Where Learning Begins

This morning, GeekBoy complained that yet again, we didn’t have donuts for breakfast.  I used the cost of gas as a reason for why I would not be driving to the store every morning to get him donuts.  (Which, btw, we only have maybe once a month if that.  Honest.  He’s just on a ring-of-powdered-sugar-goodness kick right now.  Sorry kid, not gonna happen.  Have a PopTart instead.)

GeekBoy asked why was the price of gas so high.  So, I explained about OPEC, drilling in the ANWR, branches of government, lobbyists & how they work, environmentalists, PETA, price increases, supply & demand, oil, gas, and taxes.

At one point, we talked about how Americans need oil all up and down the chain. Electric companies need gas to run the mines to get the coal, Farmers need gas to run the farm to grow the food, factories need gas and oil to run the machines that make and package the food, stores need electricity to run the store, and we need gas to run the car to get to the store to buy the food.  See how the price of gas influences everything?

Then we talked about what happens when the price per barrel goes up - the gas company raises the price we pay at the pump.  I told him that the folks in Congress were getting involved.  That they had decided that the gas company was making too much money, and they (Congress) wanted to tax the gas company extra money (I used the example of 10 cents per gallon).  I asked him, what do you the gas company is going to do when the Congress makes them pay more taxes?  His answer, with no prompting from me, “They will raise the price [of a gallon of gas] again.”

Awesome.  He totally gets it.

Last night, a conversation about roller coasters at the dinner table, turned into a 20 minute Physics lesson.

GeekBoy started it by talking about the rollercoaster he wants to build when he grows up. I told him he’d better learn his math and “Physics.” When the Geek asked, “What’s that?” it was the perfect springboard into a lesson on the forces of push, pull, gravity, and friction, along with the the first law of physics, An object at rest tend to stay at rest, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. (Yes, I know that’s not the complete law, but hello!!! he’s 7! lets work on the basics and then get to the technicalities.)

We even experimented with a notebook (inclined plane) and a car, to illustrate the amount of force needed to get the car up the hill. The best one was “too much force” that sent the car flying across the Kitchen. Awesome.

Side note: The first time the car rolled down the notebook instead of up, Before I mentioned anything else, I asked, “Why? Why did it go down instead of up?” GeekBoy said, “Gravity. Gravity pulled it down.” Awesome.  He knew all about Gravity and what it does thanks to watching the docu-drama From the Earth to the Moon.  Thank you Tom Hanks.  Please make more compelling docu-dramas.  The conversations they spur are amazing, and the things the kids pick up are just incredible.

The California Teacher’s Association said that uncredentialed parents teaching their children at home would lead to “educational anarchy.” (PJI via SpunkyHomeschool) Somehow, that is supposed to be a bad thing. But the definition of “anarchy” is the abscence of government. (Webster) As PrincipledDiscovery points out, I’m all for the lack of government control in my home and in my educational choices, and I’m not the only one.

In fact, Dawn at Day by Day Discoveries posted a link to a BBC radio program which explores the history of anarchism. She said the one thing she took from the program was that “when anarchy is used as an accusation it’s often by people who have control over others against those who want to exercise control over themselves.”

Happy as Kings makes some great points. She brings up the point that all of us parents at some point in time were indeed educated. So, either our “schooling” worked, and we are smart enough to find the resources and information to teach our own kids, or it didn’t work, in which case, “why would we want to put our kids through that?”

Mom is Teaching points to Relaxed Homeskool’s post about homeschool being so punk rock.

ImPerceptibility made the blog badge for us.

Somehow, I don’t think this is what the California Teacher’s Association thought would happen when they coined the term “educational anarchy.” I don’t think they took into account who they were talking about. Homeschooling families are not the kind to blindly shrink in fear at the use of the word “anarchy.” We will research the idea, and then embrace it.

Rock on!

I know. I’m a few days late with this post. It was due Saturday. I didn’t even get the reading done until Saturday afternoon. That’s because this week’s chapter was about being Real. Honest and real with your self and those around you. But, despite my self assuredness that I am indeed already “real” with everyone, I’m not. It goes back to that giant pissing match I wrote of last time. That drive to put the best foot forward, and point out the accomplishments while ignoring the shortcomings. This lesson has also made me realize the lack of homeschooling friends in my life, something I just don’t want to dwell on. So I’ve been procrastinating. I just don’t want to write this. I’ve been more then happy to pop the next game into the Wii, and even play along. But write this I must. Because I am sure that I am not the only homeschooling mom out there feeling the lack of like-minded women in her life.

