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January 31, 2007
Wow
After I posted that last entry, I looked at the time.
This is the exact minute Connor was born, 11 years ago. The minute my world changed.
Sniff.
He got his Arrow of Light award tonight. (Scroll down to the "Top of the Mountain" story; we used that for the cermony.) Like an idiot, I did not bring the camera. Someone else will have gotten pictures, and I'll get them son.
Posted by lynx at 12:19 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 30, 2007
Homeschoolers Are Funny
Today I had to kill some time away from the house, with my two younger children. So we did what most of America does when they need to kill time with young children: We went to McDonald's.
Today there were two other women in the play area. Woman #3 (by entry into the area) began the conversation by asking me and Woman #2 if our children were not in preschool. W2 replied that her child was only four, and no, no preschool. I mumbled something along the same lines, not wanting to bring up homeschooling.
W3 asked a few more questions, and it finally came out that W2 was also killing time, until her children got out of a class at the same time that my children were getting out of a class. It turned out we were both homeschoolers, and had kids in the same co-op classes.
W3 was sore amazed, and began to pepper us with questions about homeschooling, mainly "WHY do you do it? Don't you think the schools are good?" So W2 and I began, hesitantly, gingerly, to explain about negative socialization issues, large class sizes, etc.
W3 asked me what I used to teach them, and I ducked. I gave her vague answers about how I pull from different sources, and there's all kinds of things you can do ... W2 said the same things.
All in all, W3 was friendly and interested, and I think we gave her some food for thought. But what struck me as funny about the whole incident is how cagey W2 and I were about the details.
Have you ever witnessed a first-time meeting of homeschoolers? Neither of us really wants to admit, at first, without knowing where the other stands, how we handle our children's education. Neither of us wants to come out and say what sides we fall into on the various homeschooling camps. Certainly I've had the experience of saying that we do a form of classical education, and seeing eyes roll at me in return. Or sometimes, I get a lecture on the benefits of unschooling, with the thinly veiled accusation that I must be stifling my kids and robbing of their childhoods and natural desire to learn. Gosh, I love that. I've learned to only utter the dreaded "classical" after I'm on a fairly good social footing. I imagine unschoolers get the same kinds of responses. I also imagine most people are somewhere in the middle.
And there we were, with so much potentially in common, but too wary to admit it. Funny, and sad. Who's to say we weren't being cagey about the exact same things?
And all the while, this Emo Philips routine kept running through my head.
Posted by lynx at 10:51 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 29, 2007
A Little Light Schooling
Take a look at this curriculum for a late 18-century Latin grammar school in Pennsylvania. It's scary. I'm scared. Well, I'm scared because I know I'm not working hard enough at making sure my kids have the Latin grammar down pat, and I know we won't ascend those higher heights until I do. But wow.
However, this was the part I found the most interesting:
Through the whole course no book shall be laid aside upon having had but one reading. There may, indeed, be but few books which can be read through, because time will not permit, but whatever part of a book is read once, it shall be the practice of this school to read twice.
I think this is excellent advice. Most booklists for most schools, or most curricula, leave no time for re-reading and re-studying; if a book is worth studying, it surely must be worth studying twice. Or three, or four, or ten times. This is one of the reasons I appreciate the sparse book lists, and the concept of multum non multa, in "The Latin-Centered Curriculum"; focusing on a few great works gives us time, time to re-read and re-study.
I hope I remember to make that time.
Posted by lynx at 9:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 28, 2007
Why I Like Michigan
I miss Texas. I miss my friends. Y'all know I do. And I emphasize this with the "y'all."
But.
I love snow. I mean, I love snow. It makes me happy. It refreshes my spirit.
This is what the Cub Scouts did today. See this?
This is a sledding hill. And all those people on it are sledding. Or getting ready to sled. You get the gist.
Last time we went sledding, Lachlan was little. I had to carry him, and sled with him. This time, he never looked back:
A playground's a playground, whatever the weather:
(Since I homeschool, I feel obliged to point out that I did knit that hat.)
