German Wonder Ball

A pile of trinkets and a ball of thick wool yarn, becomes a beautiful German tradition. When a child is taught to knit they are given a ball of yarn with special presents throughout so that every once in awhile as they work through their ball a new price is discovered. Here are the first five balls completed. I then decided to make three more for my nieces and nephew. After we made chains we turned them into flowers, which we then handed out on Easter. Here is Uncle Steve with a flower in his pocket.
Here the children are working away on their balls. The older two boys spent about three days finger knitting. They worked their way through about four skeins of yarn. This was a lot of fun.

The Frog Prince

by Aubrey and Brennen Calapp



Once a princess was playing with her wooden ball.

She threw it so high it fell into a pond.

A frog appeared and told the princess he would retrieve the ball for her if she would agree to take him into her home and kiss him. She agreed.

After the princess was given her ball she ran home without the frog, but when the frog followed her and he father the king heard all, he told her she must keep her promise, so unwillingly she kissed the frog...

only to find he was a prince, who had been changed by a magic spell.

Our Praying Mantises Hatched

We ordered an egg sack from Insectlore. It just sat for several weeks and then all of a sudden hundreds of baby praying mantises began emerging. My children loved watching them come out and also watching them as they eat the fruit flies. About one hundred hatched, but only fifty are still alive for a reason of which I don't know.

Of Bread and Sacrament

I was pondering today, and I don't know if this will make any sense to anyone else, but this is what I pondered-

Through work we sow seeds, care for them and then, gather the wheat from the field we have dominion over. Our neighbor gathers wheat from the field he has dominion over. Together we combine and refine the wheat, and with that wheat create bread. We then sit together, rejoice, feast and break bread. I, as a missionary in my dominion, am in charge of planting seeds, working and nurturing those plants and then eventually helping in the harvest of those who are found ready. My neighbor in Christ, is doing the same thing in the field he has dominion over. When our harvests are made we join them together into a church, which is also called the body of Christ. In our Sacrament meetings the body of Christ is represented by bread. We meet weekly to rejoice in our God, worship him and break that very bread that symbolizes his body. So the church is the bread and bread is the staff of life. The bread group is the base. The church, the body of Christ, the gathering of the wheat that is ripe and has been harvested is also the base. We are not to worship alone at home as a lone grain, but we are to come together as the body of Christ and be the bread. And here we are to partake of that symbol which represents Christ’s body and also represents the unity of the church, which is the family of God.

God is so full of symbolism in all He does and I am barely scratching the surface of it in my studies I think. He is such an awesome God.

Nursery Rhymes

I am student teaching first grade. Friday I was to teach a lesson on "Little Miss Muffet," and then give the students a four page test on this nursery rhyme. I said to the mentor teacher, "Don't the students already know "Little Miss Muffet?'" She said, "a couple of them might."

I sat the children down and told them that today we were going to read a nursery rhyme. I asked them if they knew what a nursery rhyme was...blank stares. They are old make-believe poems in which we don't exactly know who wrote them and so we often say they are written by Mother Goose. Often they have meanings that tie into something that happened in history and they are often mentioned in other books that you will read later on. Has anyone heard of "Little Bo Peep," or "Jack and Jill?" Aah, three eyes flickered, the other sixteen remained bewildered. I asked if anyone could tell me either nursery rhyme. One boy tried, "Jack and Jill went up the hill ... um, then ... there's a picture of him upside down ... and a spider, I think." Well at least he has seen a book of nursery rhymes.

I am concerned that children who don't know their nursery rhymes are missing a very valuable connection to the past, a source for rich language, strong meters, and an understanding of allusions in later quality texts. I had always taken it for granted that people still read these to their children.



I have several very thick collections of nursery rhymes, my favorite is the first book in the "My Bookhouse Series." http://www.amazon.com/Nursery-My-Bookhouse-One/dp/B000H2J34K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1240153943&sr=1-2 . It is several hundred pages long has all of the traditional English nursery rhymes and has many nursery rhymes from dozens of other countries. It is also absolutely beautifully illustrated. I begin this book when my children are one, reading a couple pages a day and often going back to the most familiar in the beginning. I then read them "The Real Mother Goose," and the second one in this series, of which I have forgotten the name. I also have a couple smaller collections which I read in one sitting to the children. It must work because I just asked my five-year-old to tell me "Jack and Jill" and then "Little Miss Muffet," and with a hint on two words he said both and then my daughter began rattling off several more.

