Excuses, Excuses

I told myself at the start of the new year (well, the start of last summer... okay, like two - ten - years ago) that I would exercise for at least 10 minutes every day. I would either take a 20 minute walk or I would do 10 minutes of indoor exercise - Wii Fit, yoga, pilates, sit ups, climb up and down the steps, something. I seem to recall looking at my 2lb weights once, but I'm pretty sure that was when Secundo was holding them out to me and saying, "Mom, you're not still using these, are you? Can I take them upstairs so that I can do my arm, wrist, and finger exercises?" (She's strengthening her hand for fencing per her coach's instructions.) I guess her taking them upstairs doesn't really count as exercising... well, not for me, anyway.

I made this goal simple so that it would be easy to do and to maintain. I can find 10-20 minutes per day, right? I seem to find hours to play online, read, sleep, watch movies, and play board games with the kids. How come I can't find 10 minutes to do a couple sit ups or 20 minutes to take a walk? (By. My. Self, I might add.) Well, because:

- I don't like to exercise in front of other people.

- I don't want to have to change my clothes.

- I can't find my exercise clothes.

- I don't want to have to take a shower during the day (I prefer to take them at night).

- There's too much of a mess in front of the TV to get out the Wii balance board.

- I don't want to see my weight displayed on the TV screen (especially if there are other people in the room).

- It's raining.

- It's snowing.

- It's cold out.

- It's hot out.

- Our road has a lot of speeding traffic and there are no sidewalks.

- I woke up late.

- I have other things that need to get done when I was hoping to exercise.

- I have to cart children all over town.

- I'm sick.

You get the idea.

Now, some of these are legitimate reasons. If I'm sick and it's 20 degrees out, I'm not going for a walk. (I've become a wuss after moving to the South, and I've made peace with that.) However, most of them don't hold water. For instance, I have a TV in my room. I could go in there, close the door, and do 10 minutes of a yoga or pilates DVD. I often get up before the kids, so no one would be in the living room when I used the Wii Fit. My road doesn't have that much traffic on it and I live less than a quarter mile from a youth athletic park where I could easily do a couple laps around the parking lots and roads there then come home; I'd be on the main road for less than 5 minutes. (Plus, I can see half a mile in one direction and about two miles in the other, so it's not like it's too dangerous to walk on on its own. Well, except for the fire ant hills. In the summer. There aren't any right now. See how good I am at this excuses thing?) So, most days, I really have no excuse... except that I'm lazy and stuck in a bad habit.

So, today I decided that enough was enough and took a walk. And how did I convince myself to do this? I took one look out the window at the beautiful snow and decided that I needed to go out with my camera. So I did. Easy peesy.

And I didn't set one foot on the busy road! Did I mention that we live on two acres in the middle of the country? Yeah, well... 

I think that I am going to take my camera out with me every day as my motivation to get outside. And when it gets warmer and drier out, I am going to go hunt for a place to walk to each day where I can sit and pray and read. Madeline L'Engle mentions having such a spot in her book A Circle of Quiet. I like the idea of a secret special place that is definitely special but not very secret. It calms the mommy worry that my kids won't be able to find me if they need me while also adding to the place's sanctity by being designated as "Mommy's Place."

Do you have such a place? How do you carve out time for exercise or jump-starting your sanity?

It's All Relative

Quarto and Terzo are compiling family history books as an exercise in learning how histories are put together. How do we know what we know from history? They have a page for each person in our immediate and extended family and had to interview people (or have mom send an email for them) to find the answers to the questions listed. Terzo interviewed me, and when we got to the question about what my school was like I told him, "My elementary/ middle school was very small. When I graduated from 8th grade, there were only 32 kids in my class... a lot smaller than my high school class of 575."

Terzo got a funny smile on his face and responded, "Mom, that's not that small. I am the fourth grade!"

True, that.

Some Education Links

I came across these two news stories in my weekly Google Education feed and thought I would share them.

The first is about a new documentary coming out about the American public education system entitled Kids Aren't Cars. Given the recent or upcoming releases of Waiting for Superman and Class Dismissed, education seems to be the current "hot topic" among documentary filmmakers. This is the first time I have heard about Kids Aren't Cars; it looks into how the American corporate system (particularly the invention, implementation, and importance of the assembly line to American production and thus the American economy) has effected the organization of American education and defined positive educational results. Looks like we'll be having an education documentary marathon here at the Burrow. Do you have any suggestions of films that we should add to our list?

The second article that caught my attention concerned the rejection of previously approved history textbooks by the Virginia Board of Education (VBE). What struck me is that the texts in question are currently being used in some middle schools in Virginia... which means that the VBE previously approved their purchase in use by state schools. However, a panel of historians hired by the Board has just now discovered "dozens of errors." Also, "despite the withdrawal of approval, a school system that uses the books does not have to stop doing so." What?! What's the point of going through the process of testing books for accuracy after they are purchased then allowing the schools already using unapproved books? (That question was intended to be rhetorical, but if you have the ability to enlighten me on this subject, I won't refuse your assistance.)

