Perpetuating the Norm - Why do you stop learning in the summer?

This time of year the homeschool world seems to be all abuzz with end of the year parties, burnt out rants and thinking ahead to next year's school plans. As the weather gets warmer threads like - "What are you doing this summer?", "Join us for the annual end of year picnic." and "Looking for science curriculum for next fall." suddenly overtake the corner of the web that home ed families connect in. Each year I get more and more bothered by this cycle which perpetuates the norm of public school. 

"Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America either. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America. While just sitting in a classroom longer does not necessarily ensure children will learn more, many American teachers spend weeks every fall just reminding kids of what they forgot over the summer." quote from Rachael Stark 

The American school calendar is based on antiquated nonsense - check here, here and here for some history lessons on the topic - and is thought to be one of the greatest impediments to successful education in the United States. So why is it that a significant group of people who realize that the public school system is lacking in so many ways can't seem to recognize one of it's largest faults.

I think for many it is childhood memories of all the fun and freedom they had during the summer and failure to recognize that in reality their kids could actually have that fun and freedom ALL year, rather than containing it to a small allotment of their schedule. I completely understand the wealth of activities that summertime brings which suit a child being a child, however I struggle with seeing how the other seasons don't.  This was not a realization that I came to only after removing KM from public school, infact she quite often says that it is my fault that she was so bored in school because I gave her "summer school" work every year. Previously I used the time off in the summer to cover things that I thought were seriously lacking in school. I just couldn't see the point in wasting all that time - 11-14 weeks - doing nothing. Once she was no longer going to public school, I developed a schedule that fit our lifestyle - more on that here and here - rather than sticking to something that we had no connection to and I couldn't see the logic in. At what other time in your life do you get a 3 month vacation every year? How is that preparing kids for the "real world"?

If your child shows interest in the budding plants, chirping baby birds and salamanders they found under the logs in the backyard, why would you make them wait until fall to start a biology curriculum that you think they will enjoy? Carpe diem!!! Take advantage of the seasons, make learning part of your life, rather than something separate and subjugated.  - more on my thought on this here


If you find a balance within your own family each and every season, you will find that learning happens all the time. I am not saying this in a "don't use curriculum" or "don't have a schedule" sort of way, but with the intention to encourage you to find the routine that works for your family! Home education's biggest asset is the flexibility and customization it allows. If you space out your lesson plans to fit your family, rather than fitting your family into someone else's timetable you will start to see the rewards quite quickly and you will be helping to end the ridiculous notion that school is the almighty NORM! 

Free Fun Fridays - Presented by Highland Street Foundation

60 MUSEUMS

& CULTURAL VENUES

OPEN FOR FREE

ON FRIDAYS ALL SUMMER

This is a great opportunity to check out some great attractions! 

CLICK HERE to print the full list of scheduled events! 

Summer Plans

Well we have been home educating year round since we started 5 years ago and this year will be no different - although it appears it might be our last. If all goes well KM will be sitting for the GED in the fall and will be officially "graduated" by December, so this summer should be our last official "session" -- though we feel education doesn't stop just because she is getting a piece of paper, it will just look a WHOLE lot different around here.

KM will be focusing on essay writing for the GED, will be using Crash Courses to make sure any little gaps have been filled in, continuing her study of Japanese, and she has picked two new courses World Religions and Psychology. Here is a list of what KM will be using to cover these topics ---

• Crash Courses
• Ged Essay (Steck-Vaughn Ged Series)
• Japanese 1 - GPB Resources
• Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Japanese for Students and Professionals 
• World Religions Interdisciplinary Unit
• Psychology Demystified  
• Massachusetts Driver's Manual

KM will also be continuing with her Chess Club, Youth Group and will be working on her bowling skills by attending a weekly jr. league as well as participating in the Kids Bowl Free program for some extra practice. She is trying to figure out a schedule to be able to volunteer at our library again, as she really enjoyed her time there last year. 

OH I almost forgot to mention we will be taking advantage of many of the Free Fun Friday events sponsored by the Highland Street Foundation!!!

Join the Atlas Shrugged Summer Reading Program

The Ayn Rand Institute is offering a fantastic summer reading program and if you order soon, you can get a free copy of Atlas Shrugged to use during the program. There are also a number of other free resources to do in depth studies of her work.
Enjoy!!! 

