My Response to the 5Rs for New Homeschoolers

First you have to go read Jen's wonderful blog and her post on the 5Rs for New Homeschoolers.

Now that you have read that, I thought I would write about how I implement this in my household.

1. Research: Now Jen was specifically talking about researching homeschooling itself, as a new homeschooler searches out what will work best for their family. Since I'm an "old" homeschooler (we won't say how old, LOL) I don't necessarily have to take time to research every school year about homeschooling in general. But I do do research. I'm constantly reading about different teaching strategies; useful websites for exploration; the latest and newest way to teach a subject. I believe in being well educated myself in order to make sure my kids become well educated. I also use the beginning of the year as a time to evaluate where each child is at, identify any weaknesses I may see, and strategize on how to overcome these in the new school year. For instance, last year's goal for Cassie was to get her reading more. Mission accomplished. She is currently devouring Trixie Belden books as fast as I can find them for her.

2. Relax: This is my mantra! And I think I pull it off pretty good. I often have people say to me "you are so relaxed when it comes to homeschooling. I never see you stress out." I wish I could say I never stress out, because I do have times when that happens. But I do put more emphasis on relaxing. When Eric was writing half the alphabet backwards at age 8, and couldn't spell the simplest words, I didn't freak out. I let him explore his creative spelling and letter writing. I didn't push him to practice and practice. I didn't want him to hate writing. I love writing. I want my kids to love writing. So I relaxed and let nature take it's course. Boys are often late bloomers when it comes to writing skills. When he was 10, suddenly it became very important for him to communicate through writing. He was creating comics and he needed people to get his jokes. So he took the time to really concentrate on his letter formation and his spelling and before I knew it all his little mistakes and issues corrected themselves. He's now a very good writer and has a wonderful sense of humor and poetry in his writings. Though he does prefer to do this all on computer now. Oh, and he taught himself to type too!

3. Remember that learning is everywhere.
As unschoolers this is our entire philosophy of education. Learning is all around us! From the moment my kids wake up in the morning there is something happening that sparks their brain cells and they begin to learn.  I give my children plenty of free time to explore their own interests. Mastery tends to happen when given enough free reign in an area. That is why Adam is now an accomplished composer and song writer. You can find Adam's music here.  Les and I  take every opportunity to find teachable moments throughout the day and to involve our children in daily life. This past week they've learned about plumbing as we've fixed sinks, toilets and shower heads. Cassie is exploring with textures in art on her art table. Eric is learning coding for computer games. Stephanie is learning the difference between theater acting and movie acting as she does a small part for a short film.

4. Respect your kids' individuality.
My comments in number 3 pretty much mirror what I could write in number 4. We have artists, singers, actors, musicians, and writers in our family. Every one has different talents and different learning styles. All of our kids are sensitive to noise or touch in one way or another. A lot of the things we do with our kids reflect these unique personalities. I think this is one of the joys of homeschooling. We can fit learning around who the child is and create a program that is unique for each member of the family. And we can really get to know our kids!

5. Rest and Restore.
Over the years I have learned that this is the critical part of being a homeschool parent. You are with your children 24 hours a day for 7 days a week. There is no "break" when the kids go off to school. So it is vitally important that you figure this out and create rest and restore time for you or you WILL burn out. Exercise is important to me but it is hard. I finally found the perfect exercise for me, water aerobics, and I plan my days and weeks around the times it is offered. I need this "me" time to rest my mind and to restore my body. My husband and I also take the time to rest and restore together. For the past 6 or 7 years we have created an area in our home that is "our area". At our beach house it was a very nice outside garden area that we retired to every evening to sit and relax in and catch up with each other's day. In our current house we have a nice outside balcony garden area we can relax in and also a nice living room area of our bedroom that is a "kid free zone" when the bedroom door is closed. Making sure to have these quiet moments and private reflection places really helps keep our marriage strong and our physical bodies healthy.


I hope this encourages any new homeschoolers that homeschooling doesn't need to be  daunting task full of schedules and lesson plans. Yes, those can be important for some families and if it works for you, by all means use them! But don't forget the other things that make homeschooling fun and enjoyable.

Here comes the music

For several years now, Adam, our second oldest son, has been composing and writing his own music. For the last two years, dad has stepped up to the plate to write lyrics and learn to sing these songs. At first he tried to get local musicians to help out with the projects, lending their voices to the songs. But it has become an exercise in futility trying to get someone outside of our family to commit to the music projects with as much enthusiasm that is necessary to bring these songs forward to the public eye.

So the burden fell on us. After much hard work, trial and error and many nights of singing, screeching, wailing or whatever you want to call it, The Desolation Sound is ready to be shared. This is the name Adam chose for his "band", after an area in BC, Canada where his dad used to work logging many years ago. There are other bands out there called "Desolation Sound". There is even a studio named Desolation Sound. But here we are on the other side of the world, wanting to bring a bit of our Canadian heritage into the music. So for now, this is the name that we want to use.

Here is a fifteen minute "suite" that portrays just a taste of what is to come from this collaboration effort of father and son. Enjoy.

Awesome Seminar Opportunity This Month

I want to take the time to post about an awesome opportunity homeschoolers on Guam will have this month. Author and Speaker Debra Bell (debrabell.com) will be coming to Guam and presenting a few seminars for homeschoolers and educators. Here are the details:

Plan to join us to be encouraged, inspired, and better equipped to teach your kids!  Homeschooling speaker and best-selling author of the award-winning Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling, the Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens and Ultimate Planners  will be here soon to rejuvenate us in this challenging task we have to educate our kids! Tell your friends who are homeschoolers or educators!

