Symbaloo: My New BFF

Thanks to Mud Pie's 2nd grade teacher, I discovered Symbaloo. Which is really nothing more than a cross-user, cross-platform version of Safari's "Top Sites" start page. Well, ok, it is more than Top Sites, because with Symbaloo I can make a webmix (or mix of bookmarked sites - that's visual rather than a pulldown list), and I can put it as the homepage for each of the kiddos. What's more, they can each have their own customized homepage!

I can put Dance Mat Typing and Starfall on Mud Pie's, Spelling City and TimeMaps on Fish's, and National Geographic and Kitchen Chemistry on St. Nick's. Along with about three dozen more - each. Each kiddo can have a customized background, too. Even Rowdy has a home page, though there's not much on it since she'd rather eat the mouse than click it.

Solved is the problem of Fish starting up the computer, clicking Firefox, and surfing away to Gamezone or some other time-waste site. Solved is the problem of finding a great educational link, emailing it to myself, losing the email beneath a zillion others, and forgetting about it entirely. I can add and delete links at will from my computer - no more logging on to the Family Dinosaur to change up the kids' home pages or nagging St. Nick to visit such-and-such site. Any changes made from the master webmix will be reflected on any computer where that webmix is displayed! How cool is that? What a fabulous educational resource!

Flat Stanley Travels the World!

Mud Pie's Flat Stanley returned not long ago, so while the kiddos were asleep with flu and fevers, I took the photos Stan collected and made a little video.

 I think Stan had a great trip!

The Same Dumb Mistake

What is with me/us? We keep making the same moronic decision year after year after ...

This morning Dr. D and I had the last of our hastily rescheduled parent-teacher conferences. Today, St. Nick. Overall a glowing report. He's smart, creative, a good kid. But in eerie similarity to Fish's conference last week, St. Nick is distracted, unfocussed, rushes through his work without attending to detail. Fish, in addition, talks obsessively and in great detail about Minecraft.

Minecraft. Ah. Ugh. Mine-crap, we've come to call it (with a German accent, of course - Mein Crap!).

In many ways it's a fabulous game. Not even a game. A creative universe. I mean, I've played the pocket edition a couple of times. I dug a tunnel through a mountain and marked the entrances with torches and made a staircase to the mountain top where I started on a house before I got bored. If I had patience/coordination/unlimited TIME to waste, I could easily spend hours and hours and hours creating all sorts of cool places. And I don't even know how to spawn or make a crafting table! St. Nick has won awards of some sort for his skins and other designs. Fish talks on the phone with his school chum while they both play on the same server. I hear little shrieks of, "No, no! He got my pickaxe! It was a diamond pickaxe!" Jillions of parents rave about and defend the game, saying it's educational and creative and encourages all the right things.

What to Do? Homeschooling / Schooling Angst

Ever since our decision to switch the kids from the charter school to an elementary in our district, I've felt uneasy. Beyond uneasy. Conflicted. No. Queasy. And it's not just watching St. Nick, Pie and Fish climb off the bus every afternoon, although that alone makes me queasy - how I hated the long bus rides home when I was too tired to stay awake but too afraid of missing my stop to fall asleep. Ugh.

Punishment Fail

Apparently our new school requires students to call home when homework isn't completed. As if making a call during quiet reading time is a Mark of Shame.

Obviously, they do not know St. Nick. Call Mom? During the day? From school?! He spent ten whispery minutes explaining that, yeah, his assignment wasn't supposed to have white space and he just totally didn't know so yeah he's fine and lunch was great and there are other kids waiting to use the phone so bye!

I will be Very surprised if St. Nick ever does homework on time again.

Update: two more calls. And we're now halfway through week 3 of school. Hmmm.

I'm Dyyyyiiiinnnnngggggg: Or, Why I Love Alice in Wonderland

Below is my second short paper for the Coursera class on Fantasy and Sci-fi taught-ish by Eric Rabkin. But a quick intro. This class operates entirely online, testing a virtual classroom template in which peers evaluate student work. At first I thought this was brilliant.

Awesome! The professor can record lectures in, like, 2009 and teach-ish a course forever! He never has to enter the classroom or grade a single stinky paper! But then I realized something. My peers aren't, uh, so good at this.

