Mommy, you’re being mean
I am caught up on every subject with my kids except for math. By “caught up” I mean that I’ve covered what I wanted to cover for that particular module except for math. I have a schedule planned out for the year give or take a few weeks for vacation or simply taking time off. However, today math needed a bit more attention, so I spent the time working with each child on various topics. That may sound extreme, but the day seems to fly by during the day, not to mention we started really late,10:30 to be exact. We all slept in, and I cooked pancakes for breakfast. It was a cold and rainy day, so warm pancakes and fresh fruit hit the spot. Intermixed were reading and learning videos, but we really focused on math skills for the most part.
My daughter told me I was being mean at one point during my teaching, but I explained how important it is for her to know her facts and to read well. She, more than any of them, will act like she can’t do something when I know all to well that she can. No nonsense from me, sorry. I told her that doing well in her studies was her job right now just like my job was to ensure that she do well. She can thank me in 10 years (I hope). Cracking the invisible whip…
I’m hoping to clean my dirty house this weekend, but, as usual, the weekend is packed full of activities, none of which includes a complimentary nanny or chef or maid service or wardrobe stylist. I think I’ve worn my “Bar Harbor” old t-shirt every day this week without washing it. Don’t be jealous. Such is the life:) Off to gear up for tomorrow. Cheers!
Waxing and Waning in my opinions
My oldest son hates to write. No matter what the topic or exercise is, he just does whatever he needs to do to simply get through it. I’ve tried all kinds of tactics and approaches and continue to go at it from different angles. Bottom line is that he simply does not enjoy it. My recurring statement: He’s just not wired that way. See below for his personal reflection on today’s writing assignment. He constructed his reflection after he’d written a paragraph on computers. Of course, I cringe when I see and hear how much he hates the writing process, because I know that being a good writer is an asset to have in your back pocket. I told him that it’s important to be a good writer, since he will have to write a quality essay on his SAT. Now, after I’d thought about my words, later, I felt myself become a little nauseous by those spoken words. I thought, “Is this really what education is all about? To spend years preparing them for a test in hopes that they get in to a top tier school?” I find myself going back and forth with the rat race. I see the benefits of getting into let’s say an Ivy League school: connections and name-dropping. But, beyond that, is it worth making our kids crazy in their high school years trying to get that admittance letter? The rat race has nothing to do with true learning, does it? Would our children’s time be better spent with lots of free time, exploration, searching for answers to questions, and having internship-type environments? I drive myself nutty going back and forth on this one, because I truly don’t know.
Today-Academics until 3:00, oldest son attended science class on pond ecology from 3:30-5:00, drove almost an hour to soccer facility, middle son in soccer training from 6:15-8:30ish. Kids in bed around 10:30. Now, it’s almost 1 a.m., and I’m done..
Volcanoes
I covered a wide array of topics today: gcf, base-ten blocks, math facts, divisibility, number line, reading, phonics, science experiments to include volcanoes (not really on the schedule but they were requested), gravity, composition, grammar, spelling, history, art history, Mother Goose rhymes, read-alouds, copywork, Kumon books, French numbers, vocabulary, etc. I know I’m missing things, but that gives you an idea. I’m not sure I will ever feel that there are enough hours to meet my desires, so I’m constantly having to adapt to that fact.
We had the usual evening activities: gymnastics, soccer, Scouts (science experiments). Thankfully, I made it the gym in between for a sculpting/Barre class. Yah! The evening’s wrap-up involved my oldest son and I spending some time on his FLL homework. I served Paul Newman’s frozen pizzas for dinner-a staple at our house.
1:45 A.M.-bedtime
CBS3 Phili News and Weather station tour
My daughter felt so much better when she awoke this morning and thankfully was fever-free. Good thing since we were to spend the day at one of our local museums, the Franklin Institute. The museum holds periodic homeschool workshops and if our schedule permits, we try and attend those as they are quite informative and interesting.
