GREEK!

We were talking about what things we might want to learn more about this coming year and Jake said he wanted to learn Greek. Ok...I did a quick search for "greek language learn", of course Rosetta Stone comes up, but then there is a youtube video series. Cool! That was at 2:30. It's 4. He's still working on it, writing down all the letters and making sentences that are strange like "if cat step boom". I'm worried. When he was about 5 he said he wanted to learn to write. I picked up a writing workbook at Walmart the next time I was there. He sat down with it and filled out every page in a few hours, came back with a completed workbook and told us he now knew how to write. I wonder if will happen the same with Greek! Oh I hope so!

Tom is still working through his Latin lessons. He does a few pages every day no matter what and has a large vocabulary already. He likes to use the words he knows all the time and wants to learn more words, faster. I'm going to get him some story books in Latin that will help him gain vocabulary just like he did learning English.

So now what? I'm doing the Mom thing. They want to learn! Push them into more! I know it won't work. They have to want it and search it out. I should leave them be and let them drop it when they don't find it interesting and move on. That is what I will do, but I do dream of classically trained children! :)) They have inspired me though. I really want to know more about the New Testament and early Christianity and I would love to learn Hebrew or Greek as well. Maybe I'll join them in discovery!

Posing a Question

I've got this idea in my head rolling around and I'd like to expound on it. I'm writing it down here to start. More to come. But here it is.

Is public education a form of forced welfare?

Ok, here I am. I've come back to this question and I've got several ideas working. I've been reading a lot. Reminds me of Beauty and the Beast, "Lafou, I'm afraid I've been thinking. A dangerous pastime, I know." I've been reading a lot of older homeschool/education movement articles and books and I'm afraid things have changed and we haven't noticed it. Home schooling, or not sending your children to school was a rebellion against a system that was failing our children. Gosh, there's so much and I can't put it down in words.

Ok, try again. It seems to me that home schooling has been hi-jacked by the public school system through these new charter schools. It's as if the people rebelled against a government program and they couldn't prove it wrong or failing so they incorporated the idea into theirs and now have made home schooling mainstream and normal under the government umbrella of charters. I don't like it. It feels wrong. The chat groups and websites don't feel like a movement to take something back. It's just a lengthy conversation about how to use the public school framework at home.

As for forced welfare, like I mentioned before, I was talking to someone on Monday and the idea came to me because she said she is friends with so many school teachers that see her children and know their family and they still insist that homeschooling is not right for our country. It hit me that they have a different mindset, something I've heard from many many people. "Homeschooling is ok for you because you're smart and attentive to your children, but not everyone can do that." It assumes that most people are dysfunctional somehow and shouldn't be allowed to raise their own children. It bugs me.

Then I came home and opened a book called "The Homeschooling Almanac 2000-2001" that a guy gave me on Monday at the homeschool fair and there it was again. Why did home schooling start? Why did we move to this public school thing? When did it become ok to send your children off to be raised by someone else?

It's all so much to think about and I can't get it straight.

Tesla!

On Sunday we met my parents at Big Bear Lake to have lunch and see a performance at the Performing Arts Center up there. Lunch was awesome because we went to Village Pizza, my all time favorite place. And then we walked over and saw some cool shops. The place was busier than the boys and I used to. We usually come up during the week and there are few people, but it was Sunday and a holiday weekend, so it was different. I wish we had come up earlier so we could do some yard sale shopping!

The show as a guy performing as Nikola Tesla showing off some of his inventions and experiments. Not the best acting, but the experiments were fun to see! I took one video...

From Tesla

And here's a cool picture of the stage.

We had a great day! It was fun to hang out with the family and the pizza was great....did I mention the pizza? And then I even got a few presents for my brother and the Stupidiotic Store!

Home School Fair!

Every year we go to the Home School Fair in Ontario and it is the best! Tom and Jake love it and spend the whole day pie eating, competing in the Olympics, and talking to everyone they can find. It is truly a special event and I really wonder why more people do no participate. Why would you not? This year, as usual, we made big plans to do more next year. We shall see!

This year, I had a booth set up for CHN.

