Co-op

We went to co-op today. Both boys were signed up for "Play-doh studio". DS1 played with play-doh for 30 minutes, and DS2 played with toys on the other side of the room. They both had fun, and I even enjoyed those 30 minutes. Next was "Science Experiment" which is a simpler version of the science class the same mom taught to the older kids earlier in the day. It covered friction, center of gravity, and centripital force using eggs (raw & cooked), balloons, and paper. Loads of fun! DS1 had fun telling Daddy about it at dinner and remembered quite a bit. DS2 was doing okay until I popped his balloon, then he stuck his fingers in his ears and wanted to go home. It didn't help that at that exact same time (as the pop), someone started vacuuming in the next room. After we left we ran an errand then met up with some of the other families at a nearby park.

On a less pleasant and more adult (well, not-really so adult) level, there has been tension amongst the co-op parents. It started after some brainstorming was done about improving things. Since we're all new at this (doing a co-op) there are things that need improvement. Sounds simple, right? A question was posted to the yahoo list, asking for input and reactions to a couple of the ideas. Many people responded, but a couple responses were taken as nit-picking, criticizing, or otherwise strongly negative. I didn't read them that way, but several people did. So then they responded, then the original question-asker responded, and the people who got people's ire up responded, and it just got ugly all around. It made me want to crawl into a corner. I don't want to deal with politics like this. But unless I become a hermit I guess it will be pretty hard to avoid.

Sometimes I wonder if this group is a good fit for me. My boys like the playgroups and are starting to really enjoy the classes, too. It's the adults that sometimes make things tough. Someone reading this is probably saying "welcome to parenting" to me right now or "wait till they get in little league." If stuff like this went on at the daycare center where they used to go, I was joyfully oblivious.

Back to the co-op... We had a Parent's Night Out last Saturday. It was at a home. The 2 youngsters were asleep in the next room, but I don't know how they slept. The cacophony got so loud that I covered my ears a couple of times. Half of the group are the type who interject when others are talking and raise their voices louder so they can be heard. The other half seemed to not want to interrupt when someone else was talking, so they didn't speak much. Attempts were made to include everyone (when we were all in on the same conversation/discussion), but it took a lot of effort to have the quieter ones share their opinions, and it wasn't long before others joined in while the first was still talking, making it very hard (for me) to follow the conversation and sometimes even to hear the person closest to me. If any of you are reading this, please don't be offended. I like you all, I just don't like that style of discussion.

I did have a couple of one-on-one conversations during the evening. One was with the newest addition to our group. We talked about another group I am in. I mentioned that I get different things out of the two different groups. I don't feel that I contribute much to either group at this point, except my presence and occasional opinion. I feel pulled in two different directions, not quite opposite directions, but internally my struggles in finding my own way in the homeschooling journey are paralleled in the differences in these two support groups.

Children's Books Online: the Rosetta Project, Inc.

Children's Books Online: the Rosetta Project, Inc.

YEA! classes

After posting an email about something to the co-op (Young Explorer's Academy) in which my frustration with DS2 immaturity must have shown through, I recieved this reply from DS1's teacher (of today's DNA class).

I wanted to just let you know that [DS1] was GREAT in DNA class today. He was so interested and excited and fun. Had some great questions, too. I just thought I'd let you know since I know he was reluctant to participate at first, and believe me, I know that can be frustrating.
My kids STILL are reluctant to be in any classes that I don't teach.

Anyway, I hope he had a good time.

Yes, he had a great time. He is ready for short classes like we offer in the co-op. DS2 isn't quite there yet, which is fine since he's only 3 and a half, but it makes things tough on me.

Lunar Eclipse

We all saw the lunar eclipse this evening. By the time of moonrise in our area, the total eclipse was already past. We had dinner later than expected, but we were able to see the last fourth or so of the shadow. We walked north on our block to find a semi-clear spot between the houses and trees across the street to the east. It was quite cold, so I taught DS1 how to do jumping jacks to stay warm. Then we went inside for a while. About 5 minutes later, DS1 and I went back outside to see how much smaller the shadow was. We walked south this time and found a very good view. The moon being higher helped, but it was primarily lack of trees between 2 houses most of the way down the block that enabled us to have an unobstructed view. The shadow was almost gone when we decided it was time to come inside.

