Crocheting

My mother has been teaching me to crochet during her visit and I am really enjoying it. I am almost finished with my first project - a scarf for Ciaran. Then I will make another scarf and move on to baby blankets for some friends.

I really enjoy the feeling of productivity that comes with crocheting. I also enjoy the ease of correcting knitting as I watch myself tear out rows of work to correct a mistake. I like that I can get something accomplished while doing other things and with my busy life that I can pick it up and put it down as needed.

I have never been crafty or good with projects like sewing, knitting or making much of anything. My mother is tremendously talented in these areas and she is thankfully a patient teacher who is willing to still teach me - even as an adult. I am thankful for that.

I also think it is good for my kids to see me learning a new skill. To watch how I learn, persistent and deal with the frustrations that go with learning a new skill. I am trying to be a good example to them even in my learning process now.

It is nice to have found a new hobby that I enjoy and feel productive with at the same time. I have my mother and Rhiannon to thank. My mother for teaching and inspiring me. My daughter for leading me to chose to learn now because she wants me to be able to teach her how to do it. Helps me live out my belief that you are never to old to learn something new.

Peace,
Tenn

Jupiter

Jupiter is visible in the sky now. Here are some fun pictures.

Peace,
Tenn

Recent Activities

It has been a slower week on school here at our home. We have just been trying to take time to enjoy Grandma's visit. Yesterday was a puzzle morning, the kids each did about 6 puzzles. They needed some calming activities as they were sort of bouncing off the walls again. Rhiannon and I read a book about Germs and then talked about them quite a bit, she wants to do an experiment with growing mold today that she learned about there.

Grandma has taken time to read them books as well and Rhiannon has even managed to practice her reading some. We have been talking about different G words and just moving through our week with the letter. Yesterday they took some time to listen to definitions of all the G words listed in their interactive dictionary. Grandma was making Rhiannon curtains and a comforter for her room so the kids got to watch her working on the sewing machine some. This will be Rhia's first "girl" room with purple gingham and a beautiful blanket Grandma made her to go on top of the comforter. Even Ciaran got a new makeover to his room choosing a "Finding Nemo" theme.

Thankfully Sirah was back to herself yesterday, happy and playful. Recently, she has been quite crabby due to her sickness. She really wants to crawl, she keeps rocking back and forth and she moves from a sitting position to a crawling position quite often, but then she falls on her tummy and gets mad. She still shows no interest in rolling over - she just wants to sit up and be in the middle of it all. I am glad that grandma gets to spend atleast some of her visit with a happy girl.

We have been making file folder games again - this time for a friend's birthday party. I made 9 games this week to divide up among 3 of Ciaran's friends with upcoming or recent birthday's. Ciaran was excited to pick out which ones to make and I will put the finishing touches on some for a birthday party we have today.

The snow is melting here again, though it is still cold. Yesterday I awoke to a sunny day and was excited to get the kids outside until I saw the weather and realized it was 14 degrees again and negative with the windchill, even the dog didn't want to stay outside for long. We are supposed to warm up to near 30 this weekend. March is such a confusing month in Minnesota, it seems you never know what you will get next and just when you think the spring is coming, winter roars back in like a bear.

Peace,
Tenn

Unknown Routines

We have been blessed with a visit from Grandma for the past week and it is a lot of fun. We are all really enjoying our time together. During this time I discovered something I did not know - we have become a family of routines! I guess I did not realize that we have paterns to our days that we follow and the benefits of those patterns until we stopped following them. We are enjoying our visit though and I am glad we let things go for awhile.

The kids and I have a rhythm to our days that I enjoy. We spend a lot of time reading together snuggled up on the couch and time in spontaneous lessons. We sing and dance and just be crazy together. Our whole week has a pattern as well. We tend to do certain things on certain days. I have cleaning and laundry routines and I think the kids even have some routines to their play. I never realized all of that until we stopped doing it. I wonder how many people just settle into the patterns of life without realizing it.