Our history studies start back at creation again this year. As we go through history this time I'd like to incorporate the history of many of these rhymes as we come to their spot in history. I did this study myself a couple years ago, and was fascinated by it.

To close my rant on nursery rhymes, may I say read them to your children, because the three they will have read to them in public school, simply does not cut it.

Last One Standing

So I have seven siblings. We were all raised in California. Guess how many still live here. Yep, just one-me. How lame is that? My sister, Helen, who is just older than me moved to Utah, where four of my other siblings live last week. My Aunt Cathy, Cousin Sarah, Helen, Me(the one with the dorky expression), Cousin Jessica and my daughter Aubrey pose during the farewell party.
The party was also a birthday party for Seth, Logan and their cousin Caitlyn.
My husband snapping shots of me and Brennen, just to prove I don't always wear a dorky expression.
And yet another not totally dorky expression with me and my daughter.
Brennen, hitching a foot-ride from his Uncle Brandon, while Kevin supervises and tests the cake.


We'll miss you Porters! We wish you well on your further advetures.

Trip for Two

Kevin and I took a trip in March to Monterey. We stayed in a cabin/Inn on the beach. It was beautiful and quiet, as no cars were allowed. Everyone was given a golf cart instead. We walked the warf and watched the sea lions as we ate the first day. We then went kayaking on the ocean. Several sea lions followed us and Kevin saw jellyfish. We both got a little freaked out at the sea weed and so we turned back and went to the Inn.

The next day we rented bikes and biked the 17-mile trail. We saw many deer next to the ocean this day. It was beautiful.

The last day we went whale watching, and saw about three groups of whales. One group was circling and playing tag and so were very unpredictable in where they would show up next. I absolutely loved the wind on the ocean and riding over the waves, even though it was windy and the boat rocked crazily the whole time.

The pictures are in no particular order.

Overheard At Our House This Week

Overheard by the resident five-year-old, “If I was a gigantic pincher bug, and someone zapped me and shrank me, I would pinch them.”

Aubrey, who had just finished memorizing her part for a play, and Kamron got in an argument while doing dishes and then Aubrey felt bad. She came and talked to me and I told her she should apologize. She came back in and said, “I apologized, but Kamron didn’t know his lines.”

Since a month is an eternity at this age, I was quite amazed at the one-year-olds’ proclamation, “I wan’ tree. I wan’ Christmas.” To this the three-year-old replied, “I want Christmas presents. I haven’t had any for years and years.”

Aunt and Uncle went to China town and brought back a little Chinese doll. Aubrey was told she could play with it for two months, but that it was gift for their Grandma and would be given to her when they take their next trip to Utah. Aubrey thought about this for awhile and said, “All right she will be a for arrange student and stay with Alex (her doll) until she has to leave, but I’m sure they will not get along.”

Kamron coughed and Brennen says, “I will not get sick, because I wrinkle my noise and blow out with my lips and then shake my head and that keeps the germs away.”

After a vigorous wrestle match that resulted in tears Kamron said, “I was just defending myself, because even though I’m bigger you can still hurt me. I have nerves, you know!” Brennen looking puzzled says, “Why do little nerds make it so I can hurt you?”

Music

I had to find some appropriate music for Kamron to begin learning in his voice lessons today. Our teacher is not LDS and so doesn't know what music is best for sacrament meeting, so I went searching. Have you seen the church's interactive music player on the church website, www.lds.org? How cool is that thing? You can speed it up, slow it down, just play the part you are learning or change the key. Awesome. So I picked out a few I thought Kamron would like and had him listen to them-he chose "Come Follow Me." We'll see if this suits the teacher today. She is, shall we say exacting. I am gratified that she has shown very slight periods of being impressed with Kamron's ability to follow and to match her pitch, while at the same time demanding a great deal from him.

Our Visit to the Exploratorium

We spent the day at the Exploratorium in San Francisco today. Everyone of my kids loved it.
The children got to feel what Alice must have felt like when she drank her "drink me" bottle and ate her little cakes as they played with visual perception.

