We're starting to reach friends and family who live farther south as their phones work again. Everybody's all right so far.
Brighteyes is too upset for lessons this week. She has done a lot of art, especially drawings. Her father was very impressed with a horse she drew. She followed the instructions from Draw Write Now, but she gave it a deeper and more realistic neck and chest. She experimented with proportion by making one leg of each pair skinnier than the other. She's playing with shading in some of her pictures. She also made a paper doll chain and started crocheting a poncho.
Sunshine has done some drawing as well, and is getting better at directing the pencil. She has wanted a lot of books read to her, and has taken to carrying around a stack of them with her. Sunshine is getting less timid and more talkative, which makes it easier to interact with her. She's also getting sturdy enough for Brighteyes to tussle with, and that's started. Sunshine usually initiates it.
The heat wave is over. We can turn off the fans and even close a few windows at night. The orange butterflies have loved the area right outside the girls' room where the passionflower vine and the honeysuckle grows. The butterflies eat the honeysuckle nectar and the caterpillars eat the passionflower leaves. There's usually four butterflies out there any time you look. The fall flowers are coming along, and it's getting easier to coax the girl outside for nature studies i.e., "Let's look at the flowers!" Autumn's hand feels like a benediction this year.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Katie-did-it, didn't she?
We're still all right. Brighteyes is finally over her stomach virus, and while she's somewhat dehydrated she's going about 3/4 throttle. We finally got long-distance phone service back. We're trying to get in touch with friends and family who live south of us, but we haven't reached most of them. The biggest problem is our nerves, so I apologize if this is disjointed.
This was our fourth hurricane. Also, I grew up in Alabama's "Tornado Alley", and I've been through more tornado watches than I can remember. I have great respect for NOAA and the National Weather Service, and I always take them seriously.
We spent our first married year in Mobile. They had two hurricanes that year, and we left. One afternoon, while a hurricane was heading towards us and I was away from home, my husband looked out the window and watched a tornado form in the middle of the crossroads in front of our house. But living there was sorta like household Boot Camp. I learned there's nothing at all wrong with having canned goods under the bed, extra batteries and an Escape Plan.
That experience served as a spur to my husband, who is both a craftsman and a flaming paranoid. The buildings we've put up are all AT LEAST 50% over US Marine Code, and the workshop was over-built to the point that it should survive anything short of a direct hit from a tornado. Most of the area shelters aren't as well built as where we are now.
We don't watch TV. The weekend before we listened to Mississippi Public Radio carry the official weather announcements. I showed the girls the weather radar over the internet, and explained what was coming. Brighteyes started to understand that Something Bad was going to happen, and asked if we could listen to the radio some more. I told her we would turn it on as soon as she got up and listen to it all day long.
She was up at dawn, but soon went back to sleep. When the girls got up again at midmorning I turned on MPR and got out our state map. The scale was 30 miles/inch. We had to use a ponytail elastic for the eye of the storm and make a huge yarn circle for the body. I didn't even try to simulate the arm that started whacking us before the thing even cleared the coast.
By then we knew we were in the hurricane's path, but far enough inland not to bear the brunt of the storm.
When the wind first began Brighteyes asked to go outside. Sunshine was too timid. I let Brighteyes out, went back to what I was doing, and several minutes later checked up on her. She had climbed the highest tree in our backyard to get a good view. I ordered her out of all trees until the storm was over. She confessed that the wind was stronger than she expected.
Mississippi Public Radio is incredible. They provide public radio for the entire state and into the neighboring states. They broadcast live all day Monday. Here's some of the blunter advice they threw in with the official warnings:
"This is not your Mama's hurricane."
"If the rain is moving horizontally and the debris is moving horizontally, your car should NOT be moving horizontally."
"Do not wade into the water. Remember where it came from. The rain moved horizontally through the Gulf swamps. There may be some alligators that got moved horizontally too."
"Part of the roof is off the Superdome."
"We would love to tell you what's going on in our Biloxi office, but the Biloxi office is down. So are the automatic data collectors."
One of the two Biloxi hospitals has lost its generator, the other has had its generator damaged.
In the midst of a list of shelter openings and closings: "..and so-and-so has opened 40 acres of pasture for people looking for a place to shelter their horses."
"ALL highways to the Coast are closed. The wind is too strong for anything taller than a Corvette, and anybody with a Corvette shouldn't risk it in this weather."
"Everything on the coast has it's first floor flooded."
"Jackson (the capital city in the middle of the state) will close in half an hour."
I did catch MPR in one mistake. They said, "We're not announcing school closures any more because ALL schools are closed." But if all the schools were closed, why hadn't my husband come home? It turned out the Superintendent didn't close the schools even with a hurricane headed straight at us. The Department of Education had WORDS with him that afternoon when they called to check up and found school still in session. They were closed Tuesday, but that still left inexperienced teenage drivers trying to make their way home in driving wind and rain Monday.
Shortly after noon we lost the radio, the telephone and the internet. The power blinked occasionally but never went out. Katrina was nothing more than an overgrown thunderstorm (sans thunder and lightning) by the time she passed over our heads, but she still scared the girls. At 2pm I started reading Pratchet's _Wee Free Men_ drowning out the storm with my voice until 10pm when they passed out, pausing for meals and other interruptions.
One such interruption came when my husband finally got home that afternoon. During a lull in the wind he decided to take the girls on their regular weekly trip to the library, just a few minutes away. I pulled out my "Mary Poppins" umbrella. The girls got soaked, but it did them good to get out of the house briefly.
The next morning everything except long distance phone service was working again, but the mild stomach virus that was troubling Sunshine and I hit Brighteyes with both feet. She got real clingy, so I turned most of my attention to her. After all if there's one thing this country does right, it's our emergency response teams. They are always on the scene within 36 hours of a disaster. That's one of the reasons I'm proud to be an American. Our people always come through in a crisis.
Except this time.
When I got back to checking the news two days later, I couldn't believe it. It's as if we took the finest emergency response teams the world has ever seen and put them under the control of the Keystone Kops.
Katrina hitting the Coast was not preventable. Part of the damage and death that happened after Katrina hit the Coast was preventable by simple measures which were not carried out. For these failures there will be reckonings, both in this world and the next. I'm not sure by what means justice is served in the Afterlife. I am sure that it is served, and that it would be better for those culpable to attend to their karma in this life rather than let the god(s) attend to their karma later.
In the meantime I've got bags of clothes to drop off tommorow and people to try to reach on the telephone. In a while though it's going to be time to ask some very pointed questions, including, "How is this country going to regain both it's sturdy infrastructure and its rapid response to crisis situations? If you don't have a good answer to that, get out of the way for those who do."
