Smrt Lernins

I’m not a very crafty parent, which is somewhat incongruous, as I am a crafty person. I sew, knit, crochet, make Waldorf-style dolls, dabble at quilting, but I don’t really do kid crafts. It should come more naturally than it does, because I’m also a 12-year veteran of Girl Scouting, including several years as a camp counselor to 2nd and 3rd graders. I know how to finger weave, make paper bag hand puppets, make my own candles and all of those great crafts, but it just never occurs to me to do them.

I never sit down and think, “Gee! I sure would like to have the kids make their own crayons today!” I don’t make tomato sauce and make that mental leap to, “Wouldn’t it be fun to use this as finger paint on butcher paper?” I seldom, if ever, come up with holiday, seasonal, or weather related craft ideas on the fly. Even things like painting and working with clay don’t pop into my head as an idea for filling time. The Tank came home from preschool yesterday wearing a beautiful necklace made from dyed, dry pasta of different shapes and sizes, and I never, ever would have thought to make something like that.

Why are some parents like that and others aren’t? I have friends who routinely set up seasonal sensory tables for their children, who make their own playdough on a whim, who always have an idea for something like paper pumpkins or turkeys to provide holiday-relevant activities, who festoon their mantels with garlands made from paper leaves colored and cut out by their children. I’m an intelligent person. I daresay that I’m at least a moderately creative one. I like to think I’m even a fairly fun mom at times. Why don’t I even think about making designs from glue and shaking cinnamon and glitter on to them? Why don’t I make felt “paper” dolls with my kids? Why don’t we make and bind our own books?

Am I missing a creativity gene? A parenting gene? Am I somehow wrong-thinking and a right-thinking parent would do these things? I feel guilty when I see all the crafts my friends do with their children, because I worry that my kids are missing out on some special part of childhood that a better or more progressive/involved parent would offer them. I don’t remember my mother providing us with endless craft activities as we grew up, at least, not outside of Girl Scouts. I always thought that was what Scouting was for. My boys don’t do Scouting (Captain Science tried, but we quit half a year in, because it was every bit as bad as I’d thought it would be, and then some). I know I’ll want to lead a Girl Scout troop for Babypie at some point, and I’m sure we’ll do make all the milk carton ice candles, clothespin reindeer, and paper plate masks there that a little girl could desire, but what about my boys? Are they going to suffer and be uncreative individuals for a lack of crafting in childhood?

How do I find the motivation for this? Do I even need the motivation for this? Will macaroni jewelry be the dividing line between the wise and the foolish, the enlightened and the worldly, the creative and the dull? Does so much depend upon a tissue paper mosaic of a red wheelbarrow, glazed with homemade finger paint, beside the pipe cleaner chickens?

*knock on wood* So far today, everything has gone right! I shall illustrate for you in bullet point.

The Ways In Which All Is Well Today:

The Ways In Which All Has Not Gone Well:

Not a bad day when the good list is that much bigger than the bad list (and the bads are mostly just not-goods as opposed to plain-old-rottens).

When deciding on our homeschooling schedule, we had several things to take into account. Officer Daddyman is on evening watch, which means he leaves the house at around 2pm and doesn’t return until 11pm or later. He works part time security jobs at odd hours. His off days rotate forward by one day every fourth Sunday. The Tank goes to a three day a week, four hour a day preschool. We have a co-op on Tuesday that runs most of the day. We go to another family’s house for science class on Thursdays.

Captain Science thrives on routine. The more predictable the schedule, the happier a child he us. The very best schedule for us would be to get up at the same time each day, start and finish school at the same time each day, and do the same things in the same order each day. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, for the sake of Captain Science’s ability to cope with change), our family schedule simply doesn’t allow us to do that.