They had fun bouncing metal marbles at just the right angle to get them to go through hoops at varying distances.

The saw the different patterns that differently shaped rods would vibrate in.

A favorite of the older children was the high voltage electricity that skipped through the air from one rod to another.

Sethy's favorite was the water. In this exhibit the children got to place objects in a continuously flowing stream of water which had foam on top and so made foam trails around what they placed. Sethy also decided it was a cool place to drive the car he was carrying in his hand.



There were many more hands-on exhibits, including cow eye and sheep brain dissections. My daughter was fascinated by these, but I must confess that like my son it made my stomach turn.

Visit to a Waldorf Charter School

I got to observe in eight classrooms at a Waldorf Charter School this week and then sit down with the principal and ask questions for about an hour. I was not in any classroom more than twenty minutes. For those who know me they know it is hard for a public school to impress me, but I was impressed. I have been in a few charter schools that are supposed to be following a specific method and for the most part I have found them to be poor quality compared to private schools that follow specific methods. I have not visited the private Waldorf school in the area, but I plan to observe there soon. I have, however, read their curriculum, philosophy and seen videos of their teachers teaching specific lessons. These schools are very different from your regular school. They have different goals, methods, curriculum, and hopes for the children. This charter school has an exemption from the district, so the only rule is that they have to meet all of the standards by the end of eighth grade, but not in any particular order, and the kids have to test yearly from second through eighth grade. This frees them to follow the traditional Waldorf curriculum, which makes the school look much more like a private school.

The first class I walked into was a first grade room. The students were sitting at their desks with their five note recorders in hand (at least they looked like recorders to me, though the teacher had flute written on the board). The teacher would tell the kids a song and they would play it in unison. She alternated these with vocal songs. Every child had a small wooden basket on his or her desk for the flute and for handwork of felt, beeswax and finger knitting. A beautiful chalk drawing was on the board and the students single color watercolors were on one wall.

The chalk drawings and watercolors are characteristic of this method of education and were found in every room. All of the chalk drawings were beautiful and done by the teachers to accompany some lesson. A sample of a full board one is here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBAi29Fy6yg. The students do a guided watercolor painting every month from first grade through eighth. The younger students do paintings of only one color, then as they grow they add another and another until they have finally built up to painting with the whole palette.

In a third grade class I went into all of the desks had been shoved to the side of the room and the children were doing a walking dance in two circles. The inner circle went one way while the outer went the other. They then recited a very long poem/lesson about the history of the Jews. Then they did a math lesson in which they made their circles again and with their steps created all of the ways to make 9. They went forward 9 and back 0, then forward 8 and back 1 etc. When they went forward they counted and when they went back they stepped silently. After they were done with this the eurythmy teacher came in and the children put on dance shoes and acted out a story from Jewish history with their bodies.

I then observed a class at recess. This school has a typical jungle gym and then a garden. All of the kids were in the garden, playing tag, digging or sitting and talking. These students are never stopped in their outdoor play. If it is pouring they still go outside and they dig in the mud if they want to. Rubber boots are provided for each child.

I then went into a 3rd/4th combo class where the students were just talking with the teacher. The conversation meandered. A couple of the boys were finger knitting during this time. Apparently the children had recently gone on a field trip to Sutter’s fort and this was part of the conversation. There was a beautiful chalk drawing of California on the board along with a willow tree. After awhile, a boy asked if they could go run now. The teacher said okay lets go take a run. They asked if they should do the obstacle course or the run first and the teacher said run and then obstacle course and then the students were off. There was an amazing amount of respect for what the teacher said. The relationship was very different and you could feel it.

These teachers start with a group of kids in first grade and then move up with the kids all the way to eighth grade, so the kids and teacher get to know each other very well and in some of the older classes an underlying playfulness, like siblings might have permeated the classroom. For instance, the eighth grade class was on the blacktop practicing a sword fight dance. It got rough at one point and then everyone started laughing. They then went on to a circle tag game, which looked a little like duck-duck-goose, but way more vigorous. This was played enthusiastically by all and often rang with laughter.

