So my blog now has over 1000 hits and I am so greatful and so happy (and quite surprised to be honest!) that people actually care enough about my boring life to want to read about it. LOL :)
Anyway, nothing really all that new going on with us lately. Brenna is doing FANTASTIC in karate and is sooooooo much better about not talking and paying attention more. I think a little of that might be rubbing off at home too - not much but enough. Maybe *I* should make her give me 10 push-ups when she acts up. Not a bad idea.... :) I'm willing to try anything sometimes. Really though, she is a good kid - just so hyper sometimes. She has an endless supply of energy - as most kids this age have, I am assuming (hoping!) - and she makes me tired just watching her sometimes. Some friends of ours come over quite a bit on the weekends - no children of their own yet, I might add - and are just in awe at how much Brenna just goes and goes and goes. And this is at about 8pm, right before her bedtime, and they wonder how on Earth she falls asleep at night. Sometimes I wonder that too, but she is usually asleep fairly quick - even when she's running around the livingroom five minutes before bedtime. LOL I guess I would be too if I did as much as she does.
Every once in a while I think about how she would be if she did go to school and was expected to sit still for longer than a few minutes?? Oh I laugh just thinking about it!! Her poor, poor teacher. I love it though - I love that she is so creative, goofy, silly and full of energy. I love that we can spend all day outside if that's what she wants to do. I love her imagination and her stories that she makes up and her love for nature. I really could not see her cooped up in a classroom all day.
Speaking of not being cooped up all day -- Brenna and I went to the zoo yesterday afternoon and had such a wonderul time. We practically had it to ourselves and would see somebody else every once in a while. It was a beautiful day and all the animals were out playing. We took a clipboard and some paper with us and did a cool experiment. While we were going through the zoo we categorized all of the animals by which continent they were from. Come to find out, most of the animals in our zoo come from Africa. Brenna also took her colored pencils and drew quite a few masterpieces of some of the animals. One picture she drew was of a spider monkey that was behind glass. While she was drawing, that funny little monkey was right there at the ledge watching her and I swear if it wasn't POSING! So cute!
Ok, we are off to karate pretty soon. As soon as I get a new computer (which will be soon!) I will start posting more pictures.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List
From Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1
1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?
2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.
3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.
4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.
5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.
6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.
7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.
8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.
10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.
11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.
12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.
13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.
14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.
15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.
16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.
17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.
18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.
20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.
21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.
22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.
23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.
24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.
25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!
From Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1
1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?
2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.
3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.
4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.
5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.
6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.
7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.
8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.
9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.
10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.
11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.
12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.
13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.
14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.
15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.
16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.
17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.
18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.
19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.
20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.
21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.
22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.
23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.
24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.
25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
A little bit of everything...
Merry (belated) Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Ours was wonderful - lots of family, food and gifts. :) Brenna made out pretty good this year and got a lot of nice things. Brendon and I got her a lot of cool stuff (no toys from us this year!). She got a new bike from 'Santa', a helmet, telescope, a planetarium, a couple games and her own set of golf clubs. Brendon loves to play and Brenna has really been showing an interest in it and wants to go with him all the time. So I found these cute clubs with a bag just her size. She was so excited and has gone out with Daddy once. They played 9 holes and he said that she got the ball in three of the holes all by herself. :) They are going to start going out to the driving range and the putting practice area every weekend. I will have to go with them and take my camera. Brendon said that she did real good and was very excited. She is our retirement plan. LOL!
So Brenna got a karaoke machine from Grandma and Grandpa too, which she LOVES! You really should see her sing Hannah Montana songs - it is pretty entertaining. Aunt Jenny and PJ got her a "rock star" outfit and she has a blond wig and knows ALL the moves. By the way, Hannah Montana is a pop star that Brenna loves. No more Wiggles or cute little kid songs for her. It is actually kinda sad for me. Makes me realize that she is not a little baby anymore. I can't believe that she will be 6 this year. How the time flies!! I am so ready for another baby - hopefully this year will be our lucky year. :)
Anyways, Brenna is doing GREAT in karate and Brendon and I are so proud of her. Anyone who knows Brenna knows that she LOVES to talk and is a social little butterfly and wants to make friends with everybody! That has really been our biggest obstacle in karate. She just wants to talk to everyone and "be Brenna", as my Mother would say. I finally had a talk with her and told her that karate is not 'social time'. She has been MUCH better and is paying attention a lot more. Her teacher is great with her though. He actually made her do push-ups a couple weeks ago because she would not stop talking. I hate to say this but... I thought it was GREAT! LOL :) She needs that and needs to learn how to pay attention more and focus on things. Right now she is a white belt (beginning belt) but on March 1st she will be take the promotion test for her yellow belt.