And the boys made a catapult game and gave away prizes. Next year they want to go into business for themselves though. There were a lot of kids there with booths selling things or that had clever games. One pair of boys had the Wii and had a Wii Resort game tournament. Very cool.

I didn't see much this year since I had to be at the booth, but I did get to talk to lots of great people and tell them about CHN. I loved being able to stay there and have the boys come back and tell me all about the things they were doing. Tom loved the Olympics and Jake wasn't interested but he went along to keep Tom company. They came back sweaty and tired with a handful of ribbons. Tom came back once with a face covered in ice cream and pie crust. He said he didn't win the eating contest but he DID get pie and ice cream. Jake didn't know about it. It was starting right when Tom walked by, so Tom bought him a snow cone for missing out.

I came home with a big bag of used books! This is one of my favorite parts of the fair. Tom walked around behind me asking if we really needed those books, but they were 50 cents or a dollar! How can you pass them up?!

I did get a chance to walk through the gym and see all the kids' projects up. There were some pretty amazing things in there. Legos displays, cakes, stories, artwork. The boys love seeing things that other kids made. Jake thinks he might have a booth making personalized leather bracelets and key chains next year. I think it would be great! And Tom might make a robot to display.

Little Quotes

I have to write down a couple little things that have been said and done around here the last couple days. I keep thinking that I should write that down when it happens, a couple days go by, and then it's gone.

Jake's been on a reading binge lately. Jake was my latest reader. Nikki was reading at 4, Tom around the same time, but Jake was around 7 before he really could read well. Now he is the kid that you can't find suddenly because he's off in his room with the new book. We were searching for something on the shelves because he finished the last one too quickly and I hadn't got anything new yet. After offering Ronald Dahl and a few others he tells me, "Mom, I really prefer historical fiction. They are great stories and I learn something about the world." Now that's just odd for a ten year old to say, but I have to say that I love it.

Tom has gotten gears on his brain. Last week Jake asked a question about a car going uphill and Tom tried to explain what he knew about the gears of a car. He discovered that it is sometimes difficult to explain something out loud. A picture can really help, but we were driving so no pen and paper was to be found.

Earlier this week we stumbled across a tv show about high tech factories and it was about Legos. The boys have a huge amount of legos, but they rarely get played with anymore. They are tucked in the back of the closet and come out when there are kids over that want to play with them. Dan and I went to the store while they watched the show and when we got back, the legos were out. The box with motors and gears was out. Tom was building vehicles with different size gears to drive different wheels. "Experimenting." he said. He was showing Jake what he meant last week about the car going uphill.Tom plays with parts and can see what is going to work or why something isn't working and fix it. Jake tries to make something cool, but can't get it to move. He gives it to Tom to make it work. At first he was mad that Tom just knows how to do it and he can't. But then he said that he is the designer and Tom's the engineer. It's been several days and the gears are not put away. We need more legos. They want to share the cost of a Mindstorms kit. It shall be done, but after we get back from vacation. Lego is out of them and by the time it ships, we will be in Arizona.

Jake had an epiphany the other day. He told Dad that when you explain something to someone else, you know more about it yourself. Explaining something teaches you and cements it in your head. How's that?!

And the cutest for last. Tom's baseball team lost again on Monday, but it was so close and a great game to watch. Tom played catcher the whole game, but he said he wished that the coach would have put in another kid because he really wanted to be catcher too. Ahhhh! After the game, Tom grins his goofy smile (the one that tells me he's thought of something sappy but he's going to say it anyway), and says "I ran the bases anyway because I won in my heart!" It may be sappy, but it's true. He said it was the best game ever. They did play really well, like a team, and only the last inning did they start to lose it. Honestly, I think they are tired. Most of their games have started at 7:45. All these kids are 11 years old on this team, first year Majors. All are public school kids that get up at 5:30 or 6am to be at school and probably are in bed by 8pm, now they are playing baseball. The games we have lost terribly were all late games. The ones that we lost by one or two points were 5:30 games.

Waiting?

I never feel like I'm pursuing anything. You know all those "pursue your goals", "capture your dream" things? I'm not that. I'm more like Dory, "Just keep swimmin'." Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. I do live in the moment, day to day.