May 23, 2012: Debra Bell Seminars!10:30 am -11:30 am (approx.) Faith Church, Mangilao. Celebrating the Journey in Awe and Wonder: Why a Love for Learning Glorifies God  (childcare provided) Debra has shared this talk at Apologia Live conferences and would like to share it with our group:

Description: God intends us to be wonderstruck by the glory and majesty of His creation for it is the irrefutable evidence that God exists and He is  worthy of our worship.  A honest thirst for knowledge is a longing to know the Creator. And a true love for learning at
its heart is a love for God.  This is the philosophy of education we should model for our children and infuse into our
homeschooling.  With Scripture to light our path, here’s how.

Break - Bring a sack lunch to eat together between seminars. Or, you can run to one of the nearby restaurants to pick up something. 

1:00 – 2:00 pm  "Raising an Independent Learner.  Faith Church, Mangilao. (next to Father Duenas School) (childcare provided)

Description:  Do you want an independent learner who initiates studies on his own? Then let go of the wheel  and start giving kids responsibility for their education.  Here are practical, inexpensive steps that will encourage kids to pursue their own learning, and prevent parent burnout as well.

May 24, 2012: Debra Bell on "Teaching Teens" with  Potluck Brunch!
9:30 am. Marianas Christian Fellowship. (255 E. Marine Corps Dr. in the Carl Rose Building, East Agana).Bring a dish to share

Cost will be:

GHSA members (as of May 5, 2012):   $10 for one session   $20 for two sessions  $25 for all three sessions

Nonmembers:  $15 per session.

Hope to see you there! 

Most Fascinating Blog Award

Apparently my blog post “Musings of Late”  has been nominated for an award for The Most Fascinating Blog in 2011, Category: Teaching Blogs.

Wow, who’d have thought? The actual post was written in 2010, so makes me ponder. And 2011 was definitely not my year of blogging. It was more a year of reading rather than writing for me. It’s not like the year wasn’t fascinating or full of surprises, excitement and fun. It was a busy year.

One of our children attempted to spread his wings and explore the world, travelling from Guam to California for a few months then taking buses and trains across the US to live in Maryland for a few more months, until realizing Guam was a lot better place to be. That was Adam.

Another of our children decided that the theater life was for her and spent the year honing her acting and singing skills. She had a part in Guam’s GATE theater production of Camp Rock and was all geared up and ready to tackle the Phantom of the Opera (only to have the show cancelled for lack of interest, though certainly not MY daughter's lack of interest!). As a consolation prize, she joined a public high school Glee club and spent the remainder of the year learning what life was like on a public school campus (even if it was after school, only a few days a week). Now this year she has scored the role of “Anybodys” in West Side Story. That was Stephanie.

Our next child in the hierarchy, grew about 3 inches, learned how to skype and make online friends, created 100 worlds or more in Minecraft, and perfected his video game making skills. All the while entertaining us with his dry whit, endless chatter and crazy antics. That was Eric.

And finally our “baby” is no longer our baby. She also grew a few inches, enjoyed learning how to snorkel, build forts on the beach, expand her portfolio of artistic drawings and discovered the joy of reading. That was Cassie.

Not to leave out our biggest boy, Kevin has continued his career in the air force with a  move to Korea to oversee barracks of soldiers.  Our biggest joy will come in August this year when he will be stationed back on Guam!

So back to the nomination. I am honored, a little flabbergasted, but more than willing to pursue the bigger prize….so vote for my blog and I promise to bring more insightful unschooling teaching tips to you in 2012!

My Love/Hate Relationship with Facebook

As the title says, I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.

I was first introduced to FB via my younger brother. It was probably 2004? I resisted the temptation to join at first but realized if I wanted to keep in touch with my sibling I’d better plunge in.

Soon I found myself finding old friends and relatives whom over time I had lost touch with. It was great! To reconnect with people I had almost forgotten about. But before I knew it, I had over 300 friends on my list and the messages and notes that appeared in the status bars started to overwhelm me.

Who cares if someone is playing Farmville? And really how many pictures of what you ate for dinner do we need to see? Not to pick on anyone in particular but this is how I began to feel.

I love email. I belong to a wonderful group of online ladies that have been corresponding through mailing lists since the days of E-groups and before. Some of them I’ve known for over 10 years now. Over time Facebook has been added to all our lives. It helped us connect even more. And it was great. But I still preferred the more personal and longer letters written via email.

Lately on FB you have to deal with hackers and spammers. Be wary of clicking on a strange looking video on your friend’s page, or you just may end up viewing something you wished you hadn’t and/or sent the same thing to everyone on your address list.  I check in maybe once a day and always have well over 300 new status updates I could scroll through. I get through maybe 20 a day. So I miss a lot. What exactly I miss I probably don’t want to know. 

Everywhere I turn I’m being told to “like this on FB”, join this fan page or that one. I’m told that if I want to be successful in any of my direct sales businesses, I need to have fan pages and business pages and this-n-that kind of pages. To be honest it overwhelms me. My hat is off to those who can do this. Sometimes I get myself into trouble by making flippant comments like “don’t they have a life?”.  Maybe it’s jealousy on my part. I wish I could figure it out and get into the groove. I wish I could just be assimilated and realize it’s the next wave of the future.  I wish it didn’t take time to have to learn it all.

Everyday I threaten to quit FB. Then, I get a request or see a picture of my best friend from 5th grade. Or my uncle says “hi” and my other friend from high school sends me pictures of her grandchild. And I see the benefits of FB. So I stick around.

And now there is Google+. I’m fighting hard not to be assimilated into that one. But my email box is not as full anymore. My friends are slowly drifting towards these other social networking sites, leaving me behind in the dust. If I want to stay in touch I just may have to succumb. No matter how much I want to stay in a simpler life.

