Three Weeks Down Already?
Oh, Dwight… you do have such a way with words.
I was going to make a comment about time flying by, but then I found that picture and got distracted by fun stuff from The Office. ‘Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica.‘ There’s even a tee shirt.*So* funny.
Anywhoo…
We’re three weeks into our new school year. How did that happen? Didn’t we just get done with Christmas? I am shocked and amazed – we’re only four days out from our first break this year and everyone is alive and well. As stressed out as our last few weeks of school were last year, I am exceedingly happy to report that this year is off to a very nice start. I’ve also lost 12 lbs. of 128 lbs. since Christmas, so I’m a pretty happy camper all around.
We’re still doing our crazy schedule – the kids have karate 2 evenings per week and on Saturdays, and I am training to be an NSO with our local roller derby team. My sister is a rollergirl; she’s been after me to come play but seeing as how I am an utter disaster on skates, I think it’s best that I keep my involvement firmly planted on the ground. Being a non-skating official lets me participate without risking my tailbone. In any case, practice is one night per week. If we weren’t enjoying it so much, I’d complain about being over-scheduled, but so far it’s working well.
Plans for this week include attending a performance by our local symphony, attending a half-day full of JASON presentations at our local college, learning about Groundhog’s Day and the history of (which are Candlemas and Imboc), and various crafting and lapbooking associated with, and working on solidifying those pesky multiplication facts. I found a video that uses your hands for quickly figuring out 6×6 – 10×10 facts, and a way to do ‘short’ division (because long division is absolutely killing LBB). I started arrays with PeaGreen, but he’s not so keen on them, so I will be looking for other ways to help him with his times tables (maybe Mr. Numbers?).
We’ll be winding up the week, and the first four weeks of school on Friday with a review of what all we’ve covered so far and a look at what we may want to change. I like my new lesson planner layout; the boxes for individual subjects are smaller, but they look *super* full when I write in them now, so it’s quite visually appealing. I’m still kinda disorganized off of paper, but on paper, I’m the bomb-diggety. We’re still using workbox plans, but I haven’t been packing the boxes like I was. We’ve been using a file box with hanging folders instead of actual boxes, but the boys say that they like the boxes better so we may work on going back to that here in the next few weeks. I’ll have to work on space though; the school room is crazy cluttered right now (we’re working at the kitchen table as I type). Luckily, tax season is right around the corner, so we’ll be doing some home improvement inside and out in the very near future. That means storage shelves, new paint and planning our garden for this year. Loverly Husband is even talking about building a greenhouse. I can’t wait!!
Now that school’s over for today, I’m going to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and my Nook while the children are otherwise occupied in another room.
Warmly,
~h
SOPA / PIPA and Homeschooling
- Image via Rampaged Reality
Tried to check Wikipedia today? Denied.
Today, Wikipedia, WordPress and other sites have blacked out in order to to urge people to take action, to speak out against SOPA and PIPA by contacting their State Representatives. Even on Facebook, half of my friends have either a blacked out profile picture or an infographic from America Censorship.org.
I am going out on a limb and assuming that since you’re here, you don’t live in the woods in an area where the closest internet access is 50 miles from your front door (though if you are – please… for the love of black nail polish and sparkly things, let me know; I beg of you! The thought that I may have a fan who spends what precious little online time he or she has reading here is almost overwhelming!!), and thus have some at least seen the letters and recognized that there’s a brou-ha-ha going on about them.
If you’re not familiar with the terms (come out form under your rock… just kidding. No, really…), SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act that is before the House of Representatives to vote on in a couple of weeks. PIPA is the Senate’s version of the same/similar bill the Protect IP Act (S. 968).
What does that mean for me and you? Other sites have covered the myriad consequences that affect the flow of information, but I wanted to talk about how it will affect homeschoolers. As a homeschooling parent, I rely heavily on the internet for access to.. well, everything, really. From connecting with my fellow homeschoolers and support networks via Facebook and internet forums like SecularHomeschool.com, to lesson planning and research for improving my own skills as a teacher. I use the internet to find recommendations, to gather ideas and spark my own creative process for everything from my own artistic pursuits to reinterpreting classroom techniques to be used in homeschooling.