UPDATE: Brendan manages to sum up the thoughts and feelings of many of us who live on the Gulf Coast and live with hurricanes.
This was our fourth hurricane. Also, I grew up in Alabama's "Tornado Alley", and I've been through more tornado watches than I can remember. I have great respect for NOAA and the National Weather Service, and I always take them seriously.
We spent our first married year in Mobile. They had two hurricanes that year, and we left. One afternoon, while a hurricane was heading towards us and I was away from home, my husband looked out the window and watched a tornado form in the middle of the crossroads in front of our house. But living there was sorta like household Boot Camp. I learned there's nothing at all wrong with having canned goods under the bed, extra batteries and an Escape Plan.
That experience served as a spur to my husband, who is both a craftsman and a flaming paranoid. The buildings we've put up are all AT LEAST 50% over US Marine Code, and the workshop was over-built to the point that it should survive anything short of a direct hit from a tornado. Most of the area shelters aren't as well built as where we are now.
We don't watch TV. The weekend before we listened to Mississippi Public Radio carry the official weather announcements. I showed the girls the weather radar over the internet, and explained what was coming. Brighteyes started to understand that Something Bad was going to happen, and asked if we could listen to the radio some more. I told her we would turn it on as soon as she got up and listen to it all day long.
She was up at dawn, but soon went back to sleep. When the girls got up again at midmorning I turned on MPR and got out our state map. The scale was 30 miles/inch. We had to use a ponytail elastic for the eye of the storm and make a huge yarn circle for the body. I didn't even try to simulate the arm that started whacking us before the thing even cleared the coast.
By then we knew we were in the hurricane's path, but far enough inland not to bear the brunt of the storm.
When the wind first began Brighteyes asked to go outside. Sunshine was too timid. I let Brighteyes out, went back to what I was doing, and several minutes later checked up on her. She had climbed the highest tree in our backyard to get a good view. I ordered her out of all trees until the storm was over. She confessed that the wind was stronger than she expected.
Mississippi Public Radio is incredible. They provide public radio for the entire state and into the neighboring states. They broadcast live all day Monday. Here's some of the blunter advice they threw in with the official warnings:
"This is not your Mama's hurricane."
"If the rain is moving horizontally and the debris is moving horizontally, your car should NOT be moving horizontally."
"Do not wade into the water. Remember where it came from. The rain moved horizontally through the Gulf swamps. There may be some alligators that got moved horizontally too."
"Part of the roof is off the Superdome."
"We would love to tell you what's going on in our Biloxi office, but the Biloxi office is down. So are the automatic data collectors."
One of the two Biloxi hospitals has lost its generator, the other has had its generator damaged.
In the midst of a list of shelter openings and closings: "..and so-and-so has opened 40 acres of pasture for people looking for a place to shelter their horses."
"ALL highways to the Coast are closed. The wind is too strong for anything taller than a Corvette, and anybody with a Corvette shouldn't risk it in this weather."
"Everything on the coast has it's first floor flooded."
"Jackson (the capital city in the middle of the state) will close in half an hour."
I did catch MPR in one mistake. They said, "We're not announcing school closures any more because ALL schools are closed." But if all the schools were closed, why hadn't my husband come home? It turned out the Superintendent didn't close the schools even with a hurricane headed straight at us. The Department of Education had WORDS with him that afternoon when they called to check up and found school still in session. They were closed Tuesday, but that still left inexperienced teenage drivers trying to make their way home in driving wind and rain Monday.
Shortly after noon we lost the radio, the telephone and the internet. The power blinked occasionally but never went out. Katrina was nothing more than an overgrown thunderstorm (sans thunder and lightning) by the time she passed over our heads, but she still scared the girls. At 2pm I started reading Pratchet's _Wee Free Men_ drowning out the storm with my voice until 10pm when they passed out, pausing for meals and other interruptions.
One such interruption came when my husband finally got home that afternoon. During a lull in the wind he decided to take the girls on their regular weekly trip to the library, just a few minutes away. I pulled out my "Mary Poppins" umbrella. The girls got soaked, but it did them good to get out of the house briefly.
The next morning everything except long distance phone service was working again, but the mild stomach virus that was troubling Sunshine and I hit Brighteyes with both feet. She got real clingy, so I turned most of my attention to her. After all if there's one thing this country does right, it's our emergency response teams. They are always on the scene within 36 hours of a disaster. That's one of the reasons I'm proud to be an American. Our people always come through in a crisis.
Except this time.
When I got back to checking the news two days later, I couldn't believe it. It's as if we took the finest emergency response teams the world has ever seen and put them under the control of the Keystone Kops.
Katrina hitting the Coast was not preventable. Part of the damage and death that happened after Katrina hit the Coast was preventable by simple measures which were not carried out. For these failures there will be reckonings, both in this world and the next. I'm not sure by what means justice is served in the Afterlife. I am sure that it is served, and that it would be better for those culpable to attend to their karma in this life rather than let the god(s) attend to their karma later.
In the meantime I've got bags of clothes to drop off tommorow and people to try to reach on the telephone. In a while though it's going to be time to ask some very pointed questions, including, "How is this country going to regain both it's sturdy infrastructure and its rapid response to crisis situations? If you don't have a good answer to that, get out of the way for those who do."
UPDATE: Brendan manages to sum up the thoughts and feelings of many of us who live on the Gulf Coast and live with hurricanes.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Comfort Poem
On of my favorite comfort poems. Yeah, I know I'm weird.
Doesn't work so well for cities though. :(
Grass
Carl Sandburg
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work -
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass.
Let me work.
Doesn't work so well for cities though. :(
Grass
Carl Sandburg
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work -
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass.
Let me work.
Every Child's Dream Come True
Three five year-old boys really do find an ancient treasure hoard in their backyard at the foot of their treehouse. Honest. Go and read it.
More Despicable than Looting
It's despicable to profit off the death and devastation of other people. Looters trying to get badly needed food, water or medicines may or may not have an excuse for their behavior. That's a point that's being debated all over the place, no need to debate it here. But there is absolutely no excuse in the world for this trash:
Hurricane was sign of divine wrath, fundamentalists say
Homo 'Southern Decadence' Then 'Pagan Pride Day'
"God may have used the hurricane to purge wickedness from the city."
These are callous attempts to profit off dead people, ravaged homes and communities, and devastated lives. The people who made these attempts are among the worst scum on the planet. There can be no excuse whatsoever for their behavior.
Hurricane was sign of divine wrath, fundamentalists say
Homo 'Southern Decadence' Then 'Pagan Pride Day'
"God may have used the hurricane to purge wickedness from the city."