We brought a cake, and called it a birthday party for the two January birthday boys:
Honest, Aidan's making that face on purpose.
It hasn't snowed much yet - half an inch here, an inch there. We haven't been above freezing in a couple of weeks, though, so whatever small amounts we get stay. I'm still rooting for a good 4-6 inch fall.
Posted by lynx at 9:37 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
January 27, 2007
Real Numbers
In the comments, Pensguys asked me how we combine Right Start and Singapore Math.
In the beginning, I switched back and forth and actually tried to coordinate them. Now, I've switched Aidan completely over to Right Start, but we use Singapore's Challenging Word Problems as a supplement. Connor's program is primarily Singapore, but I teach him anything interesting that Aidan and I come across in Right Start. I also frequently do the Right Start warmups with him, and use their method of teaching the multiplication tables to help Connor memorize and understand them better.
I plan to have the next two kids do Right Start primarily, but will use Singapore's Challenging Word problems as a supplement. As Right Start only goes through 4th grade, I may have them complete Singapore 5 and 6 after Right Start Level E.
Now.
Over at Drat These Greeks, Myrtle has been wrestling with a problem for me. (Although she thinks she's wrestling with it for herself and her child. It's all part of my subtle plan.) The problem is this: In general, American math programs from elementary through high school tend to focus on operations and algorithms, not theory. American students don't learn how to prove theorems. They might well not even learn what a theorem is. They don't learn anything about number theory, probably not until college, and then only if their major requires it or they have the interest. In other countries, however, proofs are standard classroom fare.
Since my boys are likely to end up in some type of engineering or scientific field, I would like to go beyond the standard American math sequence. But how? How do we take a student who has learned arithmetic and is ready for algebra, and guide him to be ready and able to handle proofs?
Myrtle is having her son start to write his work in a more formal manner, such as you'd see at higher levels of math ("let x be ..."). Once he had practiced this, he was better able to understand the wording of problems in a lesson on proofs. He already knew the mathematical language, and could concentrate on the math.
I know I have a few math folks amongst my readers. What other things can you suggest to prep a child for more theoretical math? For doing proofs? Mom has to learn, too.
Posted by lynx at 11:50 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
January 26, 2007
Why I Am a CW Goddess
Yes, I have figured out how to teach Classical Writing to my kids at two different levels, using the same models.
At the moment, Connor is finishing up Aesop B, while Aidan is just starting. Here is what I do: Connor works in the Aesop B workbook. Each week I turn to the lesson in the Aesop B workbook that Aidan would we doing, and write up a sheet describing the skills that the workbook focuses on for that week. Then I apply those lessons to Connor's model, coming up with simplified sentences out of the model for Aidan to work with for grammar.
When it comes to the writing project, I will often have Aidan retell part of the model, instead of the entire story.
It's that easy. I spent months thinking it would be difficult. I spent months agonizing over how to manage. And it's that easy.
Next week, Connor will work on the Week 14 lessons in his workbook; Aidan will use the same model, but do the Week 3 lessons. When Connor moves up to Homer, I'll use the Homer models and the same process.
This program has quite the learning curve for teachers. It is worth it, however, and once you grok it, it is amazingly flexible.
The Singapore/Right Start combo is the best elementary math program ever. Classical Writing is the best writing program. Ever. Lene, Tracy and Kathy deserve to be put on a pedestal and lauded.
And Aidan thinks diagramming is fun. Heh. Excellent.
Posted by lynx at 10:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 24, 2007
What Non-Homeschoolers Don't Know
Since I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately, I appreciated this list. There are obvious religious differences, such as the fact that I am not homeschooling because I feel Scripturally led to do so. Not exactly. As such. But you knew that.
It's a HomeschoolBlogger link, though, so don't click if you're boycotting.
Posted by lynx at 10:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 23, 2007
Boys and Girls
This semester, my boys are in a homeschool PE class. They were in one last year, in Texas.