Welcome to the Atlas Shrugged Summer Reading Program The Ayn Rand Institute would like to invite you and your students to participate in a new Atlas Shrugged Summer Reading campaign. While Atlas Shrugged is widely recognized as Ayn Rand's must-read masterpiece, it's often overlooked in the classroom, in part because not all teachers have the time to teach it. To help encourage its reading, we are offering a 10-week guided reading beginning on June 12. Each week, we will assign the next reading schedule, provide some study questions to focus thinking, recap the previous week's reading, and present a featured resource to highlight some relevant aspect of Atlas Shrugged. It is our hope that this reading program will help further cultivate an interest among your students in Ayn Rand's novels that you have already begun developing. With your students in mind, some featured resources will be designed to help assist them in preparation for the 2013 Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest. The reading will conclude in August, which will give students one month to write an essay by September 17, the deadline for the contest. Finally, we hope that you will consider participating in this, too! We are offering a free copy of Atlas Shrugged to all educators with an interest in participating. To participate, please sign up at aynrandeducation.org. We hope you will share this opportunity to read Atlas Shrugged with your students. Should some of them be interested, please have them sign up at aynrandnovels.org. Sincerely, Matthew Morgen Teacher Outreach

Write Guide - Official Review ~~~ RECYCLED POST

I have decided to recycle some of my reviews in order to help out those that are looking for resources and information for the upcoming "academic year".
This review was originally posted on 9/18/10.

I was contacted at the beginning of the summer by Write Guide.com's founder to do a review of their site and was given a one month trial account for my daughter to try it out. As writing is the most stressful subject in our household and the program sounded intriguing, I thought we would give it a whirl ~ I also managed to get KM to agree to try it.
Here is some company info -

WriteGuide.com, also known as Ludwig Education Services, LLC, is a small, family-owned business that serves homeschool families and adult learners, providing them with their own private writing teachers. We also work with many independent-study charter schools in California and Alaska. Founded in 1998, we remain devoted to providing homeschoolers with daily, 100% individualized writing instruction. To learn more about our teaching approach and methodologies, please review our Homepage, and our company's philosophy and mission statement. All schools, businesses, and individuals are welcome to contact our main office via the information on our Contact Us page.

What to Expect During the Course

Every time a student or parent writes to his or her writing consultant, the writing consultant will always respond within 24 hours (unless it's a weekend or holiday), providing whatever lessons or feedback are necessary to help the student move forward with the project. Enough instruction will be provided to give the student about half an hour to 45 minutes of work per day, so that the student can then write back to his or her writing consultant to receive more instruction. Ideally, students should write to their writing consultants every day, Monday through Friday, so that they'll receive five sets of individualized lessons, feedback, and instruction per week. Students can take as much time as they need before responding to their writing consultant, but please be aware that the consultant won't write back until the student has responded to his or her last message! Upon hearing back from his writing consultant, a student should complete the assigned work, and should respond with a message and a draft of his paper. Parents can also send one message per day to their child's writing consultant, in addition to the message or paper that the student sends. We like to view our course as a partnership between two teachers (the parent and the writing consultant), and so frequent parent input is both anticipated and appreciated.

I started out by describing KM and the issues that she has had with various writing programs as well as the situations that had occurred in PS. Then they assign a teacher based on this information. When we first were contacted by the teacher I was unaware that they hadn't passed the information on, but expected me to reiterate it. This made no sense to me because I had put a lot of time and thought into the description of my daughter because I thought the teacher would be seeing it and using it to set up a plan of action for her. Instead once the teacher was chosen she contacts both the child and parent through the mywriteguide portal not knowing anything about the child(ren).

There are a lot of really great options available - see four approaches, about midway down the page - and I choose for the teacher to decide what she thought would be a good place for KM to start, given her reluctance to write and it was decided that she should work on a simple report. The teacher did a great job of getting KM to pick a topic, ready to research and explained how to collect bibliography information thoroughly. She then gave her an extremely well thought out outline to use to organize her information. KM decided to research Neptune and then, after researching and with the help of the teacher, decided to focus specifically on the Voyager 2's missions and info collected on Neptune.

We lost a day of the program because KM and I were unaware that she had to respond to the teacher after her first initial "Hi there" email in order for the teacher to email her back. While I understand the want and need to ensure the anonymity and security of our children on the Internet, as well as keeping a record for the program and teachers' safety, but this portal thing is a bit of overkill in my opinion. The teachers "can't" send a message to the student unless the student replies to the previous message. I really think it would be beneficial if the system emailed you when you had new messages, there were 3 days that she had to keep checking back in throughout the day in order to see if she had gotten a message yet and didn't get responses until very late in the day.

