Induction

I was to due to have this little baby boy 10 days ago. He has decided to stay right where he is. I really wanted to go into labor naturally, but the doctor felt like we should induce, so yesterday I went to the hospital at 8 in the morning. The doctor checked me and found I was at 1 cm and 40% effaced and that the baby was still too high to break my water or strip the membranes, so they started pitocin at 11 a.m. I brought with me the babies final blanket which I was crochetting an edge onto, I felt this would make a good labor project as I didn't have to think too much, but it would stifle the boredom of sitting there while giving me something productive to do and it was for the baby. I had regular contractions that got about three minutes apart and were about a 3 on the pain scale by about 2 p.m. Then I talked to the nurse who said I should be in more pain or else the cervix wouldn't open. She said most of the time they never got past 7 on the pitocin in a woman who had already had a baby and I was at 13 on my fifth child. I asked if the doctor would send me home if nothing was happening and she called and said the doctor would check me at about 5:30 and if nothing was happening I would probably go home and try again another day. By 4 p.m. I had finished the blanket and the contractions had gotten further apart and less painful despite the pitocin being at 15. The doctor checked me and found I was now dilated to 1.5 cm and 50% effaced. We checked out at 6 p.m. and went out to eat. I had joked with Kevin earlier that we could skip the whole thing and go spend the day together somewhere, well we at least went out to dinner, before we got home to thank my mother- and sister-in-law for coming and watching the kids. I feel like I have inconvenienced a lot of people for nothing, but my mother-in-law cleaned our carpets and I finished the blanket, so the day was not totally lost. The baby seems higher than usual and I have little hope of him coming soon. They want to try to induce again next Monday, starting with a pill to soften the cervix first instead of pitocin. Maybe he wants an April birthday.
P.S. did I mention that I am really big.

A Doll's Kitchen Set

This is a little late, but I thought I would share anyway. My mother had a collection of pattern books when I was a girl with all of these plastic canvas fashion doll rooms. I made several for myself as a girl. I still have a few and Aubrey loves playing with them so I made this set for her this Christmas. I had started the prior January and didn't get done with it until December. She likes and entertains all kinds of dolls and animals with it.

Brick Houses

Kamron got this kit for Christmas and a couple of weeks ago, he and his Dad spent about four hours putting it together. I think they enjoyed building it.

Baby Blankets

I finally finished the crocheted blanket for the baby. It took me about three months, ripping and redoing many times. It was by far the most difficult pattern I have done, but I love the finished blanket. The pattern is from "Candy Blankies." My whole family wants one now as it is made from super soft yarn and is extremely warm. All of the children already have crocheted blankets, but Kevin has been asking for one for a long time. He went through all of my patterns and said he wants one like this, but he wants it in single crochet so it will have smaller holes, and he wants it king sized so we can both cuddle in it. I told him it would take me about two years to complete, and he says that is fine, because we will have a gorgeous blanket until we are old. It will be dark, dark blue and off-white.

The next blanket is a two sided flannel blanket with tabby ribbons sewn into it. It took me all of an hour and a half and $3.50 to make, as I got everything on sale.

Attitudes Toward Homeschooling

This is my final paper for my last class. I found the research quite interesting and thought I'd share.



Attitudes Toward Home Schooling
Melissa Calapp
Psychology 320: Research Methods and Statistics
February 7, 2007





Attitudes Toward Home Schooling

Introduction and Statement of Problem
I am a home schooling mother of four. I recently went to the doctor for my oldest son. The doctor asked me what my son’s teacher thought of a certain condition, and I told him he was home schooled. The doctor then asked me why, to which I replied that I did not think the local schools were very good and I could provide him with a better education at home. The doctor replied, “Well, yes, but we recommend the children go to public school, so that they can learn street smarts.” This instance brought again to my mind the question of people’s attitudes towards home schooling. If this doctor can admit that the local schools are not good educationally, but still recommend that the children go there, would other doctor’s also? What is the attitude of professionals and lay people toward home schooling and has it changed over the last twenty years?

This topic is timely and relevant for several reasons. According to Lawrence M. Rudner of the Home School Legal Defense (1999) there were between 750,000 to 1,200,000 home schooled children in 1998, while today there are over 2,000,000 children being educated from home. According to the Economist (2004), this number represents 1 in every 25 school aged children in America. The number of home schooled children is increasing each year, and it is now much more common for someone to know a family who chooses this educational method, which would lead us to ask that as people become more familiar with a variety of home schooling families will their opinion of them change? One other reason this is a relevant topic is that little research has been done on it and it would be beneficial to the general population along with those who serve children to understand this specific population better. Before I began the research on this topic my hypothesis was that the attitude towards home schooling has become more favorable over the last ten years, but there are still many who have negative opinions about it.

Literature Review
The literature reviewed in connection with the subject matter under consideration was obtained from scholarly journals found in Pro-Quest data base, with the exception of one article which was not found in a scholarly journal, but held important data and was quoted in other more scholarly journals. This article is reviewed along with five of the more scholarly articles below. None of them relate exclusively to the topic at hand, but by correlating the information from the articles a strong case for the hypothesis is made.

The first article is by Patricia Lines, from Public Interest (2000), it was not found in the scholarly journal section yet it was the most often quoted article by the others that I reviewed, with good reason. Lines worked in the Department of Education since 1985 and was partially in charge of recording how many home schooled children their were. She used “data from state education agencies; distribution of curricular packages for homeschoolers; and state homeschool associations' estimates of their constituencies” (75). Within her statistical analysis and questionnaires she came to the conclusion that many of the home school children are being pulled from students who would typically be candidates from private schools and less often from the public schools.

Lines then recounts a history of homes schooling reminding us that it is public schooling that is a recent educational method and home schooling has in fact always been the primary method of most people especially the upper class, who would hire tutors, and those living in rural locations. The modern movement started as a liberal movement in the 1960’s and then as the schools became more liberal has swung to a more conservative movement today, but with significant amounts of people from the liberal side still.

Lines hypothesizes that future growth in home schooling may come from the minority populations. She sites a study that was done Vanderbilt University and Nashville State Tech, a selective private university and a two-year college. The survey had 254 participants pulled from the classes of the professors doing the studies, so the results may not represent the general population. Nevertheless, 45.3 percent of African-American students replied yes or maybe when asked if they would home school their own children. The percentages were even larger among other minority groups.

The next study was an annual report sent out to Florida home schoolers, which shows a shift in the reasoning behind the decisions to home school. Before 1995 the primary reason was consistently religious, but after 1995 the primary reason for home schooling was a dissatisfaction with the public schools, which has also led to an even more diverse home schooling population.

Lines reports the findings of another study she had done previously. She was interested in the attitudes of colleges and Universities towards these students, and what they did with admission packets from them. She conducted phone interviews with a variety of schools and found an overwhelmingly positive response in the attitudes towards these students from schools ranging from local junior colleges, to tech schools to Ivy League schools. She then shows how the numbers of schools who have admitted home schoolers (which is more than 900 in 2000) has grown and become a much easier process for these students.

Lines then brings up two studies that were cited in several other articles as well. The primary concern that most people have about home schooling is for the social well being of the children. Two studies were conducted to see if there was any difference in social performance between the home schoolers and public schooled children. The first study was done with 70 children from each group. The 140 children were video taped at play with other children. The video tapes were then given to trained counselors who were not told how the children were being schooled. The counselors then rated the students and the data was then analyzed. It was found that there were very few differences overall between the two groups. This same study is cited by Wooster (2000), who says that the only significant difference was that on average the home schooled children behaved better. I was not able to locate the study to verify.

The second study was a questionnaire and personality analysis done by psychologists on a group of home schooled students and a group of public schooled students. Both groups scored as well-adjusted, “with comparable scores on scales measuring aggression, reliance on others, perception of support from others, perceptions of limits to be followed, and interpersonal relations among family members. Not surprisingly, the nonhomeschoolers scored somewhat higher in resolving interpersonal problems with other children” (78).

