Back in the Northern Hemisphere...

...but not quite back to the books yet.

We're still settling in at the new house(s). I'm supposed to picking paint colors right now as the crew will be here bright and early to begin slathering the walls of the vacant house with color. Jorge should know better. He sprang the Tile-Guy-will-be-here-in-an-hour-go-pick-some-out on me one other time with disastrous results. I need time to muse over the 800 or so chips I've collected, time to check them out under all sorts of light sources and at different times of the day. Sarabelle says I will probably end up picking a color called Mushroom or Truffle. She is probably right, though any old fungus will not do.

My brother, The Golden Boy, had another brainstorm and found another terrific, as yet untapped, money-making enterprise. He is too wrapped up in his first venture so has approached me about taking on the second, related project. I am interested. So is Sarabelle. The opportunity to travel may present itself, and as I would like to continue homeschooling, and homeschooling would best suit a potentially erratic schedule, I have been tossing a few things around:

One is to continue our loose, bordering-on-unschooling classical approach. I have found though, that I am not good at multi-tasking. I suck at it, quite frankly. If faced with the prospects of teaching my daughter and managing some sort of a business and coordinating travel, I would probably slack off on the teaching as I would have clients holding me accountable and money as a motivator. Sounds terrible, I know, but I'm being honest here. And I do truly think simply traveling is a great education, but I get antsy without some structure.

The other option involves a curriculum I used for Sarabelle and Grace during their early American studies: Tapestry of Grace. No, it's definitely not secular with it's biblically-based Christian slant, but it is classical and was easy enough to work around leaving out or modifying anything blatantly biased. I loved that the whole thing was in one binder and could be used for children in various stages. I was impressed how everything -- lesson plans for vocabulary, geography, writing, history, arts, and hands-on activities, plus comprehension questions -- was included and coordinated to the history reading. It followed a weekly schedule and kept me, a compulsive list maker and checker-offer, happy and on track. There is no math or grammar included, I think we were using Saxon and Easy Grammar at the time, and added Latin Primer, Book 1 for foreign language study.

As for Sarabelle, now that she is back, she needs to complete a few of the courses she abandoned when she left for Australia. She has more than enough credits to be graduated by Florida standards, and nearly all of them in the right places to satisfy the Bright Futures Scholarship qualifications (excepting Economics), but I want her to beef up her science, literature, math, and history. Science will consist of reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything and history will be finishing up her reading of Joy Hakim's A History of US. She will continue with The Teaching Company's Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition and The Joy of Mathematics, and will have her choice of either watching their Economics course or reading Richard J. Maybury's Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and completing the accompanying workbook.

After that? She may work on her art portfolio for a fall admission to her top choice college or might opt to do two years at the local state college and transfer to another university later on or join me in my new undertaking. We shall see.

Grade 4

With Grice starting school Monday, and Sarabelle in Australia, Monday should be the official First Day of School for Elle.

Time to plan, I suppose.

Waiting until the last minute has its benefits. I have had plenty of time to mull over ideas for studies. There are plenty of books and curricula on my shelves, I don't need to go researching books and placing orders for more materials (If you could see the books I've dumped...) I know there are still some terrific unexamined resources out there, but I'm confident that what I need I already own. My initial Cover-Every-Topic-and-Have-a-Fun-Accompanying-Activity-and Supplemental-Reading plan has evolved into Just-Do-the-Next-Thing. That is a very satisfying feeling.

The big mental debate I'd been having about whether or not to completely drop The Story of the World has been decided in all the extra thinking time I've had. It's served me well over the years with Sarabelle and Grice and more recently with Elle, I even have the activity book for the next round which sure makes coming up with comprehension questions easy, and frankly, I'm rather fond of and sentimental about the whole series -- it was The Well-Trained Mind which got me started after all -- but I'm a little tired of the detail. As I became enamored of ideas found in Climbing Parnassus and The Latin-Centered Curriculum, I've pared things down. We're going to stick with the Western Civ basics, not studying every culture in the world. We'll leave that to our travels and any interest-led learning.

