Homeschool vs. Public School

This chart is making the rounds today.

I doubt I'll find time to go through and figure out how accurate the stats are here, but it's pretty compelling if it's even mostly true. I do think it's important to remember they are comparing homeschoolers who are "on the grid" vs. every single public school kid in the country, and not parochial or private schools at all. It would be extremely short-sighted to ignore the vast differences among public schools throughout the country, a problem in its own right, to be sure, but as it is, not all public schools are created equally, and seriously underperforming schools are going to drag down the averages. So I'm skeptical about certain parts of the chart, for instance, the high school graduation rate. Yes, it is low on average, but at a stable public high school in a middle class area, that number will be way higher.

However, it's still compelling to look at the college figures, to me. Here, we can see that the average GPA is higher and the college graduation rate is higher, among homeschooled kids. This is where the rubber meets the road, to me. I'd also love to see some data about entrepreneurial experiences beyond high school on this chart (not sure it even exists). My experience tells me that homeschool kids are pursuing these at a much higher rate than your average bear, who is mostly preoccupied with honey and sleeping when it's cold outside, but I digress. To me, this fact is absolutely key when it comes to the heart of the "why homeschool" question, to me. I think it's awesome that so many parents are doing a good job directing, and helping to direct, their college-bound kids academically, and I'm not surprised they do so well in that environment. But.

To me, the beauty of homeschool is the breaking out of the norm of what we've come to expect, and what we've come to understand as "success" in America. College is absolutely the answer for many people, especially if someone dreams of being a professional in a job that requires a lot of academic training. But I'm unconvinced that the traditional, transitional experience is possible for most people these days. It's insanely expensive, and if one of the compelling reasons to send your child to college is the experience rather than the degree, I'm not sure a similar experience couldn't happen in a another way - gap year spent traveling and living in hostels? international volunteerism?

I think homeschool kids might be more likely to see the value in those kinds of experiences, and may be more self-motivated to begin their own entrepreneurial endeavors, taking specific courses as needed, but mostly raising capital and diving in. The fear of failure isn't so overwhelming when it hasn't been drilled into your head for 13 years that college is the only way and you are not successful without it. College is a viable path, and worthwhile in many ways, for many people, but it has changed drastically over the years.

My thoughts are ever-evolving when it comes to higher education, at any rate. Thankfully, we still have lots and lots of time to contemplate this, considering my current preoccupation is deciding what to do for our first grade curriculum in the fall. :) My mind remains open.

Those Wily Hunt Boys

I am in the middle of sheer confusion trying to organize my online life, so bear with me, please. I am sure there are now hundreds of broken links strewn about the web, and here's a new one.

I'll be moving all the homeschool stuff out of my main Cincy Sarah blog and into Those Wily Hunt Boys, this here blog. Then I'll make my website, which is currently in a state of flux because my host is taking 85 years to do something that seems not so complicated to me, point to both of these blogs. Then, I'll update a lot more about our homeschool stuff right here.

Or, I'll just break the entire internet.

My kid is not better than your kid and I'm OK with that

Easter on etsy is a dangerous search term. Find this here.

This article about aggressive parents ruining an egg hunt in Colorado got me all riled up earlier. This is a pretty easy feat, so don't be too intimidated by the power of the words here. They probably won't cause you to vent to your 3-year-old (who patiently stares at you with "oh great, here we go again" plastered clearly across his cherubic face) about the state of the world. But me? I'm still going strong.

Here's the thing. I get it. I get why parents get aggressive sometimes. Life can be hard, unfair, and competitive. It's hard enough to be the one getting the bull's horns in the groin every day, and it's that much worse when it's your kid. I can even get all bristly if one of my kids gets a well-deserved stink eye for kicking the back of someone's seat at the theater. I'm instantly all "Oh, no, you did not. This is a child." In my mind. In reality, thankfully (so far), the Golden Rule kicks in and I realize that I wouldn't be too happy about this, either, and my kid isn't made of glass, so I make my kid stop it and tell them to apologize. And if I manage to do it kindly, the kickee will usually soften considerably, and my kid isn't scarred for life (and stops with the kicking, already). We all want need to be treated with kindness and respect.