A break from routine can be a nice change of pace as it has been in this case. A return to routine is also nice as you settle back into your days. I have decided to extend our G week into next week as well. This break has been informative to me of both the things I like and do not like about our routines. Hopefully we will be able to continue the things we like and let go of the things we do not. I suppose we all have habits - both good and bad and it is important every once in awhile to realize and evaluate them and continually improve upon them.

Peace,
Tenn

Staying at Home as a Career

I just finished watching Mona Lisa Smile with Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst and Julie Stiles. I enjoyed the film far more than I suspected I would. Not being one to blog about film reviews - I will make an exception. One particular part of the film really struck a chord with me. One student (played by Stiles) has been accepted to Yale Law school in the 1950's and she decides to get married instead and leave law school behind. Roberts (who plays her professor) is critical of the decision - fearing that Stiles is giving up her future for a man. Stiles does a nice job acting out the response to this with integrity. She stands up for the decision to stay at home and be a wife and mother. She stands up for the decision to want to raise your family and be there for them. She stands up for woman who choose to be housewives and stands against the stereotypes so many others have of them.

It reminded me of the time when I had to make my own tough decision and the criticism I received for it. I chose to stay home with my kids. I have a Masters degree and was the top student in my year. I could have easily found a job and started a promising career. I could have continued in nearly any PhD program I wanted - but I chose to stay at home and raise my family. Serona and I felt committed to having a parent at home to raise our children and so far we have been able to do that. Thankfully it has been me, I have been blessed with the opportunity to raise my children at home.

Some people thought I was wasting my talent and education. Others thought I would regret my decision. Still others thought I was making an unnecessary sacrifice. I was doing none of the above. I made a decision that was the best I could ever have made and my whole family will reap the benefits of it. I love being a stay at home mother, I love being here for each moment of my children's life and I love the life I live.

I use my education and talents nearly every day. I believe I am using it to a far greater end than I ever could working in a career (though I still feel I have a very important and special career). This movie and the passionate response Stiles gives reminds me of my choices and how firmly I believe in them.

I understand that many people make different choices and that is fine - their life their choice. I just want the same respect for my decisions. Over the years many of those same people who were critical have seen that I made a good choice for me and my family and that we are happy this way. Some just dismissed me when I made my choice, their loss. I am doing what I intended to do. I am raising my family, I volunteer and I use my talents and abilities to help my community and those around me. I am learning something new every day and teaching my children new things all the time. I am there for my friends and my new "colleagues". I have learned that you can not make sweeping judgments about people, because they always surprise you. I get very frustrated when assumptions are made about me because I am a stay at home mom, even more when they discover I am homeschooling.

The moment in this movie was a refreshing reminder and a nice change from the way the plot was heading. There is value in some of the things we are constantly challenging and people need to be able to think and chose for themselves and we need to respect that as well. I am for progress but I am also for tradition and we do not need to leave one behind for the sake of the other.

Peace,
Tenn

How Do bees make honey?

This was the question Rhiannon asked at lunch today. We weren't even having honey but I guess it popped into her mind somehow. So I was about to give an off the cuff answer about bee spit - when I responded with I am unsure I will look it up for you. She said "well you can do it right now" and pointed to the "answer box" (our computer). I finished making lunch, put Sirah up in the backpack and started my search.

The first site I found was How Stuff Works which gave a rather complex explanation for a 4 year old. Though it was interesting and both simple and technical. I paraphrased it and then Rhiannon said "just read it to me mom, I'll understand it" I told her it was complicated but read. Then they had a cupcake each and I found a much more fun site. I highly recommend a visit to the Honeybee Hive on the PBS site. It is definitely worth the click.

This is a fun multimedia account with fun music and animation and simple short explanations of the processes of pollination, storing honey, larvae, and the beehive (and the different types of bees). My kids really enjoyed it as they sat and watched from the table (our computer screen is wallmounted in our kitchen) finishing their lunch. Rhiannon asked to see every section and even wanted to do them again.