I'm trying to put a feeling into words but it isn't working very well. I feel nomadic in a sedentary world. I feel like I'm gathering information and ideas but they have no where to go.

Sometimes I'm completely overwhelmed by the things I want to do and can't right now. Sometimes I want to run screaming from the things I should be doing better. Sometimes I just want to sit and do what I want to do, but I don't know what that is.

Hmmm...

Inspiring

I'm still reading "The Student Whisperer" by Oliver DeMille and Tiffany Earl. The book is filled with exercises, some of which I have done as requested, but I've decided to go my own way. When I read a book the first time through, I tend to not take good notes. I run through it to get to the end. The second or third time, I take notes or do the exercises. This author specifically says to do the exercises since that is what the book is about and I tried that, but my inner self makes me crazy wondering what is at the end, so I'm running through and will go back and read it again. Kinda like a cow and its cud. :)) Sick, I know.

But here was a great little part in an exercise that I really wanted to tell you about because I find it to be SO true SO often. "Require of yourself to be inspiring, even though you're tempted to compel, force, decree, push or assign." To do this, you have to feed yourself. I have to be involved in my own education to inspire others (especially those closest to me) to go get theirs. There is no need to force my children to learn things they are not inspired to learn. It will go nowhere and no one will be happy with it.

And this relates to my Christian relationship with God! What? God does not require us to love him. He does not force us to do his bidding. We have free will and a conscience. But every day I find that He inspires me to love Him through His work in this world. The way He creates each day and brings wonderful people into my life.

Book Review - The Bridge at Andau

I was assigned this book at the beginning of the year by my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy. She changed it to "Magnificent Obsession" last month, but I was already hooked on this book and finished it yesterday.

Written in 1957 by James A. Michener, it is the account of what Hungary was like under Soviet Russia's control and how they attempted to throw them out in 1956. People were still very close to the situation and very much afraid of the communist regime. The author interviewed people that he helped escape into Austria for refuge and compilated their stories, changed names, rearranged places and times, so that families of the people left behind would not be in danger by the government. Wow! It was a rough read at times. I can't imagine life being that frightening and having so little hope to escape it.

A must read for sure. Like the Hunger Games, it gives you the past as a warning for the future and what roads should not be traveled for fear of arriving at a place like this. But unlike the Hunger Games, it is real. It really did happen. It's not what might happen, but what did and that makes it a lot scarier and worrisome.

"Commies". I will not use that derogatory term lightly anymore.

Jake

Jake reading up about Halo 4 before bed. He's reading it out loud and I have no idea what he is talking about.

More Baseball!

I know! You're wondering, "What? More baseball already?" Today was Jake's game and here he is playing for the Minor Nationals.

Safe on first but thinking about stealing second.

Jake up to bat!

Master of the Right Field

Baseball!

Tom had a game last night and his team was a little short on players due to Science Camp for the public schooled kids. The coach got some pool players to fill in, but they were STILL short! A kid from the Oriole's was on hand and Jake got to help out too. He wasn't dressed for baseball, but Dad ran home and got his cleats. It was another exciting game, but we still lost. Didn't bother the boys at all though. Tom was a little shook up over a confused out at third base since the other player advanced thinking Tom was on his way home, the ball came in and Tom tried to run back to third...no where to go, he was out. Jake got walked and struck out. Tom played catcher the whole game. It's so fun watching them play! Hopefully next year we can have them on the same team.

Cougar Crest Trail Hike

Another amazing hike! Monday morning I woke up and realized we had no baseball...so we just HAVE to go hiking! It was supposed to be 95, so I asked the boys if they wanted to drive up to Big Bear and they were all for it, if we go to the slides and maybe the arcade and the burger place...Ugg. I said 'HIKE'! I told them I had only $20 for the adventure, so they were going to have choose one thing, or cover the expenses of the other. All agreed. Chores done, snacks and water packed, off we go!

On the way up we talked about a lot of things. How to pass on the highway, why check your speed, how to avoid collisions, why the highway is out there, how great video games are a lot like a great book, what's an 8% grade, why use a lower gear, how gears work, and on and on and on....Travel time is always well spent with us and now that we have a smart phone, some questions are answered right away!

