Train Them Young
Noah: "Mom, where did this book come from?"
Me: "What book?"
N: "This Bible stories book."
M: "Well, it is a book of Bible stories by Tomie DePaola."
N: "Yeah, but where did it come from?"
M: "Well, a group of men many years ago...."
N: "No, Mom, where did WE get THIS book?"
M: "Oh, from church."
N: "I didn't know there were Bibles at church."
M: Dying with laughter!
So, I say to Nathan later...."Do you still think the UU church is indoctrinating him?"
(He has nothing to say as he is laughing is A*# off!)
And, so you have it folks....
Monday, January 21, 2008
Great Quote
“It's taken for granted in adult society that we cannot all be generalists skilled in every area of learning and mastery. Nevertheless, we apply tremendous pressure on our children to be good at everything. Every day they are expected to shine in math, reading, writing, speaking, spelling, memorization, comprehension, problem solving, socialization, athletics, and following verbal directions. Few if any children can master all of these trades. And none of us adults can. In one way or another, all minds have their specialties and their frailties.” Dr. Mel Levine
Monday, January 14, 2008
Good News!
Good news....Nathan's company is sending us to the Happiest Place on Earth! Bad news....Nathan's company is sending us to the Happiest Place on Earth. Here is a copy of the email I sent Nathan today as I begin to plan our trip:
"Okay. This is F*&KING ridiculous. 4 days of "FUN" at the "WORLD'S HAPPIEST PLACE" would cost our little family approximately $800.00, and that's just entry to the park. Okay. Calm down. I'm talking to myself by the way.
We can do this. Oh wait, let me vent some more. If there was a space shuttle launch and we wanted to view it, it would cost os $38.00 a person. Do they know that tax payer dollars pay for that and they want to charge me more money? Are they insane?
Who can afford this stuff? Apparently we are doing something very wrong in our life because we can't afford to pay the thousand dollars it takes to take our 6 year old son to see Mickey Mouse.
Okay, deep breath.
I'm sorry. I read that wrong. It's $38.00 to just get in to the Kennedy Space Center. That doesn't include a shuttle launch or lunch with an astronaut. That's extra.
I now see why Clark Griswald took matters into his own hands....and that waas 25 years ago.
The big thing is figuring out do we go before our after. There are some neat wildlife refuges down along the coast, about an hour away from Orlando. I'm guessing they are not $70.00 per day per person. So...if we planned on doing two days of Disney World and MAYBE - a big Maybe - Sea World - at $50.00 per day and spend one day in the pool, if it is warm enough, then it may be okay. Provided Noah and I pack our lunches down and back and we plan on renting the fridge in room to keep some snacks as we certainly can't afford to eat while we are there, not to mention buying a frigging pair of mouse ears......."
Monday, January 7, 2008
Top 10 Reasons I Homeschool
1. Parents should always be a child's first and primary teachers.
2. We are liberal and want Noah's education to be liberally influenced.
3. We want to choose what Noah is taught, not the Federal Government.
4. 6 weeks to 6 years. A 5 year old is too young to have a full time job or be away from their parents for 7 hours per day. A young child needs the influence of parents, grandparents, etc. and should not be subject to navigating the world alone without parental guidance.
5. Children's emotional and spiritual needs are as important if not more than an academic or a mental need. Emotional and spiritual needs cannot be addressed at a public school or many typical private schools.
6. For every study that recommends the pursuit of academics at a young age, there are studies condemning those pursuits and show the possible damage they can do. We believe in the balance between study and play and at home our son can get both.
7. The definitions of socialization are as follows:
We do not believe in government control. We do want our son to be sociable - all of you who know him know this is not a problem for him. We realize we have to get along in society but are non-conformist by nature and by choice. So....we do not impose conformity on our son, though school definitely would.
8. It is important that Noah develop strong relationships with his elder family members, especially the grand parents and great grandparents and he gets extra time for these things by homeschooling.
9. The Field Trips!
10. Noah does not want to go to school.
Did I say 10...
11. We believe in magic. We teach our son about the magic of the world and do not want that stamped out of him in public school or in a setting where he is around lots of people who do not believe there is magic in the world.
