Smrt Lernins

…you make an ass of Nancy, maybe? Captain Science was a little concerned that “assonance” starts with a “bad word” (queue shocked 9-year-old face), but grasped the concepts of assonance, consonance, and alliteration quickly an easily. He wrote a little poem using all three.

The Ghost Judge

The midnight moon is spooky,
And scary ghouls roam everywhere.
There’s even a ghost judge,
and it looks like he’s sued someone,
for he closed around a zombie
and he never came again.
Yes, he closed around a zombie
and he never came again.

You know how some weeks start out really strong and then peter out to nothing much? Yeah, that was this week.

Captain Science has done great with math this week, finishing chapter 29 of Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents completing the bridge to chapter 31 on the second try, and wrapping up the week with chapter 31 today. We’ll call this our high point.

History is our low point. Since I’m covering an area that gets the skimp in History: The Definitive Visual Guide, pre-Roman and Roman-era Britain, I’ve been relying on online resources, especially the wonderful articles on the BBC’s site. Supposedly, Captain Science was to read the article on Roman Britain and then write an essay addressing how life changed for the people of Britain under Roman rule. The actual essay was mostly a summary of how the Romans came to Britain, and a thin essay at that. Currently, Captain Science is trying to flesh it out a bit. We’ll see.

Language arts continues at a modest pace. Captain Science does two sentences from Practice Town daily. He completed the first half of his chapter from Caesar’s English I and will cover the second half today. Chapters alternate between short chapters covering word stems and large chapters covering vocabulary. We do the quiz over the previous chapter on one Monday, the stems the following Wednesday, then the first and second halves of the vocabulary chapter on the subsequent Mon/Wed. Captain Science really seems to be enjoying the Latin-based vocabulary and the format of the book, which is great! After finishing vocabulary, he’ll continue with his Paragraph Town reading and do the next section from Building Poems. If he writes anything interesting, I’ll be sure to share!

The co-op continues at a nice clip. The game class kids seem to be enjoying themselves, everyone loves the brain class, and my writing students are making headway into their stories. We covered “in medias res” this week and talked about making decisions as to where in the plot to start the story. We’ll be doing some experimenting with that in the following weeks.

Physics this week consisted of more Thames and Kosmos labs at Patchfire’s house. For once, Captain Science actually finished assembling something before Eclectic Girl, which is quite unusual. Usually he dawdles quite a bit and EG has to fuss at him to stay on track. Luckily, he seems to enjoy being bossed around by smart females, so he and EG make a good team in that respect. They built some sort of catapult this week and flung wooden balls all over the kitchen. I continue to be unimpressed by the complete lack of instructions in the kit, however. “Assemble as shown” doesn’t help very much when the pictures are small, there are no step-by-step instructions, and many of the small parts look so similar as to be impossible to distinguish between without closeup shots. Hmph.

Piano continues to go well, so we have that to focus on as a major positive. My aunt is having some surgery on March 10th, however, so we’ll have two weeks w/o piano lessons. This means I have to be diligent about making him work on the scales (which were just added) and doing some theory work, so he doesn’t lose his focus. Getting him to play songs is no work at all, though. He loves it!

That was our week. It’s not finished, but I sure feel pretty darn finished right about now.

Mention homeschooling in the wrong company and you’re bound to get an earfull about all the potential damage your irresponsible choice is doing to your children, particularly their “socialization” and their ability to ever, ever get into a college that isn’t named after a guy called Bob. Some will share cautionary tales of a homeschooler that their cousin once knew who wasn’t able to do 8th grade math upon graduation or who wept copiously when spoken to by strange children on the playground. Some will be rude enough to make negative statements about homeschooling in front of your homeschooled children.

I will ignore the stunning fact that no one even asked these people, who are clearly ignorant about what homeschooling actually entails, for their input, advice, or predictions for the (clearly hopeless) future of our children, and instead ponder what it is, exactly, about homeschooling that makes it so offensive. I’ve come up with a few possible reasons why someone might feel threatened by homeschooling:

1. Assumptions about religious motivation — Some homeschool detractors seem to think all homeschoolers are doing it for (extreme and/or fundamentalist) religious reasons and assume that our choice to homeschool means that we don’t want to teach our children about evolution, sex education, or extra-Biblical literature. With this assumption often comes comments on our family’s size and dynamics, since we’re probably also Quiverfullers who beat our kids with flexible PVC pipes. People with these assumptions view homeschoolers as religious nuts who are afraid that the government is trying to brainwash children into believing in global warming and pre-marital dating. They may or may not have opinions on secular homeschooling, or even know it exists, so (if you don’t have the time or energy to explain that many religiously-motivated homeschoolers also have a very rigorous, classical curriculum that may include those supposedly verboten subjects) you may be able to quickly quiet the naysayer by explaining that your homeschooling curricula is secular.