I went into a 5th grade room which was doing a math lesson. The teacher was using a Saxon book, but she was reading different problems out loud to different groups of students. These students were writing the problems in their mainlesson book. None of the students have or use textbooks through sixth grade in this school. Instead, the teacher orally delivers all of the material, often in a whimsical manner to the students, who then create beautiful beeswax drawings in their mainlesson books, which is usually just a blank book of some sort. They then write about what they have learned.

I then went in to the sixth grade room. This one was talking about explorers and the teacher was giving the students a very typical public school assignment-make an advertisement as if you were looking for young boys to take on an exploring expedition. This is the only room that I didn’t see a marked difference between the traditional methods and the Waldorf methods. As I watched I could almost tick off the traditional seven steps of “Essential Elements of Instruction” that traditional teachers use.

I then went and talked to the principal and a Kindergarten teacher. The kindergartens were not open to guests that day, but she explained how everything was taught through play and storytelling. They did not usually read to the students instead the teachers told very long, up to a half hour story with expression, whimsy and body movements and then they let the children respond to the stories. They also did handwork and movements, interspersed with play with hand made objects. I also learned that it takes about 2.25 years past the teaching credential to get Waldorf certified and takes about another $20,000.

I now want to go back and observe the kindergarten and I want to see the private school, also. I also ordered a few ideas online and have begun reading some more of the method. I don’t think I could give up reading tons of books to my children, but I do want to learn how to tell them stories from myself also. I think we are also going to dabble with water coloring, felt work and form drawings this summer. I’d love to teach some music in this way, but that would require that I learn how to sing, so that will be awhile. We can do the recorder more though. Did I mention I really enjoy guiding my children to try so many things in their education? It’s so fun for me.

What Have We Been Doing For School?

We've been acting like animals during drama games as we wait for scripts to be handed out.
We have been created dioramas of the animals on the African savannahs.

We have been boarding airplanes and checking out cockpits,
and usig models to see how the planes fly.
We have been making books on Harriet Tubman,
and Abraham Lincoln.


We have been learning to lead horses,
and to ride them.
And we have been hole punching little butterflies and begging for our work to be photographed.

I Made a Rug

I have been wanting to try latch hooking for awhile, but don't have the time to learn it right now. When I saw a crocheted rug, I figured I could do that instead. I love the colors in this rug. I still need to add a nonstick backing. But I'm toally seeing scarf possibilities as well.

New Year's Eve

I was downloading pictures and realized I never blogged about New Year's Eve. It was so fun I just have to tell about it. Our friends from Logan, Utah came and stayed with us for two nights. We all love this family. The adults talked and talked, while the kids played. New Years Eve the adults were talking and watching a movie and we realized we hadn't heard from the kids in awhile. They were all in our room/garage. We went to check on them and they had a full fledged New Years Party Eve going on. They had rolled out a carpet for everyone to walk on and they had gotten a Cd player and then the CD Jars of Clay, which is an alternative Christian group to play rather loudly. They then got a light bright without the pegs which they set on a chair that they spun so that the little circles would flash around the ceiling and walls of the room, which made a cool disco effect. They had written 2008 on a big piece of paper and then ripped it all up and welcomed in 2009 and then danced. I tell you, I am letting this crew plan my next party.

Kevin's Work and My School

I realized I have not updated everyone in awhile on here. We have been blessed with a new job for Kevin two days before his old one was supposed to end. He is now a technical editor for a company that analyzes enerygy usage for large companies and government agencies. It pays pretty well and is a full time permanent position with benefits including retirement that have already started. The best part is that it doesn't look like this company is going to go under or lay off anytime soon (like the last three). They just got a really, really large three year contract. Big sigh of relief. We are so blessed to find this position in this rough economy.

He has also been working on the side for his dad. This is great, but I sure miss having him home by six. It makes it hard for me to do homework, but I'll make it. I am in the last week of my last class, except for student teaching which I am supposed to start in three weeks, but have yet to find a placement for.

What about college? And Yuba City Homeschooling

Another homeschooling question and my answer, thought I'd share because others have asked similar questions.

"Thanks for all the great info! Your kids are doing such great things. I wish all children could experience pursuing their interests to their hearts delight, it sounds wonderful! I think one of my biggest fears is failing to teach them things that they will need to know when they go to college. I have also heard that it is difficult for homeschoolers to get into major universities. I know that this is changing as it becomes more the norm, and schools and employers are seeing home schooled young adults as great assets to their schools/companies. If you don't mind me asking, what are your plans for getting your children into college? Will you have them take an SAT or any exams when they approach "high school graduation"?

