Smrt Lernins

We went to our first official homeschool event today, the fall homeschool days at the Biltmore in my beloved city of Asheville. It wasn’t nearly as crowded and I feared andthe demographics weren’t as heavy on the, ehem, modest crowd as I had feared. Not that there’s anything wrong with modesty, mind you, but I didn’t want to be the odd (wo)man out at yet another event. Truth be told, in my long flowy hippie skirt, I probably looked more “modest” than most of the moms there.

Like I always say: there’s a fine line between fundie and crunchy. That’s why I don’t wear headscarves. Trufax.

The Tank may have found a new career after watched the master blacksmith make a leaf keychain out of steel. He asked a lot of questions about how hot the fire got, how old the blacksmith was when he started learning, what color the steel turned, why the blacksmith added water, how “a little boy who didn’t know how to do it could learn how to do that,” and a few more. Captain Science had some good questions, too, about the types of metal the blacksmith used. Tank thought he might like to learn to hammer on metal. He was also impressed by the glassblower and said he’d like to do that, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up in a trade that also had a strong artistic element. Metalwork, woodwork, and glassblowing could all be up his alley.

Captain Science’s favorite part was the live animals on the farm. He especially loved the chicks and thinks that having our own chickens might be a point in favor of moving to Asheville in the next two years or so (our current plan, Officer Daddyman’s work allowing). He also seemed to greatly enjoy touring the Biltmore, and actually put in some effort in reading through the homeschool packet, which discussed design elements, ahead of time. The boys liked the indoor pool best. I liked the library and the picture of the Cecil children (1599!) best. I don’t know what Nana liked best — probably NOT having to carry 24 lb. Babypie on her back the whole time, like I did.

We were at Biltmore from 8:30am until around 4pm and saw a good bit of it. The boys made candles, paper quilts, symmetry drawings, and popcorn. Nana and I bought some of the leaf-shaped keychains the master blacksmith made, because they were so beautiful. We ate at the Stable Cafe, had some ice cream, and strolled around the gardens. We had a few friendly exchanges with other homeschooling families. All in all, I call this trip a success!

As we’re headed to Asheville, NC tomorrow for Biltmore’s Homeschool Day*, we’re only logging two real days of school this week. Technically, Captain S will be in classes all morning at Biltmore, but I’ll just have to review those later.

This week was pretty light, two days of wrapping things up. Captain Science did the final pass of his Confucius essay, finished the next lesson in Life of Fred: Algebra (lesson 16, Queen City and San Juan), read the section on phrases in Grammar Voyage (including DOING the activity on identifying phrases in sentences), and knocked out the play-test deck of his Pantheon Project cards. He also had a piano lesson and will do his KidCoder computer programming on Saturday.

Tank’s week consisted mainly of tracing the cursive upper and lower case letters on his dry erase sheet. He traced and erased the alphabet, then wrote the numbers 1-10 below them, multiple times, all under his own steam. He also drew several more monsters for me to put in the file, because they’re all so cute that I can’t stand throwing them out. I added a few preschool apps to my iPhone for him: Fairytail Preschool, a simple phonics app (really, it’s just letter sounds), and a preschool matching and puzzle app.

Babypie’s week has consisted mainly of pitching fits and dancing.

Badge the beagle’s main accomplishment was yarking on the carpet.

*Leaving Officer Daddyman here to man the fort

I’m sending in my first monthly attendance report for the year. How is that even possible? I also love having the lessons plans for the full week finished on Sunday night. It makes such a difference in my stress level. I’m not prepared to write them up further ahead of time than that, because I have this terrible fear of getting off track and having to redo all my hard work, but on a weekly basis, this is rocking my socks of.

We had another productive week at the McLernins house. Captain Science finished the mapping lesson in PLATO Earth/Space science. He’s going to take the mastery test again on Monday, because he’s having a hard time with topographical maps. I think this is less a comprehension issues, however, and more a vision one. His current glasses aren’t up to prescription and the teensy lines are so hard for him to distinguish. He just doesn’t have the patience to trace the lines w/ his finger and relies on faulty eyesight alone. I know this will be better when his knew glasses arrive, hopefully next week.

Captain Science completed lesson 12-15 in Fred’s Home Companion/Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra, which included a Your Turn to PLay, and the cities of Admire, Elk, Fairburn, and Halstad. Though we had a little initial trouble with him sneaking peaks at answers, he did very well. Officer Daddyman helped him with a quick review of mixed fractions today. On Thursday, he had another Math Olympiad meeting, which he really seems to enjoy. I’m glad for the additional math outlet.

MCTLA is great, as always. Captain S read pgs 46-87 in Grammar Voyage and is looking forward to finishing it up, so he can start essay voyage. He took and passed the Caesar’s English I chapter 18 cumulative quiz and read chapter 19. He’s getting close to the end and will soon be ready to start Caesar’s English II. He also started World of Poetry this week, just doing a little bit of reading. He’ll begin poetry writing next week or the week after, as next week only has two instructional days for us.

To wrap up the unit in ancient China and work more on his formal writing skills, Captain Science research and wrote an essay on the life and teachings of Confucius. He did one-point outline using two sources, wrote a first draft from his notes alone, and then rewrote the draft to include more details and better structuring today. He’ll write a final draft on Monday. We’ll start ancient South and Central America the week after next!

Piano practice started back up this week and Captain Science received his two pieces for his December recital: Amazing Grace and Toyland. We’ll hold a small Christmas party so he can have a formal recital. He’ll dress in nice clothes and perform his pieces from memory. I’m very excited!

