Homeschooling Above Water

Notice: Closing This Site

2011-04-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since I've done any update here. I have come to realize it's hard for me to post about our homeschool on a regular basis since, well, to be honest, very few things out of the extraordinary happen from day to day. So instead of maintaining this blog and keeping it updated haphazardly, I am going to post about my homeschool journey on my regular blog: Helen's Random Thoughts.

Here's a link to a recent post there, which talks about the lessons I've learned after sending my homeschooled child into a regular high school, but not every post there will be homeschooling-related. Sorry about that.

I will keep this blog around for a few more weeks, but will eventually remove it. Thanks for tuning in.

ADD People Are Super Readers

2010-12-01T06:36:00.000-08:00

I've been working through a book called, Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child by Jeffrey Freed. It mentions many things that I can identify in Chee Chee, and allows me to understand my son even better than before. However, what I did not expect is that it is also helping me understand my husband.

You see, the author states, from experience, that ADD people are highly gifted in certain areas, and they simply do not function like the average person. One such area is in reading. Now, I have always thought that people with ADD (and dyslexia) tend to be slow readers who struggle with every little word. However, according to Freed, that's the irony of it all. ADD and dyslexic people, who struggle when reading out loud, and who trip over small words from one line to the next, can actually be excellent high-speed readers. Once you throw the nitty-gritty out the window and focus on the big picture, then that's when ADD people can shine. Freed mentions that some of the teens he's coached can easily read a book that's several hundred pages long within a couple of hours--with comprehension. I wouldn't have believed these claims if I had not witnessed it in my husband, who's a prolific, published author, and has ADD and dyslexia, which were never diagnosed when he was young.

Sam does not enjoy reading out loud to our kids. When he reads, he gets tired and sleepy after only fifteen minutes. Over the years, that duty of reading to our boys at bed time gradually shifted entirely onto my lap. However, this man who seems to struggle with reading out loud for even fifteen minutes can gobble up fifteen textbook-sized tomes for his research within a week, while on vacation (and still go on outings, watch soccer, and generally relax and sleep a lot). When we visited with a friend in Colorado over the summer, he read half a dozen of her books, all in a couple of days amidst conversations, outings, World Cup, and meals.

I used to think he simply browsed these books for the sections he needed rather than read them from cover to cover. After reading the Right-Brained book, I am beginning to believe that ADD people have super-human speed-reading abilities. This would explain how Sam can publish half a dozen books in one year (with all the research required) and still teach full-time and be a dad.

It seems that ADD and dyslexia in general wreak havoc in children in primary and secondary schools, because in those years learning is all about building simple aptitudes like reading clearly, spelling accurately, and multiplying numbers precisely. However, as one progresses beyond these simple tasks to higher-level mental activities, such as research, analysis, synthesis, and creating new ideas, then ADD people really do thrive. Of course, by then, they will have been told hundreds of times by dozens of people how "disabled" they are, and how unsuccessful they'll be. What a shame!

Homeschool of One

2010-10-16T02:54:00.000-07:00

When Poly went off to high school, I was feeling rather forlorn about what was left of our homeschool. What would it be like to have only one child to teach? Would we be facing complete silence instead of lively discussions, now that my talkative child is gone? Could we still manage our worship time and singing? How does one transition from teaching at the older child's level (and having the younger child join in) to teaching directly at the younger child's level? I felt like we were getting off of a motorboat and re-packing to set off on a two-man raft. It would be very quiet, very slow, and very lonely.

The first day that happened, it did feel strange and surreal. During our Bible time, we felt Poly's absence acutely. There were no comments, no interruptions, no answers to questions. Chee-Chee, who generally relied on his brother to do the talking, kept to his reserved and passive self.

As time went on, however, we both got used to a new routine. And I began to like this homeschool of one. I feel more relaxed now that I only need to focus on one person's learning needs. When Chee-Chee sits next to me to read, I can wrap my arm around him, and we take as long as we need. When I address him and no one else, Chee-Chee begins to respond. Whereas in the past, he was always afraid of saying things wrong, he now feels safe to give his opinions and answers without an older brother's censure. Gradually, my little guy, whose favorite animal has always been the tortoise, is poking his head out of his shell. These days I love our one-on-one discussions about all kinds of issues. I am constantly surprised by his keen observations and analytical formulations. Smart, motivated, and compliant, he is a joy to teach.

Without other distractions, I am able to think clearly and to beef up Chee-Chee's curriculum, and he has risen to the challenge. In the past years, sadly, I had been short-changing his education. Being too aware of his older brother's strengths and Chee's learning disabilities, I had for too long held off giving challenging work to Chee in order to protect him from frustrations. Recently we began on the IEW writing program, and after only a couple of weeks, I am astounded by how well he can write, given the right stimuli.

Changes can be scary. This year is all about changes for us. In fact, it was as if our homeschool went through a tornado. Not only have we been blown all the way across the Pacific Ocean, severed from our support system and friends, and stripped off all the niceties of a nourishing homeschooling environment, we had to down-size as well. We had to let Poly go, setting him free to learn in a new way. However, it was all for the best. Now I know it was the right thing to do. For Poly and Chee, it was the best thing that could have happened for them both.

Two Weeks to Go

2010-08-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Poly got accepted to an international school. We were all very happy about it--Poly especially so. As the starting date draws near (August 20th), I am increasingly aware that my Polynesia is flapping his wings and ready to fly away. He is a big boy now--almost the same size as his father. They wear the same-size shoes. And I feel like wrapping him up in a little bundle and holding him in my bosom for a little while longer, but he's already too big for that.

The fact is, there's no good time for letting go. When you homeschool, you think you can keep them under your wings and feed them all the good things you can possibly think of, because there is so much time, so very much time between now and then. There is so much you want to give them, things you have, and things you don't have but might acquire in the future. Yet, there is not enough time. Even if I had another twenty years, I would still say, "It's not enough time!"

At the beginning of this summer I began to wonder what would I want to teach my kid in the last two months of our time together as teacher-student? What would I want him to know while I still have his undivided attention for a few weeks? The question paralyzed me because it was impossible. There is so much more I want to teach him! Yet, nothing will fit neatly into a two-month period. No knowledge, no wisdom is nicely bundled like that. So we ended up continuing on as we had all year, as if comes September we will start like we always have.