All of the programs you describe sound wonderful, but I fear living out here in Plumas Lake I will have to do a lot of driving to offer my kids these kinds of activities. You sound like you have a lot of neat "supplies". Do you go through a charter school and where do you order most of your materials from?

One other thing I wonder about is how well I will be at committing so much time to now educating my children on my own. I know it can only benefit them and me but with how I can't seem to get done all the things I would like to get done in a day...it's intimidating to think of spending 3 hours a day sitting down and teaching the children. It sounds like your kids are a bit self-motivated. Is that their ages or just because they've been doing it so long?"


I think you are right to be concerned about preparing them for college. One thing many parents are doing is taking a few community college classes with their students when they are still at home, at 15, 16 or 17 to help them prepare. You can also do a few college prep classes within a charter school or just teach them to take good notes on Sacrament talks and how to pass clep and SAT tests.

As far as Universities accepting homeschooled students, I don’t think that is an issue anymore. BYU, Yale, Harvard, William and Mary etc. all have homeschool submission departments. They want to see portfolio’s of the students’ work and test scores along with lists of areas they have studied. Of course, if you go with a charter school you will have a regular diploma, so it won’t really matter-the college won’t even know the students were taught at home unless they research the type of public school. If you do a private school affidavit then you will also issue a diploma just from a private school.

I completed my AA at a local college, then got my BA from Ashford University and am almost done with my teaching credential from Rio Salado, none of these are top schools, but I was never once asked about being homeschooled in high school, they all just wanted to see if I could pass their entrance exams. It was honestly never an issue. We may do something similar for the kids. We may have them stay home for their AA’s (Kevin really wants these completed before their missions), clepping out of part of it and then transfer to a University after that (when they get home from their missions). Also the charter schools will pay for any college you want to do before the student is 18, which may be a benefit in saving for the university. If the SAT is still used to evaluate students I will have them take it, it is being called into question by many universities right now, so we’ll see what happens with it in 10 years.

I am with a charter school. I completely understand the issue of accepting money from the government and allowing them into your home to dictate how the child is educated, because that is why so many of us pulled our kids out of school. But I have decided for me that the pros outweigh the cons, mostly because I will be done with my teaching credential and intend to be a supervising teacher with one of the charter schools=). That way I can still control a lot of it and make money helping other people set up their homeschools, which I totally love to do. I also have three school aged kids and get $4500 a year from the school towards supplies and classes, that is a lot of fun products and activities. I am with South Sutter, so there are hundreds of places we can purchase. Rainbow Resource is the cheapest and largest. Others are here http://www.sscs.cc/search/search_vendors.php.

As far as activities in your area. There is a large very active and very supportive homeschool group up there. They are awesome and I so miss them. Some of the moms do classes and they have weekly park days with about fifty kids. They do public speaking activities regularly and they have a lot of ideas. You can find more info on them here http://homeschool.meetup.com/532/ . They also do regular field trips and art classes at the library. Many of them also joined the gym in Marysville which offers two homeschool sports days a week for the kids and is paid for by the charter school. Others are in the youngstersinc gymnastics which is in Yuba City. There is also swimming, drama, horseback riding, golf, tennis, voice and piano in your area that is paid for by the charter schools. Once you get hooked up with the group you will find more activities locally than you will really want to do.

As far as the time thing, I am not going to lie. It does take a lot of time in the beginning. At this point I can get away with a lot less, but I really worked on my older kids independence from me in their studies, because I knew I would be student teaching this year and I wanted them to continue. Kindergarteners through about halfway through second grade or until they are reading decently are pretty dependent, but they don’t require as much time so it is okay.

The other thing that counteracts the time spent teaching the kids is that they are there to help with the household chores-I take full advantage of this and fully expect my kids to help with almost all of the cleaning, some child care tasks and even cooking. Also I am not running the kids to school or doing homework with them. I am living with my sister-in-law and all of the time she spends directly on these activities is about the same amount of time I spend directly teaching my kids and she doesn’t have the household chore help of having her kids around. Of course, my kids do study without me also. They study on their own because the choice of activities are things to study and they have helped develop their learning goals and the older two have just begun to really enjoy studying.