But. Here's the other thing. I'm sick of events like an Easter egg hunt for kids turning into an ultra-competitive free-for-all for adults. Stop that. Not only are you tromping all over the smaller kids to grab eggs for your own kids, but what, exactly, is the lesson here? Is it:

A. If everybody else is behaving badly, you need to do it, too, to "even the playing field"?
B. Life is about getting what's "owed" to you because you are entitled by your very existence?
C. I don't have faith in you to get out there and find your own eggs because you can't do anything well enough on your own?
D. In this family, it is shameful to come away empty-handed or with anything but the blue ribbon?
E. Having fun for the sake of just having fun isn't worthwhile?
or maybe
F. It's more important to me that these other parents don't "win" than it is for you to enjoy this experience?

I'm very worried about the helicopter parenting trend. I certainly participate to a degree, though it's an ongoing, conscious effort to relax and stop it. As a homeschooler, I try especially hard to make sure I back off when I can, favoring a lot of self-directed learning. While it warms my heart to hear Anderson talk about wanting to open a store so the whole family can work there together while we all live in the same house together forever, I'm even more excited when he talks about becoming the first astronaut to go to Mars or a chef who travels around the world selling worm-and-chocolate-chip ice cream and hot dogs with any topping anybody could ever dream of ever. I glean a lot of inspiration from places like Free-Range Kids.

I totally get the part about wanting to shield their hearts and shape their experiences so that they are all pain-free. I sincerely do. If I was forced to cry on cue, I'd just conjure up an image of someone hurting one of my son's little hearts.

But it's not our job to cushion their world, and it's a futile exercise, to boot. All we can really do is promise to love them, no matter what. To promise to be proud of them, even when the Easter basket comes back empty, for getting in the game.

Surprise confidence

Anderson, age 5

I've been reflecting on how different I feel compared to last fall, when we were just pushing the ball down the hill of uncertainty. Back then, I'd stay up half the night wondering if we were doing the right thing, worried we were starting down an irreversible path that would lead to failure and heartache. Deciding to keep the kids at home for school was a scary choice, and even though we never quite made it to seriously considering choosing a traditional or private school instead, it's been headache-inducing, nonetheless.

But here we are, a few months in and hitting our stride, I think. It's more than the academic progress, although that helps. I've been doing some assessment lately, mostly out of curiosity. I know where Anderson is, for the most part, with various skills, but I was curious where he measured up lately. While I'm not overly concerned about "grade level," it is a goal for me to make sure he's in the ballpark, just in case. If something unforeseen happened and they wound up in a traditional school setting, the last thing I want them to have to worry about is being way behind. Anyway, he's doing great across the board, working at 1st and 2nd grade level in Math and Science, and reading at approximately 3rd grade level. I'm sure those are not precise measurements, but based on things like the San Diego Quick Assessment for reading. His writing is improving weekly, and most importantly, he's really starting to apply critical thinking more and more.

The best part is that the "organic" part that I was so attracted to when making this decision, is working. I love, love, love that he takes a seed of interest and then nurtures it to an entire garden of knowledge. I can barely keep up with trying to help him find the tools he needs to explore all kinds of topics, and the coolest part is that without a lot of input from me, the seeming chaos always, always culminates in something ordered and valuable. His brain is working the way it's meant to work, and it might not seem clear to me what is going on there at first, but ultimately, it's always clear. After witnessing his process, as it were, for several months now, I can say confidently that he'd have a hard time switching gears all day long in a regular classroom. He is the kind of learner who wants needs to have the freedom to go in a direction for as long as he is able. He sometimes will study the same science concept for 3 days in a row, and not just in the time we set aside for work. He gets completely engrossed, and I don't dare try to switch it up and explain that now it's time to practice spelling or do a set of multiplication tables. Why would I? We'll get to that.

I don't fully embrace the "unschooling" mindset, at least not from the Radical standpoint, but I absolutely support the idea of organic learning. It is hard to deny that a child is fully capable of piloting his own plane when it comes to the method, especially, and harder to insist that we are all served well by the same teaching environment. It's like me and math. I floundered through so much of it in high school, feeling like a complete failure and behind everybody else, an unfamiliar experience for me and one that made me extremely stressed out. I came to loathe math. Years later, I was studying for the Michigan Basic Skills test while working on a master's in teaching, and lo and behold, math really wasn't that bad at all. Given the freedom to approach it in a way that made sense to ME, I actually found it enjoyable. Ironically, I figured that out while working on becoming a traditional teacher. It wasn't long after this experience that I dropped out of the program.