I will miss him, my star student (both my students are stars). I guess if there's one thing I want him to know before he leaves for school, it is that although our time is finite, our relationship doesn't have to be. Although I don't get to select his curriculum any more or dictate what he learns from now on, I can still be his life-coach, his friend, and his biggest fan. I want him to know, though I don't say it nearly as much as I should, just how proud I am of him and what a privilege it's been to be his teacher and that if I had to do it all over again, I would still jump in in a heart beat.

The Literary Analysis Paper

2010-05-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Contrary to what many think, giving Poly a writing assignment is never an easy task. It is true that he is an eloquent writer for a thirteen-year-old. However, he is also perfectionistic and stubborn about what he thinks is a proper assignment. Thus whenever I give him a writing assignment, he often comes back and tries to negotiate the assignment. Our discussion ususally turns into a stalemate with many tears. Besides, he can never stick to a deadline because every writing assignment ends up being a semester project, another magnum opus. I suppose that is one disadvantage to homeschooling. As a mother, I'm too flexible and soft-hearted, and he knows he can bend the rules. So, in general, to minimize conflict and frustration, Poly gets only one writing assignment every term.

I'd decided that this semester he would have to write a literary analysis paper since I had listed American literature as one of the subjects on his school record. We had just finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. I asked him to compare and contrast the three slaveowners Tom had. Yesterday afternoon he came to me, almost in tears (again), complaining that he does not want to write it according to the outline we'd agreed on. "It's stupid," he said. We ended up spending the next two hours arguing over the assignment: why it's doable or not doable, why it's stupid or not stupid, etc. After two hours of precious time--personal time I had allotted for my Bible study preparation--I was no closer to convincing him that the assignment is sound, and that one can make a good paper out of it. I even pulled some sample compare-contrast papers off the internet for him, to no avail.

Finally, to prove to him that I would never give him an assignment that is not doable, I told him I'd crank out a paragraph right then and there just for him. "When I'm done, I don't want to hear any more excuses!" I said. So I sat down in front of my computer at six in the evening. Instead of making dinner I wrote a 280-word paragraph. "Tell me," I said as I handed the paper to him, "does that look stupid to you?"

After that real-time demonstration, Poly went quietly back to the drawing board. He actually said "thanks" to me for showing him how it's done.

As homeschoolers we pull out all the stops to motivate our children. I doubt that any teacher of English would do an assignment on demand just to prove a point. Of course, I wonder, too, if Poly would bulk at an assignment this much if he were in an English class with twenty other kids. I wonder how other homeschoolers teach high-school literature? Do they have an easier time handing out assignments?

Kids Say the Funniest Things

2010-04-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Chee-Chee and I are studying about the events leading up to the Civil War. When we talked about the Missouri Compromise and why the North and the South both wanted a say in which way the new states would go, Chee-Chee said, "Why didn't the Southern states just divide themselves into smaller states, then they could send more senators to the Congress?"

Sometimes I think we under-estimate the cognitive capability of our little ones.

Favorite Part of the Day

2010-04-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

My teenager tells me his favorite part of the day is when we read The Lord of the Rings together at bedtime. Of course, Tolkien is not part of our normal curriculum. It is simply something we do for fun. We have never ceased our night-time read-aloud routine, even when Poly is fully capable of reading literature on his own and easily possesses a wider speaking vocabulary than I do.

Andrew Pudewa of Institute for Excellence in Writing once spoke in a seminar about the importance of reading aloud to children (even older children). There's nothing better than hearing complex, beautiful language constructs spoken out loud in helping your children become naturally eloquent speakers. What you read gets reflected in how you write; what you hear, then, is reflected in how you speak. These days, we often take turns reading. Poly is a wonderful reader, creating different voices and accents for the various characters. His deep voice makes a far more convincing imitation of Gandalf or Gimli than I can ever do. Of course, I don't tell him he's also sharpening his oratory skills while having fun.

Most of all, though, we do it just because it's so enjoyable. Literature is fun. It's a far more active and entertaining pasttime than computer games or TV programs--at least to me. To hear Poly say that this is his favorite part of the day means a lot to me. It tells me we're doing something right.

Shhhhh… Don’t Tell Your Friends

2010-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

I recently chatted with a Hong Kong mom who is planning on homeschooling her son. She told me all her friends disapproved of her plan and tried to dissuade her. These differences of opinions, she said, have driven a wedge between her and her friends and alienated them for good.

I wondered why an innocent question as how one educates one’s own children could become such a divisive issue among friends here in Hong Kong. It seems to me people should be entitled to their own opinions as it’s, after all, a personal choice that does not affect anyone else. Back in the states when I told people I homeschooled, although I would meet with reactions like, “Wow! How noble! But that is not for me” or “Can you really do that?” I had never met anyone who was downright offended by my choice to homeschool. It was something that did not concern them.

I began to realize that in Hong Kong conformity is expected, and when you decide to step out of the status quo, you’re declaring yourself a rebel, an iconoclast against the system and the powers-that-be. While all this may not directly impact your friends, you’re also voicing the opinion that all is not right with the world, and that putting your children on the conveyor belt may not be the best for them. It bursts your friends’ bubbles about themselves, their children, and their families, and calls them to question their own values. Dangerous thought, this homeschooling idea is.

I have met with many raised eyebrows here in Hong Kong—even from “friends” and associates. They all make it their business to tell me it’s “illegal” to homeschool. It’s as if they will not be happy until everyone else does what they do by putting their kids in the school system. Perhaps it’s a matter of well-intentioned ignorance, but I think it’s more than that. It’s a herd mentality that frowns upon individuality and freedom of choice. It’s saying, “I’m stuck going at ten miles an hour; you should be too.”

Here in Hong Kong, you not only need a little gumption to defy the system, you also need an appetite for throwing off your friends and would-be friends and going it alone. What a wild ride we are having!

There's a Time to Call It Quits

2010-02-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

I just walked back from the bus stop, a frequent path I traverse everyday. But today was different. I walked home, having just dropped off an application for high school admission for Poly.

It was not an easy decision, letting go, that is. To have all these plans and dreams about those high school years with my son: reading Kafka together, talking about Communism Manifesto, discussing world views... Someone said that high school years are the best years in a home school, when you can truly enjoy the acquisition and application of knowledge, when your child, now fully equipped with the basics, is ready to take off with whatever direction you give him. Yet, deep in my heart, I know there are many reasons why our homeschooling journey (at least for Poly) is almost at an end.