We will finish the lesson up with this fact and coloring sheet from Enchanted Learning and by sketching a bee in our nature notebook. We will also spend a little time browsing this site (mostly for the pictures) on Bee Care.

Peace,
Tenn

Response to NYT article

Daryl has a nice response letter written by the National Home Education Network to the NYT article on Patrick Henry College. The letter answers the claim that the NYT article seems to imply that most homeschoolers are right wing evangelical Christians.

Peace,
Tenn

G week

We began G week yesterday and things will likely be run differently this week as Grandma is visiting. Rhiannon originally wanted to do the letter Z this week but decided that G would be a better option as Grandma was here. We headed to the library last week and filled up with our books for the week. We began yesterday with reading "My G Sound Box" by Jane Belk Moncure. Rhiannon wrote the letter G on the chalkboard and then did a page of practice letter G's in her workbook. She was excited to be able to show Grandma. Ciaran played with green play doh while Rhia and I read about Gulls, googles, gardens, and grandpa's quilt. Rhia then made gulls and the letter G out of playdoh. In the afternoon we put together our G box and filled it with some items like: gorilla, giraffe, goose, grandparents and grandchildren (photo), curious george, green pepper, a few other green items, a gate, grapes, girl, guy, globe, goat, glass, grace and gloria (dolls with G names). Then we made cupcakes with grandma (the hit of the day). I even got to go out sledding with the kids in our yard (which I never get to do) for quite awhile. Rhiannon also read one of her Primary Phonics readers to grandma and I.

One cute moment happened when we were getting ready to make dinner and cupcakes. I asked the kids what they wanted to listen to while we cooked and Ciaran said "classical music" and Rhiannon said "Vivaldi" and I reminded them that they could both be happy because Vivaldi was classical music. They were both content with that. It is so nice to me that the kids enjoy listening to classical music, and are learning to ask for composers by name.

Well off to enjoy this G day and whatever it brings our way.

Peace,
Tenn

Blog Survey

Michelle over at mikao's world is conducting a survey for her thesis on blogging. You can complete the survey here.

Peace,
Tenn

Education Week: Home Schooling article

An education week article offers some interesting information about homeschooling. From the article:

Data from the U.S. Department of Education suggest that although families who home school represent a wide spectrum of racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, most are white, religious, and conservative. Most are also well educated, middle-class, and have two or more children. According to a survey of parents who home school their children, almost 50 percent say they do so because they believe they can offer them a better education at home. Another 38 percent cite religious reasons. About a quarter say they want to avoid exposing their children to what they consider traditional schools "“poor learning environments"” (Bielick, et. al., 2001)."

I suppose our family fits that demographic as well. Our reasons for homeschooling also cross all the reasons listed. Primarily we believe we can meet our children's individual educational needs better than the public school or even private school system. We also disagree with much of that which is taught and is not taught in the school systems. The fact that our children are not "socialized" in a Lord of the Flies type environment is an added benefit in our minds as well. See my post on socialization here.

To read more check out >Education Week: Home Schooling .

Peace,
Tenn

College for the Home-Schooled

The NYT has an article about Patrick Henry College, the first college primarily for evangelical Christian home-schoolers. It is an interesting piece and worth the read. Some of the numbers quoted raise my eyebrows and I wonder where they are coming from. I also thought the link being made between homeschoolers and politics was interesting.

Read the whole article.

Peace,
Tenn

First Recital

Recently Rhiannon had her first Irish Step Dance recital. It was so wonderful to watch and we were so proud of her. It seemed like the show did not last long enough - her part being just a few minutes long. But after all the hassles and headaches about not wanting to practice - she ended up leading her little group - she remembered her steps and even smiled - which she said she was not going to do. I think she enjoyed herself - she definitely enjoyed being with her friends and being on stage, and she does like dancing.