The parents have to log into there own portal in order to see what is going on as well, which while easy enough to do, is just another thing to check on. The other drawback to this is that they can only respond back and forth once in a 24 hour period. KM is very much a seize the moment type of learner and when she has a question she wants the answer fairly quickly. This lapse in time caused a lot of momentum to be lost. I felt like I had to hold back from stepping in in order to see what was going to happen and I have to say it was agonizing for me as she was putting a lot of effort in, but then had to wait for so long to get the responses or feedback that she needed to move on to the next step.

Things get hectic in the summer and in case you haven't been to my blog lately, they were totally kooky here for a bit. So there was a Monday to Thursday stretch that KM didn't log into her account and I was surprised when I logged into mine that the teacher hadn't sent me a note asking anything about whether she was okay or if she was having trouble and afraid to ask or anything. The program runs on a month to month payment basis and if your child is missing a good junk of days, I would kinda expect some sort of acknowledgement to the lack of participation.

KM worked very hard on this report and she really seemed to be understanding what the teacher was saying. I helped her stay on task as I was hopeful that she would complete the entire paper before the month was up. Even with some of the previous hurdles, she did manage to keep progressing. On the day that the program was to expire, the teacher sent a message asking her to send her final draft and any last questions in her final email. KM was excited to have it completed, get final feedback and wanted to know how to complete the bibliography, however the program email interface did not allow us to do so. If I had know that this was how the program worked I would have had her email the full draft the day before with her question about the bibliography, instead of just the tweaks she had made to her conclusion paragraph. I emailed the office in regards to this and they gave a very timely response of "Thanks for writing! Your course was scheduled to end today, but we're going to extend it by a day so that Mrs. xxx can review the final draft. " which I was happy with. I do not however know if this is something that would have been done for everyone or just something that was done for me because they knew I was reviewing the site ~ I try to not be cynical, but the person that responded was the person that initially contacted me to do the review.

The teacher was very encouraging and really gave some great feedback, formats and suggestions in a very positive way. I think that in theory this program is a good idea and although it was a great learning experience for KM, she picked up some good tips, and the final paper that she produced was far better than she or I expected, it just isn't for us. I am super picky about where I spend my money and with my homeschooling dollars even more so. It might be a good fit for more advanced and/or independent writers, but from the stand point of the parent of a reluctant writer it just doesn't seem to be what we need. It must have some sort of staying power that I am missing as they have been around since 1998. I think that the biggest issue is that I feel if I am going to be paying $75 a month for a writing tutor I don't want to have to teach writing at all. With this method and the lack of instant information, guidance and direction I think I would have to step in far more than I would be willing to.

Thanks to Write Guide for allowing us the opportunity to review your product!

Liebster Award

Thanks so much to Krysten and the ladies over at Out The Box Homeschoolers for thinking of me for this Liebster Award!  -  (Liebster= sweetheart, beloved, darling). 

The rules for the award:

1. The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

2. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.

3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions given to you.

4. Choose 11 new bloggers to pass the award on to and link them in your post.

5. Create 11 new questions for the chosen bloggers.

6. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

7. No tag backs.

11 Random Facts - most of these are pretty commonly known and can be found on my blog, but when you it simply says "random" so here goes ---

1. I ALWAYS knew KM should be home educated.
2. I am a director of MHLA.
3. I detest the texture of rice pudding.
4. I was only 18 when I had KM.
5. I have no idea what color KM's hair will be on any given day.
6. I did NOT graduate from high school.
7. I contribute to a number of blogs and have been published on many sites.
8. I can definetly never spell defintely correctly.
9. I eat a fried egg on toast nearly EVERY morning for breakfast.
10. If I don't have an egg for breakfast I am sure to have one at some point later in the day.
11. My camera is my FAVORITE gift EVER!

Questions for me to answer from Outside of The Box Homeschoolers

1. What is your favorite table top game or video game?

I would to say Just Dance for the Wii. We have all 4 of them and it is a super cardio workout! 

2. What is your favorite quote?

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. - Albert Einstein

3. Dogs or cats?
Currently I would be forced to report that we are a cat only household, but this is the first time EVER and hope that won't be the case for much longer because although are cats are great we really are dog people.

4. Who is your favorite artist or art style?
This is another tricky one - I love Monet's painting style, but I think my favorite artist and art style would have to be Matisse's paper cut methods.

5. What is your favorite family outing or memory?
Our first trip to Disney World.

6. What is your favorite Olympic sport, and why?
I was a gymnast for quite a long time and this is honestly the only sport that I ever watch so....