SOPA and PIPA will put an end to all of that, to most if not all user-edited sites, including blogs! If you need a clearer picture of what all this means, I’m going to re-direct you to an article at Gizmodo that ‘splains it for you, Lucy. Back now?
So. Whatcha gonna do about it? Email a Senator? Contact a Congressman? If you’re in Texas, that would be Senator John Cornyn (who, according to Free Press Action Fund is opposed to PIPA) and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (who has yet to take a stand). Check FPAF to see where your Senators stand! You can find your Texas State Representatives here: Find My Representatives! If you’re not in Texas, as long as you look before SOPA and PIPA pass, you can Google it. If you wait… well, good luck with that.
Something I would like to mention is how this issue has affected us today in class. We’re still working on our Martin Luther King, Jr. notebooking pages, and one of the passages that the kids are writing today is the ‘Six Principles of Nonviolence’. Among them is ‘Attack forces of evil, not persons doing evil.’ We talked today about what ‘attacking forces’ meant and it just so happened that the contact page for Senator Hutchison was still on my screen. We talked about how we fight against ‘forces of evil’ in our country – through legislation. Being heard, contacting our Representatives, voting – how all of these things help maintain our freedoms and how without taking a stand and making your own voice heard, you’re allowing others to dictate your path. We talked about how important it is to have a say in what goes on around you and how Dr. King’s non-violent approach applies to our lives today. I was super proud of my kids for their ability to create scenarios and work for peaceful, yet effective, solutions.
Here’s part of the letter that I sent to Seantor Hutchison this morning under the heading of ‘education’ with the subject line, “Homeschoolers need the Internet”:
I am writing to you as a citizen in your district. I urge you to vote “no” on cloture for S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, on Jan. 24, 2012. The PROTECT IP Act is dangerous, ineffective, and short-sighted. It does not deserve floor consideration.
As a homeschooling parent, I rely on internet resources for research, lesson planning and to keep in touch with what’s going on in the world as I do my best to ensure that my children prepare for college. I believe that the PIPA will be detrimental to the flow of information, and thus cripple me as a homeschooling parent in doing my best to educate my children.
According to Free Press Action Fund, you have not taken a stand against the PROTECT IP Act at this time. I urge you to consider the limitations and hardships that PIPA will place on homeschooling families in Texas.
Over coming days you will no doubt be hearing from the many businesses, advocacy organizations, and ordinary Americans who oppose this legislation because of the myriad ways in which it will stifle free speech and innovation. I sincerely hope that you will take my concerns and those of your voters to heart and OPPOSE this legislation by voting “no” on cloture.
Part of this letter was taken from a form letter at American Censorship. I added my own thoughts to it as well. I can imagine that a more personal letter would have more of an impact than a form letter (I copied and pasted to get the language right). If you’re crunched for time or just don’t know what to say, please send a form letter in! There are MANY of them out there – pick one you like and make it fly! If you want, you still have time to send out a snail mail letter, too. Handwritten on beautiful stationery… ours go out in tomorrow’s mail.
Warmly,
~h
MLK Day Festivities and Notebooking
In celebration of Dr. King’s birthday, we’ve been working on expanding last year’s lapbook into this year’s notebooking. I came across a nifty ‘how to make notebooking pages‘ from Squidoo via Jimmie’s Collage (which has tons of really great notebooking info, and Jimmie also does The Notebooking Fairy blog) and whipped up a few for the kids to use instead of the dreaded handwriting workbook.
I’ve been meaning to get the kids into something other than a workbook for handwriting for a while now, and I think notebooking will fit the bill nicely. We’re taking it slow and easy – just working on forming letters and small passages – but I think that they need the practice and that writing real words instead of just practicing letters will help their writing become more fluid. I already notice that their cursive writing is significantly neater than their print, so we’re going to be stepping up the cursive writing portion quite a bit this year.