These are callous attempts to profit off dead people, ravaged homes and communities, and devastated lives. The people who made these attempts are among the worst scum on the planet. There can be no excuse whatsoever for their behavior.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Hot Water and Sandstorms
That's all hurricanes are.
Picture the Atlantic ocean at the equator. Picture a grid over the ocean - it doesn't matter what shape or size the cells are. What matters is that each of those cells is going to get blistering hot under the equatorial sun. And there's nowhere for that heat to go until a sandstorm sweeps out of Africa over that cell.
Heat becomes motion. The storm absorbs the water's heat and turns it into wind power. The more heat, the more powerful the winds become.
I'm always telling newcomers who've moved to the South that "no hurricanes came near us this year" is Very Bad News. It only means that the ocean water is going to be hotter and have more energy stored up for the next hurricane season.
Every year the equatorial Atlantic and the Gulf are going to heat up. Every year the sandstorms from the Sahara are going to sweep across Africa out into the Atlantic, gain strength from the heat stored in the hot ocean and sweep west until they hit land. The first ones will always angle low, with the subsequent ones angling higher. If there has been no hurricane over Spot X on the ocean, it's going to be chock full of energy to give to the next one that comes along. It's been going on for 70 millions years, since the Age of the Dinosaurs, and isn't going to stop until the North Atlantic current stops from major continental restructuring. Or Africa freezes solid.
It could be worse. Thank goodness West Africa doesn't have earthquakes. Western South America does have earthquakes, which means that in addition to the same problems the Gulf Coast has with hurricanes (they call them typhoons) the Pacific equator also has tidal waves.
And it's not the worst hurricane that ever hit the Gulf Coast. In prehistoric times Mobile was hit by super-hurricanes that scoured the earth flat for miles inland. But Goddess knows it was bad enough.
Every year the global temperature is getting hotter. Every year there's going to be more building and less respect for nature along the Gulf Coast, and more damage.
Until global temperatures decrease and more respect, better planning and a lot more money is devoted to preventative measures and disaster planning, it's going to get worse. That's not a thought I want to think, but it's no good trying not to think it.
Picture the Atlantic ocean at the equator. Picture a grid over the ocean - it doesn't matter what shape or size the cells are. What matters is that each of those cells is going to get blistering hot under the equatorial sun. And there's nowhere for that heat to go until a sandstorm sweeps out of Africa over that cell.
Heat becomes motion. The storm absorbs the water's heat and turns it into wind power. The more heat, the more powerful the winds become.
I'm always telling newcomers who've moved to the South that "no hurricanes came near us this year" is Very Bad News. It only means that the ocean water is going to be hotter and have more energy stored up for the next hurricane season.
Every year the equatorial Atlantic and the Gulf are going to heat up. Every year the sandstorms from the Sahara are going to sweep across Africa out into the Atlantic, gain strength from the heat stored in the hot ocean and sweep west until they hit land. The first ones will always angle low, with the subsequent ones angling higher. If there has been no hurricane over Spot X on the ocean, it's going to be chock full of energy to give to the next one that comes along. It's been going on for 70 millions years, since the Age of the Dinosaurs, and isn't going to stop until the North Atlantic current stops from major continental restructuring. Or Africa freezes solid.
It could be worse. Thank goodness West Africa doesn't have earthquakes. Western South America does have earthquakes, which means that in addition to the same problems the Gulf Coast has with hurricanes (they call them typhoons) the Pacific equator also has tidal waves.
And it's not the worst hurricane that ever hit the Gulf Coast. In prehistoric times Mobile was hit by super-hurricanes that scoured the earth flat for miles inland. But Goddess knows it was bad enough.
Every year the global temperature is getting hotter. Every year there's going to be more building and less respect for nature along the Gulf Coast, and more damage.
Until global temperatures decrease and more respect, better planning and a lot more money is devoted to preventative measures and disaster planning, it's going to get worse. That's not a thought I want to think, but it's no good trying not to think it.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
We're Okay.
We're far enough north that all we got was strong winds and rain. Radio, phone and email went out Monday afternoon, but they were all back up by Tuesday morning. The only hurricane-related problems we've had is that there were shortages of food and diapers Tuesday and this afternoon Tupelo ran out of gas. The surrounding areas started to run out as well. I HATE "just in time" delivery. It never is. But we spent our first married year in Mobile and learned there's nothing odd about keeping a six-month supply of canned goods in the house, so we do. We also learned to stay out of hurricane zones. One year on the coast was enough, thank you.
The problem is that Brighteyes has come down with a nasty stomach virus and wants constant mothering. I really don't have time to post much right now, but I'll try to put stories up when I can.
Our prayers go out to all those who have been afflicted by Katrina. Keep well, and keep your courage up.
The problem is that Brighteyes has come down with a nasty stomach virus and wants constant mothering. I really don't have time to post much right now, but I'll try to put stories up when I can.
Our prayers go out to all those who have been afflicted by Katrina. Keep well, and keep your courage up.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Answers to Questions You Didn't Want Answered
If you live in the South, you get used to watching hurricanes play in the Gulf of Mexico on the weather radar. Eventually you wonder, "What would a hurricane big enough to fill up the WHOLE Gulf look like?"
Well, now we know. I would rather have just seen a hypothetical stimulation.
According to NOAA:
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.
We're far enough inland and east of the storm that we shouldn't get hit by the main body. We're expecting a lashing from the arms though.
Everybody stay safe. We're praying for y'all.
Well, now we know. I would rather have just seen a hypothetical stimulation.
According to NOAA:
MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.
HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.
AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.
POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.
We're far enough inland and east of the storm that we shouldn't get hit by the main body. We're expecting a lashing from the arms though.
Everybody stay safe. We're praying for y'all.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Heavy clouds, no rain.
I've never seen so many thunderstorms sweep over without hardly spilling a drop. We're wore out from the pressure, heat and humidity bouncing around like rubber balls; and we don't have any rain to show for it.
We're all sleepy and cranky. Sunshine isn't paying attention to lessons, but she is practicing her drawing. Brighteyes likes the Draw Right Now book but is getting tired of copying other people's pictures. Today's assignment involved drawing a cow. She balked at copying the picture's background, so I suggested she have the cow jumping over the moon. She loved that idea.
I've about run through my stash of Golden Age children's lit. Fortunately the girls have shown a willingness to have me read Victorian poetry that's over a page long at Story Break. (Story Break is that point in lessons when little hands need a rest.) Robert Browning has been a hit so far. I'm considering Rossetti's Goblin Market but I don't think I'm up to explaining about "allegory" and illegal narcotics trafficking right now. Some days I have a hard enough time getting through our bedtime chapter of Oz. All those jokes about well-connected citizens demanding to be made Army Generals when they know nothing about fighting can bring about lurid flashbacks to World War I when I'm tired. I'm completely at a loss when it comes to the Oz's alleged racism. I've never seen so many blatent pro-multicultural statements in a work written before 1960 before, let alone from the 1900s.