Maybe I am overly sentimental. I get teary-eyed just thinking about this, the end of an era in our home: cuddling together on the sofa for our morning Bible reading and prayers, reading of poetry and a good novel, the two brothers together all the time and loving each other's company, sharing of house chores, traveling and going on field trips whenever we like.

Nevertheless, God has prepared me for this day for many months. Even before we moved to Hong Kong, I knew there is a chance I won't be able to homeschool out here. Having searched around for more than a month for other homeschoolers with older children, I've concluded that there simply aren't any, and that if we were to persist in this path, we would be all alone. Over many hours of sleepless nights, having struggled with indignance, anguish, and anger, we have finally come to grips with the reality that sending him to a private international school would be the best path for him.

A tour of the school campus got Poly excited about the prospect. He is beginning to look forward to going to school and meeting other kids his age, while I, the mother, still has some way to go. Letting go is harder than I thought. For this, I find comfort in Ecclesiastes. I believe there is a time to take up the challenge, and there is a time to let go. Sending him to school is an act of trust, as much as taking him out of school. I need to trust that, apart from me, his faith will continue to flourish, and he will continue to grow and develop into a bright, responsible, and well-educated young man. I need to trust that God can do it on His own, without my help. In the long run, I think, I will be grateful and relieved that this burden is off my shoulder.

Living with Learning Disabilities

2009-11-23T13:25:00.000-08:00

We have been working with various specialists to help Chee-Chee with his learning disabilities. In the process we have learned much about how complicated our brains work, the visual, auditory input and processing that must work in sync to do such simple tasks as memorizing a set of numbers or remembering a sequence of instructions. I know Chee-Chee is a smart kid, but until he can learn to do the things other people take for granted, he will always be made to feel dumb by others and his harshest critic, himself.

These past six months have seen us taking a detour into the land of alternative therapies: funky exercises, eye patch and ear plug, strange eyeglasses, massages, etc. Although I do not understand the rational behind some of these things, I accept that there are fields of research I know nothing about, and the most important is that my child can benefit from whatever people have learned rather than grope in the dark, feeling left behind, as many children have done in the past. (Both my brother and my husband had been disparaged by teachers, peers, and even their parents as children for their dyslexia and/or other learning disabilities.)

I praise God for leading me into homeschooling even before I knew anything about Chee-Chee's learning disabilities. God knows all about my children and what's best for them. Today, with Chee-Chee's newly fitted, blue-tinted glasses, I heard him read, smoothly and easily, for the first time--the way a book is meant to be read. Like a miner taking a deep breath when coming out of a dark and soot-filled tunnel, I sat there letting this bright and fresh realization wash over me: my Chee-Chee, at the age of almost ten, is reading--really, truly, finally reading.

Darwin is not Our Enemy

2009-11-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

I am going to tread on dangerous ground by saying I am not against the theory of evolution. This is one of those areas that are really sensitive with homeschoolers and American evangelical Christians, many of whom are quite adamant about a literal, scientific approach to interpreting the Bible. Often I try to keep quiet when such subjects come up, in an effort to avoid a heated debate. However, whether one believes evolution to be true or not, I think it behooves our children to understand both sides of the debate because, like it or not, sooner or later they will have to wrestle with data that will contradict everything they've learned in school.

I believe our God is bigger than evolution, Big Bang, and everything else scientists can throw at us, because everything human can discover is merely something God has long created. Granted, sometimes scientists get it wrong, but we have to keep an open mind and examine their proofs and accept that perhaps this is the best explanation we have to date.

I took the boys to a Darwin exhibit at UC Berkeley--yes, I did. They had a wonderful time. Chee-Chee recalled every little thing he saw: the finches, the albatross, the beetles, the preserved iguana, and the giant tortoise shells. He also loved the dinosaur skeletons and prehistoric fossils at the Life Sciences building. Natural history is such an exciting subject for children if only we will allow them to see, hear, and test everything. It's a shame that few Christians get into this field because there is a void and a negative bias in our curriculum.

I wish there were more scientists like Frances Collins who can demonstrate to the world that no matter what scientific theory we have about the history of living things, we still need to put our trust in God.* I wish Christians would stop treating Darwin as a public enemy and displaying those silly car decals. I wish "Christian" science textbooks would stop sounding so defensive and just get on with actual data. I wish this debate will finally become irrelevent as in Europe.** I wish this post will not turn some people off, but it probably will.

* For an honest presentation of the subject, read The Language of God by Frances Collins. If you are intrigued after that, read Coming to Peace with Science by Darrel Falk. Both are written by evangelical Christians.

** Read C. S. Lewis and you'll find that he implicitly embraces the theory of evolution. Read also Alister McGrath, especially Dawkin's God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, a rebuttle to the evolutionist atheist. You'll find that McGrath does not take issue with the theory of evolution, but the problem of trying to argue an atheistic position from evolution.

Here's Where Charlotte Mason and I Agree

2009-11-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

I read a little about Charlotte Mason's methods a long time ago. Although I liked her philosophy, I really couldn't follow anyone's methods but my own. However, one point she mentioned did resonate with me all these years. She insisted that children should get a chance to go outside and enjoy nature everyday. Although this is hard to do from a practical standpoint, I whole-heartedly agree that nature is one of the best teachers for our children, and that love of and fascination with nature must be instilled early in a child's life. I know many adults who, having been brought up in the city and never given a chance to appreciate nature while young, cannot comprehend the kind of joy and satisfaction many of us feel when immersed in nature. Theirs is a kind of superficial acknowledgement--Yes, it's beautiful. Yes, it is wondrous.--but not a deep-felt joy and abandonment, the kind of love and appreciation that make you want to "kiss the ground" and wrap yourself in its folds. They cannot understand Thoreau and his Walden.

I am grateful my sons love nature, perhaps in different degrees. During our afternoon stroll through Yosemite Valley, Poly could not stop marveling at how the light of the setting sun accentuated the fall colors in the meadows and the trees. He responded by snapping numerous, striking photographs. Chee-Chee's way of loving nature was to rush headlong into the open fields and to pick up whatever caught his eye: a pebble, a dried up twig, a leaf. He wanted to finger the dirt, climb the rocks, immerse in the leaf piles.

