Homeschool Chat on Friday's

For several years now, so many that I've lost count, I have hosted a weekly homeschool chat on IRC. Every Friday I "meet" other homeschoolers from across the globe and we chat. What do we chat about? The list is endless. Here are just a few topics that we have touched on recently:

• Handwriting skills
• Math curriculums and websites for the elementary aged student
• Changing food diets
• Field trips
• Co-ops, what they are and how to find one
• Finding social avenues for homeschooled teens
• How formal learning should or should not be for Preschool and Kindergarten
• Parenting techniques
• Housecleaning tips
• New pets
• Decluttering ideas
• How to begin homeschooling
• How the weekly chat has helped some members get through the burnout state of mind
• Having a schedule vs. not having a schedule
• Planning for college
• Online virtual schools

As you can see, we do not stick solely to homeschooling topics. As long-time homeschoolers know, almost everything that affects homeschooling also affects our daily lives, and vice versa. So homeschooling becomes life. Maybe I should promote my chat as a "Life Chat" in the future? What do you think?

Our chat members come from the fifty states along with several countries, which is why I call it an "International" homeschool chat. One of our regular chatters is from London and is currently visiting the U.S. with her family. We had fun exchanging ideas of places she and her family should see on their visit.

We meet every Friday, 9 a.m. US/Canada Eastern time, GMT -5. You will find the details for joining on my Homeschool Chat page.

Do join us! We love assisting new homeschoolers and talking life with the long-time homeschoolers!

NaNo Creator Interview

One of my favorite blogs lately is Writer Unboxed. Their October 19th entry is Part 1 of an interview of Chris Baty, founding father of NaNo. If you want to know more about how and why he started NaNo, check it out! I particularly love his viewpoint when asked how many people who have participated in NaNo in the past have actually sold their books:

"I think that nobody has it as bad as aspiring writers. Look at the world of sports. If I went out and played a round of golf, when I came back from it, none of my friends would say, “Oh, you going to join the PGA?” The sense is that you do it for fun and you do it regularly, and it doesn’t have to be something you make your living at. My goal for the last decade has been to make a living as a writer. And I think there are other people in National Novel Writing Month who share that ambition, but I think that represents 10% of the overall population, and the other 90% are doing it for completely different reasons."

My friend Tammy wrote about the Baty interview on her blog, Just Enough, and Nothing More, "Homeschooling Is Like Music". Can you tell we've been discussing this interview on a list that we're both on?

To Heck With Diamonds

You know the saying, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend"? Rubbish. Crockpots are a girl's best friend! No homeschooling household should be without one. Or two. I have two crockpots and I use them several times a week, often both at the same time. Just now I put a pork roast in one and sweet potatoes in the other. This afternoon we are helping a new co-worker of Bill's move into her new home and I know I will not feel like making anything for supper when we are done unloading her moving van. But we will all be hungry! With supper in the crockpot, the temptation to pick up fast food or spend a fortune at a restaurant on the way home will be much less.

Since I use my crockpots all the time, I am always on the lookout for new slow-cooker recipes. Here is a new favorite, which is in my crockpot right now:

Crockpot Glazed Sweet Potatoes

• 5 medium sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1 dash salt and pepper, to taste

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick slices; place in crockpot. Whisk remaining ingredients together and pour over potatoes. Cover and cook on low 7 to 9 hours. Stir a few times, if possible, to keep them coated. Serves 4.

It's very sweet, so I am lowering the amount of sugars used this time around. Next time I might try just one of the sugars, rather than both.

I do not remember exactly where the above recipe came from. Most likely from Chet Day's Crockpot Recipes, one of the blogs on my Google Reader. There is a Lentil Soup recipe from just a few days ago that I am going to try next, maybe Monday. The weather is a bit cooler here now, so soup might be worth a try.

Two weeks ago I broke one of my crocks and that day went out to replace it. No way was I going to be without two crockpots. In fact, I am thinking of finding a replacement crock, since I still have the outside unit and the lid. I am sure I can order just the inner crock at the Rival website. Three crockpots would be handier than two, wouldn't they?