As always, I'm not bashing schools or teachers, especially. I earnestly believe there is more good than bad happening in the public school system, and the connections teachers make with students is often inspirational and life-changing. I'm looking at the whole concept with a wary eye. Maybe I've just read too much Holt, but I'm less and less convinced that what we've always done in terms of education is the right thing for right now.

These days I'm not as timid when I get questioned about what it is we're doing with these kids. I have more confidence and the whole thing isn't quite as mysterious or scary. My stomach doesn't drop to the floor every time we hit a stumbling block. I can breathe through it, respect the power of a little break, and most importantly, I have confidence in Anderson (and David, too), to be the final judge of what he needs and how he needs it.

We simply keep moving forward, and isn't that what life is all about?

"The child is curious. He wants to make sense out of things, find out howthings work, gain competence and control over himself and hisenvironment, and do what he can see other people doing. He is open,perceptive, and experimental. He does not merely observe the world aroundhim, He does not shut himself off from the strange, complicated worldaround him, but tastes it, touches it, hefts it, bends it, breaks it. Tofind out how reality works, he works on it. He is bold. He is not afraidof making mistakes. And he is patient. He can tolerate an extraordinaryamount of uncertainty, confusion, ignorance, and suspense ... School isnot a place that gives much time, or opportunity, or reward, for thiskind of thinking and learning."

~John Holt~ 

Photo documentation that we did something on a Monday

We aren't good at Monday. Usually, we kind of skip it, at least when it comes to school stuff. It's one of those intangibles I so cherish. Every single Monday, when I'm trying to shake off the urge to remain in a weekend state of mind, I thank the universe that I don't have to get up early, get everybody fed and dressed and then drive them somewhere, and both kids take a good day to settle back into the idea of not having Daddy around all the time and so on. We take our weekends seriously, and pay for it come Monday. Because of homeschooling, it works.

But lately, I've been feeling a little weary of pretty much wasting every single Monday that rolls around. Our pursuits are leisurely, and that's OK. I think it's fine to spend a day reading and puttering around, doing housework in a lazy kind of way, with lazy kind of music on and so forth. I'm a champion for idleness (this is where I mention how much I love this book). Really. It's not just a funny, self-deprecating thing I'm saying with the hope that you'll overlook my slovenly lifestyle. Lately, though, we've slid from idleness to near-nothingness. Too much computer. Too much TV. Not enough brain exercising, as Anderson says.

Today This past Monday (this is where you take note of my extreme procrastination tendency), I decided to take advantage of the MLK holiday, which I'd planned to touch on tomorrow (the next day), because well, why not? Kurt was working at home since his office was closed, so it wasn't a "real" Monday already, and we actually all managed to get out of bed early. Basically I pretended it wasn't Monday and we had a great day. Who knew it was this easy. :P

We wound up doing just a little history about MLK's life, put in simple Kindergarten terms. It's a little painful in a way, how few words it takes to explain why he lived his life the way he did, and the price he paid for it. Then, we did a great activity - Multicultural Paper Dolls. Score one for the internet, because I was at a loss about how to incorporate this concept into a Kindergarten lesson. More specifically, score one for No Time for Flashcards, an awesome blog devoted to truly accessible and fun crafts and learning activities for kids.

So after just a little prep work, we set out to work. The multicultural paper dolls are just what it sounds like, and it was the perfect platform for discussing the uniqueness and similarities of all people. The full set of instructions are on the blog, but in a nutshell:

1. I prepared a set of 4 paper dolls for each kid, 8 slips of paper for each of these categories: skin color, hair color, eye color, with characteristics like "dark skin, medium skin, light skin," and so on.

2. They attached hearts and smile stickers to each paper doll. These were meant to signify that all people strive for the same basic thing: love, and happiness. Anderson put it in his own way: "We all have love in our heart, and we want to be happy and smile a lot in our heart." Yep!

3. Next, Anderson drew 4 slips from each category to guide him through coloring the dolls. In the end he had dolls with various skin, hair, and eye colors, and "inside" (on the back) of each doll, they all had love & happiness. David sort of colored and didn't entirely get it at age 3, but he did note that they were all loving and happy, and that's the important part, so I'll call it a win.

Here they are hard at work, and with the finished projects. Thanks again, No Time for Flashcards!

This is an excellent book for exploring diversity  - even I find interesting things in here!

This was the extent of prep work involved - easy peasy.

We also read a little biography about King, some quotes, and we watched a little of the "I Have a Dream" speech.

David applying his stickers.

Anderson's stickers - all people desire love and happiness.