I hope our week-long vacation in Yosemite will stay long in their memory. I hope it makes up for all the days we did not go out of the house when burdened by school work. I hope they will always cherish a beautiful sunset and take notice of fall leaves and cloud formations. I hope they will always feel at home, right here in God's canvas.

Another Homeschooler of Note

2009-11-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

We are in Yosemite National Park, taking a needed family break from packing. Yesterday we stopped by the Ansel Adams Gallery at the Village. While the kids and I admired the artistry of the many poster and photographic prints on the walls, hubby browsed the autobiography of Ansel Adams. It turns out Ansel Adams was homeschooled. After unsuccessful stints at several schools, he was taken home and taught by his father and aunt. (Adams later reflected that he may have suffered from hyperactivity and dyslexia.) As a result, he received an education in the classics, and he becamed well-accomplished in music. Hubby remarks that Adams' writing is both eloquent and funny. Obviously, his lack of a "formal" education had not detracted from his ability to communicate.

Ansel Adams' life, his success as a photography legend, is a reminder to me that our children's career paths can take on their own unique shapes. Sometimes as homeschoolers we get so wrapped up in the academics: the ABCs and the times table and the historical dates of this and that. Yet, there are so many ways a person can contribute to the world without excelling at the traditional academic subjects. I am not suggesting that we do away with the traditional subjects for our children, but I want to remember that success in these things is not the only way to succeed in life. Not everyone will grow up to be lawyers and engineers and doctors--thank God for that! We need beauty and creativity and laughter and inspiration. We need artists and entertainers and wilderness adventurers! It's true that such lives can be less predictable, but what of it?

Watching Chee-Chee come alive in the trails, running, laughing, blabbering, climbing, and just being utterly uninhibited and happy, I know the wild is where he belongs. He might spend his life studying rocks and digging up bones. He might chase after beauty with a camera to the most inaccessible places on earth. In the end, it is the person I am cultivating, his curiosity and understanding, his character, his faith and moral responsibility. Everything else must take a distant backseat.

Harvest from Our Backyard

2009-10-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

We got a few tomato saplings from a friend, and because there was no space in our garden for the plants, I had the boys transfer them into pots. All spring and summer long, Chee-Chee diligently watered the tomatoes. And we had a taste of his precious harvest last month. Though the harvest was not bountiful (we had only three), it was significant for my little gardener, who was very proud of the fruit of his labor, which went sparingly into our salad, soup, and pizza.

Though small, these jewels were beautiful and packed with flavor.

This year we had a bountiful harvest of Golden Delicious from our apple tree. It really was a humbling experience to sample something that just grew by itself with no effort of our own. We had a gardener plant it years ago. Over the years, we've done nothing to it. Yet, at the appointed season, it yields its fruit. All we can do is give thanks because, just like God's grace, it is free and abundant, and oh so good.

Field Trip Day: Santa Cruz

2009-10-22T17:46:00.001-07:00

Though it's not on the original list of things we must do before we leave California, it should be. One of my favorite places to go is Henry Cowell State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The minute you get out of the car, you can inhale the difference. The air is like no place else! Those giant, ancient redwoods are tranquil, benign and so nurturing! The redwood grove is magical. It swallows up all human sounds so that whenever I go I feel like I'm the only person wandering in the forest. Yet, I do not feel lonely. I am at peace, satisfied, and sheltered. Time takes on a different quality in this place. These trees are so ancient and so new. They have outlasted millenia of historical upheavals. Yet they are very much alive and lush, full of movements and sounds.

My sons never tire of running freely through these trails. We will miss them dearly, these timeless friends of nature--a reminder to us that the God who created these trees works in very different scales, proportions, and magnitudes (both time and space) from those I'm used to.

This wonderland never fails to surprise us with the smallest of intricacies. Today we discovered a beautiful spider web.

Nearby in Natural Arches State Beach, we had a front-row seat to the dance of the butterflies.

Autopilot

2009-10-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Our school year has been a crazy one. It started out with my husband finding a job in Hong Kong over the summer and the dawning knowledge that our portable homeschool will soon take place in Hong Kong, rather than the USA. (It is a blessing that our homeschool is so portable.)

After the eventuality had sunk in somewhat, we began our long trek through the jungle of to-do's. Everyday found our house slightly altered: another moving box erected, a piece of furniture gone. Every week there are appointments to be kept, phone calls to be made: property management company, shipping company, landscaper, general contractor, potential buyers of this-and-that. At first, I tried maintaining some semblance of normalcy so far as our homeschool was concerned. Then, as the timer started ticking louder, it was no longer possible to homeschool for six hours and still get all the other chores done each day.

So, here begins a new chapter in our homeschool odyssey: an experiment on autopiloting. I had almost titled this blog "Experiment in Unschooling" until I realized we are not "unschooling". The children still, for the most part, keep a schedule of schoolwork to do. Only I have very little involvement in them. Poly will manage his own schedule entirely, while Chee-Chee will lope along doing whatever he can get done on his own. Most importantly, I have decided we will make these months special and take advantage of all that our locality has to offer: museums, zoos, nature history, etc. We will take as many field trips as possible. We will open wide our gaping mouths and swallow up the abundance of everything that is California. I've started a list of things-to-do before leaving California. Here's a current sample:

Underground cave
Whale watching
As many zoos as possible
Palace of the Legion of Honor
Yosemite
Getty Center
LA Natural History Museum
La Brea Tar Pit
Berkeley Campus, including Natural History Museum of Paleontology
Stanford Cantor Center
Hearst Castle
Alcatraz
Muir Woods and Stinson beach

Stayed tuned to this blog as I will bring updates and photographs of the destinations we end up visiting.

Lightbulb Moments

2009-05-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

I love homeschooling my kids, especially at times when I see a flash of something like sun's dazzling rays slicing through the clouds. These times are never pre-planned. They just happen in the course of a discussion.

This morning we were reading in Leviticus the law against priests touching dead bodies. I cross-referenced it to the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan. And we began discussing why the priest avoided the wounded man--he was merely trying to follow God's rules. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do, but why do we come down hard on him, or should we? Here, Chee-Chee, my dyslexic child, made an awesome observation. He said, "Rules are made for people, not the other way around." I was floored by his understanding. This is the key point of what Jesus tried to convey to the Pharisees (e.g., "Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.) Here, a nine-year-old got what Jesus tried to say, but the Pharisees totally missed the point.