Lines then cites some public opinion polls, which are very pertinent to our topic. “In 1985, only 16 percent of respondents to the annual Phi Delta Kappan Gallup poll thought that the homeschool movement was a "good thing"; 73 percent thought it was a "bad thing." By 1988, 28 percent rated it a good thing and 59 percent rated it a bad thing. By 1997, the approval rating had grown to 36 percent while the disapproval rating edged down to 57 percent” (79).

The last study that is cited in this article was done by Christian Smith and David Sikkink of the University of North Carolina found that home schooling families tended to be more politically, and civically involved then those families whose children attend public school.

The next article (Wootser, 2000) cited several of the studies, which have been described above, but also included a study by statistician Lawrence Ludner, from the University of Maryland, who looked at test scores from 20,000 home schooled children and found that they consistently score better than public schooled children. They average 67 points higher on the SAT test then public schooled students. The studies that show that on average home schoolers consistently perform better academically compared with publicly schooled children are important in the general populations change in attitude toward home schooling, because the question of academic performance was one of the primary concerns twenty years ago.

Houston and Toma report on two surveys done that directly shows the change of public opinion. “In 1986, a Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll found only 16% of Americans believed home schooling to be a "good thing" (Lines 1996). In 1994, however, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found 28% of Americans would actually prefer home education to in-school education.” These polls admittedly are not as carefully done as we would like from a carefully conducted experiment, and that must be taken into consideration. In this article the attempt to regulate home schooling by creating a law to require at least one home schooling parent to have a teaching credential was defeated in the House of Representatives 424 to 1. This does tell us something of the opinion of politicians of home schoolers in general.

In “Education Reform (2002),” by Pamela Paul which was published in American Demographics, a correlated study was reported where polls on the publics opinion of the public schools and home schools were collected and studied. It was found that the positive opinions of American’s in the public schools has sharply declined. For instance, in 1973 58% of the population had “quite a lot” or “a great deal” of confidence in the schools. By 1999 this number had fallen to only 36%. This study shows a possible reason for a change in opinion of home schooling as people tend to be more open to other methods of education when they are less positive about the main method.

An experiment found in School Psychology Review, was done by Steven F Duvall, Joseph C Delquadri, D Lawrence Ward, who are the authors of the article (2004). The effectiveness in teaching children with ADHD by home schooling parents who were untrained, according to current educational thought, was the topic of the study. First several publicly schooled and home schooled ADHD children were identified, and then two matched sets were identified. Each of the students and parents or teachers were then observed by two observers on a monthly basis for five months at timed intervals for 30 to 45 minutes. The students were then tested multiple times to see how effective their learning was and how effectively it was retained. Both sets of students started out at the same place on the tests, but both of the home schooled students were consistently scoring higher by the end of five months. It was found that even though the parents were not trained to deal with ADHD children they used many of the same techniques as the teachers, with a few differences. The parents more often directed learning from the side of the student or from out of the room, while the teachers were typically in front or behind the student and were directing larger groups of children. The home schooled students attention was focused and they were more on task then those in the public school situation. The home school parents more often ignored inappropriate behavior while the public school teachers more often engaged “talk management.” This experiment shows that untrained parents can teach children more effectively than trained public schooled teachers. This and another study done found no correlation between home schooled children’s academic performance and whether their parent had a teaching credential seem to show that parents teach children very well even without special training, which further breaks down some of the arguments that people have against home schooling. One drawback of this study was that it did not record the parents prior experience, which may very well have included quite a bit of research on how to deal with ADHD children. Another drawback is that it only used two pairs of students.

The last article I would like to discuss can be found in Clinical Pediatrics and was written by Susan L Klugewicz and Carol L Carraccio (1999). The authors wanted to find out what pediatricians thought about home schooling and if when they knew a family home schooled did they provide additional services that were normally provided at the public schools. They sent out over 1100 questionnaires and got about 600 replies from a variety of pediatrician offices. They found that 74% of pediatricians felt their knowledge of home schooling was inadequate. Eighty-eight percent thought that home schoolers would do well academically, while 51% thought that home schoolers would be less mature. Only about one-third said that they supported home schooling. Of those who had home schoolers in their practices the percentage of favorable responses towards it increased, while the opinions were most negative amongst those who had the least amount of home schoolers. Neither group offered any additional services to these students. The author recommends that pediatricians become more informed on this segment of the population and offer additional services to them.

Findings
Through my research I have found that, indeed, opinions towards home schooling have become more positive as the home schooling movement has become more widespread. In Home Schooling: an alternative choice Houston and Toma (2003) say, “Public perception of home education has also changed over the last 15 years. In 1986, a Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll found only 16% of Americans believed home schooling to be a "good thing". In 1994, however, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll found 28% of Americans would actually prefer home education to in-school education” (p. 925). Seventy-three percent of the participants of a Phi Delta Kappa-Gallup poll in 1985 thought the home schooling movement was a “bad thing” according to Lines (2000). In 1988, 28 percent thought it was a “good thing” and 59 percent thought it was a “bad thing.” In 1997 36 percent thought it was a “good thing,” while 57 percent thought it was a “bad thing.” In the 1997 poll 82 percent said that parents should have a legal right to home school, compared with 53% in 1988.

In Home schooled children: A pediatric perspective (Klugewicz, S. & Carraccio, C., 1999), the pediatricians were found to have a more positive opinion with the more home schooling families that they come in contact with. This confirms the hypothesis that the more familiar laymen and professionals become with home schooling, the more positive their opinions will be. One interesting finding was that on the whole the pediatricians really were not that familiar with home schooling and knew that they were not, which accounts for why on the whole their opinion of it was more negative than that of the general population.

Discussion
There are several things that have contributed to the change of opinion in home schooling. One major factor, which has already been pointed out, is simply the growth of this form of education. With this growth has come a wider familiarity with home schooling in general. This same form of human behavior can be seen in other areas, as the general population becomes more familiar with a variety of people from a minor population. For instance, when schools and some apartment buildings were desegregated the attitudes of whites towards African Americans did indeed become more positive.

This form of education has been unfamiliar to a lot of people, and so it was not, and still is not, uncommon for home schooling families to receive a lot of questions and concerns about it. The top concerns have been can the children keep up academically? Will they get into college? Are parents capable of teaching as well as a trained professional teacher? Will the children be social misfits?
All of these concerns have been addressed with sound research. In addition to the research on academic performance already cited, in 1997 HSLDA sent out questionnaires to 6,000 home schooling families, the children were also given standardized tests and the data was then collected and correlated for the 5,402 recipients that responded. The results were then published in the Educational Policy Analysis Archives (Rudner, 1999). It was found that home schooled children performed on average one grade level above their peers in elementary school and four grade levels above their peers by eighth grade. This correlated educational levels of parents and how well the students did on the tests. In almost one-fourths of the homes one or both parents had a teaching degree, but there was no correlation found between this and a students test scores. However, there was a correlation between the parents educational and income levels and the test scores. The higher the educational levels and income the higher the test scores. But those with parents who did not have a high school diploma still did better than public school students who had parents with some college or an AA.

The research clearly shows that home schoolers are just as likely to get into the college or university of their chose as those in the general population. Most colleges and universities either accept students on their SAT and ACT scores or they have what is called a portfolio review, specifically designed for them.
The last major issue of socialization also was shown in the above research to be a concern that is misunderstood. The children have been shown to relate very well to others, and to be more politically and civically involved then publicly schooled peers (Lines, 2000). This is a hard area to define as there is no agreed upon meaning of the word socialization. Some home schoolers consider their school to have been a success if their children can not relate to some things in the general population, like drugs, premarital sex, and being told what to study, when to study and how to study. Others view “street smarts” as the correct socialization goal of schooling. There are a variety of people in both populations, and there will always be a few who miss social cues given by others or have a hard time interacting in groups from both groups and with these students it is not necessarily the method of education that produces students who do not meet everyone’s ideas of a well-socialized individual. There are probably external factors involved, such as individual personality. Another factor to consider also is that home schoolers often represent children who went to public school and did not fit in. An interview by Jenni Russel (2005) in England found that many of the parents pulled their children out of public school, because they were being bullied. She cites one student who had had a gun pulled on him by bullies. So, perhaps, any social differences that exist between the two populations is not a result of home schooling, but those that do not fit into the publicly schooled social environments are more likely to be home schooled.