Since we had just begun to get into the explorers, I'm planning to switch over to the Genevieve Foster books, beginning with The World of Columbus and Sons. Elle has shown great interest in the timeline book sitting on the shelf, A Timeline for All Time. She had a chuckle when she realized the book begins with Adam and Eve and not the Big Bang. Language studies will be "do the next thing," First Language Lessons Level 4, the most recent release of the series that has been a good fit for Elle and me. Lessons are short but thorough. She loves diagramming and enjoys memorizing the poems. I like that it's all scripted and I don't need to do any prep work. It's part of The Well-Trained Mind collection so I don't feel as if I'm completely abandoning ship. Write With the Best Volume I will be dusted off and put to good use. Elle does not have much patience for writing I'm afraid, but the lessons in this book are fairly short and spread over two-week periods. I'm hoping her handwriting improves with constant practice, otherwise the Getty-Dubay Italic books come back out. I planned to continue her Latin studies with Latina Christiana I, a book we were slowly working our way through, but like Sarabelle's exasperation over Abeka math ("Does the number 2 always have to be about Noah and the ark?"), Elle is questioning the need to recite prayers if one doesn't believe them, despite my arguments for the familiarity and the beauty of the material. Time to pull out the Esopus Hodie perhaps, though I will still try reciting the prayers at the beginning of our lesson for memorization's sake. For math we will continue to use the workbooks she's into with some added flash card review, preparing her to move into Saxon 5/4. The rest of math studies will be everyday usage, calculating mileage and fuel, shopping, counting change, figuring tips, measuring...

So let's see, history, English, Latin, math, what else...? Oh yeah! Science! Cleaning off my shelves I found a good geology study, Lyrical Earth Science she might enjoy, and quite a few books with experiments she could do mostly on her own. That should suffice in addition to anything else that piques her fancy. We'll continue to make the most of our surroundings, like going on turtle patrol with our friend, marking new sea turtle nests and excavating hatched ones, raising tadpoles, and trying to grow something, anything, in this desert of a yard.

With Grice's very early morning schedule for motivation, I'd like to add in a little yoga before lessons and get finished with our studies relatively early in the day. Gymnastics at the YMCA should help burn off some of her extra energy, if I can coordinate lessons with Grice's afternoon bus stop schedule.

Ready...set...GO!

Private School

So I'm a bit of a procrastinator. It was back in early '05 I started tossing around the idea of establishing my own private school, essentially an umbrella school as allowed by the Florida State statutes, out of sheer annoyance at jumping through homeschool hoops. Sure, Florida is minimally intrusive, a letter signifying your intent to homeschool and a yearly portfolio review or submission of standardized testing results plus a letter terminating your home education program, but we moved around a lot and registering, unregistering, re-registering, hoping the newest batch of county officials wouldn't overstep their bounds, and keeping track of heaps of papers, most of which invariably ended up in storage at the bottom of an enormous stack of boxes in the garage, got to be tiresome. With the additional complications and costs involved in securing non-profit status and incorporation, and difficulties experienced by another friend attempting to set up her own umbrella school, I got discouraged. After a while, when I was confident I sorta kinda knew what I was doing as far as homeschooling went, and had standardized test scores to back me up (for all the doubters out there), as well as having the added advantage of Permanent Australian Resident status to confuse and confound the authorities, I let the idea lapse and we simply dropped off the homeschool radar entirely (at least until we got to Australia, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Now though, with Sarabelle preparing for college, our conversations with college admissions officers over the acceptance of courses taken in a home education program have been varied and frustrating. The officer at one of her preferred schools was skeptical about the idea and indicated they would readily accept a homeschool diploma certified by the state or county board of education (no such thing in Florida) or a GED. However, in Charlotte County, any student under the age of 18 interested in taking the GED first has to obtain a special waiver, attend a career counseling meeting, and take a pre-test. Based on the results of the pre-test, tutoring may be required before the student is permitted to sit the actual GED exam. Even if the student in question plans not to drop-out but to go directly to an institution of higher learning. Idiotic. Would the prospective college have any problem accepting a student from a small, unaccredited private school? Not at all. Thus the renewed interest in the umbrella school.

I initially looked into joining my local friend's pagan unschooling group which had a low fee but has since closed, and more recently planned to sign Sarabelle and Elle up (since they've been picked up on the county radar) at Florida Unschoolers, Nance Confer's most generous free umbrella (with the best acronym around), but with both groups I felt like an imposter. As much as I love the idea of unschooling, I am too uptight to let go completely. I have been known to cast all books aside as any more interesting learning opportunity presents itself, but still prefer to rely on classical materials. My preferred methodology comes a la Ben Franklin, where students get basic instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic but are still free to follow their interests and play and experiment, picking up those more difficult but necessary books later, at their own pace.