Chee-Chee often surprises me like that. Just last night, as I read the Iliad to him, he commented that the Greeks must have been pretty sad because their view of afterlife was so grim. I agreed that for the Greeks, the living, the here and now, was where the bright spot existed, there was nothing to look forward to after death. He continued, "Then why did the Spartans choose to live their spartan ways? Wouldn't it be better to enjoy life while you have it?" I was so impressed by his deduction it took me a while to come up with an answer. Inside, I was thinking, "Oh my, I've got a thoughtful child here!" He may have trouble spelling or writing out his alphabets, but he certainly can think!

Poly took our morning discussion to a whole different level. What if the priest had something more pressing and important to do, and by helping the wounded man, he would delay--or worse, jeopardize his task? What if the task he was about to perform involved the welfare of a whole lot more people?

By now, we had drifted very far from our initial task, which was to read a chapter of the Bible and conclude by praying. However, I sensed an important discovery coming on. Is it okay to overlook the need of one man for the sake of the masses? Can we justify, for the sake of argument, killing one innocent life to bring about world peace? Can the ends really justify the means? Can we really attach importance to number when it comes to human lives? Should we kill one thousand in order to save one million? Does math really work when it comes to determining ethics? Our conclusion was a unanimous "No".

It felt like a big moment. Something big was happening in our living room. At times like these, I feel so priviledged to be homeschooling my children, to be their guide as they sort through life's big and small problems. Sure, we still have to slog through our arthmetic and spelling after half-an-hour's "digression". Even so, I'm willing to take on weeks of slogging for five minutes of clarity, understanding, and discovery--our lightbulb moments. It makes everything worthwhile.

Talking About Faith

2009-04-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

It was well past bedtime when Poly came into my room, his mind full to bursting with wonder at the universe. Apparently, during his spare time, he had been researching about black holes, dark matter, and subatomic physics. He chatted on and on about how amazing the creation is and how much we've yet to discover, and our conversation naturally drifted toward God and where He fits into all this.

Even though it was getting late, and Poly should be in bed, I hated to discourage this conversation. I knew it was a special moment for him--a moment of discovery, enlightenment, awe. He toyed with the idea that eventually, when science is capable of doing everything, when the extent of our knowledge is complete, human may not need God any more. I had to slowly bring him back to the reality that God is not a filler for our lack of scientific knowledge. He is not a stand-in for things we can't explain. Even when we've learned all that there is to be learned in science (though I doubt that day will ever come), we will still need God because we are spiritual beings, and science can never, ever touch on spiritual matters. I think Poly went to bed excited, still pondering all these questions and answers in his young mind.

I am excited for him. He is at the threshold of growing into an independent human being, with his own ideas and opinions. Soon, the faith we have taught him all his young life will need to transform into something else, something that's uniquely his. I am excited, but I'm also keenly aware of how critical and how precious this transitional period is. There will come a time when his knowledge of modern science and even philosophy will supercede mine, and then, even then, I need him to trust me with spiritual inquiries.

I went to a talk the other day about a curriculum called "World View" by Corner Stone Curriculum Project. After tonight's discussion, I realized Poly is ready for something like that, and is in fact in need of something like that. It is time for him to flex his wings and learn to fly.

Critical Thinking in the Modern World

2009-04-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Today, at lunch, we got into the subject of brainwashing. It all started when we asked ourselves what would happen if we moved to China. Poly's first response was, "It won't happen to me because you've taught me to reject every foreign idea." I corrected him, "No, I did not teach you to reject every foreign idea, but I taught you to evaluate every input that comes at you from every direction." Then I told them that not only Chinese kids get brainwashed by their communist government. Here in the US, we get brainwashed all the time, in far more subtle ways. Every newspaper, every magazine has its own political, social, and financial agenda. You need to read everything not only for the information it presents, but also the underlying purpose for the information presented. We talked about commercials, children's books, and popular movies.

Movies, especially the inocuous animation films, are the most effective and far-reaching "brainwashers." We examined some recent movies such as Shrek, Ratatouile, Wall-E, Over the Hedge, trying to find a common thread among messages being transmitted unconsciously into children. A pattern began to emerge. The idea of "self-esteem" and "being true to who you are" was highest on the list.

I immediately caught on to one possible sociology project (my brain is always working on possible research projects): watch enough movies over the next 12-24 months and come up with a report of the predominant themes and messages being taught to children. The result could be highly revealing. Poly hates the idea. He says that way he'll be forced to watch movies every weekend, and he'd rather be doing something else instead. I find this response rather revealing, too.

Images of Spring

2009-04-02T14:35:00.001-07:00

Lately, we've joined some other homeschool families on a few hikes. Poly has taken his camera with him each time. When you get into photography, you begin to view your environment with a heightened awareness. Every thing you see can be potentially zoomed in or out and captured within a two-dimensional image and frozen forever. You begin to put rectangular mental frames around things. You pay attention to the grandest sweeping scenery as well as the tiniest flower petal. Here are some pretty awesome images Poly has captured.

Here's an added bonus to photography. It can act like a magnifier giving you insight into a common object. This is a magnified view of the dandelion. Isn't it amazing? Poly was also thrilled to discover, upon further inspection, that the purple flower (which was the size of a fingernail) had a tiny caterpiller on it.

A Crash

2009-04-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Today we got stuck on spelling again. Chee-Chee had a bad day. He kept writing down the wrong letters though he spelled correctly verbally. It's strange how our mind, mouth, and hand work together. I take it for granted that my hand will write what my mind wills and my mouth says, and yet it does not seem to work for everyone. Chee-Chee's inner working is a mysterious box I can't get my mind around. I find myself stumbling along, some days congratulating myself for smooth sailing and in other days hitting a wall and crumbling in a heap. I would ask myself, bewildered, Did he eat something unusual for breakfast or change his morning routine? Yet, these things happen upon us as randomly and inexplicably as a computer crash, and what we end up with is a blank screen.

I have to admit I did yell. I gave up on the 23rd word (in a list of 25) and walked out on him and took a shower. Sometimes I think it's much easier if I just go out and get a job and let someone else teach him. But who else but I would feel so personally responsible to see him succeed?

I think, besides perhaps coal mining and fighting terrorists, homeschooling is the hardest job in the world. Maybe I am exaggerating just a bit.