As all of this research becomes public knowledge the fears of home schooling tend to dissolve, which I believe has helped the opinion of the general population to improve.

The last thing to consider is the inverse effect pointed out by Paul (2002). As the confidence in the public schools has sharply declined more people will look to other forms of education, which will lead them to be more open to home schooling. This has the effect of making the home schooling population more diverse and more numerous. As it grows in this way those in the general population will be more likely to know several different families who chose this option and less likely to make universal judgments about them, which will have the effect of increasing their opinion of home schoolers.

Conclusion
I have shown through solid research that as the home schooling population has grown, and many concerns have been proven unfounded that opinions towards home schooling, which were largely negative in the 1980’s, have now become largely positive. This swing of general opinion has been based largely on growth and the removal of ignorance about what it might be like, through a variety of solid studies, and a few controlled experiments. It is very important for the general population to abandon their prejudices, so that home schooling can be seen as the effective and worthwhile educational method that it is. As this is acknowledged, its strengths can then be studied and implemented to the improvement of other educational methods. This would help all of the children in the population and therefore be of great benefit to all of us.

















References

Duvall, S., Delquadri. J. & Ward, D. (2004). A preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of homeschool instructional environments for students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. School Psychology Review 33(1), 140- 159. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Houston, R. & Toma, E. (2003). Home schooling: An alternative school choice. Southern Economic Journal 69(4), 920-936.
Klugewicz, S. & Carraccio, C. (1999). Home schooled children: A pediatric perspective. Clinical Pediatrics, 38(7), 407-412. Retrieved January 19, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Lines, P. (2000). Homeschooling comes of age. Public Interest (140) 74-86. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Paul, P. (2002). Education reform. American Demographics 24(8), 20-22. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Rudner, L. (1999). Scholastic achievement and demographic characteristics of home school students in 1998. Retrieved January 21, 2007, from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/
Russel, J. (2005). When parents are a child’s best teachers. New Statesman 18(840), 24- 27. Retrieved February 2, 2007 from Pro-Quest Direct database.
Wooster, M. (2000). The virtues of learning at home. The American Enterprise 11(8), 56. Retrieved January 22, 2007, from Pro-Quest Direct database.

Drawing for Stake Conference

In the book "Hidden Art of Homemaking," by Edith Schafer she has a chapter on drawing. Her husband was a preacher and as he preached on Sundays she would draw pictures of the sermon for her children, so that her children could understand. I draw a wonderful stick figure and have been thinking about doing this for awhile with my children. This Sunday was Stake conference, and as their was no classes for the children I decided to leave the younger two at home with Kevin, who is not active in the church and doesn't go to conferences. This was a perfect time to try drawing the sermons. The first man spoke of Nephi who was praying for his people on the wall, so I drew him standing there and the people around him pushing each other. I went on to draw the rest of the story and then at the end I drew a boy and girl with the question "what will Kamron and Aubrey be asked of God to do?"

The next talk was about how important it is for the mother to guard her home and that we should have families. I drew a mom with a big shield and several children behind her. I then asked what she needed to defend the home and children from and in a whisper the children told me while I drew the following; robbers, drugs, bad words, bad TV, bad music, people who don't like families, and people who might hurt them. I then talked to Aubrey about how she would have this job when she grew up and she swelled with pride.

I continued to draw what the rest of the speakers spoke about and one thing that suprised me is how much I got out of those talks. I geuss drawing is not just for teaching the kids.

Grocery Shopping

Shopping has become more difficult for me as walking for over an hour usually exhausts me. I must admit that this pregnancy, though not particularly difficult does make me feel a lot older all of a sudden. I try not to take the kids shopping with me and have really been limiting how often I go to the store. Anyway, yesterday Kevin didn't have any jobs until 11 a.m. so in the morning I took Logan, 21 months, with me to do the shopping, as Kevin had things to do. I had the most fun shopping! Logan wanted to sit in the back of the cart and as we went along he would say to everyone hi and then bye. Then he started pointing everything out, the lights the colors, everything. Then he started counting spanish-I didn't even know he could, but he can count to sies, quite well and did so over and over. As the cart started to fill up I moved him to the front seat, and he wanted to sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." I have a horrible singing voice and can't stay on tune even on that one, but I figured there were plenty of people who walked around WalMart looking like they were talking to themselves (they have funny things in their ears though=)) that I figured noone would mind if I sang so I began, but Logan stopped me saying, "No, do this," with his little fingers starting the hand motions. I kissed him and said he would have to do the hand motions, because I had to push the cart. He seemed okay with that, but really wanted the hand motions for "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," so I had to stop a minute for that one. I tell you that little boy just made my day. I think he made a few other people's day too.

My Planned Garden Calendar

This past month I have planned out what I am going to plant when, along with a few of my gardening chores. We are going to build raised square foot gardens this year. Here is my calendar of acivities below.

February-1st plant 6 broccoli seeds indoors. Order cinnamon ferns, 1 honeybell hosta, 1 ostrich fern, 3 hydrangeas from Henry Fields, 15477 peat pot and get supplies, detail plans of planter boxes. Have dirt delivered a specific day in March. 15th 9 cauliflower seeds indoors. Plant Four O’clocks indoors. Plant 6 mint seeds indoors. Make the shade and cages. Plastic covering, clothes pins. Get fluorescent lights in garage on table

March-1st build planter boxes, along with boxes along back wall and vertical frames, put in dirt and compost, plant 9 spinach plants in 1 square. Add dirt to front beds, side bed in back and along back wall. Plant 3 peppers inside. Sow 20 lavender seeds indoors. 15th plant 4 carrot seeds each week, plant snap peas that have been presoaked overnight, cover for first month with tunnel. 20th Transplant broccoli. Purchase two parsley plants, plant out covered. Get large garbage can and scoop and mix up fertilizer, buy vermiculite and mister.

April- 1st plant lettuce, plant 4 carrot seeds each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, transplant out 3 cauliflower with a cutworm collar surrounding plants. Plant two rows of onions. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. Plant squash and zucchini indoors. Transplant four o’ clocks outdoors in front yard 15” apart. Plant first two varieties of sweet peas. 15th plant 4 squares of tomatoes, two seeds in each square, fertilize peas, spinach and broccoli, begin taking a few outer leaves from the spinach, sow 36 salad greens in 1 square. Transplant one pepper plant outdoors, with wire cage. Plant sunflower seeds along fence, and water daily until true leaves come and then weekly. Plant mixed flowers and poppies in front bed, 6 inches apart. water daily until they sprout. Plant Shasta daisy’s in front of den. Plant mint outside in partial shade in containers. Transplant 10 best lavender plants out front, 18 inches apart. 20th rubberband cauliflower leaves above heads. Plant 9 muskmelons inside in paper cups. Plant squash and zucchini outdoors and mulch. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade.

May- 1st plant 4 carrot seeds each week, Plant 9 muskmelons in vertical frames. Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. plant 9 bush beans in one square and 8 pole beans in one square soak seeds for 3 hours prior, begin harvesting salad greens when they have 2 or 3 true leaves. Plant two rows of onions. Sow 9 watermelon seeds indoors. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. 5th plant hollyhocks, plant morning glory seeds outdoors. 15th start looking for curds on cauliflower and be ready to pick as soon as they are ready, harvest first lettuce, plant 2nd batch of lettuce, watering with cold water, feed lettuce fish emulsion. Thin tomatoes to one seed in each square, cage them. Fertilize squash and zucchini. Pull to leave 2 squash plants and 1 zucchini plant. 20th Begin harvesting peas, fertilize peas and broccoli. Main head of broccoli will be ready. Harvest last of spinach. Clip the six weakest cantaloupe plants. Place straw around Pepper plants. Begin harvesting summer squash. Plant watermelon seeds out, mulch. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. Plant two later plantings of sweat peas. Plant Canterbury bells under shade in front towards back.

