Math

Why do math and science questions come up right as we are trying to go to bed?

Last night we spent a half hour listening to Jake explain multiplying large numbers to Tom. And then Tom needed Dan to explain how to subtract large numbers. He's great at math in his head and was trying to do it that way, but Dan showed him "borrowing" in column's on the white board. Funny to watch the understanding look on his face. I tried to show him that years ago and he about through a fit. It was "highly illogical".

And Jake was very proud that he understood how to do something that Tom didn't. Jake totally gets math on paper, you know. He learned in at Kahn Academy a while back and sat there for days doing practice runs at it. He isn't very good at doing larger numbers in his head, like Tom is. But they both are great at figuring out what they need to get then answer they are looking for. You know, word problems.

A conversation with my son

On the way into the mall yesterday, Tom says to me,

"Mom, you know that guy Harvey? He found out that blood circulates in your body? They used to think that your liver made blood and then it went into your veins and was absorbed but this guy found out that your heart circulates the blood through your veins and arteries...by EXPERIMENTING! On what?!"

He went on about veins, arteries, heart valves, and something about tiny veins that transfer blood between the two. What kind of experiments he might have done. That kind of thing. He read about it in a "Life of Fred" book and looked it up online for more.

Biology is something I think I took one semester of in high school because it was required. I took it my senior year...last. I don't remember a single thing about it. But he will.

Teaching Cursive

I found this on my bedroom door this morning.

It may not be exciting to anyone else, but it has a story behind it that I have to share. 

Tom does not like to write. He was a kid who did not color in coloring books. Never held a pencil or crayon for anything but a little scribbling and then walked away. When we experimented with Kindergarten at a local charter, he cried and screamed that if they wanted the page in color they should have printed it that way. It was one of those pages that you add the numbers to know what color each piece should be. When presented with birthday cards to sign, he only put a T because writing three letters in a row was exhausting and you know there is only one person in this family with a name that starts with T.

What to do? My Mother-in-Law was an elementary school teacher when my husband was growing up. She has beautiful handwriting. My husband does not. It's pretty bad. And so is my Step-daughter's. She finished her career in public school. Both were cajoled and held captive to practice printing and then cursive until it looked right and it finally did, but when the pressure stopped, they stopped writing and it returned to the scrawl they both use now. 

So we decided to experiment with Tom and not make him write anything. That doesn't mean he didn't write stories. He used to dictate stories I would write out for him, until he learned to type. He's written stories, book, game, and purchase reviews, and a journal. All of them were written on the computer and printed out.

Last spring something changed. He was 11 and half and taking a weekend blacksmith class. He had to sign in on a sheet of paper with the adults taking the class. It looked pretty bad. That week he came in and asked me how he would learn to write in cursive. I looked up some pages you can print on the Internet and told him that cursive was one of those things that if you just take a couple minutes a day to practice, it starts to come naturally. He put these pages in his Latin notebook and added it to his daily study time. Yes, he has chosen to study Latin and has been progressing through the lessons every day for months now. He started with tracing and copying letters and then his name, address, and other things like "My brother is a nerd." Then he had a place mat with the cursive letters that he could look at if he couldn't remember the shape. 

Here we are, about six months later and he writes notes. He writes all his Latin pages in cursive. It takes him longer but it's getting faster every day. I could have been fighting him all this time to practice and learn to write with pen and paper, but what good would it have done? I needed to trust that he would learn something when he was good and ready and if he needed the skill. He found a need for it, found a way to learn it, and went ahead. 

What's my point? Kids do this for just about any subject. What about science, fractions, sentence structure?! When they need it, they will learn it. When my son decides he wants to be a pilot and finds that he is not ready to take the classes required to get there, he will look it up, learn the skills, prepare for the next step, and move on, just like other adults do.

There is nothing that if you don't learn now, you can't learn later, except maybe self-respect and confidence. I feel like we gave him those things by not forcing him to learn something he found no need for yet. We respected his perceptions and let him go with that. We did not ridicule him for not having the skill and so when he found the need to know, he was comfortable coming to us for help learning it. 

Trust the kids!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Ren. Faire!!

