Hello world, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I admit I have not felt that inspired as of late. Ok, maybe my inspiration hasn't been that uplifting. Anyway, I am back and have a fantastic little story to share with you today. Please allow me to set the stage for you.
I am in the van with Porthos, Aramis, and my 10 year old nephew, Batman. We have just left the grocery store where we have picked up a package of apple fritters (the boys wanted donuts, but the donut shop was already closed). As we sit at the intersection at a red light, the boys notice a police car across the street.
Porthos: "Look, it's the PoPo!"
Batman: "Quick! Hide the donuts! The PoPo's gonna steel them."
Porthos pulls over his hoodie and stares at the police car as it goes by.
Aramis: "Hey, where's the PoPo? I don't see anyone in the driver's seat. (The windows seem slightly tinted, making it difficult to see inside the car.)
Porthos: "That's because I made him invisible with my super scary face."
Aramis: "No, it's the super yummy donut."
Porthos: "Maybe it's a ghost car."
We arrive home and as we get out of the van;
Batman: "I want to be a PoPo."
Porthos: "Why so you can eat coffee and donuts all the time?"
The End.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Top 2 Reasons
On Crossing Over to Homeschooling, Facebook group, the question was asked what our top two reasons were for choosing to home school. It is a frequently asked question by new members, and I have answered it with only slight variance. I think in part because my reasons become more clarified as time goes on. As I answered this question, which came surprisingly easy this time (I often have to spend a moment thinking about this before I answer, because so much went in to our decision) I begin to remember some details over the past 4 years that have come to impact our decision. I will get to that in a bit though.
1. I believe that public school should not be mandatory, but optional. Like day care. You use it because you want to. Perhaps teaching your children is not your cup of tea. Or out of necessity. Maybe both/only parent/s work. I believe homeschooling should be our first choice and public school our last choice. This could go on to a long tangent about government interfering with natural parenting, but that's another topic.
2. I want to ensure a safe and nurturing environment for my children. I want them to be free to be themselves and can take as long as they need to grasp a new concept. Ok, so that was probably more like three.
The first point is relatively self explanatory. The second one is where the details come in. As I was initially answering the post, my oldest son reminds me when we first arrived in this state, and he was just starting 4th grade. Now we are from California, and moving to Texas brought some expected and unexpected changes. One being that in 4th grade, the school here has the kids rotating classrooms. They say it's to prepare them for middle school. Oh, and middle school starts at the 5th grade level. Anyway, Athos reminds me how in the 4th grade or so he was so stressed that he was actually losing hair. He also went through this phase of pulling his eyebrow hairs out. As time went on, he started having more problems with being able to sleep. Although he was a straight A student, the stress was showing. By 7th grade, his grades were starting to slip a little. He was acting out at home and suffering from insomnia more and more. He had one teacher that was condescending on a regular basis.
Porthos had done really well the first two years. By 2nd grade he was getting in trouble in class and low grades on a regular basis. The teacher couldn't recognize that he laughs when he's nervous. She thought he was just being rude and silly. 3rd grade brought a more patient teacher, but I think the previous year's experience had killed it for him. He no longer enjoyed school. Came home angry a lot. Wasn't finishing assignments, and missed out on a lot of recess. The pressure the schools put on the kids regarding standardized testing was too much, and, in my opinion, unnecessary.
The final straw; Aramis was in Kindergarten last year. OK, maybe you have all heard this story already. But it just warrants repeating. He is a generally quiet kid. His teacher was nice. He was doing well academically. Then came the Kindergarten musical program. Each grade does one throughout the year, and the whole grade level participates. Aramis is not a performer. He doesn't like doing group activities that put him in the spotlight. So when they were rehearsing for this program, he would just stand there. I talked to his teacher about it, and talked to him. He said he didn't want to participate, so I decided to not make him. His teacher told me I should make him participate or how will he ever learn to get over stage fright? Regardless, I informed her he would not be participating. She informed me he would spend the time during the program in the school office. So on parent day of the program, I come to sit with him in the office while all the other parents are out there in the auditorium. I arrive to find he is in a storage closet sitting at a desk coloring. A CLOSET!!! Seriously?!!! Althogh the storage closet was in the office area and the receptionists had a direct line of sight of him, it was still a closet!