I know, I know – the debate about cursive is endless, but that’s a topic for another post! Moving on…
As our first real foray into honest-to-goodness ‘notebooking’, the boys have actually gotten off to a pretty good start. We’re going to be working on the Dr. King theme all this week; there’s a lot of information to cover and just one day won’t be enough time (and too much writing in one sitting makes fo grouchy boys). I am using much of the info from the unit study I posted yesterday from The Homeschool Mom’s site, the kids are researching online, and they’re using the information we compiled in our MLK lapbook to complete their notebooking pages. We’ve been doing weekly research projects for the past few months, so this is a step in a useful direction – not only locating the information, but presenting it in a more polished form – still fairly simple, but more story-structured (with complete sentences and everything!).
We’re off to a pretty good start with our weekly field trips – it was wet and rainy so the rest of our group (who were all coming from 20+ minutes away) opted to stay out of the weather, but we had an… educational experience with just our own company. It’s not really a ‘fun’ park; there’s no play gym or anything like that – it’s just more or less a lovely rest area with concrete walls along one side that have information on Dr. King’s life and work, and quotes from various letters, speeches and papers. It’s a somber experience, reading about what he accomplished and endured, and how he was persecuted for standing up for something we pretty much take for granted in such a ‘big’ way. The concrete plaques that are engraved are as tall as I am and there are 12 of them.
It was interesting listening to the kids talk about Dr. King’s words. They’ve never experienced anything like the kind of atmosphere that Dr. King lived in; I don’t know if they really understand (for that matter, I don’t know that *I* really understand) what it must have been like for the average person (white or black) to live in such a climate. For what it’s worth, I am thankful that the kids don’t live in that type of limited environment, and for Dr. King’s efforts towards both a non-violent approach and the end of racial segregation.
Some pictures from our trip today:
We’ll be wrapping our week up with completing our notebooking pages on Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement, and continuing to adjust to our suddenly very busy schedule now that we’ve added the Couch to 5K program and karate. We had a nice long break and are finally getting back into the groove… at least until our first break, which is still a couple of weeks off.
What about you – any new and interesting MLK links for this year?
Warmly,
~h
Into the Thick of it!
When the kids were little, The Backyardigans was a big hit at our house. When I sat down to write up a re-cap of our week, the song ‘Into the Thick of It” popped into my head, and so you’re treated to a reminiscence of my children’s pre-school days.
We’re back into our ‘normal’ school routine – week 2. Week one went by with a few bumps in the road, but overall, fairly smooth sailing. It’s always rough getting back into school-ish habits, but this week things have settled down quite a bit. I have been getting progressively more strict with the kids and schoolwork as we’ve progressed - insisting that they perform the way I know they’re capable of. Handwriting must be neat and legible or it will have to be written over again. Mistakes, though expected and understandable, are to be corrected before that assignment is considered ‘complete’. We do still work together quite a bit, but much of their schoolwork at this point is considered ‘independent’.
I know that everyone doesn’t homeschool this way; this is just how we do it. My goal as we move into higher elementary is to continue helping them be self-sufficient and independent workers. As they master the basics of elementary education, we’ll move into a more interest-oriented education, tailoring their individual paths to their strengths and future career goals.
Some highlights from last week:
We took a field trip to Pleasure Island for some hiking and bird-watching. We saw a handful of birds, but mostly the kids spent the day working on cracking the big rocks that lined the shores looking for geodes and embedded crystals. They found quite a few and we talked about the difference in tone between rocks that were solid and rocks that were hollow. We didn’t get any pictures, but it was a really fun (if a little chilly) day.
The kids and Loverly Husband all started karate last week. LH was a tae kwon do guy when we were in school, and LBB took a year of TKD back in kindergarten, but this is PeaGreen’s first martial arts experience. They’re all enjoying it. Our lovely sensei keeps nudging me to come play with them, pointing out that I would wear a size 3 gi (uniform). Considering that I haven’t worn a size 3 in anything since I was 3, that’s not a bad motivating point! I did start the Couch to 5K training program today with a few friends, so maybe in a few weeks/months I’ll feel more confident at mastering kung fu with the fam. At this point though, sending the menfolk off for class three times a week means heavenly-home-sweet-silent-home for me – I’m not ready to give that up just yet!
This week, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we’re reviewing our MLK Jr. lapbook and working on a unit study on MLK Jr. from The Homeschool Mom. We’re also visiting a nearby memorial park dedicated to Dr. King’s work and life. and will be following that visit up with some notebooking about him.
