The Little Red Robot

Liam is currently painting a piece which he will present to Nana for her birthday next month. As he painted and Ewan worked with Color Wonder finger paints (THANK GOD), Liam asked me to paint a robot for his bedroom.

"A red one," he asked.

"You help mix the colors then," I replied.

As a way to teach him about colors, I only purchased red, blue, yellow, and white paint. Liam is responsible for mixing his own colors to get greens, browns, blacks, purples, etc. It's also a major pain in the butt and semi-wasteful as he's not yet adept at it, but he's learned a lot from it. So he mixed the colors and I painted his robot.

It was not as disastrous as the last time I tried to paint. I was inspired by images off Google and works on Etsy for this robot:

At the Starting Gate

We're preparing the house for First Grade.

I'm in the process of moving everything down from the third floor playroom (where Liam did last year's classes) to the dining room because carpet + tacky glue = OMG. 

Berber Carpet also no likey acrylic paint.

I also hate vacuuming.

I thought it was cool that Ewan could play while Liam did lessons but Ewan did not want to play while Liam sat at his desk; Ewan also wanted to sit at Liam's desk and write with his pencil and draw on his worksheets. The plastic Fisher-Price table was offered to Herr Ewan but he informed me that he "DO NOT WANT" and tried to throw it over the baby gate and that was that. He has Second Child Syndrome. That's a story for another day. Needless to say his head is made of stone.

So we back at the dining room table. Ewan likes it that he can sit at the exact same surface as Liam and write with his own pencil on extra worksheets. And he shuts up! THERE IS A GOD.

(Click photo to see notes.)

HALP! What do you use to teach foreign language?

Over at the other website I get a a lot of questions about homeschooling in St. Louis. As an answer, I created a big St. Louis homeschool post which outlines homeschooling resources in the city.

I've decided to stick with Abeka this year and continue supplementing with resale books (I like KONOS activities but the entire unit study is just not practical for us as curriculum). There is nothing more terrifying than me with my debit card in a resale book store. Or a book store period - but I have an incurable disease which makes me think that I need things which are cheap. Because they're ON SALE! Or the price is REDUCED!

While we have not stopped doing activities, practicing handwriting, reading, or math games, Liam's <fingers>official</fingers> first grade year will kick off in September. Also beginning in September: we enrolled him in private, small group art classes with other homeschooled first graders. Make art for mommy's walls, kiddo. Seriously, it looks like I dropped a wad at the Duane Reed gallery in Clayton.

Liam also starts piano with a new teacher in September; his homeschooled group phys ed class begins the second week of the month; and he'll take karate a couple times a week. I know, a homeschool gym class. The kids have fun, the class is cheap, and I remember how much fun I had playing games with other kids and learning about the varying types of physical activities. Like square dancing. Swear to gawd we did a whole thing on square dancing in school. Plus, they get to do the Presidential Physical Fitness tests, with which I won a whole slew of patches in junior high and high school. Liam also will have those patches, competitive parenting, I am lame, shush it.

I have one big question for all of you as this remains the last loose end: I want to teach Liam Spanish. I speak passable French, so I figure I can handle at least the first and possible second year of foreign language with Liam; after that he will go to a co-op Spanish class with other kids his age. But, what curriculum to use? I've heard great things about Rosetta Stone and Power-Glide. Rosetta Stone costs your firstborn child and your soul; though one of the moms in my homeschool group just told me:

"If you go out to St. Charles and apply for a library card at any public library through the reciprocal program they have with the St. Louis system, you can use Rosetta Stone Languages for free on-line through the library. I've heard lot's of great things about Rosetta Stone, but it's very costly to buy (about $200). "

St. Charles is a bit of a haul for me to drive out there so frequently. Plus, it's common knowledge that St. Louisans are terrified of driving over the Missouri River. But it's on my list.  If you teach foreign languages in your home, what do you use? I'd greatly appreciate any direction you could give me.

Where Does Your Flat Stanley Want to Go?

Remember Flat Stanley? Even as a kid, I thought that DFS would be ALL OVER Stanley's folks over how they skimped on air fare. I've been reading Flat Stanley to Liam, who thinks he's hysterical. I recently found out about the Flat Stanley Project, a pen-pal program of sorts. It's different than a regular pen-pal program in that the "pals" have something in common to discuss with Stanley. Stanley has been on the Space Shuttle Discovery, to the Kennedy Space Center, has met presidents, and supreme court justices. The photos are awesome.

Visit the project's website for a list of participants.

Stopping the Buck

Christy, who offered the sanest, most polite disagreement ever witnessed in a public forum EVER - I'm going to check with ClubMom and see if there's like a trophy for that or something because it's so awesome - had this to say in the catfight which took place in the comments.

Basically, I said I love my kids and want to homeschool them. A woman who does her agenda more harm than good interpreted it as saying that if you send your kids to public school you must hate your kids! All public schools are evil! Homeschoolers are too busy being advocates that we overlook our options! I nearly choked on the irony of that last one.

Obviously, I didn't say any of that. I made a personal post. But back to Christy who said this:

The intimation of your statement - and the reason that people are offended by such statements - is that your love alone is enough for your child. For those of us who feel that our children need love from many sources, that can feel like a condemnation of our ability to fulfill our children's emotional needs.

I understand Christy's point. This is not directed at Christy at all, with whom I would so have a glass of wine, I'm just taking her point and sprinting with it. I look at it like this: that's not my problem. I think it's sad when a homeschooler has to buttkiss and preface everything which falls from her mouth with a compliment about public schooling and public school kids because GAWD FORBID someone project their own insecurities into a post and get mad over it.