As in Texas, this class is co-ed. Unlike in Texas, this class always splits up into teams of boys vs. girls. This is vountary; actually, the kids insist on it. No girl wants a boy on her team, and no boy wants a girl on his! This is odd for my boys. They've always had girl friends, and any PE they've been involved in has been with fully integrated teams. My kids think it's weird.
Some of the girls in the class are a little older, say in their early teens. Apparently, whenever the teacher is not looking at them, these girls cheat. If they're tagged out by a boy, they pretend it didn't happen. They deny it. They make excuses. Then they laugh about how dumb boys are, and how great girls are. Meanwhile, my boys are getting more and more irritated, and having less and less fun.
I know this is normal behavior. I remember it well. But, well ... we never saw it in Texas. Then again, they were never in a class with teens. I'm out of experience with kids in their early teens: Is this kind of thing inevitable? It seems to me that were I the teacher, I would integrate the teams and insist on good sportsmanship while in class. I've seen this work beautifully with younger kids; is it just too much to expect with the teens, or tweens? Are my expectations out of line here, or is the teacher perhaps not handling the class as well as it might be handled?
Posted by lynx at 10:53 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
January 22, 2007
Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
Elisabeth has challenged her readers to make a statement today about why they are pro-choice. (Well, she's challenged her pro-choice readers, anyway.) And she has a very passionate entry about privacy, women's rights, etc.
However, I'm pro-choice for the same reason that I think this is stupid. And for the same reason I am against government regulation and control of education and midwifery, and for assisted suicide. It all comes down to this: Government, this is not what you should be doing. It's none of your business. We have way too many big problems for you to be micromanaging our lives. Freedom means you're not breathing down my neck at every turn, or fostering paranoia that you might be doing so, if not now, then soon, and for the rest of my life.
You might note, by the way, that the proposed law in California would make it illegal to spank children under the age of four. Is it just me, or does anyone else get the image of a lot of sad fourth birthdays to come? "Okay, Timmy, c'mere, you're four now, you're legal, and your mother and I have four years worth of aggravation to work off ..."
Posted by lynx at 10:18 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 18, 2007
Oh, my head ...
We just watched four episodes in a row of Battlestar Galactica. We finished our marathon with "The Final Cut" from season 2.0.
Oh, how my head is spinning.
If you were like us and held out on watching this, stop it and go rent the discs right now.
And this is a screamingly funny item, if you know about my history with toasters.
This one made me laugh as well, because I do know the difference. Let's face it: I've been waiting for a good, popular BSG since the 80s. My inner preteen geek feels vindicated. Why did we wait so long to watch this?
Posted by lynx at 10:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Intelligence
Charles Murray has a series of articles on education and intelligence up at OpinionJournal. Part I addresses the problem of variable intelligence in our educate-them-all, No Child Left Behind school system; in Part II he proposes that too many people of above-average intelligence are going to college; and in Part III he proposes that gifted individuals should have special education, specifically to educate the gifted in wisdom and ethics.
Good stuff.
I tend to wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Murray in these essays. This is one of the issues that drives me nuts about our current school system. Look: Some people are short, and some are tall. Some people run fast, others cannot. Some people have blue eyes, some have brown. These things are fixed. They are part of our physical makeup. We accept that. Well, IQ is a part of our physical makeup as well. It is fairly fixed. Rather than accept this as a fact, we prefer to ignore it, pretend it doesn't matter. We pretend IQ is meaningless.
It is a fact, a pure and simple fact, that not everyone is educable to the same level. Educability is as variable as everything else in our physical makeup. This is where No Child Left Behind and many other programs fall flat; such programs assume that everyone would be educable to the same level if we just tried harder. It doesn't work that way, no matter how we might wish otherwise.
I firmly believe that every child should have the same opportunity for education. Every child ought to have the opportunity for an excellent elementary school education. Every child out to have the opportunity for a college preparatory education. Every child ought to have the opportunity to go to college. Race, socioeconomic status and amount of parental involvement ought to have no effect on a child's opportunity. But that is really all we can do. It is stupid to attempt to force a student with a lower IQ to achieve to the same level as one with a higher IQ.