COH - Passing on the Bad Juju

This Week's Carnival of Homeschooling

hosted by The Headmistress over at The Common Room

The first four times I hosted the carnival, something went wrong - I got sick, the power went out, something. The last couple of times have gone off relatively hitchless, and now I know why... I passed on the bad juju. Sorry, Headmistress. We've had a child with Nursemaid's Elbow also and it is no fun. Hope your grandson is back to his old self soon.

Snow!

COH - Week 262

Carnival of Homeschooling ~ Week 262

5th Anniversary Edition featuring quotes from The Princess Bride

 hanging out at its homebase, Why Homeschool

Enjoy!

And Happy Anniversary, COH!

And as an aside: I think that Henry is right about The Princess Bride possibly being the most-oft quoted movie of our generation. I have already quoted "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means" and "As you wish" to my children today.

Rosetta Stone Giveaway

Now is the perfect time to give your child the gift of possibilities for the holidays with Rosetta Stone Homeschool — and you can WIN a Level 1 Homeschool program, language of your choice (valued at $249)!


Right now Rosetta Stone is having a special Holiday promotion on our Homeschool Edition program and we’d like you to help spread the word! Everyone can save up to $150 on Rosetta Stone Homeschool by visiting our website at http://www.RosettaStone.com/hsw1110.
By helping us spread the word you can win a Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition Level 1 program, language of your choice, valued at $249.

This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever!
Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this program, copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR post about this contest on your facebook page. Then go to the original page at http://www.triviumpursuit.com/blog/2011/01/03/rosetta-stone-giveaway/
and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post, and good luck!

Happy 5th Anniversary COH

The Carnival of Homeschooling will be celebrating its 5th anniversary this week. If you would like to contribute to the anniversary edition of the carnival, follow the submission guidelines here. Don't forget, submissions must be in by 6pm (PST) tonight!

Happy Anniversary COH!

COH - Gingerbread Can Cure Poison Hour Edition

Check out the Carnival of Homeschooling

over at Our Curious Home

Disunion

One hundred-fifty years ago, the Civil War (War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression) began.

The New York Times is running a wonderful series in honor of the anniversary entitled Disunion. Every day, a this-day-in-history story will be posted outlining an event or figure and its impact on American history and the Civil War.

Today's entry: The Assassin's Debut - actor John Wilkes Booth takes the stage on Montgomery, Alabama.

Carnival of Homeschooling - The Tryptophan Edition

Image Source

We are less than a week from Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. The holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year in the States but every homeschool parent knows that, no matter how hard we try, it creeps into the Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday previous... travelling, cooking, planning, cleaning... each of these invades the days leading up to Thanksgiving. On Friday, the tryptophan hangover lingers and the weekend is filled with more travelling, post-celebratory cleaning, and (for some of us) the beginning of another holiday - Advent.

Wisdom dictates that we call a holiday from schooling and just enjoy the celebration and all that goes with it. Fear and panic sometimes push us to attempt school work despite the hustle and bustle of holiday prep and recovery.

Here at Apollos Academy, we are usually on holiday from the Monday before Thanksgiving until the end of the first full-week of the new year. Because of The Virus, we'll be plugging along through the month of December instead... or at least trying to.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
As visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

Image Source

Sugar plums, gingerbread men, twinkling lights, and perfectly picked, beautifully wrapped gifts don't remain only in the night-time dreams of children this time of year. They haunt the daydreams (and panic attacks) of adults and children alike as the weather turns colder and Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer infects the airwaves. The proper use of the apostrophe ("Every time you use an apostrophe to pluralize, a kitten dies." - I definitely did not read that in an official grammar book, but I love it just the same) and Euclidean geometry are definitely not clogging up our dream journals.

And we are not the only ones to be suffering from Tryptophan-Effected-Homeschooling. How do I know? Because the majority of the submissions to this week's carnival revolved around the holiday season ushered in this past Thursday! There are wonderful holiday-themed lesson plans, imaginative plans for common subjects, and just some wonderful families enjoying life and their homeschooling journeys by kicking up their heels and taking advantage of this sometimes chaotic time of year to try something new and different.

So prop up your slippered toes and grab a cup of hot cocoa... it's time for school!


Need some ideas for some holiday-themed school activities? Jen (Best Family Adventures) held a contest recently where she discovered some great holiday activities for those cold winter days. (The contest is over, but you can still win by utilizing some of these activities with your brood.)

'Tis the season over at Eclectic Education to discover some homeschooling-the-holidays links from Lynn.