It’s not that I don’t know any, I’m sure I do.  It’s that we all hide behind these facades, feeling the need to be perfect all the time.  The perfection needs to stop.  Recently on an email support group I’m in, someone asked how do the rest of us deal with the pressure?  How do we turn off the teacher for a while?  No one was answering.  The woman had opened her soul about getting burnt out, and no one wanted to go near it.  So I answered.  And I did my best to use Real answers.

Because I do get burnt out, then depressed. Which leads to a few weeks of doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except those pesky kids of mine keep asking questions & reading (or asking to be read to), and somehow they learn despite my shortcomings.

We started off, almost 2 years ago with a classical, structured school-at-home approach. If you’d have told me then that I’d be an unschooler, I’d have said you were nuts. But we hated the curriculum, and I just couldn’t justify buying it again only to toss half it right off the bat in making modifications for how my kids work. so we went eclectic. But life happens. Depression hit hard. I tried to hit back, and through it all, they learned, even with our new found laid back approach.

Granted I know I’m short on history, long on math and language, and only fair on science and art. Music is mostly music appreciation (”What kind do you like? Oh, you want to rock out? Awesome! Me too!”) and some sing along stuff. But right now, my munchkins are young (7, 5, & 3). We’ve got plenty of time to cover what they need to know.

The biggest struggle is my own guilt. Am I doing enough? Am I failing them? (though the CAT proves I’m not) Am I doing a good job? That guilt sometimes drives me to do crazy things to and for my kids. But truth is, they are doing well. They are sponges that just soak up life and everything around them. It’s actually pretty awesome.

But am I bad for counting Wii Sports as PE? *S*

Kindergarten teacher has class vote out 5 year old.

Someone has been watching way too much Survivor, and seems to have forgotten that Kindergarten is not a remote desert island!

Oh!  this makes me sick!  Like I want to slap someone one.  AHHH!

Several more lies listed this week that I can so identify with.

“Everyone is more disciplined then you and way more spiritual.”
“Everyone else can do it all.”
“Everyone else is more capable than you.”
“You are the only one who is falling apart and feels this way.”

Homeschooling can be wonderful. But it is also very stressful. If you send your child to a school, and they can’t add or read “on time”, you can blame the teacher. But now… Now you are the teacher. If your kids don’t meet the standards, you have no one to blame but yourself. No one wants their child to be stupid. No one wants to be the lowest rung on the ladder. But just exactly what standard do we use to measure ourselves and our kids against? There really is no set what and when. For example, reading. Most schools want the kids reading at least by the time they hit first grade, if not earlier. But studies have shown that not every kid is ready to read by then. I’ve met some homeschoolers (old pros who’ve been doing this for more then 10-15 years) who admit that their kid didn’t start reading until well after the school-appropriate age, and yet their kids turned out just fine, some with college degrees even. So really, there is no set standard. The result, many of us wind up silently comparing our kids to the other kids at the Co-op meetings or support groups e-lists or park days.

Thus homeschooling is turned into a sort of pissing match among the moms. If Mom1’s kids are beating your kids in math, you are really hoping that your kids are beating hers in science or something, just to equalize things. We tend to brag about our children’s accomplishments, and hide the areas where we are falling short. We want the accolades, the oohs and ahhs, the “Wow, I need to try that,” from other moms. We don’t have a roomful of parents and kids ready to declare our wondrous teaching talents. We don’t have anyone giving us awards for being the best teacher. Most of us don’t even get a thank you for making dinner (In the interest of honesty, I do. My DH has made it a habit to thank me for things like that so the kids understand, and I of course reciprocate when he cooks) or doing the laundry. Our talents - be it cleaning, cooking, or getting those little light bulbs in our kids heads to click on - are often taken for granted by those around us. If we don’t proclaim our successes, who will?