This was our last week of Botany. Brighteyes asked to crystallize flower petals. We couldn't find any roses in bloom but crystalized some mint leaves. The result looked nothing like those pretty crystallized leaves you see in the food photos, but the girls said it was the finest mint candy they ever tasted and wanted to know when we could make some more.
The weather was supposed to break this week. I hope it calms down next week. This heat wave isn't doing anyone any good. My husband says the students at his school are in no better shape. We could all stand for this heat wave to end.
We're all sleepy and cranky. Sunshine isn't paying attention to lessons, but she is practicing her drawing. Brighteyes likes the Draw Right Now book but is getting tired of copying other people's pictures. Today's assignment involved drawing a cow. She balked at copying the picture's background, so I suggested she have the cow jumping over the moon. She loved that idea.
I've about run through my stash of Golden Age children's lit. Fortunately the girls have shown a willingness to have me read Victorian poetry that's over a page long at Story Break. (Story Break is that point in lessons when little hands need a rest.) Robert Browning has been a hit so far. I'm considering Rossetti's Goblin Market but I don't think I'm up to explaining about "allegory" and illegal narcotics trafficking right now. Some days I have a hard enough time getting through our bedtime chapter of Oz. All those jokes about well-connected citizens demanding to be made Army Generals when they know nothing about fighting can bring about lurid flashbacks to World War I when I'm tired. I'm completely at a loss when it comes to the Oz's alleged racism. I've never seen so many blatent pro-multicultural statements in a work written before 1960 before, let alone from the 1900s.
This was our last week of Botany. Brighteyes asked to crystallize flower petals. We couldn't find any roses in bloom but crystalized some mint leaves. The result looked nothing like those pretty crystallized leaves you see in the food photos, but the girls said it was the finest mint candy they ever tasted and wanted to know when we could make some more.
The weather was supposed to break this week. I hope it calms down next week. This heat wave isn't doing anyone any good. My husband says the students at his school are in no better shape. We could all stand for this heat wave to end.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
But what do homeschoolers do that's better than public school?
Expat Teacher wants specifics. Why don't you folks go give him some? Other people had already mentioned some of the nonacademic benefits, but I thought he wanted some academic benefits as well. Here's part of my post:
But Expat asked: "WHAT do we teach?" Let's tell him. My older daughter just turned six and started "first grade". Here's what she's learning:
MATH - She's already finished a standard first grade math curriculum and is halfway through the first year of Singapore Math. Redundant I know, but we've got the time.
HANDWRITING - We finished the first-grade workbook last week and started the supplemental "Draw Write Now"
PEN-PAL WRITING - at least once a week.
JUMPSTART WORKBOOKS - She's halfway through the 2cnd grade workbook.
LITERATURE - We're read the Greek myths, folk tales and creation stories from around the world, most of the Golden Age of Children's Literature and started on Victorian poetry. Later this year we'll begin children's version of the Iliad, the Odyssey and other ancient literary works.
MEMORIZATION - a poem every other week and a list about once every other month. Want hear her tell you the ages of history, the names of the planets or "Now We Are Six"?
GRAMMAR - We're working on the parts of speach.
PHONICS - in depth
SPELLING - We'll finish the first grade spelling workbook next month.
PICTURE STUDY - using great paintings.
NATURE STUDY - using plants and most recently the monarch butterflies hatching out right under their window.
HISTORY - We've already covered the dinosaurs and worked our way up to the Neanderthals. When the heat breaks in a few weeks we'll be making cave paintings on the side of a shed and neolithic pottery. We'll be spending the first through fourth grades studying world history from start to finish. Then we'll do it again for another four years in more depth when they're older. By then they should be ready for the Great Books.
LIFE SCIENCES - Botany went all summer, from when we planted the seeds through picking the fruits. My six-year old also insisted on learning herbalism and can make a nice cup of fresh herb tea.
We'll start zoology next month and study animals in the order they evolved. Human biology will come after that, and knowing how interested my six year old is in that she will insist on giving it the most indepth study of all.
Earth Sciences and Astronomy will be next year, followed by a year of chemistry and another year of physics. By fifth grade they ought to be ready to start studying the "whys" behind those subjects.
LATIN - Okay, we haven't started it yet, but we'll begin right after we finish phonics which will coincide with studying Ancient Rome.
EFFICIENCY - We're through with all that before lunch.
RECESS - They don't have that at the local public school any more.
ARTS, CRAFTS & MUSIC - all afternoon long if she wants. Or whatever else she wants to explore. Recent interests include painting, drawing, crochet, piano, the recorder, beading, sewing, draping saris and veil-dancing.
SOCIALIZATION - That's what parks, playgrounds, Girl Scouts and other clubs are for.
In a few years we'll be adding logic, rhetoric, another foreign language and whatever else she wants to learn.
It would be better to ask would she NOT be learning in a first-grade class at the public school. What would she have to give up for the priviledge of getting out of bed at 5:00 and learning how to stand in line?
Did I mention she already reads at a fourth-grade level and can finish a chapter book in an afternoon? What could school give her besides boredom, frustration and a reason to act out?
But Expat asked: "WHAT do we teach?" Let's tell him. My older daughter just turned six and started "first grade". Here's what she's learning:
MATH - She's already finished a standard first grade math curriculum and is halfway through the first year of Singapore Math. Redundant I know, but we've got the time.
HANDWRITING - We finished the first-grade workbook last week and started the supplemental "Draw Write Now"
PEN-PAL WRITING - at least once a week.
JUMPSTART WORKBOOKS - She's halfway through the 2cnd grade workbook.
LITERATURE - We're read the Greek myths, folk tales and creation stories from around the world, most of the Golden Age of Children's Literature and started on Victorian poetry. Later this year we'll begin children's version of the Iliad, the Odyssey and other ancient literary works.
MEMORIZATION - a poem every other week and a list about once every other month. Want hear her tell you the ages of history, the names of the planets or "Now We Are Six"?
GRAMMAR - We're working on the parts of speach.
PHONICS - in depth
SPELLING - We'll finish the first grade spelling workbook next month.
PICTURE STUDY - using great paintings.
NATURE STUDY - using plants and most recently the monarch butterflies hatching out right under their window.