As homeschoolers, we're around our kids 24/7. However, Linda (Parent at the Helm) reminds us to focus on and take joy in the family-centered days the holidays provide us with.

And while we're having a blast with our families, let's take a moment to sit down with them and write a family mission statement. MamaChi's family (A Pilgrim's Heart) shows us how this exercise can provide something utterly useful during hectic times... perspective.

Want a little more art in your school (life)? Jimmie (Jimmie's Collage) insists that picture books are a great way to not only teach young children about art, but teens and adults as well. She provides some great printables so you can do your own Da Vinci study.

Adrienne (Four Bad Apples) is the matriarch of probably the most artistic homeschooling family I know. In her post, Finally..., she thought she was simply catching people up on what's been happening around their home, but it is also a wonderful glimpse into a season-in-the-life of a creative, homeschooling (or should that be "creative homeschooling") family.

Like all moms (and dads), we need to take a moment in our busy lives to... um... answer nature's call. Dana (Roscommon Acres) shares a cautionary tale of what one may discover upon returning to our energetic, creative children. The moral of the story: it takes a brave woman with a great sense of humor to be a mom. (Or is it, "never pee"? *grin*)

In the mood to try something new? Join Michelle (Handmade and Homegrown) in trying one new thing a month for a year in the 12 New Things Challenge.

Now hop on over to A Computer Mom where Allie will show you how you and your students can create a "plastic" model of the earth's inner mantle using common pantry supplies.

Maybe your family is like mine and although you would like to focus on all holiday-oriented lessons, you really just need to take some time to focus on academics every day. Go ahead! That's the beauty of homeschooling, right? Flexibility.

Another benefit of homeschooling is meeting your child when and where he is at. Henry (Why Homeschool) shared a wonderful article that reminds us (oh, we homeschoolers do like to push our students to advance, don't we?) that delaying even one of the three R's - reading - may prove beneficial to our children in the long run.

Barbara Frank Online shares a wonderful interactive resource for adults and teens from the New York Times that lets users see how cutting certain programs or passing/ eliminating certain tax cuts will effect the federal budget deficit. Can you close the gap?

And if you like computer gadgets, Paula (PhD Online Degree) has a list of the top 100 iPhone apps for homeschoolers.

Frodo and I decided to take advantage of his relaxing schedule as semester break approaches to read through the Harry Potter series. This is my third or fourth read through (depending on the book) and Frodo's first.  I am a huge fan of the series and so was delighted to discover Pinon Knitter's (Knitted Thoughts) syllabus for a class covering the entire Harry Potter series in a semester and using the books as a springboard into topics as varied as chemistry and racism. I foresee a Harry Potter course in our school's future.

Aoide-Melete-Mneme (a la mode de les Muses) shares her thoughts on how strange it is that she has not come across more homeschooled students in PhD programs and encourages homeschoolers to look into pursuing higher degrees.

Do your kids need some encouragement to get their school work done (and with a good attitude)? Jill (Sweet Diva) shares a motivational trick... competitions where the winner gets to bake sweet creations with mom!

One sign that holiday season is upon us is the smell of baking... apples and cinnamon, pumpkins, stews. Jill isn't the only one thinking about food. Mrs. White and her girls (The Legacy of Home) are holding cooking classes and making delicious suppers together.

For most of us, December marks an ending for our school... either the end of a year or the end of a semester. Either way, a celebration is in order. Nak (Sage Parnassus) and their homeschool coop recently held a family night sharing what they have learned and having a lot of fun while doing it. Maybe you can find some ideas for your own family night!

If you have visited the Carnival of Homeschooling here before, you know that whenever I host it seems that a health or weather advisory should be issued... it is pretty much guaranteed that something is going to happen. I almost themed this carnival "Weather Advisories" since we were under several advisories and warnings when it was time to work on getting the carnival up. *grin* Fortunately, we only had enough thunderstorms here to block our satellite internet access and keep our weather-obsessed Quarto happy. South of here did not fare so well; happily there was no loss of life associated with the tornadoes that invaded those areas and your prayers for those suffering loss of home and security is appreciated. I was definitely in need of something lighthearted when I opened Witty Jester's contribution. Who knew floods could be so humorous?

Well, the fire is dwindling and the cocoa is all gone, so it's time to decorate the tree, put on some Christmas carols, then take a nap. Thank you for visiting and don't forget to visit the carnival next week at Our Curious Home.

Let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Silver Lining

For the last month or so, someone in our house has been sick. Why we can't just all get sick over a 3-4 day period and be done with it, I'll never know, but that's a kvetch for another time.

