Smrt Lernins

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.

When one is a liberal, secular, rigorous home educator with the inability to control one’s virtual mouth, I suppose the potential for controversy runs pretty high. I’ve never been a punch-puller or an eggshell-walker. That’s part of what makes me a great advocate and activist in several non-homeschooling areas (which I generally opt not to blog about here, though I might some day, especially if someone were to express any interest). It also makes me a great target for those who don’t cotton to any form of criticism.

I’m perfectly fine with being called judgmental, because I don’t find judgment to be a bad thing to exercise. There’s nothing wrong with setting reasonable standards of behavior, based on your experiences and ethics/morality, for the people you allow into your life. I will most certainly judge someone based on their words, actions, and/or choices. I don’t have a high tolerance for certain types of jackassery or tomfoolery, but I also don’t expect a high degree of tolerance from others. If my own brands of jackassery and tomfoolery offend you, feel free to judge.

I will not tiptoe around certain subjects, simply because someone’s feelings might be hurt when I knock their choices — choices being the key word here. Once you make the choice to think or act in a certain way, you need to be ready to stand for those choices. Own them. That means owning the fact that not everyone will approve of those choices, and developing coping mechanisms for that disapproval. “Bad choices” vs. “good choices” may be subjective, but when we make our choices public, we are willingly subjecting them to the praise or criticism of others.

I am comfortable with my own concepts of “good” and “bad” choices. I don’t expect yours to be the same, nor do I expect to change your mind or anyone else’s, but I’m not going to dance around a subject out of fear that your morals and ethics aren’t like mine. As such, I have no problem writing or reading controversial posts about:

Philosophies or ideologies
Schooling methods
Parenting choices
Family dynamics (such as valuing sons over daughters)
Religious beliefs and practices, or lack thereof
Public behavior (like making a fool of yourself at a peewee football game)

In all these areas, you have a choice. If I think that choice is dumb, I’ll probably say something (though I’m most likely going to say it here, not on your blog, because I don’t like kicking up a fuss in someone else’s yard). You have ultimate control over those areas. You can change any one of them. Because it’s something over which you have power, and because it’s something you choose to make public, it’s something I feel is within the purview of public criticism. I don’t expect any different from you, however, and I won’t get my pretty plus-sized panties in a wad because you criticize me in those areas. Perhaps you have more grace that I or you ascribe to the notion of never judging anyone, ever, no matter how off the charts their actions may be, mote/beam and all that. If you don’t have something nice to say, however, you’re still perfectly welcome to come sit by me.

I’m not going to write (or speak) negatively about someone on the basis of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, abilities/disabilities, physical features (including height and weight), sex, gender, sexual orientation, or any other aspect intrinsic to their being. I believe humans inherently have worth, regardless of what they look like, their roots, or who they love. I won’t tolerate sexist, racist, homophobic, or other bigoted comments*. You’re spared those particular offenses on this blog and I won’t participate in a discussion where that kind of language is bandied about. I won’t waste my time on a bigot.

It’s also worth noting that when I write with “flowery prose and glittering generalities”** about systems and methods and organizations, I am aware there are real, individual people within those, with many individual merits, to whom those generalities don’t apply. I am able to think the idea of young earth creationism is rather ludicrous, while simultaneously having great respect for the intelligence and humor of an individual who believes in a young earth. I can think unschooling is a flawed educational philosophy overall, while acknowledging the well-brought-up and well-educated children that resulted from a particular unschooler’s implementation of that philosophy.

Most importantly, I know I am as absurd as any of you, probably more so. The very basis of this blog was to lay bare my own inadequacies as a homeschooler, mother, and person for the sake of personal introspection, community dialog, or a good old fashioned point and laugh. I am an innately flawed individual, inviting critique and even criticism through my decision to blog about my thoughts and experiences. I won’t cry, stomp my feet, throw a hissy, delete your comments, or come throw stones at you in your own blog if I don’t like what you have to say about me. If someone’s laughing at me, I’m probably laughing at me longer and louder. I don’t dish what I can’t take. I don’t dish what I don’t dish at myself.

Them there’s the ground rules, folks, straight up and on the level. I’ve never been particularly good at subtlety. I am what I am, like it or lump it. If you find yourself offended, just move right along, because this isn’t the blog for you. If you find yourself wanting to take me to task, however, step on up to the plate. You throw it and I’ll swing at it, and we’ll let the other readers decide whether I hit, miss, or foul out.

*To be perfectly honest, I will put up with a teensy tad of Yankee-bashing, but only because the victor writes the history and they’ve had a good 100+ years of Southern-bashing and making fun of my accent to build up a little karma.
**As my AP US History teachers use to accuse us of slipping into our papers.

I’m posting to point out that my previous post was my 100th post to Smrt Lernins. I’m not sure what that says about me, other than the fact that this place has allowed me to become unreasonably prolific, but thanks for hanging in there through all the stuff and nonsense.

I’ve signed up to participate in National Blog Posting Month (see the little dealy in the side bar on the right?), so I now have absolutely nothing to write about, naturally. I suppose it seems reasonable to blog about blogging in general as an official kickoff off NaBloPoMo (not a portmanteau of my own devising, I assure you).

Since I seldom write about My Life Prior to Homeschooling™ here, I’m sure I haven’t mentioned that I used to be a part of a NCLB-funded grant program, run through the journalism department of my local university, that involved teaching middle and high school teachers how to blog and integrate blogging into their classrooms. My job was to actually teach the teachers how to set up their blogs and give suggestions as to how they could use them. I helped set up student blogs. I encouraged developing a blogging community between teachers, both interschool and intraschool. Unfortunately, most of the teachers were unwilling to exert the kind of effort needed to use the blog effectively, and the project tended to fizzle out by the end of each school year, leaving us to start from scratch with the next year’s batch of teachers. After two years of this, I decided not to re-up as a contractor with the program.