Have you ever watched the movie "Dirty Dancing" with Patrick Swayze? Remember the scene near the end when he comes in during the closing night's show and tells Baby's father "Nobody puts Baby in the corner!", Johnny takes her hand and leads her up to the stage? Yeah, it was kind of like that for me in my heart. All of these things, just made us realize that our children were better off at home in a safe and loving environment. So here we are. Since it has been weeks since I started this post, I sort of forgot what else I had to say, so I am going to leave it here for now.
1. I believe that public school should not be mandatory, but optional. Like day care. You use it because you want to. Perhaps teaching your children is not your cup of tea. Or out of necessity. Maybe both/only parent/s work. I believe homeschooling should be our first choice and public school our last choice. This could go on to a long tangent about government interfering with natural parenting, but that's another topic.
2. I want to ensure a safe and nurturing environment for my children. I want them to be free to be themselves and can take as long as they need to grasp a new concept. Ok, so that was probably more like three.
The first point is relatively self explanatory. The second one is where the details come in. As I was initially answering the post, my oldest son reminds me when we first arrived in this state, and he was just starting 4th grade. Now we are from California, and moving to Texas brought some expected and unexpected changes. One being that in 4th grade, the school here has the kids rotating classrooms. They say it's to prepare them for middle school. Oh, and middle school starts at the 5th grade level. Anyway, Athos reminds me how in the 4th grade or so he was so stressed that he was actually losing hair. He also went through this phase of pulling his eyebrow hairs out. As time went on, he started having more problems with being able to sleep. Although he was a straight A student, the stress was showing. By 7th grade, his grades were starting to slip a little. He was acting out at home and suffering from insomnia more and more. He had one teacher that was condescending on a regular basis.
Porthos had done really well the first two years. By 2nd grade he was getting in trouble in class and low grades on a regular basis. The teacher couldn't recognize that he laughs when he's nervous. She thought he was just being rude and silly. 3rd grade brought a more patient teacher, but I think the previous year's experience had killed it for him. He no longer enjoyed school. Came home angry a lot. Wasn't finishing assignments, and missed out on a lot of recess. The pressure the schools put on the kids regarding standardized testing was too much, and, in my opinion, unnecessary.
The final straw; Aramis was in Kindergarten last year. OK, maybe you have all heard this story already. But it just warrants repeating. He is a generally quiet kid. His teacher was nice. He was doing well academically. Then came the Kindergarten musical program. Each grade does one throughout the year, and the whole grade level participates. Aramis is not a performer. He doesn't like doing group activities that put him in the spotlight. So when they were rehearsing for this program, he would just stand there. I talked to his teacher about it, and talked to him. He said he didn't want to participate, so I decided to not make him. His teacher told me I should make him participate or how will he ever learn to get over stage fright? Regardless, I informed her he would not be participating. She informed me he would spend the time during the program in the school office. So on parent day of the program, I come to sit with him in the office while all the other parents are out there in the auditorium. I arrive to find he is in a storage closet sitting at a desk coloring. A CLOSET!!! Seriously?!!! Althogh the storage closet was in the office area and the receptionists had a direct line of sight of him, it was still a closet!
Have you ever watched the movie "Dirty Dancing" with Patrick Swayze? Remember the scene near the end when he comes in during the closing night's show and tells Baby's father "Nobody puts Baby in the corner!", Johnny takes her hand and leads her up to the stage? Yeah, it was kind of like that for me in my heart. All of these things, just made us realize that our children were better off at home in a safe and loving environment. So here we are. Since it has been weeks since I started this post, I sort of forgot what else I had to say, so I am going to leave it here for now.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Science Experiments
The past two days have been filled with science lessons and experiments. Yesterday at our Cub Scout meeting we had guest speakers from the Wood County Electric Co-op. They gave a lesson on electricity, it's uses and sources. Then a arc presentation was done for the boys, much to their surprise and delight.
Today we finally wrapped up our volcano lesson with a small volcano
eruption. The Boys had built the volcano out of homemade clay two weeks
ago. I put plastic wrap inside as a barrier due to small gaps in the
volcano.
Red food coloring was added for effect, and the result was lots of fun and giggles along with a relatively contained mess on my counter and bar pan.
Tomorrow is Robotics, where the team will go over last weekend's competition and discuss what they did right and what needs to be improved on.
Today we finally wrapped up our volcano lesson with a small volcano
eruption. The Boys had built the volcano out of homemade clay two weeks
ago. I put plastic wrap inside as a barrier due to small gaps in the
volcano.
Today we finally got around to making it erupt with a simple water,
soap, baking soda and vinegar solution,
with some help from my niece
Starbrite.
