There is snow on the ground again. The skies are grey and the wind blows cold through the plants outside. Inside the house is cold as we try to save on electric bills and the lightbulbs -- all of them the energy saving sort -- do little to brighten our spirits. In past years we have fled the grey skies of the Pacific Northwest for the sun in Arizona or Hawaii. This year, committed to paying down our debts, we didn't go and it has taught me an important lesson: Sunshine is not a luxury but a necessity.
So why talk about this in a blog about homeschooling? Simple -- sunshine, and the lack thereof, affects focus and creativity. The grey cold has settled into our bones, into our souls, and we cannot seem to find the excitement that learning usually brings. The question is, therefore, what is one to do? We cannot run to the sun, much as we would like to do so. We must make sunshine here. And this is where I wander off into schooly things.
I am not an unschooler -- not comfortable with being that relaxed. (My friends might say I am anything but!) but when the sun is gone, when the lethargy of winter enfolds us, I find that the only way to get through is to relax my death grip on our learning process and to 'unschool' to some extent.
Today, for example, we will be making bread (not sourdough. My starter is not up to snuff yet.) and cookies. I can work measurement math into that, I am sure. We will be examining owl pellets and discussing those birds who fly by night on silent wings. We will look at the Owl Pages and read The Guardians of Ga'hoole. When it warms up (I am ever hopeful) and dries out (There is a reason that Seattle is called 'The Emerald City' -- the P.N.W. boasts the only Temperate Rainforest in the United States.) we will build nesting boxes. That should take us through the week. Then, this weekend, my eldest son will be competing in the L.M.A. Open -- a Tae Kwon Do competition. I am not the sort to compete in sports so I am impressed with his courage and do what I can to support it.
In the meanwhile, I am hoping, hoping, HOPING, that this next week brings real sun -- not the tease that we had a week ago. My mother will be in town for my eldest son's birthday. We will be going to the Gauguin exhibit midweek then will load up and head to Portland to see The Art of the Brick. (I am of the opinion that one must grab opportunity when it presents itself. Smile.) I have little doubt but that we will find ourselves visiting Powell's Bookstore and the Rose Test Garden, two of our favorite places in the world. Ah, I will hope.
And this morning? This morning we will start with a happy song: Oh, Happy Day. Here is hoping that you have a happy, sunshine filled day.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Friday, February 03, 2012
In Memorium
I woke this morning in a grouchy sort of mood -- interrupted sleep and a cold made for a restless sort of night. But the news I received drove that mood out the window. I learned, via a friend that a young man, William Stacey, age 23, had been killed in Afghanistan. Will was a Marine on his fourth deployment and was just weeks away from returning home, to finish his last three years as an Instructor before going on to college. But Will was much more than that. He was the only son of Robert and Robin Stacey, Professors of History at the University of Washington. I studied Medieval and Celtic history with them many years ago and I remember babysitting Will when he was about my own son's age, 10. Will at 10 was a serious but kind young man. He was very good with his little sister, Anna, and very serious in assisting me in getting the two of them fed and to bed. He had that lovely, bright smile that intelligent and well loved children have and, from what his father told me, was always involved in something. I lost touch with the Staceys over the years as sometimes happens when life takes over but I remember them and I remember Will. His loss ... is a large one. And it brings home, as only such events can, the terrible cost that people are paying for the continuing conflicts abroad.
Rest in peace, Sargent William Stacey. You are, and will be, missed.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/a-flag-drapped-casket-containing-the-remains-of-sgt-william-stacey-a-marine-from-camp-pendleton-killed-this-week-in-afghani.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Rest in peace, Sargent William Stacey. You are, and will be, missed.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/a-flag-drapped-casket-containing-the-remains-of-sgt-william-stacey-a-marine-from-camp-pendleton-killed-this-week-in-afghani.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Chocolate chip cookies and Penny Chemistry
Today has been a chemistry day: we have baked chocolate chip/ walnut cookies and have observed how the addition of ingredients changed the nature of the mix. (The boys volunteered to 'test' each stage -- Laugh). The gradual addition of more and more flour (Four cups in all) resulted in the dough getting harder and harder to mix -- and lead to bits falling away. Then we observed how the addition of heat affected the mix. (And again, they offered to test the results.) A more complete discussion -- and one that will be recorded in our Chemistry notebooks can be found here: Cookie Chemistry and here: Cookie Chem. Each of these articles allows for this particular Chemistry lesson to be extended over days if not weeks.
While the cookies were cooling, we set to work on American History. I had conceived the idea of teaching American History through coins (Numismatics) and stamps (Philately) when my youngest son demonstrated an overweening interest in the subjects. Today we pulled out our biggest jar of coins and, after separating the pennies out, began sorting them by decade. But we ran into a little problem: many of the dates were hard to read because the pennies were so dark. Chemistry op! We looked up the recipe for cleaning pennies and found this: Chemistry fun with pennies and Cleaning Pennies. After digging out the necessary ingredients, we started measuring. This also offered an opportunity to practice multiplication and fractions. I asked 'If we want to make 4 times the amount called for, how much of each ingredient will we need?' When they had figured that out, I asked -- and if I only have a 1/4 tsp measure and a 1/4 cup measure, how many of each will I need?' Satisfied that they had the right proportions, they added the ingredients. Mixing carefully, they observed the change in the liquid as the salt went into solution.