7. Are you a “planner” or are you more “spontaneous?”
I am DEFINITELY a PLANNER!!! Did I emphasize that enough! 

8. If you had just one wish, what would it be?
That my daughter will grow up to be exactly the person she wishes to be! 

9. What is at the top of your “bucket list”?
I don't have a bucket list as I try to live my life to the fullest every day because you never know which will be your last - also it would be very difficult for me to make a list and NOT complete it in an efficient manner! Did you see how much of a planner I am...I am even more of a completer.

10. Name something you have always wanted to learn?
Italian

11. What is your favorite “guilty pleasure”?

Grey's Anatomy and a bowl of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream - can't have one without the other! 

My nominations are ---- 

1. Homeschool Atheist Momma
2. The Hmmm...schooling Mom
3. What Happy Is
4. Outside the Box
5. Adventures of a Homeschooling Mom
6. Learning Adventures
7. You're Not Lost, You're Here
8. Living and Learning At Home
9. Only Passionate Curiosity
10. Living Life at Home
11. Our Educational Journey

My questions are ----

1. What is your favorite season?
2. Who is your favorite author?
3. Which method of home education do you identify MOST with?
4. If you could only eat one thing for an entire week what would it be?
5. What is your favorite musical genre?
6. What is the last movie you watched?
7. Are you a scheduled poster or do you schedule your posts?
8. Have you ever won something in a blog giveaway - if so what was it?
9. What would your ideal vacation be?
10. Have you ever ridden a motorcyle?
11. Do you think milk chocolate should be considered a dairy product

Thanks again to Outside the Box Homeschoolers for bestowing this super fun award upon my blog! 

Some Points of Contention--- Response to a recent article on Children's MD

I am writing this in response to an article written by Kathleen Berchelmann titled 18 Reasons Why Doctors and Lawyers Homeschool Their Children. Now you might think, "How could she possibly have a problem with a list that is promoting homeschooling?", but the thing is as I was reading this list many of the responses simply rubbed me the wrong way. I have to hope that the point was to try to connect with the "mainstream", but I really just couldn't let it go. I felt a need to address each of the 18 points. I am gong to try to not dwell on the fact that she is using the word "homeschooling" because she does seem to be speaking of "schooling at home", which I don't advocate for, but will try to just move past that to get to the gist of her points. Each of the points is listed below in bold face and my responses follow. It really would be most helpful to read the original post first to really get what I am saying.

1. We spend less time homeschooling each day than we used to spend driving.  ~~~ This can be true, but can also NOT be! When KM was in school we walked to school most days as the elementary school is less than half a mile from our house and her friends were right around the corner. Now KM has friends all over, some live well over 45 minutes away. We also are out to go to classes, library activities, hangouts, bowling, ice skating, chess club --- and the list goes on and on. I have put FAR more annual mileage on my vehicle since we have been home educating than I did when she was in PS. I only have one child at home and therefore can only assume that this would be multiplied by however many additional children a family has. 

2. We can't afford private education. --- I agree with this, but also feel that in most cases private education is not any better than public. 

3. Our kids are excelling academically as homeschoolers. --- I also agree with this one. No need to pull it apart, simple and clear. 

4. Homeschooling is not hard, and it's fun! --- OK this is one of the top 3 that really irked me a bit. It was very matter of fact with little substance. So many families feel like they have to live up to this "Perfect Homeschool Image" where everything is sunshine and roses. That is not the reality in the home ed families I see, speak with, tweet with, and read about daily - home learning can be hard, it can be REALLY HARD!!! There are going to be days when you want to throw in the towel or you think "wouldn't it just be easier to send them off on the bus!" and you would be right. But easier doesn't mean that it is better or right. The "boxed curriculum" fallacy is another point of contention - it is not going to work 100% of the time for any child and often is a huge cause of the frustrations for families. They are also super expensive and not at all worth it when you get nearly all resources you could possibly need online, for FREE! Home learning is FUN! School at home --- not so much. 

5. Use whatever public school services you like. ~~~ This is not true in quite a number of states. Some do allow home educators to pick and choose, most do not and some staunchly deny home ed families access. Not only that but it contradicts a few of her other points - like #11, #12, #16 & #18

6. I like parenting more, by far. ~~~ This is one of those that makes me think she is trying to reach the "mainstream mommies" and convince them that they could do it. You know the ones that ask you "HOW can you spend ALL day with your kids?" I do understand her point, I felt more like a warden than a mother when KM was in PS, constantly trying to meet their requirements and conform to their schedule. But the tone is just a bit....not quite as bad as #8 though.

7. Our family spends our best hours of each day together. ~~~ And the worst and everything in between. I again see her point, but this is another one that makes you think all the hours are going to be rosy, the kids are going to get along and every day will be blissful! Don't even get me started on the fact that she said "At recess time, the kids are actually excited about playing with each other!"

