Stuck in Mathmagic Land
A downside to homeschooling for me-knowing when to stop. I don’t mean when to stop the art of homeschooling. I mean when you can punch out for the day like a public or private school teacher can. I could teach 12 hours a day if I wanted to because there’s no boundary or endpoint as in a normal job. That freedom can help you or cause you anxiety. I’ll give you an example…My kids are somewhat limited on how much TV they can watch. I usually offer other options such as asking them to read or play a game or go outside and play. Sitting in front of mindless television shows just hits me the wrong way. That’s likely me just not being able to turn off my homeschooling switch. And, in the back of my mind I know that at that very same moment there are thousands, likely more, of parents around the world who aren’t letting their children sit in front of the tv but are instead having a teaching moment with their kids. And, they want their kids to take our kids’ seats at our universities. It’s a real challenge for me to find that balance. Or maybe the question is, “Should I?” We’ve dumbed everything down for our kids, including their playtime, so I’m not so sure that I should feel guilty about raising the bar a bit. I don’t know…You should be in my head!
Tonight, I actually let my kids watch a movie after dinner (after eating our picnic salad on the floor). You know what they watched? “Donald in MathMagic Land”. I had just ordered the video from Amazon. The kids actually loved this older Disney movie, and I didn’t feel so guilty about their movie watching time.
Picture study at breakfast
It’s 1:00 a.m., and I just finished prepping for tomorrow. We started very late this morning after I let them sleep in. Sometimes it is good to just stop. After breakfast, we made a trip to the library to pick up some living math books and books on the Manhattan Project for a research paper. A bit more academics followed, then activities and errands. Sleep needs to occur….
Coding at midnight
I’m really tired tonight. I was working with my oldest son until 10:00 on HTML coding. I’m having to learn these things along with him since I’m so behind on my computer knowledge!
Got my workout in today. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired. This gym class is called “cardio combat”-go figure. My legs will probably be screaming at me in the morning!
It’s midnight, and I may call it an early one for me after I catch up on world news. Wonder if former Secretary Clinton will run for president in the next round? Groundhog Day approaches..
Weekend blues
Wow! We’ve had such cold weather over the last few days where we live. It’s the kind of cold that makes you want to stay inside and eat an entire pot of warm soup and chocolate cake and stay in your sweat pants. Of course, if we are eating my cooking, we may end up ordering pizza!
Anyway, the weekend had our usual activities along with under-the-weather kids. Still, unless there’s some emergency or my kids are throwing up, we keep right on going with learning. They can still read while resting or I can read to them. I guess that’s an advantage of homeschooling versus sending your kids outside of the home. You don’t really have sick days so academics aren’t affected when you need to slow down at bit.
Finished academics with my daughter tonight (9:00). As long as she’s doing well with it, we keep going. Sometimes we have to do late nights because there’s just only so much time that I can give to each kid one-on-one. Extending our teaching time into the evening sometimes has to occur.
Well, now it’s 11:00, and I just printed out Paul Lockhart’s “A Mathematician’s Lament”. This will be my midnight reading before retiring. But, hubby and I have to watch our recorded “Fringe” episode. This is one show I actually watch off of TV. Other than that, I couldn’t really tell you what shows are on.
I need a shower. My hair is so dirty it is sticking to my scalp!
Come on, America. Step it up!
The latest issue of “Time for Kids” showing top countries of fourth graders’ math scores. The U.S. was 11th. The leaders are all Asian. Hmmmm….
Eagle mother versus Tiger mother-bring it!
Yep, I coined that term here, “Eagle Mother”. (How do you like my choice of animal?)
So, what is an Eagle Mother, you ask?
Well, an Eagle Mother is an American mother (of any ethnic background) who recognizes the importance of her child’s education and fully assumes the role of training her child in the manner that he should go. Sound familiar? Now, let’s break that down even further…An Eagle Mother works tirelessly to provide opportunities and environments in order to maximize her child’s potential. She frequently, if not almost always, puts her child’s interests before her own. She desires that her child would receive the best education possible and recognizes that a quality education has many forms and appearances. She finds the right balance of commitment to studies to other aspect’s of the child’s life. The hope for her would then be that that education which was so heavily invested in and where so many sacrifices were made would then be used by her child to have a positive influence on society. (There will be more to this definition.)
Notice that the focus is on the Eagle Mother and not the child. She is constantly evaluating her practice and tactics of child-rearing and will make adjustments as necessary along the way. Do I believe I’m an Eagle Mother? I sure hope so!
I’ve been studying the Asian culture and their parenting styles a bit more. I’m sure you’re familiar with Amy Chua and her controversial book on child rearing so no need to hang out there.