Red food coloring was added for effect, and the result was lots of fun and giggles along with a relatively contained mess on my counter and bar pan.
Tomorrow is Robotics, where the team will go over last weekend's competition and discuss what they did right and what needs to be improved on.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Illness and fear
You know, I wasn't even sure if I should post this here or my other blog, Life or Something Like it. But I finally decided this is where it belongs. Back at Thanksgiving, Porthos came to me with swollen lymph nodes and no other symptoms, at that time. The next day I scheduled an appointment with the doctor for the following Monday. I
want...I need to say how scared I was nearly three weeks ago when I
first took him to the doctor. After an initial examination and some questions, the doctor tells me that he is ordering some blood work. He wants to be conservative in ruling things out. As he talks, I can tell what he is not saying, but rather skirting around.
Because of the lymph nodes, I know the doctor was screening him for lymphoma. Waiting those couple of days to get the test results back, and then a full week before getting the complete results back, were excruciating. Never have I face the fear of one of my children having cancer. Wow, I said it. That has been such a difficult, if not impossible word to say all month.
The first results came in indicating two viruses, and negative for mono. White blood cell counts were good, so no current fear for that word that even he could not say. It was like Harry Potter in medical terms. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Then when I took Athos in for a heart check (he's fine), the Doctor tells me that he did further screening on Porthos and found Epstein-Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus, both becoming mononucleosis.
Now I look at my son, and see him smile even though he is tired all the time. Part of me aches for him, because he is usually such an active boy. Part of me is doing a silent happy dance because of what it is not. I worry about the long-term effects, but I am thankful that he has a long-term. In the middle of all of this I am thankful that we made the decision early this year to homeschool. I am personally familiar with mono and how it can drag on for weeks and months. The idea of sending my son to school every day with no energy is not one that appeals to me.
As I am learning more about EBV and CMV, I am learning that it remains in your system for life and can resurface at any time. I think that plans I had for their school year will begin to change quite a bit in order to fit his needs. Play it by ear, I suppose. Perhaps in a few weeks he will be all better and we will simply continue on with little to no change. Maybe we will have to adjust to shorter learning days and focus on what he can handle on any given day. I don't know. Maybe I am just over-thinking this. Never the less, I am so blessed to be here with my sons, and them here with me.
Because of the lymph nodes, I know the doctor was screening him for lymphoma. Waiting those couple of days to get the test results back, and then a full week before getting the complete results back, were excruciating. Never have I face the fear of one of my children having cancer. Wow, I said it. That has been such a difficult, if not impossible word to say all month.
The first results came in indicating two viruses, and negative for mono. White blood cell counts were good, so no current fear for that word that even he could not say. It was like Harry Potter in medical terms. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Then when I took Athos in for a heart check (he's fine), the Doctor tells me that he did further screening on Porthos and found Epstein-Barr virus and Cytomegalovirus, both becoming mononucleosis.
Now I look at my son, and see him smile even though he is tired all the time. Part of me aches for him, because he is usually such an active boy. Part of me is doing a silent happy dance because of what it is not. I worry about the long-term effects, but I am thankful that he has a long-term. In the middle of all of this I am thankful that we made the decision early this year to homeschool. I am personally familiar with mono and how it can drag on for weeks and months. The idea of sending my son to school every day with no energy is not one that appeals to me.
As I am learning more about EBV and CMV, I am learning that it remains in your system for life and can resurface at any time. I think that plans I had for their school year will begin to change quite a bit in order to fit his needs. Play it by ear, I suppose. Perhaps in a few weeks he will be all better and we will simply continue on with little to no change. Maybe we will have to adjust to shorter learning days and focus on what he can handle on any given day. I don't know. Maybe I am just over-thinking this. Never the less, I am so blessed to be here with my sons, and them here with me.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Bonds of brotherhood
Since beginning our homeschooling journey, I have noticed a change in how my sons interact with each other. They are closer than they had been. I realize this is born of necessity, but that makes it no less beautiful to observe. They play together all the time now. They read to each other, help and guide each other. They even cover for each other.
Yesterday, we were at Wal-Mart doing our shopping for Thanksgiving. I had sent Porthos and Aramis to use the restroom while I searched for a few more items. I sent them to the restroom at the back of the store, and they were to come right back when they were done. They didn't. I kept a watch for them as I shopped and when I realized they weren't coming back I went looking for them. They weren't at the restroom. Now, this particular Wal-Mart has the shoe department along that very back wall and electronics is across from that. So I thought perhaps they got distracted by all the games and TVs, but no luck. So I, thinking my children would not be so bold as to disobey a standing rule of not ever going to the toy section without an adult, I went looking for them back in the grocery section, but not before asking a friend who was there to have the boys return to the restroom if she came upon them.