The morning of the show however she woke up "sick" with a tummy ache and leg aches. Suspecting this was nerves we talked about it - she cuddled some with grandma and then cuddled some with me and finally ate breakfast. She was not excited about going and actually trying (not very hard) to get out of it. We talked about being nervous and how it was normal. Serona told her he still gets nervous when he goes on stage and grandma told her that she always got nervous before she gave a speech on TV. Rhiannon said that "her bones were pounding in her chest" which is usually what she says when she feels guilty about something - but she said "but I know I didn't do anything wrong" then we talked about "butterflies in the stomach" and I held her hand on the way to the show. Serona took her backstage and she perked up when she saw her friends from class. She did very well during the show and we were so proud of her. Grandma from New York came to visit (thus the light blogging) and bought her some special gifts including her first claddaugh ring! It was so exciting to have her at the show as a special guest.

I had those same mixed feelings I had last time she performed (that time was a play) that my "baby" is growing up. I really don't look at her as a baby (perhaps having two younger causes that) mostly because of the way she talks and holds herself. But still there was that sadness that she is growing up already and yet it was mostly excitement and pride at what a great job she did. This was one of her first tests at sticking power - there were a few times she did not want to continue (mostly when it came time to practice) and we almost pulled her from the class in December. Rhia then made the decision to stay with it and the commitment to practice and she did follow through (though I can not say without complaint). It paid off on the day of the dance recital. I'm glad she stuck it out even at a young age - we left the decision up to her in December and she chose to continue.

This is a natural progression and one that I don't feel came to soon. She was ready - more so than we were - but we were too (whether or not I want to admit it). 2004 has already been a big year for her - learning to read, first play, first recital, and mastering several other skills. She is so mature for her age and her vocabulary continually astounds me. We really have excellent conversations and she asks so many questions (both tough and easy ones) of me and everyone who will answer her. I hope her inquisitive nature never dies and that she continues to choose to stick with things even when they are challenging at times.

Irish step dance was good for us for many reasons - she learned more about dance and her culture and how to interact with other kids and a "teacher". But mostly I think she learned about herself. She had to make some choices and then live by them for good or for bad and she did (mostly for good). For once something did not come so easily to her and she actually had to work at it. She had to accept and learn that she wasn't the "best" at something but that she could still give her "best" and she had to learn to stay the course and practice even when she didn't want to. She also had to overcome her fears and insecurities that are a natural part of nerves before a big event. I really am proud of how she handled herself and how well this first performance went.

Peace,
Tenn

More Lost Rights for Parents

The Fresno Bee has a nice piece discussing Ritalin and school aged children. Sadly California legislators just defeated a bill in committee that would have freed parents of some of the strangeholds the public school system has on them. From the article:

"AB 1424, defeated in committee, would have provided that parents cannot be charged with abuse or neglect of their children if they refuse the administration of psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs, including Ritalin, to their children. While AB 1424 was but a small step, it would have represented a break in the stranglehold that the psychiatric/ pharmaceutical industry has on the treatment of so-called attention-deficit disorders.

The diagnostic process often begins in the schools because teachers, administrators and psychologists have been seduced by the industry's propaganda, legitimized by the media, that ADD/ADHD is a biological disease. Too often the first identification of an ADD/ADHD child comes from a classroom teacher. Finding a doctor who will prescribe Ritalin is easy since most have bought into the neurobiological lie."

..."Parents are not told that the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies Ritalin as a Schedule II drug in the same category as cocaine. Nor are parents informed of the side effects of Ritalin, including loss of appetite, sleeplessness, tics, growth inhibition, brain shrinkage and depression."

To think that parents can give up so much control to schools without even knowing it is frightening to me. It is sad that this measure lost. Another reason to be glad we homeschool. To read the whole article visit The Fresno Bee.