Here’s what I’m thinking…Let’s get our own mantra going. By that, I mean the American mothers who have high expectations and tough love for our own kids should have a voice for how hard we are working at this child-rearing thing. Let’s start a movement in our culture that demands more from both American parents and children, and get rid of our less-than-stellar image among the international world that we are failing at education and parenting.
Amy Chua’s book is an interesting read, but beyond that, I don’t really care what she did. She has an Asian influence in her background. I do not. So, I’m simply going off of what my gut is telling me to do, and it is that I should be an Eagle mother.
In that same vein, I was teaching my son at 10:00 tonight, and it’s Friday. Don’t worry. It’s a necessary thing as Hubby and I hope to be taking a tropical vacation soon, so I need to cover a bit more academically before then. Yes, I need a break. But, no doubt, the kids will have studies to cover while we are traveling:)
Of note, I made pork chops in the crockpot. They were disgusting and smelled like dog food. So over this cooking thing!
Kids getting more stupid?
Ran across this article last night. A bit disturbing how some folks are viewing the way our education system is going, thinking that everything is okay when it’s not. Take note of some of the comments made from Eliot Weinbaum, an Ivy League grad working on Obama policy for our public education system.
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/feature-is-it-just-us-or-are-kids-getting-really-stupid/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WguQh-Ao850
A comment below from my girlfriend, Rosemary Laberee.
“I just viewed the UTube video. Â He strikes me as someone who is entirely submerged in the present system and married to the “institution of public education” (which is broken beyond description, IMHO) Â Â I’m underwhelmed – too much institutional rhetoric for me, LOL ! Â I Â read the article; I remember seeing this when it first came out. Â What he has to say about reading is appalling. Â He’s just wrong. Â Kids ARE reading less and it is reflected in the ALL TIME LOW Critical Reading scores on the SATs. Â
The fact that they can look at their iPhones for dates, etc., doesn’t mean that they do. Â News flash: Â They don’t.
 People do not like the SATs and all of the other measures of intelligence out there but here’s the thing:  the SAT scores are actually VERY good predictors of a students ability to succeed in college.  Translation:  the kids with low scores who go to college generally do not cut it and the kids with high scores who go to college do very well.  Moral of the story:  If a kid does not read, comprehension plummets.  SAT scores in that area are low.  Performance in college is poor. Â
Reading hard stuff ….sticking to it longer than the time it takes to switch from one website to another (!) …. really, really matters. Â
I think Weinbaum is way off base.”
Kids, it looks like vomitus, but it actually tastes good
Well, I put together a crockpot dish this morning after breakfast that cooked all day, and it actually turned out well! Was not expecting that, at all.
Busy day of academics: tessellations, Escher, Manhattan project, times tables, fractions, plurals, colonial times, habitats, geography, phonics, Hitler, Great Depression, research paper, Helen Keller, and so forth.
Need sleep as I’ll be teaching 3 different math classes and memory work tomorrow at Excelsior.
Prepping on Inauguration Day
We had 1/2 day of academics today, although my fifth grader and I were working on math until 10:00 tonight (followed after his soccer party). I’m up tonight catching the recorded version of the Inauguration while I read more on the Asian culture and how they raise their kids. Big differences compared to the typical American culture.
Sidenote-How much work has Joe Biden had on his face? Is it surgery or Botox? Either way, he looks 10 years younger than the last time I saw him on TV!
No holiday break
It’s midnight, and I’m working on some school materials. I’ve been digging through our Singapore math and discovered there are apps you can download to go with their program. I should assume there’s an app for just about everything at this point. Also, downloaded some random reading apps for all different ages.
Getting ready to watch a few Latin videos. Lately, I have not been able to squeeze Latin practice into our daily schedule. Hoping to do better with that this semester.
We are not breaking for MLK holiday. We will discuss him and his significant contributions to our history and culture, but otherwise I’ll be teaching:)
Crockpot cooking
It’s cleaning around my house today among other things. My house is a disaster, so I’m giving orders to the kids on how they will be helping. This after our soccer/gymnastics/ballet morning. Also trying to encourage more reading/math time even when I’m not formally teaching. Board games, free time, play outside, etc. Anything minus mindless video games..
My sister sent a link that’s on crockpot recipes. The author is a trial lawyer, and it sounds like she has very little time to cook. She’s had success with the crockpot method, so I’m going to give this a go. I’ve tried this before, and it never seemed to turn out in my favor. I’m not known for my cooking, and it’s terribly frustrating when I waste time and money. But, here I go again. Maybe perseverance is the key to good cooking?
http://crockadoodledo.blogspot.com/search/label/CHICKEN
To code or not to code? Is that the question?
