Mom Is Teaching

A friend of mine’s daughter has finished up her year already and is sort of puttering around the summer letting her wants be the guide. My friend, who really needs to get a blog!, sold off most of the previous books and lessons but kept her Oak Meadow teacher guides for me. They are the K-3rd grade set, so I’m excited to take some time and really look them over. The package just came in the mail today and I’m a bit anxious to get some free moments to spend with them.

Though I’m not really set into one curriculum or style I’ve been mostly in love with Enki. All except for that price tag. Since I’ve heard some gushing reviews of Oak Meadow by Enki users I’m willing to give it a once over, especially since the price tag is much cheaper. I don’t think we’re really ready to move onto using a formal curriculum yet, but I like to steal bits and pieces of information and advice from all of the styles out there.

It seems that a lot of families are wrapping up for the year, or slowing down for a break if they go all year long. If the more than 2000 listings on Ebay.com right now is any indication there are quite a few people selling off their old supplies for next year’s lists. This is the time of the year that frugal home educators live for, buying what they need for a fraction of the new price.

home education, curriculum

It seems there are very few stereotypes of home education for us to get labeled. If we’re not all abusive, crazy parents hiding our children from the sun then we are over baring parents forcing our kids to memorize how to spell words out of medical text books. It’s either neglect or pressure that the kids have to suffer. The middle ground isn’t often mentioned in the news.That’s why I got such a kick out of Kim’s post about being “over homeschooling”

But may I ask why you feel the need to take the overachiever angle? Don’t you think you might be raising expectations a bit high as you step on our heads to reach the summit? Do you really think people like to hear about how brilliant you are? Don’t you know they snicker about you behind your back? ‘Oh, homeschooling is soooo superior. Homeschooling is in the gifted program. Homeschooling can spell onomatopoeia backwards!’ What about that time you told me it was okay if we didn’t have the times tables sealed up this year? You said everyone can go at their own pace, that was what was so great about you, you said. Reaching your own potential and all that bs.

What would a week without home education in the news look like? Well it would be pretty boring around this blog, we’re not doing anything around here worth writing about. But it might give some people room to breath again without feeling expectations looming over their head. If your 7 year old can’t read classic myths in Latin then you must not be a very good home educating parent, or you’re one of those abusive ones.

Dana has another take on what home education becoming popular means.

Is that all bad? What did a small band of anti-institutionalists bring to American education? Popularity certainly comes with a price, but it brings with it something else that I think is important to not overlook. It brought with it choice. A real choice for many Americans. Not only do we have public schools and private schools, but now we have charter schools and magnet schools. We have virtual charters and other means of attaining an accredited education at home in many states. We have cottage schools and homeschool coops. And we have support groups across the nation. Even Ravenna, Nebraska with its 1300 citizens boasts a homeschool group.

The press, even if it comes in terms we don’t like, is still press for home education. Is that what they say, there’s no such thing as bad press? Parents who might not have thought about it before are being turned on to home education more and more.

And if nothing else, being sold as super-geniuses beats being associated with incest and child abuse. Isn’t that what we usually get, finger pointing and accusations of abuse? There was a time when this “fringe movement” rarely got press, and all of that was hopelessly negative. Now if only we can get more middle of the road acknowledgment.

news, media, home education

I just realized this was still in my drafts folder instead of published. I feel like such a slacker. At least Wordpress lets me backdate so I can pretend it was up on time. *grins*

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This week’s challenge was to start a collection of things found in nature. My oldest has already been obsessed with collections of all kinds lately, since he discovered an older cousin collected action figures. Now anything he picks up in the yard, on the side of the road, at the park, etc… becomes part of his “collection”. So why not put it to good use?

I’ve wanted to give my boys a nature table but have been holding off. Between crazed cats that run around the house and a toddler that can’t keep his hands to himself I’ve been worried about what exactly might happen to anything left out. So we improvised. I found an old basket that would work well for holding things and let him put anything that caught his eye in the basket. Anything at all. The collection turned into a fun little game, looking for specific things that he thought needed to be in it.

We’ve got a couple rocks from the yard, a bunch of what I believe is False Garlic, a German Iris, some leaves off the rose bush, and some leaves from the Dog Wood tree. He had also picked a ton of Gray-green Wood Sorrel that are all over the yard, but they had already shriveled before I got the picture.