HISTORY - We've already covered the dinosaurs and worked our way up to the Neanderthals. When the heat breaks in a few weeks we'll be making cave paintings on the side of a shed and neolithic pottery. We'll be spending the first through fourth grades studying world history from start to finish. Then we'll do it again for another four years in more depth when they're older. By then they should be ready for the Great Books.
LIFE SCIENCES - Botany went all summer, from when we planted the seeds through picking the fruits. My six-year old also insisted on learning herbalism and can make a nice cup of fresh herb tea.
We'll start zoology next month and study animals in the order they evolved. Human biology will come after that, and knowing how interested my six year old is in that she will insist on giving it the most indepth study of all.
Earth Sciences and Astronomy will be next year, followed by a year of chemistry and another year of physics. By fifth grade they ought to be ready to start studying the "whys" behind those subjects.
LATIN - Okay, we haven't started it yet, but we'll begin right after we finish phonics which will coincide with studying Ancient Rome.
EFFICIENCY - We're through with all that before lunch.
RECESS - They don't have that at the local public school any more.
ARTS, CRAFTS & MUSIC - all afternoon long if she wants. Or whatever else she wants to explore. Recent interests include painting, drawing, crochet, piano, the recorder, beading, sewing, draping saris and veil-dancing.
SOCIALIZATION - That's what parks, playgrounds, Girl Scouts and other clubs are for.
In a few years we'll be adding logic, rhetoric, another foreign language and whatever else she wants to learn.
It would be better to ask would she NOT be learning in a first-grade class at the public school. What would she have to give up for the priviledge of getting out of bed at 5:00 and learning how to stand in line?
Did I mention she already reads at a fourth-grade level and can finish a chapter book in an afternoon? What could school give her besides boredom, frustration and a reason to act out?
Victorian Visionary
I'm currently reading Charlotte Mason's _Home Education_. For a book written in 1886 it's amazingly prescient at times. Check out the first paragraph:
"Not the least sign of the higher status they have gained, is the growing desire for work that obtains amongst educated women. The world wants the work of such women; and presently, as education becomes more general, we shall see all women with the capacity to work falling into the ranks of working women, with definite tasks, fixed hours, and for wages, the pleasure and honour of doing useful work if they are under no necessity to earn money."
In other words, anyone surprised to see 20th Century women enter the workforce in droves wasn't paying attention.
After a couple of supporting quotes we come to what happens to some of those among that same cadre of educated working women who then go on and choose to become mothers:
"...in proportion as mothers become more highly educated and efficient, they will doubtless feel the more strongly that the education of their children during the first six years of life is an undertaking hardly to be entrusted to any hands but their own. And they will take it up as their profession -- that is, with the diligence, regularity, and punctuality which men bestow on their professional labours."
In other words, anyone surprised that some of those same highly educated women, upon becoming mothers, should leave paid employment to become "attachment parenting" mothers intensely involved with their children's upbringing wasn't paying attention.
Amazing how many people weren't paying attention. Did they think "women's matters" didn't matter?
"Not the least sign of the higher status they have gained, is the growing desire for work that obtains amongst educated women. The world wants the work of such women; and presently, as education becomes more general, we shall see all women with the capacity to work falling into the ranks of working women, with definite tasks, fixed hours, and for wages, the pleasure and honour of doing useful work if they are under no necessity to earn money."
In other words, anyone surprised to see 20th Century women enter the workforce in droves wasn't paying attention.
After a couple of supporting quotes we come to what happens to some of those among that same cadre of educated working women who then go on and choose to become mothers:
"...in proportion as mothers become more highly educated and efficient, they will doubtless feel the more strongly that the education of their children during the first six years of life is an undertaking hardly to be entrusted to any hands but their own. And they will take it up as their profession -- that is, with the diligence, regularity, and punctuality which men bestow on their professional labours."
In other words, anyone surprised that some of those same highly educated women, upon becoming mothers, should leave paid employment to become "attachment parenting" mothers intensely involved with their children's upbringing wasn't paying attention.
Amazing how many people weren't paying attention. Did they think "women's matters" didn't matter?
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Liberalism and Homeschooling
Blame Cobranchi for this post. His blog pointed me toward Stanford political scientist and self-proclaimed liberal Rob Reich who has written a downloadable paper on "Testing the Boundaries of Parental Authority Over Education: The Case of Homeschooling". I say "self-proclaimed" because for all his references to "the liberal state" I have yet to see any evidence that he's ever heard of classical Lockian liberalism.
Let's take it from the top, shall we? In classic liberal theory, people are considered to have a natural right to life, liberty and property. Governments rule with the consent of the governed. Therefore, governments only pass laws which regulate or ban the actions of the people when there is incontrovertible empirical evidence that such actions present a clear and present danger to the health, safety and property of the people.
The standard example is alcohol laws. In general, the state cannot interfere with the individual's right to purchase and consume alcohol. However, the state can prohibit a person who has consumed too much alcohol from driving a car, because there is incontrovertible empirical evidence that drunk drivers cause an enourmous amount of death and destruction.
Now, let's look at homeschooling. Where is the incontrovertible empirical evidence that homeschooling presents a clear and present danger to the health, safety and property of the people? There isn't any. Every study of homeschooling that has been conducted so far shows it to be the safest and healthiest form of education around. Rob Reich comes out and admits this in his paper. Yet he still wants to heavily regulate homeschooling because of his belief that there's a problem with homeschooling which doesn't surface in any of the empirical evidence. Such a belief is incompatible with the principles of a classical "liberal state".
Let's take it from the top, shall we? In classic liberal theory, people are considered to have a natural right to life, liberty and property. Governments rule with the consent of the governed. Therefore, governments only pass laws which regulate or ban the actions of the people when there is incontrovertible empirical evidence that such actions present a clear and present danger to the health, safety and property of the people.
The standard example is alcohol laws. In general, the state cannot interfere with the individual's right to purchase and consume alcohol. However, the state can prohibit a person who has consumed too much alcohol from driving a car, because there is incontrovertible empirical evidence that drunk drivers cause an enourmous amount of death and destruction.
Now, let's look at homeschooling. Where is the incontrovertible empirical evidence that homeschooling presents a clear and present danger to the health, safety and property of the people? There isn't any. Every study of homeschooling that has been conducted so far shows it to be the safest and healthiest form of education around. Rob Reich comes out and admits this in his paper. Yet he still wants to heavily regulate homeschooling because of his belief that there's a problem with homeschooling which doesn't surface in any of the empirical evidence. Such a belief is incompatible with the principles of a classical "liberal state".
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Scorcher Day
Academic lessons have been called off today on account of the temperature. It's too hot to think. We're breaking out the crayons and watching a Monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis on the top of the windowsill.