I was all concerned about the name once upon a time. Now, though it's terribly redundant for anyone who knows what "schola" means, it looks like it'll probably be Schola Classical Academy, the name I hastily filled in on the department of education's online form. Maybe it'll impress some admissions officer somewhere, without deterring anyone not following a hardcore classical program. And I can't wait to specify "Not Applicable" under the Denomination heading. Our motto, since every good school should have one: Cave Ab Homine Unius Libri, Beware the Man of One Book.

My special thanks to Nance, who has been helping me navigate the governmental stumbling blocks that discouraged me the last time around. I hope to have this thing off the ground shortly.

"Come with us now on a journey through time and space..."

Old Form ancient Greek comedy: All male cast consisting of a handful of performers playing numerous roles; costumed chorus; the agon, or dispute between characters; the parabasis, or choral section halting the action and speaking directly to the audience; scatological and sexual references; ridiculous and surreal plot lines used as a means of discussing political and social realities; pointed satires of well-known individuals.

Sounds like The Mighty Boosh to Sarabelle and me.







Some highlights from Adult Swim:

Change

Rolling along, in a routine, and then WHAM!, something new.

Sarabelle, who has been attending the local high school and doing well with her mostly honors classes, but hates it, begged last night to return to a homeschooling program. She acknowledged this would not be the easy way out -- that would be staying in school -- and realizes she will have to work harder at home, but prefers that option now. Most of it has to do with the fact that her best friends here homeschool and she enjoys participating in the P.E. group and 4-H Cooking Club with them and misses the freedom of being able to jump in the car and go off on a field trip or just a quick trip over to the island at a moment's notice.

She has nearly all the credits Florida requires for graduation already except for American History and Government credits, so she is beginning Volume 2 of the Great Ideas Program The Development of Political Theory and Government with all its associated readings and going through Hakim's A History of US series.

I want her to tune up her writing skills and would like to have her begin either Horner's Rhetoric in the Classical Tradition or D'Angelo's Composition in the Classical Tradition. She will also benefit from an SAT prep.

Some other books on her To Read If You Can list are:

How to Read a Book
In Defense of Elitism
Amusing Ourselves to Death

As this makes plans for attending my New Jersey brother's spring wedding so much easier I am happy to comply, but it necessitates a study of my own in crafting transcripts for college.

Now to send off another letter to the county school superintendent announcing our intention (now that we are on their radar), officially withdraw her from school, and return her books...

Monday Morning Quarterback

Confession time. Although it probably comes as no surprise, I hate professional sports, the big, blown-out-of-proportion, wastes of time and money (and please, don't even get me started on people who drive around at high speeds in circles for a living), but I will admit to watching that thing last night and maybe even yelling at the television a time or two, like during that one play just prior to halftime. I watch for the commercials because my brother is head of a CGI department for a trendy Manhattan agency and often has one running (not this year, though he did tell me to keep an eye out for Coke's insects stealing the bottle ad), and for the halftime show because you never know when there could be a spectacular wardrobe malfunction (fortunately Springsteen's garb remained intact and he put on a great show, and I'm not even a fan.)

This morning I thought it time to review the post-season goings-on and critique my plays. And for your sake, the football metaphor ends here.

Sarabelle's stubborn plan to return to Australia for school has finally withered. I stood back and tried to keep my mouth shut, offering sympathy and empathy for her plight, subtly mentioning once that whatever her college plans may be, she's into her eleventh year of school and it's time to prepare. Putting it off any longer in hopes of getting back to school in Australia wasn't beneficial. With an interest in becoming a doctor, journalist, or treasure salvor, and a refusal to "be a homeschool nerd" (though she loves participating in our support group's P.E. and Park Days) and the community college's dual enrollment classes filled until spring, remaining options involved either the local public high school with AP, Honors, or dual enrollment courses, or the high priced prep school in Fort Lauderdale which would simply look good on a transcript. The public school was able to offer her a decent schedule and eliminated the necessity of living with cantankerous older relatives on the other side of the state. The guidance counselor stated it would be possible to register her as a twelfth grader because she has nearly all the credits required for graduation in Florida, but we all agreed she could use the extra year to fill in gaps and strengthen skills. She still hates being here of course, would much rather be in Oz, but has been placated with the promise of spending her summer holiday overseas and is genuinely enthusiastic about her classes (Music - Jazz band playing upright double bass; English Honors; Marine Science; Journalism; Algebra 2; and American History Honors.)

Grice grumbles about it, even though we are still waiting on her math books to arrive and she has a lighter than normal schedule, but she is generally amenable to the idea of learning at home. She participates in the homeschool P.E. and 4-H with her best Northern hemisphere buddies and is interested in the Y's gymnastics program and cotillion.

