03.27.07
Posted in Articles, Commentary, Homeschooling at 11:25 pm by Christina
The New York Times has a new article out: “Failing Schools See a Solution in Longer Day”.
The article itself is about the variations, financing and other aspects of this trend in public education, but it unfortunately doesn’t manage to uncover the greater truth: the things that are broken in the schools cannot be fixed by tying kids to desks for more hours. The system is too invested in its own perpetuation to look deeply at what is going wrong! “We’re doing a good job, we just need more time to be successful!” Sheesh. I haven’t the energy to say more – it’s been a long night of chorus and I’ve an early morning tomorrow (followed by another long night of chorus).
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03.24.07
Posted in Holidays, Photos at 4:04 pm by Christina
We celebrated another quarter of Terra’s revolution around Sol this week. The kids’ equinox baskets are packed away in the garage, but my own childhood (Easter) basket was available and so while I had the kids at choir and orchestra on Wednesday, Jeff prepared it with shredded green paper and the nice treats I picked up (decorated egg and flower cookies, and yummy filled chocolate eggs). We’d made no mention of the event, and the girls were nicely surprised when we got home!
We waited until Thursday to color and hide the eggs. (There’s a lot to be said for doing things in due time, rather than cramming everything in at once. I enjoy most holidays more when there’s an agreement not to rush…) We tried a marbling kit this year as well as the regular dye tablets (which were 1/3 dud – only three colors, and the pink wouldn’t dissolve). We have a lovely backyard this year and had fun hiding the eggs for a hunt. We scattered a few on the grass for Jamie to find, too. In fact, when we hid all the eggs a second time at the girls’ request, Jamie found several of the actually hidden ones!
Here are some great pictures – Jamie was very photogenic. The girls were moving too fast during the hunt to get anything good.
(That’s a carefully placed cup – no willy pictures on the internet!)
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Posted in Books at 9:53 am by Christina
Educator Days have started at Borders – 25% off everything – and it’s open to homeschoolers. I’ve been collecting a list of books that I would like to own: puberty books by Lynda Madaras; a couple of books on California tent camping; Raising Financially Fit Kids by Joline Godfrey (which I reviewed here); books on cells and DNA by Frances Balkwill; books for learning Spanish. The newest For Better or For Worse collection is out too, and I’m buying a couple of pop-up books to go in the “Pop! Goes the Chorus” themed gift baskets which I was asked to coordinate on behalf of the altos (who are responsible this session for the thank-yous).
I researched the new-book prices for the items on my list and plan only to buy those items where the discount nets me equivalent or better savings. Emma is going to join me, because Katie has a friend coming over for a “private” playdate. (It’s a shared friend, but they’re going to roleplay the Warriors books by Erin Hunter, which Emma hasn’t read.)
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03.18.07
Posted in Household, Kids, Photos at 10:13 am by Christina
All I can say is, Thank goodness for cupboard locks! We have one cupboard – just one! – that remains accessible to Jamie, and whenever I work in the kitchen, he works in that cupboard. Sometimes he’ll help me put the things back away, but usually I restack just before we leave the kitchen. Fortunately, I’ve realized the need to leave that cupboard fairly empty – just the plastic plates and bowls. However, he knows that all the cupboards are one long shelf (no sides) and so this is what he does:
There’s lots more fun stuff to the sides, Mom!
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Posted in Household, Life in general, Photos at 10:04 am by Christina
I am trying to develop a new morning habit: to be up and productive for a bit, rather than heading right to my personal time. I join my personal time with my breakfast now; I’m never hungry right away, usually it takes me 90 minutes to feel hungry in the morning. (That’s true even on the juice fast.) I used to get up, head for my email, blogs, the news, and then do that again when I ate. Now I straighten up the kitchen and cycle the laundry along every morning, in and around assisting Jamie with his needs of course. By the time that’s all done I usually am hungry, and so I move onto the computer with my breakfast alongside. (Can you imagine it taking 90 minutes to straighten up the kitchen counter, empty or load the dishwasher, fold a load of laundry and start a load of laundry? If you can, you’re the parent of a young child… or have been!)
Part of the new routine is exercising willpower to get the lights off no later than midnight, no matter how exciting the book is, because that gives me the ability to get up with Jamie around 7:30 with energy to take care of business. And with daylight savings active now, 7:30 means we’re seeing some beautiful sunrises. Here’s the distant view from our deck:
And for those of my readers who are in more northern climes, hang on just a little bit longer! Spring is definitely making it’s move northward. I’ve no idea what kind of tree this is, but it is very densely planted here in Dublin, in all the public spaces and boulevards and throughout the residential areas as well. We’ve been watching spring make it’s way across this tree; it’s about halfway bloomed now.
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Posted in Homeschooling, Kids, Photos, Science at 9:52 am by Christina
My father-in-law, a retired chemical engineer, is a volunteer at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. I think he goes up a couple of times a week and works in R&D on new projects and programs. As a result of his work there, the girls get to go to all sorts of membership and volunteer events, and Jon often takes them up for fun and learning at activities like Physics of Toys.