Sadly, with this second paper a got a few comments of agreement/disagreement and the rest, "You structure sentence not good done." Ah, well. At least the lectures aren't Peer Recorded.

The Sense of Nonsense

As Martin Gardner writes in The Annotated Alice, "Life viewed rationally and without illusion appears to be a nonsense tale told by an idiot mathematician." But what seems nonsense is the very sense of Alice’s Wonderland journeys, and it is what lends them power to inaugurate the genre of children’s fiction.

Alice’s Adventures are unique in part because they are told from a child’s point of view, yet Carroll also tosses adult expectations down a rabbit hole. He juxtaposes the adult and child worlds and infuses Alice’s plain understanding with a deep subtext of rationality. Everyone Alice meets, in very adult-like fashion, takes themselves and their goings on with utmost seriousness. Rabbit must have his gloves, "Off with her head!" the Queen demands of everyone she meets. The Hatter talks of watches that tell the year. And the Duchess quips, "flamingoes and mustard both bite,” which means, of course, “Birds of a feather flock together.” “Only mustard isn't a bird,” Alice replies.

Throughout Alice observes all this with a curious detachment, at one point thinking, “The Hatter's remark seemed to her to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English.” At last she loses a bit of patience. As she begins to grow during the tart-theft trial, the Dormouse exclaims, "You've no right to grow here.” When Alice replies boldly, “Don't talk nonsense, you know you're growing too,” she proves that she, the child, is the only one in this mixed up world with even one whit of sense. As the Duchess says so blithely, “what a clear way you have of putting things!” Clear, indeed.

In this way Carroll establishes a tradition that future generations will emulate: Rational, commonsensical Alice takes the role of adult, while all around her are mad as Hatters or foolish as Idiot Mathematicians.

Coursera Sci-fi and Fantasy: Unit I The Brothers Grimm

And are they ever Grim! One of the very first stories in the Crane translation was, "Death of the Hen" in which everyone died in the end. As someone pointed out in the class forum, it's like Hamlet with fowl.

For some reason this story stuck in my craw (har har!). So I decided I'd look into it a bit more and write my first paper about it. Yup, this online class through Coursera (ultimately through University of Michigan), Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World, requires papers. 270-320 words on every unit, one unit per week. FUN! (No, I'm not being sarcastic.)

The paper isn't due until tomorrow, so I have ample time to change my mind. Because, truly, I could write a whole BOOK on Grimms' stories. Every one of them has some fabulous little nugget - about writing, wisdom, history, the nature of story and its role in human development, on and on.

Dear Teachers of the World

At this very moment, I have five field trip info sheets on my refrigerator. One Field Day sheet, one special book report thingy to do (another sheet), and the various papers of info for other activities like ballet recital info for Mud Pie, band concert for St. Nick. Just a moment ago I received an SOS from Fish's teacher: "We need drivers for the field trip tomorrow! And volunteers for the end of school party! And items for the gift for our student teacher! And a lunch mom for today!" And and and and ...

I know not everyone at this school has four kiddos; some might consider four kiddos about two (or three) too many. But I do know everyone with kids at any school is busy up to their eyeballs at the end of May. Whether planning vacations (oh, to be so lucky!), fixing backpacks and homework folders so they can last three more weeks, or debating 5th graders on the value of practicing their band instrument when the school year is so close to being over. We're swamped.

Teachers, I love you. But can we breathe a little? Regain our sanity a moment?

Ok, I'm being whiney. Call the Waaaahmbulance. Why so grumpy, you ask? I think it was second grade.

I'm in favor of parent involvement. Of course I am! I was on library committee until Rowdy was born, I take photos for Boosters, I've tried to plan one party and drive for one field trip for each kid this year. We've attended nearly all special events from Carnival to concerts to Fund Racer to Mom's and Dad's nights. But add to this volunteer involvement, mandatory involvement and you get ... me. annoyed.

For Fish's class we started the year with Log Cabins. A "family" project. I spent hours picking up sticks, showing Fish how to use the hot glue gun, collecting pebbles, scouring the craft store for deals. I got photos from Grandma Daisy -- Fish's Great Grandma who was born in a log cabin in, like, 1815 (kidding Gram!!! XOXO!!!) -- and made a cute little "What it was like in the Log Cabin" info sheet from a letter Gram wrote. I even hooked a mini rug for the teeny tiny log cabin's sandpaper floor and planted real plants in the teeny tiny log cabin garden.

