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connections. relationships. education.
Education is about relationships. Charlotte Mason said this and I believe it. I believed it theoretically when I first read it, decades ago. I believed it experientially when I thought back over my own education, both formal and self-chosen. When what I learned well and best, thoroughly and ingrained as part of my psyche, was when I had a relationship with the material. That’s why Spanish for three years has vanished into the mist but words have stayed. Stories have stuck. And I believed it theoretically for my children when I said yes to homeschooling. And I believe it experientially as I watch my kids make their own connections, mourn…
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Should I Stop Homeschooling?
For years I’ve said a handful of absolutes about my homeschooling experience. (I do like to speak in absolutes, although I am working hard to remove them from my vernacular. I know they are not helpful, generally speaking.) Two of those absolutes are this: I will make a decision for each homeschool year for each kid on a case by case year by year basis. No homeschooling parent (and no teacher, maybe no human) should make life changing decisions in February. And yet. Here I am, having just spent most of February pondering and thinking and researching and looking into a wide variety of Other Options beside homeschooling for one,…
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this day. this life. some sort of a mood.
We started school this week. Which feels sad now in August but should feel pretty happy come May. I have three high school students. THREE. I feel as if I need to shout everything I say today. It all feels monumental. Or something. I’ve been saying to the kids all day – I’m in some kind of a mood today. I really cannot explain it. The start of school. Am I ready? The stress of high school math. Shoot, of all math. The high cost of education. And I do mean that both figuratively and literally. And don’t even get me started on whether public school is free or home…
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what bok choy can do . . .
Bok Choy. Until a few weeks ago I don’t think I had ever heard of it. London and I took a cooking class together and it was one of the foods we learned to prepare. It’s leafy (kind of) and green and we learned to prepare it simply by basically wilting it with olive oil and salt over heat. We served it up alongside our Chinese meal of potstickers and meatballs at our class. Following our class I’ve been seeing bok choy everywhere. I picked up some last week when we reinvented our Chinese meal at home with everyone and Piper and Otto were in charge of the “wilting”.…
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Jump In: A Workbook for Reluctant & Eager Writers – A Timberdoodle Review
My favorite way to teach good writing to junior high students is through good reading. I love to incorporate narration from the novels the kids are reading and to have them grow accustomed to reading well written words, which, in turn, hopefully leads them to writing well written words of their own. But sometimes it’s also really helpful to have a little guide – a handbook, if you will. I was excited to add Jump In: A Workbook for Reluctant and Eager Writers from Timberdoodle into my curriculum this year because sometimes I can forget what expectations are appropriate to have for my junior high writers. This workbook is…
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Doodle Lit: A Timberdoodle Review
Oh you guys, this book hits on all the fun things for me. My favorite parts of homeschool. It’s called Doodle Lit and it comes in Timberdoodle’s 8th Grade Curriculum Kit or you can buy it solo on their website as well. It’s a pretty straightforward book that is a fun take on literature. Lots of classic authors are included – Mark Twain, Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte, Herman Melville, Jane Austen and so many more. For each author there is a cleverly drawn portrait of that author and then a handful of pages for your student to doodle, draw or create in unique and interesting ways. …
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How To Get Excited About Starting Back to Homeschool
Summer is a double edged sword for homeschoolers. (Maybe for all schoolers, I don’t know.) On the one hand — FREEDOM. No schedule. No routine. No lesson plans. No math homework. Sleeping late. Staying up late. Eat lunch at 3 pm. Eat breakfast at 11 am. Have watermelon and corn on the cob for dinner. Eat popsicles for dinner. On the other hand — FREEDOM. Grouchy kids from lack of sleep. Messed up schedules from sleeping late. Saying yes to too many fun things because (FREEDOM). Not sitting down to regular family at-the-table dinners. No routine. Staying up late. So sometimes you kind of want (and need) that structure of…
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Mobi Max Math Game: A Review
(Cheers and party emoticons, you guys – it’s my first Timberdoodle review. Thanks to Timberdoodle I have the opportunity to receive this math game at no cost in exchange for my honest review – with opinions all of my own. The opinions — that’s the easy part!) Math and I aren’t BFFs so when I see anything that can make math seem fun or attractive or appealing — I’ll give it a shot. The Mobi Max Game arrived in the mail and the first impressions were of its cool packaging. Eh. Maybe fun packaging shouldn’t matter – but we all know, it does. The whale is cute, has a hook for hanging…
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(the first annual?) Autumn Poet Tea
Turns out it wasn’t enough to just enjoy our Poet Tea with the family. This week we welcomed with open arms the perfect loveliness of the autumn season. With open arms, sweet friends and thoughtful words from celebrated poets. And – with desserts! And tea too, of course. Oh my word, you guys. The cuteness was intoxicating. We invited a few friends and set out some fall treats in the moderate fall weather. (Pumpkin muffins and hand pies and scones and lemon curd and tea served in my mother’s tea pots.) Each of the guests were asked to come prepared to share an autumn poem. That was the best part.…
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weighing in on year-round school. and changing up its name.
I’m thinking about school for next year. Because I’m kind of over thinking about school for this year. I have been entertaining thoughts about year-round school. This article really spoke my language about why I think the schedule could fit our family. I love the idea of more frequent breaks instead of drudging through until summer for this giant long break where we forget everything anyway. Then we begin again in fall with all this renewed vigor only to review every math lesson we already learned but forgot from lack of use and then our enthusiasm quickly fizzles out just as the more difficult subjects arrive on the scene. I…
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about cooking and serving.
London received a stand alone dry erase easel/chalkboard do-dad from her grandparents for Christmas this year. She loves that thing. Frequent to-do lists appear there. Stuffed animals’ names get put on long lists and directions for games the kids are playing show up frequently. Every night there are messages on the board for me or for Kevin. They usually involve questions about the food being served the next day at our home or requests for screen time or money making opportunities. One day last week the request was, “Can I prepare all the meals one day next week?” That wasn’t a request I really wanted to deny. Can you blame…
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Wildwood Academy: Group Study
Homeschool is proceeding differently this year. A true statement I can make every year. Even though I waited in line a loooong time to get into a fabulous homeschool co-op last year, we’re not all doing the same co-op this year. (And it still is fabulous, mind you – just not what our house needs this year.) Riley is attending classes there but my younger crowd is heading in a different direction. I mentioned being excited (I might have said “wildly optimistic”) about an upcoming joint homeschooling venture with several other families. We’re two weeks in and it seems to be going swimmingly. The idea was born of thus: Four…
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masterly inactivity
Masterly Inactivity. Almost an oxymoron. It’s a hard one for sure. Another Charlotte Mason tenet I try to figure out the balance of what she says and what I know and what we’re actually doing and how I can misuse even the beautiful intentions of my own heart. Masterly Inactivity. It’s the idea that our children need time. They need large quantities of time when they are not being shuffled from class to piano to karate to dinner to homework to bath to bed. They need time regularly. And in abundance. Time to begin and finish that wooden block village that looks exactly like Jamestown. Time to spend so long…