If I write about how I like homeschooling for my family, someone always comments or e-mails saying that I'm calling public schools evil. If I write about how much Liam has learned this year, someone takes that sentence and believes it to say that I think public school kindergarteners are dumb. The post I made about Liam's art fair win? I got not one but two e-mails from women who, in summation, said "So, what? Are you saying that my kid can't paint because s/he's in public school?" I made that post because I was proud of my son's accomplishment and I wanted to share it. What does that have to do with your kid? Are we grown women or six-graders? Do we join in celebration of our children's achievements or do we tear each other down because it's a false relief for insecurity?   

And people ask me why I'm so defensive about homeschooling. THIS IS WHY. Because I constantly deal with people who project their problems onto me and people who are so narrow-minded they're practicing bigotry without even knowing it. Because I cannot make a single post without having to delete a comment, an e-mail, or deflect some sort of backwoods reasoning. They validate my mantra that homeschooling is not for everyone. This is just online. You wouldn't believe the  rudeness I run into while out in the real world.

I've also adamantly expressed my dislike for the whacked-out system that governs our public schools but at no time have I ever attacked the teachers or the students. I've made that pretty obvious.

This blog receives a lot of visits from those who detest homeschooling as evidenced by the occasional flamewars that crop up, which I snuff out. Those aren't debates, they bear no semblance of intelligent discussion; it's nothing more than someone blinded by advocacy tossing insults into a forum. It detracts from real discussion on the topic but THAT'S THE GOAL.

This blog isn't here for those people to attack others. It's here to honestly chronicle my very personal first steps in homeschooling, a written witness to the obstacles I and my kids meet and the achievements we earn. If that's not your bag, go read another blog. It's that simple. My comment section will not be a stomping ground for bigotry. 

If you want to intelligently contribute, agree or disagree civilly while showing respect to all involved, rock on. If not, don't whine when your comment is not published. Thanks to those who've commented honestly. Thanks to those who expressed disagreement constructively. That's how ideas are exchanged, how movement is facilitated. Nothing is born of ignorance.

I Almost Gave Up

(I'm prefacing this by saying that this is about me. Not you. I always get a few really self-righteous e-mails and comments from people who took something personally that was not about them. So I'm stating the obvious before I begin to save myself from hitting "delete, delete, delete" in my inbox a few times.)

I sent for a packet from the pricey new Christian school that’s offering free tuition for its inaugural year. I’ve stayed away this week because I didn’t know how to write about the decision with which I was wrestling.

I looked everything over.

There were forms to sign to grant permission for them to seek medical care for Liam.
Forms to allow them to administer Tums or Tylenol.
A big application that asked about our family; when I got to the part that asked about what he liked learning the best I decided right then and there that I couldn’t do it.

I do not want to give up homeschooling.

People there have no way of knowing how much Liam loves learning new words, adding a new equation, or how passionate he is about geography and there is no way that three little lines on a black-and-white application are room enough to do it justice.

This application of his interests will be filed away, to be pulled out later. “Oh, student #12 likes learning about geography with an emphasis on desert regions.” These facts about Liam are etched into my heart like a song is etched into vinyl.

Because I realized they were his favorites the same time he did.

For all it cost to print their very nice packet on very nice cardstock (and I'm sure they are lovely people), there was no form guaranteeing that these people would love my child as much as I do. There was no form guaranteeing that they would give their all to advance his knowledge. I have gone whole days (not consecutively) without showering, mornings without breakfast for myself, evenings staying up late, all to read to my kids, answer sudden questions, or just stoke their imaginations. I’ve no guarantee that these people would match my lengths. 

I have no guarantee that they would guide my son according to our faith. Despite some vague mission statements, I don’t know anything about the faith of the administrators, the teachers, the people who will be teaching my child in faith. Not “faith” - I mean their personal interpretation of faith. I would give my life to solidify my child’s faith. Would these people do the same?

No.

And that I thought for a few hours of seriously going through with it, well, honestly, it scares me that I would doubt myself that much. That I would put my child into unknown hands amidst a flurry of forms and signatures.

That I would so easily entertain the idea of giving up.

For what?

To have one less child in the afternoon? To have less of a burden? My children aren’t a burden; they are a boon. I will have many free afternoons when they leave home. The afternoons when I taught Liam to read are so much more valuable to me.

I think we’ve been conditioned by society to give up our children’s reins too quickly, honestly. Mama’s boys are frowned upon. Parents that keep their kids close are scolded for hampering their children’s “independence.” There is a fine line and society is trying to erase it and universally typecast the whole lot.

I am committed to doing whatever it takes to teach my kids, even to the point of removing myself from the equation if or when I reach the limit of what I’m able to teach. It’s not a fairy tale in the perfectly animated sense; but it’s heaven on earth to us, even the days when I’m short on patience. Short on patience, long on love.

Homeschooling isn’t just a hard choice; it’s a hard choice to maintain sometimes.

Liam said once before that he doesn’t want to go to a school. He wants to stay home and learn with me and Ewan. And he will until he decides otherwise.

I have some first-grade curriculum to buy.

If you have ever wondered why someone would homeschool, what motivates a mother to stay home with a herd of children day after day, this is why.
This is what.
Love.

(Edited to add:  As predicted, I deleted a comment from a Teresa who dramatically decided that I am saying that all the kids in public schools have parents who don't love them enough. Right. That's EXACTLY WHAT I WAS SAYING. Some people crave the attention that comes with being "offended.")