I wonder if this is how our great- grandparents felt when the telephone came and letters were no longer the only way to communicate across the miles?

Leadership, What exactly does this mean?

Recently I have been thinking of what it means to be a leader. It seems that if you find yourself in a position of leadership you need to be someone who operates over and above what the average person would do. What do I mean by this?

Well, for example, I teach a weekly driving school class. As the "leader" or teacher of that class it is my responsibility to be prepared and ready to teach on the days that I have advertised. If for some reason I cannot teach (illness, etc.) then it is my responsibility to make sure that a substitute teacher is in place and is fully informed of their duties. And the duties must be performed regardless of how many students show up to class. If there is only one student, it is my obligation to give them the full service and attention that I would give a class of 10 or 20 students.

Now that can be hard at times and takes a bit of sacrifice. It is tempting to say "Oh, there are not enough students today for me to put much effort into teaching". That would be so wrong. It is not the fault of the one student who showed up and they should not be given lesser treatment because they were the only ones to come. It would make that student feel unimportant and "ripped off".

So a leader has to hold themselves to a higher standard.

The other day I found myself in the situation of the lone student. I attend a weekly women's bible study and this particular day the leader was sick and was unable to make it and the study was going to be canceled. Then at the last moment it was discovered that a substitute leader was available so the study was back on. Only I guess I was the only one who got that message. So I and the "sub" showed up at the meeting place. Now this "sub" did not know me at all, as I'm new to the group. And granted it was her last day in town and she was leaving for good the next day. So this was our one and only chance to connect and get to know one another. This was also a prime opportunity for her to minister to me. After all, I have a lot of baggage and issues I need to work out. Not many people know that, and most think I have my act together. How far wrong they are!

Anyway, what happened is the lady realized I was the only one that was going to show up, so after 20 minutes of trivial talk, she took her leave, claiming packing as her excuse. At first I was fine with this and graciously said my goodbyes. But then as I sat there by myself I started to feel very unimportant and unworthy. And I started to think about what I would have done if the situation was reversed. And you know what? I would have stayed. I would have taken that opportunity to pour into the life of the one soul who showed up. Because that is what a leader must do.

So I guess this post is a bit of a rant and a warning. If you are a leader in any capacity and you have an obligation to lead a group, make sure to give that group, no matter how many show up, 100% of what they deserve. That is the mark of a true leader.

Open Areas: Failure or Success?

Recently I was invited to join a facebook group that consists of graduates from Lord Byng highschool, class of ‘81. This was the first high school I attended in Vancouver, BC. I was only there for my 8th grade year, then my family moved up the coast to Powell River and I eventually graduated from Max Cameron Senior Secondary. When I accepted the invitation to join LB’s 30th reunion group I didn’t feel worthy. After all, I never really graduated from that school. But I was also curious. I had lost touch with all but a handful of people from those days. What were they up to? Do they remember me? It turns out they do! And many have been up to some very interesting things.

Lively discussions ensued where we shared old childhood memories and eventually someone brought up our Elementary school days at Queen Elizabeth Elementary School. Many of us were products of what is now considered a “failed” experiment. The Open Area Classroom model.

I had always known my elementary school days were unique. We did not attend a traditional classroom. For 1st thru 3rd grade I was part of the “pod” a group of four classrooms circled around an “open area”, with it’s own private art room, bathrooms and lunch room. We were kept separate from the rest of the school and only joined them for assemblies and special events. Children were grouped together by abilities so that often you would see kids working together in groups of mixed ages. In 4th grade I was moved to a “regular” classroom. I hated it. So when I was once again chosen to attend the open area class for 5th grade, I remember begging my mom to let me join. So for 5th, 6th and 7th grade I was once again in the “experimental” classroom.

Looking back on this now, I have come to realize that this educational model has shaped how I teach my children, and has been instrumental in my choice to homeschool and ultimately unschool my children.  And in discussing my experiences with former classmates there are many of us who were deeply impacted in a positive way. One former classmate says “When I look back at the Open Area, knowing what I now know about myself, I realize that I was able to thrive there because it was a less structured and more creative environment than sitting at a desk all day staring at the blackboard. Strange that it was considered a failed experiment from the seventies.”

So what did we do in an open area classroom? I remember a lot more group activities. We were always being divided up into groups. And it was easy to tell how the divisions were made. Badgers, Beavers and Bears. Badgers were the “smart” kids (I was in that group), Beavers were the “average” and Bears were the, well, ones that needed more help. I remember being placed in 5th grade in the same group as my brother who was in 7th grade. He was not happy. The implication was that we were on the same level of learning. But the truth was, it was all a peer mentoring experiment. The idea was the older kids in the groups were supposed to help out the younger kids. There was no distinction between age and grade levels. We were like one big happy family – reminiscent of the one room school house days, but with 4 teachers to control the group and with only 3 grade levels to deal with. Art and music were emphasized and writing was encouraged. I can honestly say that Mrs. B. was the teacher that got me interested in writing.

I researched why they think this classroom model was a failed experiment. The only research I could find centered on low income classrooms in large cities in Chicago and how the teachers had no control of the kids, and that the classroom environment was “loud and chaotic”. I don’t remember it being that way. But QE was not in a “low income” neighborhood but was decidedly middle class.  Maybe that was the difference. Or we just had a good team of teachers. And student teachers. We had a lot of them. 

Things changed when I headed off to high school. Classroom segregation, the mingling of several elementary schools into one very large high school, teen age drama as we entered our years of puberty. Bullying. Cliques. Mean girls. Indifferent boys. School was just never the same and I longed for the good old days of QE.