Once that project was over, we had a Biography Poster. I spent a lot less time with Fish picking a biography from the library, typing his report as he dictated, helping him find photos of King Tut online, helping him glue them to his poser board, encouraging (forcing) him to color and decorate his poster.

After that we had the Revolutionary War Wax Theartre. This was St. Nick's project, not Fish's, but still. Weeks of Goodwill Hunting, sewing, listening to St. Nick practice his speech, more sewing. A little more sewing. (I believe I've mentioned my hatred for sewing.) All to transform St. Nick into a very convincing young Benedict Arnold.

And now, at the very end of the school year. Fish again. Chapter Book project with ... drum roll.

Hats. Homemade hats. Homemade @#$%$#@ hats.

I don't know, I think this was the straw that broke the camel's hat. Back. Whatever. Fish called while I was at the grocery store last night to tell me he made his hat. With duck tape and peppermints. My thought? Thank god, now I don't have to help him with it. Has he read the book for the report yet? Um, I haven't asked. And you know what? I might not. That's just the kind of negligent mom I am.

On Delight and Education

Three years ago we quit homeschooling and put St. Nick into third grade and Fish into Kindergarten (Mud Pie was a little bug then). The school decision was tough: the rock solid elementary in our school district: lots of resources, great test scores, good teachers, new building. Or the little charter school: diverse, energetic, with a moral focus curriculum. We toured both and were blown away by the in-person difference.

Cute little charter school: full of zeal and energy! The tour guide (someone from the office) was delighted with us, with our kids, with the school.

District school: bored administrator with a hint of cynicism toward the children we passed in the halls, very little interest in our kids, no interest in us as parents or what we could offer to the school. The cool building got her excited, however. Yeah, that was one cool building.

We opted for the charter school.

We've been weighing school options again for the past little while. We've liked our charter school for the past three years. But ... some important things bug us, and we're in this great district, so why not take advantage of it and its reputation? Besides, the kids would switch into the system for high school. Start now and make the transition easier. Right?

So we toured the school again. The main differences: the kids are older and could ask questions and the building is older and tired after a long school day. The result? Administrator masking boredom or fatigue, slightly annoyed with my kids and their questions (I warned her that they were talkers), and not so excited about the building this time around. I guess the newness had worn off.

My question now: does everyone at a school need to be as delighted with my children as I am? Do they need to be delighted at all? Maybe I simply observed the market at work: the district school takes whatever kid who can verify his or her address. The charter school needs to "win" families, to sell them on the benefits of their school. Or maybe simple personality difference. I deal with the charter school tour guide quite a bit, and she's naturally zeal-ful and energetic. Maybe the administrator is naturally ... neither of those things.

Dr. D and I decided that there's no way to really take the pulse of a school without going there. The decision now: do we stay with what's known and deal with what bugs us, or do we jump in. And risk. If only decisions like this were as easy as, say, when to start Miss Rowdy on solids: i.e., when she starts waking up ravenous every two hours at night. Ah, for an easy life.

Mud Pie at Assembly

On the plus side, we did get to meet a number of teachers, and they were every bit as energetic, engaging, fun and kind as the charter school counterparts. St. Nick especially liked the art teacher with her free-flowing style and attentive manner.

Books About Halibut, or not

Halistones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. Doubleday, 1961 (republished w/ new illustrations in 1989) affiliate link.

I absolutely love this book. Here is another homeschool resource, one I used time and again when I “assisted” with a homeschool coop class on writing. It made the notion of metaphor come alive, along with personification, vivid detail—really everything I wanted to teach in that class could have come from this book.

I, of course, was not the lead teacher, so the children got lessons on what they “ought” and “ought not” write about (children being naughty, unless they are punished, was one “ought not”) which left me steaming, but alas at least I got to read, again, these beautiful poems!

What’s not to love? The first poem, “What is purple?” starts,

Time is purple
just before night
when most people
turn on the light, 

and describing purple as a “great grandmother to pink” is just lovely. Gorgeous, educational book.

