why can't we just respect our differences?

I realize that this post is a bit different from what I normally post here, but I just needed to get it off my chest.

As we were sitting talking about Banned Books Week the other day, it dawned on me just how many banned/challenged books Annie and I read for school. It's not that we single them out for that reason; it's just that so often the books that deal with the tough, real-world issues are the ones that some feel the need to try to keep others from reading. And yes, I admit that I often pick our mutual reads just because of the discussions I know they will lead to.

I don't for a minute think I have any right trying to dictate what another family might choose to allow their children to read at any given age. Annie and I read To Kill a Mockingbird when she was ten, but I can understand that not every child might not be ready to tackle some of the issues in that book at that age. When my boys reach that age, I may not feel they're ready. Not that I would stop them from reading it if they felt the desire to, but I can't yet say I will be recommending it for them at that age either.

Each child is an individual, with their own needs and their own desires! And no two families are identical; they each have their own varying values and histories and financial situations and support systems, etc., etc., etc.

And that's why the efforts of some to keep books off the shelves of public libraries is so upsetting. Are there books that turn my stomach? Sure. That doesn't mean that I will try to keep anyone else from reading them.

And this whole issue of the right to choose what's right for our children and our families extends far beyond the shelves of our local libraries. In this country, it is legal to homeschool our children. (The number of hoops you must jump through varies from state to state, of course.) But just because it's legal, that doesn't mean one won't constantly be judged. When we pulled Annie out of public school, we expected to receive some flack from people. And we did. Because there are people who always think they know better. Doesn't even seem to matter that they don't personally know your child or the situation in general.

Refer back to words in bold!

The thing we didn't expect was the vitriol we sometimes receive from other homeschooling families because Gray and Max are in public school. How can it be that some of the people who argue so strongly and passionately for their right to educate their children in the manner they find appropriate, can turn around and so easily dismiss others' rights to do the same?

Refer back to words in bold!

Is it simply human nature to judge others? I'll be the first to admit that thoughts like, "How could they let their child do that?" pop into my mind. But I'm very happy to say that those thoughts are almost immediately followed by, "Because it's their place, not mine, to choose what's in the best interest of their child." Yes, I do try to refer back to those words in bold myself. (And I'm sure we all know this does not apply to neglect or abuse here, but the right to teach our children the values that we hold dear.)

--Yes, I allow my children to read banned/challenged books. We're a family of readers, and the discussions that follow from reading books are some of the most wonderful discussions we have. 
--Yes, I have two children in public school and one child who is homeschooled. We weigh the pros and cons of all available educational options for each of our children individually. We take into strong consideration their personal desires.  We reevaluate regularly.
--Yes, I have two children who choose to be vegetarians. We make sure they eat a healthy, well-balanced diet.
--Yes, we will be getting our children flu shots. Two of our children have "lung issues," so the potential negatives of the flu vaccine pale in comparison to the potential effects the flu could have on them.

(Just a few of the ways we've been judged as of late.)

You can accept my brief explanations or not. But they are our decisions to make. I will try my hardest not to second-guess your decisions for your family, and I'd like to hope you will do the same for me.

And hey, Happy Read Banned Books Week!

what's in store...and those first day photos

Sheesh...why can't I get my act together and keep this blog up-to-date?!!

"School" officially started a few weeks back. And I did take those obligatory first day photos. (Poor munchkins...rarely a day goes by when I'm not taking their pictures.)

 

Oh, how I love those gorgeous little mugs! And oh, how sad it makes me when they head off on that school bus each morning. :(   They began school this year on the 9th. And so far, they are having a lot of fun. I just can't believe how incredibly lucky we are that they both have such amazing teachers (they each have the same teacher as they did last year). Both have joined Chess Club again. And Gray has started the violin and joined the Math Olympiad team. Barring disaster, Annie will never be going back to public school, but we all feel confident in the decision to have the boys in public school again this year. Next year? Who knows.