Monday, August 22, 2005
The girls didn't sleep well last night and were very fussy this morning due to the heat. I thought about canceling lessons, but once we got started they calmed down. It also helped that we started with a Tree of Life meditation. I try to do that every homeschool day, but we're still getting back in the groove.
Singapore Math got one step closer to introducing Brighteyes to word problems today, with word-picture problems where one factor was in writing and another factor was in the picture. She got the right answers but wasn't used to setting up the problems, so we called it quits after two of them.
Sunshine still hasn't gotten tired of traceable pages with sentances about her on them yet. Brighteyes decided to start Draw Write Now She had a lot of fun drawing the hen, and she didn't mind doing the writing afterwards. Sunshine drew one as well. Then Brighteyes spent an hour going over every lesson in that book. I think she's looking forward to them.
I read "The Pied Piper of Hamlin". Actually I read it twice, reading a verse, stopping to explain it, and reading it again. We got out the globe and looked up Germany, which Brighteyes noticed was beside Switzerland. She wanted to know if that meant Hamlin was beside Treasure Valley from "The King of the Golden River". Then Brighteyes worked on a penpal letter and we read about Neanderthal life, which she found very different from a video she'd seen on a sleepover.
Lessons were over by noon, then came lunch and sprinkler play. Either the day is getting cooler or they're getting more used to the heat, because they were willing to play more outside and even got out their pump rockets. It's supposed to start getting cooler tonight, but we've hard that line before.
Singapore Math got one step closer to introducing Brighteyes to word problems today, with word-picture problems where one factor was in writing and another factor was in the picture. She got the right answers but wasn't used to setting up the problems, so we called it quits after two of them.
Sunshine still hasn't gotten tired of traceable pages with sentances about her on them yet. Brighteyes decided to start Draw Write Now She had a lot of fun drawing the hen, and she didn't mind doing the writing afterwards. Sunshine drew one as well. Then Brighteyes spent an hour going over every lesson in that book. I think she's looking forward to them.
I read "The Pied Piper of Hamlin". Actually I read it twice, reading a verse, stopping to explain it, and reading it again. We got out the globe and looked up Germany, which Brighteyes noticed was beside Switzerland. She wanted to know if that meant Hamlin was beside Treasure Valley from "The King of the Golden River". Then Brighteyes worked on a penpal letter and we read about Neanderthal life, which she found very different from a video she'd seen on a sleepover.
Lessons were over by noon, then came lunch and sprinkler play. Either the day is getting cooler or they're getting more used to the heat, because they were willing to play more outside and even got out their pump rockets. It's supposed to start getting cooler tonight, but we've hard that line before.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Rare Books and Scissors
One of the lesser reasons to have children is to give yourself an excuse to do things you've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to collect art postcards. You know, the ones with the pictures of priceless artifacts on them that you find in museum gift shops? Growing up, the only picture postcards I ever saw were tacky souvenirs, my family never went to museums (in spite of my pleas) and I couldn't have afforded to buy anything in the gift shop. Collecting art postcards sounded so cool.
After I got out on my own, I found out you could mail order art postcards. Good! But I still didn't have time, money or space for them. Not good. I decided I would put it off until we had children. It sounded like a great way to teach art history, like those slide shows we had to sit through in college only without the eyestrain. Apparently someone else had a similar idea, for later on I found the Child-size Masterpieces program.
Cut to this summer. I get the "Child-size Masterpieces" handbook and the first set of cards. There's some Rube-Goldberg advice for making display folders, or we're told that if you're doing this at home you can just use bags. Hah. I haven't collected comic books for 25 years without learning how to store flimsy paper goods. The craft store has archival quality photo storage boxes in their scrapbook section, and quart-size Ziploc bags are just the right width to fit in the box and store 24-30 regular-size cards at a time. To store 30 of the oversized cards you turn the bag sideways. The acid in the Ziplocs will degrade the postcards over time, but I've got a few years to hunt down archival Mylar replacement bags and acid-free backing boards before I have to worry about that.
There are card sets for "Child-size Masterpieces" which are very nice and well-chosen for their job. But let's face it, they're just the excuse -- er, examples. Then I head over to Dover Publications, that treasure trove of out-of-copyright books where art postcards start at 6/$1.00 and average a quarter a piece. Dover mostly handles smaller museums, but web-snooping at the bigger museum gift shops reveals that they have their postcards made by Pomegranate Communications and sell for 30/$9.95. Dover postcards sets are available at decent bookstores and both sell postcards on their websites.
My local Books-a-Million flat out refused to order Dover for me because the prices were too cheap. The cheapest way to get Dover products turned out to be through my local independent bookstore. I can usually order Dover publications online through their Booksense website at a better discount than the online bookstores offer for Dover and pick them up at the store when they arrive. My local independent bookseller has seen a lot more of my business since I discovered that trick.
I ordered a set of Dover postcards and immediately discovered a problem. Souvenir postcard sets are sold in clear plastic packets. Not so with art postcard sets. They are sold stapled together like magazines or bound together like hardcovers. In order to get those postcards out where I could use them, I was going to have to destroy a book.
This is a big deal. I love books. They are holy relics to me, even the rotten ones. They literally saved my life in childhood, which sometimes got so bad the only reason I didn't kill myself was to find out how my current paperback ended. I can't tear up a book. I can't even bring myself to cut pictures out of old magazines.
The little 6/$1.50 set I have in my hand is staple bound with a postcard on each side and a perforated line in the middle between a glossy cover. It certainly looks like a book to me. Um, okay, maybe it's not a book? Maybe it's a, a, a -- package! And that thing that looks like the cover? That's the wrapper! And the fact that it's sold in bookstores? That's clever marketing! And the International Standard Book Number and bar code on the back? That's even more clever marketing!
Y'know, I'd be a lot easier to get along with if I could swallow an argument like that.
Okay, it is tearing up a book. But it's a book that's meant to be torn up. And it's for a Noble Cause, the artistic education of my children. And most important of all, it's Still In Print.
A few days later I'm on ebay and find a Dover postcard collection of *gasp* ancient Roman glassware from the Corning Museum! I love the time period, I love the material, I love the price. I don't love that it's out of print. I can't take it apart without destroying a collectible.
The set arrives, and it's everything I hoped for. It's filled with beautiful pictures of priceless artifacts. The cover contains even more information about the postcards that would be lost if I threw it away. In fact the pictures and writeups are much better than anything currently online about them, as I find out after I google the Populonia bottle, which it turns out is a priceless artifact because it's the World's Oldest Tacky Souvenir.
What to do? Leave it in one piece as a collectible or tear it apart so my children can learn more from it?