Our Egypt Diorama (speaking of education!)

Fun on the Run!

It was raining when I got out of the shower (at noon! Ah, love these lazy mornings). I'd promised the kiddos I would show up for the Fund Racer. But I was tired, hadn't had lunch, and it was raining.

Did I mention it was raining?

To go, not to go. I was leaning toward Not. This Fund Racer - a healthy alternative to selling candy and other fundraisers - was an unknown. I'd not been to the track neighboring the field. Where would I park?

My agoraphobia has been up a bit lately. Maybe pregnancy hormones, or fatigue (also hormones?). Whatever the reason, I'd given in on Monday and skipped the rug hooking group. Too far away, I told myself. I'd squeaked by on a phone call, sending an email instead. And I've been avoiding thinking about my prenatal visit and the always-fun glucose test ...

I realized what was going on, and got my tushie in the car. So what if it was raining? I'd just plan on getting wet.

Well. Can I just say I'm glad I went? (Oh, and the rain stopped before I pulled into the parking lot.)

I stayed all afternoon. Until my memory card filled up and I realized I was about to faint from hunger.

Theft and Motivation

So, we watched the second Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie over the weekend and found it even better than the first one. Side-splittingly funny, especially given the plot of brothers - Doug and Rodrick's constant fighting - and Fish/St. Nick's similar inability to get along. The movie got to the part where Mom starts bribing the boys with fake money to spend time together, and Fish/St. Nick got excited. 

"Mom Bucks! Can we do Mom Bucks?"

Huh, why not? Up until now we've been having Marble Races. Each kid has a jar, they do chores and put marbles in the jar. Whoever fills their jar first gets to pick where we go for dinner on Friday night, and the race starts over. Now picking a spot to eat ended up being not enough of a carrot, so we decided each marble would be worth ten cents. The jars took about 100 marbles to fill all the way, so that's $10. With the change, when the race "ended" each child got paid according to their marbles (and the one with the most still got to pick a restaurant).

But St. Nick always seemed ahead - maybe because mowing the lawn earned him, oh, eighty marbles. And Fish/Pie would lose steam with the slow, "one drop in the bucket" filling of their jars.

The solution? Mom Bucks! Stolen blatantly from Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. The boys wanted me to use Monopoly money. Likely so they could sneak more bills out of the game box when I wasn't looking (or buy up old Monopoly games like Rodrick did to have Unlimited Mom Bucks). Hahah. I'm so much smarter than some fictional mom. I designed my own Mom Bucks.

Fun, huh?

Now the kiddos can earn "money" for the work they do around the house. And I get a good excuse to spend a day playing with PhotoShop.

I also bought some mark-down toys and trinkets to set up a Mom Buck store. They can spend their cash at the Mom Shop, or they can trade it in for real dollars. The catch? Each Mom Buck is worth *half* in cash (so 10 Mom Bucks equals 5 dollars). A little lighter on the Mom Wallet.

It's Been a While: Why We're Glad We Quit Homeschooling

I leave in a few minutes to pick Fish up from school. Yes, school! We put St. Nick and Fish in 3rd grade and kindergarten respectively, and haven't had a moment's doubt. Well, ok, maybe a moment's doubt. But the results have been 100% fabulous. I'd like to take a minute to challenge some misconceptions the homeschool world has about traditional schooling ...

1. A lot of time is wasted in school.

While this may be true for some schools, we have found the opposite at our Heritage Academy. Every second of every day St. Nick is doing something. Doing. Something! And let me tell you, it's not whining, not begging to use the computer, not complaining over how much he doesn't want to do his work or sit by his brother or how bored he is ... all that @#$% he did at home. He learns things! He does *gasp* crafts! He writes and draws and learns and is HAPPY about it!!!! Hear my enthusiasm. My reluctant writer will now show me whole pages of (nearly illegible - some things don't change) script. He'll take pencil and paper to bed and write poetry. Poetry! Dude, I don't know what magic wand Ms. 3rd Grade Teacher has, but I sure didn't have it.

2. The social environment will destroy his fragile sense of self and he'll become a sociopathic drug addict with no will power and an overwhelming need to fit in even if that means, yes mother, that he'll jump off the cliff just because everyone else is doing it.