Peace,
Tenn

Conservatives and Academic Freedom

Mark Bauerlein of Emory University has a nice write-up on the problems many conservatives face in the world of academia. He discusses their fight for freedom to express their ideas and beliefs without censorship. From his piece:

"As conservatives ask for greater intellectual diversity, this is the rejoinder we're going to hear every time. Defenders of current practices will shout about censorship and zealotry even though our proposals merely ask that conservative opinion be granted a modest place in the curriculum and in student life. Moreover, their accusations will be simple, powerful, and soundbite-friendly, aligned (ostensibly) with democratic ideals and fitted to op-ed and talking head formats."

The whole thing is worth a read.

Peace,
Tenn

Argument 101: Why Kerry Is Wrong

Listening to the The Hugh Hewitt Showtonight and I came across this gem from John Kerry: "I believe this president has run the most arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country. And we need to hold him accountable."

I have heard many complaints against President Bush and the one thing they often have in common is apparent in this claim. They are just that - claims without warrants. As a former debater that is a pet peeve of mine, as a Communications scholar it is an understandable political strategy. Let's go for the soundbyte and make it a good enthymeme and let the audience supply their own evidence (not caring that we do not have any ourselves). As a mother and educator I think it is important for people to recognize and defeat bad argument when they see it. Remember to be an argument there must be a warrant to go with the claim.

So let's take a closer look at Kerry's statement. I would like to examine the words he chooses to use and define them each individually. I choose to use www.dictionary.com for definitions as I believe the site represents a good common person understanding of terms.

Kerry begins with using the words "the most" which mean "Greatest in amount, extent, or degree" so by choosing this term he is saying that President Bush has done "x" more than any of the other president's before him. Using his modifier of in "modern history of our country" (which he does not define) we can consider John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. As the audience we are to compare President Bush's actions to the actions of these 8 president's that have gone before him with respect to foreign policy, be defined as "a policy governing international relations".

Kerry claims that President Bush has surpassed all 8 of these men in being "arrogant, inept, reckless and ideological". Look at the definition of each word carefully.

1. Arrogant: Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance.

2. Inept: Displaying a lack of judgment, sense, or reason; foolish

3. Reckless: Heedless or careless. Headstrong; rash.

4. Ideological: Of or relating to ideology - defined as " A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system."

You may ask why define all the terms? Well based on the criteria Kerry set up himself all is takes is ONE counter example to any ONE of his issues to disprove his statement. Of course I contend you need not even have a counter example when there is no warrant given in the first place. But for fun, can we come up with some? I encourage all my readers to add some of their own in the comments. But all it takes is one to prove Kerry is wrong.

A few that jump to my mind:

The Cold War: I do believe one would have a hard time defining President Bush as more ideological than any of the president's during the Cold War. It seems to be that ideology defined much of foreign policy during the years of Vietnam, the nuclear arms race with the USSR and the fall of Communist Russia.

Bay of Pigs : The handling of the Bay of Pigs situation emboldened Cuba to increase relations with Russia and may have led to the Cuban Missle Crisis.

Iran Hostage Crisis: The presidential handling of this led to over a year of the hostages being held.

Captain Ed offers up several more counterexamples to this claim by Kerry, such as:

"1979 - 2000 - America either retreats in the face of successive attacks by Islamofascist terrorists or attempts to negotiate with them, instead of attacking them outright. Incidents include the Teheran embassy hostages, the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, a string of hostage-taking in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center bombing, Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, simultaneous attacks on two American embassies in Africa, and a suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen."

He also provides a nice defense of Bush. Any one of these points is enough to disprove Kerry's statement. Irregardless of what you may think of President Bush - you need to realize that Kerry's statement is just plain false and hyperbole. It is easy to disprove and impossible to prove. But it will make the news and some Americans will sadly fill in their own rationale and believe it to be true - when it plainly is not. Learn to recognize, question and disprove poor argument and teach your kids to do the same.