Aside from the nature basket we learned about German Irises this week. I had planned to do moss since it was something he was fascinated with, but at the last minute he started asking me about “those big purple flowers” so we took it from there. It was a lot of fun taking the flower apart to inspect the inner workings, and trying to label the pieces and what they do. I think that was challenging enough for me this week.

The best part was camping out in front of the flowers and watching for visitors. We had bees, a wasp, several butterflies, and gnats all coming to the flower patch. I was hoping for some ladybugs but I think it might still be a bit too early in the year.

nature, nature study

If you’ve never visited Education.com you really should. It’s a great site for parents looking for information for more information on their kid’s education. Everything from preschool to high school is covered. Reference articles, informational sources, and advice.

I recently got an email from Jessica Hopkins of Education.com telling me about their homeschooling section which has articles on socialization, curriculum, tutors, unschooling, and much more. There are even articles for parents of gifted kids and those with special needs, two areas that are often glossed over or ignored on general home education sites.

I thought I would toss this site out there as another valuable resource for parents to use. The articles cover more than just educational topics, with topics such as shyness and fitness also covered across the site. It’s one of those sites that is perfect for all parents to check out, not just home educators. So check the site out, spend some time digging through all the information they have to offer, and think about joining in the community section to share with other parents.

parenting, education, home education, websites

As the school year draws to a close for some a new wave of home educating families are stepping up. The ones who either made it through the year of public or private school and are switching to home education, and the ones facing enrolling their children in school for the first time next year and deciding to stay home instead. As the year stretches into the summer there will be more and more parents suddenly doing the “OMG I’m not sending the kids to school, what will I do” freak out dance.

I love Tammy’s response to one parent’s fears on perfect homeschooling. Things don’t have to be perfect, in fact nothing ever really is. But who would want perfection anyway, that’s pretty boring if you ask me. Spontaneous chaos is what gives moms a chance to shine, and where the most important lessens are often learned. Even if you feel like hyperventilating when it’s happening.

It’s totally normal to be hyper when you’re starting out something SO new, an interesting, and BIG, and fun, and scary, and all that. So, enjoy it. Sign up for everything, get really going. Then, when you feel yourself burning out, back out, do less stuff, and relax. Whether you start by relaxing or start by going into overdrive, you’re still doing a great job and learning about your role as a homeschooling parent.

I think even some experienced families get a little freaked out with each new year. The kids are older, they may be requiring something new, younger children might be getting old enough to start some things, regulations and requirements might have changed, or anything else can throw perfectly sane parents into confusion.

I saw a few other blogs linking to this list of benefits of home education. Some were saying that when things started feeling stressed and they were questioning enrolling their children for next year this list made them relax. So I thought I would pass it on as well, something to help you de-stress and breath.

home education, education, school, parenting

In the genre of anti-home education rants there are certain points that must be followed, a formula that should always be used. Jack read his copy of the anti-home education guidebook, probably several times. I think that’s why he did such a spot on job of taking each and every one of the rules and applying them so well.

I thought as a public service I would share the 5 rules you have to follow to write a rant as powerful and defined as Jack’s is. I have seen so many people try to discredit home education but fall short every time of really publishing the kind of rant that has most of us falling out of our chairs in fits of laughter. This is for those who have the desire but are uncertain of just what to say.