Nikki's Pork Chop on a Stick

Yay! We finally got to go again! We went to the Renaissance Faire a few years ago and had a blast, but we haven't found the time to go again for a couple years. This year, I actually found the time to make a few costumes for the kids. I ran out of time before mine was done, but next year...it's on!

All the usual Ren Faire excitement was had. Fencing, eating, drinking, crossbows, and jousting. We saw a mock battle between the Saxon's and Celts, but Tom says that William the Conqueror took over in 1100 so by 1500 (when the Renaissance Faire is set) it would be the English and the Irish, so he was irritated. But it was a pretty good battle anyway.

Fencing Lesson

We watched "Midsummer Nights Dream", some Kung Fu demonstration, and some Indian dancing. I guess they were branching out from the English Renaissance. As usual, there were some pretty colorful characters there, as well as a wide variety of cleavage for the world to see. Seriously, some of them looked a little uncomfortable.

The best show we saw was a couple guys that said they had a Russian Circus and then they didn't show, so they did the whole circus themselves. It was hilarious!

Jake's Turkey Leg Lunch

Next year, we have to plan the day better so we can see more of the shows. And I'm going to start working on costumes. I think we should go Scottish. "If it's not Scottish it's crap!" Can't you just see the boys decked in kilts. They are SO excited! This year they almost had wives but they blew it. :))

Jake Flying (not sure how that's Renaissance)

This thing made me sick just watching them!

And a little archery!

A Fine Bunch of Peasants

Book Review - "The Cay"

This one that Jake wanted to read and when he was done wanted me to read it too. It's was written by Theodore Taylor in 1969. Set in 1942 in the Dutch islands off Venezuela, Phillip (about 11 years old) learns that war isn't as fun as it sounds and to overcome his fear of black people. It's a great little book and Jake and I loved it. We fell in love with Timothy and Phillip struggling to survive and trust each other on a deserted island. Jake said that it was a little hard to read the "negro dialect" written. We heard that in an article about Tom Sawyer a while back. Once we realized that he was speaking in a Caribbean accent, it was a little easier to understand, but even Philip in the story had a hard time with the way Timothy spoke at times. Because of this book, we use the word "outrageous" quite a bit!

My attempt at story writing...

An Education Tale

There once was a family that sent their children off to school. Mom worried that they run into bullies. Dad worried that the school wouldn't teach them all they needed to know. But the state said they were fine and picked them up in a big yellow bus. Time went by and every day there was more homework, every week there was another fundraiser and every year the children grew more and more detached from their family and more and more just like the other kids at school; bored, restless, and angry. No learning was happening here.

One day the Mom saw another Mom at the grocery store with three school age children in tow. “Day off from school?” she asked. Why no! In fact, they were “at school”. These children were homeschooled and Mom was teaching the basics of math, nutrition, and thrift while doing her weekly shopping. “Homeschool? I never thought of that.” she thought as she talked with the children and questioned this Mom.

Mom and Dad talked it over. Both researched that night. Was it legal? Will they be smart? What about socialization? With questions still swirling they called a homeschool organization and got all the details. “Pull your children out now!” they said. “No need to wait. Start your own private school and take some time off. Find out what you like and how your children tick, then choose your style to make it stick.” So the next day they did. Alarms didn't go off. They all stayed in bed and took the day off. The kids were excited, “No school!” they exclaimed. They took more time off. Mom continued her chores, the children played games, Dad went to work. But the children grew bored and restless. They missed their school friends. Dad worried they weren't getting any education at all. Mom grew frustrated with the lack of help around the house.

To change the scenery one day they went to the park. They stumbled upon a small group of children playing with their parents nearby. “Day off from school?” asked the Mom. “No! We homeschool and this is our recess!” Mom talked to them all afternoon and gathered advice about wht they do to ease boredom and keep the kids in line. “Go online and buy curriculum. Your kids need structure and lessons to keep them busy.” said one Mom. “Take karate and dance!” said another. “Join our co-op to learn Shakespeare.” said another. And Mom followed ALL their advice.