June- 1st plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest first carrots, continue to harvest a row of four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. Plant two rows of onions, begin harvest first batch of onions. Fertilize watermelon. 5th side shoots of broccoli are ready then plant is done. Begin harvesting peppers. Plant squash and zucchini indoors. Plant a few baby’s breath in partial shade. Shasta Daisy’s should begin blooming in front. Begin harvesting and storing mint leaves.
15th plant large type tomato inside to take the place of the Early Girl when it is done, 20th begin to harvest bush beans. Fertilize peas. Begin harvesting zucchini. Fertilize squash and zucchini. Fertilize watermelon. 20th plant squash and zucchini outdoors, mulch. Fertilize sunflowers and stake them if needed. Plant a few baby’s breath. Begin harvesting and drying lavender. Thin hollyhocks if needed.

July-1st, begin to harvest pole beans, harvest final of first lettuce and first of second batch of lettuce, plant third batch of lettuce, feed lettuce fish emulsion. plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. Plant 6 broccoli plants in containers indoors. Plant two rows of onions. Fertilize watermelon. Place any watermelon fruit on straw, or train it up wires. If Morning Glory’s are not flowering by now water them less. 15th Harvest early girl tomatoes, and supersweet tomatoes, plant 9 cauliflower seeds indoors. Begin harvesting cantaloupe. Thin squash and zucchini to one plant each, fertilize. Plant brussel sprouts indoors. 20th end harvesting bush beans, plant one more square of bush beans, seeds soaked for 3 hours prior. Fertilize peas. Pinch out ends of watermelon and train side shoots to grow laterally either up or out.

August-1st other cherry tomatoes are ready to begin harvesting, plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest four carrots each week Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks Switch to planting winter radishes, harvest 4 radishes each week. Plant 1 more square of peas in a shady spot that have been soaked overnight. Plant two rows of onions. Plant out brussel sprouts. 15th harvest final of second batch of lettuce and first of third batch of lettuce, plant fourth batch, feed lettuce fish emulsion. Fertilize squash and zucchini, begin harvesting second plantings of these. Plant brussel sprouts indoors. Hollyhocks should begin flowering. 20th transplant broccoli outdoors 30th plant 3 cauliflower plants outdoors. Pull first plantings of quash and zucchini if they have stopped producing.

September- plant 4 carrot seeds each week, harvest four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks. Plant two rows of onions. Transplant brussel sprouts. Take off cover for Canterbury bells, and let them grow until next year.
15th pinch out top growth above flowers on tomatoes, plant one square of nine spinach plants, fertilize squash and zucchini. Sow brussel sprouts indoors. 20th begin harvest bush beans, harvest 4 radishes each week. Fertilize peas and broccoli. 30th plant another square of nine winter spinach. Tie leaves above cauliflower heads.

October-1st harvest final of third batch of lettuce and first of fourth batch, plant fifth batch (winter lettuce), harvest four carrots each week, Plant 8 radish seeds every two weeks, harvest 4 radishes each week. transPlant brussel sprouts outdoors.
. 15th begin looking for curds on cauliflower and pick immediately, plant a sixth batch of lettuce in two squares, begin covering the lettuce, feed lettuce fish emulsion, fertilize spinach, plant 3rd square of winter spinach. Plant brussel sprouts indoors. 20th final bush bean harvest. If a frost is coming bend over tomato plants breaking part of their stems and cover with straw and all remaining fruit will ripen, or if frost is coming that night, pull out plant and hang in garage upside down, mulch carrots and broccoli. Second harvest of peas begins. Fertilize peas and broccoli. Last harvest of squash and zicchini. 30th first brussel sprouts are ready to harvest. Cut back Shasta Daisy’s and they will regrow next year.

November- harvest four carrots each week, harvest first square of spinach, harvest last of the onions. Transplant brussel sprouts. 15th harvest last of fourth batch of lettuce, and first of fifth batch, harvest 2nd square f spinach, fertilize spinach. Harvest 4 radishes each week, harvest main heads of broccoli. 30th harvest first of sixth batch of lettuce, feed lettuce fish emulsion. Harvest remaining peas, harvest side shoots of broccoli. Second Brussels sprouts are ready to harvest.

December-1st Begin harvest third square of spinach. 15th harvest last carrots, harvest last of radishes and last of first square of spinach, fertilize spinach. 30th harvest last of fifth batch of lettuce and last of 2nd square of spinach. Third brussel sprouts are ready to harvest.

January- 15th harvest last of sixth batch of lettuce. Harvest last of winter spinach. 30th fourth brussel sprouts are ready to harvest


March-15th harvest last of the brussel sprouts.

Oranges

Just as the fresh fruits and vegetables are gone from the local farms and I am beginning to crave them again, my in-laws orange tree begins to ripen. This tree is about thirty years old, has been moved around their yard several times and I am told used to bare horrible fruit. This was a leafy, bushy tree until the year that my husband and I stayed with my in-laws while we were evicting renters from a house we had just bought. We wanted to help as much as we could while we stayed there. Kevin pulled out pompus grass and an old dead tree that was about to fall over, we picked up prickly balls and one day Kevin decided to prune that old orange tree. My dear husband tends to prune things very hard. All of the lower branches were cut along with many of the upper ones. When my in-laws came home they were shocked. But that next winter, those oranges were better than they had ever been. They are some of the most delicious oranges I've ever tasted. This year my in-laws and three of their children's families have been generously provided with oranges from mid-December until now. Our family has eaten an average of three a day for nearly two months. We are down to three left, and alas, no more delicious fresh oranges until next year. But then, the farms will begin to open in about two months and hopefully my first garden harvest will come shortly thereafter.

Logan

I just love being a mother and watching all of the personalities of these little ones unfold. Logan, who is 22 months, is so fun to watch lately. It is as if he is realizing that these people around him are his very own family and he just can't stop being excited about it. He'll just be sitting there and he'll begin reciting everyone's names, "Aubrey, Logan, Brennen, Kamron, Mommy, Daddy." Then he'll smile. When he wakes up in the morning, he is usually one of the first of the kids and when he first sees the others he'll go, "Aahhh, Kamron," or whoever he sees and then he wants a hug and will often repeat the, "aahhh." This sure emakes everyone start their day off feeling loved and connected.

My Goals for This Year

I live by goals and plans, though they do not always coordinate with the new year. I have a master plan of goals that I would like to do by 2012, this is a step towards that. It looks ambitious and probably is, but I have gotten off to a good start already.

Goals for 2007

Gardening and Outdoor Spaces

Grow a productive square foot garden
Get an orange tree
Plant flower bed under back window
Plant part of flower bed in front yard

Cooking

Document and master 12 breakfasts with recipes in a pretty recipe box
Master 10 lunches
Master 10 dinners
Master 8 types of bread
Master 10 vegetable dishes
Master 3 desserts
Work a plan of freezing 10 dinners in the freezer each month
Make strawberry jam along with strawberry syrup
By fall have a four month supply of food

Sewing

Crochet Kevin a large cozy afgahn for the master bedroom
Make a coordinating quilt
Sew 20 items on the machine
Crochet 20 items
Embroider a sampler
Embroider 2 items

Decorating

Paint kitchen, dining, frontroom, family room and halls
Purchase pictures needed for these rooms
Make coordinating curtains

Traditions

When the weather warms up, set up biweekly porch dates with Kevin
Go on a date with Kevin at least once a month
Continue anniversary weekend getaway with Kevin
Visit Mom’s grave with the kids and bring flowers we’ve grown and tell the children stories about her
Write two more stories about her
Begin a May Day tradition with the kids
By doing all of the work Saturday, create a peaceful and very different day on Sunday full of rest, relaxing and reading, also do not allow the children’s toys out of their rooms on Sunday, so the house will stay neater. Once or twice a month stay home after church instead of going to visit family.