Due to Daddyman’s rotating off days, we had originally considered keeping school days on his work days and rotating our “weekend” to match up with his. Because The Tank goes to school outside the home, however, and because we have commitments elsewhere, we realized that wouldn’t be practical. We keep to a traditional Monday through Friday schedule. This means that Officer Daddyman is sometimes home all day to help with homeschool and sometimes is gone all day and doesn’t see the kids at all on a day when we have no school. When Captain Science was in public school, he would sometimes have three or four days in a row of not seeing his dad at all, though, so at this point, any additional amount of time we see Daddyman feels like lagniappe.

On Monday, either Daddyman or I wakes up at 7:50 to get The Tank ready for school. We get the Captain up and rolling if he’s not up already, so he can eat breakfast. Sometimes, he and Daddyman will go on a run while Babypie and I take The Tank to school. Sometimes, Captain Science goes ahead and starts on his math (his first subject of any at-home day) while Daddyman sleeps in a bit with Babypie, especially if Daddyman has worked late the night before. Once I’m back from dropping off The Tank, we go on about our day, until 12:40, when I have to go get The Tank again. I leave Captain Science, and occasionally Babypie, with Daddyman. Once I’m home, we just work until the work is done.

On Tuesday, Daddyman and Captain Science get up early to go to the first session of co-op classes, the martial arts class that Daddyman teaches at 10. I stay behind and get lunches packed and the two little ones dressed and ready, so I can be there for my class at 11. Daddyman stays at co-op until noon, watching Babypie while I teach, and then he leaves. I feed the boys and then take The Tank and Babypie home with me for naps at around 12:30, returning at 3:00 to get Captain Science. That’s usually the end of our homeschool day, thank goodness!

Right now, Daddyman works a part time on Wednesdays at a local bank. He leaves before dawn and then usually goes straight to his shift, as his off days are Thurs/Fri right now. Homeschooling can sometimes feel very overwhelming on Wednesdays, because I get up at 7:50 with The Tank, get all his school stuff ready, and have to get everyone in the car to drop him off. Captain Science can’t start his math until we’re home at 9:15 or 9:20, so it’s hard to get far before we have to turn around and go back to the preschool (can you see why I’m considering not reenrolling him for the next school year?). I have all three kids, alone, all day long, and the little two are cranky because they want their daddy. On Wednesdays, I usually flee to Nana’s house for coffee, just for some adult company and a little freedom from the boys, who will play with her neighbors for a while.

Thursdays, I get up with everyone again, load them up, and drop off The Tank. After that, I take Captain Science over to Patchfire’s house for science, stay until 12:20 when Eclectic Girl has to go to piano lessons, then come home. Daddyman usually goes to pick up The Tank on Thursdays, so Captain Science can eat lunch and start on his other school work.

Fridays are such a relief! No preschool! No work! Unless Daddyman has court, he’s home all day. We don’t get rolling very early on these days, more like 9+ than 8ish. Officer Daddyman usually cooks a big brunchfest at around 10-11. If Captain Science has been having trouble with any math concepts, Daddyman spends the rest of the morning helping him with that. We don’t have a lot of curricula to cover on Fridays, as this is the day we do things like typing and logic, so we can relax and not have to rush. We like to wrap it up early if possible, because we have a standing dinner and play date with The Mitnens*. Occasionally, Captain Science has a Dawdling Day, though, and we are late to our date.

Saturdays are makeup days if we’ve had to miss a day for illness or injury, though we’ve only had two of those so far. Officer Daddyman is currently working on Saturdays and Sundays, so we tend to bum around with family or friends, and make out of the house plans that don’t involve him.

We have hectic, full lives, as you can see, yet we can make homeschooling work for us. If anything, homeschooling better suits our schedule, because we have more together time and because we don’t have to revolve five days a week around meeting someone at the bus stop. We can hit the playground before the afterschool rush. Homeschooling fits our crazy schedule, and we like it that way!

*The Tank says “Mitnen” for “mister” and “miss.” He also can’t say the letter “S” very well, so he calls Patchfire’s husband “Mitnen Ham” and her “Mitnen [Patchfire].” Now the McLernins refer to the whole family as “The Mitnens.”