I could stick it up intact and just let my children look at it, but at almost 20 years old it starts to fall apart along the perforations when I turn the pages. It would never survive their handling it, at least not until they are so much older it would defeat the purpose of teaching them art appreciation when they're still in the Wonder Years.
For about a month I blame the Corning Museum for not keeping the stupid thing in print and causing me to worry like this. Then reason kicks in and I reassure myself that they would if they could make enough money off them.
I show the girls the cards I've already put in the box. Sunshine loves them. Brighteyes takes a little longer to warm up to them, but both girls like the pretty pictures and enjoy matching them with other pretty pictures.
Okay. After a lot of mental wear and tear I decide my greater obligation to the future is to turn out well-educated citizens, not to maintain a collectible that's already starting to fall apart. It takes a lot of re-examining my priorities to get to that point though. It will take some time for me to get comfortable with the new side of myself that emerged.
Until then, there's a postcard set of engraved Steuben glassware that's just shown up on ebay....
After I got out on my own, I found out you could mail order art postcards. Good! But I still didn't have time, money or space for them. Not good. I decided I would put it off until we had children. It sounded like a great way to teach art history, like those slide shows we had to sit through in college only without the eyestrain. Apparently someone else had a similar idea, for later on I found the Child-size Masterpieces program.
Cut to this summer. I get the "Child-size Masterpieces" handbook and the first set of cards. There's some Rube-Goldberg advice for making display folders, or we're told that if you're doing this at home you can just use bags. Hah. I haven't collected comic books for 25 years without learning how to store flimsy paper goods. The craft store has archival quality photo storage boxes in their scrapbook section, and quart-size Ziploc bags are just the right width to fit in the box and store 24-30 regular-size cards at a time. To store 30 of the oversized cards you turn the bag sideways. The acid in the Ziplocs will degrade the postcards over time, but I've got a few years to hunt down archival Mylar replacement bags and acid-free backing boards before I have to worry about that.
There are card sets for "Child-size Masterpieces" which are very nice and well-chosen for their job. But let's face it, they're just the excuse -- er, examples. Then I head over to Dover Publications, that treasure trove of out-of-copyright books where art postcards start at 6/$1.00 and average a quarter a piece. Dover mostly handles smaller museums, but web-snooping at the bigger museum gift shops reveals that they have their postcards made by Pomegranate Communications and sell for 30/$9.95. Dover postcards sets are available at decent bookstores and both sell postcards on their websites.
My local Books-a-Million flat out refused to order Dover for me because the prices were too cheap. The cheapest way to get Dover products turned out to be through my local independent bookstore. I can usually order Dover publications online through their Booksense website at a better discount than the online bookstores offer for Dover and pick them up at the store when they arrive. My local independent bookseller has seen a lot more of my business since I discovered that trick.
I ordered a set of Dover postcards and immediately discovered a problem. Souvenir postcard sets are sold in clear plastic packets. Not so with art postcard sets. They are sold stapled together like magazines or bound together like hardcovers. In order to get those postcards out where I could use them, I was going to have to destroy a book.
This is a big deal. I love books. They are holy relics to me, even the rotten ones. They literally saved my life in childhood, which sometimes got so bad the only reason I didn't kill myself was to find out how my current paperback ended. I can't tear up a book. I can't even bring myself to cut pictures out of old magazines.
The little 6/$1.50 set I have in my hand is staple bound with a postcard on each side and a perforated line in the middle between a glossy cover. It certainly looks like a book to me. Um, okay, maybe it's not a book? Maybe it's a, a, a -- package! And that thing that looks like the cover? That's the wrapper! And the fact that it's sold in bookstores? That's clever marketing! And the International Standard Book Number and bar code on the back? That's even more clever marketing!
Y'know, I'd be a lot easier to get along with if I could swallow an argument like that.
Okay, it is tearing up a book. But it's a book that's meant to be torn up. And it's for a Noble Cause, the artistic education of my children. And most important of all, it's Still In Print.
A few days later I'm on ebay and find a Dover postcard collection of *gasp* ancient Roman glassware from the Corning Museum! I love the time period, I love the material, I love the price. I don't love that it's out of print. I can't take it apart without destroying a collectible.
The set arrives, and it's everything I hoped for. It's filled with beautiful pictures of priceless artifacts. The cover contains even more information about the postcards that would be lost if I threw it away. In fact the pictures and writeups are much better than anything currently online about them, as I find out after I google the Populonia bottle, which it turns out is a priceless artifact because it's the World's Oldest Tacky Souvenir.
What to do? Leave it in one piece as a collectible or tear it apart so my children can learn more from it?
I could stick it up intact and just let my children look at it, but at almost 20 years old it starts to fall apart along the perforations when I turn the pages. It would never survive their handling it, at least not until they are so much older it would defeat the purpose of teaching them art appreciation when they're still in the Wonder Years.
For about a month I blame the Corning Museum for not keeping the stupid thing in print and causing me to worry like this. Then reason kicks in and I reassure myself that they would if they could make enough money off them.
I show the girls the cards I've already put in the box. Sunshine loves them. Brighteyes takes a little longer to warm up to them, but both girls like the pretty pictures and enjoy matching them with other pretty pictures.
Okay. After a lot of mental wear and tear I decide my greater obligation to the future is to turn out well-educated citizens, not to maintain a collectible that's already starting to fall apart. It takes a lot of re-examining my priorities to get to that point though. It will take some time for me to get comfortable with the new side of myself that emerged.
Until then, there's a postcard set of engraved Steuben glassware that's just shown up on ebay....
First Grade Jitters
My in-laws came to visit today. The first thing my mother-in-law did after saying hello was to lean down to Brighteyes and say, "You ought to be in school where you can be with other children your own age and play with them."
Gak! "Brighteyes goes to school with Sunshine. They learn together and play together."
"The public school doesn't have recess anymore. The playground is overgrown and the equipment is falling apart. The children are not allowed to talk to each other at lunchtime. She wouldn't have a chance to play with other children if she went to public school. She has more time to play with another child at home."
Over the course of the visit I also get in:
"We're through with academic lessons by lunchtime. They get to spend their whole afternoons playing if they want to play. We also do arts and crafts then if they choose." (We also do other stuff, but "playing with other children" seems to be the issue.)
and:
"We're on waiting list for Girl Scouts and other children's activities. They won't start up until next month when the heat breaks."
and:
We went to a state homeschool conference and your son was a speaker!"
Where did that come from? We've been homeschooling for three years, why bring it up now? Is it because Brighteyes turned six it's now a "real" homeschool?