It's Friday

No time for long chatty entries today. Friday morning is always my homeschool chat. From 8 a.m. (CT) to whenever, often until afternoon.

http://www.leapingfromthebox.com/hs/chat.html

But today I will have to leave early, as we (Charles and I) are driving to Birmingham to visit friends for the afternoon. And then we have to leave by 4 so that I can get home in time to get ready for dancing. Friday night is always square dancing night.

http://www.brindleemountainsquares.com

So a hectic day! But fun.

Is Homeschooling a Reward for Bad Behavior?

Today I answered an e-mail from a parent who wondered when to remove her child from public school. The child was bored, the school had said they would provide extra for the child and yet had not, and so the child was beginning to act out his frustrations and boredom. She wondered whether to begin homeschooling him now or to wait until the end of the school year, which was only 2.5 months away. Her main concern seemed to be that homeschooling him now would send the message to her child and to others that bad behavior would get him what he wanted (the child had asked to be homeschooled).

This is not the first time I have heard this concern. For some reason, certain parents tend to view removing the child from the bad situation as a reward, as giving in to the child's bad behavior. Yet, if the child were to behave well, then there would be no reason for homeschooling? Is the child to continue suffering in his present situation just so he gets the message that acting out will not get him a reward? More likely the message the child is going to get is that no one cares, that all is hopeless, that his life is just going to continue being an ongoing life of frustration and boredom.

Children are pretty much powerless in a public school situation. If they are bored, if they are being bullied, if they are frustrated, if they just plain do not like it there, what are their options? Unless someone is really listening to them, they have only three options:

1) They can tolerate the situation for the coming months, years, a lifetime, until they reach the age when they can drop out or, if they are really patient, graduate. By that time they have lost all hope of a life of interest and have really absorbed the message that learning is no fun at all and not for them.

2) They can act out their frustrations and boredom either by bullying or some other form of destructive behavior. And feel helpless and powerless as their frustration and boredom turns to rage and/or indifference.

3) They can turn their boredom and frustration inwards, becoming depressed and possibly, eventually even suicidal. Only by suicide do they see any way out, any way of taking back control of their lives.

None of those options are good ones, are they? Instead of viewing removal from the public schools as a reward for bad behavior, why not think of it as if public school were a disease which has infected your child and now it is time to remove as much of that disease as possible. If your child had cancer, would you leave the cancer there because removing it would give your child the idea that he would get special attention when he was sick? Or think of public school as an allergy. If your child had an allergy to milk, would you keep forcing him to drink milk? Or would you try some other alternative, like soy milk or coconut milk? Public school is simply one mode of learning among many, one pathway to an education.

Listen to your child. If he is telling you that something is wrong, it is your responsibility to do whatever you can to make the changes needed, changes that will promote your child's emotional, physical, and mental well-being.

Cheese and Stuff

Charles and I have been reading "On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of The Kitchen" by Harold McGee. Yesterday we finished the section on cheese. A painful section to read, as at the end of almost every paragraph Charles would groan and say, "I want cheese!"

So, I guess we are going to explore cheeses, if we can find some! The local Kroger's had nothing new and exciting to offer, other than a solid block of Parmesan, a solid (small) block of Mozzarella, and a French Gournay cheese. Gourney is a soft cheese, this particular one blended with garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and chives, so I'm not sure that Charles will care much for it, since he's not a big garlic fan. I will have to make the drive to the Publix in Decatur and see what they offer. We'd like to try a new cheese or two every week, maybe make some new dishes with them, and track which cheeses we like and which we don't. Sounds like a yummy study!

Gosh, it's cold and damp today. Where's our sixty-degree sunshine-filled October? October is supposed to be a dry month! This week has been anything but dry!