Soon their days were so full there was no time for boredom, no time for games, or even family dinner. Brokeand exhausted from all the running, the family finally made time to return to the park for some fun. Mom told the homeschoolers about her troubles and they felt her pain. Several new families were attending now and spread the news of the relief they had found. “Join a public charter school.” they said. “All the fun of homeschooling but free resources and classes.” Mom joined up right away. What could go wrong? In exchange for the money she was told her children must complete a set number of hours at the computer, take annual tests, and meet with a “teacher”once a week. “Ok.” she thought, “That seems fair.”

But weeks later she realized how much had changed. The children were chained to their computers and text books. The famiy was no longer in control of the lessons or their timing. No breaks were allowed. The children must pass the tests. The kids were grumbling, “This is worse than school. All of the work with out the friends and recess!” Mom couldn't watch. Her kids were miserable and Dad was annoyed because nothing had changed.

Back to school they went, books in hand. Mom was sad. She felt she had failed. “They were right. It does take a teacher and school to handle the children.”, she thought. Dad was sad too. He worried if he were doing the right thing. The fledglings must leave the nest, but so young? “Toughen them up for the real world” he'd heard. “But school sure doesn't look like the real world to me.”

The moral of the story is that homeschooling can be great, but it takes time and patience, a lot of research, trust, and love. So many of us switch from one philosophy or system to another without giving one enough time to show results. Rome wasn't build in a day and education doesn't get “done” ever!

Palm Springs Windmill Tour

Palm Spring Visitors Center

Thanks to my awesome parental units, we got to go on the Windmill...oops..."Wind Turbine" tour in Palm Springs. It was so awesome and I'm thrilled we all got to go. It was two hours on a small bus and our tour guide made it seem like 20 minutes.

This where the tour started.

He showed us so much. There are huge wind turbines they are working on putting out in the open ocean! The hay that is grown around the Salton Sea is trucked to the ports and shipped to Korea and the middle east! Those windmills are noisy. There is a big natural gas power plant going in next to Desert Hot Springs. The tallest windmills here are 299 feet because there is a law in Palm Springs that they can't be more than 300. The lights (for airplanes) blink on and off because the birds get mesmerized by them at night if they are steadily on.

San Jacinto

Nice Air Conditioned Bus

Taking A Look Around

Hiking at 49 Palms!

What a walk! I always forget how much work this hike is. It's 3/4 of a mile up, then 3/4 of a mile down, and then you have to come back the same way. Luckily, it was a perfect day for it since it was so cool and a breeze was blowing. This is the kind of hike that would be too hot if it were 65 degrees. Crazy.

So we got there at 1:30pm. Jake read in the Hunger Games about a book that had drawings of plants and what they can be used for. He wanted a book like that and I just happened to have a simple one on our shelf about our desert. Cool. It doesn't have all the plants though. I suggested we make our own, but that was a little much. He was interested in the book we had though, so we brought it along for the hike. Tom walked behind us and read it and kept making us stop so he could tell us about a certain plant. He wondered if it really worked. Some plants are medicinal, for pain and such. No reason why we can't try it, right?!

The view of Twentynine Palms from the top of the trail.

On we walked, talking about rocks and science. What is science anyway? Tom says there is science and then there is belief and you can be doing science and then wander into belief very easily. We talked about that for a long time. Then somehow we got onto why people have last names. Where do last names come from, etc. Another exciting conversation that ended with making up new names based on our personalities and parents and where we came from. And a vow to look up where our last name came from later.

Throwing rocks in the water below.

When we got to the oasis, the park has changed the trail and you can't get down to the water or up higher into the trees anymore. What's up with that?! What's the point of walking over there? You can take a picture of it from the hill. Grr....

But we checked out the palms. Why are they blackened? Why has the black rubbed off lower down? How do palms grow? Evidence of erosion. Plants that grow near water. Why places like this were so important to the Native Americans. What elevation were we at? Jake guessed at 2700 feet and there was a guy there with a GPS. He was right. And all in conversation, observation by the boys, things I pointed out that I had read somewhere.

Tom telling us about this plant.