Having Frodo home sick or one of the boys isn't too big of a deal. They lay like slugs on the sofa, watch movies, drink ginger ale, and eat chicken soup until they feel better. All us healthy people can generally function around them... plus, when someone wanders off who should be doing school or chores I know where to find them - in front of the TV with sicko watching whatever movie they found completely uninteresting yesterday but find absolutely captivating today.

When I or one of the girls gets sick, however, it is another matter altogether.

The girls are 18 months apart in age and overlap in their academic studies quite a bit... well, completely. History, science, math, philosophy, Latin, writing, logic... they are both doing pretty much the exact same things. The only distinct subjects they have are geography and literature but even those are dependent on each other because we meet as a threesome one day a week to discuss their lit readings, logic, and philosophy. At least with Friday math lessons they are in different Life of Fred books. This means when one of them is sick and truly not able to do school work (or at least not the amount usually done in a day), it throws both of them off. Literature and geography are self-paced, so those aren't as big a deal, but the last thing I want to do is get behind in math and Latin. Both of those subjects take large amounts of time to learn, review, and master; a week of delays can push the school year back another month. (We do school year-round, but the timing completely messes up my plans for the holiday break.) So, when the girls got sick one after the other, I decided to take it in stride and had them continue math, lit, and geography and delay Latin with plans to just continue that through break. It worked... kind of.

Then I got sick. I teach Quarto all of his subjects myself. It only takes about an hour a day, but that was more than I could handle. Terzo stepped up and covered math with him, Secudno covered reading, and Primo made sure everyone ate. As you can see, the older kids are becoming more self-sufficient and can cover many school subjects independently with only occasional help from me. This is not the case for math, Latin, lit, or logic (or history and science for the boys). Another week lost.

I had promised myself at the beginning of this year that we were just going to chug along with our studies this year and take bumps in stride. No excessive lingering during focused school but lots of encouragement for the kids to explore on their own time. Our year was going splendidly until a month ago. The silver lining in all of this? I was forced to look at how our year had been progressing and how our plans were holding up to life's twists and turns.

What's not working:
1. Math for the girls. I actually figured this out before The Virus (the delayed start in math this year was not helping my stress over the illness delay). Primo struggles with math (or so I thought), and we changed math programs about once a year from 4th-7th grade for her. Turns out, she's actually good at math; she just wasn't responding well to certain presentations, and my constant switching was hurting more than it was helping. At the beginning of the year, she told me, "Can we just go back to Rod and Staff? I liked it. It was hard, but I knew what to expect each day." Ugh: The Great Curriculum Hop started because of weeping and gnashing of teeth with Rod and Staff in fourth grade. Double Ugh: Rod and Staff doesn't go past 8th grade. I didn't want to switch her back into it only to have to find something new next year. Enter Saxon. We had done Saxon K-3rd, and it drove me bonkers. Scripted. Repetitive. Boring. I should have stuck it out into 4th; it becomes a completely different program. And it is laid-out similarly to Rod and Staff. Both girls are thriving with it. Primo is now a solid B student (and improving daily) and says math is her favorite subject. Yay!

2. Do the next thing. Up until now, our lesson plans were pretty simple: "See that curriculum on your school shelf? We're going to start with lesson one in each book and do one lesson per day until we are finished." That was pretty much it. Not working so much any more. I have planned out lessons this year, and they work great... when I am available to tell each kid what to do on a particular day. When I'm trying to teach four kids, those opportunities are few are far between. Since the kids are more independent now, we could have gotten a lot more done if I had been able to print off weekly assignment sheets and just hand them to the kids and say, "Do what you can without me." Yes, math and Latin would still have been behind, but everything else would have been close to on target. HomeschoolTracker Plus to the rescue! Sadly, I have owned this program for 5 years and just figured out how to do things beyond track attendance this year (not necessary in our state). Wow! I already have Latin lessons planned for the next 3 years. I'll be playing around with HST to figure out how to use it's assignment sheets and get us booking it again.

What's working:
1. Weekly meetings. This year, the girls and I started meeting every Friday at 11:30 to discuss our readings (I'm reading, too) in philosophy and literature. We also do a logic lesson and just chat about school and life. This has been wonderful! We all look forward to it.

2. The girls' new math. (see above)

3. Rod and Staff Math for Terzo. What doesn't work for one kid is a God-send for another. Terzo loves Rod and Staff Math 4. The girls have both inherited my metal block with memorizing math facts. Terzo knows them upside down and backward and it's not just because of rote memorization but because he has learned the relationships between numbers. Happily, I have also learned my math facts... although Terzo is still quicker and more accurate than I am.