So, upon arrival to the museum this morning, my oldest son joined along side the other students participating in the “spy” workshop, and the other three children and I spent the day walking through the exhibits and seeing the various demonstrations. The institute was holding a “weather” demonstration at 11:30. I was actually looking forward to the instruction because weather/natural disasters are the focus of our Legos club that I’m coaching. I thought the kids might learn some new things about weather, so we went to the third floor hall to listen. Fortunately for us, one of the meteorologists from CBS3 news in Phili, Steve Strouss, was helping to lead the discussion on weather. The session lasted about 20 minutes, and the kids were able to see some very interesting demonstrations such as making a cloud, hearing thunder and seeing lightning, feeling the cold air stream, and observing convection and evaporation in action. These kinds of demos I cannot replicate in my kitchen! Good stuff..Once our time had concluded, Mr. Strouss asked if there were any questions from the audience, so I asked him if the station gave tours to the public. He responded with “not usually,”etc, but then went on to say that he would help us today by giving us a tour if we could be at the station later in the afternoon. You can imagine that I was very excited for my children to have this kind of opportunity for a behind-the-scenes tour, and I was a little giddy myself. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring the museum until it was time to walk to the T.V. station. The distance was about 6 blocks which we were happy to do. I love walking the streets of Philadelphia seeing the historical buildings. Such character.
When we arrived at CBS3, the security guard let us in and told us Mr. Strouss (Steve) was expecting our arrival. I signed myself and the children in, and we waited for my girlfriend to arrive with her children. (She had also been at the demonstration.) I then learned that Steve was really the coordinator of the weather teams, so meteorology was only part of his skills set. Steve kindly met us in the lobby and immediately began our tour. I loved every minute of it, and the kids did, too. We saw part of their live news report taped along with meeting many familiar faces such as Pat Ciarrocchi, Carol Erikson, Natasha Brown, and Chris May. Steve showed us different sets, the green room, the make-up room, and the many rooms of computer terminals. Everyone we met went out of their way to say “hello” to the children and couldn’t have been nicer. I truly could not have asked for anything better, especially since I didn’t plan any of it! It serves to be at the right place at the right time. The pictures below tell the story..
Some comments from my children on the ride home to NJ:
“That tour made the entire day.”
“I want to be like Mr. Strouss.”
“I want Mr. Strouss’s job.”
“Mom, can we watch the CBS3 weather station instead of the weather channel now?” (I, of course, responded with a “yes”.
Well, it’s evening again and again, I’m exhausted. Tomorrow is staring me in the face, so I must prep for academics and robotics club and soccer and gymnastics and that’s just tomorrow.
Wrapping up and moving forward
The weekend came and went too fast, as always. I think many families feel this way these days. Saturdays and Sundays are simply just a continuation of the taxi-driving and calendar events. It’s all self-induced so I can’t complain, but it’s still frustrating to see on Sunday night the mess in my closet, for example, still remains a huge mess. Things just don’t simply get addressed because there aren’t enough hours in the day.
At present, I’m regrouping for the week, and I can already see that our academics will need to be adjusted because of outside activities. That takes some mental gymnastics on my part to see that I adjust our calendar appropriately.
It’s interesting. I was talking with a retired kindergarten teacher today, and she was asking me various questions about homeschooling such as how do I know what needs to be covered and how do I juggle all the various curricula. I could tell my world was completely foreign to her, so I invited her to come over and see what we’re doing. I gladly welcome another set of eyes on our environment as you never know what good feedback you might get. Of course, I told her what I do is not easy at all, but it is doable. She then went on to talk about how many public school teachers, who really love teaching, are so frustrated by all of the rules being forced onto them. The regulations and bureaucracy are taking the joy out of teaching for them. She also mentioned one of her girlfriends who is still teaching just simply wants to quit because of the mess that they’re having to work in.
Isn’t that awful? That our society has degraded the training of our children to sets of rules, boundaries, and tests is so unfortunate. No wonder kids don’t want to go to school. Our system is broken, really beyond repair. I don’t think any amount of government intervention is going to help and will likely only make it worse.
Well, now that we are all depressed, let me leave you to get pumped up about tomorrow. Gotta keep my own energy going since I’m flying solo:)
The home stretch
I’ve talked before about seasons and how changes can be bitter sweet. In two weeks our time at Excelsior (our local homeschool cooperative) will come to an end. I’ve decided to take a break from outside responsibilities for next year so that I can give myself the opportunity to regroup and refresh what we will be doing at home. I’m excited to see where that path may lead us. Maybe we’ll have more time to travel or experience some of the community classes offered that we normally couldn’t attend. Maybe the schedule or lack-thereof will take a bit of stress off of me and give me the needed time to work on my own interests such as the “Dr. Joy” medical series. It is fun to think about, but I know I will miss so many aspects of Excelsior, the community, the academic rigor, the friends, the sense of belonging to a special group. I’ll be spending quite a bit of time over the next two weeks prepping for our upcoming Friends and Family night. I love this night because the event provides the environment for the students to showcase some of the things that they’ve learned over the past school year. I really get giddy about the whole thing. I love a good party, but you know what I really love is the party food! Good times..
Ivy League Homeschooling 