8. We yell at our kids less. ~~~ All I can say is did she seriously ADMIT that she spanked her kids???? Did I just get transported into the twilight zone....
 Apparently I need to clarify this better although I thought I was pretty clear in that I am shocked that someone would actually spank their children in hopes of coercing them to do something or the fact that I am even more shocked that a doctor would openly admit to spanking their children? Spanking should NEVER be an option and it is shocking to me that someone who is intelligent enough to become a pediatrician would actually think that that would be a means to a positive end.
Is that clearer?

9. Our kids have time for creative play and unique interests. ~~~ No issues with this one at all. It is extremely important and I am very glad that she is allowing them time to follow their interests, once they have completed her assigned tasks for the day.

10. We are able to work on the kids' behavior and work ethic throughout the day. ~~~ I agree with her main point here, but not her explanation. "we’ve been able to push him to his full potential" - really because the parent has the all powerful insight to know what the full potential of their child well before they have reached adulthood. At 34 I don't even know what my "full potential" could be. 

11. Get rid of bad habits, fast. ~~~ Ok I see this in a similar light to the previous one, I  agree with the main statement, but not her tactics in implementing. Didn't she say in a previous post that "loving authority" and "loving obedience" needed to be established and she seemed to want to emphasize free play, but I guess that can't work if you aren't "dressed properly." 

12. Be the master of your own schedule. ~~~ Couldn't agree more with statement, as long as you are also taking into consideration your family as a whole when you are mastering your schedule. 

13. Younger children learn from older siblings. ~~~ This is a tremendous benefit of home learning and I have no complaints here. 

14. Save money. ~~~ I don't really know where to start on this one.  You can save money if you are currently sending your kids to private school, but you could be spending more money if you send your kids to PS. This could really go either way especially for those of us who live in states where you can't pick and choose what you want your kids to participate in at the local PS - note #5.  I know many families who are home educating on incomes of less than $40K. It can be done at any income level, but you may not be saving.

15. Teach your kids practical life skills. ~~~ This is necessary in all kids and seriously lacking in many families.  So many parents are doing a disservice to their kids by coddling and pampering them. If your kid is 12 years old and doesn't know how to use the washing machine I consider that neglect. If your 16 year old thinks that toilet fairies clean the bathroom I consider that neglect. If your 18 year old is getting sent off to college without knowing how to eat nutritiously I consider that neglect.  You are a negligent parent if you are not teaching your children how to be responsible for meeting their own basic needs.  

16. Better socialization, less unhealthy peer pressure and bullying. ~~~ This one she has hit right on the mark with the one exception that although they can be far and few between there are bullies in the home ed world - there are bullies in every world, that is just part of reality. It does feel as though it can be easier to deal with the home ed community as it is usually addressed immediately and the higher level of parental involvement can help to make it a less scaring scenario.  

17. Sleep! ~~~ I have written several posts on this one, check the archives if you like! 

18. Teach kids your own values. ~~~ This is a good point and works into the freedom and managing your own schedule ideas. I was a bit surprised that she had no issue with the "values taught in either our public or private schools" but to each their own. 

All in all I think this article was a fairly decent way to connect with "mainstream parents". I don't however think that it was an excellent representation of the vast and widespread demographic that encompasses the home ed world as a whole, but really how could it. The amount of attention that it is getting is good, but the propagation of stereotypes is a bit disheartening. I think the tone and title of the article was more than a bit condescending - as if we needed approval from the white collar world to validate home education.

I would love to hear what others think so please leave comment and let me know which one you 

They don't need socialization! They need FRIENDSHIP!

I wanted to recycle this post that originally appeared on Unplugged Mom after a number of posts I had seen on local lists. It is a good one and should be shared!!! 

As my daughter has gotten older, I have seen more and more of her acquaintances heading off to the halls of high schools and have sat bewildered by the number of veteran home educators giving up at this late stage of the game. The number one reason for teenagers and kids to head back to school is the idealistic concept of socialization in schools. Even successful home schoolers, home educators, home learners, unschoolers, independent educators or whatever other name they are going by, seem to have this image of school being the only place that their kids can be around other kids on a regular basis in order to build relationships. I am here to declare this is not the case! These kids don't need socialization they need friendships. This is what they are longing for and this is not something they are guaranteed or even likely to find by sending them to any school environment.