Computer 101: When all else fails, reboot the darn thing by hitting the power button...

Quote of the day

2009-03-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

I've been combing through books on dyslexia. Some are good, some are not so good. Here's one I find downright repulsive. Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. The book is a whopping 414 pages. I'm at page 211, and I have not seen a shadow of the "new and complete science-based program" which she boasts. Maybe there will be a 828-page sequel? All she really cares to emphasize, over and over, is how qualified she is in giving her expert opinion on the subject.

Here's an interesting quote from the book, which I think I ought to share with those of you who are homeschooling.

"I strongly caution parents against setting out to teach their child all of the phonics rules or a complete reading curriculum. Teaching reading is a complex task and one that should be left to a professional."

from Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for

Reading Problems at Any Level by Sally Shaywitz, M.D.

Danger! Stop teaching your children to read! You can incur permanent damage to their brains and thus ruin them for life. In fact, in some cases catastrophic explosions have occurred in households where parents attempt to teach reading without previous professional training.

Experimenting with "slowing down"

2009-03-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided to experiment with the idea of "being in the moment" and not rushing off to the next thing. I avoided the phrase "hurry up" during our school hours (it wasn't easy, let me tell you!). It meant longer meals, a whole lot of chatting through breakfasts and lunches. It meant cutting out work that did not get done at the end of the day. Here are some of my findings:

Poly definitely benefited from the extended mealtimes where I interacted with him through discussions. His research project for the semester is on World War II, and though reluctant at first to plunge into such a vast topic, he was able, with minimal guidance, to navigate through various sources of information and is now excited about his discoveries. He can't wait to tell me about his latest findings, and over meals I challenge him to think about the reasons and the long-term ramifications of each detail of the war. One morning he told me it was unethical for Germany to use poison gas, and I asked him if dropping the atomic bombs on civilians was ethical. Such debates, though seemingly frivolous, were invaluable because to learn about history is to learn to evaluate it and determine its applicability to the present and the future. For Poly, slowing down the pace was giving meaning to his education. Though he may have done less, he was thinking and absorbing.

Chee-Chee, my easily-distracted child, had a hard time finishing his short list of school assignments each day. Having been reading up on dyslexia, I know this will always be a challenge for him. However, I'm also learning to look for his non-academic qualities that might cue us in on his future pursuits. For one thing, I can imagine him becoming a producer or director of very wacky, off-beat movies. Incidentally I read that many people in the entertainment industry are dyslexic. Meanwhile, I do need to pull him back down to earth from his daydreams to do reading, spelling, and math.

The more I homeschool, the more I realize we are drifting toward an unstructured, organic learning lifestyle. It makes me a bit nervous because I'm a perfectionist. Structures comfort me. And yet...

Learning about Dyslexia, week 1: Into the Fog

2009-02-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm still plowing through the Everything book. Much of it is helpful to me, especially in helping me change my attitude toward Chee-Chee. I have unknowingly reset my expectations and determined to start over.

I found that dyslexic children are very disorganized and easily distracted. It explains why Chee-Chee can take more than an hour trying to copy a few lines of Bible verses. So the first thing I did was move his work area to the dining room, so I can sit next to him while he works. I oversee him through all of his seat work instead of giving myself the time off to catch up on emailing.

I'm also becoming more patient (praise the Lord!), knowing his brain is wired differently. Rather than seeing only the mistakes he makes or words he skips, I'm impressed when he reads well and spells a sight word correctly. The last three days have seen a drastic improvement in our interaction and his overall efficiency!

Of course the more complicated part is yet to come. It seems that , based on the book and other feedback, dyslexia requires intervention and special tutoring and/or purpose-specific reading programs. Here's where the fog rolls in. Over this past week, I've been informed of many options. While it's encouraging to know there are solutions out there, it's also daunting and confusing. I feel like I'm standing in front of a multi-pronged maze, each of which has its own intricate criss-crossings and always a sizeable entrance toll. How does one choose?

Bright spot: "Individuals with dyslexia tend to be very creative thinkers, with a knack for 'out-of-the-box' thinking... they often will know the answer to a problem or question, but have difficulty explaining how they arrived at it." -The Everything Parent's Guide to Children with Dyslexia by Abigail Marshall

Learning about Dyslexia, Day 1

2009-02-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

Okay. Once I have my mind set on something, I can't wait to get started. So I went to the library and got my first book on Dyslexia. It's the only one they have that's not checked out. It's called The Everything Parent's Guide to Children with Dyslexia.

The first thing I did was overwhelm myself with the table of contents--not a good idea. Next, I turned to the back of the book, and found quotes from the following people, who are all reputed to have been dyslexic. I liked the quotes. There's nothing like a little humor to divert a stressful situation.

Leonardo da Vinci
"You should prefer a good scientist without literary abilities than a literate one without scientific skills."

Andrew Jackson
"It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word."

Thomas Edison
"My teachers said I'm addled... my father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided I must be a dunce."

George Burns
"For me the toughest thing about dyslexia was learning to spell it."

Reading about successful people that have made it is the easy part, now on with the more difficult--the in-between chapters.

Time for a reality check

2009-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Today I did something momentous. I have decided to research methods to teach a dyslexic child.

I guess I have known that Chee-Chee has dyslexic symptoms for a long time. Just why it is I have not done anything about it, I don't know. Perhaps I felt that somehow he will figure out the coping mechanisms as he matures, as my husband has done. Perhaps I wanted so much for our lives to be normal and was afraid of what impact the drastic overhaul might have on Chee. Perhaps I was too proud to seek help from experts. After all, I should know how to teach my children best. Right?

Imagine you've sailed on for months or years, and land is nowhere in sight. There's a gnawing sensation in your stomach telling you somewhere along the line you've missed your target and you're way off course by several thousand miles. Well, do you plod on or do you do an about-face and wipe out all your "progress" and start over?

We've been on the same routine this entire year. Every time I check in with Chee-Chee, I need to suppress an urge to scream and cry and throw books. Today, instead of shutting myself in a room or giving up, I sat in front of my computer and did some research. I ordered books on dyslexia from the library. I have finally accepted and welcomed the reality that teaching a dyslexic child is a challenge I cannot take on alone in my isolated corner. I need help understanding how my son thinks and how he sees things. (My husband tries to describe his visual and intellectual disconnect; I cannot relate to it. Not having been there, it is hard for me to imagine such a world and how one copes with it.)