I just love this little comic from Todd Wilson on this:

How many times do we feel like Marci? That feeling of inadequacy, that is what drives us to find something, anything that our kid does better than Betty’s kids.  So we accentuate the positives, and ignore the negatives.  We pretend that everyday is kittens and sunshine, while our children hang on our every word.  We ignore the days we spend more time yelling then teaching.  We don’t mention the fact that we let them play computer games all day, or that we had a Mythbusters marathon and considered it Science class.  We act like we have a giant chip on our shoulder and feel the need to prove that we are doing just as well as Betty and her brood.  We want the affirmation.  We want someone to say that we are their best inspiration.  Then we feel guilty because it’s not the full story.  So we swear to make the changes that will have us fulfilling that vision we’ve put out there of the perfect family, with the perfect lessons, and the perfect everything, only to fail miserably.  Then we feel even worse because not only can we not achieve what we think Betty has, but we feel like a fraud for portraying that we do.

So how can we, as a homeschool community, fix this?  It won’t be easy.  But if we recognize that even Betty has bad days, and be more honest with ourselves and those around us, it would be a great start.

Homeschooling is not easy.  As Todd says on page 45,  “No one homeschools because it is easy.  Most do it because they think it is best.  That should comfort you because the best things are almost always the hardest things. …  Homeschooling must be really really good, because it’s really really hard.”  It is not always a bed of roses.  There are days when you will pop in a movie and pray for just 5 minutes alone in the bathroom to regain your sanity.  There are times when those days will out number anything else.  But as Todd says, we are God’s Plan A for our kids, and the best is yet to come.

Posting to help out Lydia of LittleBlueSchool:

The G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair took place on May 5th in Norfolk VA, where smart young scientists shared their research and conclusions with their peers, their families, and the judges. Fun was had, friends were made, hypotheses were proven, and prizes were awarded! Thank you to all the sponsors of the G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair!

If you would like to help thank these generous sponsors by boosting their links on key search words, please steal this post, links and all, and republish it to your blog. When you’ve done this, email guess@littleblueschool.com and let us know, so that we can add you to our “Science Fair Bloggers” and give you some links and traffic too! You’ll get a link on Little Blue School, Homeschooled Twins, and on the homeschool science fair web site. Need the code? Click here to get the .txt file with all the links in place.

Moore Expressions is a homeschool bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They sell used and new homeschooling curriculum, host a support group, and publish a newsletter called the Bayith Educator. They are the premier source for homeschooling books in the Hampton Roads area.

Art of Dance Academy is a dance and theater school on the border of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. They offer “Tiny Tots” toddler dance classes, youth classes for ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop, and adult classes too. Most importantly, the host the famous summer princess dance camp.

Norfolk Karate Academy offers classes in Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian grappling and self-defense). With classes for children, teens, and adults, it’s a great way for anyone to get in shape and kick things in a socially acceptable way!

Nauticus is Norfolk’s maritime museum and home of the USS Wisconsin battleship. The hot new exhibit is Seabots: Pilots of the Deep! Have you seen it? Nauticus is in the process of setting up a Homeschool Advisory Group to talk about homeschool science programs at the museum.

Mariner’s Museum has amazing programs for homeschoolers learning about maritime science, history, and even pirates! Their next homeschool open house is on May 15th and features a class in pirate lore. Visit Mariner’s Museum for historical exhibits and educational programming.

Homeschoolingbooks.com offers homeschool curriculum packages to take the guesswork out of selecting materials that compliment each other to create a whole year of learning for your homeschooler. Three collections are available for each level, and individual books are for sale too.

Brooks Systems offers standalone software and web applications that check legal compliance in all municipalities in all fifty states, and create truth-in-lending documents for residential lenders. Using Brooks for your automated mortgage compliance, you can be sure your loans are safe.

Dr. Bernard Nebel has written two books to help homeschool teachers integrate learning in different areas of the curricula into one living breathing learning experience. His new book, Building the Foundations for Scientific Understanding, is a science curriculum for K-2.

Young Chef’s Academy is a marvelous kitchen classroom with amazing cooking classes for kids. Go ahead - cover yourself in flour! Most amazing of all: their summer camp offerings are themed around the Olympic Games. Cook for the Gold with Camp Can-I-Cook in Norfolk this summer.