Someone else has been getting onto her about this. It isn't any of the younger members of the family. They all remember or are dealing with the public school right now, and they support our decision to homeschool. It's probably one of the older family members, likely a retired schoolteacher. Or else it's someone she sees on a more casual basis, and she hasn't gotten used to saying, "My granddaughters are homeschooled."
She's going to have plenty of time to practice.
Gak! "Brighteyes goes to school with Sunshine. They learn together and play together."
"The public school doesn't have recess anymore. The playground is overgrown and the equipment is falling apart. The children are not allowed to talk to each other at lunchtime. She wouldn't have a chance to play with other children if she went to public school. She has more time to play with another child at home."
Over the course of the visit I also get in:
"We're through with academic lessons by lunchtime. They get to spend their whole afternoons playing if they want to play. We also do arts and crafts then if they choose." (We also do other stuff, but "playing with other children" seems to be the issue.)
and:
"We're on waiting list for Girl Scouts and other children's activities. They won't start up until next month when the heat breaks."
and:
We went to a state homeschool conference and your son was a speaker!"
Where did that come from? We've been homeschooling for three years, why bring it up now? Is it because Brighteyes turned six it's now a "real" homeschool?
Someone else has been getting onto her about this. It isn't any of the younger members of the family. They all remember or are dealing with the public school right now, and they support our decision to homeschool. It's probably one of the older family members, likely a retired schoolteacher. Or else it's someone she sees on a more casual basis, and she hasn't gotten used to saying, "My granddaughters are homeschooled."
She's going to have plenty of time to practice.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Hand Strength and Handwriting
Yesterday Brighteyes finished her first grade handwriting book. Her handwriting isn't bad for a 6 1/12thyo, but she lacks the fine motor control for cursive. I've got a supplement, but it's repetitive and I worry she'll find it boring. It's scanable, and she found working from a printout novel.
We wrote up the bean sprouts today. Between the old seeds and my rusty technique the germination rate was abysmal, but the girls didn't notice. They wanted to know why the water stunk each time we changed it, and were fascinated to learn that plants put out waste material too.
Lessons were over by 11:30, after a puppy play-break. The girls got into their swimsuits and I turned on Granny's sprinkler toy, which completely disintegrated in under two minutes. Then I got out the garden sprinkler and they played until exhaustion and ant bites drove them in.
The mail brought the Draw Write Now book I found cheap on ebay. Rainbow Resource had an interesting writeup but I wasn't really sure what it was until I saw it. It combines a simple drawing lesson with a handwriting practice session. This might be just what I need.
Brighteyes also gets her first penpal letter. She's very excited about it.
The girls are much calmer after lunch than they were yesterday. Sunshine makes a sticker picture and some drawings. Brighteyes writes secret messages in Egyptian hieroglyphs (I promise not to peak at the key) and asks why dinosaurs and humans didn't coexist. I show her Draw Write Now, and shows me the plans for a hanging loom she wants me to make her. That ought to do something for her hand strength.
The girls have been gorilla-walking all week after we went over the skelatal differences between humans and gorillas, so I pull out a gorilla documentary after supper. It's been a good day for the hottest and most confined-to-the-house month of the year. Looks like the lawn's going to be getting a lot more water soon.
We wrote up the bean sprouts today. Between the old seeds and my rusty technique the germination rate was abysmal, but the girls didn't notice. They wanted to know why the water stunk each time we changed it, and were fascinated to learn that plants put out waste material too.
Lessons were over by 11:30, after a puppy play-break. The girls got into their swimsuits and I turned on Granny's sprinkler toy, which completely disintegrated in under two minutes. Then I got out the garden sprinkler and they played until exhaustion and ant bites drove them in.
The mail brought the Draw Write Now book I found cheap on ebay. Rainbow Resource had an interesting writeup but I wasn't really sure what it was until I saw it. It combines a simple drawing lesson with a handwriting practice session. This might be just what I need.
Brighteyes also gets her first penpal letter. She's very excited about it.
The girls are much calmer after lunch than they were yesterday. Sunshine makes a sticker picture and some drawings. Brighteyes writes secret messages in Egyptian hieroglyphs (I promise not to peak at the key) and asks why dinosaurs and humans didn't coexist. I show her Draw Write Now, and shows me the plans for a hanging loom she wants me to make her. That ought to do something for her hand strength.
The girls have been gorilla-walking all week after we went over the skelatal differences between humans and gorillas, so I pull out a gorilla documentary after supper. It's been a good day for the hottest and most confined-to-the-house month of the year. Looks like the lawn's going to be getting a lot more water soon.
Terra Cotta Sculpey
That's what I'll get when we reach the invention of pottery and later for cuneiform. It looks like ancient pottery and bakes in the oven. Maybe get some white for bi-color projects. There's a project sheet from the manufacturer.
Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there was a young man who went to college. He was smart and good looking. Many people at school had High Hopes for him. A number of pretty young ladies approached him and assured him that they would be thrilled to let him do all the thinking for both of them for as long as he cared to stay around, and would never interfere with his right to be the boss and make all the decisions for them.
He couldn't run away fast enough.
One day he noticed a girl who was different. She was quiet, usually angry, and didn't bother trying to please the people around her. And she was always arguing. She was considered weird, pushy, sharp-tongued, four-eyed, fat, too smart for her own good, standoffish and borderline mental by their classmates and teachers. He began trying to draw her out of her shell.
She thought he was playing games with her. Other people had, and her defenses were set at maximum. But over time he convinced her of his sincerity and drew out her quirky sense of humor.
The whole school was in shock. They didn't want to see this promising young man hooked up with a girl who was sure to come to a Bad End. An awful lot of people took it upon themselves to try to convince the boy that this girl was so Wrong For Him. They predicted the marriage wouldn't last a year.
Today we've been married 17 years.
Oddly enough, many of the people who tried to break us up back then are now on their second or third marriages. Most have never married at all.
Moral: Be yourself.
He couldn't run away fast enough.
One day he noticed a girl who was different. She was quiet, usually angry, and didn't bother trying to please the people around her. And she was always arguing. She was considered weird, pushy, sharp-tongued, four-eyed, fat, too smart for her own good, standoffish and borderline mental by their classmates and teachers. He began trying to draw her out of her shell.
She thought he was playing games with her. Other people had, and her defenses were set at maximum. But over time he convinced her of his sincerity and drew out her quirky sense of humor.
The whole school was in shock. They didn't want to see this promising young man hooked up with a girl who was sure to come to a Bad End. An awful lot of people took it upon themselves to try to convince the boy that this girl was so Wrong For Him. They predicted the marriage wouldn't last a year.
Today we've been married 17 years.
Oddly enough, many of the people who tried to break us up back then are now on their second or third marriages. Most have never married at all.
Moral: Be yourself.
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