The end result, as we all know, is a dumbing down of the curriculum so that both children can "succeed." And further, a dumbing down of college entrance requirements and degree requirements so that all students can "succeed."
This is not success. This is selling our national success in favor of national self esteem.
And while we are lowering our standards, our gifted students are in crisis and it does matter. Mr. Murray very accurately describes the problem of gifted kids in todays curriculum: They're bored, and they have no idea how to face a challenge. They have no idea how to face a challenge, and they will be our leaders in 20 or 30 short years.
Bad? Bad.
Of course, I like his recommendation that gifted students be given a classical education. He says:
In short, I am calling for a revival of the classical definition of a liberal education, serving its classic purpose: to prepare an elite to do its duty. If that sounds too much like Plato's Guardians, consider this distinction. As William F. Buckley rightly instructs us, it is better to be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the faculty of Harvard University. But we have that option only in the choice of our elected officials. In all other respects, the government, economy and culture are run by a cognitive elite that we do not choose. That is the reality, and we are powerless to change it. All we can do is try to educate the elite to be conscious of, and prepared to meet, its obligations. For years, we have not even thought about the nature of that task. It is time we did.
I've never held with the idea that giftedness carries with it an obligation to use it for the good of others. However, he makes a good point, and it's one I'm certainly going to think about. Read the articles, and tell me what you think.
Posted by lynx at 2:06 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
January 17, 2007
Homeschooling Update
What's going well:
We're in a good rhythm with daily lessons, with a good mix of curricula, not-curricula, and free time.
Math is going well for all three older boys. Connor will finish Singapore 5B this week. Aidan is flying through Right Start Level D.
Latin is going well for Connor, using Using Latin Book One with some Henle thrown in. It's only not going well for Aidan because I've become very lackadaisical with his Latin. I see more and more that Latin works better 1) when they're older, and 2) when they know some good amount of English grammar first. So anything I've said in the past about starting Latin young and not worrying about English grammar? Scratch that. I was wrong.
Classical Writing is going well for Connor and Aidan both. I've figured out how to have them both do the same model, but at different levels. I've finally figured out how to teach this program, without the workbooks, fully customized. I have read the Homer Core book, and it did not daunt me. Victory is mine!
We're reading some good books. We've FINALLY finished D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome, and have moved on to a Guerber collection of Norse Myths and Famous Men of Greece. Still reading Farmer Boy. Their last bedtime book with Daddy was, er ... Hunt for Red October. What can I say? We're a little different. Their personal books right now consist of a Trek novel (what else?), David Weber's Bolo, and Bradbury short stories.
We're starting Hamlet. The boys picked Hamlet for two reasons: First, because they've memorized the Simpsons spoof of it ("Nobody outcrazies Ophelia!"). And second, because I got them a version with Patrick Stewart. We watched half of it tonight and they did well - they hung in there, at least, and for the most part understood what was going on.
Griffin is listening to the history readings and participating, which is huge.
Out of the house, they're getting two days of PE (one day of Karate, one of organized physical games), more LEGO engineering, and an American history class. The American history class was an accident; I had signed them up for a world percussion class, but it was cancelled. Bummer. We don't need help with history, but we sure do need help with music.
They're also going to do a LEGO League group, so we've got LEGO and engineering work coming out our ears.
What's not going well:
It's still frustrating, learning how to "school" this many kids. Connor and Aidan take all my time, which is not right ... but I don't know how else to manage. The little boys don't get read to enough. They don't get enough attention, period. Then again, my baseline for "enough" is probably skewed. I'm sure they get as much attention as most kids do, they just don't get as much as the first two did.
Piano is a nightmare. Next year I've got to reprioritize so that we can afford out-of-the-house lessons. Teaching them myself does not work, when when I think of starting to teach the younger two as well I begin to hyperventilate and crave large amounts of alcohol and chocolate. Mostly alcohol.
Come to think of it, spelling is a nightmare, too. But Connor *needs* it.
We only get three days, really, to accomplish our own things, since the other two are out of the house.