Okay, this is turning into a book, so I’ll stop, but let me know if you have any other questions.

The Kids Daily Schooling "Schedule"

I was asked by a mom who is thinking of homeschooling, mainly because her kids are so busy with school and homework that they are not having enough time to play, what my day looked like. Here it is:

Right now it varies, because I am working in an elementary school two days a week, which gives me the perspective of seeing both first hand. Typically, though, I wake at 6ish, make my husband lunch and get him off etc. by 7:15 then I bring the older children on to my bed and we read and discuss books for about an hour. Then Kamron and Aubrey do their independent work. We usually eat in the middle of this work. Kamron is somewhat assigned, becuase he just preferred that I assign it to him and every time I asked him if he had any ideas he typically said no I like what you are doing, but when he does have a suggestion we usually try to incorporate it without letting him "study playing" all day. Aubrey has very minimal requirements of a math page and a couple chapters of reading each day. That's her only requirement, because she adds all kinds of things to this. She has several things she has put in her backpack that she calls her backpack work. This includes journal writing, spelling, four reading books, which includes right now The Book of Mormon Reader, History for Little Pilgrim's, McGuffy Third Grade Reader, My Father's World (science), a collection of worksheets she asked me to copy and a composition book. They do most of this work on their own unless they want my help. They bring me their work when they are done and we go over it and they often correct or redo anything that is not done really well. Kamron often is working until a little after lunch, while Aubrey is done by about 11 a.m. and then she sometimes does a class with her three younger brothers, where she does some songs, reads to them and makes up other activities. Sometimes we skip all of this and do an activity or go on a field trip.

Then they will pick what they want to study. For awhile Aubrey was doing science experiments everyday and Kamron was playing piano. Kamron still does a lot of piano, but now they are both really into this really good art computer program which has some great lessons about art topics-it's called Creativity Express. Kamron also does a lot of music theory through computer programs. Aubrey will often do art projects, too.

While the older two kids are doing their independent work I do a reading lesson with Brennen, he does a handwriting page and a math activity and then I usually read two or three things to him. Sometimes we do a piano lesson and often he does a computer program. It takes about an hour. The younger two are playing or joining in with Brennen typically.

The kids also do classes. Kamron and Aubrey are in a science club that does one science field trip each month and one huge science project each month (they built the entire digestive track last time and watched how it worked). They also joined a Science in the everyday environment class at the library. Kamron does voice lessons once a week and scouts once a week. Aubrey does a drama class at the Sacramento Theatre Company once a week, she is taking riding lessons and has activity days every other week. Brennen is taking riding lessons and all of the younger three kids are in a kindermusic type class that is done as an enrichment class down here each week. All of these classes are either free or paid for by the school. I don't typically recommend doing this many classes, but in our circumstances it worked, partially because I am not driving them to some of these and since I am busy they can go and do them without me really being involved.

So that is basically our schedule as it pertains to the kids school. Not very scripted or set in stone. I have done it more set, like 8-9 we do this and 9-10 we do that, but right now this is working better for us.

25 Things About Me

I've been tagged and asked to write 25 things about myself.