Annie officially started the school year on the 8th. Off to MCC she headed for her Children's Lit class. Um yeah, she's loving it! Hardly a surprise. :D

This year, we're also tackling geometry, using a  DVD series from The Teaching Company. Though I've bought a few of their courses, this is the first one we've used. (Will hopefully use a couple more next year.) And we are absolutely loving it...I can definitely see why people recommend these courses so highly.

And for science this year, we're delving deeply into the world of environmental science. We're actually using the same textbook, Environment: The Science Behind the Stories, that Rich uses in teaching it at the community college. But we're just using it as a jumping off point. Since we're devoting the entire year to it, we've got lots of time to explore in all kinds of ways. Added bonus: Annie's Children's Lit class is on the same day as Rich's environmental science lab, so since she's already on campus that day, she's doing some of the labs with his class.

For U.S. history, we're exploring the 20th century. No textbook or anything. Just using a myriad of resources. Including continuing with our "history through literature" explorations. Annie just finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair...and YAY!...she liked it. Here's her review. (I'd hate picking out a book she despised, but luckily that hasn't happened yet.) We're still deep into the turn-of-the century period, and will be for a few more weeks.

This first quarter of the school year, we're focusing on HIV/AIDS for health. We've been over the basic biology and whatnot in the past, so this year we're focusing on the history of the epidemic/pandemic and on personal stories. Among other things, we've watched movie And the Band Played On and read the graphic novel Pedro and Me by Judd Winick. (Annie's review.)

(As usual, PBS's Ed.Online has provided a wealth of resources! We've already watched videos for both history and health this year. Anyone homeschooling in NY is able to set up an account and have access to a wealth of free resources. I'm guessing that other states have similar programs through their PBS affiliates as well.)

Another wonderful resource we discovered is  the National Gallery of Art's loan program. They have a variety of materials that they loan out for free. The length of time one can keep the packets varies. (We're using their Art Since 1950 packet, and are allowed to keep it for 9 months.) While we're adding many additional activities and resources to our unit, it is a wonderful base. This particular packet contains a book, both with history and art appreciation information, but also with suggested activities for various age groups, a collection of slides, and several prints. We're currently exploring abstract expressionism, and have watched two different videos about Jackson Pollock (one biographical, one dealing more with his oeuvre), read a short book on Willem de Kooning, and completed an action painting project.

Music will be much as it was last year. Annie's continuing with her flute lessons. Oh how I love listening to her play. :D She already loves an extremely wide variety of music, so we feel no need to push her in that regard. As usual, we plan on attending at least a couple of live concerts each quarter, as well as watching several specials on Ovation TV. We watched one already about Lang Lang, the Chinese pianist.

For the most part, her phys ed requirements are going to be met through her everyday life. Bike-riding, soccer, tag, swimming, ice skating, hiking, jogging, etc. She will, of course, be playing organized soccer in the spring as well. She has a "time sheet" she fills in each week recording her activities.

Quarter one for practical arts this year involves sewing. We started with a simple hand sewing project--a yo yo Christmas tree ornament. Annie then learned the basics of using a sewing machine and has nearly completed her next project--napkins.

And for library skills, the final required subject, Annie is doing a series of four independent projects. Each quarter she is choosing a different religion to research, and then is completing a project. She's chosen Wicca for her first project, a 10-ish page report written in MLA style.

She hopes to take another language course from MCC during the spring semester, either continue with Spanish, or ideally, if it will fit in everyone's schedule, Arabic. As Arabic is what she really wants to learn, I hope we can find a way to make it work for her.

Annie has also become quite involved with the local library...but I'll save that for another post.

summer reading goal wrap-up

Well, Master Gray is the only one of us who met his goal! HOORAY GRAY!!!!

Final tallies:

Gray--36 books out of 30

Max--13 books out of 20

Annie--46 books out of 75

Debi--25 books out of 30

Rich--quit keeping track halfway through :(

summer reading goals

Afraid to say, with the exception of Gray, none of us are doing all that well. The exception really makes me smile though! While he's always been a very good reader (in the sense that he reads well-above grade level), he has not always been an enthusiastic reader. At least as far as fiction goes.