In schools kids are herded together by age and required to study subjects based on a core curriculum. Even in high school the majority of the classes that kids take are mandatory and do not tend to be based on an interest for learning the subject matter. During class they sit in their seats and listen to the teacher, discussing the topics of aforementioned uninteresting subject, sometimes being allowed to carry on dialogue  but quite often not – they are just expected to regurgitate the information back to the teacher on the test. Between classes there is no time for them to interact with others as they generally need to get from one end of the building to another in less than 3 minutes. Lunch is about 20-25 minutes long and though they do get to choose where they sit and who they sit with it is a crap shoot as to whether their friends will be in the same lunch period, most cafeterias have volume sensors which regulate the levels of noise and often they don't even get to their table with enough time to eat nevermind hold an actual conversation. There are of course afterschool activities, sports and clubs, but these types of things are generally available and can be formed rather easilly for the home ed community as well. As with everything there are always exceptions, but from my own experience in school, working in schools, and from the mouths of current students, this is basically what goes on.

I won't even get into the negative social interactions at this point as I would like to quickly back up and clearly define some terms before we move on -

• socialization   n - 1. (Psychology) Psychol the modification from infancy of an individual's behaviour to conform with the demands of social life 2. (Sociology) the act of socializing or the state of being socialized
• so·cial·ize v. so·cial·ized, so·cial·iz·ing, so·cial·iz·es - v.tr. 1. To place under government or group ownership or control. 2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable. 3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.
• friend n. 1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts. 2. A person whom one knows; an acquaintance. 3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade. 4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.
• friend·ship  n. 1. The quality or condition of being friends. 2. A friendly relationship: formed many new friendships over the summer. 3. Friendliness; good will: a policy of friendship toward other nations.

In our culture there is a serious misunderstanding and misuse of the term socialization as meaning to "hang out with friends and build relationships." This is where the confusion of school being the only place for kids to socialize comes from. I, for one, don't want my child, or any child for that matter, to be socialized. I prefer that their natural behaviors and personality be left intact. I don't believe there is any need for children to be placed under government ownership or to convert to meet the needs of the society. I do feel that social interactions are imperative to a child's development. True friendships feed the soul! They encourage you to become a better YOU, not something else altogether.

The confusion among adults as to how friendships are formed is another issue that seems to arise quite often and leads to children feeling alone and unconnected. Friendships are not formed in the classes that our kids take, be it co-op, public school, dance classes, swimming lessons or whatever. Friendships are not formed during organized field trips to museums with docents leading the way, pointing and lecturing as they go. Friendships are not formed during book clubs, at the movies, at lego league, or during math club. You meet people at these various outings and events that are interested in similar things as your family - that is why you both choose to partake in the event! These things allow for introductions and common ground to be formed, but friendships are formed during down time! Friendships are formed at playground days, at intimate meetings with another family, at the picnic in the park after the trip to the museum, at the pizza parlor discussing the movie you just saw, by getting together with no plan in mind and seeing where the afternoon takes you.

Instead of packing your child's week with extracurricular activities so that he/she will be "socialized" allow free time in the schedule for them to get together with friends, plan field trips with playgrounds or parks near by and invite the families to come hang out after,  organize an afternoon park day where kids can choose what they want to do and give freedom of interaction with their peers, allow for snack breaks during math club so that kids have time to chat and joke around. These are the situations that home educators are missing. Relax on the academics and let the friendships form. Is it more important for your child to be well-adjusted, happy, fulfilled and satisfied or that they can recite the preamble to the constitution and identify all the elements on the periodic table by atomic number? You, the parent, need to decide, but I implore you to take steps in this direction as soon as you can. For the betterment of your children and the home educating community as a whole!

Chaos Abound - What's been going on around here!

The last few weeks have been quite hectic around here. I have been working between 25 & 38 hours a week outside of our home, whilst CJ has been making much longer trips west and KM has had to take on a lot more responsibility around the house. Although we knew that there would need to be some sacrifices and a tremendous amount of adjustments, we were all willing to do so.

My work schedule is very chaotic and constantly changing, so I am having a bit of trouble finding a good balance at the moment. I am fully committed and unwavering in my efforts to keep KM on a routine and am strict in keeping her regularly scheduled activities - even if that means I have to ask for help in doing so.

Luckily with the chaos, comes flexibility. I am not away from home for 8-10 hours at a time, most days it is only 4-5 at a time. Some days I am gone from 7:30a-11:30a and then 5:30p-9:30p, others I am only gone 10a-1p. This has led to KM taking on a wide variety of chores around the house and they vary from day to day. She has been doing exceptionally well at completing her lessons and all the tasks I leave.