The cleaning solution ready, the boys carefully added the pile of pennies and mixed. They stood watching for a long time then decided to let time do its work while they went off to other projects (in this case, cleaning their rooms). When the pennies were sufficiently clean, they carefully poured the liquid through a plastic colander into a plastic bowl, in preparation for the next Chemistry experiment: Instant Vedigris and Copper plated nails. Leaving the selected pennies to oxidize and the nails to soak, they returned to the penny sorting operation. It will be interesting to see what decades my penny box represents!
While the cookies were cooling, we set to work on American History. I had conceived the idea of teaching American History through coins (Numismatics) and stamps (Philately) when my youngest son demonstrated an overweening interest in the subjects. Today we pulled out our biggest jar of coins and, after separating the pennies out, began sorting them by decade. But we ran into a little problem: many of the dates were hard to read because the pennies were so dark. Chemistry op! We looked up the recipe for cleaning pennies and found this: Chemistry fun with pennies and Cleaning Pennies. After digging out the necessary ingredients, we started measuring. This also offered an opportunity to practice multiplication and fractions. I asked 'If we want to make 4 times the amount called for, how much of each ingredient will we need?' When they had figured that out, I asked -- and if I only have a 1/4 tsp measure and a 1/4 cup measure, how many of each will I need?' Satisfied that they had the right proportions, they added the ingredients. Mixing carefully, they observed the change in the liquid as the salt went into solution.
The cleaning solution ready, the boys carefully added the pile of pennies and mixed. They stood watching for a long time then decided to let time do its work while they went off to other projects (in this case, cleaning their rooms). When the pennies were sufficiently clean, they carefully poured the liquid through a plastic colander into a plastic bowl, in preparation for the next Chemistry experiment: Instant Vedigris and Copper plated nails. Leaving the selected pennies to oxidize and the nails to soak, they returned to the penny sorting operation. It will be interesting to see what decades my penny box represents!
Monday, January 09, 2012
Chocolate Cake and the DS revisited
Laugh. I am an inveterate researcher.. so when the idea of using the DS to teach cooperation and problem solving occurred to me, I went looking to see how others had done it. I was interested in the results of my research. Here then a few links on this issue:
1.Making up rules -- this teacher's blog discusses her use of the DS to teach cooperation and conflict resolution. Way to go!
2.The Nintendo DS: An unlikely teaching tool (This one discusses the use of the DS in Engineering classes at the University level)
3.Nintendo Goes to School: DS Classroom turns handheld into a teaching tool This was by far the most common discussion and a rather disturbing discussion I found it. My reading of this is that the DS, instead of being used to create interaction, is being used to put another layer between student and teacher. This is exactly the sort of thing I do NOT like about hand held machines.
So I guess I need to do some work myself and figure out how, rather like the teacher in the first link, I might use the machines to create interaction and teach social skills.
1.Making up rules -- this teacher's blog discusses her use of the DS to teach cooperation and conflict resolution. Way to go!
2.The Nintendo DS: An unlikely teaching tool (This one discusses the use of the DS in Engineering classes at the University level)
3.Nintendo Goes to School: DS Classroom turns handheld into a teaching tool This was by far the most common discussion and a rather disturbing discussion I found it. My reading of this is that the DS, instead of being used to create interaction, is being used to put another layer between student and teacher. This is exactly the sort of thing I do NOT like about hand held machines.
So I guess I need to do some work myself and figure out how, rather like the teacher in the first link, I might use the machines to create interaction and teach social skills.
The Lure of Chocolate Cake and the DS
Just what is the lure of Chocolate cake?
When I went into the kitchen this morning to get some breakfast, sitting quietly beside the sink was the German Chocolate cake that my sons had begged me to get. It has been about half consumed -- by my sons and husband -- but I have, so far, ignored it. Yet this morning, just for a moment, I was tempted. Tempted to eat cake for breakfast -- as Bill Cosby kids did in his skit: "Dad is Great"
Perhaps it is because the house is quiet, not yet filled with the explosive energy of little boys but as I reached into the cupboard and retrieved a bowl for my (virtuously selected) cereal, I fell to pondering the temptation of chocolate cake.
The truth is, I didn't really WANT cake. Too sweet, for one thing, and I know from bitter experience how awful I would feel afterwards -- both physically, as the sugar raised and then dropped me, and mentally, as I castigated myself for eating empty calories. So what then was the attraction. In a word, laziness.