Here are the goals we set for ourselves, along with our progress to date:

Max: 20 books/6 read

Gray: 30 books/19 read

Annie: 75 books/30 read (she's been coming on strong as of late, so there's still some hope for her)

Rich: 25 books/12 read (he thrown in the towel...quitter!)

Debi: 30 books/6 read (despite the pathetic-ness of my progress, I refuse to give up)

**Our "summer" runs from June 24th-September 7th this year.**

still alive and kicking

Not sure how I managed to let this blog slide so. Oh, who the hell am I kidding. It was the same way I seem to let everything else slide. You know, the whole squeaky wheel thing. This blog has not been demanding my attention, so it has not be getting my attention.

So, why am I back now? I just miss it. And I'm going to try to do better by it. I think Annie will one day treasure this record of her homeschooling experience. And I'm going to try to be better about including what the boys are up to, too. After all, just because they are currently in public school, that doesn't make their educations any less important. It just makes it harder to capture. So I shall just try harder.

We took the summer off from official schooling. I think Annie needed it. I know that I did. And of course, homeschooling has still been taking up enormous amounts of my time, even if it hasn't the kids. I've been hard at work planning, and planning, and planning, and planning, and...yeah, you get the idea.

The kids?

Well, Annie just finished up soccer season last week. She's going to miss it. A lot. And I'll miss watching her games. Rich, as assistant coach, I think has a mixture of relief and sadness going.



She also participated in a track and field camp earlier this month. And loved it!




The boys have started karate. After just a couple classes, they're still rather unsure of themselves. I hope they grow to enjoy it.




Gray will begin learning the violin this year in school. They're having a little mini camp for strings this summer. Gray seems to be enjoying it, and taking it quite seriously. Such a relief to us, as he tends to become so incredibly anxious when it comes to trying new things.




And of course, there's been unstructured family fun and learning, too. Like painting.





And bowling.



And hiking.




And reading.

But we'll save that for another post...

this week's winning sentences...and game 3 comes to an end

First of all, here's a look at the sentences Annie chose this week:

Debi might have been more SOLICITOUS, but she knew all too well Rich's tendency to MALINGER to avoid even the few duties required for his SINECURE. (Jean)

The THESPIAN was RANKLED bu the critic's review, noting that it contained many a CLICHE but not a single BON MOT. (Jean)

That arrogant, annoying, narcissistic, moronic, stupid, supercilious jerk actually told me that he would never be confuted. (Rich)

The dog was indignant when I told him that it was cliche to pee on a fire hydrant. (Rich)

I was once arraigned for putting a chink in the wall of the White House with an errant shot from my catapult. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: nostalgia (Jean)

Okay, and now for the imaginary drumroll...the winner of Game 3 is...

Jean!!!

Yeah, like anyone's surprised, huh? :)

Deeply felt thanks to everyone who played, be it for one week or all eight! You have no idea how much we appreciate it!

Game 4 will begin in January, and will be held over at Nothing of Importance. If anyone would like an e-mail notice of when we get started, just leave a comment here.

Thanks again! And congratulations Jean!!!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 8

So are you ready for the final round of Game 3? I guess we already know who our winner is, but I do hope you'll play anyway so Annie gets the benefit of hearing her words in use.

*abase

*solicitous

*malinger

*rankle

*cliche

*insolvency

*truncate

*pastiche

*eponymous

*sinecure

*pater

*bon mot

*bete noire

*agglutinate

*agitprop

*fulminate

*confute

*indignant

*arraign

*chinks

*errant

*ponderous

*nostalgia

*thespian

Good luck! And thanks for playing!

this week's winning sentences

The wolf pack's SOLIDARITY was evident in its well planned and executed INCURSION into Farmer Johnson's cattle pen. (Jean)

The clown was DISPIRITED, as the PARESIS of his JOWLS made it impossible to smile. (Jean)

The Republican candidate pounded the podium and PROGNOSTICATED that RECIDIVISM would rise were he not re-elected (he was wrong). (Jean)

I was certainly in a quagmire when I became overcome by paresis while climbing the crag, but the mountain climbing ecclesiastic saved me and carried me to safety. (Rich)

I became wan and despondent when I discovered that my work was moot and that my students were still idiots. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: horripilation. (no points awarded)

*Special note: Rich is being penalized 3 points for posting a sentence (which I deleted) that was wholly inappropriate for a home schooling blog.