It’s been noted that there is a high number of teachers or people in the field of education that gradated from that class. I wonder if the freedom we had in learning in that environment, helped instill a love of teaching in us all? I know for me, the concept of allowing a child to pursue his/her talents came from those days. I was encouraged to write and to create in art and to explore my interests in science. We had a lot of hands on activities. I remember one teacher came across the skeleton of a deer and brought it back to the class and several of us were allowed to try to piece together the bones to recreate the deer. We had password competitions and talent shows. We sang and danced to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph”. We wrote our own version of the Canterbury Tales. We were encouraged to read and read and read. My favorite corner was a pile of beanbag chairs where one could snuggle with a book and read for what seemed like hours at a time.

Sadly “back to the basics” educational philosophy tore the Open Area classrooms down. Walls were put up and as far as I know QE no longer has this classroom style. Thankfully as an unschooler I don’t have to worry too much about it. But it saddens me to think that educators do not interview those of us who are products of this “experiment” to see how we have all turned out. I’d be very curious to interview all the “kids” from those days and find out just how many of us attribute who we are today to the benefits of this classroom model.

Unique kids

I have very special kids. Each of them have a unique personality with exceptional talent in different areas. When I really think about it, it amazes me.

Kevin, my first born, was just so highly intelligent that the first 3 years of his life made me think that all kids could be this way if just given the right environment to grow up in. You see, from the beginning I believed in treating children as if they had intelligence. We read to him in the womb, we read to him when he was a newborn. We played special music for him in-utero when we went to sleep at night (Brian Eno’s Evening Star, for those who want to know). Later we played this same music to help him sleep at night, or as a calming music for those times of colic.  He was not an easy baby, by far! As my first born I had all kinds of struggles. He never slept more than 20 minutes at a time during the day. Unless it was in the snuggly while I went for walks. But he learned things so quickly. He was holding his head up within the first week and I swear he smiled at 2 weeks of age. You’ve read about his early reading ability. Because I worked in preschools and daycares during his formative years, he was surrounded by learning materials….books, magnetic and felt board sets, educational games, computers (back then it was the Commodore 64!). He grew up so smart. I thought I had all the answers for creating early readers. However, I learned differently.Each child is unique.

I’ve talked about Adam’s amazing music talents. When I think about how he had the freedom and the resources to pursue this talent, it totally validates the unschooling method. At 22 he is getting ready to launch out into the world and see where this talent will take him. We are excited.

Stephanie at 16, is blossoming into a beautiful young woman. She works for our dive shop, is a member of GHSA’s Academic Challenge Bowl team, and currently in the GATE theater program’s Cinderella. In her free time (which she has lots of!) she writes and draws for hours on end. She is polite and friendly and modest. She has a few good online friends and a few real life friends. She has no boyfriend and no bullies. She is not pregnant, nor doing anything that may bring her to into that situation. She is not sheltered or isolated either! She interacts daily with all kinds of customers and people. And she is a great big sister (and little sister too – being the middle child!).

Eric. I’ve written lots about Eric. He’s the child that taught me what it was like to have a real boy! Kevin and Adam were pretty laid back kids when I compare them to Eric. He has always been my “go to” kid,. However, in the past year he has really settled down and matured. To the point that I can actually trust him to be on his own for  a few hours and not worry if he’ll cause trouble. He’ll be 11 in less than two weeks. He continues to be loveable and enthusiastic about life, with an incredible imagination.

Recently he had an opportunity to attend a costume event where he was allowed to dress up in whatever he wanted, as long as it was non-scary. He chose to be a hobo. Not only did he design his own costume, complete with “beanie” (I’d call it a toque in Canada), but he also developed the persona behind the costume. Cardboard the Hobo was created – a down-on-his-luck defense attorney who lost his money gambling. Courtesy of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney video games. For Eric, this kind of imaginative play is so important that it becomes part of his real life. He doesn’t quite get kids who aren’t as into this as he is. Thankfully, little sister Cassie is more than willing to participate!

Eric also has these little tics and thrums. Anyone who has an autistic child, or one with Aspergers, would understand what I mean.  They come and go. A few months ago I was thinking he had outgrown them, but then this past month they came back. I started to try to monitor what makes them happen. He rolls his eyes, jerks his shoulders, stutters, etc. usually when trying to communicate with us. And it happens when he is interested or excited about something. Two things have excited him lately. Getting ready for the costume party, and a new computer program – The Games Factory 2. He is creating his own video game on it. It has a squirrel named Gordon as the main character. Presently he is using a free downloaded version of the game but I will be buying the full version for his birthday.

Because I’ve figured out how the tics come and go, I was wondering how aware he was. So the other day I asked him.

“How often does this happen”

His response: “About once a year.”

“How long does it last?”

“About a year.”

After laughing at his response I finally got him to explain himself and he was letting me know that he could go a year without it happening in between episodes. Still too funny.

Do I worry about these tics? No, not really. I know it is a part of who he is. It is just the way his brain is wired. Part of his uniqueness.

Each child is different.

Cassie, my baby, has finally figured out how to read. I have shared many posts about this struggle. Having had a kid read at 3, and then one that is not reading by age 7, did worry me a bit. Not as much as I’ve seen some parents stress over it. I knew eventually she would get it. She still stumbles on longer words or ones that have strange phonetics, but she is reading and comprehending, and questioning.  Sometimes too many questions. She is also drawing at a level far above her age. In a little over two weeks she will be 8 years old. I’ll probably have to quit calling her my baby!

At present I’m just so proud of my smart, unique, artistic kids. We are truly blessed.