As I mentioned I have been very strict in keeping KM's activities and any other commitments that I make to her. This is not an area that I am willing to be flexible in so she is continuing her bowling, chess club, and youth activities. In addition we have added in a day when her and a few friends go to the library to work on their lessons together and have lunch at a nearby restaurant. I am very fortunate to have some great friends who are assisting me in getting her to and from these consistently.

There are constantly ideas floating around that you can home educate if you have a parent at home full-time, but we are proving - along with MANY others - that this not the truth. It takes some ingenuity, creative scheduling and a whole LOT of cooperation, but it CAN be done!

Prepping for Winter Session

Five years completed and we will be starting in on our 21st session next week - THAT SOUNDS SOOOOOO FREAKING WEIRD!!!

I can't believe that much time has gone by and yet it feels like only yesterday that I was trying to wrap my head around this weird "homeschool" thing. We have come a long way and this is one of the first times that very little is changing. KM is really liking all of her programs and things are running quite smoothly. 

The only changes are some additions to her electives including a Currclick Live class by Natureglo called MathArt, adding the Currclick Chess Club to her weekly IRL club and The Symphony (Great Courses Parts 2-3) which we found at our local library and KM is really enthusiastic about completing! Also since she finished up the long-term project at the library where she was doing her volunteer work, she will be taking a break from that this session and her Shakespeare Group had to unexpectedly change their plans so those two things have been taken off the calendar. 

KM has adjusted to me working outside of the home more regularly really well! She gets everything on her list done in record time and seems to be thriving with this new level of independence. We are also hoping that my schedule will allow us to be able to get back to ice skating weekly again, as we both really enjoy that time and it is a great workout! 

Here is her Winter Schedule - 

For a full list of our current curricula click HERE.

Always Questioning

It seems that I am always questioning our direction around here. Any of you long time readers of my blog are sure to be aware of the numerous changes that we are always making to our schedule, curriculum, and/or lesson plans in general. KM will make comments like "I could just be unschooled, ya know!" or she will seem as though it is just another chore to get things done, which will lead me to days of wondering, questioning her, questioning myself, and until I have totally and completed over-thought every aspect of our life. I never want her to feel disdain for her education and she always says that she is only joking with her comments, but often truth is said in jest. She has a huge say in all that we do and since her goal is to attend cosmetology school all things are focused in that direction. However every time I think we have found our balance the innate worry of whether we are doing the right thing sets in, often as a pendulum swing of "Are we doing enough?" to "Why are we doing so much?"

I think a lot of my questioning stems from my own haphazard education. I would beg my mom to buy me those super cool workbooks at the drugstore every time we were there, but I loathed being in the classroom so much that I would fake illnesses to get to hang out in the nurse's office. I loved books and would beg the librarians to let me take out just one more book because it was just too hard to choose which had to stay, yet I managed to miss 94 days in my 8th grade year and somehow had B's in all my classes - except P.E. where of course the only requirement was to be there and participate. By the time I was in high school I was missing more days than I was there and three weeks into 11th grade, just days after turning 16, I was DONE! I signed myself out and my mother consented, worn down by the years of fighting to get me to school. I took the GED just weeks later and passed it with perfect math and science scores. I then proceeded to tutor high school students until my class graduated and I was finally eligible for financial aid to start college classes. I loved learning so much I even started out on my college path to be a math teacher, I hadn't understood that it was SCHOOL that I HATED! Luckily I had KM during that first year and decided, upon returning, to change my major to behavioral sciences. I then took a child psychology class in which I did a paper on various educational methods and was astonished at the wide variety of options that were out there. That paper is what began my understanding of learning styles and led our family down the twisty path which brought us to home education. 

Five years into this home education thing, I still question myself and our choices all the time. I create a list of literature titles that I think are important and that KM will enjoy, only to find that she hates most of them - why did I spend all that time scouring lists and hunting down copies of the books? KM will get stuck on a math problem that I can tell her the answer to and how to complete the formula or where she went wrong, but not why that is the answer - only to be left wondering, why do I even know that? While working on chemistry she has to create a graph that shows the electronegativity of a period of elements -  will she ever need to figure that out in her life? Since it is nearly impossible to ever know what a child will retain, be inspired by or be utterly bored with, I think it is truly important to be flexible, explore a wide berth of topics, and be open to anything! I am always astonishing at the rabbit holes that can be found when you simply let the learner take any and all twists and turns that might pop up along the way.

So basically I think questioning is good! Question everything, don't take anyone's word for it and allow your learners to question things as well - even if that something they are questioning is you!

Changing Planet - Past, Present, Future - FREE Lecture from HHMI

Register early and get a free poster in the mail!