1. I am working on getting certified to substitute teach this week.
2. My son is taking voice lessons, partially because he is musical and partially so that I can sit in on the lessons and try to learn how to sing-something about directing the voice to the center of the face, which is called the mask and is a natural microphone,--and there is something about quacking like a duck.
3. My cat ate ALL of my neighbor’s fish this last week.
4. I lost a baby in December.
5. I am 29 and already going gray, even my father-in-law began plucking out my gray hairs the other day, sigh.
6. Last Saturday I sat downtown trying to study while waiting for my daughter in her acting class, but instead I began creating a list of what I could possibly do for the homeless people-anyone have extra flannel or batting?
7. I’ve only dyed my hair once, but I may do it again-see #5.
8. I had to have a no boyfriend conversation with my daughter last week, as she cried and proclaimed her devotion to a rather chivalrous young (young) man. I even drew diagrams of how the relationships progress when one is boyfriends and when one is friends for a long time and then grow into other relationships if it is right, like after 18. My daughter understood a little, but bewailed the length of time that would be-she is 8.
9. I am currently living in a very cozy garage in my sister-in-laws house. It is heated and carpeted though, so it’s actually pretty nice.
10. My five children are living in the house and sharing rooms with their cousins.
11. I am 5 months away from my teaching credential, but am not intending to teach full time in a classroom.
12. I was surprised to realize that I actually really enjoy teaching in a classroom during my practicums.
13. I have to figure out how to get a large stain out of my daughter’s pants, because the above mentioned chivalrous young (young) man dropped her when attempting to carry her over a puddle.
14. I get to start teaching the wolf scouts, 8-year-old boys, next week.
15. My husband’s job ends next week with the factory closing, anyone need a computer desk top support person?
16. I am a regular at yoga class.
17. My husband loves me a great deal and I take great joy in being able to help him when he is stressed, yet I haven’t found the magic spot to kiss and make-it-all-better.
18. My son is practicing the piano, again, in preparation for a special musical number he is playing in Sacrament meeting next month. I never thought I would actually ask him to stop playing for awhile. I need to switch him over to the keyboard, and find headphones=).
19. My youngest son cries if you change his diaper, and continues crying from five minutes to one hour after it has been changed-he is my least consolable child.
20. We own four laptops, and we use them all.
21. My oldest son has decided to use a headphone microphone so that he will not ever have to repeat himself, and he has been at it all morning. By the way he narrates his life, “so if I sit at this desk and…”
22. My fourth child has decided he has now gotten big enough for school and requests work and “projects” and then sits down and studiously does them-or not.
23. I find a great deal of satisfaction in creating things and have become a halfway decent crochet artist.
24. I tend to read about six books at one time, all nonfiction, and I read whenever I get a spare minute, which means I have been on the same six books for about a year.
25. I occasionally get very homesick for the country and have been known to drive for three hours just to see fields and real farms. I have also been known to sign up two of my children for pony riding lesson just so that I have an excuse to visit a ranch once a week-they start next Tuesday, yeah!


If you are reading this post, consider yourself tagged. Write 25 things about yourself on your blog and leave a comment on mine with a link.

Press and Release Schooling

I was asked for help with a little boy who is learning to read, but has suddenly started resisting anything to do with it. She asked if she should continue to press him, or play hardball and make him do the work she wants him too. She is part of a homebased charter school and so has to submit reports of the work they do and so has that added pressure. They have recently moved and had all of the holidays etc.

My response to her is below;

"I have been there before. With Kamron I forced the issue and made him read and brought him to tears many times. It took several years before he started to enjoy reading again (he's ten and just informed me the other day that he likes reading almost as much as piano-which is saying something, but this took a long time of me backing off). So, no I wouldn't push him to read if he is just refusing. I would instead focus my energies somewhere else that is still educational. For instance, a good bug unit study, like the one at www.handsofachild.com, which is an approved vendor, or a creation of a family tree with a timeline of lifespans to help him to begin to put history in perspective may be good. If I were you I would go with a project that is tangible, but unrelated to reading, that way you will have something to show the ES, and he will feel like he accomplished something challenging, had fun and learned at the same time. I am not sure what you are using for reading, but you may want to adjust that. I really like the Leapfrog ABC video as two of my younger sons learned all of their basic sounds from it and I didn't even need to be involved. You may want to step back to just play verbal games for awhile, rhyming, same beginning sounds, even writing out the alphabet and play a game where you each have to think of an animal or a food that starts with each letter, this will also help him learn his sounds.

The only time I would play hardball was if it is very obvious that he is just disobeying, he's not tired, hungry or stressed he is just refusing to do something that he is fully capable of and you feel is necessary to his proper growth."

I have found so much of our studies to be this way. It is a matter of knowing our children well enough to know when to press and when to back off. This year I pressed my son hard in writing. I taught him how to write a basic five paragraph essay and then required about three per week until he really got it. This was really hard for him, but I felt it was important for him so that he could begin researching and reporting on almost anything in a format other than the basic narration-which he had mastered. He really go these essays and then I backed off writing to concentrate on other areas of study. We have done the same thing in many other areas. For instance, my daughter got to the point when she was done with math, so we took off two months and then picked it back up a step below where she had been before, she then quickly grasped her lessons and moved forward. So much our studies are this way, press in a subject, release that subject, press somewhere else, release and eventually come back to that subject when they are ready. A key to keeping the love of learning alive is to keep the challenge appropriate and not press to the point of breaking. I hope all of that makes sense.