Learning Styles

I recently came across an article about the different learning styles. It was complied from several reliable resources and gave a fair description of each learning style, including strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

My first read through of the various styles caused me to squirm. Who would use such a method on a child? This was when reading the “traditional” approach. In other words, re-creating the school in your home.

Strengths included Easy to implement, follows standardized scope and sequence, testing and grading easy, milestones accomplished.

Weaknesses were:

o Doesn't take into account individual learning styles, strengths, weaknesses or interest (Yikes, this is all that I base my teaching on!)

o Assumes that there is a body of info that completes an education and that this can be broken down into daily increments(yeah, who says we need to know this then or now?)

o Treats students minds like containers to be filled with information (Little Robots….)

o Focuses on transmitting info thru artificial learning experiences(And we keep hearing how we need to get back to nature…..)

o Teacher-directed and 'chalkboard' oriented (I smell teacher burn-out….)

o Different ages study different materials(hard to juggle with more than one child)

o Expensive with multiple children (Yup, cost was probably the biggest factor in stopping me from pursuing this method)

o Discourages original, independent thinking (And we all know, my kids are very original thinkers!)

o High burn out rate (Yup, saw this one coming)

Compare those to the Unschooling Approach:

Strengths:

o Takes little planning

o Captures the child's teachable moments

o Children have access to the real world, plenty of time and space to figure things out on their own.

o Children are less likely to become academically frustrated or burned out.

o Children can delve into a subject as deeply or shallowly as they want

o Provides a discipleship model of learning

o Creates self-learners with a love of learning.

 

Weaknesses:

o May neglect subjects

o Hard to assess level of learning

o Lacks the security of a clearly laid out program

o Is extremely child-centered

o Difficult to explain to others

o May be overly optimistic about what children will accomplish on their own

 

Let me just focus  this post on the weaknesses of the Unschooling method and how I refute them all.

May Neglect Subjects – based on whose idea that all subjects need to be taught? Honestly why do we need to do Advanced Algebra? If needed in a career, the unschooler will learn it. If not needed, why waste the time to learn?

Hard to assess level of learning – I hear this all the time. How do you give your kids grades? How do you know if they learned something? Answers – I don’t give grades and I ask them questions. Simple. You spend time with your kids, you listen to your kids and you will know what they do and do not know.

Lacks the security of a clearly laid out program – Only an issue if that is what you want. For me, it’s no big deal. There was a time in my homeschooling life when a clearly laid out program made me feel secure, but I have come a long way from those days and no longer need that security blanket.

Is extremely child-centered. – And this is wrong because? I have no problem with my child’s learning being child centered. After all, it had created “The Long Dark” which will be a musical masterpiece in its time.  (My son, Adam’s music). Education of a child is all about the child! He/She needs to be free to become whom God planned for them to be.

Difficult to explain to others – Okay, I’ll concede on this one because no matter what I say, there are those out there who will not understand. But every once in a while I’ll find someone willing to listen and take some of my ideas to heart.

May be overly optimistic about what a child will accomplish on their own – Here is where the biggest misconception about the unschooling method abounds. That we leave our children alone to do whatever they please. The truth is, a good unschooling home is educationally rich. Our house is strewn with learning opportunities all around. My book shelves spill over with books, the craft shelves abound with paper and craft supplies, the game cupboard is stuffed with teachable games.  If a child shows an interest in something we do whatever we can to inspire that interest and provide the learning material for them. Because we do this, our children have a vast array of interests. Some are more focused for a season than others.

But all is good and produces the desired affect. A child who loves to learn. And that is the bottom line and the ultimate strength of our learning style.

The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List

This has been going around recently on facebook and email lists since 2007 but is still worth commenting on.

The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List

I almost want to print it out and keep a small card sized copy in my purse to whip out anytime I run into a person who either has to canonize me for being  a saint for homeschooling ( as they exclaim, “ I could never do that!”) or who wants to toss me the “socialization” card.

The above article does come from a secular homeschool magazine but that shouldn’t give it any less merit for a Christian homeschooler to relate to its truths.  I for one, fall under #9 on the list. We are Christians who homeschool We do not homeschool because we are Christians.

And #20 is my favorite:

20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

The more I think about it, a laminated pocket card would be very useful.

Musings of late….

I recently joined a Christian Unschoolers blog ring (see the green box?) and have been enjoying reading some pretty incredible blogs. Blogs written by people just like me. With the same philosophy on education and religion, for the most part.  I read their stories and the things they children have been doing and feel like I’m looking into my own life. With variations of course. My kids are not skating across a pond, for instance. But the ideas, the thoughts, the philosophy….all of it matches with how we have been raising our children. And I realize I am part of something so much bigger than me.

I admit I was feeling lately, a little out of place. The homeschoolers I know all use some form of curriculum. They talk about schedules and bedtimes and chore charts. Lesson plans and grading. And how do you teach your child to write? or learn their multiplication tables?

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying these are not good things. If this is who you are and how you homeschool then that is what is right for your family. That is my belief. We are all different and so what I do with my kids isn’t necessarily what is good for your kids. And vice versa.

But I’m really not alone after all, as I have discovered. It is just hard to find a person like yourself living as your next door neighbor.

While I have pondered these thoughts and felt out of sorts, I have come to realize that I need not apologize for who I am or how I raise my children. I shouldn’t have to make excuses or try to explain. If someone really wants to know and understand and is willing to listen, I will tell them. 

I realize I have a lot to offer others. I have successfully graduated two of my 5 children. I have children of all ages – adult, teenagers, pre-teen, child. I have experienced all stages of children’s development, (five times up to age 7 so far anyway). There is a lot of wisdom to be shared.