HHMI's BioInteractive - Holiday Lectures on Science:

Click to register for The 2012 Holiday Lectures on Science, Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future.

Has Earth changed over deep time? How did Earth shape life and life shape Earth? What does Earth's climate in the distant past tell us about the future?

Modern humans have lived on Earth for only the past 200,000 years—not even a blink of an eye in the history of a planet that is about 4.6 billion years old. Scientists have discovered a rich fossil record of animal evolution going back more than 600 million years and a much richer one of microbial life starting almost 4 billion years ago. Throughout this time, the geologic record reveals that dramatic changes have occurred to Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, climate, and land forms, which match major biological transitions. In concert, studies in biology and earth science are providing incredible insights into the forces that have shaped, and will continue to shape, life on our ever-changing planet.

Andrew H. Knoll of Harvard University, Naomi Oreskes of the University of California, San Diego, and Daniel P. Schrag of Harvard University will guide us on an exciting exploration of the history of life on Earth and discuss present-day concerns about climate change.

Webcast Schedule
November 15 & 16, 2012
Live:
9:30 a.m.—11:00 a.m. ET
11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. ET
Re-webcast:
10:00 a.m.—11:30 a.m. PT
12:00 p.m.—1:00 p.m. PT

'via Blog this'

2012-2013 Education Plan COMPLETED!!!

We are on our summer/fall book break and I have taken some time to get things reorganized before starting our fall session. I think that I have arrived at the point where we have made the final decisions for the majority of KM's lessons for the next three sessions. AS ALWAYS nothing is set in stone, but each year I feel more comfortable and end up changing less things throughout. I take a lot of time researching and organizing in the beginning to help us feel comfortable and to allow our year to flow.

I will also continue to update the Home Education Through High School Resources page so be sure to check it out!!!

KM's Education Outline

Summer '12 – Spring '13 Sessions 

ELA - Literature & Writing

Classic Fiction including - Little Women, Frankenstein, Yearling, Ethan Frome, Wrinkle in Time, Animal Farm, & Adventures of Huck Finn ~ additionally we will be watching various cinematic versions of each of these when applicable. 
Glencoe Literature Guides

Steck-Vaughn G: Language Arts, Writing
Reading Section from - Steck-Vaughn Complete GED Preparation 

Math

^{Hands on Banking For Teens - Summer Only 
Applying Algebra - Fall - Spring}

Science

Chem Prep Unit 1 of GPB Chemistry Video Resources - Summer Only

Chemistry (Science) 

Various Chemistry related videos which will be listed - HERE 

Social Sciences – U.S. History, Current Events & Geography

A History of US Books 5-9

Story of the US DVD

U.S. History – Basic Not Boring

CNN Student News

Election Study - iCivics Resources

Will of the people - Virtual Field Trip

Health & P.E.

What Do You Stand For? For Teens: A Guide to Building Character 
Bowling
Tennis
Ice Skating

ExerBeat

Electives

Milady's Standard Cosmetology with Theory Workbook & Practical    Workbook

Youth Group

Volunteer Work

Chess Club 
Teen Advisory Group 
Shakespeare Theatre Group

Japanese from Zero!
Japanese 1 - GPB Resources 

Essentially this would be KM's 10th grade year if she were in traditional school.  KM's lighter Summer Schedule - 

and her Fall - Spring Schedule

Register now for Changing Planet

Register early and get a free poster in the mail!

HHMI's BioInteractive - Holiday Lectures on Science:

Click to register for The 2012 Holiday Lectures on Science, Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future.

Has Earth changed over deep time? How did Earth shape life and life shape Earth? What does Earth's climate in the distant past tell us about the future?

Modern humans have lived on Earth for only the past 200,000 years—not even a blink of an eye in the history of a planet that is about 4.6 billion years old. Scientists have discovered a rich fossil record of animal evolution going back more than 600 million years and a much richer one of microbial life starting almost 4 billion years ago. Throughout this time, the geologic record reveals that dramatic changes have occurred to Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, climate, and land forms, which match major biological transitions. In concert, studies in biology and earth science are providing incredible insights into the forces that have shaped, and will continue to shape, life on our ever-changing planet.

Andrew H. Knoll of Harvard University, Naomi Oreskes of the University of California, San Diego, and Daniel P. Schrag of Harvard University will guide us on an exciting exploration of the history of life on Earth and discuss present-day concerns about climate change.

Webcast Schedule
November 15 & 16, 2012
Live:
9:30 a.m.—11:00 a.m. ET
11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. ET
Re-webcast:
10:00 a.m.—11:30 a.m. PT
12:00 p.m.—1:00 p.m. PT