For today’s Secular Thursday, I thought I’d try something different: a review of one of my favorite secular* curricula, the Life of Fred math series.

Captain Science has always been pretty good at math, but his one true love is reading. The kid will read anything you put in front of him, from books and magazines to product packaging and insurance forms. If it has words, he can’t help but read them (we’ve learned to be very careful about the materials we leave lying around!). While looking for a math curriculum, I’m sure you can imagine my pleasure when the Life of Fred series, which teach post-long division level mathematics within a novel format — and by “novel,” I mean both “fiction book” and “unique and new.” Life of Fred, by Stanley Schmidt, follows the story of a boy named Fred, a mathematical genius who, at age 5, is teaching college-level math at the fictional Kittens University.

The Life of Fred series covers fractions, decimals and percents, algebra, and other higher-level math concepts. To begin this series, your student needs to show mastery of addition, subtraction, multi-digit multiplication, and long division. Each short chapter contains a section of ongoing plot, some discourse between author and reader, footnotes with all manner of not-necessarily-math-related information, and a set of mathematical concepts. Because the math is contextual (something is happening to, around, or because of Fred), a strong reader can easily understand the relevance and mechanics of the subject matter, making this a fairly self-guided curricula. At the end of each chapter is a section entitled “Your Turn to Play,” where the student works through a set of problems, which cover the new material learned in the chapter and hearken back to earlier chapters. The students are encouraged to check their own work after the parent has looked it over, because the answer key** contains even more instruction and shows the different ways in which one could get an answer. Every five chapters or so, students do a 10 problem “bridge,” which covers all materials learned to date. If they get at least 9/10 correct, they can move on. If not, there are four more bridges to try.

In Life of Fred: Fractions, Captain Science is not only learning about various things to do with fractions (reduce, convert, add, multiply, etc.), but also about things like Roman numerals. He’s also learned additional vocabulary, some rhetorical concepts, and other facts not precisely related to math, but still handy to know. He wants so badly to know what happens next that he sometimes begs me to let him do an extra math chapter!

The questions I hear most often are “Is it rigorous enough?” and “Does it need to be supplemented with additional work?” My answer to question #1 is yes, it is, a) if your student is a strong reader and learns well through reading and b) especially taken as a whole series, as it builds each new concept upon the previous concepts so well that your children seem to be learning very complex concepts with minimal effort (hence the “is it rigorous enough?” question). As for whether a student needs supplemental materials, I’m of the mind that extra practice doesn’t hurt and that some kids will need additional help on certain concepts, while others won’t. Captain Science will probably benefit from some additional mixed fractions additional and multiplication work as he’s working on those concepts in Life of Fred, but he hasn’t needed any additional practice with the other topics he’s covered. Keeping a concept-matching Key To… book around for additional practice would very easily provide a gap-filler if there’s something in a chapter that your child just cannot get. This is where the bridge between chapters is so beneficial, because it provides a method of making sure concepts are being learned and retains. If your child can’t pass the bridges or struggles with the same types of problems in multiple bridges, you’ll know it’s time for some supplemental work — a situation, by the way, that can happen with any curriculum, no matter how rigorous and thorough.

Captain Science and I give each this secular mathematics program two thumbs up (or more accurately, two thumbs up from me and a nose buried in the book for him).

*The author of this series is Christian and there are a few minor Christian references in Life of Fred: Beginning Algebra, such as a mention of Fred saying his prayers before bed (the actual prayer isn’t in the book), a discussion with an Army chaplain who says he learned Greek to read the New Testament, and a reference to a quote from Deuteronomy about taking care of widows and children. This does not, to me, negate the value of the series to a secular homeschooler and my experience with the earlier books has been that they are entirely secular.
**The answer key is immediately after “Your Turn to Play,” often with no page in between the questions and the answers. The major flaw of this book is that I have to cover it the answers before the Captain can start working to avoid him just copying down Fred’s way of solving the problem. Having the answers on the other side of the page would have been appreciated! Maybe in later editions?