My dear husband must have been thinking similar thoughts today as he said to me that we should write a book together. We have over 24 years of homeschool experience. We have tried everything! It would be interesting to see what we could come up with together to share.

In the meantime I’m happy to be part of a new blog ring that hopefully will help me develop more of a readership as well as make new friends.

My Dad

My Dad died  Saturday morning, May 15th at 5:55am. Hmm….looking at that number 5, 15, 5:55 Wow. That’s a lot of 5’s . Wondering the significance of this?

So I’m thinking of all the little things about my dad to remember. It’s easy to remember the bad things that happened. The fights, or the angry words or hurt feelings. But it’s not healthy. To remember the good things is much better.

I started by going back through the emails we have exchanged over the years I have lived on Guam. I have probably communicated more via the written word, then we ever did in person as I was growing up.

The emails I have had this year from my dad, assure me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he is with Jesus in heaven. My dad knew the Lord. It wasn’t always this way. I grew up in a fairly neutral religious home. I remember going to church as a child, just vague memories of pews and stained glass. When my younger brother was a baby, I vaguely remember (or maybe was told in later years) that it was too hard to take the family to church on Sundays because my dad wasn’t supportive of my mom’s desire. And without that support it was too hard to bring little kids to church and Sunday school. From 1st to 6th grade or so I remember attending Sunday school sporadically with the neighbor family, the Wrights. We would walk to a Baptist church  on 18th street. We attended VBS there (or at least I did) during the summer and various other kid club type activities.

After we moved to Powell River, there was no more church for me. My mom went to the Anglican church all on her own. Later, married with 2 children I became a born again Christian and started attending a Pentecostal Church. I think I told my mom something about the Anglican church being boring and stuffy.

When my parent’s divorced a year or two later, my dad decided he would try to change and learn to like  the things that made my mom happy. Unfortunately it was too late for their marriage, but in the process he found God. He told me a story about how he attended the Anglican service and during the Peace – where they turn and shake hands with each other – he turned and shook hands with an angel. Most likely it was just a sweet old lady in the church, but something in that simple ceremony touched my dad and I believe he had an encounter with God that day.

So back to the emails. First he sent this simple one:

Here is a question for you:-

"How many times does the word Christian appear in the New Testament of the bible?"

Love Dad

This is such a typical email. Our correspondence would often be short one liners back and forth. A little humor thrown in. A little lesson or seriousness intertwined. With this one I didn’t know if it was a rhetorical question, a joke, or something more serious. I responded with:

My guess is zero. I'm fairly certain it was a word made up after the fact.

I regret I’ll never know what his answer was, as shortly after this email he discovered he had cancer and from there his emails became more serious and guarded.

He also shared a wonderful poem with me. “Truck Lights” by Rene  Fumallo. He heard this on a podcast of the Vinyl Cafe.

My dad and I shared recipes back and forth. He sent me humorous email forwards and I in return did the same.  Ones that reflected his particular type of humor. Like the one I sent him that showed snowmen in various poses. Kind of a Gary Larson style (He loved Gary Larson cartoons).  I said the cartoon reminded me of him. He responded with “my sick sense of humor or are you calling me a cold old fart?”. It was all in fun.

I’ll miss those email exchanges. And the opportunity to see him one more time and introduce him to his two grandchildren, born on Guam, whom he has never met. We will be heading back to Canada late this summer to say our goodbyes.

At least I have the assurance that Dad is in heaven with Maggie and the other children I lost via miscarriage. He is not alone and someday we will be reunited.

Time

I've been contemplating time a lot lately. Like how fast it flies by. I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post here! I admit, I have other blogs I've been doing some writing on, but that is a bad excuse.

So back to time. The older I get the faster it seems to go by. It is getting downright scary at times to wake up in the morning and suddenly realize it's time to go back to bed and you can barely recall what took up the time of the day. You know the feeling? As Les and I approach 50 (and we admit, he's approaching faster than I am!), it is like we are on this fast flowing river -  perhaps entering the rapid stages, heading towards a water fall - and there is no way to slow it down.

In the big scheme of life, with the hopeful expected lifespan of 100 years, we are only almost half way through life. Which means that we have almost doubled our flow of time since birth. At birth, or let's say 1 yr of age, you have only lived out 1/100th of your life. So time is slow. There is so much still ahead. As a child time moves much more slowly. Remember how long it seemed to take for special holidays to arrive? Or that expected vacation? Looking at my children today I see an endless life ahead of them. Endless possibilities and learning opportunities. And plenty of time to accomplish those dreams.Compared to how many years adults have lived, children have time on their side. It is like they are riding in the lazy river, enjoying life.


So what can one do? As I pondered this it came to me that one of the things that makes me the happiest is that I have spread the births of my children out over a 20 year time span. My first son was born when I was 21 and my final baby, when I was 41. So as a result I still have little kids in my life. Ones who have time moving slower than mine. This makes me have a much deeper appreciation for life. I can still marvel at the little things that children discover. Life is more fun with kids around. For those of you who are beyond this stage, then I imagine Grandchildren would suffice. Grab hold of the nearest child you know and hold on tight. Perhaps we can slow down the river of life that we are in, to match the gentle flow of the lazy river that children play in.

 

Willamette River, OR: Photo courtesy of Jaci from CCU

Coffee Snobs

Les and I have finally confessed to being coffee snobs. It crept up on us gradually and wasn’t until we had a recent coffee bean shortage that we realized just how snobby we have become.

It started out over 20 years ago when we started to drink coffee from Amway – Nine to Five brand – sold in individualized 12cup  foil packets. From there we moved onto whole bean coffee and grinding our own. We used to buy beans from the bulk buy bin at Safeway. Looking back on that now we wrinkle our nose in disgust. How old were those beans anyway?