The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids

This article, The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids -- New York Magazine, is long but a good read. It includes research and anecdotal evidence that excessive general praising is often more harmful than helpful to a person. Kids whose innate intelligence is praised (being called smart) often shy away from things they expect to be difficult or fall apart after a failure. Kids whose effort is praised, or who are given other very specific praise, rebound from failure, are more confident that they can achieve with more (or different) effort, and improve academically.

Just a few days ago, DS1 was telling DS2 what to do on a "Kindergarten" computer game that we have. I told DS1, as I often do, to stop telling DS2 what to do so he can figure it out himself. DS1 replied, "But I'm smarter than him." I quickly responded, "No, you're not. You are older than him and know some things that he doesn't, but that doesn't mean you're smarter than him." I'm not sure if that was a good response, but it's the best that came to mind quickly.

"Who is smarter?" is a question that I want to stay away from for as long as possible. Both my family and my DH's family have highly intelligent (IQ-wise) people. Some relish it, some discount it, some compare, and some know it but are both humble and confident so that when you meet them you can tell, but it is a non-issue.

My parents were not big praisers. However, I did know that they were proud of me and of my accomplishments, both academic and non-academic. I remember, in church, a dad of a friend announcing during the "joys and concerns" time about his son making honor roll. My parents never did that. I made it every time. Kids who are around others know if they are "smart"... reading groups, honors classes, grading fellow students' tests (although with privacy issues what they are these days, that is probably no longer done), and just general conversation and even grammar and vocabulary say a lot. Maybe that's part of my motivation to homeschool, so they can just be themselves instead of "the smart ones."

People have been telling me for years that my boys are smart. I suspect people have told them that also. Not to mention, "wow, you're really smart" in the Blue's Clue's song and "great counting," "great clapping," "great helping," and "we did it, we did it, we did it, hurray" on Dora the Explorer. (I'm not knocking those shows overall, just the over-the-top praise. And why to Dora and Boots and even Diego tell the kids to yell all the time? Oops, got a little off track, there. :-) Anyway, back to the article, it really hit home for me, as I suspect it will for anyone who reads because of reading about it here, in my blog. Please, let me know what you think.

Junior Pizzamaker

DS1 is an official Junior Pizzamaker! Our Sonlighters group took a field trip to Papa John's today. The kids (and moms) got to feel pizza dough, walk into the walk-in refrigerator, fluff the cheese, and put toppings on their own personal pan pizza. Then we got to eat the pizzas and have soft drinks. All for free!

I was extremely pleased at how well my boys paid attention to the manager when he was talking and showing us things. DS2 was a little fidgety while we were in the refrigerator and waiting for our turn at pizza making, but considering his age and general rambunctiousness, I was only slightly frustrated by the end of the 90 minutes.

A trip to the zoo

Our local zoo has cheap admission on Wednesdays in the winter. The forcast high temp is 70 today, so after over 2 weeks of being stuck inside with sick kids, sick mom, and/or below freezing highs we took advantage of the nice weather and cheap price for a visit to the zoo. Many from our homeschool group were going to meet near the entrance at 11:00, but we were running late and missed them. The zoo is so big, and there are so many different paths to take, I was only a little surprised that we didn't see anyone we knew in the 2 hours we were there.

Our goals were to see the elephants, zebras, and flamingos. We also saw the chimpanzees, baboons, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, kangaroos, gold fish, and a peacock on our way out. We ate lunch and played at the children's playground near the gorilla exhibit. Two hours is about all I can handle, especially without another adult helping, so I told the boys we could come back next week and see some of the animals that we missed today.

I think in a year or two it will be well worth a family membership. I have heard great things about their educational programs also.

WebRangers

DS1 was very interested in our National Parks DVD yesterday. DH did some surfing for National Parks info and came across this website, Welcome to WebRangers!, which bills itself as the National Park Service's site for kids of all ages. I've looked around a little on the site and it looks fun.

Freya And Heath Are Home Educated by Liz Pilley and Kim Holding

This book looks really cute. The older sister, Freya, narrates a story about herself and her brother, Heath, who are home educated. The page linked here has a few sample pages. The book can be purchased as a paperback or a download.