Perhaps it is John Kerry who needs to be held accountable for his word choice and his senate record.

Peace,
Tenn

Why I Love Musicmatch

Well I finally purchased Musicmatch Jukebox MX after much hemming and hawing and I am so glad we did. Our house is wired to work very nicely with this system. We have a Lyra to our surrond sound system and a computer upstairs and another downstairs so nearly every room in the house can listen to the music.

We have had the free service for a long time but recently upgraded and I love the "Artist on Demand" function. It is like having an unlimited CD collection and for homeschooling it is so nice. They have composers on demand - which allows you to select one or multiple artists to listen to - so each day we listen to Vivaldi (semester composer)and then a composer of the week.

They have a lot of variety. Recent listens include: Enya, Chant (monks), Erasure, Indigo Girls, Phish, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Caedmon's Call, Rich Mullins, Nicole Nordeman, Sarah McLachlan, Pink Floyd, Lorenna McKennit, Howard Jones, Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Billy Joel, James, Barenaked Ladies, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Everclear, Dan Fogelberg and Sheryl Crow. But they have much more variety than that. Well worth the money if you have dsl/cable and a nice speaker system.

Peace,
Tenn

Water on Mars

Serona has a great post over at C y b e r :: E c o l o g y on the recent discoveries found on Mars. I like the picture as well. We watched the live web broadcast for schooltime yesterday and the kids really were captivated by the live feeds and bored completely by the scientists (cut them some slack as they are 4 and 2) so I let them play nearby while I watched and then called them up on my lap when the photos were on. Serona watched the whole thing.

Peace,
Tenn

Great C Book

We recently read a great storybook for the letter C. I want to share all the C words contained in "Clara Caterpillar" by Pamela Duncan Edwards:

cream
colored
courageous
contented
Clara
carried
curled
case
considerable
crowd
caterpillars
clustered
coming
commented
cautious
curious
Cornelius
comfortable
called
cares
Catisha
clear
cabbage
common
cruel
cute
cut
clambered
climbed
crawled
capered
carefree
crammed
carrot
cauliflower
colossal
chrysalis
catty
conceited
comforted
crimson
caught
cottony
crinkled
cuddled
crushed
creased
crumpled
cooped
cramped
coiled
corkscrew
cranky
can't
cope
complained
coo-ey
cozy
crack
creatures
cool
captivating
copper
conversing
course
clouds
cobweb
crow
cawed
careful
courage
catch
curved
camellia
confused
cocked
camoflaged
curtain
crestfallen
confident
capture
coast
clear
crisis
congratulations
complimented
clever
cried
colorful
clapped
commanded
cling
close
capable
contented
completely

Whew, what a list. It was a fun book to read too. And after reading the book we talked about many (though not all of the words) and what they meant. I think it is an excellent springboard to talk about charachter, courage and contentment. Just thought I would share.


Peace,
Tenn

Continuing C

Today we worked on our C box and filled it with items that begin with the letter. To name a few currently contained in our container: cat, cheetah, cow, cricket, car, clown, court jester, clara (a favorite doll), clownfish, crab, crayon, chalk, and a crown. Then the kids lost interest and wanted to color with chalk and colored markers. Then we did some reading and practiced counting. I let them watch Nemo after a discussion of clownfish and coral reefs. Again they got a snack of cookies. We worked on classifying cars (emergency, construction, and passanger cars). We also cleaned a little and listened to classical music while we worked and played. I discussed climate with Ciaran and we read Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. This afternoon we have errands and I will let them play with clay, read some more C books and head off to church.

Peace,
Tenn

New Look and Feel

In the upcoming days you will see some minor changes here, please bear with me as I update the site. I have recently added back in a comments function and a recent posts function. Soon I will be cleaning up my side bar and leaving blogrolling behind (I find it too limiting). Unfortunately changes need to be done piecemeal as I have time. Thanks for your patience.

Peace,
Tenn