the best things about homeschooling is the flexibility to choose. I like the classical method (ala Well Trained Mind) and will implement a 4 year history cycle. There are so many, many resources out there. Math can be done with worksheets, textbooks, online courses, dvds, manipulatives or any combination that can be made whenever it's needed. It will be a rigorous curriculum that requires mastery. Classical literature, chronological history, foreign language and logic and debate will be part of daily routine. To be reasonable and thoughtful in pursuit of knowledge is the goal.

Rage Against the Machine (or Stick it to the Man)

I can't decide which phrase I like best for this. I simply don't like the public school bureaucracy. When we lived in Kodiak, I taught preschool and really enjoyed it. I was (and am) fascinated with education. But not the system of it, the process of it. I love how people learn and process information. I got my AA and began my Bachelor's for elementary ed. Somewhere along the way, though, I became disenchanted with the whole thing. A big reason was probably that I took my classes with adults who were already teachers and just needed continuing education credits. Most of them loved the teaching kids part but everything else that went along with it burned them out. We spent a lot of time in class debating certain funding issues or government policies or griping about red tape and school district big wigs. The shine was coming off my love of learning. There are lots of fabulous teachers that simply take that stuff in stride and love what they do no matter what or how long they've been doing it. And perhaps I just got a few overly bitter batches of peers. But I remember sitting in class one evening, listening to such a conversation, and thinking "This could be me in 30 years." And it was sobering. Homeschooling, in a lot of ways, is learning plain and simple. Of course, parents can make it like a mini-school and that's ok but for me, I just want them to learn. Simple. Without all the fuss and stress of testing a 5 year old, without the pressure to make the perfect cursive Q over and over for months on end (which I never made after third grade, thank you very much). Education just doesn't need to be bogged down with so much stuff.  Here's an article that illustrates some problems with a government run education system:

http://www.schoolchoices.org/roo/harris1.htm


Faith

As you can see from above, I don't really homeschool for religious reasons. Sure, I sometimes bake my own bread and we don't have cable but we're just not that kind of homeschooling family. A lot of people in our area do homeschool for religious reasons and that's ok. But I don't view public school as evil or trying to brainwash my kids. Sure, it makes it easier in some ways as the curriculum goes through me and there's very little peer pressure issues but that's not the big picture. Following God is not as cut and dried as choosing to homeschool or not watching tv or choosing Chronicles of Narnia over Harry Potter (that's its own post). Faith is part of who were are as a family, regardless of how we educate. Homeschooling does give us the opportunity to weave what we believe into everyday life. Every book, every textbook, every video is a chance to discuss the information. Sometimes the views coincide with what we believe, sometimes they don't. We're able to talk about it, to debate, to work through ideas and compare them. In this way, the foundation of our lives is continually reinforced. 

Finally, I homeschool for selfish reasons. Not only to I want to be around my kids a lot, I am enjoying this process for my own education. I went to fairly good public schools and learned all the usual things. But there were so many things I was interested in but didn't have the time to spend on them.  World War II, the Great Depression, Roman History, Elizabethan England, anorexia, and Japanese samurai are all things I remember learning about on my own, in little chunks of time spent at the school library during breaks. When I got older and was a college student and a married adult, I truly enjoyed just being able to learn on my own. No tests, no time restraint and moving on to the next subject in two weeks, just learning. I've learned so many interesting things in the past 12 years since graduation. I'm all aflutter with anticipation for what can be discovered next. And then next. And on and on.




For a better written list of reasons, here's the link to an article written by homeschooling dad Greg Sherman (he and his wife were public school teachers):

http://www.homeeducator.com/FamilyTimes/articles/10-3article1.htm

On Science and Faith

My son loves science. Specifically human anatomy (the heart especially gets him all twitterpated), astronomy and physics. Jack is analytical, focused and smart - basically the polar opposite of me (see previous post).

Much of what we read about the universe (or is that capitalized? I suppose there is only one) and physics refers to the Big Bang and evolution. I tread carefully when talking about these things with my six year old. Do I only read and share things that support my beliefs - things that are Christian? Or do I read everything and let the photons fall where they will?