It was 75 when we go up there! Ahh!! The slides were closed since it was Monday and the off season, and so was our favorite burger place. So we stopped for candy and KFC to go. I started to get irritated with them because I kept saying "And then we'll go for a hike...." but they always thought of something else they wanted to do. I reminded them that Mom has needs and she did the driving....We went to a picnic spot. That is where the real fun began. Sitting there in the shade eating lunch with my boys! Pine air, relatively quiet, jays harassing us for snacks, gophers digging up the ground nearby. It was nice. I remembered that I had put a GeoCache app on my phone and we checked it. There was one right on this trail! So we looked for it. Jake found it. Lots of cool stuff in there. Tom took a pen from Edward AFB and we  put in a little magnifying glass. I wanted to leave my legless plastic pig, but Tom said that was good luck, so I had to keep it in my bag.

Where's Jake?

Jake has a new friend!

We headed back down the trail and decided to check in at the Discovery Center. That place is so pretty. There is a spot you stand in that echo's only to you, like you have your head in a box. It's weird, but no one there can explain why it does it. Tom counted the rings on the big tree slice they have. We've seen it before and I still don't understand it. Does a tree grow from the outside in? Because the rings are all labeled latest date first. I'm confused, but no one there had any information about it. Now if you want to know where the recycle trash cans are or how to prevent forest fires, they've got it covered, but science, forget it. Jake found a donate box and put in a couple dollars because he said they do a nice job there.

We headed back to the parking lot. The boys were happy. They loved the walk and the trees smelled so sweet. Don't ask me how we got on the topic but we discussed sin, the bible, jesus, israel, laws, prisons, punishment for crime, whether you would want the death sentence or life in prison, nazi's and russians....ahh the evolution of thought with young boys!

The view from the summit on Highway 18

We headed home. Going back down is always fun. We watch the temperature rise as we drive down the mountain and munch on our candy stash. I love our adventures and I'm so lucky to be able to have so many with my guys. Dad misses out on a lot of the little day ones, like today and he is the sweetest to listen to us without being envious. Poor Dad works so hard! But we will be going on a Grand Canyon Adventure soon and Dad has vacation! Yay!

Book Review - Magnificent Obsession

Another book assigned by my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy that I'm so happy to have read! Written in 1929 by Lloyd C. Douglas, this book brought me closer to the idea of God that I love so much. It touches on the idea that God is not just a character in the Christian Bible, that He may be so much more. We watched the Rock Hudson movie as well and it dwelt more on the love story and less on the spiritual side of it, but it was still a great movie.

The idea is that...well, you have to read the book to really get it. I'll give you a few of my favorite lines though.

"Of course, if you decide to experiment with this projection of yourself through investments in other people, you must be prepared for all manner of failures, disillusionment, disgusts. You will frequently go to no end of trouble and expense for somebody who turns out to be a pest and a piker. You will be imposed upon, lied to, lied about! You will run into cases of ingratitude so rank that it will sicken you! But - now and again, you will manage to put the thing over...and when you do you will discover it has squared for all the failures you've had!"

"I've thought a good deal about the soul lately, Granpere. It strikes me that the things one reads about souls are frightfully misleading. They inquire, 'What are you doing to, for, and with your soul?' as they might ask 'When are you going to turn in your old car?'...I can't say 'my soul', as I would 'my hat', or ' my canoe', or 'my liver'...I AM a soul! I have a body! My body is wearing out, and when I can't tinker it back into service any more, I'll drive it out to the junk-pile; but I don't have to be junked with it! I'm tied up to the Major Personality!...like a beam of sunshine to the sun!...I'll not lose my power unless He loses His!...If that's religion, Grandpere, I'm religious! But I'd rather think of it as science!"

"This oncoming generation, now in its adolescence, is not in the least way concerned about organized religion. Religious enough, instinctively, I dare say; but out of sorts with the sects; weary of their bad-mannered yammering at one another over matters in which one man's guess is as good as another's, and no outcome promised either in faith or conduct, no matter whose guess is right!"

Bible Study - HELP!!