Sometimes, too, they get to test out projects with him at Camp PooMee (we used to call their weekly grandparent day Camp Meemom when Jon was still at work but it’s been modified for his retirement). This week, they were testing out an activity for April’s Physics of Toys: Green Gadgets for a Blue Planet (which is scheduled right at Earth Day). They built a homemade filter with pebbles, sand, cotton, and sphagnum moss and used it to clean up water contaminated by a lovely melange of kitchen materials: cocoa powder, rice, ground wheat, red and green food coloring, tea leaves, etc. Here they are in action, with thanks to my mother-in-law for the pictures:
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03.15.07
Posted in Homeschooling, Life in general at 8:59 pm by Christina
We went to the park this evening with a bag full of balls, and some water, to have some fun in the post-Daylight Savings evening. I noticed when we arrived that there were two young women with a pizza box heading for the meadow for dinner (Jeff noticed too – nothing like not eating to make food jump out at you!), and I thought, “Pizza in the park – wouldn’t that be a fun regular activity?” I was thinking of it as a monthly homeschooling event, something that whole families could come to during the spring, summer and fall. But when I mentioned it to Jeff, he thought we should do it ourselves every week. Maybe it will be “Picnic in the Park” for the homeschoolers, and we can have pizza the other three weeks of the month 
Sounds like too much pizza, even with only half the cheese!
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Posted in Kids at 8:55 pm by Christina
Chain of signs!! I’ve been watching for Jamie to start putting some concepts together, like “more water” or the like. Well, today it happened In fact, it was three signs together: airplane bye-bye more. He always stops when he hears an airplane overhead and gets very excited, and when it was gone he noticed and wanted more! Very fun. Bye-bye, all gone, and all done are the same sign, since they convey very similar things.
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Posted in Books, Homeschooling, Kids, Money, Parenting, Reviews at 2:26 pm by Christina
I saw this book mentioned somewhere online – a blog I think, and not an article. I really must start keeping track of where I collect book recommendations, because I would like to be able to link back to the one who inspired me. I think I saw this at one of the HomeschoolJournal.net blogs.
Raising Financially Fit Kids is an amazing book! Joline Godfrey organizes her presentation into four age groups of childhood where the different developmental milestones make different financial lessons and experiences appropriate. These groups start at age 5 or so, basically at the time when the mathematical and other developmental areas have progressed to a point where the most basic understanding of finance can be accomplished. 5-8 is “I’m Just a Kid”; 9-12 is “Encouraging Passions”; 13-15 is “Breaking Away”; and 16-18 is “Standing Tall”.
Across these four groups, Godfrey both challenges and encourages parents to work on developmentally-targeted aspects of the Ten Basic Money Skills:
How to save
How to keep track of money
How to get paid what you are worth
How to spend wisely
How to talk about money
How to live a budget [sic]
How to invest
How to exercise the entrepreneurial spirit
How to handle credit
How to use money to change the world
All of the money skills are addressed in each phase, with mentoring, lessons, and especially with fun activities: the traditional lemonade stand, for example, but also a “Financial Film Festival”; a money book club; a scavenger hunt where each team is given play money with the goal of spending the least to “collect” the items on the list (at a mall); an investment club; and so forth. Details are provided for all of the activities.
I especially liked how the author addressed the issue of allowance. In essence, she argues that allowance is a tool for learning financial skills. It’s not a payment for services, a boon from the family coffers, or a bribe for good behavior. Like all tools, there are rules for safe operation, and varying levels of supervision as well. The guidance she offers for providing an allowance is quite helpful.
Further information provided includes: discussions of different types of money personalities (hoarder, spender, etc.); a chapter on money and gender (both genders!); a chapter with additional guidance for extremely affluent families; and though hopefully I won’t need it, a chapter on what to do if you have an adult child who isn’t yet financially responsible. (Actually, the author offers advice throughout the book on adapting the material when you are starting with an older child, who is already past one or more of the developmental stages.)
All in all, an excellent book, with straightforward dealing on the many complications of personal finance. I’ve added this one to my list of “books to acquire” during Borders’ Educator Days at the end of the month.
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Posted in Food, Health, Household, Kids at 1:40 pm by Christina
NOT EASY!!! There’s food – you know, great-smelling, chewable food – EVERYWHERE. The girls both take care of themselves at breakfast and at lunch, with the occasional exception of Emma needing help reaching something or having supervision for sharp knife use. And even dinner they are able to cook with guidance; they made pesto Tuesday night, for example, and had the leftovers last night. But PESTO – one of our favorite foods, and certainly a powerful-smelling one… Jamie has taken this opportunity to string together several straight days of good eating as well, putting away half a piece of fruit and a few tablespoons of nuts at a sitting, along with things like pretzels, rice cakes, etc. So we’re not catching any breaks, or at least I’m not since I am generally the kitchen supervisor and the one who handles most of the dishes. At least on the two pesto nights I was gone to rehearsals; I’m not sure how Jeff survived!
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