2. Assumptions about parenting (ie. “Special Snowflake Syndrome”) — Some homeschool detractors believe that non-religious parents who choose to homeschool do so because they believe their children are too “special” (imagine a snide tone on that word) to follow the rules/policies of the public school classroom. With this assumption comes comments about how we think our children can never do any wrong, how we blame every problem on an allergy or other condition, or that “every homeschooler thinks her kid is gifted.” People with these assumptions view homeschoolers as having babied, out of control children who think everything must always be tailored to suit their “special” whims and can’t handle even simple tasks without parental help or oversight. There isn’t any real way to clear up this misconception in a stranger, especially if your kids are flipping out in a particularly slow checkout line, but someone who spends any length of time around you and your children will probably start reassessing these assumptions’ validity.

3. Assumptions about socialization — Some homeschool detractors are concerned that homeschooled children are not offered enough (or the “right”) opportunities for socialization and will therefor be unable to adequately function in an environment outside of their own family. With this assumption comes a tendency to blame any shyness or social awkwardness on the homeschooling, rather than the personality of the child, and to make dire proclamations about the child’s potential for handling college or the “real world.” People with these assumptions view homeschoolers as insular and isolated. This concern is easily addresses by explaining the many social (and legal) support networks, co-ops, and resources available to homeschooling families to ensure myriad opportunities for socialization.

4. Assumptions about rigors of homeschool curricula — Some homeschool detractors believe that not being held to the identical grade standards of the public schools results in homeschooling parents providing an inadequate amount of instruction and setting low standards for their children. With this assumption comes commentary on that one homeschooling family their aunt knew whose kids could barely read in the 10th grade and were never, ever able to get into college due to their poor education. You know, that family. People with these assumptions often have a misconception that secular homeschooling is synonymous with unschooling, that homeschooling parents don’t make the choice to homeschool in order give their children a more rigorous education, and that homeschooling is somehow the “easy road” (the “wow, I wish I didn’t have to get the kids up for school every morning! It must be nice to be able to sleep in every day” comments). You’ve got two options here: the catty response (“Oh, your son is only just starting long division? We did that two years ago and have moved on to algebra.”) or the civil response (“I’m glad that being allowed to set our own standards means we can set them as high as we’d like.”) I’d recommend thinking the former, but speaking the latter.

5. Assumption that by choosing to homeschool your child(ren), you are actually making commentary on their educational choices for their child(ren) — Most controversies boil down to “if you do it differently than I do, you’re saying my way is bad, so I must defensively point out that your way is bad.” Some homeschool detractors seem quite certain that your choice to homeschool your own children means you think anyone who doesn’t homeschool their children is doing it “wrong.” With this assumption comes comments about all of the above assumptions, because they’ll blame their defensiveness on anything but what it actually is, the fear of someone doing something differently from how they’re doing it. People with this assumption don’t care what studies or data show about the efficacy of homeschooling, how delightfully well-behaved and well-adjusted your children are, or how well your children perform academically — they know homeschooling is wrong, because they aren’t doing it, and the choices they make are always “right.” Don’t even try to reason with people making this assumption; just tell them you’re glad that public/private/military school is working out so well for them and move on with your day.

Technically, you have all the time in the world to look like a homeschooler, but you only have 4 more days to show me.

The first-ever Smrt Lernins “you look like a homeschooler” contest ends at midnight on February 28th, so be sure to comment with your pictures, links to your posts about the contest, or your twitter information. I’m compiling excellently ridiculous prizes, so don’t miss out!

Need to see a homeschooler? Here’s Captain Science rocking a mean pompadour.

SO, LisaB/TaderDoodles of Too Busy 2 Clean gifted me with my first blogging award, the Beautiful Blogger Award (which seems to be more of an award of blogging sisterhood more than a denotation of content of particular merit, but hey, I’ll take it!) which brings with it a few dangling strings. The first is simple, to thank the kind giver of this award, which I can do most genuinely. Thank you, Lisa/Tader! It gave me the warm toe-wigglies!

The other rules require a little more effort on my part and tolerance on yours, so please indulge me for a moment here:

Here are rules to accepting the nomination:

1. Thank the person who nominated you
2. Copy the award and paste it on your blog
3. Link to the person who nominated you for the award
4. List 7 interesting things about yourself
5. Nominate 7 beautiful bloggers

Seven interesting things about myself? Hmm. That’s a toughie! I’m shooting from the hip here, so please hold your incredulity or annoyance until the end:

1. My eyesight is so bad (-9.5/-10.0, severely astigmatic) that I’m not a candidate for Lasik. The myopia part is correctable with content, but not the astigmatism, so my depth perception tends to be pretty wonky and/or nonexistent at times.
2. I’ve been to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Austria, and Hungary, but not Canada or Mexico.
3. I can write in cursive with my toes.
4. I have been told (by a professor of Middle English literature) that I have flawless Middle English pronunciation.
5. Two of my three children were both at home, unassisted, in my master bathroom (on purpose).
6. My writing credits include role-playing game supplements about cults and articles about multi-cultural hair and skin care. Yes, a little bit of breadth there.
7. I don’t have a single email in my inbox right now and it makes me feel absurdly powerful.