I am embarrassed to admit it but the attraction of the cake was that it was easy -- rather like the attraction of eating doughnuts on the weekend. The sheer simplicity of the enterprise is what attracted me. And that got me to thinking about the attraction of video games for both parents and children. For parents, video games, especially on hand held devices, are easy distractions. Children playing them are engrossed and require little if any parental involvement. (The same can be said of the television, of course) For children? There is both the ease of slipping into a different world and the ease of being powerful. In a DS world, the player controls the events. There may be challenges to be overcome, but the player -- often a child with few real experiences of power -- is the one in charge. Moreover, while handheld video games can be played as a partnership between two players, most children whom you see playing a DS or similar device, will be playing it solo. Playing with a partner is work -- players must coordinate movement and action, must agree upon who will play what, when. In as far as that goes, video games might well be a useful teaching tool but most of the time, parents faced with bickering children will shut the event down. I say this (blush) because I have been guilty of this myself. Yet now, as I contemplate video games and Chocolate cake, I realize that I have been surrendering to laziness.
So, what then am I to do? I resist allowing my sons to play video games -- for all sorts of reasons (I want them to be physically active, mentally engaged, and at peace with one another and with me). On the other hand, I am intrigued by the thought that cooperative play on handheld games might serve to teach cooperation... I am trying, as I write this, to think of board or card games that would do the same. Off the top of my head, I cannot. Chess, checkers, Go, Risk, Monopoly, Parcheesi... all of those are competitive games. When I think of cooperative games, generally the only things I can come up with are physical games (like soccer or tug of war) or roll playing games. Both roll playing games and physical games require an investment of energy -- but then, so too would using the handheld games to teach cooperation.
Yet my children are my children and the process of raising children is energy intensive. Accepting that, I accept that, instead of railing against their fascination for video games (and chocolate cake), I might well be better off investing some energy in turning those fascinations into teaching moments. Just as I work to teach them the difference between 'wants' and 'needs' so too must I work to teach them the pleasures and benefits of cooperation and self discipline. I know that NOT eating Chocolate cake but instead eating something healthful will make me better prepared, both physically and mentally, for the day ahead. Pushing myself, and teaching my children to push themselves, to put out that extra effort will result in a happier outcome. And using something they want to do anyway to teach them partnership and cooperation will, in the end, reduce everyone's stress level and benefit all of us.
Hmmm.... now to figure out HOW to do this!
When I went into the kitchen this morning to get some breakfast, sitting quietly beside the sink was the German Chocolate cake that my sons had begged me to get. It has been about half consumed -- by my sons and husband -- but I have, so far, ignored it. Yet this morning, just for a moment, I was tempted. Tempted to eat cake for breakfast -- as Bill Cosby kids did in his skit: "Dad is Great"
Perhaps it is because the house is quiet, not yet filled with the explosive energy of little boys but as I reached into the cupboard and retrieved a bowl for my (virtuously selected) cereal, I fell to pondering the temptation of chocolate cake.
The truth is, I didn't really WANT cake. Too sweet, for one thing, and I know from bitter experience how awful I would feel afterwards -- both physically, as the sugar raised and then dropped me, and mentally, as I castigated myself for eating empty calories. So what then was the attraction. In a word, laziness.
I am embarrassed to admit it but the attraction of the cake was that it was easy -- rather like the attraction of eating doughnuts on the weekend. The sheer simplicity of the enterprise is what attracted me. And that got me to thinking about the attraction of video games for both parents and children. For parents, video games, especially on hand held devices, are easy distractions. Children playing them are engrossed and require little if any parental involvement. (The same can be said of the television, of course) For children? There is both the ease of slipping into a different world and the ease of being powerful. In a DS world, the player controls the events. There may be challenges to be overcome, but the player -- often a child with few real experiences of power -- is the one in charge. Moreover, while handheld video games can be played as a partnership between two players, most children whom you see playing a DS or similar device, will be playing it solo. Playing with a partner is work -- players must coordinate movement and action, must agree upon who will play what, when. In as far as that goes, video games might well be a useful teaching tool but most of the time, parents faced with bickering children will shut the event down. I say this (blush) because I have been guilty of this myself. Yet now, as I contemplate video games and Chocolate cake, I realize that I have been surrendering to laziness.
So, what then am I to do? I resist allowing my sons to play video games -- for all sorts of reasons (I want them to be physically active, mentally engaged, and at peace with one another and with me). On the other hand, I am intrigued by the thought that cooperative play on handheld games might serve to teach cooperation... I am trying, as I write this, to think of board or card games that would do the same. Off the top of my head, I cannot. Chess, checkers, Go, Risk, Monopoly, Parcheesi... all of those are competitive games. When I think of cooperative games, generally the only things I can come up with are physical games (like soccer or tug of war) or roll playing games. Both roll playing games and physical games require an investment of energy -- but then, so too would using the handheld games to teach cooperation.
Yet my children are my children and the process of raising children is energy intensive. Accepting that, I accept that, instead of railing against their fascination for video games (and chocolate cake), I might well be better off investing some energy in turning those fascinations into teaching moments. Just as I work to teach them the difference between 'wants' and 'needs' so too must I work to teach them the pleasures and benefits of cooperation and self discipline. I know that NOT eating Chocolate cake but instead eating something healthful will make me better prepared, both physically and mentally, for the day ahead. Pushing myself, and teaching my children to push themselves, to put out that extra effort will result in a happier outcome. And using something they want to do anyway to teach them partnership and cooperation will, in the end, reduce everyone's stress level and benefit all of us.
Hmmm.... now to figure out HOW to do this!
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