Sometimes even a captain has to apologize to his crew and admit he's made a tactical mistake. Well, better sooner than later. I can't wait for my books to come in.

Decisions, decisions...

2009-01-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging this week partly because we've all caught the winter bug--with me having the worst of it. Feeling yucky and lethargic, I would much prefer to duck my head under the covers and not come out for half the day. Still, the ship sailed on.

Today I went to a co-op orientation. It's a homeschool co-op that I have been aware of for several years. Year after year, I'd step out of my little shell of a home and peer out to see if there are better options than to teach my 12-year-old-soon-to-be-high-schooler all by myself. To be really honest, the whole prospect of college applications scares me. Both my husband and I went to a four-year university. I want our children to have that option. Yet, there doesn't seem to be a straightforward path from here to there.

The administrator at the co-op is a wonderful lady. She let me sit in a class to get a preview. I had hopes (probably unrealistic ones) of hearing intelligent, engaging discussions among students with great curiosity and capacity for thought. I was disappointed. It was just another classroom, with students just as bored and ready to bolt as any I had been in back in school. I walked away--unimpressed, dissatisfied.

I guess in my mind there is this ideal kind of classroom, with this motivating, stimulating teacher surrounded by bright, articulate, and creative students--the kind you see in movies. That's the sort of place I wish I had gone to and I want my children to go to. Yet, such an ideal place may not exist at all--except in movies. Perhaps the only person who can even come close to fulfilling that ideal is me.

Part of me wants to relinguish my dreams of an ideal education and go with the flow. Perhaps I need to drop those expectations and just let Poly set out into the real world with its imperfections. Perhaps it's time he learns to learn in spite of, rather than because of. (It's what I did, after all.) Yet, part of me is not ready to give up that dream. After all, I've sacrificed all these years so that my children can have a better education than I did. To give up now is to renounce my efforts and say that schooling does not matter, that good teaching does not matter, that good learning environment does not matter, that a solid educational philosophy does not matter. I can't do that because those assertions are simply not true.

So on I go, still searching, hoping for a better vessel, but sticking to this one for now, thank you very much.

Praying for the President's Family

2009-01-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

We pray for our nation regularly. Yesterday, as we discussed the upcoming inauguration of President Obama, we ended up talking about how hard it is to be the president's children. We imagined what it's like for Malia Anne and Sasha to go to a new school, to hear people talk about their parents, to have everyone watch every little thing they do and say. We prayed for the two girls.

It's not often that we think of our President (and other public figures) as a regular human being with needs like our own, and that troubles at home can impact his work performance just as much as they do each of us. I'm glad we got to thinking about Obama's family. In creative writing, one talks about creating characters that are three-dimensional, as opposed to flat, lifeless caricatures. In politics, too, I think we imagine political figures as flat icons that stand for one thing or another. Prayers, I think, open up our compassion and understanding so that we can see things in 3-D. Although a 3-D space is far more complex and more difficult to navigate, it's much, much better than a flat plane.

Great History Supplements

2009-01-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

Some of the best history texts we've discovered over the years are not best-selling history books at all. Here's a series I highly recommend. My son loves the richly detailed historical narratives in each era and shares them with me. The most important thing is, he actually remembers the juicy details long afterwards. Now, how many history books can do that?

George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster and Joanna Foster
The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster
Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster

Apparently, she's written two dozen other books like these. If they are as good as the ones we've read so far, I think I'd go and buy up all of them.

Great Boy Books

2009-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

I'm making a list of books we've enjoyed reading over the years. Some came straight out of the curriculum, others were stumbled upon at the library or recommended by friends. It became quite obvious to me, after buying entire sets of reading material from curriculum suppliers over several years, that some books are clear winners with boys, while others--not so much.

After reading Charlotte's Web aloud twice--once to Poly and once to Chee-Chee, and crying my heart out each time I got to the end, I was rather dismayed my boys did not share the same feelings I had for poor Charlotte. I guess sentimentality for spiders is just not a boy trait.

So here's a list of winners, in random order. The categories are rather arbitrary. Clearly some books fall into more than one category, but here's how I see them. I'll add other titles to the list as time goes on.

Humor (humor always wins with boys)
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
Red Sails to Capri by Ann Weil
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, and other books by him
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Alice through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Animal
Kildee House by Rutherford Montgomery
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Rascal by Sterling North
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Adventure
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Trojan War by Olivia E. Coolidge
Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

History/Historical Fiction
Johnny Tremain, Esther Forbes
Master Cornhill, Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Jean Lee Latham
Walk the World's Rim, Betty Baker
The Dark Frigate, Charles Boardman Hawes
The Shakespeare Stealer, Gary Blackwood
Eagle of the Ninth, Rosemary Sutcliff
By the Great Horn Spoon, Sid Fleischman
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
The Samurai's Tale by Erik C. Haugaard
The Broken Blade by William Durbin

Fantasy
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Trilogy of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques
The Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling

Mystery
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld

Ad Hoc Social Studies

2009-01-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

I guess I should talk about Polynesia, my 12-year-old, from time to time. He's the self-directed one, so I spend a lot less time with him, which isn't fair because he needs me just as much as Chee-Chee.

Some time this past fall I decided it was impossible for me to keep up with his curriculum and still try to teach Chee-Chee the basics. Instead, I gave it all to him--the languages, the history, the reading, and even partly, the math. What I decided to do was to read him something we could learn together and talk about. Since it was the election year we were very interested in politics and laws. One day we were discussing abortion and the importance of legal precedents when the term "Roe vs. Wade" came up. He got really excited and wanted to find out all about the important Supreme Court decisions that affected us over the years.

It was the perfect opportunity to introduce an important topic into our curriculum. I found this simple handbook from Amazon, called The Supremes' Greatest Hits: The 34 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life by Michael Trachtman. It gives us just enough background information, the major players, the decision, and the aftermath for each court case. We've been able to use this book as a springboard to discuss a variety of social, political, and religious issues. When learning about the Scopes "Monkey Trial" and Epperson vs. Arkansas, we discussed how religious rights hinge upon the interpretation of the "Establishment Clause" in the first Amendment, and how fragile this balance is. While Poly has no aspiration for a career in politics or law, I still want him to understand how important these things are.