This is just a quick update about our current program(s) of study, mainly to give me an at-a-glance look at our curricula:

Still need to add:

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Entertaining any suggestions, questions, criticisms, or comments on our curricula!

On the Well Trained Mind forums, someone asked what we wished we had known when we started homeschooling. What do I wish I had known before I started homeschooling? What do I want other secular homeschoolers to know before they get started?

1. You don’t have to teach them everything in the first pass. You hit each period of history at least one more time. They don’t have to learn it all by the logic stage! Think 3-4 years ahead, imagine what greater detail you might like to explore, and make sure you’re establishing a firm foundation upon which to build in the future.
2. You probably won’t like every single curriculum you pick out. You might downright hate some that come highly recommended. Ditch it and get a new one that fits your needs better and don’t feel bad about it. Beg, borrow, or copy a friend’s curriculum to try it out. Experiment until you find the curriculum that serves a duel purpose of meeting your child’s learning needs and being adequately rigorous.
3. You’ll vacillate between feeling like you’re not doing enough and feeling like you’re doing waaaay too much. This is probably a good sign that you’re doing the right amount overall. When in doubt, err on the side of rigor, and if your child’s eyes are rolling around in his head, back it down a notch.
4. It’s impossible to be too organized or have too many supplies! You’ll need supplies you didn’t realize you needed — binder rings, hole protectors for notebook paper, endless erasers because your child will wear those down much fast than he wears down the pencils.
5. Have a homeschool buddy to keep you honest, on track, and feeling good about what you’re doing. I’d never make it through without Patchfire, who gave me first-hand advice about her experiences with curricula, supports me when I feel like I’m failing, and gives me honest constructive criticism if I’m screwing something up.
6. Get “teacher” discounts at book stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble. They’ll usually be happy to give it to you if you provide a copy of your Declaration of Intent to homeschool. You’ll save around 20% and it’ll take some of the financial burden off you as you’re buying supplemental books. Don’t expect to find great curricula at mainstream book stores, but you’ll find some wonderful history books, biographys, literature, and even supplemental math stuff.
7. Don’t be afraid to be rigorous. Just because you’re a secular homeschooler, it doesn’t mean you have to be an unschooling slack-ass. Raise the bar a little bit.
8. Secular curriculum exists. You don’t have to pick the Jesus bits out of the books. It’s out there. Don’t be afraid to ask your fellow homeschoolers what they use. Ask me. Ask Patchfire. We’ll be happy to talk your ear off about what we use.
9. You aren’t going to screw this up if you use all the resources available to you. You know your child best. Play to his strengths and yours. If you feel like you’re screwing it up, farm it out. Patchfire does our science. We do extra-curriculars through a co-op. Patchfire’s kids take enrichment classes through various groups. Find out what’s in your community and take advantage of it.Hopefully some of this will be helpful to you as you start your journey. What advice would YOU give a new secular homeschooler?

Monday went pretty darn well for our first day of trying to homeschool with a broken arm. Captain Science read one short book on Greek history and one short book on Greek gods. He did three chapters of grammar and was able to take a short review quiz online. We did a chapter of Life of Fred about Roman numerals. I wasn’t actually that familiar with them myself, so together we made a chart of units, tens, and hundreds. He did a little writing with his left had and dictated some answer to me. We had a nice time!

Homeschool co-op was ok, especially because martial arts was canceled due to Officer Daddyman having mandatory firearms training (hey, you want your cops to have regular refresher courses in that!), but by the end of the day, Captain Science was tired and very sensitive. He cried during his film making class, because his classmates wouldn’t listen to him and because he was given a small role due to group concerns about his broken arm getting in the way.