Elle is a moth to the electronic flame. For this reason, with the built-in DVD player on our TV out of commission, I'm ready to cancel the cable (basic service that doesn't include the History Channel but does have Nickelodeon and which was never desired or required but was unfortunately bundled with our long distance and DSL) and chuck the thing out. We have Netflix now and I have my laptop, that's all we need. We're attending the South Florida Renaissance Festival as an end to that period of study and will be starting soon with Story of the World Volume 3. She likes the 4-H Cooking Club, mostly because she gets to hang out with the big kids, and is also interested in gymnastics, which would be a terrific vent for her perpetually high energy.

I've been learning to take it easy and give the kids a chance to settle in and find themselves. Then back to the pushing. It's all about moderation. For now it seems to be working.

Great Ideas

And now for something completely different: A homeschooling post.

Sarabelle's reluctance to leave and her adamantly expressed desire to return to Australia and her friends and finish her schooling as quickly as possible has been intensified by the appearance of a boyfriend (one with no space between the boy and the friend.) While there has been no actual dating involved, there have been many deep conversations on MSN Messenger: The Meaning of Life, Future Plans, etc.

What has come out of these talks is that Sarabelle has decided she wants none of the greedy-corporate stooge-consumer lifestyle and would rather enjoy her life living simply and traveling, globetrotting and supporting herself with part-time work while still young, as opposed to squeezing in a cruise and a tour bus trip between retirement and death. While we agree college is not for everybody and that most higher education is nothing more than overpriced vocational training or a necessary step up the corporate ladder; that a self-sufficient uncomplicated lifestyle is an admirable goal; that travel is a great teacher and a much more pleasant alternative to being a wage-slave; we are not yet in agreement on the value of formal continuing education. She wants to learn as she goes, a noble effort, but I argued if you are to travel the world you would make more of your effort with a solid, basic knowledge of the humanities behind you. A good liberal arts, or old-fashioned classical education, the kind that comes from either rigorous self-education or a real university would be a tremendous benefit as a precursor to travel.

She countered that four years is a long time and reminded me that I didn't go to college. But I have been educating myself ever since, and especially prior to traveling in order to avoid that inevitable head-slapping moment when I'd get home and finally realize the significance of what I had seen and wish I could go back to see it again armed with my new understanding. So I guess that means we had better get busy catching her up before her big adventure seeing as how she has just over one and a half years left of high school (by Florida standards) and they won't be covering any of that material in her present educational environs.

Because she still thinks she's coming straight back to Australia after her grandmother's health crisis passes, though no offers to board her for even half the school year have panned out yet, I must tread lightly. Without pushing, I'm hoping to reignite the love of learning that lies smoldering under the wet blanket of institutional education. After an adequate time de-schooling, bare minimum I would like her to study one logic text and one comprehensive world history from among our heaps of books and Teaching Company DVDs. Ideally, in addition I would have her choose either a subject that interests her from the Great Books Syntopicon and dig into the associated readings or work her way through the Great Ideas Program, a series of thematic guided readings and questions used in conjunction with the Great Books, and study an SAT prep course.

But wait! There's more!

Since I realized we have a six month lead on the Florida school system to catch Grice up and get her homeschooling on track again, the same holds true for Elle. So the last few frustratingly futile months of trying to educate her long-distance can easily be made up in that six month bridge. And while I know you can never really be 'behind' in homeschooling, I can be behind in the learning goals I've obsessively scheduled out for them based on a typical school year progression.

Here are the resources for the 'bonus' half of Grade 3:

Story of the World Volume 2 - Middle Ages

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Howard Pyle)
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Howard Pyle)
Shakespeare

Write With the Best Volume 1
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 3
Spelling Workout C
Latina Christiana I (continuing through Grade 4)

Math-U-See Beta

Ta-Da!

Maybe it's a function of having made such neurotically detailed plans in the past, ones that began with first grade and continued all the way through twelfth being burned into the deepest recesses of my mind, or perhaps it's just that I am so darn elastic, but it occurred to me that before I pack all my books to be shipped back, a process that could take up to 14 weeks via sea freight, I'd better consider setting some aside to use with Grice when we get back, because -- and she does not realize this yet -- she will be returning to a home education situation, but lo! and behold! in under 30 minutes I had a complete curriculum lined up for her, one that not only meshes easily with her younger sister, Elle's, but maximizes the additional six months we have given the fact she is somewhere near the mid-point of eighth grade by Florida standards as opposed to having completed eighth here in Queensland, closes some obvious gaps left by her public schooling, gets her right back on track in our loosely classical way ready for a Great Books study the last three years of high school, and continues on up to twelfth grade fulfilling standard college prep requirements.