One of my goals for educating my children is to make them informed citizens who will have a hand in shaping the culture and the government of the future. Learning to care is the first step.

Perils Averted

2009-01-06T23:48:00.000-08:00

Today, the second day of school, was a near disaster.

Yesterday we finished too late to paint (this is sounding too familiar). There's a recurring theme in this family--fun things always get dropped off the list at the end of the day. So today, for a radical change, I decided we'd start painting right after breakfast. The painting part was fun. However, once we got into the regular school work, things just took a dive.

Chee-Chee has always been language-arts-challenged. At 9, he cannot spell a simple word to save his life. I was dictating a sentence for Chee-Chee to write when something just snapped. I don't know which one of us gave up first, whether it was him refusing to write another letter, or me tiring of dragging out another second. I snatched and shut his writing book. I wanted to scream, to cry, to throw something. I was ready to give up.

I locked myself in my room for more than an hour. I was tired. Tired of feeling like a failure. Tired of wrestling with a mountain. Tired of facing daily the weakness of my beloved son. I could have cried, but I didn't. I let anger mask my frustrations and despair instead.

As if in response to my hour of need, around 2pm the sun shone out. It's the first I'd seen of the sun in days. I decided to take the boys out for a walk along a creek-side trail. The boys took their scooters and had fun racing back and forth while I got some needed exercise. After the walk, I felt much better.

In the evening, Chee-Chee showed me he could do long division, albeit not according to the traditional method. I was trying with no success to explain the steps: multiply, substract, drop the next digit, when I realized he knows how to do it without all the intermediate steps. Why, isn't it my goal to get him to speed through the steps eventually? Why stick with the technicalities? It's not as if he'll have to show his work to a math teacher! I relented and guided him through his way of doing things. In hindsight, I'm glad of that sudden clarity. I think God knows how much I needed it.

It was somewhat of a relief to me that he is getting over that hurdle. Perhaps someday he'll get over the big hurdle of spelling. I don't know. It's hard when you're in the middle of the fog to think you'll ever get out of it. I'm glad we took a walk, though. God took away the gloom in my heart and allowed me to finish the day on an up note. For that I'm grateful and am ready to try again tomorrow.

Recommended art lesson DVD (we got this from the library):

Art Lessons For Children with Donna Hugh: Easy Watercolor Techniques

Ready, Set, Go---Not!

2009-01-05T13:07:00.001-08:00

I started dreading today since last Friday. We had a nice winter vacation, but it wasn't long enough. Our So. Cal. trip was so exhausting I came home and slept through the next three days. Then Chee had a stomach flu for four days. In summary, we didn't do all the fun things I had envisioned: baking, building puzzles, playing games, hiking, painting. All we did was sleep in, play computer games, watch videos, read until late, and sleep in again. So I knew First Day of School would be hard-going--not just for them, for me, especially.

This morning they got up at nine. It wasn't bad considering they'd been sleeping til 11 last week. We finally started school around 10:30. That wasn't bad, either. By 11, however, my voice gave out. I guess all the staying up late had taken its toll. It's also possible my vocal chord is out of shape from not being in school. (Reading a lot to your kids can be really hard on your throat.) So I sent them off to seat work. From there they have not returned. In our house, seat work is a bit like wandering in the forest. When you tell them, "Go." They can be gone for hours, and you'll have no idea where they are and when they'll be back.

At some point this afternoon, maybe I'll collect my children from their wanderings and give them lunch. I'm thinking we'll cut the day short and do some painting. I'm just not ready to get too productive yet.

Ending the Year with a Fizzle

2008-12-19T17:12:00.001-08:00

Today I wanted our last day of school to end with a celebratory note--kind of like what kids do in school: making cards, decorating cookies, partying and such. I had a picture in my mind of children busying themselves with icing and sprinkles, while the radio blares out bouncy Christmas tunes. Well, as anyone would expect, it did not work out that way.

I started the day by lecturing Chee about idling during his breakfast (hence his long drawn-out school days two weeks in a row). I threatened to cut down his food portions unless he learns to finish his meal within half an hour. The Christmas cards and the thank-you notes turned into tedious hand-writing exercises. I gave them stickers to decorate the cards but cared too much about the aesthetics to let them have fun.

After lunch we rushed to their haircut appointment only to wait there for half and hour due to the pre-Christmas surge of beauty-seekers. Luckily we all brought books to read. Afterwards we stopped to pick up some last-minute presents. When we got home, it was well past four--too late for making cookies.

Well, school is over. That's that. Does it count that I had intended it to be a fun day? Can I help the fact that I'm such a control freak and have to have everything perfect? How could I know I was allocating eight-hours' worth of activities within a four-hour period? In the end, it was not a perfect day, just another unremarkable school day. As usual, many things fell off the list.

Oh well, we'll make up the fun somehow over the Christmas break. We'll make plenty of cookies and paint lots of pictures and bring out the sleeping bags and fall asleep listening to music or telling stories. Am I dreaming again? Am I over-planning, trying to fit one month's worth of expectations into two weeks? Wouldn't it be great to have 48 hours in a day, or an extra free day in each week? I am hopeless!

School in December

2008-12-17T19:01:00.001-08:00

Is that an oxymoron? Can anyone really do any serious schooling between Thanksgiving and Christmas? I find this to be a limbo period that can be difficult to focus in, especially for me. My mind is scattered among other things: three birthdays, holiday decorations and Christmas cards, family get-togethers, vacation plans, presents, and those ubiquitous ant trails that always show up at this time of year. Yes, life is too crazy for me to think about a full day of course load. So instead of killing myself with work or torturing myself with guilt, I just drop my expectations for the month. It was not a conscious decision, but it just sort of worked out this way.

The boys still work through their math and language assignments. However, I do other subjects only on an "if time permits" basis, which means, on most days they don't happen. I used to feel bad about not sticking to a schedule, I don't any more.

December is a stressful time. Why put more stress on ourselves and our children? Instead of doing lots of regular work, we take field trips, learn to paint, and get together with friends. We do community projects, write thank-you notes, and listen to audio books that Mom enjoys. This is the "Be Good to Mom" month because, everyone knows, she deserves a little break. I call it free learning, because we are still learning, just in an unstructured way.

This Friday is our last day of class before the Christmas break. I'm looking forward to a period of complete rest from any kind of schooling. However, when we're done resting, we will come back with a bang.