Atmosphere

Play pretty background music more, find at least 7 CD’s that I love
Learn a little bit about scents and incorporate them into my home more

Organization

Continue with the Saturday cleanings,
As the children get better at keeping things in their places add more scrubbing into the Saturday schedule
Continue with our school schedules, get done with current year by the end of June,
Work with the children, so that they can take on more household responsibilities

Piano

Keep up with what Kamron can play

Writing

Add to my blog at least four entries a month

Health

Eat from the garden and/or farms for the whole growing season
After the baby is born, get my weight below 135 again
Help Kevin to get his weight below 200

Finance

Stick to my weekly budget, without going over
Make $500 from book sells

Reading

Square Foot Gardening
The New Testament
Birthing From Within
The New Vogue Sewing Book
Creating a Beautiful Home
School Education
Staying Healthy With the Seasons
The Mother At Home
Your Body’s Many Cries for Water
Teaching No Greater Call
The Hidden Art of Homemaking
Letters by Marjorie Pay Hinckly
Art of Homemaking
Pilgrim’s Progress
Little Men
Mere Christianity
Little Britches
Standing For Something
Lectures on Faith
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Twelfth Nigh
Spencer W. Kimball
Jesus the Christ
Educating the Wholehearted Child
Wild Days


School

Keep up with all classes and get A’s or B’s in all of them
Complete 10 more classes for a total of 15
Clep out of 2 classes, to leave only 3 left to complete my BA

Our Week

We have been able to stay home most of this week, which has been nice. New Year's Eve my mother-in-law had the three older kids over to spend the night with their cousins. Kevin and I got to play some new board games that we got for Christmas. When Nanny brought the kids back, Brennen was lethargic and had a fever. I kept track of it, but it never got over 101 so I decided to ride it out and not give him any medicine as it may be fighting something, in two days it was gone and he was back to himself. That morning Logan woke up with a fever, his got up to 102.6, so I did bring it down with medicine once. Other than that he wouldn't let me put him down and I held him for almost four days. By Saturday my floors were looking terrible, the kitchen was a mess and the fact that I hadn't found a place for all of the new Christmas toys the kids got was beginning to drive me crazy, but Logan still didn't want me to put him down, and I don't have a baby bacpack, as it got lost in the move. Kevin had appointments all day and by five, I felt like giving up. I had made a ham, but couldn't get ten minutes to make anything to go with it, so I said forget it and we just had cereal for dinner. Kevin finanlly got home and asked if I needed some help. I ever so kindly gave him a list, please fix the vacuum so I can clean the floors, stack the heavy boxes up in the garage, change the light bulbs in the kitchen, and so I don't have to cook in the dark. He immediately stacked the boxes, fixed the vacuum and proceeded to move all of the furniture and vacuum everything, I love his eye for detail! I put Logan in the bath with Kamron-the one place he was okay without me for a few minutes, then I got the ladder and changed the bulbs and scrubbed the kitchen, picked everything up in our room and my closet, the older three kids picked up everything in the rest of the house and cleaned the hard floor, tables and chairs. Aubrey curled up on the couch and fell asleep, while Kevin took the boys to fly airplanes on the bed and left me to get a little more work done. By the time the kids were in bed at 8:30, my house was clean and I felt so much better.

I woke this morning to a clean house and kids playing quietly in their rooms at 8:30. Our church time has switched to 1:00, which means sleeping in and relaxing mornings. I have worked on the scout budget and done the Relief Society Newsletter this morning. Kevin is in building a model of a brick house and windmill with Kamron. Aubrey has sat by me and sewn a teddy bear by hand until she was just finished and is now playing with Brennen and the stuffed elephant she made him for Christmas. I love Sundays. Kevin's family and the missionaries are coming over for dinner after church. I think we will have ham.

Scarves

These are the four scarves I made for my kids, the blue and green scarves are the same stitch-crazy stitch. The little white scarf is a textured boucle stitch. The multi-colored one is staggered single crochet, I love the shell edging and think it adds so much.

First Baby Thing

This sweater was so fast. I made it in one week, during the time that I listen to the kids read to me.

Crochet-First pair of Socks

Here is my first pair of socks. I manipulated the pattern a lot, because I was using larger yarn, so they fit my three-year-old, who is very proud to wear them.

Quick Update

I have been so busy with my classes and Christmas coming. I have had a lot of fun crocheting lately though. I made all of the kids scarves, and I am almost done with a sweater for the new baby. It's blue! Yep, to all of our suprise we are having a boy. I gave most of the boy baby clothes away after Logan and am very excited about making most of the stuff that I need for this baby. The sweater is one of the first shaped things I have crocheted. I am also making a pair of socks, which came out way bigger then I intended and so I finished the first one to fit Brennen. I will post pictures of everything soon.

We just finished the thirteenth week of school for the year, and I am looking forward to two weeks off to get a few things done. I want to sew a flannel blanket, and crochet an edging on the fleece one, sew and embroider a baby outfit and a quilted jacket and hood and at least start on a little baby outfit in crochet. I may not get all of that done, because after all that is also the week of Christmas and there will be a whole lot of baking and cooking to do, but I don't have school and neither do the kids except for Aubrey's art class. Kamron's last violin class was today and to be honest I am glad to be done with it. He was starting to drag his feet and just asking for a book that he can learn from, from home, so I don't need to feel guilty about being so glad about getting three hours of my Friday afternoons back. We aren't going to take any classes next semester, but will probably do swimming and horseback riding in late spring and summer, just six weeks each. Kamron will of course continue cu scouts once a week, which I don't mind, because he really likes it and they do a lot of messy projects that I never seem to get to. Well, it is time for me to go to sleep. I am going to try to take the kids to see Santa tomorrow, Aubrey needs felt for gifts she's making, I need to wrap presents, finish most of an essay for class, vacuum, do some laundry, take a load to D.I., and ...

Ramblings on a Living Education

A Living Education

There are many definitions of education, and many subjects that can be included or discarded either in whole or in part from and education. Plato would have us discard poetry and literature in favor of physical education, music, astronomy, logic and a little math.

Others have proposed that the aim of education is the future vocation of the children. Some have said the main purpose is to instill character in the children. Others have said that education is the training up of the child in health, a capable cultivated mind, and a moral and spiritual strength.

This seems like a tall order and the parents in each case will have to decide exactly what they expect to accomplish. We, mothers are often the ones put most in charge of the raising and influencing of the children and this is a tall order. Modern psychology would have us believe that children are simply physical organisms that are programmed to do certain things and while the nurture they are given will influence them, this should mostly be left up to their peers and government institution. It is not the fault of the parents if the child does not turn out well and so the unsuccessful parent has a scapegoat, but the truth is parents can in large part help the child to be successful and develop health, a capable, cultivated mind and moral and spiritual strength, but it takes the best effort that parents have and often the results will not show up until the child is grown. But it can be done. But how?

We could sit down and write out objectives for each grade level and each week within that grade level, so that in the third week in second grade we may teach the concept of truthfulness and then check that off our list. But unfortunately if we have the child write I will be truthful 10,000 times we are only likely to bore the child and not make him one bit more truthful.

So how may we give to the child this enormous education, which we propose. I think a great deal of it can be accomplished by what Charlotte Mason calls a living education. A living education is an education based on ideas.