Well there's not really much to write about on the homeschooling. We took an extra long Christmas vacation. LOL The Homeschool Group has not met in a while because of Christmas and the New Year. That should all resume sometime pretty soon. In February we will start our Co-op again but this time it will be for two months instead of one and we will be meeting every Wednesday. I will be one of the teachers in the Kinder-1st class and will be teaching them about weather. I will have to start researching things soon and come up with some cool hands-on stuff. I am all about the hands-on learning. Kids learn so much better that way and have so much more fun.
As for OUR homeschooling, we really haven't been doing that much the past month. Brenna came down with two colds/sinus stuff within a month and each one knocked her on her butt for about a week. I was sick too for almost a week and a half so that kinda slowed us down a bit. Neither of us were sick during Christmas though, thank goodness. I really wasn't all that concerned with 'school stuff' during the holidays either. She has been reading though and is getting better and better. We have started reading the Junie B. Jones series. They are about a 5 year old little girl and are so funny and she loves them. They are chapter books, which I like so much better then the books with pictures on every page that you are finished with in five minutes. We incorporate math and science into our days as well - it might not be 'sit-at-the-table' type stuff but what 5 year old wants to do THAT? LOL For example, we were at my Grandma's the other day and I was filling her ice maker and had a few huge chunks that I had to get rid of in the sink. A light bulb went off in my head and I called Brenna in the kitchen. I showed her the ice and asked her what ice was made of and why it was hard, told her what temperature water had to get to in order to freeze, ect.... I had the faucet running and asked her what would happen if I put it under the warm water. She was so interested and was really into it and answered all of my questions correctly. She had a blast holding the ice and watching it melt under the water in her hand. It was a lot of fun and she loved it! Something so simple yet so fascinating to a five year old. I love it!
I would like to start doing more writing pretty soon with her though. She knows HOW to write all of her letters, we just need to perfect them. We will probably accomplish that with pavement and chalk. :) I am also thinking of giving her spelling words every week and having spelling tests on Fridays. Nothing hard - just easy words like 'the', 'girl', 'boy', ect.... She writes all the time and does a pretty good job spelling most things but she writes phonetically (the way things sound) - like 'knock' to her is 'nok'. I have read that it is very good that she is doing that - especially at her age. I think she will have fun with spelling words though. And if not, then that's okay - I will at least try it. I do not want to force her to do anything. That's why so many kids have such a hard time learning or think that learning isn't FUN - because it is FORCED on them. I don't want to force anything on my daughter. If some people think that I am going too easy on her or think that kids are SUPPOSED to be forced to learn or "that's just what they need to do", then so be it. That is one of the reasons why I chose to homeschool. All the books I have read and articles on the Internet all say the same thing when it comes to children learning - it HAS to be fun and enjoyable to them and something that THEY want to do. Is my daughter going to never learn anything unless I make her sit at the table and force her to study and read out of textbooks and do worksheets? Of course not. Children have a natural desire to learn. A lot of times that natural desire is crushed (by the public school system I think) because they are made to do things. Does that mean that I will never make her sit and study something or challenge her? No. But she is only 5 and I want to instill in her at an early age that learning is fun; not a chore or something that has to be dreaded. I want to eventually have a child that craves knowledge and WANTS to learn new things. I, as a mother, do not want to crush that natural desire.