Phew.

If you had told me I would have to consider all those factors and submit an official timely draft to some homeschool authority I would have been fairly worked up about it, but as I was just tossing off an email to the mother of her best friend and homeschool buddy back in Florida to find out where her daughter was academically, contemplating an easier transition back to home ed for Grice if she and her friend were on similar tracks, I realized that in mentioning my 'tentative' plans for Grice I had basically nailed it the first time.

Without further ado, here are the resources for the remaining (bonus) half of Grade 8:

The World of Columbus and Sons (Genevieve Foster)
The World of Captain John Smith (Genevieve Foster)
The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way (Joy Hakim)
The Story of Science: Newton at the Center (Joy Hakim)

Shakespeare

Write With the Best Volume 1
Easy Grammar Plus; Daily Grams Jr./Sr. (continuing through Grade 9)
Henle Latin I (continuing through Grade 9)

Saxon Algebra 1/2 (continuing through Grade 9)
Critical Thinking Book 1

Grade 3 - The Reality

This is barely recognizable as the Grade 3 Plan, altered as it has been from the time it was first submitted to the authorities to the time real life kicked in, like now, during her spontaneous trip to Florida with her father. I should have definitely included the coda at the end of last year's proposed plan: Or not, and will be sure it makes it into this year's written review.

We stuck to the basic idea of using relatively few classic, if not purely classical materials, quality versus quantity and depth versus breadth still our goal, and much was left unplanned for those fascinating rabbit trails to lead us off on tangents, but the exact materials varied quite a bit from the ones originally stated.

First of all, I found it tiresome and trying to mesh all her language arts with whatever books we were reading at the time. I'm not interested in creating a curriculum from scratch (not anymore, anyway.) And besides that, I've decided Charlotte Mason pretty much matches my preferred style of teaching and Elle's preferred style of learning: Short, gentle instruction; not boring her to tears over-analyzing an otherwise enjoyable tale. I say 'pretty much' because we are adapting it for our own purposes following The Well Trained Mind's four-year chronological history plan, but remaining a bit looser than Ms. Mason would probably have preferred. Becky at Farm School gets the credit for that. Out with the Harvey's and in with the First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 3, a book that works well within a Charlotte Mason framework, particularly for a child like mine who enjoys workbooks. The grammar lessons are short and incorporate usage, mechanics, diagramming, memorizing selections of poetry, copywork, dictation, and narration. Most importantly for her, there was not a lot of writing. We had done the first book (covering First and Second Grades) orally so she was familiar with the program. Elle needed a separate, specific spelling program. Trying to manage something on my own was too scattershot for my not-quite-natural speller, so instead of re-researching every single last option I just went with Spelling Workout which we'd used before. Level C was a good fit and she likes it because it's a workbook. The Commonplace Book is now dedicated to her non-schoolwork journal writing.

We read Andrew Lang's Fairy books as planned, but I switched to Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and added Otto of the Silver Hand because the library had the first one and I had the second one. Our little local council recently merged with the big city council and access to a really good library system seems to be the only benefit to the amalgamation so far, but I'm very pleased. The new and improved library enabled us to supplement with many more topical books than I originally planned. We might get to Pyle's The Story of King Arthur and His Knights when she gets back.

Where we did stick to the plan was with Latin. She finished Prima Latina and is ready to begin Latina Christiana I.

Math-U-See Alpha was completed but we haven't even begun Beta. We'll pick this up when she gets back and move through it quickly enough to get her into Saxon 5/4 by early next year. She doesn't care for the manipulatives and I don't care for the constant reminders to "use the blocks!"

We're nearly at the halfway point in the Story of the World 2, and we'll keep going until we finish it.

Tennis lessons never materialized after our coach hurt his back. Elle dropped Aikido, deciding one day she hated it and didn't want to go back. Exercise and socializing was instead unstructured and took place at friends' houses and playgrounds. We still play chess. She can beat me. Maybe when she gets back, if we can coordinate it with Sarabelle's afterschool activities to save on fuel, she could take gymnastics or dance down in town.

I am ultimately flexible. It will be fun to see how well the authorities deal with spontaneity and deviation.

Grade 3 - The Plan

Below is the plan as submitted to the state authorities in our homeschool renewal application. I neglected to add the following coda to the end of the report: Or not.


Educational Program for [Elle]
Application for Registration for Home Education
Item 6


SUMMARY:

We have chosen to home educate [Elle] using classical materials organized along a chronological study of history, guided by the principle of multum non multa: not many things, but much, and incorporating ideas of self-led learning as espoused by Benjamin Franklin and John Holt.

Timeless imaginative literature, fairy tales, legends, plays, and poetry will be utilized as a foundation for language lessons. Along with the reading of classics, [Elle] will be engaged in a formal study of grammar using selections from these same books. Narration, penmanship, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation skills will be incorporated according to her ability. [Elle] will also keep a Commonplace Book, a daily journal of lessons or ideas particularly interesting or important to her, not limited to language arts. Language skills will be further enhanced with a continuing study of Latin.

Mathematics will be taught using a manipulatives-based program and exposure to real life math in everyday situations.

History will continue to be studied chronologically focusing on the Middle Ages using readings from our spine texts and appropriate supplementary literary selections. Exposure to the arts and culture of the historical period will be accomplished through corresponding themed craft projects selected to capture her interest, and her chess skills will be honed as another thematic tie to the era under study.

Participation in extracurricular activities including membership in local junior tennis club lessons and aikido lessons will round out her need for social development and provide physical fitness opportunities.

Lessons will be short with an emphasis on excellent execution for focused attention and variation, and to enable [Elle] to enjoy creative free time. Character development will be a priority.

CORE RESOURCES

Commonplace Book

Harvey’s Elementary Grammar – Mott Publishing
The Red, Blue, Green, Yellow Fairy Books – Andrew Lang
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table – Roger Lancelyn Green
The Adventures of Robin Hood – Roger Lancelyn Green
Tales From Shakespeare – Charles and Mary Lamb

Latina Christiana I – Memoria Press

Math-U-See Alpha – Ethan Demme
Math-U-See Beta – Ethan Demme

Story of the World Volume 2: Middle Ages – Susan Wise Bauer
Story of the World Volume 2: Middle Ages Activity Guide – Susan Wise Bauer
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia – Kingfisher

Tennis Lessons
Aikido Lessons
Chess

Ancient Wonders

SPC. Milo Freeman visits the Ziggurat of Ur.

Accountability

A large manila envelope arrived in the mail Friday from the department of education. Was this my long-awaited acceptance to the homeschool advisory committee? Would there be a train, or better yet, plane ticket to Brisbane for our first meeting? No and no. It was the pre-end-of-the-year-reporting package.

The ability to continue writing your own course of study is dependent upon the department's acceptance of your report and plans for the following year's study. Required are two writing samples, two math samples, and four additional samples from two subjects of my choosing, each collected three to six months apart to clearly indicate an increase in learning. But we work for mastery. As part of Elle's Classical Writing - Aesop projects, the finished products have been edited into their best form, so you don't get to see the spelling or grammatical errors or their improvement. The only indication of an increase in learning might be seen in the length and complexity of the narrations and the more advanced vocabulary. Submitted material must also be an original work of the child's, no photocopies are allowed -- under the reasoning that the fine work cannot be appreciated in a reproduced state, color laser copiers notwithstanding -- so books must be pulled apart and her precious original Aesop retellings and illustrations sent off to sit in someone's file cabinet never to be seen again in order to satisfy their demands. For math, I will gladly tear apart the Queensland Maths book we began and then dropped to show how much confusion it inspired, and submit a couple of our own timed addition drills to show an increase in speed and accuracy, a skill the authors of their math book did not concern themselves with. Accompanying each set of exhibits must be an analysis of the skills learned, challenges that occurred, explanation of how the second example shows more learning has happened, what did or did not work, and what is next. In conclusion their recommended format asks for the child's remarks on what they learned and what they enjoyed about the submissions.

For the two other elective subjects, one area for consideration is sporting activities, one I will include as we have concrete evidence. Recommendations for documenting efforts include collecting trophies and awards, but how, exactly, following their own guidelines, do those show advancement in learning? Elle received a free McDonald's cheeseburger participation certificate, an encouragement award, and a first place trophy. That might suffice, but she didn't win them in that order. How, in their words, "does the achievement relate to the rest of the students [sic] learning/life? Are there lessons in the sport for other areas of achievement/personal development?" Latin, history review questions, and memorized poetry recitations have all been done orally. If we had been keeping audio recordings of them, who's to say she didn't just read the poems like a script? Who's to say she didn't just record them yesterday? Other history papers were merely coloring sheets from The Story of the World Activity Guide. She's probably staying inside the lines a little better, but that was not one of my specific short term goals for her.