These living ideas come from thinking, cultivated minds. We want to put the children in direct contact with these ideas with as little interference as possible. The chief way to do this is through books. The books are carefully selected from the best that is written from a very broad group of subjects. The subjects themselves are much broader then what is typically found in educational curriculums, and the child is left to build the connections to the subjects himself. He is not told which are the important parts that must be remembered and regurgitated for a test. He is told which books to read, and then asked to tell what he got out of the book. In this way the answers will be very different and the child will be allowed his individuality while the parent is given a glimpse at his thought processes.

Sometimes a homeschool parent will feel bad or overwhelmed because she can’t explain a subject or the child starts to get ahead of her in knowledge. But we really don’t need predigested facts from the parent. The child needs the book by the enthusiastic expert even if the book is a bit hard, and so much the better if it is. The child should dig for the information and not be given it in simple language with simple ideas. When things are very simple they are rarely ever thought of again.

For instance, I am in a social psychology class and as I was reading about experiments done to show how people form opinions and beliefs, I was mulling over the material and thinking about how it could be applied in an educational setting and I was getting excited and thinking hard, trying to put my thoughts into words. I then went back to the text and found the next section dealt with how teachers use the ideas effectively and ineffectively in classrooms. Oh, I thought, they already put most of what I was thinking into words and then I promptly forgot the whole thing. If it had not all been spelled out and I was allowed to read between the lines I would have thought on it more and come away with more connections to the subject. This is a method of predigesting the material commonly found in text books, it does not leave room for original thought-without original thought there is a mere stuffing of facts, but it can hardly develop relationships to the subject being discussed.

The parents responsibility then is not to give predigested facts or to explain things, to the child. The parent can introduce a book with and enthusiastic word for it. The parent is also to train the child in attention to his work which is most often done by narration and short lessons. As the child gets older analytical essays and discussions can be used in place of some of the narrations. A parent may clear up an idea through discussions and careful questioning of the child. If every thought and word in a child’s narration is not perfectly correct the parent can take note of this a bring it around in another reading later.

This method lies so heavily on books, though not exclusively, that we must be very careful as to which books we give the children. The scriptures should be read and reread to the children, they should narrate the passages until they know them, and in this way much of their moral and spiritual training will be brought about. This does not need to be dull either. For instance, Monday the children and I were reading in Acts about how Paul was taken prisoner by the Jews, but when he said he was a Roman a Roman soldier took him to a Roman court where he was kept in prison for two years waiting for his accusers. During this time the judge Felix kept calling him in to talk and answer question about Christ and the gospel and then sending him away again. This so amused Aubrey that she wanted to act it out. So she was Paul and I was Felix and I would call her and ask her a question, like who was Christ? And when she answered I sent her away, she thought this was so funny that she kept laughing. Then I started asking her harder questions about heaven and hell to which she did not know the answer. I made the comment that maybe that was why missionaries had companions. Kamron jumped up, “oh, yes. Paul’s companion was James. I will be James and I will help, but Paul did most of the talking, so you will have to say most of the stuff.”

Do you see the connections the children are making to the subject? Do you see where the ideas are? Even in scripture we can turn reading into a boring exercise of memorization or we can give them the stories and let them show where they have connected to them.

The scriptures ought to be are basic educational book, but after that how do we select living books. Or do we select them? Some people would have children read whatever they want, but until the children have been carefully led to develop a discriminating taste in their reading, they should not be left to read whatever unless you want slipshod results. Each parents will have to decide for themselves the exact criteria they use, but I will give you some ideas. Almost all textbooks can be thrown out, for there is not many ideas left in them, they are often devoid of personality. One can’t imagine the author from the words often because there isn’t one. Committees made of sub-committees create compilations that rarely have an interesting snippet in them, and if they do these snippets aren’t enough to satisfy a child. It is much better to give a child a whole book. For instance, one can read two paragraphs about crabs or a book such as Pagoo that tells of the birth and life of an individual crab with details of his growth and search for shell.

But how will the child learn about everything if they read a whole book, can’t they get more things in from short snippets. The answer to this lies in the method. In the textbook method the same topics are covered again and again and very little of it is remembered by the child once he has finished his tests or left school. With living books, a book only needs to be read once and then narrated from and the child will remember and make his own connections to the material. But of course, there is still a limit to subjects that can be covered, as we cannot cover everything in twelve years, but as children are raised on good books, they are not likely to abandon them when they leave school and will be able to continue their studies through carefully selected books.

We want our children’s literature books to contain friends with character and varied interests. AA Milne, Kipling, Kingsley, Lewis Carroll, George MacDonald and Hawthorne should all be household names that are woven into a families fabric. These types of books can be read and reread by children and parents alike. It has been suggested that no book ever be given to a child that an adult only reads with some pain. If you read ahead in your child’s book to see how it will end that is the first step in knowing that the story may be worthy of your child’s education.

I book should also be clothed in literary language, full of deep language and thinking ideas. There is a story one of the women told at the Ambleside conference about her daughter who was sick in bed, and wanted a story. Her mother grabbed Wind in the Willow, because it was near at hand. She realized that this author had not been schooled in the style of talking down to children and she closed it and said, “these are awfully big words, maybe we should just wait to read it until you are older.” The little girl said, “I don’t care about the words I just want to hear the story.” A child does not need to know every word and will often think longer on the book if he does not.

Of course books are not the only thing involved in a living education. Indeed a bookish child who sits all day and reads is not what we are after. Other subjects lend themselves to being given ideas from enthusiastic masters much better then books. To learn about flowers and birds, one should get out and study birds and flowers and really learn to look at them. Music is best learned through listening to carefully selected pieces of the best quality. In my opinion much of this modern art of colored circles and squares or else just splotches on paper should be avoided as much as the insipid modern stories written nowadays for children. Instead a child should learn to look and really see careful paintings done by the masters. He should learn several paintings by the same artists.

This sort of careful selection of the very best materials produced by masters in a very wide variety of subjects allowing the child to react and connect to each item in his own way is a living education. An education such as this will provide a great deal of knowledge for their own and other peoples enjoy, a wide vocabulary and ability of expression, a single-minded character will be formed with a broad outlook and a variety of interests in a variety of subjects.

My Mother's Handwork Plan

I have only one how to crochet book, as I am still a beginner and am trying to master it before I get another one, though I have made several patterns from online. Today though I remembered a binder my mother gave me one year for Christmas when I was about ten. She gave each of us girls one. Inside there five sections. My mom had copied some free leaflets and patterns that taught a few beginning skills. The first is crochet, then knitting, followed by cross stitch and plastic canvas. The last section she entitled Misc. and has a few pages on things like how to make friendship bracelets. I remember being so pleased with this binder. In a way it meant to me that my mom thought I was old enough to learn these things. I remember learning to knit from them and making dozens of the plastic canvas patterns. I did some friendship bracelets and one cross stitch. I did not attempt crochet until I was grown. As I plan Aubrey’s course of handwork it is fun to think my mother had planned these things for me too.

The Downward Spiral of Horizon

Horizon is still working for me, in large part because my ES, that is now called an ST (supervising teacher) lets me do whatever I want and order whatever I want within reason. This is not the case for most everyone else. My sister-in-law has started getting assignments from her ST and detailed description of what he needs to know at his "grade level." She was told that she could not order Story of the World, because it was not a California approved item. She was also told she needs to cover folk dancing this year, to which she laughed. She just had a baby and missed her appointment with her ST who promptly marked her son absent for the whole month. Everyone in her co-op is dropping out of it and she thinks she will follow soot and I don't blame her. I have not had an issue with them yet, but it will probably not be long before my ST will have to start enforcing the new rules at which time I will leave.

Kid Projects

My daughter has just finished a latch hooking pillow and so Ithought I would teach her how to hand sew next. She has already doneseveral plastic canvas projects and pre-cut, pre-holed felt projects. So, anyway, I got the My First Sewing Book by Winky Cherry. When it came I was at first a little disappointed asit looked just like another felt stuffed animal, but as we haveworked on it, I have realized it is so much more than that. My daughter can now measure the correct length of thread, thread theneedle, even the threads, tie the knot, hide the knot and do an overcast stitch, lock her sewing when she is done all by herself. So I am pleased and she is making stuffed animals for her younger brothers.