After another sweep, I returned to the restroom area and found my sons sitting waiting for me. I asked them where they were and Porthos replied they looked for me in the food section. I reminded him that I wanted him to tell the truth. So I asked Aramis. He said they looked for me in the food section because he smelled food.
Do you remember that friend I told you about? She had gone to the toy section, and that's where she found them. ;) Here is the deal. They are not supposed to lie to me. However, I witnessed a bond between brothers that I would never wish away. So this time I let it slide. They do not know that I know the truth of where they were.
On a side note, yesterday morning my 9 year old sat in our living room watching a movie, while simultaneously observing evidence of the earth's rotation. He had a Lego tower on the floor and kept noticing how the sunlight coming through the window was slowly moving away from his tower. Incidental learning. LOVE IT!!
Yesterday, we were at Wal-Mart doing our shopping for Thanksgiving. I had sent Porthos and Aramis to use the restroom while I searched for a few more items. I sent them to the restroom at the back of the store, and they were to come right back when they were done. They didn't. I kept a watch for them as I shopped and when I realized they weren't coming back I went looking for them. They weren't at the restroom. Now, this particular Wal-Mart has the shoe department along that very back wall and electronics is across from that. So I thought perhaps they got distracted by all the games and TVs, but no luck. So I, thinking my children would not be so bold as to disobey a standing rule of not ever going to the toy section without an adult, I went looking for them back in the grocery section, but not before asking a friend who was there to have the boys return to the restroom if she came upon them.
After another sweep, I returned to the restroom area and found my sons sitting waiting for me. I asked them where they were and Porthos replied they looked for me in the food section. I reminded him that I wanted him to tell the truth. So I asked Aramis. He said they looked for me in the food section because he smelled food.
Do you remember that friend I told you about? She had gone to the toy section, and that's where she found them. ;) Here is the deal. They are not supposed to lie to me. However, I witnessed a bond between brothers that I would never wish away. So this time I let it slide. They do not know that I know the truth of where they were.
On a side note, yesterday morning my 9 year old sat in our living room watching a movie, while simultaneously observing evidence of the earth's rotation. He had a Lego tower on the floor and kept noticing how the sunlight coming through the window was slowly moving away from his tower. Incidental learning. LOVE IT!!
Friday, November 14, 2014
Putting on the Brakes and Being Thankful
After going rounds with my sons about getting their assignments done, I finally decided to look up this term I have been seeing, deschooling. A2Z Homeschool explains it better than I can, but basically it's a downtime from school for an extended period of time before starting homeschooling. Seeing as how I only recently learned the term, I did not deschool our family much before jumping right in to homeschooling. Text books, schedules, etc. It was going great for the first several weeks, and then progressively went down hill. Last week I realized that Athos and Porthos were barely completing two assignments a day, and no amount of reasoning, lecturing, bribing or punishing (consequences) was helping.
So finally I look up this term, discuss it with my husband and suggest we let the boys take the rest of this semester off. Regroup at the end of the year and try again in January. We had taken all of their toys away the day before in an attempt to remove any distractions for them. But when we made this new decision back on Monday, we decided they would need their toys back. Tuesday we told the boys and took them to the shed to recover their things. It was Porthos who decided that he thought only the legos should come back into his and Aramis' room, because any more than that would make it messy again. Athos took his comic books back.
Then they begged to go to the library so they could check out some books. Athos wanted the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series. Porthos wants to learn about Theodore Roosevelt and Aramis wants to study about sharks again. In the end, we came home with 3 shark books, 2 Roosevelt books (although they had 7 and I had to convince Porthos to take just 2 at a time) and Athos had to settle for a James Patterson novel.
This morning Porthos and Aramis pulled out their science experiment kit and were mixing ingredients to see if they could make things bubble and foam. They have played together at the computer. Now they are entertaining themselves with just a few small toys and are very content.
So what am I thankful for? Hindsight. Better late then never. Seeing my sons at peace. Being able to let them learn what they are interested in at the moment.