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 7

My sincerest apologies. Again. Rich just called me to ask where this week's words were. I know I typed up the post Monday morning, but he's right...it's definitely not here. (Wonder if I put it on the wrong blog or something?). Anyway, since I'm such a ditzoid, you now have until Monday to do this week's sentences. (Which actually works out okay, because there wasn't going to be a list next week due to the holiday anyway.)

*grandiose

*dispirit

*abate

*closure

*solidarity

*prognosticate

*incursion

*recidivism

*horripilation

*wan

*moot

*jowl

*promiscuous

*despondent

*quagmire

*remonstrate

*paresis

*crag

*badinage

*ecclesiastic

Sorry! And good luck!

this week's winning sentences

Well, better late than never, huh?

This week's winners:

Rich thought his lecture on the fusion of ROCOCO and ABORIGINE art was truly ENGIMATIC; to his class, however, it was merely HYPNAGOGIC. (Jean)

Women have a predilection to be enigmatic. (Rich)

When I finally cajoled an answer out of him I could tell it was a lie, as his story about being grabbed by armed gunmen, taken to France to join the resistance, and finally abducted by aliens was simply too rococo to be true. (Rich)

I glowered at the student, whose grade was in the lower echelon, when she divulged that my lecture was extremely hypnagogic. (Rich)

The fish was lubricious but delicious. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: cajole (Jean, Rich)

Thanks for playing!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 6

Please forgive me for not posting this earlier. Things have been a tad stressful around here, and frankly, I just forgot. :(
(To make it up to you, Annie won't be judging until Saturday morning.)

This week's words:

*glower

*dissipate

*rococo

*cajole

*predilection

*echelon

*aborigine

*skulk

*putative

*gleek

*lubricious

*gamine

*hypnagogic

*pyre

*voluptuous

*enigmatic

*divulge

*implacable

*snood

*immolate

Again, I apologize. And good luck!

this week's winning sentences

Our numbers have dwindled, as for the second week in a row we've just got Jean and Rich duking it out. We certainly do miss Raidergirl3 and Awesome and Carl and Medbie...you all write such fabulous sentences. Hope you'll think about coming back, at least from time to time.

But for now, I suppose we shouldn't keep Jean and Rich in suspense any longer. Let's see how they've added to their point totals:

Joe's excellence at MASONRY was more than offset by this tendency to GOLDBRICK. (Jean)

The demi-god's ICHOR turned VISCID and PUSTULANT just before it TRANSMUTED into gold. (Jean)

You really can mummify a Cornish game hen without its becoming PUTRESCENT if you just follow my directions. (Jean)

She yelled at me and ran to her room to cry when I told her that her new boyfriend appeared to be feral and jaundiced. (Rich)

The woman tried in vain to transmute her putrescent goldbrick of a husband into a man she could view with approbation, but eventually she gave up, moved out, got a dog, and lived happily ever after. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: feral (Rich)

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 5

I apologize for being late again once again. And because they are late, we'll extend the time to get your sentences in. The judging won't take place until Friday morning this week.

Well, we're half-way through Game 3. And I do believe that despite Jean's lead, anyone could still win. So PLEASE keep playing!

(Oh, and here are the updated rules, in case you haven't seen them.)

*cachet

*mellifluous

*jaundiced

*rancor

*dilatory

*paramour

*feral

*abrogate

*approbation

*culmination

*putrescent

*ichor

*transmute

*viscid

*pustulant

*conduit

*profane

*masonry

*goldbrick

*doleful

Good luck, everyone!

homeschool highlights

It's been a while since the last update. Mostly because we've had a lot of interruptions to the schedule. We've spread two weeks worth of work out over three weeks. Of course, one of the advantages of "officially" schooling year-round this time is that we've got the leeway to do that without having to make up a lot of work on weekends.