• First and foremost stereotypes are your friend. Love them, care for them, and stick by them unconditionally. If the current stereotype is that all home educating families are from Mars and wear green polka dot jumpsuits then you better make sure you make that point in your rant. Often. A quick glimpse online will let you know how you should wrap all home educating families. Currently we’re all anti-diversity, anti-science, bible beaters. Remember, the common stereotypes change often depending on who has a headline to sell so check often.
• Research, forget about it! That’s the kind of crazy, anti-patriotic thing that home educators would do. You don’t need sources, facts, figures, or data of any kind to prove your claims. Name calling and tugging on the emotional responses of others is more than enough. If you can get readers tingling in fear of what those home educators might be doing you’ve already won half the war. Just imagine they’re home, alone, with their children, on purpose. Clearly something foul is going on.
• Find someone who agrees with you and is willing to say so. Be sure that this one person is a teacher, professor, guidance counselor, or works in education in some way. Work for a quote that explains how they meet home educated students every day and they are all dumb as rocks and/or socially inept. Be sure to ignore any data that shows how intelligent and socially normal home educated students are. Also ignore any data, or personal experience, that would show that not every single public schooled child is bright, happy, and well adjusted. Remember research is for the home educators, you don’t want to align yourself with them by fact checking.
• Demand reporting, testing, and some sort of qualifications for all home educating families. All children belong to the state and as such parents are required to keep the children left in their care at the standards that the government dictates. An extra boost comes if you also threaten that students not living up to the standards should be removed from their “families” and returned to their real homes, the public schools. As always, ignore any data that indicates that these same standards and qualifications are not working so well in the schools or the data showing lenient states are fairing no worse than strict states. It’s not really about the education of the children, but showing those pesky parents who is really in charge of their kids.
• Last, but certainly not least, blame the parents. No matter how bad the school is, no matter what did or did not happen, no matter how the system may be failing the fault is always on the parents. Teachers stretched too far? Should have sold more brownies for the PTA. No money for the classrooms? Should have donated your paychecks. Bullies? Why didn’t you quit your job to monitor the hallways? Was your child passed on to the next grade without actually knowing the material? Well you’re the parent, why didn’t you teach Billy to read? Oh, wait…

You see, with this simple 5 step formula anyone can put together a rant on the dangers of home education that would brings tears to the eye. If nothing else tears of laughter after Doc tears it apart piece by piece. With research and facts even. Oh will those diabolical home educating families never stop!

home education, Jack Lessenberry, education, rants, humor

This week has 3 events going on. it’s TV Turnoff Week, Earth Day is tomorrow, and this week is the Bloggy Giveaway. I thought I would combine the three and offer a prize for the giveaway that parents can use to entertain their kids without a TV and be more environmentally friendly.

This week I am offering two books to one lucky winner.

D.I.Y.: Kids
D.I.Y. Kids encourages young readers to use basic design principles and on-hand materials to express their individuality through more than eighty imaginative projects. The book is divided into four sections—Graphics, Toys, Home, and Fashion—each packed with ideas for making fun and useful items, including step-by-step instructions and colorful photographs of cool designs and the kids who made them.

D.I.Y. Kids is designed to trigger imaginative play, it’s for parents, teachers, aunts and uncles, friends and babysitters, neighbors and citizens—anyone who wants to create a better world not only for, but also with, the next generation. Ellen Lupton is a curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the director of the graphic design MFA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She is the author of numerous books, including D.I.Y. Design It Yourself and Thinking with Type. She received a Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the AIGA in 2007.

Recycled Crafts Box

Gr. 3-7. Much more than just a craft book, this title includes a brief history of trash–illustrated in a colorful “trash timeline”–that shows how the invention of disposable products and packaging has created increasing waste. Another diagram shows the “anatomy of a landfill.” Organized into sections based on common recyclable materials (paper, plastic, metal, fabric), the easy-to-follow, mostly appealing projects include a “Fancy Foil Fish” aluminum mobile, paper jewelry, and milk-carton castles. Each section has useful information about the material being used, such as a chart that deciphers the codes used in various plastic products. Throughout, Martin makes suggestions for “living lightly” on Earth, although in many cases (purchasing choices, for example), kids will have to pass on the tips to their parents. Illustrated with cheerful cartoon drawings and color photos of the finished projects, and bolstered by many resource lists, this is a surprisingly attractive, substantive offering that is just the thing for teachers planning Earth Day activities.

If you want to win both of these great books here is all you have to do. Leave a comment on this post between April 21-25. If you share a fun activity that your kids love to do without the TV or that’s eco-friendly your comment will count twice.

I’m late sharing our Green Hour Challenge this week and I’m sorry. I got so wrapped up in a conversation I was having online that somehow in my mind I thought I had already posted it. It was only when I swung in to check comments did I realize I hadn’t yet. Sorry!

This week the assignment was to read through the section we’ve chosen to cover and list the topics that we plan to be covering for the rest of the time. I’ll admit that I’m more than a little inept when it comes to knowing flowers. There are pink ones, white ones, yellow ones, etc… The names aren’t anything that I’m familiar worth, which is part of why I choose plants. I’m enjoying learning about them as much as my oldest is. Here’s the list we have so far.