Here they are finished:



We got an electronics kit through our charter that we homeschool through and so Kamron, is learning how to make different electronic things like speakers, microphone, lights, aflying gizmo that shoots off the motor. For anyone who is interestedin teaching boys skills it is this sethttp://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1163095114-1962478&id=029506 and he is going to learn to build a motor nextsemester with this set http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?sid=1163095114-1962478&id=013413.

Sewing Space

I spent the day yesterday rearranging and creating a sewing nook for myself. My sewing desk was in my closet before, but it is not really very easy to work in there, so I moved my desk into the office and rearranged the closet to hole some of my supplies. It looks so much more inviting.

My current projects are;
An outfit for Aubrey
A jumper for Aubrey
A Baby dress and jacket, assuming it is a girl (we have an ultrasound next week)
Sewing backs onto Kamron and Aubrey's latch hooking tigers
Crochetting Kamron and Aubrey scarves, I just finished Logan's and Brennen's
Crochetting a Barbie outfit for Aubrey
Embroidering a pillow
Sewing a plastic canvas Barbie kitchen for Aubrey-I am almost done

I'll try to post pictures.

Psychology 101

I will be starting the last week of this class this week. I have learned more about neurons, and how spycholigists conduct experiments on mice, rats and pigeons. I have had some interesting conversations though. This last week we had to discuss how birth order effects intelligence-according to research the more children one has the lower the IQ of the younger children. I pointed out that if this were true it probably had little to do with intelligence and family size and more to do with the lack of attention children get, because both parents are working and/or there is a lack of funds for opportinities. But it seemed more likely that the findings could not be trust, because almost every study tested all of the children in a family at the same time, so at the point of the test the oldest might be 25, next 22, 19, 16. The conclusion that older siblings are more intelligent than younger in this case is very flawed, the real results show that older people are more intelligent on average than younger people.

The whole text has a slight anti-family flavor. This next week we are supposed to discuss gender roles. I read the chapter on that yesterday. The idea that maybe it is good for each of the sexes to have different roles was, of course, never mentioned, only that we should all try to become androgonous. It was interesting that all of the research revolved around the differences in the work place concluding that women are at a disadvantage. There was no research about the roles at home where more women excel. All studies, theories and recommendations were on how to allow the sexes to be equal in the work force. My question is, if everyone is so busy in the workforce who is going to take care of the home? Of course, since having too many children is bad for their intelligence maybe we should give up the home.

I think my teacher will be glad to get rid of me, as I am afriad I am not very quiet. She has told me I do not understand the topic, while not correcting my "faulty" thinking and still giving me an A. She also made the comment that I need to go do some research when I disagreed, but did not bother to point me in the direction I should go. I have asked her to explain herself on a couple of statements she made, and she has completely side stepped. I just can't buy the "All mighty educator" thing and it is disrupting her feeling of power I think. According to the text "power" is the primary motivator of teachers and in our modern system I can certainly believe it. Oh, that there was a certified home ec BA online. Actually, I think it is probably good for me to see some of these issues so that I can further understand why people believe some of the things that they do.

Kids are so Amusing

Aubrey was at a friends house while I went to an appointment. She said to her friends mother, “My mom said that I shouldn’t ask for food, but if you were to ask me I would say that I am starving.”

We were at my sister-in-laws and Aubrey looked at her and said, “Some day I want to be as fascinating as you.”

We were driving home late one night when it was very dark. Brennen said to me, “Mommy, you will be okay. Here hold my hand and I will protect you.” Then he took my fingers and stroked them and said in the most assuring tone, “I won’t let any monsters get you.”

I picked up the kids from a friends and Brennen was very tired. He started to whine, “I don’t want to go home.” I asked him if he wanted to stay to which he replied. “I don’t want to stay here.” I asked, “Then what do you want to do?” Eighteen month old Logan replied, “Eat.”

Kamron pushed Brennen in the stomach and he came in crying and holding his tummy, “Mommy, Kamron hurt my baby!” --He’s convinced he’s going to have a baby just like mom.

Kids Toys

While I was going through the kids rooms I decided to go through their toys and put most of them in the garage until they could pick things up a little more consistently. We sorted and got rid of several garbage bags full of things and then I put everything in plastic tubs and put it in the garage. I made a set of written routines for the children and told them that if they learned to follow them every Saturday they could get back one set of toys. The first week this worked well and Kamron asked for his bionicles back, while Aubrey wanted her stuffed animals. The second week went pretty well and so I asked what set the children would like back. Aubrey told me I think I have too many stuffed animals out and I don’t want any toys back, that way my room will be easier to clean up. Kamron also said he didn’t want anything back except for one stuffed animal so that he could play with Aubrey. They are content with only a few toys and I guess don’t really need the six large boxes full in the garage, though I am not going to get rid of anything else just yet.
It reminds me of a story I heard about a little boy who loved his one match box car and played with it every day. A friend of the family decided to get him fifty or so more cars and when she came to visit the little boy was just staring out of the window. She asked him why he didn’t play with his cars, to which he replied that their were too many to love.

Going Through Clothes

I was getting behind in school and housekeeping, the children’s school a little and housekeeping a lot, so I declared a catch up week. During the week I went through all of the kids’ clothes. I began by making a list of what I considered necessary clothing items and then added on a few extras. I then got rid of the extra clothes that we had and kept the best items, I also got rid of or handed down all the clothes that were too small. Because of the generosity from three families who hand clothes down, Brennen had 43 long sleeved shirts. What child needs 43 long sleeved shirts? Then I recorded on the list exactly what each child had and then I could more easily see what each child needs. The list ended up like this;

Clothing needs, October through April

Boys-
6 to 9 pairs of pants, L-10, B-8, K-10
10 pairs of underwear, B-10, K-10
6 pairs of socks, L-3, B-3
3 pairs of shorts, L-3, B-3, K-3
5 T-shirts, L-5, B-7, K-7
4 to 6 long sleeved shirts, L-6, B-7, K-6
2 pull over sweatshirts, L-3, B-1, K-2
2 button up sweatshirts or light jackets L-1, B-2,
1 Coat B-1
1 long-sleeved Sunday Shirt, L-2, B-3, K-2
1 short sleeved Sunday Shirt K-1
1-2 vests, L-2, B-3, K-1
1-3 ties, L-3, B-3, K-5
Hat, L-1 , B-1, K-1
scarf and mittens, B-1, K-1
3 Pajamas, L-4, B-4, K-2

Logan Needs-3 pairs of socks, scarf and mittens
Brennen Needs-6 pairs of socks,
Kamron Needs-6 pairs of socks, 2 button up sweatshirts or light jackets, a coat, 1 pajama

Girls-
5 to 8 pairs of pants, A-7
10 pairs of underwear, A-6
6 pairs of socks, A-3
2 Tights, A-2
3 pairs of shorts, A-3
5 T-shirts, A-5
4 to 6 long sleeved shirts, A-1
2 pull over sweatshirts, A-4
2 button up sweatshirts or light jackets, A-3
1 Coat
Capes-2
Vest-1
2 long skirts, A-2
3-5 dresses, A-3
Hat, scarf, and mittens, A-1 set
3 Pajamas, A-3
Aubrey needs- 4 pairs of underwear, 3 pairs of socks, 2 long sleeved shirts, 1 coat, 1 dress

Home school

I completed an assignment in my last class. The description of the assignment was to write a rough draft of our final essay, we would not be graded, if it was turned in on time we would get the full five points if not we would get zero. I recieved the paper back and to my suprise was given three points, because "You need to do spell check (you misspelled home school)." This confused me as the assignment said we would not be graded. I emailed the instructor and asked him to explain why he had docked any points when the assignment clearly stated he wouldn't. He wrote back that it was, because of spelling.