Wednesday I finished reading "Meriwether" by David Nevin and began reading "Dream West, which is the last of Nevin's "The American Story" series that I have yet to read. The whole series has been very interesting. I love reading about Jefferson and Madison and Burr and Lewis and Clark as real people, rather than historical figures. Nevin's books bring them to life, puts conversations and thoughts and feelings to them. And it has been doubly interesting reading about the early exploration and settlement of areas west of the Appalachians. With all our recent trips to Evansville, it's been cool to pass through areas that I had just read about and picture them as they were 200 years ago.

Well, time for some lunch, laundry, bill paying and then off to dancing tonight!

Book list(s)

Last night David downloaded the book list for his fall freshman semester at the University of Evansville. His World Cultures class does not have a list. I assume this is because they are reading several books over the semester (actually the whole year, since it's a full year requirement for all freshmen) and the teacher only wants them reading one book at a time. So he'll likely have to get those directly from the college bookstore. And it appears as though his Computer Science 101 class does not have a text. Wouldn't it be a novel idea for a computer science class to be all computerized? No textbook needed?

So, he has to purchase books for three classes: Japanese, Calculus and Chemistry. The full list price at the bookstore for all three classes totals $433.10. If he buys used from the bookstore (assuming they are still available used), it would cost $292. After spending an hour on E-bay and Amazon this morning, I can get several for less, although surprisingly the Japanese books are cheapest at the campus bookstore. If I buy some online and the Japanese at the campus bookstore, the total could be around $260, and most of those online were brand new. So that's a fair savings.

I would love to see the list of books that David will be using for his World Cultures class. He brought home from Orientation the first book for that class, The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. I have had that book on my "too read" list for over a year. I've already read one of his books to the boys and have another here on my shelf to read next. I'm willing to bet that David's World Cultures class will be a very interesting one.

This morning someone posted on one of the high school homeschool e-mail lists a request for "the" book that we think each high school student should read. And also which book we read as a high school student had the most lasting impact. She wants to create a "must read" book list for her high school student.

If I had to name one book that made the most impact upon me as a high school student, it would have to be The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. But if I had to name one author, it would be Leon Uris. I think his books did more for my understanding of history, especially history over the past 100-150 years, than any history class I ever took, and I did enjoy all my history classes.

As an adult, there is one book that I think all adults should read before they have children of their own or work with children in any capacity. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Maybe adults would view children differently, treat them differently, if this was required reading.

I've always thought book lists were fun. A list of books someone has read can tell you a lot about that person. So can the books they own. The first thing I do upon visiting someone is look over their bookshelves (hopefully they have some!). I think the books there, or the absence thereof, tells you a lot about the household.

THE Most Difficult Subject to Teach

We just finished a decade of homeschooling, which included first through twelfth grade. And I have come to the conclusion that THE most difficult subject I have had to "teach" over the last ten years has been Driver's Ed!

You might think it would get easier with time. I mean, I survived Kat's learning to drive. So it should be easier the second time around with David, right?. NOT! Yesterday David drove to Birmingham and back, his first real experience in big city driving and also his first time driving a long stretch of interstate. The drive home wasn't too bad … the drive down as not too good!

Partly the problem is that I just do not like riding with any other driver. And partly it's that I greatly value my life! I wrote about this experience a few years back when Kat was learning to drive.

Trust and Learning to Drive

Surely I can find someone else to ride with Charles when he gets his learner's permit?

Jujitsu Black Belt!

Last night was Graduation and Charles received his Jujitsu Black Belt. Quite an achievement! Charles worked so hard the past several days, helping teach classes because his instructor had hurt his hip, and also helping prepare for graduation. I think he was too tired to really get the full joy of graduating and receiving that black belt. But he did look pretty happy.

On the extreme left is Honshi Rawls, a 10th Degree Black Belt in something, maybe Jujitsu? I can never keep it straight. And then Charles is to the right of Honshi Rawls. And then to the right of Charles is his instructor, Donnie Chappell, who is a 4th Degree Black Belt in Karate and 3rd Degree Black Belt in Jujitsu. And to his right is his daughter (Charles' girl friend) Rebecca, who also received her 3rd Degree Karate Black Belt last night. Not a bunch to pick a fight with!