• moss (not a flower, but the boys have been exploring it a lot)
• tulips
• German Iris
• prairie trout lily
• grey-green wood sorrel
• henbit

We’ve been making a point to look around more on our walks and see what we see coming up. There are so many flowers popping up. The bright yellow dandelions really caught our eye this week, they are adding quite a bit of color the everyone’s yards. As it warms up more outside there will be a lot more prairie wildflowers popping up everywhere. But for this week dandelions had our attention.

We spent a warm afternoon picking dandelions in various stages of growth, making wishes on the seed puffs, and getting close and personal with the flower heads. The oldest was actually excited to make a page in his nature journal on dandelions so I helped him as much as he wanted.

nature, nature journal, dandelions

I can’t say enough how much I love using Twitter. It keeps me up to date and chatting with all of my friends. I also get tips for articles and websites worth checking out. Like this one for instance, School of Everything.

As soon as I saw this site I knew I had to share it here. The “school” is really a place for people to connect with others who have something to teach them or something to learn from them. If you want to learn more about a topic just search for it and find someone willing to teach you. Or if you have a certain skill you can find other eager to learn. Whether you are teaching for free or charge to pass on your knowledge you can join the School of Everything and add yourself to the club. Here is a tidbit from the Big Idea page about this site.

Our current education system was designed in the industrial revolution to prepare people for factory work. The world has changed a lot since then - and the time has come to rethink education from the bottom to the top.

At School of Everything, we believe that learning is personal, and starts not with what you ’should’ learn but with what you’re interested in. So we’re building a tool to help anyone in the world learn what they want, when, where and in a way which suits them. Putting people in touch with each other, not with institutions.

The site was originally for the UK only but has recently gone international. Still the majority of the teachers listed are from the UK, mainly because that’s where they started. If you from someone else and have a skill you wouldn’t mind sharing you should join up as a teacher. Who knows who you might end up meeting and helping.

I’m sharing this great site as my Works For Me Wednesday post this week. I loved it too much not to pass it on. Don’t forget to go check out the other tips and advice being shared this week as well.

education, learning, knowledge, School of Everything, Works For Me Wednesday

I got this note in my email and wanted to pass it on.

You can get Oprah’s favorite Barefoot book for FREE through the end of April when you place an order online.

Place an order today and as a thank you, receive a free Whole World Mini Edition ($9.99 value) - featured on Oprah’s O List!

Order Now

I love Barefoot Books, they have some of my favorite children’s books. Check them out and see what books you fall in love with.

books, free book

Yesterday I spent the day watching my youngest niece all day and my older one for a few hours. A family friend died and I choose to stay behind and have child duty for the little ones that did not need to be there.

I love my nieces, I adore them. We had a great day that included fast food for lunch, coloring books spread out every where, and a flower scavenger hunt at the park. It was a great day together that ended up lasting much longer than planned because neither were willing to leave at the end of the day. Gymnastics and T-Ball were skipped so that they could stay another couple hours.

However, like all kids, they are honest to a fault. All parents know about it. When your kids repeat something you said in private, very publicly. Often in front of the very person you don’t want to hear it. Never failing to live up to expectations the girls dished out the classic “I go to school because that’s the only place you can learn.” and “If they went to school then they could play with us more during the day.”

Over all it wasn’t too bad. There were just those few moments when one would turn to me and say exactly what I know they’ve heard at home. Luckily I’m used to being the black sheep of the family so it doesn’t phase me too much. And it’s a lot less uncomfortable coming out of the mouth of my cute nieces than it was last week when I got a phone call to let me know exactly when and where pre-enrollment was going on.

home education, family

I’ve been digging Homeschool the Revolution lately. I know, I’m a sucker for anyone with “revolution” in their blog name. Over the weekend I had a chance to read a post there on parenting and being an objective teacher. The whole post is really worth reading but here is a snippit that really stood out to me.

Remember the old adage about leading horses to water? Well, a teacher can stand in front of a classroom all day and teach and teach and teach, but if the child is not stimulated to learn, he won’t become educated. True education is stimulating the child’s interest in the subject and facilitating a deepening desire to know more. The best teachers know this and try to do it - often not as well as they would like, because it is nearly impossible to do it for twenty-four students at once.

The post was actually in response to a question about parents not able to be objective teachers and coddling their children.

Parents are going to be more likely to give their children more leeway than professionals. When John and Jane get jobs, unless it’s in the family business, bosses are not going to be mommy or daddy. They’re going to be objective professionals.