Hope your year is starting off smoothly!
Warmly,
~h
Homeschooling is Hard
If you’d asked me when we started what the hardest part of homeschooling was, I’d have probably said something about the curriculum, or confidence. At the beginning of last year, it would have been ‘fitting everything in’ or making sure that they didn’t have too many gaps in their education’ – again confidence related with maybe a little scheduling thrown in.
Ask me now, going into our third year, what the biggest challenge of homeschooling is and I say it’s the time commitment; the never-ending constancy of being ‘on’. As either Mom or Teacher, I am on-stage from the moment they wake up in the morning to whenever they finally fall asleep in the evenings (despite the fact that bedtime is at 8PM and not including the occasional during-the-night call to action). I do normally get up around the same time Loverly Husband does in the morning since the kids have started sleeping a little later in the mornings – that gives me a little bit of coffee time alone – but not much.
When my kids were little, I was wholeheartedly committed to the principles of attachment parenting. I remember the kids pre-school years as fun and full of joy, and at that point, we were planning to homeschool so there was no change of scenery in sight. I was happy with that plan, but if I’m honest about it, I admit that there were lots of days that I was exhausted, overwhelmed and in desperate need of a nanny, a maid, and an all-expense-paid vacation to somewhere with sparkling sand and cabana boys.
As much as I enjoy my life, and I do recognize that compared to some situations out there my life has been nothing but roses, there have definitely been a couple of breaking points over the years that meant major changes for our family. These changes were needed, but probably should have been addressed sooner than they were. Once they were made though, the benefit to our family happiness was noticeable.
Never one for a pristine-clean house, when the kids were little it was pretty much always a disaster area. With little ones running around, it was really hard to keep them entertained and out of trouble long enough to get any real cleaning done, and whatever I cleaned, they’d messy again when I was in the hallway putting the cleaning supplies away. Since the kids were my priority, the house suffered. When PeaGreen was about 3 and a half or so, after a fight with my Loverly Husband, we finally got on a good housekeeping schedule (and the mighty Household Bossy Book was born). He and I both had roles to fill and after discussing what we had, and what we wanted to change, we were both more aware of the responsibilities that came with keeping up ‘our family’s’ home. It belongs to both/all of us, and though I don’t mind a larger portion of the housekeeping being heaped onto my plate since I am here, even LH and the kids have their ’chores’.
Another breaking point came when the kids started school. I was working (unpaid), trying to get a doula business off the ground, and dealing with the constant in-and-out of school, homework, being an active PTO member and volunteer – it was a lot. Since I was gone so much, it was harder to keep up with all the housekeeping myself, and so the Bossy Book got re-vamped, with the kids taking on larger responsibilities as chores. Then, due to a variety of circumstances, including a tragic miscarriage, I decided to put my personal career goals on hold, and soon after that we started homeschooling.
One of the benefits to having the kids in school though – and one that I miss greatly at times – is the amount of time that I had to myself. From 8AM to almost 3PM, even though I was still ‘on call’ for the kids if needed, it’s not the same as having them underfoot all day, every day. The initial adjustments to homeschooling were all about the good – it was such a welcome change from what we had been dealing with that the day-to-day hadn’t set in yet. Even as much as a year or so later, I think we were still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase.
A couple of months ago, I reached another breaking point. I was ready to quit; even went so far as to look up enrollment information for the kids to go back to school. Part of me was dead serious about it. Part of me was indulging in a fantasy. I was having a super bad day/week, and anything that wasn’t ‘here’ and ‘me’ was better than what we had going on – being stuck in a rut and not knowing how to get out of it. And of course, the reality that going back to school would not solve any problems; in fact, it would only add new and more awful ones to my already stressed-out plate. And so again, a necessary argument discussion with Loverly Husband about what we had and what was and what was not working was called for. He actually had a day off planned that week, and normally when he’s home, we’re off. But after discussing it, we decided to have school anyway, and let him see how things normally went.