I remember one of the first purchases I made upon arrival on Guam was a coffee grinder. And then we searched for coffee beans. Eventually we stumbled upon a very reliable brand of coffee beans from Cost-U-Less (Guam’s version of Costco). A 2lb bag of Columbian Supreme Beans from San Francisco Bay Coffee Co. Up until a few months ago, this was our mainstay for coffee.

But recently our supply dried up and for some reason this coffee is no longer being sold on Guam. We’ve had to resort to the more expensive Starbucks whole bean coffee.  Even this is hit and miss. We have dared to foray into Western Family beans, and some other generic brands, but then gag our way back to the Starbucks every time.

Finally out of frustration I started researching online for a good source of coffee beans. Preferably some kind of automatic shipping system that I can rely on.

And thus we found Peets Coffee. My first 2 lbs of coffee beans arrived this week, along with a free complimentary lb of ground coffee. So far my husband and I are pleasantly impressed. The house blend coffee was smooth and went down easy for my morning coffee. Les tested out the Major Dickason’s blend (supposedly their most popular coffee) and now he is hooked. Tomorrow I will discover if this is truly the best coffee ever. Poor Les is worried that he has been tainted for life. Good for Peets coffee. Not so good for any other coffee company.

All we can do now is pray that the automatic shipping will be consistent and our coffee will arrive in timely fashion.

Oh and the coffee grinder? It still works great today, after 15 years.

My Attempt at Vegetarian Dinners

Not being a true vegetarian, and definitely not heading into the stream of vegan, I have however been doing my best to accommodate my husband’s desires to eat less meat. So here are a few of the meals we’ve had in the past few days.

Friday night I made homemade Macaroni and Cheese and a pot of frozen peas. I used egg noodles for the pasta. Made a white sauce with added Cheddar cheese for the sauce. Served the peas on the side. 

Saturday night we had baked salmon (the packaged claimed it was wild caught – but how far can I trust the packaging label?). Served this with garlic toast and steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

Sunday (tonight) I first baked an apple crisp for dessert and set that aside. Then I made a type of vegetarian pizza. Home made pizza dough spread with garlic butter and then topped with sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, chopped pickled artichokes hearts, basil and 4 shredded cheese mix. (On sale at Payless today). I made a smaller pizza with no mushrooms and the artichoke hearts more finely chopped for me and whoever didn’t like mushrooms. I also fried up some steak I had in the fridge that needed to be eaten. Like I said, we are not total vegetarians yet. I did however, do my weekly grocery shopping and bought no meat. (It helps knowing I have some things in the freezer I confess….) And Les and Stephanie did not eat the meat. Les was very impressed with my “pizza” and said it was a “taste sensation”. Highest compliment a wife could expect!

Spring has come to Guam

I never realized it before, but Guam actually has a “spring”. I don’t know why it has taken me 15 years to notice this. And maybe I’m wrong and there is more than one “season” like we are experiencing. What I’m specifically referring to is the abundance of flowers I’m seeing around Guam lately.

This I think is what as known as a “bird of paradise” though I may be wrong. I don’t claim to be a flower expert. Perhaps it is ginger.

These are bougainvilleas. We have several varieties growing in our garden. These are my favorite color.

This is a mix of a variegated white/purple bougainvillea and the purple (though it looks red here).

 

Even the weeds sport pretty pink flowers. This is a vine that grows all over the jungle, choking out other plants. But doing it very prettily.

I believe this is really the “bird of paradise”. That other one was ginger I’m fairly certain.

Though they look pink here, these are a lovely purple color and one of my favorite Guam flowers. Don’t ask me the name though!

Our first crop of cherry tomatoes, and the beginning of our vegetable garden.

And finally our lone Palm Tree in our front yard, just to prove we really are in the tropics.

The Game

I’m not sure what they call it. It seemed to be a cross between Chess and Risk at first glance. When I came home from work tonight, Cassie and Eric were spread out on the floor intent on the game before them. It consisted of an interactive Around the World electronic game board ($10 K-mart special) and chess pieces. The chess pieces were situated on various countries on the World Map.

I watched for a while trying to figure out their game. Eric described it as a mixture of chess and RPG games. I watched as Russia attacked China and the children each took hold of their “pawn” and placed them in a line on the floor.

“I’m throwing a fire spear” said Cassie.

“I’m blocking your spear” Eric replied, with a whooshing sound affect attached. Serious thought prevailed as they both considered their next line of attack.

Apparently this game had been going on for the past hour. In the process, Cassie would ask what country her piece was on and occasionally push the button on the board to hear the country fact.

Geography facts are learned, imagination is used, and creativity abounds when kids are left to their own devices.

History, the unschooling way

Interestingly enough, history is being learned in my household via an anime comic. Specifically, Hetalia. Stephanie discovered Hetalia on one of her message boards and has downloaded and watched all the accompanying audio dramas and streaming anime videos. She has then, in turn, passed on her knowledge of WWI and WWII facts she has learned to her younger brother and sister, and to anyone else who will listen to her.

In the past few months she has learned more about the Allied and Axis countries and their different idiosyncrasies, than an entire social studies curriculum would have taught her. And what’s more, she has learned about the personalities in power at the time and how they influenced their countries to do what they did in these wars.

What is so wonderful is that she is not only learning history in a fun, interesting way, but she is retaining what she is learning. She is intrigued enough to do further research and to ask questions about events in history. And everything she learns she shares with her brothers and sisters.