I read the blogs of many lovely homeschoolers from all walks of life. They’re religious and they’re secular. They have many children or just one or two. They have beliefs very much like mine or vastly different. I think they’re all absolutely spiffy and delightful, so choosing just seven was an impossible task. That said, the seven Beautiful Bloggers I nominate are:

Daisy at The Quiet Life
The Mama at Concordia Classical Academy
Heathen Mom at Heathen Homeschoolers
Foursquares
Jenn at Classless and Lovin’ It
Saille at Grassroots Homeschool
Summer at Grace from Above

Patchfire didn’t make the list because she was nominated by someone recently.

Lisa M. (who asks some of the best questions), asks, “Do you follow the public school year? As in, break during the summer? Or do you school all year long?”

For this, our first year of homeschooling, we opted to more or less follow the standard public school schedule for two reasons: 1) The Tank is enrolled in a preschool that follows our county’s public school schedule and 2) as the change from public to homeschool was already such a big one for Captain Science, I wanted to keep the schedule as “normal” as possible. We do school Monday through Friday (with the occasionally Saturday catch-up in the event of a sick day). Our year started the same day as public school this year and will end at roughly the same time, officially-speaking.

Some notable exceptions for us have been the length and frequency of breaks. We don’t take off for teacher workdays or most of the one-day holidays (like MLK day). We only took W-F off for Thanksgiving. We did take two weeks off for Christmas, but that turned out to a less-than-ideal situation, as Captain Science didn’t adjust well to the lack of clear definition between home vacation and home school. Instead of a full week for Spring Break, we’re taking a few days for a combination family trip and field trip (Captain Science is touring Icarus Studios to learn how MMORPGs are made).

Also, when I say that our school year will end when the public school year does, I don’t mean that we’ll stop doing school. I just mean that our official ‘09-’10 school year will end after 180 days of schooling, as stipulated by state law, and that 180 days is up at around the same time that our county’s public schools let out in May. We won’t be done with school work by far, however. Our year is broken into three semesters and all three are “in session.” Fall and Spring have been more traditional, while Summer will be broken up by camps and trips, include a baseline of daily work for maintenance sake (math and grammar), and may involve a unit study or two.

Next year, I’d like to start balancing our school year a little better, spreading our out breaks, taking a shorter break for summer and over Christmas, but having more frequent 3 or 4-day weekends. Depending on what happens w/ Officer Daddyman’s work schedule, we might even rearrange our week to match with his for maximum family time! I love the complete customization of our schedule. We have to do school for 180 days, but we can take those days whenever (and however) we want!

That’s how the [Smrt] Homeschooler’s calendar looks!

Do you have a question for the [Smrt] Homeschooler? Email them to
smrtmama@smrtlernins.com

Captain Science is spending the night with Nana, which elicited much weeping and wailing from the Tank, who would only be pacified by the promise of making cupcakes after dinner. Since I didn’t feel like making frosting, we made Sugar Cookie Cupcakes (a Smrt Mama original!).

He had the Very Important Job of putting on the sprinkles just before baking. He also licked the spatula, which was helpful of him.

How did they turn out?

The Tank approves

The final product

You know you want a piece of these bad boys

Want to try them at home? They’re easy to make, taste just like sugar cookies, and (if you’re on Weight Watchers) 3 points a piece, since the following recipe makes 24 cupcakes. They’re thinner and more dense than the average cupcake, but fluffier than a sugar cookie — perfect way to satisfy the craving for both!

Sugar Cookie Cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• Decorative colored sugar or sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 convection). Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add butter, milk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Scrape side of bowl with a spatula.

Add eggs to the mixture. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Scrape bowl again. Beat on high speed for 1 minute 30 seconds until well mixed.

Spoon cupcake batter into paper liners until roughly 1/2 full.

Sprinkle with colored sugar or sprinkles if you don’t plan to frost.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes in pans then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Homeschoolers vary pretty widely on opinions over the topic of whether or not homeschoolers should receive a tax exemption (since their children don’t go to public schools) or tax deduction (for materials costs). Some fear a tax exemption could lead to tighter regulation of what constitutes legal and acceptable homeschooling. Some feel it’s necessary to offset the additional incurred costs of homeschooling. I can see the concerns on both sides of the aisle.