On the other hand, those three days really are enough for us to do a decent job at a classical education, which is a good thing. It's not my ideal, but it's enough. That's good, and interesting, don't you think?
Posted by lynx at 11:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 16, 2007
More Math
While I'm raving about Right Start, let's not forget about Singapore's kick-butt word problems. Here are the two that Connor had today. Make that, here are the two that Connor and I had today. And Jeff. We had to call Jeff on both of them, and he and I had to work to figure out how in the heck to do these without algebra.
1. David and Peter had $90 and $200 respectively. They were each given an equal amount of money. Then Peter had twice as much money as David. How much money did each boy receive?
2. Gopal spent 3/5 of his money in the first week and 1/3 of the remainder in the second week. He spent $110 altogether. How much money did he have left?
Both are very, very easy problems to solve, as soon as you figure out how to structure them - how to look at them, or how to draw the boxes. But getting our brains to that simple point is hard.
Connor is almost finished with Singapore 5B. I think we'll take some time to go through Challenging Word Problems - both of us. Then when he moves into 6A, I'm going to work the problems right along with him. I love the challenge, and hopefully I can teach him how to approach a good challenge without frustration.
It's 17 degrees here today. We skipped out on our co-op classes, and the boys are playing outside in the snow and ice. The sun is shining, and it's beautiful. I'd like to go out for a walk to enjoy the scenery, but ... it's cold.
Posted by lynx at 11:25 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
January 15, 2007
Why Right Start Math is So Good
Me: Okay, count backwards from 20, by even numbers.
Child: 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0.
Me: Now, say the multiples of 8.
Child: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56 - Hey! I figured out a pattern! The tens goes up by one each time, and the ones go down by two!
That is why Right Start Math is worth the price, and the teaching time. Multiplication is becoming a breeze, because he is finding all the patterns. The curriculum leads him right to it, but the discovery is his. It sticks. He's fast, for a third grader. And accurate.
Good stuff.
Posted by lynx at 5:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Robin Hood (or is it?)
I've posted the draft of Aidan's latest writing assignment over at the Classical Writing blog.
It is pure Aidan.
Posted by lynx at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 11, 2007
Nine
Or should that be, Two of Four?
And yes, it is too a cube. So it's short. Shuddup.
Completely Trek obsessed, this kid is. He's a walking, talking, nine-year-old Star Trek encyclopedia. Cute, too. And smart. He has a talent for music, and a great sense of comic timing. He chirps. I think he started the chirping. You see, after the second parakeet died (yes, it died too), he decided to take the philosophy of be the parakeet. He started chirping. Now they all chirp. Sometimes, they chirp songs. "Chirp?" is most often used as a way of saying "huh?"
I thought he realized that chirping was maybe not for outside-the-home interaction, but no: The first time we visited the orthodontist, the doc asked Aidan a question. Aidan cocked his head to the side, and asked, "Chirp?"
Ah, those crazy, unsocialized homeschooled kids.
He certainly makes life interesting, but he's always worth it.
Posted by lynx at 9:21 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Where've I been?
Well, let's see.
After Solstice, we piled into the car and drove, eventually, 2400 miles. We had a wonderful Christmas, and saw everybody. Did I mention that we had a wonderful time? We miss all of you.
My gift coup: Four Next Gen costumes for my boys, and six Original Series phasers, four for my boys and two for bigger boys. Can you believe I missed the opportunity to get their pictures in their costumes in front of the tree?
Since January 2, the day we arrived back home, we've had three birthdays. That's three down, two to go! Sugar high, anyone?
We've already started back to outside classes (two days a week out of the house, all day). I can't believe we're doing all that again. We are NOT having two long days out of the house next year, do you hear me?
Jeff and I have finally given in and started watching the new Battlestar Galactica. Now, stop talking to us until we're done watching, okay?
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January 10, 2007
I don't think this is what Mufasa had in mind.
Connor: "But Mom, I have to annoy my brothers. It's a circle of life thing."
Posted by lynx at 2:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack