Input I've Got

A letter arrived in the mail today from the state government's department of education. Normally this would not be good news, however it appears I have been invited to express my interest in participating on a Home Education Advisory Committee providing advice to the director-general on the nature and future direction of policy for home educated students and their parents. The new home ed registration program was just put into effect late last year and as part of the reforms they are looking for some input.

Well, I'm interested. And not just because they plan to meet twice a year in Brisbane and cover all travel, accommodation, and meal costs either.

Links

The Math Worksheet Site.com has plenty of free basic operation worksheets available and the subscription area has an even greater selection. It's an inexpensive, customizable alternative to buying workbooks.

BookMooch -- This is for all types of books, but I think homeschoolers could really benefit by listing all those old or unused curriculum choices cluttering up our shelves. Forget waiting for a match on swap boards or hoping for a deal on an auction site, get what you want and share what you've got.

And saving the best for last: The Country Fair has been resurrected! Go on over and submit something...right now!

Evolution

Yesterday I started out reading an online edition of Dorothy Sayer's essay "The Lost Tools of Learning", an article often quoted in books I've enjoyed and respected, but one I'd never actually read in its entirety.

Then I decided to spend several hours browsing various home ed vendors and Amazon.com with the intent of purchasing a few books I wanted to continue Elle's education and supplement the books Jorge has been pulling off our shelves in preparation for his return to Australia later this week, most importantly for math as Elle and I can no longer tolerate the confusion that is the Queensland Maths workbook, and a few more picture books for our classical studies; as well as a few more reference books for my current pet project.

One link led to another and after a few "Search Inside!" surveys, the line between her school books and my research blurred. Here is what finally ended up in my shopping cart:


Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling

Learning All the Time

Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life

A Thomas Jefferson Education supplemental materials

A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

No math books, no classically themed picture books, plenty of revolutionary ideas.

Jorge's stash from our Florida home library includes:

A Thomas Jefferson Education

Write With the Best Vol. I

The Complete Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales*

Favorite Andrew Lang Fairy Tale Books in Many Colors: Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue Fairy Tale Books*

Favorite Poems Old and New

Schoolhouse Rock! (DVD)

Chess for Kids

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess

*Because reading downloaded versions on the computer is very hard on these eyes.

From The Well Trained Mind and a Latin-centered curriculum to unschooling, it's as if we've gone from Homo habilis to H. erectus and are now on our way to H. sapiens.

Not all beer and skittles

In addition to the items listed in my Incidental Learning Log posts (ILL), a record requested by our homeschool coordinator, some real quantifiable learning has taken place recently:

Sarabelle, ever more enthralled with her Japanese studies (she has since joined the Japanese Culture Club which meets at school during lunch), has begun teaching Elle hiragana from flash cards she created. It's astonishing how quickly she recognizes them.

Elle and I started a compost pile, she added a few earthworms she discovered, and all three girls started seedlings (twice, actually, as Lulu has a fondness for pulling over containers of dirt), to be planted in the garden area Mr. Landlord has established for them.

An obstacle course has been set up in the backyard and the girls have been training the dog to run the course.

We pulled out a pilates DVD the other day and did the 20 minute workout, vowing to make it a routine. Three times a week. Not annually.

We took a look at some Mayan ruins online, and Elle was fascinated enough to continue exploring the site on her own for nearly an hour after my brief introduction. I would love to have an archaeologist in the family, especially one specializing in Mayan studies, but that's just me transferring my desires onto my children.

Today we'll be attending a performance of "Hermes and the Naked Flame" put on at our local community center for the school children.

These days I find myself drifting more toward unschooling. Sure, we've still got the math workbooks and we're going through Story of the World and working on her Classical Writing -- Aesop writing projects and Prima Latina, but it seems looser, more relaxed, less formal and hardly anything like hardcore classical. Anyone stopping by our house during the day or catching us out and about would probably doubt we were accomplishing anything at all. Most of the time she is drawing, coloring, cutting, and pasting some project she has dreamed up, playing with her stuffed animals and baby doll, or out in the yard digging in the mud, being mauled by playing with the dog. Sometimes all at once. As long as the television is off, active learning is happening.

So what am I doing with all my extra time then? For starters I'm trying to quit beating myself up about the time I spend on the computer. I am not wasting time (not much anyhow, a quick game of Spider or Set is a necessary and beneficial break on occasion); I'm working, catching up on correspondence, researching and writing projects of my own, preparing grant requests and direct mail sponsorship campaigns for the tennis club, seeking grants for the benefit of the community center (a task that could enable me to pay myself for my services when successful), and setting a good example for my girls by continuing my own education.

If it sounds defensive, it is. I've been chastised for sitting in front of my laptop for too long, far too many times. Most of the time it's the kids who apply the guilt whining that I'm neglecting them in favor of my little electronic friend, though I've since come to realize they really just want on to check their email or play The Sims. Sometimes though, it's my husband, who in the middle of the night will wake up, squint at me over at the table illuminated by the glow of my LCD, theatrically look at his watch, heave a loud sigh, and roll over. The dishes are always done, there may be some extra sink time, but they're always washed and eventually put away, everybody gets fed, beds are made, and the laundry is caught up. Why should I feel harrassed about pursuing my own interests every spare moment I have?

We will complete the goals I set out in this year's home education application, but after that, we'll be heading in a new direction, one influenced by Benjamin Franklin's education and recommendations, and I will keep reminding myself: Simplicity does not equal laziness.

Projects

Because I finally made the connection that I had these filed away in my computer while studying the chapter on Alexander the Great, we made our paper model of the Pharos at Alexandria. This was such great fun we have to go back in time and work on the Great Pyramind and Hanging Garden models.

Warning: Do not attempt these without enlarging them 200-300%. The creators also suggest mounting them on cardboard stock. That's probably a really good idea, unless you are like me and prefer to ignore directions.

Lulu shows her approval.



The little boat (in the foreground) is the size of my pinky fingernail. I couldn't refocus my eyes for about fifteen minutes after we completed this.

For once I recognized a teachable moment (some of Megan's good example rubbing off, perhaps) when Elle commented she thought Mount Olympus must be higher than our local landmark mountain, Mt. D, and Mt. Olympus must be the tallest in the world since the gods lived there. We came home, looked up the various elevation measurements and learned it would take 2.5 Mt. D's to equal Mt. Olympus the highest in the Greek world, but 3 Mt. Olympus to equal 1 Mt. Everest. Excelsior!



Elle received this cool crystal kit as a thank-you for guinea pig sitting. After leaving it overnight, here is what we found this morning...



...and hours after the manufacturer's 12-hour time limit, when we thought it would be completed, we found this...



See? Instructions are always optional.