What does this reporting process prove?

That I will not be using their recommended format.

That the authors of the reporting sample rely on spell check only and do not carefully proofread their own work.

That when I write my report using my own format the opening comments will probably contain a quote or two from Holt along the lines of, "[Children learn by seeing] the world as a whole, mysterious perhaps, but a whole none the less. They do not divide it up into airtight little categories, as we adults tend to do. It is natural for them to jump from one thing to another, and to make the kinds of connections that are rarely made in formal classes and textbooks."

That choosing the Distance Education option, which most people schooling at home do, is much easier.

That the qualities that makes homeschooling unique and valuable are not really understood by Queensland's powers that be nor most of the people calling themselves homeschoolers.

Not one single thing about what Elle has or has not learned this year.

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.

Classic

Sarabelle was appalled. She checked Barbara Leonie Picard's retelling of The Iliad of Homer out from her school library and discovered the last time anyone had bothered to take the book from the library was FEB 1993, and prior to that JUN 1978.

I'm wondering what caused the flurry of activity in 1973 and 1978.

Projects

Jorge and I feel we are short-changing our youngest daughter, Elle. Sarabelle is the oldest and, as most first-borns do, received loads of one-on-one quality time with us. Gracie was treated to extensive Mommy-time a few years later when Jorge stepped in, toting toddler Sarabelle around with him for the better part of a year to give me a break. Both then had plenty of attention lavished on them as we began our homeschooling efforts. Elle is now past the point where Gracie started her home education, Kindergarten, and only one year shy of the extent of Sarabelle's institutional education, third grade (up until our recent return to mass schooling this year.) We have been tossing the idea around about keeping Elle out next year and doing it at home again to give her the same exclusive attention and foundation her sisters received in their younger years. Her final report card for first grade was outstanding even with the new tougher state guidelines imposed, the ones that said be happy with all Cs on your child's report card because that's average, where most people are, and it's a solid, respectable grade. In our parent-teacher meeting the teacher even threw out that seldom-used, non-egalitarian term "gifted" to indicate her special needs. Next year she would be in a composite class of first, second, and third graders, which would allow the teacher to stretch her lessons to fit her if need be. And while they don't have specific, separate programs designed for those particular G-word students, the teachers are all trained to adjust their curriculum and technique to suit the child. It sounded pretty good to me. But then Elle overheard our discussion and asked if she could please do homeschool.

How could we say no?

The problem is our finances. We are floating an awful lot of expense and Jorge's present employment situation is just barely stemming the flow. I feel guilty that he has to work two jobs while I sit back and play secretary for the new local tennis club and stop in for a cuppa with neighbors. I need to bring home some bacon too.

But today while poking around a few websites for Australian homeschool alternatives, my thoughts returned to the idea of establishing a small, non-profit private school, something along the lines of Mortimer Adler's Paideia Proposal. A little didactic, a little guided project, a little Socratic seminar... I've met and heard of a few other folks around our area who home educate, maybe they would have some interest. I'm sure there would be interest from the tony resort town down the range, especially where the only other option is a slightly shabby Catholic school in a nearby blue-collar town. My searches led me to a wealth of information on grants available to non-government schools. In addition to providing major one-time capital investments, the goverment regularly subsidizes private learning facilities on the average of about fifty percent. The beauty of it, maybe even if I only had my own child and one other as the entire student body, is that I could pay myself a salary. It sounds too good to be true, which means that it probably is, so I really need to do my homework on this one.

At least the grant writing seminar I took to help out the community center, primary school, and tennis club seems to have been money well spent.

Anyway, for Christmas all Elle wanted me to get her was a history book, so I bought her Story of the World Volume 1. I couldn't help but order the activity guide to go along with it. Just in case.

Confession of a Classical Homeschooler

Bless me Father Henle, for I have sinned.

It has been four weeks since our last lesson. Your books and those of Saxon sit upon my shelves unopened. I lack the discipline to continue forcibly teaching Homer's stories.

For these and for all the sins of my past didactic life, I am sorry.

Once upon a time I was a card-carrying, true blue Classical Homeschooler, not a neo-classical educator, but one who understood that the trivium, Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, were subjects unto themselves, part of a larger picture that along with the studies of the quadrivium made up a true liberal education, rather than being mere stages of childhood development. After intense research and planning I boiled down our curriculum to Latin, math, The Iliad, and The Odyssey along with a handful of other classical authors. I was astonished at the beauty and simplicity of my plan, the depth, the interconnectedness, the inexpensiveness.