We’ve had a lot of success with naps this past week, but today was a bust, as we weren’t home until 3:30. No nap = extra sensitivity from both boys. Joy! Even Babypie is a little cranky from lack of a proper nap, and I’m cranky from lack of them having a nap.

We’re struggling to get a follow-up appointment for the Captain’s arm. It’s all “leave a message” and pass the buck and “no, this isn’t who you call!” I’ll be glad when this mess is all over.

This week started off so well, but ended on a down note. Nothing like building up momentum only to have your kid take a tumble out of the tree.

Monday was an exciting day, full of pouring rain and flooding yards. Captain Science reviewed his two Egypt chapters for History, choosing three important facts from each period to write down as a study exercise, wrote his final draft of his ten Egyptian god paragraphs, did chapter 4.4-4.6 in Growing With Grammar, and did his final section of exercise 1 in Writing Strands: rewrite something you’ve already written and add more detail. He chose to rewrite one of his Egyptian god paragraphs.

Tuesday, the homeschool co-op was canceled due to heavy rain, so we did a chapter of Life of Fred and did music appreciation, learning about Georges Bizet.

Wednesday was a spectacular day for homeschooling, despite it’s unfortunate end. Captain Science got right up and was highly motivated. He did his Ancient Egypt Venn Diagram and correctly placed all but one of the facts (he couldn’t decide where “pharoahs were living gods” should go). He did 4.7-4.9 in Growing With Grammar and started on Exercise 2 of Writing Strands, completing days 1 & 2 (prewriting) and day 3 (writing sentences with greater detail). I was quite impressed by his detailed sentences. He’s developing a real knack for descriptive language! After he was done with all his work, he went outside to play, and promptly fell out of a tree.

With a freshly broken arm that we are hoping will not require pins are our one-week check up, I decide that the rest of the week should be taken as sick days. He’s doing some reading, but mostly relaxing. We accomplished a lot on the 3/5ths of the week we had for work, however, and I’m currently developing a writing-free curriculum for next week, so his arm can heal. We’ll start reintegrating some writing after we’ve gotten the all-clear from the orthopedist.

The Tank only had a day and a half of school this week, too, as flooding closed our county schools and his preschool goes on the county calendar. He was sent home early on Monday and had class on Thursday. He seems to still be working on the letters A and B. We got some fun color and number workbooks for him to use on days when he doesn’t have school, but Captain Science does, so he can do some “Table Learning” while the Captain works.

Babypie continues in her quest to learn to crawl, but not there yet. She’ll be six months old on Sunday. The horror!

While reading the Well Trained Mind forums, I came across this little gem. Classical unschoolers? Really? Their group’s description says the group is “for those of us that love the idea of a classical education but also follow a more relaxed, eclectic, unschooling path.”

I’m seeing several problems with the concept of “classical unschooling,” the primary one being that these people seem to have a fundamental lack of understanding of what a classical education is. It isn’t just studying about the Greeks and Romans, especially “by way of self-directed reading and watching videos.” In fact, by Susan Wise Bauer’s (author of The Well-Trained Mind) definition of classical education, learning primarily through videos in and of itself negates the idea of the education being classical. Classical education, through her eyes, is “language-focused; learning is accomplished through words, written and spoken, rather than through images (pictures, videos, and television).”

So how, then, can unschooling be classical? Taking a few elements of classical education, such as learning about Greek history or to speak Latin, doesn’t suddenly impart structure or form to unschooling. It doesn’t fill in the huge gaps of education that can arise from making the child the final arbiter of what s/he should learn.

A child who is unschooled until middle school and is then thrust into a classical curriculum is at a serious disadvantage. While I believe a classical curriculum can be started at any age, an unschooled child will probably have a greater difficulty than, say, a public schooled child in adapting to a rigorous, formal curriculum. Do they really have the foundations upon which you can build a good education? How much catch-up will you have to do to even get the child to the age-appropriate logic stage, when they haven’t had one whit of grammar stage education? If you know you want to educate classically later, why completely unschool now? Do you really think that, come sixth or seventh grade, your child will be willing and able to sit down for formal instruction and that you will be willing and able to offer it?