When I was growing up, it was Creation at home and church, Big Bang at school. There rarely seemed a time when faith and science intersected. I remember having a question about evolution in my high school biology class and was told not to question, it was fact - not theory (well, I can't remember the exact wording. High school was a blur of acne and curled bangs).  Thinking about this makes me realize I want more for my children. I want freedom to discuss, to ponder, to question, to argue.  Let's read Genesis and then Origin of Species and then Darwin's Black Box and figure it out together. I have to believe that God is big enough to handle our questions, strong enough to handle our crises of faith. When Jack really became interested in these things, I bought several books. In reading The Universe, I came across the pages describing the Big Bang. I made the decision to read it aloud and not add any commentary. When I was done, Jack asked "So all this (gesturing with his arms to the backyard beyond us) came from an explosion?" I said "Yes, basically, but it began as an explosion in space and over billions of years developed into the planets, sun, and all life on Earth." He furrowed his brow and said "But that doesn't make sense. How can all this come from nothing? What caused the explosion?" So we got to discuss what we believe and why we believe it. I want to give my kids the freedom to discover things, to know that what they believe is truly what they believe and not just what I told them to believe.

One of the quite interesting subjects is particle colliders, specifically the Large Hadron Collider under the Franco-Swiss border (read about it here). Jack and I have been following the news on this since the story broke last October about neutrinos being faster than the speed of light (they're not). Recently there was quite a splash concerning the possible finding of the "God Particle" or the Higgs Boson ( Still Looking for It). It was supposed to confirm the Big Bang by providing mass to other particles. I've read a lot and am still not sure I got it (nobody's too surprised about that, right?). To me it just raises more questions. Where did the Higgs Boson come from? How did it get its mass? This growing confusion is a common theme in science. For every answer found, it creates 10 more questions. Now that I'm not reading government madated textbooks, things seem a bit more truthful. To be honest, no one really knows how exactly the Earth and life in it came to be. There are numerous theories. The carbon dating I read about in high school has quite a few problems, so does the young Earth theory, and the special theory of relativity.

What strikes me most in my reading of non-Christian science material (and not anti-Christian) is a very real sense of desperation. A true scientist is fueled by curiosity, by the pursuit of discovering the as yet unknowable. We want to know who we are, where we came from, and our place in this Universe. There is something in us that searches and hopes for something...anything, that gives us meaning and purpose. We want to know that we matter.

And the more I read the more I see that science and faith intersect quite a bit. And yet there are reasonable things that can't be explained with faith and things of the faith that are beyond reason. Believing in Creation requires faith, believing in the Big Bang requires faith. Believing in God or Allah or Zeus or nothing at all requires faith. Life itself requires faith.

For me, the sheer intricacy of creation speaks to something more. It's all so wonderfully complicated - from our bodies - to cellular design - to photosynthesis - to the laws that govern atoms - to the laws that govern space and time - to our place in the Solar System. Reading about electrons and liver function fills me with wonder. Watching my babies grow taller and speak and reason fills me with wonder. Everywhere I look the glory of the Most High seeps through and in and around.

Science can be summed up as such: Everything is fascinating and none of us, from the least to the greatest, know hardly anything. 

There is a God and He knows my name.

And that is enough for me.

Things to Think On - June 2012

Recent articles I've read, quotes to appreciate and so on.

How Parents Enable Kids' Creativity - The Wall Street Journal

        "This idea of making something is very fundamental to human beings, and children really get that,"    says Mr. Dougherty, "We are not just consumers. We are makers of things."


What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success - The Atlantic


         Decades ago, when the Finnish school system was badly in need of reform, the goal of the program that Finland instituted, resulting in so much success today, was never excellence. It was equity.


The Trouble With Bright Kids - Harvard Business Review Blog


            "Smart" praise kids were much quicker to doubt their ability, to lose confidence, and to become less effective performers as a result.


And from the Raising Real Men Blog (http://www.raisingrealmen.com/2012/04/the-goal/) 


             Your goal in life is not to be a teenager. Your goal is to become a man, and we’re going to help you become a man. What are the characteristics of manhood? We want to look at these virtues, things like honor, diligence, courage, and integrity, things that even a young man like you can develop and practice in small ways around the house …”