You know the whole read a little each day and listen for answers thing? Well, I like that for the Old Testament but the New is just dragging me down. My sons and I both don't understand a lot of it. It seems so counter-intuitive and sometimes contradicts when I'm reading it straight. Many of things I know are lost in translation but how do I clarify things for myself? I've searched and searched online for a good in depth New Testament study but can't find one. I love the Old Testament and the studies I've found for it. Love love love! Help!!

What a climb!

Yesterday morning was gorgeous and the rest of the week is supposed to warm up AND there was no baseball, so I decided we needed to climb Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park now or wait until next year. The boys were up for it and I didn't even have to bribe them! Later, I did need to offer them $5 to get to the top, but it was rigorous and for some reason I desperately needed to get to the top.

So we rushed through chores and such, got the crock pot going, quick Latin study, and headed out the door. When we started walking up the steps on the path I remembered how hard this was going to be...for me anyway. I'm not in the best shape you know!

It was nice though. Not to hot (there is absolutely no shade on this hike) and the wind was mild enough to keep us cool but not blow us off the mountain like the last time we tried this. Lots of green stuff growing right now and flowers!

We found recent Big Horn Sheep poo so kept an eye out but never saw them. One guy that passed us told us he saw them at the beginning of the trail and someone else on our way down said he saw them earlier, so we must have walked right by them. No surprise though. I keep telling the boys to be more quiet so we can see critters, but they are pretty rowdy.

A Face Looking Up at the Sky

On the way up, we passed a older (than me) couple coming down so I told the boys if we couldn't make it, then there was something seriously wrong with us.

The top was amazing! You can see the whole park! Next to Keys View it's one of my favorite places in the park, but Keys is easier to get to.

Just Keep Walking

On the way down, I fell...three times! The first time, I turned my ankle but walked it off. The second time, I slipped on the sandy rocks and landed on my rear. Tom looked back and said I should be careful here and here and here, and then I fell again. I just sat there and said I was going to take a rest right there. I almost cried. Stupid rocks! The walk down is just as steep as the walk up, so my knees had had it. It was still fun though. And I'd do it again!

Hmm...Nice View!

Tom Falling

Panorama of the Valley View

We Made It

And Back Down the Mountain

Awesome Orange Flowers in a Rock

I love Spring!

It's pretty much my favorite time of year in the desert! 75 to 80 during the day, 50's at night. Flowers and Birds. It's just nice. I'm hoping to get some pictures of the big lizards that I've been seeing but they are too skittish. Yesterday I watched roadrunner chase one around a bush. I didn't realize how fast those things are! Enjoy these pictures!

Getting Started Homeschooling

This is something that has come up several times this year and I'm wondering what the homeschool community can do about it. Changing education options should not be so difficult, but in some school districts it is not a cake walk. I'm talking about the one I live in really, but I'm sure it is happening all over California. Maybe it's because homeschooling is becoming more popular, but people are just jumping into it without thinking it all through and knowing the legalities. Should groups like CHN and HSC reach out on their websites to specifically tell people that are considering options that they need to know their school districts political climate before un-enrolling their kids?

Several times this year, parents have asked for advice on how to deal with our hostile school district now that they have pulled their child out and began to homeschool. They have done the legal thing to start a private school, but they gave the district the opportunity to challenge them and our district loves to fight. If they (the parents) had understood the political climate here, they would have known not to even mention homeschooling and done things to protect themselves. But how do you reach people that are just thinking about homeschooling?

I'm thinking that going to my local library and asking if I can put CHN brochures there might be a start, or having a table at our city events, but I'm afraid I might be harassed. I am currently raising children in this district that do not attend their schools. Would they have the @#$@ to come after me? I'm not doing anything illegal, but from my experience that doesn't really matter.

This is what it comes down to, for me. Homeschooling as a private school in California takes a lot of forethought and planning. Parents assume all responsibility for the education of their children. Our education (and political) system has not made creating responsible, self-reliant adults a priority in the past 30 years or so. If you have children in the public school system, you have to add even more diligence to knowing the laws and have the fortitude to stand up to bullies. It's hard.

What to do.....this is weighing on my mind heavily.