Unschooling Voices # 7

A Day in Our Lives: Unschooling Voices # 7 is up. I'm in it this time, too! This is the first time I've entered a blog carnival. It was pretty fun looking through my old posts to see if any fit the topic of deschooling.

MomsMinivan.com - 101 Car Games, Travel Games and Road Trip Games for Kids

This "Printable Road Trip Activities" could come in handy for our next trip.

Science activity sheets

Waterford Games & Activities has free downloads of lots of kinds of activity sheets, mazes, dot to dot, coloring, word find, origami, find the differences, scramble, and several others.

Another unschooling article on the web (and in a paper)

It seems that unschooling is becoming a popular feature topic for "news". At least once a month someone on one of my email lists posts a link about some newspaper/website that has done an article on unschooling. Homeschooling itself isn't exciting enough (or controversial enough?) for an article anymore. Would they do a feature on families who do strict "school at home" with schedules down to the minute? I doubt it. My ambivalence is showing. It's nice to see this style of homeschooling recognized as a valuable alternative, but most of the articles have some education "expert" who cast doubts with having experience unschooling or even knowing a family who does it.

This article, 'Unschool' parents: Kids can be own best teachers is similar to the last one I blogged, in that it uses positive examples of actual unschoolers, then has people without unschooling experience comment about it. This one also has comments from people who have read the online article. They are particularly opinionated, often without first hand experience. The article, however, is pretty balanced and informative. There is also some information in the sidebar about definitions, a sample week, and Tennessee homeschooling regulations.

DVRL - Drumming in Fractions

I got this link, The Futures Channel from Mathing Off because this video is about fractions in music, particularly drumming. It appears that there are many good video clips here of "real math, real science, real careers." The Futures Channel's subtitle is "Connecting learning to the real world."

Playing school again

We "played school" again today. DS1 asked about it yesterday. We were busy this morning with MOPS, then lunch with Dad, then I was gone for a while. I had forgotten, but he remembered right before dinner. So after dinner he eagerly put the dishes away while I set up the little table in his room. I had to search for the Handwriting Without Tears book because practically everything got moved in December to make room for our Christmas gathering and gifts.

He had a great time coloring and drawing lines. A few times he wanted me to do a page. I reminded him that if I was being the teacher and he was being the student, then I would show him how to do the first one, but that he should be the one to do most of the page. That explanation satisfied him. At one point I thought he might suggest that he wanted to be the teacher and I could be the kid. That would have been fun and fine with me, but it didn't come up (this time).

Other fun things he/we did today:

* made up silly rhyming words (this has been a popular activity for the past couple of weeks)

* made a teddy bear sewing card - I drew the outline and and cut the cardboard, he punched some of the holes and I punched some

* threaded some foam "beads" on a string

* laced around the edges of the bear - he was very consistent lacing up then down repeatedly, quite different from Monday at PAT when his "stiches" were in many different directions

* showed Daddy how to lace the teddy bear

* bedtime story was from Click magazine - it was about mixing colors, both pigment and light - the pigment mixing is old hat, but the light mixing was new information

Unschooling Voices

It's about 2 weeks until the next edition of Unschooling Voices, a blog carnival about unschooling. I first learned of blog carnivals about a year ago. It's basically a blog that links a bunch of other blogs (and may include email posts) on a related topic. February's topic is deschooling. I have a couple of old posts that sort of fit, so I think I might actually submit something this time. It's likely to get more people to read my blog. I wonder how many people read it now?

You Have to Trust that the Child will Learn

Here is a new article about unschooling. It was written for the Chicago Sun-Times. The featured student was in public school until 8th grade, then began homeschooling (unschooling) for high school. It's very well written and quite positive about unschooling. Of course, there are the obligitory "expert" opinions, but they aren't as negative as most.

radio free school CFMU 93.3 FM

The radio show, radio free school CFMU 93.3 FM, which is referenced in my previous post. It has a blog, too.

Minding your own - Home based education

This is a series of articles on a Canadian news website by Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko, an unschooler who has a weekly radio show, Radio Free School. I haven't read them all yet, but I plan to.

MIT OpenCourseWare | OCW Home

For future reference, MIT OpenCourseWare OCW Home give access to the content of MIT courses. I presume it includes the syllabus and class notes. It could be quite fun to poke around.