So what has Annie been up to since the last update?

*Her English class is still going well, and she's still enjoying it a great deal.

*She's learning a lot of great new vocabulary. We love our "klatches" and the vocabulary game. A huge thank you to everyone who plays! And she's donated several thousand grains of rice.

*We've read and discussed a plethora of dark and eerie stories, including among many others, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs and "Jerusalem's Lot" by Stephen King.

*Real world math has had Annie working with living expenses and budgeting, and algebra has seen her working mostly with inequalities.

*We're still traveling through time in the history of western science, and have met people such as Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, William Gilbert, Galileo, Rene Descartes, Pierre Gassendi, Christiaan Huygens, Robert Boyle, Francis Bacon, Marcello Malpighi, Giovanni Borelli, and Edward Tyson.

*The Civil War is still our focus in U.S. History...Annie can't seem to get enough! Grant and Lee have finally met, battled intensely, and are now outside Petersburg. And we learned about battlefield medicine. Yikes.

*She's completed the first two packets for the quarter in DBQ, and written essays on political parties in the blossoming nation of the U.S. and on the differences between the North and South leading up to the Civil War.

*We're continuing to explore Africa, looking at the physical and human geography of the continent. We're about to start looking at some of the history and some of the current day issues. And by the way, thank you Jean, for sending us the e-mail about your dad's experiences. We actually haven't read it yet, but are looking forward to getting to it when we start exploring current day Africa.

*Still focusing on elections in U.S. Government. Along with learning about the candidates, their positions on the issues, and the elections process in general, Annie participated in a on-line mock election for school age kids.

*Music consists mostly of fluting. But Annie did also watch a video, Music and Culture, which featured the musical traditions of some Polynesian, African, and Native American cultures.


*She's still taking an art class on Thursday evenings. Since last post, she's completed a watercolor painting and a painting using acrylics. We're also looking briefly into the lives of selected artists, so far looking at Da Vinci and Michelangelo.



*We're still learning about HIV/AIDS in health education, doing some demonstrations of how most viruses are spread as compared to how HIV is spread, and learning about risky behaviors. We've also read and discussed articles on the importance of sleep, autism, and vandalism.

*At Camp Arrowhead, Annie took classes on fire-building, outdoor cooking, and outdoor survival skills.

*As far as phys ed goes, Annie is also still enjoying swimming lessons on Wednesday evenings. She also continues to jog with Rich on a semi-regular basis, and has been hiking twice. And of course, bike riding never gets old.

this week's winning sentences

Down to two players this week...I do hope that's simply because everyone has been busy and not because you're dropping out for good! Anyway, we missed you!

So, here are this week's chosen gems:

The plump FACTOTUM ABSCONDED as fast as his chubby legs would carry him, before his master's MERCENARIES realized his PERFIDY. (Jean)

Besides DESPOILING you toys or even DESECRATING your diary, little brothers can be quite PESTIFEROUS when they aren't being just BANAL. (Jean)

As the moon rose over the prairie, the warriors DISSIPATED to the CADENCE of the drums. (Jean)

As he walked toward the edifice at Hogwarts School, Harry was weary from being harried by the perfidy of Voldemort and the Deatheaters. (Rich)

Americans now demur the desecration and despoiling of our nation by the nefarious man known to the world by a single letter...W. (Rich)

And this week's bonus word: banal (Jean, Rich)

Congrats to both of you! And do come back everyone!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 4

So, what did you all think of the new rules? Annie and I thought it worked out pretty well, so we're going to stick with them for now.

This week's words:

*banal

*mercenary

*abscond

*spurious

*cadence

*perfidy

*despoil

*harry

*edifice

*pestiferous

*vestibule

*desecrate

*redoubtable

*equanimity

*demur

*dissipate

*edema

*factotum

*interregnum

Good luck...and have fun!

this week's winning sentences

Not sure how you all felt, but we think the new rules worked out well. Think we'll stick with them for the time being and see how things go.