Cottage Industries and New Law

Just an update for those trying to save their cottage industry businesses. A class action lawsuit is being filed by those who work from home making products for children. The link to this is here http://reformcpsia.org/2009/01/class-action-lawsuit/.

This issue is hugely important and should not be ignored. By denying family businesses the right to make and sell goods we are shifting the central principles of our society even further from the family and to the individual who works for a large corporation. If we want to keep the family as the central unit of society we have to fight for it.

Within the lecture on the depth phase of education at this site http://www.tjedonline.com/audio.php is a really great discussion of the principle ideas and shifts in them and the current shift that we are in, family vs. individual working for the corporation. I encourage everyone, homeschoolers and others alike to listen to this lecture and be aware of what they are educating their children and themselves for. Is it so they can grow up and get a job or do they have a real purpose in being here, a noble purpose, a God-given purpose?

The Government is Here to Take Care of You-No Need to Think for Yourself, Don't Worry the Highly Incompetent Lawmakers Will Do it For You

In one swoop the government has closed down the cottage industries, such as Hope Chest Legacy, which I love, most small businesses geared towards children, such as both my sisters' who have made and sold children's products from home, the children's department in Goodwill, which will be tossing all of their children's departments into the landfill before the February 10th deadline, and it looks like the children's section of the public libraries as well.

I don't have a problem with a law saying things should be labeled and then let the consumer decide, but to say we will give you no other choice but to purchase from large retailers, new items, that will now have to pay for all of this testing which will increase your costs, is tyrannical. I'm sure it will help our ailing economy, too.

The real question is where are the statesmen in our government-not the reactionaries, that have no core principles to judge their decisions by, and come up with stupid hasty laws that create bigger messes than the ones they were trying to fix in the first place? We need people who get the fact that in order to be free me people need to be free to make their own decisions even decisions viewed as dumb or unhealthy by others. We should not be making laws against every dumb decisions, so that noone has any choice, but to make what the government deams a good decision.

Perhaps, this is part of why so many of us homeschooling moms have felt prompted to collect and store really good books in our homes and to not rely on the public libraries to have them.

For more links you can go here:

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/Cpsia/cpsia.html

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6627969.html

--Update--
The law was added to to say that resellers did not have to test their products, but if they sold anything within the lead limits they would still have to pay the fines, so they will be taking on a large risk if they sell certain catergories of items, but it is up to them.

There has been nothing to address the unique cottage industries yet.

Personality Type

My sister just did a blog entry on personality. I replied to her and thought I would also put it here. If you are familiar with the color code at all-I am a red, with some blue and white and absolutely no yellow. What that means is that I am drawn to and motivated by accomplishment, relationships, peace but not at all fun. Pretty sad, huh? When I first got married and Kevin wanted to do something spontaneous it would drive me up the wall, but I am learning to adapt and I think I have probably gained a little yellow, but not enough to outway the planner, thinker, leader part of me. I consider a day well spent when I have checked almost everything off my list. The only way I can consider an amusement outing well spent is if I learned something, my kids learned something or I got something done on the ride over there. This is why, don't tell my husband, but I hate going to the movies-what a waste of time and money (yet, he loves them and I love him, so we go monthly).

For me, an ideal date is some type of cultural experience where we can walk away with a new idea or perspective and then can talk about it and analyze it. We visited an art museum a little while ago and sat in on a lecture about art history and the use of mirrors to create the proper perspective in Jan van Eyck's paintings-you'll notice it in the chandelier of "The Wedding of Giovanni." They showed a slide of a guy who had taken a wharehouse and put up art prints by time period and then studied this perspective and the shine in metal in paintings-oh, it got my wheels turning. You will probably see a room in a future house with all of the paintings we are collecting in chronological order during the children's youth years. To me this was an awesome date. Notice, how fun doesn't really enter the picture for me. Oh, well, these types of experiences create memories too.

There may be hope for me, though, because I still actually enjoy roller coasters and I can't see a single red or white thing about them.

If you want to, go here http://www.colorcode.com/, take the test and tell me what color are you?