Mad Science is Hampton Roads’ premier provider of science enrichment classes for children. Summer classes include “Crazy Chemistry” and a space camp developed with NASA! New homeschool science classes are being offered in Norfolk and VA Beach, with more planned for fall.

eScienceLabs creates boxes of joy for science loving homeschoolers. In each kit is a complete science experience — from individual lessons to full years of high school labs. Hands-on science kits are the answer to your laboratory woes. Everything is in there: test tubes, goggles, and fun.

Folkmanis Puppets makes the most delightful animal puppets available outside Santa’s workshop. Meet their most unusual creations like llamas, Chinese dragons, ostriches, flying squirrels. Unusual materials create realistic textures, and they all move in very realistic ways. Irresistible.

Book Exchange is the largest used bookstore in Eastern Virginia. Unlike most musty and confusing used stores, this one is clean, bright, inviting, and has a huge selection of used homeschool books.

Thank you for your help in promoting these homeschool-friendly sites. They took a risk on sponsoring us in the first year of our science fair, and we appreciate their support.

We didn’t get a chance to participate this year, but I am so looking forward to next year! GeekBoy loves science experiments, almost as much as he loves Legos and computer games. Besides, I love several of the sponsors, and can’t wait to check out the rest.

I adore Moore Expressions. Not just one of the best places for curriculum in the area, they also have a small play area for the little ones to play while Mommy is pouring over books and making choices of what to do. Awesome!

GeekBoy is taking his first Mad Science course. It’s been great fun so far. “Cyndi Stargazer” the teacher is just hilarious.  She even let the little two, who aren’t registered for the class but will wind up auditing the course by default of having a big brother in the course, participate in the experiments.  Way cool in my book.

I can’t wait to check out the Mariner’s Museum later this month, and I’ve been very intrigued by the recent moves Nauticus is making towards a more homeschool friendly environment.

eScienceLabs looks like it will be a great resource for my Geek when he gets a little older. I’m definitely keeping Art of Dance Academy in mind for next year. ThePinkDiva has been taking a creative movement beginners ballet class this year and loves it. Our current venue has closed though, so next year is up in the air. And if I’m ever in the area, I will have to check out the Book Exchange, especially after the glowing review Lydia wrote.

I’ve joined this study, with the rest of the women over at Heart of the Matter. Boy oh boy do I ever need this now.

So, at the end of chapter one, Todd Wilson asks, what are some of the lies that I might be believing about my kids and our homeschool journey?

Lie #1: They ain’t learning nuttin’. I mean, seriously, the proof is in the pudding, or the assessment test. GeekBoy is doing 3rd grade level Math, reads at a 5th/6th grade level, and he just finished his 2nd grade level Language workbook. He passed his CAT test with a 98% overall. thePinkDiva may not seem to be doing much, but she can read far more than she lets on. She also passed her Kindergarten CAT test, with a 64%. Not bad for my Pre-K kid. So, obviously, they are learning. The whole “unschooling” thing throws me for a loop. And then I here about others who are doing music lessons, and science fairs, and all that, and that leads to lie # 2.

Lie #2: I’m failing them. When I here about those in the area who are involved in co-ops and doing science fairs and running all over the state for lessons… I start to wonder. Am I doing enough with them? Should I be doing more? I grew up in a traditional system. so it’s hard for me to accept that not sitting at the table for even an hour, they can still be learning.

There are other lies… but those are the big two.

We went to the Zoo. It was fun. The kids had a blast, and couldn’t help but compare the real zoo to their Zoo Tycoon 2 game that they all love so much. There were several times the Diva would comment, “Mom! They need to put in a girl camel so the Camel will be happy!” The Mandril (pictured above) was the favorite. And to prove the kids actually learned something, once we got home and checked out the photos, GeekBoy declared, “His butt is so colorful so his family can follow him through the jungle.” See… they do learn! And the best part… I didn’t tell him that! He read it off the sign in front of the monkey cage. Learning from everyday life. It can happen folks.

The Emu was pretty pissed about having his sleep disturbed.

Check those birds with the weird red things! “Uh, it says they are ‘Hornbills’ Dad!”

The GeekBoy even took some photos of his own.  Lookie!  Art class!  Photography practice.

“Look mom!  Elephant butt!”