4. Rod and Staff Penmanship for Quarto. I didn't use a penmanship curriculum for the older three. I would just write something on handwriting paper and have them copy it. (I can hear my parents laughing right now. My handwriting has always been bad; my fifth grade teacher requested that I type all but my math assignments.) Once they each hit about third grade, they started using Classically Cursive. Both girls have much better script than I do (the only thing worse than my printing is my script) and Terzo is getting there (he has mild dysgraphia, so he's just beginning to have writing outside of handwriting practice; a wise decision). Quarto has been able to write letters and small words for awhile now, but he forms them very oddly and I was worried that this was going to 1) slow him down and 2) make cursive more difficult. So, I decided to try a formal penmanship program. He loves it! I love it! It is all laid out with daily lessons and worksheets that take 10 minutes a day. And when he isn't using the worksheets, he's self-correcting! He'll start forming a letter or number his usually crazy, backwards, upside down way (honestly, I cannot explain how he writes or how he developed this technique) then stop himself and say, "Oops. I started in the wrong place" and erase and start over. And his handwriting (on handwriting paper, anyway) is great!

5. Google Calendar and CalenGoo. Google Calendar is a calendar program on Google that allows you to track multiple calendars and share them with others. CalenGoo is an iPhone/ iTouch app that allows you to use and update Google Calendar on the iPhone/ iTouch. I have a separate calendar for each member of the family, and I have been more organized and timely this year than I have ever been! Since I have an iTouch, I need a WiFi connection to sync my calendars (the online and handheld versions), but this has not yet been an issue (plus, it saves me the data fees of a smartphone). I can still add and delete items from my calendar on my iTouch; the changes just won't appear on Google Calendar until I can sync them. Now to just get Frodo to use Google Calendar and maybe those hold-out schedule conflicts will disappear.

It looks like everyone is finally out of the woods, illness wise, so we are back to school as usual. Although I was sorry to have sick kiddos (and a sick hubby and a sick me), I am so glad for the time it allowed me to evaluate and readjust. It has been a blessing!

Alfred Yankovic, Editor

CNN posted a pretty typical article about homeschooling last week: Less Families Homeschooling Primarily for Religious Reasons

However, maybe CNN should make sure they edit properly, especially when writing on the topic of education. Or maybe just make watching Weird Al's grammar videos on YouTube part of their employee training?

Carnival of Homeschooling

~Carnival of Homeschooling~

hosted by the Lesson Pathways Blog

Enjoy!

Prove It

We have homeschooled our children since birth (theirs, not ours).

We would practice letters and numbers. Do arts and crafts. Learn songs. Explore our house, our yard, our neighborhood, and wherever our car or a Metro ticket could take us.

When our oldest child reached school-reporting age, we lived in the second-most difficult state to homeschool in. ("Difficulty" being determined by level of government involvement and required reporting.) It was promoted to the rank of most difficult during our tenure there. One of the reporting requirements (in addition to the notarized affidavit, maintaining attendance records, covering mandatory subjects, and taking and reporting standardized tests) was to keep a portfolio. The law covering the maintenance and evaluation of the portfolio is as follows:

(1) A portfolio of records and materials. The portfolio shall consist of a log, made contemporaneously with the instruction, which designates by title the reading materials used, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials used or developed by the student and in grades three, five and eight results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests in reading/language arts and mathematics or the results of Statewide tests administered in these grade levels. The department shall establish a list, with a minimum of five tests, of nationally normed standardized tests from which the supervisor of the home education program shall select a test to be administered if the supervisor does not choose the Statewide tests. At the discretion of the supervisor, the portfolio may include the results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests for other subject areas or grade levels. The supervisor shall ensure that the nationally normed standardized tests or the Statewide tests shall not be administered by the child's parent or guardian.
(i) A teacher or administrator who evaluates a portfolio at the elementary level (grades kindergarten through six) shall have at least two years of experience in grading any of the following subjects: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; and civics.
(ii) A teacher or administrator who evaluates a portfolio at the secondary level (grades seven through twelve) shall have at least two years of experience in grading any of the following subjects: English, to include language, literature, speech, reading and composition; science, to include biology, chemistry and physics; geography; social studies, to include economics, civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; foreign language; and mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and geometry.
(iii) As used in this clause, the term "grading" shall mean evaluation of classwork, homework, quizzes, classwork-based tests and prepared tests related to classwork subject matter.
(2) An annual written evaluation of the student's educational progress as determined by a licensed clinical or school psychologist or a teacher certified by the Commonwealth or by a nonpublic school teacher or administrator. Any such nonpublic teacher or administrator shall have at least two years of teaching experience in a Pennsylvania public or nonpublic school within the last ten years. Such nonpublic teacher or administrator shall have the required experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students. The certified teacher shall have experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students. The evaluation shall also be based on an interview of the child and a review of the portfolio required in clause (1) and shall certify whether or not an appropriate education is occurring. At the request of the supervisor, persons with other qualifications may conduct the evaluation with the prior consent of the district of residence superintendent. In no event shall the evaluator be the supervisor or their spouse.
(f) The school district of residence shall, at the request of the supervisor, lend to the home education program copies of the school district's planned courses, textbooks and other curriculum materials appropriate to the student's age and grade level.
(g) When documentation is required by this section to be submitted to the district of residence superintendent or the hearing examiner, the superintendent or the hearing examiner shall return, upon completion of his review, all such documentation to the supervisor of the home education program. The superintendent or hearing examiner may photocopy all or portions of the documentation for his files.
(h) Such documentation required by subsection (e)(1) and (2) shall be provided to the public school district of residence superintendent at the conclusion of each public school year. In addition, if the superintendent has a reasonable belief that, at any time during the school year, appropriate education may not be occurring in the home education program, he may, by certified mail, return receipt requested, require documentation pertaining to the portfolio of records and materials required by subsection (e)(1) to be submitted to the district within fifteen (15) days; and documentation pertaining to subsection (e)(2) to be submitted to the district within thirty (30) days. If the tests as required in subsection (e) (1) have not been administered at the time of the receipt of the certified letter by the supervisor, the supervisor shall submit the other required documentation and shall submit the test results with the documentation at the conclusion of the school year.
(i) If the superintendent of the public school district determines, based on the documentation provided, at the end of or during the school year, that appropriate education is not taking place for the child in the home education program, the superintendent shall send a letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the supervisor of the home education program stating that in his opinion appropriate education is not taking place for the child in the home education program and shall return all documentation, specifying what aspect or aspects of the documentation are inadequate.