So Brenna got a karaoke machine from Grandma and Grandpa too, which she LOVES! You really should see her sing Hannah Montana songs - it is pretty entertaining. Aunt Jenny and PJ got her a "rock star" outfit and she has a blond wig and knows ALL the moves. By the way, Hannah Montana is a pop star that Brenna loves. No more Wiggles or cute little kid songs for her. It is actually kinda sad for me. Makes me realize that she is not a little baby anymore. I can't believe that she will be 6 this year. How the time flies!! I am so ready for another baby - hopefully this year will be our lucky year. :)
Anyways, Brenna is doing GREAT in karate and Brendon and I are so proud of her. Anyone who knows Brenna knows that she LOVES to talk and is a social little butterfly and wants to make friends with everybody! That has really been our biggest obstacle in karate. She just wants to talk to everyone and "be Brenna", as my Mother would say. I finally had a talk with her and told her that karate is not 'social time'. She has been MUCH better and is paying attention a lot more. Her teacher is great with her though. He actually made her do push-ups a couple weeks ago because she would not stop talking. I hate to say this but... I thought it was GREAT! LOL :) She needs that and needs to learn how to pay attention more and focus on things. Right now she is a white belt (beginning belt) but on March 1st she will be take the promotion test for her yellow belt.
Well there's not really much to write about on the homeschooling. We took an extra long Christmas vacation. LOL The Homeschool Group has not met in a while because of Christmas and the New Year. That should all resume sometime pretty soon. In February we will start our Co-op again but this time it will be for two months instead of one and we will be meeting every Wednesday. I will be one of the teachers in the Kinder-1st class and will be teaching them about weather. I will have to start researching things soon and come up with some cool hands-on stuff. I am all about the hands-on learning. Kids learn so much better that way and have so much more fun.
As for OUR homeschooling, we really haven't been doing that much the past month. Brenna came down with two colds/sinus stuff within a month and each one knocked her on her butt for about a week. I was sick too for almost a week and a half so that kinda slowed us down a bit. Neither of us were sick during Christmas though, thank goodness. I really wasn't all that concerned with 'school stuff' during the holidays either. She has been reading though and is getting better and better. We have started reading the Junie B. Jones series. They are about a 5 year old little girl and are so funny and she loves them. They are chapter books, which I like so much better then the books with pictures on every page that you are finished with in five minutes. We incorporate math and science into our days as well - it might not be 'sit-at-the-table' type stuff but what 5 year old wants to do THAT? LOL For example, we were at my Grandma's the other day and I was filling her ice maker and had a few huge chunks that I had to get rid of in the sink. A light bulb went off in my head and I called Brenna in the kitchen. I showed her the ice and asked her what ice was made of and why it was hard, told her what temperature water had to get to in order to freeze, ect.... I had the faucet running and asked her what would happen if I put it under the warm water. She was so interested and was really into it and answered all of my questions correctly. She had a blast holding the ice and watching it melt under the water in her hand. It was a lot of fun and she loved it! Something so simple yet so fascinating to a five year old. I love it!
I would like to start doing more writing pretty soon with her though. She knows HOW to write all of her letters, we just need to perfect them. We will probably accomplish that with pavement and chalk. :) I am also thinking of giving her spelling words every week and having spelling tests on Fridays. Nothing hard - just easy words like 'the', 'girl', 'boy', ect.... She writes all the time and does a pretty good job spelling most things but she writes phonetically (the way things sound) - like 'knock' to her is 'nok'. I have read that it is very good that she is doing that - especially at her age. I think she will have fun with spelling words though. And if not, then that's okay - I will at least try it. I do not want to force her to do anything. That's why so many kids have such a hard time learning or think that learning isn't FUN - because it is FORCED on them. I don't want to force anything on my daughter. If some people think that I am going too easy on her or think that kids are SUPPOSED to be forced to learn or "that's just what they need to do", then so be it. That is one of the reasons why I chose to homeschool. All the books I have read and articles on the Internet all say the same thing when it comes to children learning - it HAS to be fun and enjoyable to them and something that THEY want to do. Is my daughter going to never learn anything unless I make her sit at the table and force her to study and read out of textbooks and do worksheets? Of course not. Children have a natural desire to learn. A lot of times that natural desire is crushed (by the public school system I think) because they are made to do things. Does that mean that I will never make her sit and study something or challenge her? No. But she is only 5 and I want to instill in her at an early age that learning is fun; not a chore or something that has to be dreaded. I want to eventually have a child that craves knowledge and WANTS to learn new things. I, as a mother, do not want to crush that natural desire.
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