We headed back to the parking lot. I was the whiner on the way back, I realized half way. The boys were up ahead goofing around, knocking each other around, calling out and listening to the echos (much to the dismay of people trying to see any animals), and I kept getting more and more frustrated that they wouldn't just walk quietly. I was tired. It was a hard climb for old me, not for them. I didn't bring enough water to be comfortable and I really need new hiking boots. Sniff sniff...when did the roles reverse for us?!

We stopped for shakes at Burger King on the way back, as is the custom. And when we go home, Dad took us to Pappy & Harriets for dinner so Nikki could watch some of the open mic night she wants to participate in.

Chair Rock!

It was a good day. Oh! And we started reading "The Yearling" by Rawlings this morning. Oh I love that book and I know the boys are going to love it too. Jake said he could just see the forest in the book. It's prose, but it reads like a poem at times, just sucks you in. Can't wait to read more!

Throwing rocks "for the lonesome gods".

A lot of people lichen this to moss!

Down the trail.

Gotta love strange rock piles!

Home Education

Last Saturday I attended FATJEF and was lucky enough to get to hear Oliver DeMille speak again. I owe a lot to this man and his books, let me tell you. He's an amazing speaker and, as usual, I was impressed with his thoughts that day.

He first began to talk to us about really listening at workshops and conventions. Listening for what the speaker is actually saying, not just what you want to hear. Really hearing people is a skill many do not have. From waitresses to government workers, problem solving begins with actually hearing the words someone is saying and using that information to find solutions. He didn't mean listen to him today (and other speakers) and do all that he said to do. He meant for us to really listen, to understand the points people were trying to make, and the apply the information to our situations. You can throw away that which you cannot use, but if you were only listening to hear what you wanted to hear or already knew to be true, you can't hear what might be new and very helpful. I hope that I do that every day and I believe I did that day thanks to the reminder.

The first big "ah-ha" was the Latin word educere.

From WikiAnswers
'Education' is known to have several root words. It is popularly known to be derived from the Latin root 'educo' meaning to 'educe'- to draw out. It also has root words, 'educare' and 'educere'. "educare' means to 'rear or to bring up' and it refers to child rearing, whereas, 'educere' which is derived from two roots 'e' and 'ducere' means to 'draw out from within' or to 'lead forth'.

That's what we want to do, "draw out from within" the particular genius that is in all of us, like a sculptor that pulls the form from the stone or clay. Pretty powerful.

Dr. DeMille also talked about his mission to "liberate the captive". I LOVE that line. It's so true. We are all captive to these ideas that we have grown up with. "I can't change anything, I'm insignificant, My vote doesn't matter, I'm not smart like that guy, I couldn't homeschool, I'm not a "reader", etc." I hear people talk like this and more every day, especially through Facebook. If I could just turn around and tell them, "Don't you realize you are being held captive by your own thoughts?!" and they could understand me. But I know that being "liberated" is a long process of personal growth and revelation. Dr. DeMille started that growth in me with a speech seven years ago and I'm thrilled with where that path has lead me. I so desperately want others to find their path as well, instead of wandering aimlessly in the woods.

And the last thing (for this post anyway) that really hit home was something Shannon Brooks said. In TJEd, there are phases of learning, much like many other education philosophies. The first two are Core and Love of Learning. In the past, these phases lasted (typically but give or take 80 years) from 0-8 years and then 8-12 years. But recently, the trend in our society showed that most people go through both these phases from 0-16 years old. Many people in the room were dismayed and confused, but for some reason a light turned on for me. We, in our home, may treat our children as autonomous humans with intellect, but they get that treatment from very few outside our home. This slows down their maturing and there is nothing we can do about it. Children are not expected to do, or understand things, they were 100 years ago. They are treated as second class and inferior in every aspect. When the boys buy something at the grocery store, the cashier looks to me for the money instead of the boy in front of her with the wallet. The karate instructor or baseball coach go directly to the parent to tell them game times or schedules. So, naturally, kids pick up on that or don't get the practice of being an adult half as much as they used to in the past. It makes sense to me, but to many in the room I could sense the aura of dismay. They were trying to fit what they already knew and understood into what Dr. Brooks was saying instead of really listening and seeing if that information was usable in their situation.