I saved everything. Everything.

Every scrap of paper our school generated the kids put into their subject folders. If there was an activity, book, or lesson for which a scrap of paper was not produced, I created something - a coloring page, a reading list, a photo journal. Something that could go into the portfolio.

Now, I didn't overwhelm the evaluator or the school district with all of this paper. I'd get a hernia trying to lug it all around. The law simply stipulates a reading log and samples, so we would include the book list for each subject (and when you use living books rather than text books, this is a very long list) plus three samples for each subject (one each from the beginning, middle, and end of the year). Sometimes the kids had a couple items they were particularly proud of, so we included these items as well. We also included certificates showing that we covered fire safety (found at the back of every coloring book handed out by the fire department). We knew one mom who took three pictures of each of her kids for fire safety: stopping, dropping, and rolling. Any papers that didn't make it into the final portfolio (after it was approved... I was scared to death of having to provide more proof of education) went into the trash. What a waste. Although it was nice to have a scrapbook of each school year, I hate to think of all of the trees that were sacrificed to the government's Altar of Proof.

After all, that was the point of all those pieces of paper, wasn't it? To prove that my kids learned something? To prove that we weren't slacking off? To prove that I wasn't using my children as child labor while I sat around eating bon-bons?

But is that really what all that paper proved? It proved that we went through books. That I can alphabetize book lists. Make check marks on a calendar. It appears to be better proof of my lesson planning or my ability to pull together government-approvable forms and exemplars than of what my children learned. (As a bad standardized test taker myself, I am not going to go into the value, or lack thereof, of standardized testing as a measure of learning,)

There is one thing all this portfolio-compiling did achieve... I am now terrified of doing any activity which might be of even the slightest educational value without having documentation that we did it. This is good on one hand since I am generally very bad at keeping updated photo albums or scrapbooks, so the kids love having work samples, pictures, and souvenirs from all of their activities. However, I have two boys whose fine motor skills have taken awhile to develop. We do a lot of their work orally, on the white board, or via other creative means - Quarto takes spelling quizzes using Scrabble tiles. I am not about to take pictures of every word spelled in Scrabble tiles! Fortunately, we live in much less intrusive state, now, but I still can't get over the fact that we are about a month into school and I have very little physical proof of my children's educations... or that we sat down and did something. Those 3-ring binders look sadly empty to me.

My children are intelligent. They are the proof that they have absorbed knowledge. Some of it came from books. Some of it came from working on maps, coloring pages, and worksheets. Some of it came from movies and television shows. Some of it came from digging in dirt, playing sports, talking with friends, baking brownies, buying gifts, or dinner table talk. I know this. But until this year, I had a hard time letting go of having reams of paper to "prove" I was educating my children.

Now we are on the verge of high school. Another piece of paper, the high school diploma, is now haunting my dreams. We have a plan for high school. It will probably change, but not too much. Because I have reached the place of having to "prove" something again. I have to teach to the test and get my kids ready to take the SAT and ACT. I have to have a curriculum which will pass NCAA muster so Secundo can fence in college. These are serious considerations.