What if, instead of homeschooling affording you an exemption or deduction, you could set up a flexible education spending account at the beginning of each year, just like you can currently do with medical expenses? The money you put in would be pre-tax, anyone with a school-aged child could set one up (homeschooling or not), and certain items would be considered “educational,” just like they currently are for Georgia’s tax-exempt weekends. You’d either make your purchases through pre-approved vendors/publishers of educational materials (those vendors or publishers could apply to be on your FESA’s approved vendors list just like pharmacies/med. supply vendors do now) or you would send in your receipts afterwards.

Books/curricula, educational software, and basic school supplies could be included. It could be a good way to help offset the cost without creating a lot of additional regulation for homeschoolers.

Thoughts?

Captain Science has started working on Michael Clay Thompson’s Building Poems. Today, he read and then wrote poems with end rhymes, internal rhymes, and eye rhymes. I asked that he write a minimum of four lines for each poem.

The Roman Slave (end rhyme)

In the darkening sky,
In ancient Rome,
Chased by his master,
The slave ran home.

The Old Man’s Night (internal rhyme)

One long rainy night, in an old man’s sight,
He saw something at his open door.
He said “Go away, or I’ll get you, I may!”
And the thing flew out into the moor.
“Well, it’s in the plains…oh my! My leg pains!”
The old man said in disgust,
And because of the rain his short metal cane
Was also stating to rust.

The Rain (eye rhyme)

One day a little boy
Was soaked by a sudden rain.
The next day when he went out to play
It started to rain again.

We had another fantastic week at the McLernins Academy of Advanced Lernins (no, I don’t actually put that on my DOI or attendance reports, but I’m considering it for next year)!

Monday was only a half-day, because Captain Science and I had a special day planned. I wasn’t going to have him do any work at all, but the little darling woke up early, knocked out his run, math, and grammar before I ever got up! We closed shop early to go see Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which Captain Science declared one of the best movies ever, even if it wasn’t very much like the book. We rounded out our awesome afternoon with corned beef and roasted potatoes, which is his favorite meal (other than chicken fingers and french fries), for a full day of Captain Science/Smrt Mama fun. It was the best President’s Day ever.

Tuesday is co-op day at the McLernins house. We were down two students (Ari and Eclectic Girl, both on family vacations), but the board game class was still boisterous and productive. The children voted on their game idea, which, somewhat ironically, is a food fight game set in a public school cafeteria! We only had one student who didn’t like that idea, but hopefully he’s having enough fun that he won’t mind working on his less-than-first choice.

My writing students are making great progress, too. Since EG wasn’t there and I didn’t want her to get too far behind, my three students (Cpt. Science included) read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” We then discussed things like protagonists and antagonists, pacing, climax and resolution, and reliable vs unreliable narrators. Their assignment for next week was to rewrite their climactic scene from a different POV. Captain Science finished his rewrite last night.

Jumping into our subject by subject review:

It was what we’d call a FABULOUS week for math. Captain Science knocked out chapter 25 in Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents, then completed the bridge to chapter 26 in the first try! He also completed chapters 26-28 without making any mistakes. Woohoo!

Language arts was also good this week. We reviewed clauses and phrases one more time in Grammar Town, because I was still a little concerned about Captain Science being able to identify a gerund. He did several pages from Practice Town, a lesson from Caesar’s English I plus review of prior materials, and did a lesson on rhymes in Building Poems. He’s currently writing a neat final draft of his end rhymed, internal rhymed, and eye rhymed poems, which I’ll post later. Once he’s done, he’ll read the first section of Paragraph Town, wrapping up our LA work for the week.

With Patchfire on vacation (how dare she, right?), we were left to our own devices for science. She left me the materials for the brain class for co-op, so I took the students through that (messing up my own materials by coloring incorrectly, which made them laugh at me). Captain Science also did workshops I, II, and III and experiments I and II from his Thames and Kosmos physics lab, getting all caught up for the week we missed due to not having the kit yet.

Piano! I always forget to add piano. Captain Science is making huge strides. He’s an excellent sight reader, but also has a good ear for music. He’s advancing quickly into chords, playing duets with his teacher, and is slowly integrating scales. I’m so impressed by how naturally he’s taken to it, considering I was not that much of a natural on the piano. I’m so happy that he’s musically minded!

The Tank’s week was fairly uneventful: no class on Monday, happy and sunny days on Wednesday and Thursday. Have I mentioned that I can’t wait to start homeschooling him? I’m lining up my resources for next year!

Babypie has a cold. I have a cold. Officer Daddyman has a cold. That’s our big accomplishments for the week.