Having a visitor for the day was a good thing*. Having Dad here to actually experience the way that we normally do school and the tactics that our (brilliant, clever and witty) kids have developed to circumvent my methods actually did help. I don’t typically harp on ‘discipline’ with my kids, but this is one area where lack of discipline (meaning ‘adherence to a structure’ and ‘self-discipline’ rather than ‘punishment’) was lacking. Instead of sticking to scheduled time frames, I was allowing pleading and negotiation when there really shouldn’t be any. School work is not negotiable (unless it is – in which case, it is presented as such) and is not up for discussion. That’s not to say that I don’t take their wants and needs into consideration; anyone who works with kids knows that in general, they are comfort-led. They’d rather take the easy route and that’s usually not the same as hitting the books (minor note here about child-led learning; I prefer a more parent directed approach until the basics are covered and their foundation is strong, after which their education will be more interest and strength fine-tuned. YMMV {wink}). Having Dad here to see how things work (and don’t) was a big help; his level of understanding what my day is/can be like, while still not the same as being the primary teacher, is better after having been involved all day. His suggestions and discussion with the kids, as well, helped bring us back to an even keel.
Another facet of this multi-layered issue is me. I have/suffer from/deal with clinical depression issues, and though I wouldn’t normally describe myself as an anxious person, my current medication includes an anti-anxiety component that I am finding extremely helpful. I have been on and off of medication in the past and have known for some time that I needed to go back on them. I did last month and things have been improving. Adjusting to new medication is kind of like a box of chocolates; I’ve been fortunate that my side effects are few and manageable.
Just to clarify, this post isn’t just griping about homeschooling. My point in posting this is to dispel any notion of the ‘homeschoolers are perfect’ style stereotypes and to illustrate how we work through problems in our family. We’re launching into the beginning of our school year, so I wanted to present an open look at what homeschooling can be like on the inside.
Yesterday was our first day back, and we’ve made some adjustments for this year. We generally have an enjoyable routine, though there have been bumps (and will yet be more in the future), we are committed to homeschooling. Helping everyone in our family understand that, and what their roles are, is key to successfully navigating home life – and homeschooling.
Warmly,
~h
* for clarification purposes: calling Loverly Husband/Dad a ‘visitor’ is not meant to imply that he’s not an active part of our homeschooling. As a homeschooling mom, I require his support and participation – but his primary role in our family is provider; mine is child and household care – that’s just the division of labor. Though we both weigh in on the kids’ education, that also is primarily my responsibility to manage. Use of the term ‘visitor’ only implies that he is not normally physically present in day to day schooling with us.
Eating in the Raw
We’re trying something new… new year, new habits, new ideas… it’s a good time for that kind of thing. I figure since the world is apparently ending in a little less than a year, it’s time to make some (good) things happen, right?
A few months ago, my Loverly Husband decided that he wanted to do this ‘forage’ style meal plan. It’s not a full-on ‘raw foods‘ or vegan/vegetarian thing, but similar – more low-key than that, really. It’s more about simplicity than it is about buying into the ‘lifestyle’ that is usually (albeit stereotypically) associated with such a diet. His idea includes no meal planning, just having fresh foods on-hand to consume quickly and as easily as possible whenever hunger strikes.
Now, if you know anything about me from reading here, I can imagine that one of the things that jumps out at you is my penchant for planning all things with zero moderation. My Loverly Husband, who has known me since Kindergarten, could not possibly have failed to notice this trait, and yet somehow thought that I would be just dandy with it. Not.
Well, that was a few months ago, and I have to admit that the idea has grown on me. We’ve always kept kid-friendly foods on hand and the boys have been fixing their own breakfast most of the time for years now. To carry this trend over into lunch and dinner isn’t that much of a stretch, practically speaking. Admittedly, this laissez-faire, go-with-the-flow attitude might have something to do with my current/new-again-as-of-yesterday medication, which has blessedly made my previously over-stressed state a thing of that past, but whatever the reason, I really have gotten on-board with the whole idea.
I admit that the simplistic aspect appeals, but so does the idea that such a diet would lend aid towards health and weight-loss endeavors. As we launch into a new year, I once again have all these aspirations of weight loss and exercise; maybe putting a diet/lifestyle into place that supports those goals will create a whirlpool of success? In any case, I put on my Optimism Hat and tried to figure out how I can satisfy my own need to over-plan and still follow this simple idea.