I don't like that my children's futures (hopefully another 60 years or so) are determined by grades and scores earned when they are teenagers. But that is the system in which they will need to function. So, we will learn the 5 paragraph essay and analogies and how to properly fill-in a bubble sheet so that my children will be able to go to the police academy and fence at a Division I school. But between these lessons on how to survive the system, we will read, and talk, and create. We will still take pictures and put together small portfolios, scrapbooks of their "school age" years. But I want my children to learn, above all, that an education is not something that can be tested for or evaluated or put into a portfolio. An education is lived.

Fly on the Wall

Quarto, commenting on the thunderstorms accompanying a cold front overnight:

"Mom! I know why there wasn't any lighting in the back! Because it was a front!"

Fly on the Wall

Primo and Secondo were playing a video game when I heard Secondo ask, "Can we please play a game I don't always win? This is getting irritating!"

Oh, to have her problems. *grin*

Carnival of Homeschooling: May Flowers Edition

April showers bring May flowers.

Has the weather where you are been as topsy-turvy as it has been here? If so, you probably received your May flowers in April and your April showers in May like we did. Here at the Carnival of Homeschooling, we may not have the power to change the weather (although it would be nice since we've gone from 70 to 90 to 50 and back to 90 in a span of about 5 days here), but we can enjoy some May blooms.

Bird of Paradise = Magnificence

Bird-watching is a popular hobby that can be done by anyone, anywhere. And the first time a child can identify a bird by sight without asking or looking in a book for help or simply by recognizing its song... magnificent!

Let Grrl Scientist help you celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.

Ornithology is a wonderful subject to unschool, but sometimes it can be a bit... unpredictable. Just as the "Bird Brains" over at Life-Led Learning.

Orange Blossom = Brings Wisdom

When you boil it all down, isn't that the homeschool parent's job? To bring wisdom? No small task.

Katherine at No Fighting, No Biting! shares just how difficult this task can be in her post abcd... where she lets us in on her pep talk to herself as she works through her anxiety over teaching her young son letter identification.

Need some help teaching your kids how to identify prime numbers? The Nerd Mom can help you with that in her post An Enhanced Sieve of Eratosthenes. (Definitely check this out and click on the link she provides in the post. I thought that the post name alone was going to make my head explode, but then I had an a-ha moment. I am definitely teaching this to my kids!)

Technology can be a wonderful tool in the imparting of wisdom. Melissa, at Bugs, Knights, and Turkeys In The Yard, shares a video explaining the difference between a Republic and a Democracy (as well as some other political philosophies) that would be a wonderful addition to a history lesson on government.

Looking to get some current events into your school day? Tatiana shares some Great News Sources at World Star Academy.

With the tightening economy, the wise choice is free materials to help us instruct our children. Serfonya shows us where to go to access free reading primers.

Much of the wisdom we share with our kids cannot be found in a textbook. As The Thinking Mothera lesson on setting priorities. discovered, a conflict over video games + a captive, car-bound audience = the perfect time for

And sometimes we are bringing wisdom as much to ourselves as to our children. But as Pamela at Blah, Blah, Blog discovered, sometimes you wish you could just go back and claim ignorance... especially where amoebas, pinworms, and parasites are involved!

Poppy = Imagination

 The creativity of my fellow human beings astounds me! Whether composing a painting, framing a photograph, spinning a tale, or sharing information in a provocative way, these people wield a mastery over art that should inspire us to creativity ourselves.

At Farm Girl Brainwaves, a homeschool student shares her review of the book After The Dancing Days.

Another homeschool student, over at Nate's Nook, shares his original short story, The McDonalds.

The Art for Homeschoolers art show may be just the inspiration you need to get your creative juices flowing. Lara, The Texas Homesteader, gives us a glimpse.

Laura Grace Weldon shares her review of the documentary Horse Boy about a homeschooling family who helps their autistic son through horse therapy.

Susan at The Expanding Life reviews the non-fiction film (she hesitates to call it a documentary) Babies.

Thyme = Strength and Courage

In the day-in and day-out education of our children, every homeschool parent could use a little thyme.

Linda, at Parent at the Helm, reminds us that when it comes to our children's educations, the buck stops with us and we need to accept responsibility (both good and bad).

Parents in the San Juan Capistrano school district, many of whom were thrust into temporary homescholing by a teacher's strike, can find a little extra encouragement and assistance from Jenny over at Home Is Where You Start From.

I tend to be a shy person, so I'd need an injection of courage before getting up the guts to give museum tours. If you'd like to exercise your courage (or you just think volunteering at your local museum would be cool), check out Museum Docenting 101 at a la mode de les Muses. (Our daughter will be the first participant in our university museum's junior docent program this coming fall... she is beyond excited!)

Homeschooling itself takes a bit of  courage and a lot of strength. That is even more true when homeschooling children with special educational needs. Heather shares some ideas on teaching special education students at TeachTechTopia.

