The goal – or the path?

A link forwarded to me by a philosophical friend.  A highly interesting read.  What am I focusing on as we start the school year – the goal or the path?  Can we do both?  Am I nurturing a human being or trying to create the “best slave”? 

I find this girl’s reflection on her no-doubt outstanding education to be sad.  She’s the valedictorian of her high school, and yet she missed something valuable in her schooling, and she knows it.  This is simply her perspective.

Worth reading.

Maybe since my oldest is starting his final year of high school, I’m just getting mushy.  But as I reflect on the goals I set for his education and evaluate how well we met those goals, I have to evaluate if the goals were worth reaching in the first place.

http://americaviaerica.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html

Anxiety and learning

Something worth contemplating, during the rush of “back to school” that August inevitably ushers in.

“A fundamental psychological principle is that anxiety inhibits learning. Learning occurs best in a playful state, and anxiety inhibits playfulness. The forced nature of schooling turns learning into work. Teachers even call it work: ‘You must do your work before you can play.’ So learning, which children biologically crave, becomes toil–something to be avoided whenever possible.”

Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College, is a specialist in developmental and evolutionary psychology and author of an introductory textbook, Psychology.

Go ahead, read the rest of the article.  Plenty to chew on here.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200909/seven-sins-our-system-forced-education

A game clearly named after me

My kids and their friends call me Grammar Ninja (they used to call me Grammar Nazi, but I’ve made a load of violent threats against that…)

While searching for a ninja picture to use as my avatar in an online writing forum, I found a “Grammar Ninja” online game kids can play to practice identifying parts of speech by throwing shurikens at them.  You can play online or download the Grammar Ninja sentence generator.  Very cute.  Fun sound effects.

It makes me snicker.  Grammar is so cool!

http://www.kwarp.com/portfolio/grammarninja.html

A wicked new writing tool

Call me easily amused, but this writing tool cracks me up.  It’s called Write or Die and is run by someone calling himself Dr. Wicked.  Basically it’s a tool to help you bulldoze through writer’s block.  You set a word limit and a time limit, and start typing (yes, there are writing tips and links to writing articles).  Then hit “go” and start typing.  There’s a countdown timer, and the screen changes colors and provides “evil sounds” as your time runs out.  You can choose “normal” mode or “evil” mode, depending on how strict you want to be.

I can see this truly appealing to my son.

http://writeordie.drwicked.com/

He’s got a writing blog, an online writing lab and a free writing newsletter, too, if you get hooked.  I haven’t thoroughly searched the entire site, but I haven’t seen anything inappropriate yet.  Standard disclaimer: please use discretion with allowing your children unsupervised access.

Maxing out the cards

I maxed out three cards today while shopping.  I didn’t intend to – I was just going to pick up a few needed things and then browse a bit.  But I kept spotting items my kids would love, and items I didn’t know existed but suddenly was filled with excitement about. Before I knew it, stuff was spilling out of my arms.

It’s okay, though.  I was at the library.  The cards I maxed out were library cards.  Besides, I still had two more cards in my pocket, so I could’ve checked out even more.

Whew!

And my kids were thrilled with my “purchases.”

For my youngest son, a great book of magic card tricks and one about how to take care of ferrets (our newest addition to the menagerie).

For my lovely and gastronomically gifted daughter: The Science Chef.  It’s about learning the science behind cooking, like why toast turns brown or why onions make your eyes water or why egg whites change color when you beat them, followed by science experiments and yummy recipes for each food.  How fun is that?

For my oldest son, the musical theatre buff, a gorgeous coffee table book called Disney on Broadway.  He sighed at me as I staggered in the door under the pile of books (there goes mom again!), but he excitedly grabbed that book from my hands before I could dig down far enough to show it to him.

I love that my kids love books as much as I do.  I love that the library makes it possible for me to indulge our curiousity on ANY subject.  I love that my kitchen table is covered with piles of books, looking like the most delicious buffet imaginable.

And I’ve still got two empty library cards left to fill…

The difference a day makes

The journey through homeschooling high school never bores me.  Sometimes I feel like I’m running just to keep up with my kids, and sometimes I feel more like I’m pushing molasses uphill.  In between, I just pray and try to catch my breath.

Last week, after many weeks of studying world history and preparing for the Western Civilizations 1 CLEP exam (a study punctuated occasionally by arguments, realizations that we were behind schedule, and rash proclamtions of being able to finish the material in a few days), my junior son Cam sat in front of the computer on the night before his course final exam – the looming CLEP test.  His first chance to earn college credits, and my opportunity to get a cold, objective measurement of our home education program measured against college standards. 

We were both discouraged.  He’d yet to pass any of the practice CLEP tests.  I saw us getting further and further behind in his studies and really needed to move on from the CLEP preparation to SAT preparation, another looming deadline.  He complained that history was boring.  He said he hated studying alone and didn’t want to attempt any more CLEP tests.  His dad said he wouldn’t pay for the test if there was no assurance of passing.

The next morning, Cam stomped two practice exams and persuaded dad to let him try.  Test taken on schedule.  Test passed.  Son overwhelmed with relief to have survived this hurdle and a little humbled realizing that one more missed question would’ve resulted in failure – the score was that close.