Think about that for a moment. Would this happen if we had used a regular curriculum with her? Would she have felt inclined to share this with her younger siblings? I don’t think so. It is the very unique nature of this particular series that has intrigued her. And what has encouraged her to share with others.  So much more effective than pages of memorization and regurgitation of facts. What she is learning and passing down, becomes part of my children’s homeschooling repertoire. I love it that when I made pizza last night for dinner my kids were sharing facts about Italy with me that I never taught them! I was learning from them. How cool is that?

For more information on Hetalia and how you can use it in your unschooling journey see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_Powers_Hetalia

Warning, mature themes and language in actual comics and shows.

Writing when Ready

In the past two weeks Eric has finally figured out how to write neatly and legibly. Or print actually. And to spell. He is 10. This is a boy who would not have done well with a printing/writing curriculum that required repetitive handwriting practice. He has always been a free thinker. Very artistic. He would only write in capital letters and had consistent letters and numbers that he reversed.

Because he has great recall of stories and wonderful comprehension I did not worry too much about his lack of hand writing skills. I learned to decipher his writing and to understand his creative spelling techniques. And I knew that when he was 20 he’d be able to write neatly enough for someone to read what he had written. And that he would be able to spell. And that he would no longer write his number 3 backwards. Because eventually it would all “click” for him.

Well, thankfully it happened long before he was 20. Today he spent an hour carefully writing out a title page, intro and first few pages of a story book. He used both upper and lower case letters. he used proper punctuation and he took extra care to use correct spelling, verifying with me when he was uncertain. All completely self initiated.

I have not had to use an expensive writing or spelling curriculum with him to have this happen. I allowed nature to take its course. Provided him with the material and encouragement when necessary. Stoked his creative genius with appropriate books and drawing tools. And as maturity level was reached he blossomed. By the time he is 13, I am sure there will be no sign that he used to write his “k”’s backwards or could only write in all capitals.

This is what I love about unschooling. I firmly believe that with a mind and talent like Eric’s that a traditional school method would have severely limited his creative genius. As it is he has been allowed to grow in the areas that he wanted to grow in, and when he realized that having others understand his writing, and that writing was just another form of drawing, it all has come together for him and “clicked”.

Today he asked me, “Mom what is your favorite letter to draw? I like ‘g’ and even ‘d’ is pretty cool too.” I had to quickly print out the alphabet and informed him I’m partial to "'f, j and q”. Try it and tell me what your favorite letter is!

The Saga of the iPhone

I wanted to title this post “My Horrible, No Good, Rotten, Very Bad Day” but in retrospect I realize it really wasn’t so bad. And there was a good lesson learned.

It started last night when two of my cats decided to have a battle royale that careened across the kitchen table, where I had put my barely one month old iPhone a few minutes before.  And proceeded to knock over a bottle of bubble mix that Cassie had been playing with earlier. It was only a small bottle, one of those $0.99 ones that hold barely an ounce of the stuff.  No one noticed at first but maybe 10 minutes later Cassie noticed my phone in the puddle of liquid. I quickly wiped it off and prayed that it still worked. It did, but the screen had a weird streak through it and the sound wouldn’t work. But other than that….unfortunately I didn’t turn it off right away and continued to fiddle with it. Then it wouldn’t turn off so I put it in a container of rice like it was suggested on several websites.

Morning time and the phone was very dead. I hoped it just needed charging so took it into town and plugged it in for an hour. But still no deal so  I headed over to the phone company. After waiting almost an hour, the tech guy assured me it was water damage and not covered so I had to buy a new phone. Except they didn’t have any and I had to head over to their other branch. An hour later I finally get to talk to a sales rep where I am told I can no longer purchase a phone for the great $99.95 deal but had to pay the replacement cost of $539.95! I did some quick math in my head and realized that if I canceled my contract (which I had been advised on purchase a month ago was a HUGE mistake) and realized it would cost me more to cancel the contract than to buy the phone.  So I reluctantly handed over my credit card…only to be told that it had expired (though the exp. date clearly on the card was for 3/10). AT this point I’m beginning to wonder what I did to anger God? Was it because I didn’t go to church on Sunday? I’m sorry I wanted a day off! I promise never to do THAT again!

Well, as it turns out we had had a good weekend at the driving school, pulling in triple the amount we usually do. So I was able to pay cash for the phone. Or at least debit card instead of credit card.

So why didn’t the credit card work? Turns out the bank had issued me a new credit card since mine was expiring in 2 months and it produced some kind of glitch in their system that caused my current card to come up expired just for this one day. The bank actually called me to apologize for the inconvenience.

So what did I learn from all this? Well, for one, though I prayed for God to fix my phone, He answered my prayer in a completely different way. Not only did He provide the funds for the phone, but He also prevented me from going further into debt over this little fiasco.

Now I would have preferred to do something else with our extra money. I had plans on sending some to a needy friend and I’ve been wanting to send money to our older son as well. I can still do this, just not as much as I had originally planned.

Could God have prevented what happened? I like to think so. But perhaps not. It was after all, just rambunctious kittens, and my misfortune to put my phone down on a table in our house. I should have known better. If it wasn’t bubble mix, it might have been stale coffee, or a forgotten glass of water. The fact is I need to be more responsible. Isn’t this something we want to teach our children?

Oh and I was pretty peeved at the phone company for '”scamming” me in this way. But then my husband pointed out that these really are $500 phones. I had just originally got a great discount. Can you imagine if everyone went into the phone company, bought a phone, pretend to lose it, buy another one for the great discount and then sell their first one for a profit? It would be a potential nightmare.

So to the nice man who was so kind and patient with a very frustrated lady today, sorry for my behavior this afternoon. You were just doing your job.

The irony of it all is the cat’s name is Applesauce.