Captain Science also completed another lesson in KidCoder computer programming. Now that he’s over that first hump of “this is so tedious! I just wanted to make games!” he seems to be moving right along. Thursdays are electives day, so he spends a few hours each morning doing computer programming with Officer Daddyman, before we start our out-of-the-house activities.

Speaking of out of the house, Captain Science and Tank started homeschool soccer league this week! Tank is with the 4s, so he’s there with Gretchen’s youngest son Gus, and Captain Science is in 8-9 Boys with her oldest son, Ari. Sadly, my kids aren’t with either of Patchfire’s soccer-aged kids, but since our middle children’s “fields” are right next to each other, Babypie and Purple Child can play together while we watch the little boys. Tank threw himself into soccer headlong and loved every minute. Captain S is always the “watch and adjust” kid; I caught him on the sideline in the shade, socks and shoes off, where he complained, “I didn’t realize the shin guards would be uncomfortable.” I told him to put his gear back on and get out there to play, which he did. He was on goal initially, but asked if he could have a shot at playing forward! Once he started playing, he really tried hard. His team played the 11 year old girl team — they apparently like to play boys against older girls, as the same-age girls are often a little less competitive. It was a tie: nothing to nothing. Both boys are looking forward to next week’s game.

I bought Tank a bunch of stuff from the Target dollar spot this week, including dry erase print and cursive letter tracing. Today, he surprised me by sitting down and tracing all the cursive letters. He did a beautiful job! He also finished his robot with Daddyman this week, did a little bit of workbook work, and started his new favorite activity, stamping. He used letter stamps to sound out and spell names. We sounded out words that started with A, D, and J, then stamped them. He then dumped an entire container of fine glitter on his paper, which means we now have a layer of glitter over everything in the house. It looks like a fairy was sucked up into the air conditioner outside and spewed into the house.

Babypie’s new accomplishments this week are an annoying tongue clicking noise (she learned from Tank, of course) and the words “dressed” and “cold.”

This weekend, we’re going to the Love the Lake festival in Acworth, probably both days, and next week, we’re off to Biltmore for their homeschool days. Let me know if any of you will be there!

What do you think about the “so glad to send the kids back to school” sentiment from people whose children are in public/private school? This topic came up on the Well Trained Mind forums, and opinions were mixed.

Some people felt like it was merely an expression of relief to return to a familiar routine. I’m sure that’s part of it, and is perhaps the actual intent behind some parents’ jubilation over the return to school, though that might be somewhat belied by the sheer exuberance about the children being gone for the day.

Some people felt it was expressive of sometimes we all (even homeschoolers) feel, which is “I’d like ONE FRIGGIN QUIET MINUTE TO MYSELF NOW PLEASE THANK YOU!” Definitely a sentiment with which I can empathize, as I dearly enjoy a brief break from the constant demands of parenting, though I don’t think I’m in any way entitled to a 7-8 hour break, 5 days a week.

Some people felt like it was indicative of an unhealthy mentality about what our “real lives” are or should be and how we must send children away in order to have those “real lives.” I think this is the crux of it and this is far from the only area where this mentality manifests. I also don’t think this is something people are making up in their own heads; there’s serious social pressure to divorce our “real” identities from parenting and to celebrate opportunities to not be beholden to our children’s needs.

When a woman gets pregnant, she’s bombarded with social messages that tell her she is supposed to “want her body back,” and the pressure begins to keep pregnancy as short as possible. When she breastfeeds, she’s not only told she’s supposed to “want her body back,” but to “want her life back,” something that can only be done by weaning the baby, of course, since breastfeeding is clearly not a part of life and “life” seems to be comprised of as many tactics as possible to physically distance yourself from your offspring. Case in point, when her child becomes school age, the woman is supposed to rejoice in sending the child away (to “real” school, of course), so she can finally “have her life back” again.

“Life,” by the way, doesn’t mean the responsible thing you’re living, with a spouse/partner, children, and a job. “Life” actually means that thing you were doing BEFORE kids, BEFORE responsibility, when everything was fun, fun, fun and you were only responsible for yourself. There’s this emphasis on the false notion of “adult life,” which seems to actually be code for “second youth,” a period of late teen/early 20s-like self-indulgence, partying, and forgetting (temporarily, at least) that one even has children. Most of the people I encounter who are longing for this “adult life” aren’t talking about added responsibility or maturity, but time without children in order to act like children. This is adulthood? This is “real” life?

This isn’t a mentality found solely in public school parents. If anything, I think it’s a generational problem. Gen X grew up, with all their extra self esteems and misplaced sense of entitlement (seriously, I’ve read articles written by Gen Xers saying Baby Boomers should retire, because they’re selfishly keeping all the good jobs), and they’ve had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they are no longer the center of the universe or life of the party. I feel perfectly comfortable saying this, since I’m at the tail end of the Gen X generation, and I have seen it in so many of my peers over the years. I think my generation is getting far worse with age, actually, because that self-involvement that was charming in a teen and tolerable in a 20-something has become very tired in a 30-something. Gen X can’t pull its head out of its collective asses long enough to realize that this message of “real” life that they’re buying into so completely isn’t real at all. It’s fabricated by people who are selling something, be it baby formula or school supplies or a mentality about your “real” life.

Why are they so happy their kids are going back to school? They’re told they’re supposed to be.

And they bought it.