Other blogs to check out:
If Meadows Speak
Homeschooling The Well Prepared Child
Daughter Rising
So finally I look up this term, discuss it with my husband and suggest we let the boys take the rest of this semester off. Regroup at the end of the year and try again in January. We had taken all of their toys away the day before in an attempt to remove any distractions for them. But when we made this new decision back on Monday, we decided they would need their toys back. Tuesday we told the boys and took them to the shed to recover their things. It was Porthos who decided that he thought only the legos should come back into his and Aramis' room, because any more than that would make it messy again. Athos took his comic books back.
Then they begged to go to the library so they could check out some books. Athos wanted the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series. Porthos wants to learn about Theodore Roosevelt and Aramis wants to study about sharks again. In the end, we came home with 3 shark books, 2 Roosevelt books (although they had 7 and I had to convince Porthos to take just 2 at a time) and Athos had to settle for a James Patterson novel.
Other blogs to check out:
If Meadows Speak
Homeschooling The Well Prepared Child
Daughter Rising
Friday, October 24, 2014
Solar Eclipse
OK, two posts in one day. But that's just because the last one was started four days ago.
My husband and two older boys are in a play here in town being performed at the Center for the Arts. The play is Bonnie and Clyde. On our way out the door to walk to their 5pm rehearsal, I caught sight of a facebook post on the computer highlighting a solar eclipse about to happen. So I tried quickly to create a shadow box for which to view the eclipse safely with, to no avail.
A little ways into rehearsal and I mention the partial eclipse to a friend who promptly takes an envelope (OK, my typing stinks tonight. I keep having to retype everything. Don't think, just type.) he takes an envelope and punches a hole into it with a paper hole puncher. Too big. So I take a sheet of paper and use a tack and hold the paper up near a white wall, allowing the outside evening sun to shine through. Low and behold, we see the eclipse reflecting on the wall. Did you know that when the sun shines through that tiny hole, it inverts, appearing upside down? I did not know this until yesterday. It was cool.
First I call Aramis over to look. Then I call Porthos. Porthos things this is all very cool, so I send him to get his oldest brother Athos, who has just finished up his line for the moment. After a few minutes of staring at the tiny crescent shape that has manifest on the wall, Athos gets called back to do his next line. To which I say, "sorry, we are having a science lesson by observing the solar eclipse. My kids are homeschooled, so any moment can become a teaching moment." The reply came from one of the other actors says "There's and eclipse? Let's all go see!" Suddenly there were about ten of us or so, only three being children, gathered around our sheet of paper with its pin prick, looking at the crescent shaped light on the wall.
Someone got clever and figured out how to adjust the settings on her cell phone to take a picture of the solar event, while another pulled up live filtered feed of the sun on the Center's computer. It was several minutes before everyone dispersed and resumed practicing their lines. What a great lesson! Who needs a classroom, when you have the whole world to learn? Oh, and as an added bonus, can we say Drama course via community theater?
My husband and two older boys are in a play here in town being performed at the Center for the Arts. The play is Bonnie and Clyde. On our way out the door to walk to their 5pm rehearsal, I caught sight of a facebook post on the computer highlighting a solar eclipse about to happen. So I tried quickly to create a shadow box for which to view the eclipse safely with, to no avail.
A little ways into rehearsal and I mention the partial eclipse to a friend who promptly takes an envelope (OK, my typing stinks tonight. I keep having to retype everything. Don't think, just type.) he takes an envelope and punches a hole into it with a paper hole puncher. Too big. So I take a sheet of paper and use a tack and hold the paper up near a white wall, allowing the outside evening sun to shine through. Low and behold, we see the eclipse reflecting on the wall. Did you know that when the sun shines through that tiny hole, it inverts, appearing upside down? I did not know this until yesterday. It was cool.
First I call Aramis over to look. Then I call Porthos. Porthos things this is all very cool, so I send him to get his oldest brother Athos, who has just finished up his line for the moment. After a few minutes of staring at the tiny crescent shape that has manifest on the wall, Athos gets called back to do his next line. To which I say, "sorry, we are having a science lesson by observing the solar eclipse. My kids are homeschooled, so any moment can become a teaching moment." The reply came from one of the other actors says "There's and eclipse? Let's all go see!" Suddenly there were about ten of us or so, only three being children, gathered around our sheet of paper with its pin prick, looking at the crescent shaped light on the wall.
Someone got clever and figured out how to adjust the settings on her cell phone to take a picture of the solar event, while another pulled up live filtered feed of the sun on the Center's computer. It was several minutes before everyone dispersed and resumed practicing their lines. What a great lesson! Who needs a classroom, when you have the whole world to learn? Oh, and as an added bonus, can we say Drama course via community theater?
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