Then I thrust my children into public school. And it wasn't so bad. The girls, being bright eager learners ahead of their peers, were there primarily to socialize.

Eager to hang on to my hard-won title of Homeschool Mom, we entered a new era of home education, Complementary Homeschooling. The girls were doing very well in class and were enjoying the benefits of lessons I could only dream of effectively teaching: Art, manual arts, sports, Japanese, science... The basics however, math and English, were being covered in only a most elemental way. The full-blown original plan metamorphosized into enhancing what they were learning in school at home, keeping up with advanced algebra, grammar, and Latin lessons. Like Icarus, I ignored common sense and the warnings of others and my high flying plans were brought swiftly back to Earth: There were horses to ride, creeks to swim, cubby houses to be built, woods to be explored, birds to be watched, flowers to be picked...

So here I am. With a new plan.

Leaving the adequate, but very fundamental mathematical instruction to the paid professionals, and acknowledging that higher concepts will eventually be taught in future years' elective (but mandatory, for my students) courses, I am now endeavoring to teach only those courses I deem absolutely necessary for scholarship: Logic and rhetoric. Are there any subjects more important than being able to think analytically and to express oneself with precision in spoken or written language? More important than creating sound arguments and identifying fallacies?

What about Latin? Great stuff, no doubt. I have taught myself more than I learned in high school and my hopes are that my children will be inspired one day to teach themselves as well. I've certainly got all the books. I've read Climbing Parnassus and I get it, I appreciate it, I believe it, but for practicality's sake, the focus will be on critical thinking and proper communication. Those are life skills no matter what language you specialize in. Skills that can be worked quite naturally into daily life.

What about Homer? There's no way my kids won't have a familiarity with, if not deep down understanding of, many great authors and their tales. It's who we are. Like I said before, I've got all the books, at least to get them started. We are a family of voracious readers, books left around get read and then discussed, not formally, but over dinner, or in the car, or while watching television.

Actions speak louder than words. If our children see their parents continually challenging themselves and continuing to learn, they will follow suit. It's simple, really. My kids still think it's fun to take out their math books from time to time and do a few pages. I'm resigned to not forcing the issue. Learning autodidactically or by instruction should be enjoyable.

In my heart of hearts I am still a Classical Homeschooler though I no longer have that beautifully coordinated, educationally dense, minimalistic curriculum I started with, the portable schoolhouse resources brazenly posted in my sidebar, but the information I wish to impart to my students, based purely on the trivium and quadrivium, no matter who is leading the lesson, is still in keeping with the objectives of classical education.

Excelsior, for ever and ever, amen.

Ominous

Omnibus I: Biblical and Classical Civilizations, Veritas Press’s new student text, is a thought provoking course with interesting topic introductions, great follow up comprehension questions and discussion prompts, if, and it’s a big ‘if’, you share the specific brand of Christianity that the authors espouse.

I was brought up Catholic, so have some familiarity with various Christian teachings, although Catholics are sometimes seen as having their own misguided beliefs by other followers of Christ, and have had past success incorporating materials from other Christian publishers, most notably Tapestry of Grace. The providential thinking underlying TOG’s materials mirrored the beliefs of many of the founding fathers in the era we were studying. Did I agree with it all? No, of course not, but we worked around it, using it secularly, and many deep conversations ensued regarding varying points of view. Tearing into my copy of Omnibus, I was hopeful, in the beginning, that I could adapt most of the information, minimally editing to reflect morals and virtues rather than exact beliefs.

So, can Omnibus be used secularly? Not no, but H-E-double-hockey-sticks no, at least for this girl. The Bible, in a literal interpretation, is the ultimate authority here. Everything is clearly black and white, and every topic or character trait is evaluated through numerous scripture readings. While there are a few questions or discussions in each chapter that could suit my needs, for me, it does not justify owning the book.

Which leads me to wonder how or why one should even have such discussions or bother joining the Great Conversation when one already has all the answers? It’s indoctrination, pure and simple. A true classical education and this type of Christianity, or any other religious affiliation with such heavy blinders on, are mutually exclusive.

Omnibus left me with mixed feelings: It is a beautiful, hefty, hardcover textbook, filled with rich illustrations of magnificent artworks and in-depth analysis of subjects written to the student. It is just what I would have hoped to find for my own use, had it not been filled with such slanted convictions. I cannot think of another book that left me feeling so insulted for holding my particular viewpoints.

Clearly, I am going straight to Hades.