Not true! Partly because of my own antisocial tendencies we never got hooked into a homeschool group, so St. Nick never had any concentrated time with other kids, so St. Nick never had any real friends. You know, those people we remember from childhood who call on weekends and giggle during sleepovers? (Ok, boys may not giggle.) Well, he now has lots of contact with other kids, and my once surly, bad-attitude (look back at our homeschool coop experiences), socially awkward child has friends! He gets phone calls! He has secret clubs! He has a CRUSH!!! He also gets to make tough choices every day. Does he tell the teacher when a classmate has something she's not supposed to have in her backpack (her Nintendo DS, not cocaine)? Does he tease the kid who can't have birthday treats because of his religion, just because his friends do? St. Nick proves again and again that even children are capable of critical thinking. And even my kid (raised by wolves) can make the right decisions much of the time. And he comes home with lots to talk about over dinner.

3. Family cohesion will fall apart and we'll all eat pop tarts at the counter before rushing from one practice/event/lesson to the next.

So totally false. Perhaps because of my aforementioned antisocial tendencies, our evenings running to school activities are rare treats. And they really are treats! We went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time EVER with his school, which turned into a fabulous time to connect with other parents, meet classmates, and blow off steam. Sorry to say, it rocked far and away over the homeschool softball-nite or square dancing hoe-down. Ok, sorry for the unfair jab. The truth is, we ran around like headless chickens far more when we were homeschooling. Now we enjoy evenings at home together. And major bonus, Dr. D totally digs helping St. Nick with homework! The same Dr. D who was almost entirely uninvolved in homeschooling now works with his son every single night. I've seen those two grow in crazy leaps this year in mutual respect. St. Nick blossoming from the attention of his dad, and Dad realizing his little smart-ass is really pretty dang smart.

4. Siblings won't get along because they'll be, like, separated by artificial age categories and hierarchies and whatnot.

Wrongers. Here's our day: St. Nick and Fish leave at 7:30 am. I get to have Mud Pie all to myself all morning (ok, this is mostly Pie playing in my office with an occasional preschool lesson thrown in). 11:30 Pie and I go pick up Fish. We have a great lunch together and Pie, geeked beyond measure to have her big brother home, plays with Fish who, geeked beyond measure to be with this adoring little sister, relishes every moment. They play without stopping until 3pm when we go to pick up St. Nick. Pie is craving rest time by then, so Fish and St. Nick (who were once arch enemies) pair up on computer games or legos or just hanging out. They actually like one another! From the bickering and constant drive to divert my attention from whoever was getting it at any given moment, to friends. It's a miracle.

5. Schools don't really teach anything.

Don't get me started on the actual content of the education. While I'm still an advocate of teaching reading at home (the one-on-one is invaluable), St. Nick does activities and learns stuff I never would have thought to teach him. Stuff I don't care two whits about but he LOVES (uh, like math? Kidding, kidding). His spongy little mind just soaks it all in, tons of stuff, and the teacher has time and energy to do things I could never get myself to do. Spelling for example. Who knew my son would be a great speller? Certainly not me since I could never keep on track with weekly spelling words, pre-tests, tests, etc. I tried, but little things (like two younger siblings) always pushed it to the to-do-later pile.

One final look at what traditional school has given us:



This from the kid who cried buckets when we put him in an angel costume for his PreK Sunday School Christmas play. All on his own, he auditioned, memorized his lines, and performed in front of a packed house (1,100+ people).

First Week of School: Absolute Essentials

Three non-negotiable essentials for the first week of school:

1. Caffeinated beverages.
2. Gourmet chocolate.
3. Tissues.

Duh

That's essentials for Mom, in case it wasn't obvious.

A Huge Mistake: TV Zombies

That was, cable TV. It's gone now, as of yesterday. Why, oh why did I ever think cable would be a good idea?

Updated: This article says it all.

The Miracle of Dawn

This is something I'd ordinarily save for my little homeschooling journal, but since it's book related, and really just fabulous, I'll share it here.

Today St. Nick, who is seven and technically in first grade, cajoled me into taking him and his siblings to the library. This was our conversation on the drive there:

Him: Mom, do you know why I like going to the library so much?