Yellow Zinnia = Daily Remembrance

It's good to take a minute at the end of the day to think back on how far we've come and where we are going. A time to sit back, enjoy a cup of tea, and stop and smell the zinnias.

It can be hard to know exactly where you are going in your homeschooling if you haven't sat down to enumerate your philosophy of education. And as The Headmistress points out over at The Common Room, a philosophy of education is valuable beyond the homeschool room. 

Now you can head on over to Why Homeschool and challenge your newly developed educational philosophy as Janine shares her thoughts on boarding schools for foster children in the UK.

Kimberly reflects on six of her family's homeschool distinctives over at Raising Olives. 

At BenMakesTen, Judy shares her list of the benefits of homeschooling which she has gleaned over the years homeschooling her ten children.

As you'll read at Lionden Landing, reflecting back can help us clarify how we are going to move ahead... including in Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic.

Cristina at Home Spun Juggling shares how a little child led them to embrace their inner unschoolers.

Head on over to Let's Play Math! where Denise shares her memories of videos that remind her (and us) that calculus can be fun!

Chrysanthemum = Cheerfulness; You're a wonderful friend

This past weekend was Mother's Day. Like may of you, I received handmade cards and handpicked flowers from my children. Don't forget to give that special friend, the one you can call on whenever you need a hug or a pep talk, a big thank you and a large bouquet of chrysanthemums just to let him/ her know how much the friendship means to you.

Barbara Frank knows how important socialization is for her kids. But she is amazed at all the wonderful people she's met through homeschooling and getting some of that socialization herself!

Sunflower = Loyalty; Wishes

When I think of summer, the sunflower is the first flower that comes to mind. Most of us as probably focused on finishing up our school year before the sunflower forts are over our children's heads but that doesn't stop us from looking ahead to our summer plans.

Dana at Roscommon Acres wants to know what your plans are for the summer.

Promote summer reading for your kids with these tips from Sarah at The Parenting Squad.

So don't forget to put a vase of sunflowers on the kitchen table to look at while you work on math or cook up a big pot of tomato sauce from your garden's tomatoes. Every time you look at them, think of all the wishes you have for your children... and your children can be reminded of their parents' loyalty to them and their educations.

A big thank you to all of the contributors to this week's carnival and to all of you who stop by every week to read and learn and support one another in this homeschooling journey we are on together. 

If you enjoy the carnival, please help promote it every week by linking to it on your blog. (Henry at Why Homeschooling even has some Carnival of Homeschooling images you can put on your blog to advertise the carnival to your readers. You can find them here.) And please consider contributing. For more information on how to submit a post to be included in the Carnival of Homeschooling, check here for more information.

If you would like to learn more about flowers and their meanings, go to Pioneer Thinking's The Language of Flowers. That is  where I found the meanings of the flowers included in this week's carnival.

Hope you have a bouquet of productivity and joy this week! I'll meet you all Under The Golden Apple Tree for next week's carnival!

 

Coming Soon: Carnival of Homeschooling

Next Tuesday, the Carnival of Homeschooling will stop here at Apollos Academy. If you would like an entry included in the carnival, follow the instructions here. Whether or not you can contribute a post this week, please make sure to stop by here next Tuesday and visit the carnival... and don't forget to bring your cotton candy!

He Collects Sea Shells By The Seashore

This past Christmas, we went to visit Frodo's parents. They live near the beach, so of course we had to go walking and collect shells on every walk. I wish I had taken pictures of the kids' collections before they pared them down! There were thousands of shells, urchins, corals, and even a starfish spread all over the floor of my in-laws' garage... and the place smelled like fish! And there was sand. Lots of lots of sand. Everywhere. Have I mentioned how much patience my in-laws have? Lots and lots of patience. Lots. Almost equal to the volume of shells and sand that was spread over their garage floor for three days in December.

This is all very interesting, you are probably thinking. But why are you mentioning your Christmas trip and patient in-laws now? It's May. This all happened four months ago!

You have a very good point. First of all, I have been very remiss in updating my blog these last 4 months, so I have a lot of stuff that has been piling up. This is one of those things, and when I am overwhelmed with lots of real work to do, I will amazingly find plenty of time to share the backlog of events here. However, this post is not as untimely as it seems because...

Terzo and I just got around to mounting his (vastly pared-down) collection a couple of weeks ago. He chose his favorite items (we let each kid bring home their favorites from the garage floor with a max of 50 items each; the rest were returned to the beach), looked up the items online and in field guides, typed labels, and glued them into the frame. Because we mounted them with hot glue, I did most of the gluing and he did all of the sticking for each item... but you get the idea.

He cannot wait until we paint his room this summer so that we can hang the display on his wall.

Good job, Terzo!

This was not only an excellent school project, btw (not that he thought of it as school; too much fun!). He also needed to mount a collection for display as a Cub Scout project. I love educational multitasking!