I think the group’s description sums it up neatly, actually. They “love the idea of a classical education,” but are unwilling or unable to put in the time and effort needed to give their child this education. A 17-year-old working through Saxon Algebra because she realizes she wants to take the SAT, a 10 year old who is only now learning any grammar because he’s only now willing to “pick it up,” a mother logging hours spent on “various activities” so she can fabricate a transcript — these are not examples of classical education. There’s nothing classical about that. Back-applying the “classical” label to half-assed schooling efforts in order to make you feel better about what you’re doing doesn’t actually make the education classical, rigorous, or good.

If you want your child’s education to be classical, educate them classically. Don’t steal the label to dress up what you’re doing if it isn’t an accurate description. If you’re so proud of being an unschooler, just call yourself an unschooler.

Like my friend Patchfire, I feel like this week was a big less…rigorous, I guess, than last week.

In history, this week, Captain Science covered the Middle and New Kingdoms of Egypt. He finally finished The Golden Goblet, but barely got started on Mara, Daughter of the Nile. I, however, did pick up this book and am rather enjoying it. He’ll have to read it by the end of next week. I wrote about his history lesson in greater detail on Wednesday, so not much need to say more here.

In grammar, he did a review of Growing With Grammar chapter 3 and a quiz on the materials covered (mainly capitalization). He did chapters 4.1-4.3, covering action verbs, direct objects, and linking verbs, with sentence diagramming for the direct objects.

We started a new writing curriculum, Writing Strands, which, while not the most intense or rigorous curriculum, is certainly more enjoyable. The Captain didn’t balk at doing the work for Day 1 and Day 2 in a single sitting. We’ll be doing more than a day’s worth of work a day, because the lessons are a bit light. If this encourages him to write, though, I’m all about it. It’s more light-hearted, to be sure.

Math didn’t get off to a great start. Due to complete lack of reading directions, Captain Science couldn’t pass the bridge in Life of Fred: Fractions after chapters 6-10 the first four times he tried it. He knew the material, but didn’t write the answers as requested, or didn’t give the part of the answer required, or didn’t reduce all the way. Maybe it was because it was Dawdlin Day Thursday, but kid could NOT focus. Today (Friday), he did chapter 11 with no problem. Distracted Boy is distracted.

In science, Captain Science and Eclectic Girl started magnetism. I had to run off to a dentist appointment, so I left the Captain at Patchfire’s house while he did his science lesson. When I returned, I found that he had not actually written down the answers on two of the five sheets of work, which did not please me. He had to finish them at home, but I can’t vouch for their accuracy. I think Patchfire is going to have to knock some heads together.

We listened to one music lesson this week, on Leonard Bernstein. I can’t say if the Captain was impressed or not, though he did seem a little more interested in Bernstein then he was in Bach or Beethoven.

Co-op is going well, though he might end up being booted from Officer Daddyman’s martial arts class if he doesn’t behave. He’s alternating between wild and apathetic. I don’t know if this is a “my dad is my teacher” thing or he just doesn’t want to do it and won’t speak up. He’d better figure that out, though, because he’s about one more bad lesson away from spending that class period in study hall working on his writing.

The Tank continues to love preschool. He got kicked in his face (accidentally) by another boy on Thursday, but is otherwise pleased with the whole thing. He’s brought home painted pictures of apples, pictures of apples with real seeds pasted to them, painted pictures made by using half an apple as a stamp, and a note about his favorite color of apple. I’m sensing a theme here.

Babypie is still working on her crawling, but has mainly mastered crawling in place, which is hilarious for me, but frustrating for her. She crawls and crawls, but never makes it anywhere! I am kind of feeling the same way this week.