Books Saved my Life
Wow. Did I ever see myself in this post! The site is one for writers, but the guest blogger really offers a good look at how books can be so important in our lives.
Archive for August, 2006
Not so Site Specific
Remember when I said I was being ornery and posted those new Amazon links that promised to show books that matched my site? Well, I’ve been watching them and I haven’t seen much in the way of books perfectly suited to this site. I would have expected to see some good home education books or activity books or even “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. Instead, it seems like the books they are showcasing were chosen based on books I’ve recently viewed on Amazon, or books that I’ve linked to in the past. Next time I fiddle with the sidebar, I think I’ll take that down.
Mermaid Junk Art
Her tail is made of tin can lids and her lei from parts of a metal vegetable steamer. Artists’ website, here.
It’s Pretty Convincing
This entry from a public high school teacher could be subtitled “9 Good Reasons to Homeschool”.
Blog Nod: COD
[Still] In Defense of Home Education
This is my ninth year of officially homeschooling. My eldest is nearing 14 and would be in eighth grade if he were in a traditional school. After all of the time that has passed, you’d think that I’d be well past disapproving family members and nay-sayers. And you’d think that I’d get over the feelings of frustration that I have when people I love react negatively to our education choices. Apparently not.
When my husband and I first announced our plans to homeschool our son, the decision was met with much concern. My family had never heard of such a thing. And, my family does NOT rock the boat. There were the usual concerns about my ability to teach, his ability to learn and where, oh where, we would get the curriculum. What I wanted to say was, “it’s kindergarten people – naps and snacks and chunky crayons – I think I can handle this!” But I didn’t. I tried to patiently explain why we were doing this, and offered hope (for them) that if it didn’t work, we could always go back to public school. “But,” my mom said, “what about prom??” This truly came out of her mouth about her 5 year old grandson.
Over the years, my family’s method of coping with our choice has been to ignore it. We’ve coexisted in a head-in-the-sand kind of way, except for the occasions that I can share a truly tangible success. One year B took a science class, complete with tests. 100% on a test was something for the grandparents to crow about.
But this year, I am hearing more and more that our decision is disturbing the family. The funny thing is, what they are concerned about is not the education the boys are getting, but their social opportunities. Again, this time with a teen in the house, I’m hearing, “what about prom”? Well, what about it? I went to my prom. It wasn’t an earth-shattering evening. It was an evening when all of the parents in the school relaxed their rules, giving silent consent for behavior that would – on any other day of the year – be punishable. If I didn’t have the chance to go, would I always have wondered about it? I honestly don’t know. But, I do believe that what we are offering our kids in the way of experiential learning throughout their entire childhood makes up for the few missed social events of high school, tenfold.
Of course, the critiques about what our kids are missing bother me all the more because I am conscious of the need for the boys to be around other kids. And, moving out of state has made that more difficult than one would think. We are meeting other kids, but neither of the boys has found a “favorite friend”. This leaves me open to those ever-more frequent comments about how we are doing our kids a disservice. I dread conversations that work their way around to education, and I feel the hair on the back of my neck rise when someone asks me about high school (are you really going to homeschool all through high school? – uh, yeah, as long as it works) or school dances (don’t you remember getting all dressed up? – yeah, and I remember the really mean girls teasing me about my homemade dress).
No single solution is perfect for every circumstance, but this decision is what works best for my family right now. I just wish people would trust me on that!
Team Building Workshop
I just posted photos from the conference team building workshops here, if you’d like to take a look.
About those leftover books…
As mentioned in my previous post, I do have some books left from the conference. I’d be willing to sell and send autographed copies to any of you who may have been considering purchasing them, either for your own family’s use or as a gift – I can sign the books accordingly.
Here’s the deal:
Team Challenges — $13, includes free media mail shipping
(Amazon price is $13.96)
Tools of the Ancient Greeks — $11, includes free media mail shipping
(Amazon price is $11.86)
Great Colonial America Projects — $10, includes free media mail shipping
(Amazon price is $10.17)
Just email me at teamchallenges(at)krisbordessa.com and let me know what title you are interested in so I can confirm that it’s still available.
Conference notes
Impressive kids: Only a few of the participants in either of my team building workshops had ever tried the types of activities I presented. Few of the kids knew each other. But, gathered into teams and encouraged to work together, I was incredibly impressed with their ability to communicate clearly and cooperate without any difficulties. I’ve worked with teams for *months* to get them to that stage.
Manners: I had about 25 people in each workshop session I did, and nearly every one of the participants (mostly teens and tweens) took the time to come to me afterwards to thank me and tell me that they had fun. Nice!
Connections made: I had the pleasure of meeting two internet friends at the conference. I spoke briefly with Ann Zeise – the woman behind the huge A to Z Home’s Cool site – whose son attended the University of Hawaii. Since this is currently B’s college of choice, I listened carefully to absorb any mom knowledge. Pam, another homeschooling parent that I had the opportunity to meet, is a radical unschooler and Destination Imagination team manager full of insights. Her daughter helped me with the DI workshop I did, giving me yet another opportunity to see a homeschooler in action. And again, I was impressed.
Cool moment: Walking through the exhibitor’s room I passed a booth full of books from a store called Aesop’s Room. I did a double take when I spotted Tools of the Ancient Greeks (MY book!) right alongside a bunch of wonderful home education books. I stopped and introduced myself and kind of glowed for the rest of the day. It was the first time I saw one of my books on a shelf in real life.
Lessons learned: Bring a rolling cart. The books I had at the “speaker’s booth” were shipped directly to the conference, so I didn’t have to deal with them. But upon leaving, I had to take any that were left with me. I managed to balance my suitcase, laptop and box of leftover books until I was leaving the rental car place, when the books all came crashing to the floor. (by the way, chivalry is dead)
Inspiration: A panel of grown homeschoolers shared their thoughts on how home education worked in their lives. The panelists all agreed that the family connections and support they received from their parents was by far one of the most valuable aspects of home education. I wish I could have had a certain grandparent participate in the conference; these “kids” had some impressive stories to tell. One had just returned from a summer in Africa, one worked diligently to get just the job she wanted, one is pursuing a masters degree in archaeology and one spent a year working for a state senator and is now going to law school. On an interesting note, the land surveyor told of her determination to find a job that suited her perfectly. She decided that she didn’t want to work a traditional 40 hour a week job – it just didn’t leave her enough time to explore her other passions – and she didn’t feel the need to accumulate more money. After much looking (and many people saying “not possible”) she found a job that fit all of her criteria and then some.
Road rage: Leaving the conference I met a young man on the highway that had issues with my merging abilities (the feeling was mutual). He insisted on showing me his favorite finger repeatedly. When I refused to engage, he swerved his car at me. I do not miss California freeways.
Planning: Under no circumstances schedule a flight for 7 a.m. Especially when there is a high terror alert and the airport is two hours away and you are traveling with two children.
And I’m off!
I’m packing the last of my bags and checking to make certain that I’ve got everything I’ll need for my conference workshops. My conference suitcase is filled with packing peanuts, magazine subscription cards, paper clips, sticky dots, paper cups, toothpicks and moist sponges. It should be plenty to keep the participants engaged for an hour, but I wonder what the airport personnel will think about the contents!
A hui hou!
Unbelievable
We went to Home Depot last night to buy a tape measure for my husband. Tape measures now come with every sixteenth of an inch written right on the tape in little tiny fractions. No longer do we need to know what those marks are, because it’s all figured out for us already.
As if learning how to read a tape measure is a difficult task. Does this seem like oversimplification to anyone else?