I again wrote and said;
I was able to read the comments and I know you are referring to my spelling of the word homeschool, because in the current dictionaries it is spelled astwo words though you will find most of the homeschooling community spells itas one. It is occasionally spelled with a hyphen like this; home-school, but homeschool is the most predominant spelling. If you look it up with either spelling on Amazon you will see that almost all of the book titles relating to this topic are spelled as I have said.
My question, though, is why did you take off for spelling when the directions specifically say that a full five points will be awarded for submitting the rough draft. It further says nothing will be graded. The directions appear that partial credit is not an option, if you turn it in you get five if you don't turn it in you get zero. When asking for a rough draft somethings must be left rough or else it is really a final draft that you want.
I do not mean to be a nuisance, but if I may be so bold it appears that either the assignment was written wrong or you are grading more harshly then the assignment allows.

He replied with:
I do have to grade the assignment, despite what the site states. I am goingto change you grade to a 4, because I probably took off too much forspelling, in hindsight.

So, I am to take from this that the assignment descriptions are not always accurate and the instructors may freely follow them or not. We will be docked according to what is in the insturctors head and we will be told what it was after the due date is past and it is too late to change things. Furthermore, we are to rely on spellcheck to give us the correct spelling of things and not worry about what the correct spelling really is.

I could take that from the assignment or I could sit back and realize that I am falling into a trap. The trap of grades in lue of learning. I know all too well that an A does not make you smart, yet when I get in a graded situation the grade is what I strive for. Because I am not always interested in the material and do not feel it is completely relevant, it is even easier to fall into this. To get an A takes minimal effort usually, but to understand something takes a great deal more. For instance, two days after my third class started we were given the assignment to show from personal examples the difference of the central nervous system and the periphial nervous system. I did not have time to read the whole chapter and did not totally get it, so I just read what everyone else wrote (we post on a discussion forum) and thought of something similair from life to what it appeared they were talking about and wrote it down. I got an A, but I really don't get it.

I feel like I am playing a game and not getting an education, and I am thankful that my children don't have to deal with this yet.

Baptism

Kamron was baptized last month. He got sick and started throwing up the night before. We were supposed to go to the temple open house, for the second time, in the morning and then we were doing the baptism at my sisters building with her daughter and one other cousin. As we were driving to the temple Kamron threw up three times, each time we stopped to get him water and clean up. This made us late for meeting everyone else at the temple. He felt and looked so bad that we finally decided we would have to wait to do the baptism another day. We had to stop at the church, because I had some food and all of the paper goods which I knew they would need. When we got there we asked Kevin's Grandpa if he could give Kamron a blessing before we left. He did, then Kamron said he felt fine, so we decided to wait and see, but there was no reoccurance and he said his stomache was fine after that. When he started running around with his cousins we knew he really was okay. My sister and I both gave talks and it was the cutest thing to watch him take ine every word. I don't think I've ever seen him pay so much attention before. When he was baptized and confirmed you could just see his joy. After I talked to him and gave him his first set of scriptures and a case and told him how special he was. He told me he was so glad that I taught him all about God and the gospel and I was a very good mother. He was so sincere, I just wanted to cry. I love those little glimpses that show me with all my imperfections all my work is worth it.

University

I just started the second week of my second class at Ashford University. It is slightly different then I expected. I am so used to all of the homeschool elists with their helpful comments and polite debates and disagreements. The homeschooling mothers I find are well versed in picking apart books and analyzing them for strengths and weaknesses. I also find a great many connections and applications on the homeschool lists. I geuss I expected school to be somewhat like that.

In this last class we were required to read two textbooks, take weekly quizes, write an essay, turning in the outline and first draft, and post two original posts on certain topics each week and respong to at least four of our classmates. I began with an indepth discussion of one of the topics that was about a page long. The responses I got all amounted to "oh, I agree." The original posts by almost every classmate averaged about two sentences and usually said something like "in the book the authors said ... and I agree because that makes sense."

We were to read a book called Lifelaunch which was basically some guys philosphy of how life works and how we should take charge of our life etc. I disagreed with many things in the book. For one of our last posts we were supposed to respond to this book and how it helped us. I offered a critique of what I felt was wrong with the book and the few things that I did agree with. Noone responded until the last day when someone finally replied and said that the teacher knows more than us and chose this book and it is not our place to disagree with anything that is said. Now I don't know if that is common opinion among the other students, who all seemed to agree with everything that was written in the book, but it made me angry and sad. If that is the way people really think nowadays the schools have failed even worse than I could possibly have imagined. I just wanted to cry fo these people who could not seem to analyze, disagree or even think for themselves.

This second class I have just started offers me hope though. There are several older students in it and I find more analysis and more thorough discussion. But all in all I think it will be easier to get A's then it is to follow some the educational philosphy conversations on the Charlotte Mason lists. Any homeschool mom that has actively been homeschooling for four years at least diserves a BA. I know one mother who never finished high school, but she now knows latin is thorough in logic, can discuss Plato, the classics and compare and contrast it all while applying it to modern life. If you need a degree go to college, but it is certainly not neccessary if what you want is an education.

Large Family Response and Geographics

As a child in a family of nine children and various foster children it never occurred to me that we were odd. We lived in the country and in a ward were there were many, many families with six or more children. We went grocery shopping once a month, because we lived so far away and my mother would buy at least two grocery carts full of food. She was often asked if she ran a school or other such comments and she just delighted in telling the people that these were all of her children. I do not ever remember it effecting her negatively, but we were not in public very often all together.

When I got married and moved to town the largest family in our ward had five children and we were told we needed to wait to have children as we were too young-we moved out nine months later, one month before our first child was due. We have lived in various places since then and I think that the locality does have a lot to do with the reactions you get. My sister has four daughters under five and has never got a comment, but she lives in Utah. I live in a lower middle class area of California and I constantly get comments and looks, but I think most are along the lines of shock that I am doing something that others view as impossible. I think because of the break down of the family, ecspecially in many parts of California people just do not know how to put family first. All they know is their own wants and desires and have not been trained to rear children well or keep up with a home. For many of these people I can understand why they think this must be so hard or near impossible. And without training and sacrifice I think they are probably right. Some women would even like to have a large family, but do not know where to turn for the training.

Saying all of this I have found that when I am engaged with the children, laughing, talking or adoring them I get less comments or looks of irritation and more smiles of admiration. I get a lot of "you have your hands full." When my reply is simply yes with a smile at my children I have often gotten comments like, "but you seem to be so good at it," or "it must be fun to have a large family."

I do so feel sorry for those who do not understand the joy of it. My children told me last night that they wanted at least three more brothers and four sisters. I know that they love having so many siblings and they are thrilled and proud that I am pregnant now. They play so well and have such sweet comments for me. My 8 yo son told me the other day that he thought I had survived a childhood accident so that I could grow up and have him and his brothers and sister and teach them the gospel and he was so happy I had taught it to him and knew that we were supposed to have families and care more about families then money. He gets it and I would venture to say he is a lot happier than most single children simply because of so many siblings and parents who put the family first. Others miss this point and while they may have more vacations and days off, they won't have much of what we do have.
As the world leaves the family and selflessness for selfishness, the comments and looks will probably increase. We must just smile and focus on our families and not them.

Emotional Stories

I was reading from Charles Kingsleys Heroes to Kamron today. This is a book about early myths. Brennen was sitting next to us trying very hard to make bionicle pieces do what he wanted. I got to the part of the story where the father puts his daughter and her newborn baby in a chest and throws it out in the ocean (this apparently happens a lot in early stories). Suddenly Brennen burst into tears, "No he doesn't! The baby doesn't die!" Oh, how I had to hug him and assure him that the mother was there and would take the baby to land and they would be okay. He was fine then, but I was just amazed that he had actually caught anything from the book. I have been feeling guilty that I don't read as many picture books to the younger two as I did the older two, but apparently he is getting something out of the literature we read. I just need to try to make sure he hears fun and happy thoughts next time.