The winners:

The wolf cub studied his sire's visage, seeking a clue to his mood. (Jean)

Rich tried to establish close rapport with his students; unfortunately, his garish dress, peremptory manners, and cumbersome lectures repelled them. (Jean)

The disrepute that the dog felt after it was discovered that he could not chase cats or pee on fire hydrants was a personal travesty. (Rich)

I wrote my powerful new theory on why fish swim on the whiteboard only to have it effaced by a careless custodian while I was out having a celebratory aqueous martini. (Rich)

The dog's loud flatulent miasma caused the woman and her cats to flee the room in search of fresh air. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: scion. (Jean, Awesome, Rich)

Thanks everyone! As always, we really enjoyed your sentences, each and every one. Hope you'll all be back next week!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 3

O.K., as I explained in the last post, we're in need of a change in rules here. You all are just too darn clever for your own good. ;) So let's try these out for a bit, and see how it goes...

1. You may use up to, but may not exceed, 10 vocabulary words.

2. No more than 4 vocabulary words may be used in any single sentence.

3. You may use less than 10 words. If you just want to write one sentence, using just one word, that's perfectly fine!

4. Annie will choose her five favorite sentences. Each vocabulary word in these sentences earns a point.

5. A "secret" bonus word will yield everyone would happens to use that word an extra point.

6. Sentences must be posted in the comments by late Thursday afternoon (EST), as judging will take place Thursday evening.

Words at your disposal for this week:

*disrepute

*travesty

*cumbersome

*efface

*rapport

*acclamation

*peremptory

*garish

*cerements

*adamantine

*interstice

*pabulum

*scion

*coeval

*importunate

*matelot

*pullulate

*miasma

*gamut

*denigrate

*visage

*pique

*rend

Good luck, everyone!

Game 3, Round 2 Points

O.K., it's obvious that we're going to have to change the rules, aren't we? Since you all are so talented, and so willing to risk going down in flames for the big score, it's sort of making things boring, isn't it? What fun will it be if everyone uses all 10 words in one sentence, so Annie is forced to choose every sentence? (And Rich, I apologize for handicapping you this week by asking you to write more than one sentence, but otherwise it just would have been pointless.) Anyway, we'll be sure to let you know the updated rules when we post the next list.

Now, on to this week's point winners:

Donald gamboled through life, his bibulous bonhomie contrasting sharply with his brother Steven's bellicose diablerie, a trait their mother disavowed as leading only to the gibbet, and which she not so trenchantly attributed to Steven's ill-gotten wealth rather than to her poor parenting. (Jean)

Much to my dismay, the dog was a Republican, but he disavowed the party after 7 years of George W. Bush. (Rich)

The dog dabbled in diablerie in an attempt to get the Master to cook some bacon. (Rich)

On Monday, the much maligned monkey migrated to Montgomery, Mississippi. (Rich)

Russet faced and bellicose at the memory, I, a humble fakir--a liaison of Allah--hereby bequeath to you this tale of diablerie, with all bonhomie, of that malign night whence that roly-poly rascal, my so-called brother, didst eat the last of the jelly donuts and then, to my great horror, proceeded to gambol about the room, wiping his rubicund face on my most cherished antimacassar. (Carl) I think I pulled off the melodramatic ominous part, but I'm afraid my English accent was a total failure.

This week's bonus word: russet (Carl)

As usual, great sentences everyone! Hope to see you all next week!

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 2

First let me apologize for posting these a bit late this week...Miss Annie was at a sleepover so we couldn't klatch last night. So as not to shortchange you on time, judging won't occur until Friday morning this week.

Anyone new playing along? If so, you might want to check out the rules here.

And here's this week's list:

*liaison

*enjoin

*bibulous

*russet

*accede

*disavow

*peregrinate

*bellicose

*diablerie

*bonhomie

*trenchant

*gambol

*expostulate

*depute

*gibbet

*inculcate

*rubicund

*fakir

*presumptuous

*malign

*antimacassar

*ill-gotten

*attribute (we're focusing on the verb, but feel free to use it however)

*broach (again, we're focusing on the verb, but feel free use it however)

*fusillade

Good luck to one and all!