During that time, however, I did develop a huge appreciate for the role blogging could play in education, both for teachers and for students. Now that I am homeschooling, I find blogging to be a useful tool in several ways, as an outlet for emotion, a mean of recording experiences, a networking opportunity, and on down the line.

So, why should homeschoolers blog? Here are some ways that blogging may be helpful to you as a homeschooler:

Record Keeping — If you’re anything like me, keeping track of paper records is something of a challenge. I really have more of a failing system than a filing system. With three kids, mentally tracking what we’ve covered and when is also on the taxing side. I overcome both these challenges through weekly curriculum updates in my blog. Each week, I detail what was covered and how it went, so that later on, if it’s ever called into question or I need to refer back to it, I can look through my Weekly Reviewins category. It’s easy to look at progression through subject areas, the speed at which we covered curricula, and the areas in which Captain Science excelled or struggle. It’s also a handy way to track whether things like changes of weather, schedule, or other day-to-day minutiae created any sort of noticeable behavior pattern that I might use to alter when and how I teach.

Assessing Curricula — Writing about curricula isn’t just helpful for other homeschoolers, who might be interested in your input and experiences, but is also an effective way to explore your responses to the curricula you’re using. Sometimes, writing about curricula helps you spot issues or patterns that aren’t immediately obvious. I was reading back through old post and noticed that I had mentioned several times how clunky and tedious the IEW Ancient History-theme writing curriculum seemed, and several concerns about Biblical references. In any individual sitting, I was willing to take the blame for inadequately understanding and appreciating the curriculum, but when I saw the pattern, I realize the issue was actually curricular incompatibility. Sometimes, just writing about my issues with a curriculum helps me clarify my thoughts about it or understand portions that were troubling or confusing me. Writing a post in praise of a curriculum helps me better understand what qualities work in curricula work best for us, so that I can seek those out in the future.

Compiling Resources — Blogs provide a great place for keeping track of resources like website, books, and destinations. Because you’re sharing the information contextually, you’re helping avoid the questions of “Now why did I write this web adddress down? Did I jot down this book to buy it or avoid it?” You can also create a great resource list for others in your philosophical or physical area, who might be encouraged to create their own, providing even more opportunities for you!

Social Dialoguing — Blogging is a way of connecting with other homeschoolers, both as individuals and as a community. Even if your posts aren’t a direct address to another person or the community at large, blogging is a social dialogue. Every blog post is the start of a conversation, though your readers won’t always take you up on that every time. You are opening your experience and opinions up for commentary, sometimes positive and sometimes negative, and inviting outside participation in your educational choices. Through comments, readers can share their own experiences (which may be similar to yours or very different), offer advice, and yes, sometimes offer criticism. Sure, no one likes to hear that some think you’re “doin’ it wrong,” but don’t delete those disagreeing comments out of hand. Use them as a way to explain your position, clarify a statement, or correct a misunderstanding — this is just another part of the social dialogue. You (or your critic) may learn something vital about homeschooling or yourselves. You may even change a mind about an important issue.

Networking/Community Building — Many of us interact with other homeschoolers on forums, but those are largely impersonal places, where only a portion of our personalities and experiences come out. They can tend towards the cliquish. In our own blogs, however, we can express other aspects of our homeschooling lives and invite people with similar interests (or who simply find us interesting) to come learn more about us and our methods. For people like me, secular classical homeschoolers, stumbling upon someone with similar goals and ideals is like an online goldmine! Take advantage of weekly update posts and posting signatures on forums, because they often include links to the commenter’s own homeschool blogs. If you like what that commenter has to say, check out his/her blog. If you like what you read there, comment and let him/her know and consider adding the blog to your own Blogroll, favorites list, or links. Check in with your Blogroll often, as your comments will remind them to come read your posts. Building an online community or support network takes effort and nurturing, but the benefits are many. You’ll have people to turn to with curriculum questions, recommendation, or venting.

Saving Your Sanity — Speaking of venting, blogging your homeschooling adventures may be the best way to blow off steam at the end of a trying day. Rant and rave, laugh at yourself, retell the situation in excruciating (and hilarious) detail, and you’ll find that you feel much better about it. It will allay the fear that you’re failing your children, because that community you’re cultivating will be there to assure you that they’ve screwed up just as badly without permanently damaging their kids. It will give you a place to unload the embarrassment and anger that your child’s behavior (or even yours) might have caused you, because once it’s on the screen, it’s suddenly less of a burden on your mind. People can SEE it; it’s not something you have to hide or repress. They know what you did or what your kids did…and they are reading you and still like you anyway. Of course, it can be easier to talk about your shameful failures regarding scheduling and your child’s hellacious tantrums in the Dollar Spot at Target if you, like me, use pseudonyms for everyone, so perhaps this is an argument for adding the sweet spice of anonymity to your blogging ventures as well.

Keeping Your Brain From Turning to Jell-O — Forcing yourself to blog has another useful benefit for the water-logged (or mother-logged) brain of the homeschooler; using your mind keeps it sharp. You’re making yourself think, keeping your language skills honed, and getting the added satisfaction of sharing your words with others. Even if you aren’t a literary genius, you can be a published author every time you hit that “post” (or “publish”) button. Practice will make blogging easier, because the more you work your brain, the stronger it will become. Blogging encourages you to seek out new information, too. You’ll start looking for other blogs to read, pages that will make great links, subjects that need you to write about them. Blogging can be a part of turning you into a lifelong learner, and isn’t that something in and of itself worth blogging about?

These are just a few suggestions of ways to use your blog as a tool to help make your homeschooling experience better. I’m sure you can think of many more. How do you use your homeschooling blog?