No trip to the zoo is complete without a chance to feed the goats.  Immediately after this photo, thePinkDiva completely lost her marbles because a goat’s tongue had dared to touch her hand.  She insisted on washing her hands, right that second.  The best we could do was a purell dispenser on a post at the end of the fence.  *Note to self - next time we visit the zoo, bring wipes!

And of course, I just couldn’t post this without this most excellent shot of the day…

Monkey Butt!!!   Ha ha ha!

Recently, a parent on the home school support e-group asked us all, what do you do, what routines/products/procedures do you use to keep your kids safe online? The answers were astoundingly underwhelming.

The number one way parents were “keeping the kids safe online” was to simply limit their access to not just the internet, but computers in general. After that, several different filters were named, a fisher price computer accessory that limits access was another option for smaller kids, but only one parent mentioned teaching their kid about internet safety.

My kids are already pretty computer savvy. Up till now though, they have been content to stick to the websites I’ve given them, like NickJr.com, Starfall, and Sesame Street. But, the time has come. Geek Boy is living up to his name. He found HotWheels.com and Lego.com months ago, and he’s been noticing URLs all over. The little guy, BigBoy, likes all the racing games and Lego games, and wants to play too. What’s a Mama to do?

Teach them.

Teach them about the good and bad of the internet. Teach them how to protect themselves online. You wouldn’t send your kid into a football game without the right equipment, or without making sure he knows the rules. These are our top three, SafeKids has a more comprehensive list of rules.

Rules

1. Never give out your password. Ever.
2. Never ever give out personal information. This means your name, birthday, address, where you live, etc. Believe it or not, this includes your email address!
3. If something doesn’t feel right, tell a grown-up!

There are several resources for parents, to educate ourselves so we can educate our children. CurrClick (formerly Homeschool Estore) has a great lesson book by HomeSchool Learning Network called Internet Safety. It’s a good read with lots of links to place online. I love that it explains marketing online, and teaches about how to recognize marketing traps, and avoid them. I also like the the segment on Internet Law. Parents need to stay on their toes though! While it is a great jumping off point, the Net changes at the snap of a finger. Parents need to do their own research and find how things have changed since this lesson booklet was put out in 2007. Primarily, HTML, while still used, is no longer the dominant force it once was. PHP and Flash are the new languages of choice for most web designers. Laws change constantly. The book says there are 50 Internet related laws being considered by congress. A quick search at the provided link to Thomas reveals 938. The book is definitely a good resource, but use it as a jumping off point, don’t think you are done once you’ve read it.

Internet Safety is important for our kids to learn at a young age. The state of Virginia just made Internet Safety Training mandatory for all students. The DOE website has some great tools and ideas for teaching internet safety. The Virginia Internet Safety Guidelines Resource PDF has a wealth of great information as well as links to awesome sites, such as the the PBS Internet License Test for munchkins, or the Microsoft Age-By-Age Guide to Internet Saftey. In fact, the Microsoft website has some great resources, even for family & gamer safety. The Virginia DOE site points to I-Safe, the Government funded internet safety educational resource. I-Safe is supposed to be a free online resource. While I haven’t yet tested this one myself, you can check out their I-Learn programs for yourself and see if they would be useful to you. They offer kids & teens, as well as courses for parents, and older adults, mentor programs, and law enforcement courses. The FBI has a great Parent’s Guide publication, which gives tips to help to minimize your child’s chances of become a victim online. ParentsTV.org offers articles about MySpace and Internet TV. CommonSense.com offers some good information on everything from IMs to Social Networking, to downloading to MMPOG (massive multiplayer online games).

My kids love games, especially internet games. I’ve found several Internet Safety themed game sites, including NetSmartz Kidz - which teaches kids about rules, safety, and netiquette. Media-Awareness has some fun games involving the 3 Little Pigs who learn about Net safety, Big Bad Wolves, and flaming. SafetyLand, while I have not tried it personally, looks to be a fun game about helping an Internet superhero defeat the bad guy who’s messing up Safety Land, and is run by AT&T.

We need to teach our kids these lessons before they get big enough to find Social Networking sites and chat rooms. As a parent, I want to stay informed of all the latest WEB2.0 innovations, internet jokes, etc., so that I will know what my kid is into. When they are old enough for Social networking, you can be sure that I will be their number one friend. Filters and keyloggers have their place for sure, but nothing beats an involved parent for keeping your kid safe.