Me: (Slightly irritable - I didn't really want to drag out in the rain and Mud Pie had a fashion meltdown on the way out the door) To get movies?

Him: Nope.

Me: Really? (Truly surprised) Then why?

Him: Well, I do like the DVDs but I love the books too. Want to know why?

Me: Sure.

Him: The books are sort of like movies, only better. When I read them I make pictures in my head and it's just like watching a movie but without having to watch it.

Me: (Momentarily speechless)

Him: Yup. I use my imagination. It's really powerful and I can see the stories just like movies. So that's why I like the library so much.

Me: (Still speechless)

This has been one of the greatest privileges of motherhood. I labored with St. Nick over letters and sounds, over sound bingo and Bob Books and the laborious sounding out of word after word. There were times I doubted my ability to teach this most fundamental skill, and doubted his ability to learn. Times when I suspected the dozen or more books he keeps squirreled beneath his pillow were there just for the pictures.

And now I know they were - but not the pictures drawn with graphite or a brush, but those created within. Within his mind, and ultimately, within his soul.

To see this dawn in him is to witness a miracle. I understand a little better what might feel like to look down from the heavens and see that the world is good.

Science Mania

So, St. Nick is making me just the slightest bit crazy today. Yesterday he had the breakthrough that if he finishes ALL his schoolwork before lunch, the rest of the day he can do whatever he wants. I'm not sure why it took him half the year to realize this, but I'm also not sure I said it aloud until yesterday when I had to endure ten minutes of "I don't WANT to do math! I don't WANT TO!!!" (the problems looked hard - they were just set up differently than he's used to seeing them).

Today we cranked from one subject to the next all morning (sort of exhausting to me - I got used to breaks every five minutes), so he can do ... drum roll ... Science! For the rest of the day. In fact, every five minutes (during math, while reading, while I'm checking email) I'd hear, "Mom, can we do science? What will we do for science? Mom? Science?"

I now have two containers of snow on the counter because of this experiment. And I might end up with potatoes soaking in water because of this experiment, though I'm hoping St. Nick forgets because I'd rather not sacrifice a potato for the sake of science, not today anyway.

I can't imagine why it never occurred to me to check online for easy experiments before. But it didn't, until today (the "Mom? Science?" helped). Why, there are zillions of experiments online that I can do with stuff I have sitting around! Here are the best resources I found. I know without any doubt whatsoever that I will become a frequent visitor to these sites. My poor potatoes.

We Actually DID Something!

I often feel like the laziest of all homeschooling moms. We're a one-vehicle family, so I don't go anywhere during the day. And if I do drive Dr. D to work, the wildest adventure is the library. But then I forget that we do go places on the weekends. And sometimes the places we go are actually interesting! Or educational! Or both! Most interesting of late was a trip to Bowen's Mills (I'd link to the website but the layout is so horribly terrible that I'll spare you) on the weekend of a Civil War Reenactment. Never mind that we're not studying the Civil War right now. It was incredible! Below, some visual highlights.



Union soldiers. Mud Pie did NOT like the noise. At all.



Confederate soldiers.



The cider mill - with lots of bees. Again, Mud Pie was not impressed by the noisy machines. In fact, I'm trying to think what did impress Mud Pie and I'm drawing a blank. She has a fear of anything loud, dark, smelly ... garages, trucks, cars, animals (but not her brothers! Though they do meet the requirements).



Oh, the apples! She did like the apples. In fact, about all she did was clutch her apple and cry.



We all (with one exception) thought the covered bridge was cool.



And I love the costumes. Actually, I do think Mud commented on the "pwety dwess" once or twice.





But the warfare was the big hit for the boys. Not that I'm surprised ...



Hi, St. Nick!



Caption: "Should we take 'im out or shoot 'im in the stocks?"



"Time to clean up your act!" (Groan - that's soap, by the way. In case it wasn't obvious.)

My impression of the event was awe. I walked around googly-eyed, in love with everything. "This is SO COOL!" I remember saying a few times. St. Nick got bored (we discovered later that he had a nasty cold coming on), Little Fish was his usual along-for-the-ride self, and I already mentioned Mud Pie's reaction. I am certainly going to look for more of these events, and eventually, wouldn't it be awesome to participate? Talk about Living History!