David's "happy guys."

Anderson's finished dolls - he especially loved that we included blue hair!

Anderson wanted me to show you how he put the happiness stickers in the heart spot, as they are "importantly linked."

October recap

Yeah, yeah, I have been less than impressive at updating this regularly. Sorry about that! October was a major mixed bag this year, but we're staying the course and after a full month, I'm relieved and happy to report that we're still not scared off by this whole homeschooling thing. We're refining as we go, the kids are thriving, and we're finding our own, weirdly unique routines.

This month, both kids wound up getting a nasty cold virus, and David even wound up in the ER with an allergic reaction to his very first antibiotic, while we were out of town, no less. No more sulfa drugs for him!

We've done lots of science this month, especially.


We grew our own crystals:

          

              We created approximately 975 baking soda and vinegar volcanic reactions:

The tall cylinder worked much better than the wide beaker. We learned about lava tubes, and this made total sense.

We also made bubble paint, and decided that we didn't start with the right kind of paint, but that it was still fun to paint with soapy paint:

                                                 

I got all crafty and made a homemade duct tape Indiana Jones whip for Anderson's Halloween costume:

This is really easy. 1. Stretch out your duct tape in three rows - across chairs works great. 2. Fold each piece in half lenghtwise, all the way down (don't worry too much about air bubbles or exact alignment). 3. Move strips together and braid tightly. 4. Attach a duct-taped wrap handle of your choice 5. (optional) Add a twine "popper" on the end. We didn't do that. 

There were plenty of other activities we did that went unphotographed (oops), but we did wrap things up with a well-documented trip through our neighborhood to gather just an obscene amount of candy:

Check out the cool whip!

Indy insisted on wearing his new snow boots. This made it easy to spot him in the dark, so he must have been thinking ahead.

I'll try very hard to be more diligent with my updates as we move into the Season of Indoor Activities. We do have a couple of fun field trips on the horizon still, though - we're going to visit the Dinsmore Homestead and the Trammel Fossil Park. 

Today we're studying Dia de los Muertos - a fascinating, colorful holiday that Anderson is especially excited about. 

Keep Moving Forward

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -Walt Disney

I considered recounting our 9/11 story here. Everybody has one, and I'd venture to say most people could be moved to tears while recounting their own. But somehow, as time has passed, it feels more like something I'm loathe to share much anymore. It's not that I care less, or god forbid, that I've somehow forgotten about that day, but time has a way of shedding light into the dark corners, if we let it. I'll never be at peace with what happened, but I think I'm finally at peace that it did happen. The world in which my children live, grow, and will one day maybe raise their own families, will forever be touched by 9/11. I used to kind of rail against that, but it wasn't a particularly helpful frame of mind. The best we can do in this life is to simply live it.

Nobody can promise me, or you, or my beautiful children, that we'll get another tomorrow, but the unbridled human spirit wants to keep moving forward anyway. I choose to work on recognizing and embracing that sentiment, in this life, which I personally feel is the only life I'll be given. It's sometimes easier to dwell in the house of grief, to wring our hands with worry and too much anxiety over what the neighbors will think, but the only people we're shortchanging when we fall into that pit of despair are ourselves and the people we love, who aren't being allowed to rise to the occasion of trying to love us for all that we are. 'Cause they do, you know, warts and all.

So yesterday, on the 10th anniversary, we spent our day in the light. Both boys were finally past the point with their yucky colds where I didn't feel like it was detrimental to them or the general public to take them out into the world, so we ventured to the Cincinnati Nature Center's extremely awesome playscape. We told them to go explore, and explore they did. They floated twigs down the stream, climbed up slippery creek rocks on their bare feet and played an intricate game of hide-and-seek with a friend they made there. It warmed my heart when I heard Anderson ask her if she wanted to play with them, and I couldn't help but beam as I watched the three of them hide in the little caves pretending to be lions. She was 8, so a little older, and she watched over David (who will be THREE on Friday, eek), especially. We were so happy to encounter such a kind, peaceful family on our trip. The whole experience reminded me how valuable it is to relax into a moment under a gorgeous blue sky, out in the light of the world.

We finally coaxed our two exhausted, filthy, happy boys back into the van/Goldfish cracker habitat, and made our way back to the life that didn't exist 10 years ago, a little lighter despite all the mud.

By they way - the Disney quote is shown at the end of one of our favorite kids movies, "Meet the Robinsons." This is a great movie with a fantastic message.