Today, Cam loves CLEP tests.  He can’t wait to take the next one.  He’s ready to tackle the SAT and then the Freshman College Comp CLEP in a single bound.  He’s even considering taking Western Civ 2 because Western Civ 1 was “kinda interesting.”   Seriously?  History is “kinda interesting”?  Was it the passing score on a test or the DQ Butterfinger Blizzard that made it interesting?

Emotions and perspectives are whipping around like roller coasters.  But I don’t have time to catch my breath now.  We’re moving fast again.  I’ll schedule breathing for June or July.

My kids performing at 4-H Share the Fun

I’m so proud of my kids who worked really hard on their performing arts competitions for 4-H.  My daughter did a choreographed routine, a sign language interpretation of Fireflies by Owl City.  It was her first ever public performance of ASL since she started taking a class this year.  Her group won 2nd place and was asked to perform for the awards ceremony.  Afterwards, they were invited to come perform for a neighboring county’s 4-H fall banquet as an ambassador to inspire kids from that county to become involved in the performing arts. 

My oldest son competed in the senior vocal category and placed 3rd.  He’s a veteran of musical theater, but this was his first singing competition. 

I love watching them try new things and grow.  Being recognized as a success is a bonus.

Brain on strike

My brain has officially gone on strike.  Or, at least the portion of my brain dedicated to making plans, scheduling, and organizing.  This homeschool year has been unusually heavy on intense projects.  The robot club, the academic writing course, the college prep biology, the regional spelling bee, the leads in musical productions. 

My brain is usually brimming with projects, eagerly scheming and dreaming new opportunities and improvements or extensions on existing ones.  It’s spring.  I should be perusing curriculum catalogs and library shelves, but instead I’ve gone into total shut down.  Moms around me are suggesting co-op classes for the summer and the fall.  I’m just treading water, telling myself I’ll kick back into high gear after X project is completed, but as each project and class completes, I still stall.  Clearly, some long-dormant self-defense mechanism finally kicked in to prevent overload.

 It’s time to find some rest and balance.

Desperately searching for typical

People keep asking me what a typical day of homeschooling looks like.  I’m not sure why the fatuation with typical.  I’d rather know what a splendid day looks like, or maybe a rotten day, so I can make a decision based on my ability to handle the extremes, but I digress.  Everyone asks about the Typical Day.  So I search through my mind.  At the end of the day, I ask myself, “Was that typical?  Is that the day I can share with potential/new homeschoolers or with the curious unitiated?”

I haven’t found it yet.

Today is as typical as a nontypical day can be.  Today, the hairbrush is green and sparkly.  Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, and 3 kids have painted their hair green in an excess of festivity.  (One chose not to participate at all, claiming his brown shoes were “close enough to green” to count – such a party pooper)  Is green hair typical here?  Maybe not, but some sort of costume, uniform, or dress-up happens often enough that it no longer surprises me.

5 kids are sleeping in this morning.  I only have 3 kids.  The twins are a bonus this week.  Is that typical?  Our policy on travel and sleepovers during the week is flexible enough that the number of people in my house fluctuates. 

4 kids are on spring break.  1 is taking a late spring break because she’s travelling to South Carolina later this month.  One of the spring breakers is studying spelling anyway (big regional bee next week) and one is studying Western Civ (upcoming CLEP test).  Different schedule for everyone in the house?  The pressure of big deadlines?  Yes, typical.

All of them are tired from a day of volunteer labor.  They spent a big chunk of the day carhopping at Sonic for tips to raise money for 4-H.  A few hours were spent building a set for a play at the community theater.  Community service surrounded by friends?  The concept is typical, it just never takes the same form from day to day.

An unfinished 5-foot long curved sword is planted in my front yard like a grisly warning to yard gnomes.  The body contruction is complete, but the fiberglass coating on it isn’t dry.  This is what passes as “arts and crafts” to my teenage son and his friends.  Don’t ask, but yes, that’s fairly typical.

It’s 10 a.m. and I’m in my robe.  I promise that most days I shower and dress first thing like a civilized human being.  But since today isn’t a typical day, I’m taking advantage of the relaxed atomosphere to stay comfy.  And I’m waiting for the dishwasher to finish so I’ll enjoy hot water.  At least, that’s my cover story. 

Typical will have to wait until next week.

Sharing the peace

The drive to the lake only lasts 10 minutes.  You’d think I’d make that effort more often, but I haven’t been there in months.  Yesterday the sunshine and warm temperatures hinted at spring just strongly enough to make me feel the yearning for peaceful waves and a walk down the nature trail, so I dragged my daughter and her dog (neither hard to convince) out for a walk.  The water level was up and the wind was up, so we were treated to the loveliest sound of splashing waves hitting the shoreline.  Gray and brown dominated almost the entire landscape, but a few dots of hopeful green peeked out, just enough to give us hope of coming spring.  Sure they were weeds, but they were still green!

Maybe that little fix of peace will last through the week, until I can sneak away from “real life” again.