Upon scavenging Pinterest for ideas, I discovered that there are literally hundreds of recipes out there for raw/vegan approximations of foods we normally eat (minus the meat and cooking, of course). Since we’re not going all out vegan, I think that small changes here and there with an eye towards that as a goal will be easier to accomplish and less traumatic, gastronomically speaking. Following a recipe does require some planning though, so I think it’s possible to satisfy my need to plan while still meeting the raw/vegetarian-ish goals.
And so it was that I decided that starting today, when I go grocery shopping this afternoon, it will be with the following goals in mind:
- stay in the produce section as much as possible
- plan on whatever actual cooking to be done is vegan-ish (with the exception of perpetual soup/bone broth which is going on to cook this afternoon)
- to refrain from being tempted by processed foods and junk
- keep the basket filled with only what can be consumed by the four of us in the course of a few days (this will be a challenge because I am used to planning and shopping for two weeks at a time)
We start school again next week. Wish me luck!
Warmly,
~h
P.S. It occurs to me after looking over my list that it’s not terribly ‘vegan/vegetarian’. But considering that virtually every meal for the past.. all of eternity has revolved around whatever meat-main-course and my current shopping list contains ’2 whole chickens’ instead of 10-12 meats for four, I’m calling that progress.
P.P.S. And in case you were wondering, I am not one of those ‘save the animals’ PETA people. I fall more on the ‘meat is tasty murder’ side of the fence, supported by the presence of both canine teeth (for ripping, shredding) and molars (for grinding and mashing) in humans, which (to me) indicate that humans are omnivores and therefore are designed to consume flesh.
Lesson Planning 2012
It’s really hard to believe that we’re about to begin our third year of homeschooling. The past two years have just flown by (despite moments where it felt like time was creeping by at a snail’s pace). It’s been an amazing ride and I am so thankful that we get to continue learning together!
The first year we were homeschooling, I planned each 6 weeks. The second year, I planned the entire year in advance and made three posts for core subjects, extended curriculum and extra-curricular activities. I think part of that was my over-compensation for lack of confidence. Seeing what all we were going to accomplish in advance made me feel a lot better about jumping into homeschooling with both feet.
This year, I don’t really feel the need to plan everything out. We started a new grade in October of last year, and we’re basically continuing those lessons through March/May-ish (depending on which subject). We’re moving away from ‘grade level’ a little more and as we go on, I expect that distance will be even more noticeable - I’d like that; to leave behind the idea of ‘grade level’ behind entirely. Maybe not a practical goal, but one can dream, yes?
We’re pretty much continuing what we started a few months ago – I know what resources we’ll be using for the next few months, and I plan each week’s workboxes sometime between Friday – Sunday. Since I already know what we’re using, I have a fairly good idea of what material is there; most of our subjects are just a matter of covering the next chapter or lesson in the book. I supplement with videos or field trips where we can, sometimes planned, sometime spontaneously – it depends on the lesson and mood.
Our daily schedule is similar to the last few months as well. I try to keep our day ‘seat/up/seat/up’ so the boys are never in their seats too long. Our week is also staggered so that we’re home one day and out the next, then home again. We have longer/more in-depth lessons at home and either reinforce or immerse on days when we’re out (or vice-versa).
I updated our ‘current curriculum‘ page a few days ago; there were more changes than I’d expected, but it’s all up to date now. We’re continuing with workboxes and my new lesson planner (which is on the printables page) has the workbox planning sheet built-in. I’m having it printed this week, and we’re giving the kids STARS planners another shot as well.
We sat down this morning and had a pow-wow; our school year begins next Monday. I banned all griping about school work and chores and since getting back to a normal work load after a break has always been… traumatic, to put it mildly, I told them they they would be doing a few worksheets from their summer workbook this week so ease back into doing full time/regular school work. They never cease to surprise me; LBB initially started with a complaint then buckled down and got it done whereas PeaGreen started off on a good note but getting him to finish was like pulling teeth. They did both finish though, and relatively sooner than I’d expected so maybe next week’s ‘back to school’ won’t be so bad.
I can dream, right?
Hope your new year is starting off smoothly!
Warmly,
~h