I’m wrestling with how much time and resources to use towards computer science education for my kids. Would that time be better served just teaching math concepts? I’ve been told by several people that programming is so rapidly changing that it’s a waste of time for kids to learn what’s out there now. Just something else for me to make a decision on-ugh..
But along those lines, I did order a few new magazine subscriptions to PCWorld, MACworld, and Wired amongst others. Figured it can only help my kids and me to learn more about new technology in this fashion.
Appendicitis? I don’t have that built into my schedule.
I had a brief moment just recently where I thought our oldest son might be having an appendicitis. Sometimes, in these life circumstances, it helps that I’m a former physician, and sometimes it doesn’t because my mind can run wild with weird medical diagnoses. Turns out, thankfully, he was fine, but I had thought about how that would change what I had planned in our academic schedule. Almost everything seems to revolve around homeschooling, even medical emergencies. I guess I could have kept teaching him in the hospital if we’d had to have surgery-ha! I’m only kidding, well kind of:)
Contests for kids
Just sharing this quickly as I have to go actually teach academics now! Best..
If computers are going to rule the world, then my kids need to know how to rule the computers
Yes, this is where my brain is today..
Fatigued while blogging
I’ve reached my fatigue point so calling it a night..
Suicide at 26 for downloading library books?
I catch up on world events and happenings at night after the kids go to bed. Tonight, this article caught my attention.
Interesting, sad, outrageous, and depressing to read..
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/tech/web/aaron-swartz-internet/index.html
Co-op begins tomorrow!
We begin our co-op classes starting tomorrow at Excelsior. Some of our topics include:
Geography-states, Asia, Europe with capitals
Poetry-Frost, Stevenson, and Rosetti
Gettsyburg Address
American history modern era
Bible memory work
History cards timeline
Math-hands on equations, operations
Escher, Beatles, Ansel Adams
Books to include composition and vocabulary-Helen Keller, The Cay, The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit, Louise Braille, Number the Stars
Uniforms to gather and lunches to pack…
Our visit to the local Kumon center
I’m looking to supplement our math program at home. We’re using a combo of Singapore and Calvert Math as our skeleton, but I feel we’re missing just the basic repetition and drilling of facts. I’ve heard good things about Kumon’s program, so I thought I’d do a little research myself.
This morning I took the kids to the center. They give a free testing and evaluation of where your child stands academically based on their screening process. Thankfully, my kiddos did well, and I received some helpful feedback from the owner. We discussed their program, their fees, the benefits, and so forth. I also brought up the subject of offering homeschoolers a discount on their services since we can utilize their program during the day. Waiting to hear back from the owners if they will be able to offer such…
What I found comical was this..
As we were walking into the center, my oldest son noticed the Kumon insignia and commented how unhappy the child’s face looked. His thought made me laugh. Seems like the company would have thought to use a better facial expression other than one that shows a child either appearing angry, bored, or indifferent. The face certainly did not impress my son.
There are many Kumon reviews out there. Here’s my take:
Pros-helpful for remedial work, classroom setting may help boost your own child’s motivation, sure to do the work since you’re paying a great deal of money, potential to boost memory of math facts
Cons-driving time, expensive
Can I produce the same thing at home for a fraction of the cost?
I went to Barnes and Nobles and purchased their mass-marketed workbooks, so I’m trying those at home for now along with some other things.
Either way, the key to it all is parental involvement no matter what route you choose!
Ugh-now, where’s that cloning machine?!
Robots to take our jobs
Good read below from Wired magazine.
As a homeschooler,I’m trying to find ways to best expose my children to the technological revolution that’s exploding around us. They will need to be quite knowledgeable in this area to be able to compete in their future workplace. I haven’t figured out how best to do that so more to follow…
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/ff-robots-will-take-our-jobs/
“This is not a race against the machines. If we race against them, we lose. This is a race with the machines. You’ll be paid in the future based on how well you work with robots. Ninety percent of your coworkers will be unseen machines. Most of what you do will not be possible without them. And there will be a blurry line between what you do and what they do. You might no longer think of it as a job, at least at first, because anything that seems like drudgery will be done by robots.
We need to let robots take over. They will do jobs we have been doing, and do them much better than we can. They will do jobs we can’t do at all. They will do jobs we never imagined even needed to be done. And they will help us discover new jobs for ourselves, new tasks that expand who we are. They will let us focus on becoming more human than we were.
Let the robots take the jobs, and let them help us dream up new work that matters.” Â
words of Kevin Kelly
Medicine and technology
As a former physician, I’m attracted to what’s happening with medicine and technology. Consider sharing this article and others similar to your older students who may be interested in these types of fields.
Ivy League Homeschooling 