Loose Tooth!
As I was sitting across from the Croy kid doing schoolwork, something appeared amiss about his face. I stared for a minute and then realized one of his teeth was crooked. Come here, I said. He came over and I, being the typical mom that I am, immediately stuck my hand in his mouth. You have a loose tooth, I said! We immediately called Dad Nathan and are all so excited. Noah has been more than a little stressed that many of his friends, some a month or two younger, have lost teeth and he has not. Ah....my baby is growing up. He is losing his milk teeth. Soon he will be passing from the dream time into a greater awareness of the world.
Bittersweet is my life.
I love You Noah.
Mom
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Home Again
Well, we are trying it again. Noah is emphatic that he is not going to school right now. I have to admit that the idea of sending him to school when he is so against it, facing a move and an adoption does not sound good to me. My concern is that he will associate all of these things with school and hate it. So, we are spending time talking about school and trying to get him excited about it. This gives us time to decide where we are sending him for first grade and decide where we are moving.
So, we are forging ahead with our current schedule and adding to it one day of "school" for Noah. My friend Kara, a homeschool mom with a masters in education, has graciously offered to take Noah into her homeschool one day a week. I think this will solve many of our current woes. Noah will hopefully get a taste for a more formal educational experience. He will get the opportunity to listen to another adult and actually learn that sometimes he just has to comply. I would love to say he will learn things like working cooperatively, but he already knows those things after 6 years of living on the cul-de-sac with all of these kids that play together all of the time. He will get more independence from me, which is a good thing ( I think ).
I will get nearly 6 uninterrupted hours of getting things done. I can run errands, clean, maybe get some painting done, do Taste of Home work and who knows what else. My hopes are high. I really hope this works out!
Yesterday we took one of the neighbor's with us to one of those overpriced jump places. It was nice. The boys jumped for two hours while I read a new book I picked up called The Historian. The little boy was telling Noah that school is fun. I asked him what he liked and he said gym, recess and lunch. Hmmm.....that's what....1.5 hours of the 7 hour day? I don't think so. If we have to, we'll keep Noah home until we can afford the private school of our choice.
For now, we have a kindergartner becoming quite proficient in reading, who is a math whiz, loves science experiments and crafts and has finally mastered cutting and pasting. Not bad for only one semester of homeschool kindergarten.
Now, read my next blog where I actually list all of my reasons for homeschooling. I have to keep reminding myself of these things so I can continue down this path. For those of you considering homeschooling, it is not for the faint at heart. Last semester was very difficult. I think that with the schedule changes along with implementing the gold star reward system, things are on the upswing.
One more thing....on rewards....my personal philosophy is that Noah should be agreeable and do what we ask because....well....I said so. I mean really, he's 6 for goodness sakes. Should he be this disagreeable already? I think not. But, we were given a good Capricorn child who is very stubborn and wants what he wants all of the time. We tried for several weeks taking things away from him and realized pretty quickly that this was not working. Due to a suggestion from my friend Kara, Noah's new "teacher", we have set up a rewards system. Now, when Noah is cooperative and gets all of his things done with no complaining, he gets a gold star. These are not special treats folks. Essentially, I took things like 1/2 per day of TV time, 1/2 per day of computer time, getting to invite a friend over, a piece of candy per day and the chance to take a bath instead of a shower and made those things his rewards.
Many books would tell us that rewards are bad and that our children should comply out of the goodness of their hearts. But, think about it. Do you work out of the goodness of your heart? No, you get a big reward, a paycheck. Many things in this world give us rewards of sorts. We do something and get an outcome, a reward. So, that's my justification. If this gets us over this hurtle, then it works for me. Bargaining, pleading, screaming, threatening, spanking, punishing....none of those things work for Noah. What works for us is Love and Rewards. This week has been much better thanks to these changes. Noah is learning that he cannot take for granted these things and he has responsibilities. He does not get a gold star in the morning until he has eaten breakfast, gotten dresses, made his bed and done his morning homeschool assignments. The entire day goes like this. Try it folks. It works.
Have a great day.
Dana
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