So, now Charles has two black belts, one in Jujitsu and one in Karate. And he is about halfway to being ready to test for his second level karate black belt. It's a three-year process, so another year and a half to go. Amazing what a can happen when a sibling wins a month's free lessons in something! That's how our karate adventures began. Kat won a month's free lessons at a homeschool seminar in 1999, I think it was. Charles watched Kat that month and immediately wanted to sign up! Ever since, his first love, basketball, has paled in comparison to martial arts.

Crossing Things Off My Lists

The last several days have been busy around here! Bill and the boys built new steps to the entrance off our living room over the July Fourth holiday. We rarely use that entrance and haven't been able to for quite a while now due to the steps having rotted out. But it's good to have it fixed and be able to use it, just in case we have an emergency and need another exit. That project has been on the "to do" list for quite some time now. At one time we had planned to greatly expand that small deck entrance area, turning it into a screened-in covered porch, but whenever funds get set aside for the project, they get diverted for some emergency expense. Probably it'll be one of those things we do just to fix it up around here when we finally get ready to move and sell the place.

I finally finished David's high school transcript over the long weekend and yesterday mailed it to our church school administrator. It was already mostly done, since he had to have one in January for college applications, so all I really had to do was add this last half of his senior year to it and get it in the proper format. But I had to wait for his last grades at Calhoun Community College to get posted, which was done mid-May. By then I had gotten out of the "school" mode and just never quite found the time to sit down and finish the transcript. Now it is done. The last thing I needed to do for David as homeschool mom and teacher. Now I can just be college mom!

And yesterday I set up a brokerage account with E*Trade. We knew we were going to have to cash in some stocks for David's college tuition and the first payment is due August 1. Somehow I didn't think it would be a huge deal to set up an account and get the stocks traded and cash into a money market fund. I also didn't think doing it locally with a broker would be as expensive as it turned out to be when I called for quotes. So instead of going the easy way with lots of hand holding and someone else doing the grunt work, we went the cheaper route and I will get plenty of new learning experiences! Isn't that what you get when you don't get what you wanted? Experience?!

So three things done off my lists . . . and hundreds more to go, or so it seems. Last weekend I had David set up FreeMind on my computer. It's a mindmapping program I discovered last winter and showed to David. He took right to it and uses it all the time. I am not so sure it will be as helpful to me, but I'm willing to try it. One good thing about it is that I am much better organized on my computer than I am on my desk or with my filing cabinets. So instead of many paper lists floating around and never where I remember putting them, I simply have to open FreeMind and there my lists are, ready to be shortened or ignored, whichever the case may be!

Here's the link to FreeMind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Know Home Schooling, history, and Harry Potter

I received an e-mail this morning from a friend, telling me about a new site, Know Home Schooling. It's a homeschooling wiki. I added my blog listing to it this morning. Looks like it might be a real help to new homeschoolers as more veterans add their info to it. Check it out. http://knowhomeschooling.com

Yesterday we actually got back to reading our world history book, "The Outline of History" by H. G. Wells. It seems like we've been working on the final chapter for months! I read for about an hour yesterday and we're down to the last three pages. Hopefully we can finish it today. Then we can pick back up the Richard Maybury book(s) I want to cover this summer before David goes off to Evansville.

Darn J. K. Rowling and her announcement yesterday about her next (and final) Harry Potter book. Here she hasn't even gotten it all written and she's already telling us that two characters (main characters!) will die in the final book. And her wording was such that it certainly seems possible that Harry could be one of those. Something to the effect that no one else can write more books in the future about Harry if he dies in the last book. So whom will she kill off? My boys speculate that it will be Ron and Hermoine. Surely she wouldn't kill them off? More likely Hagrid and maybe … maybe … oh, I can't even begin to guess! I only know that I'll be extremely saddened when the series ends. And hopeful that Rowling will write more. Although topping the HP series would likely not be possible. And certainly she doesn't need the income! It would just be interesting to see what other areas her writing brain might find appealing to write about.