For me I think this boils down to the idea from Calvin: learning should not be fun. Neither should work it seems, and for many people it certainly isn’t. I suppose my answer is different because I see my kids’ futures differently, or at least I hope their futures will be. I am sure that I will give my children more leeway, a longer leash so to speak. Because I want them to be free to explore and create and understand. I hope that with this they will learn what truly drives them and work towards that. In other words if one is passionate about art I would hate to see him take a boring desk job and go to it every day because that’s what he thinks he has to do. But if he loves math and crunching numbers I want him to be given more leeway to build himself up so that when he becomes an adult he will have internal motivation to be the best he can. I don’t want my children living by a someone else’s schedule or running from one ringing bell to the next.

home education, parenting

Week #4 of the Green Hour Challenge, this week things are coming into focus for our nature study. This week we are supposed to choose a specific area to study for the remainder of the challenge. Since it is spring and things are blooming everywhere here we choose to stick with plants. Though I am sure that incects and animals will wander in as they are needed.

This week on our nature walk we found and brought home two things to explore and learn more about.First this robin egg that we found on the ground. The top of the shell was broken, but the insides were still intact. There wasn’t a baby bird inside, but there was a clump of something floating in there.

Next we found these purple flowers growing in a huge patch. I’m still not sure exactly what kind of flower they are. I couldn’t find them in the Handbook of Nature Study and searching online by their description brought me about 500 different types. I’m just not that patient to dig through them all. But I learned of a great online resource for exploring animals and plants. eNature.com has free field guides online thousands of species that you can dig through.

This week we were supposed to read pages 10-11, 13-15, and the introduction of the area we are exploring for the challenge. I’ll save you my analysis of it this week, mostly because the kids are not interested in letting me type this morning.

nature, nature study, green hour challenge, home education

When a common person says “theory” and a scientist says “theory” they are saying two different things. You cannot interchange them. Just because to you a “theory” means a guess that is not necessarily so in the scientific community. Just because you want to use your definition that does not make their use of the word change.

From Wikipedia:

The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion.

In science, a theory is a mathematical or logical explanation, or a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists “theory” and “fact” do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theories commonly used to describe and explain this behavior are Newton’s theory of universal gravitation (see also gravitation), and the theory of general relativity.

In common usage, the word theory is often used to signify a conjecture, an opinion, or a speculation. In this usage, a theory is not necessarily based on facts; in other words, it is not required to be consistent with true descriptions of reality. This usage of theory leads to the common incorrect statements. True descriptions of reality are more reflectively understood as statements which would be true independently of what people think about them.

According to the National Academy of Sciences,

Some scientific explanations are so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter them. The explanation becomes a scientific theory. In everyday language a theory means a hunch or speculation. Not so in science. In science, the word theory refers to a comprehensive explanation of an important feature of nature that is supported by many facts gathered over time. Theories also allow scientists to make predictions about as yet unobserved phenomena.^[1]

Let’s look at it rationally. Gravity is a theory. The theory is what explains the action, such as an apple falls down and not up. However, a law is not higher than, better than, or more proven that a theory. The law is that an apple falls down. The theory explains why it fall down.

Yes, theories can and do change over time. However that does not discredit them. Medical procedures change over time, yet that doesn’t mean you tell your doctor that it’s “just a theory” when he says he wants to put a cast on your broken arm. When confronted with new information sticking your head in the sand does not make you better informed, it just makes you look foolish.

theory, scientific theory

Are you a progressive home educator? The Progressive Homeschoolers of Florida blog has a post on Setting the Homeschool Record Straight. You know, that we’re not all living under rocks, hiding our kids from the “real world” (as if that exists in schools), and teaching our kids to be illiterate.

The post is in response to an article in the American Chronicle titled Homeschoolers Who Don´t Learn Science Shouldn´t Receive a Diploma. The article’s author sets up the typical “All home schoolers are (fill in blank with whatever the author dislikes)” tactic too often used. I too often wonder how someone playing on outdated stereotypes and oversimplified examples can assume they know better about how to educate my children than I do, but I digress.

The fact is that home educators are not in a cult. We are not all fighting to ban evolution, and really kids can still get a biased and misguided education in the school system itself if no one questions the books being force fed to the kids.

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