Epic Fail

My life has been a little bit crazy of late. Did you happen to notice that? We have a little more than four weeks of school left and I'm all about finishing well. Trust me, it would be so easy to announce tomorrow morning, "We are done with school until September!" But that aint gonna happen. While we have had a great school year, I will be the first to confess that it has probably been the most difficult...for me. Not for my students, but for me. I have felt unsettled most of the time. There's always something else I need to do. That's why I haven't touched my blog (something I really truly enjoy doing) for almost a month. I just don't know how to do it all.

How do you like that math paper? Let me tell you that it always breaks my heart to see either of my children struggling, for whatever reason. I'm sure most mamas are that way. But when it comes to being the teacher who has to put a big fat F on a math paper, it's even more heart breaking. Actually, I'm the teacher who will do anything to avoid a sprawling D. My students will tell you that I'm the kind of teacher who writes a big D at the top of the paper and then follows it with "elightful!" I know it doesn't make them feel better, but it always helps me. And we all know how important that is, right?

On this particular day, my student, who usually does quite well in math, seemed to be having quite a struggle. Actually, as you can see from my little note on problem one (oh so close!) I started off feeling badly for a problem that was missed by the tiniest little mishap. But math is math and if it's wrong, it's wrong. So, imagine my itty bitty heart and how it felt as I continued on down the paper, marking one problem after another, after another. I was already trying to think of a way I could present this epic fail to my student who I was certain would be crying in two seconds flat. Every single problem was almost correct, but not, thereby making it completely wrong. That is until I got down to the very bottom of the paper. Suddenly I can see ink showing through from the next page.

Did you happen to notice the date on the math paper? Mmmm hmmm. Yep.

So, I flip the page and found this (less the grade and smiley faces, of course):

Why, that little stinker of a student actually skipped a page, did the math homework, and then went back and re-wrote the entire paper, carefully altering 11 of the problems, just to GET ME...again! You see, this same student had already played a terrible April Fool's joke on me earlier. I get up pretty early and enjoy a cup of coffee in a quiet house. Afterwards, I head upstairs, open the blinds and then make our bed. On this particular morning, I noticed Mr. Wonderful's pillow was tucked under the blanket so I figured I'd pull it out while I was on that side of the bed. Except it wasn't Mr. Wonderful's pillow...it was Rachel. Let me just tell you that I wasn't expecting anything to jump out from under the covers. Not only did I scream, I had goosebumps on top of goosebumps. She scared the living day lights out of me! Well, as you can imagine, she just laughed and laughed and laughed. I grabbed her and gave her the biggest hug ever, laughing right along with her. No one ever gets Mama!

So, did I even consider that she'd get me again a couple of hours later? Never. But boy, did she ever. What a fun day and what wonderful memories...memories I will always cherish in my heart. I often thank God that our home knows more laughter than tears. Rachel knows a pay back is headed her way sometime. She'll never know until it's too late.

Did I mention that it's Rachel's birthday tomorrow? My little baby girl is turning thirteen. Thirteen. I can't quite believe it myself. We will be celebrating with a couple of special events which will take place between tomorrow and before the end of summer. How's that for a party? I love making birthdays special. And if you know anything about our family, you know 13 is a very special number in the lives of my children.

We're all hanging in there. Spring has finally arrived. Instead of snow storm after snow storm, we have had constant rain. Actually, last week I heard that out of 22 days in April, 15 of them had rain. And it's still raining. Such is life on the Great North Coast.

The cherry trees are in bloom. All of my perennials are popping up everywhere. Oh, I love that! I'm certain the ferns in back have grown 3 inches since yesterday. What a miracle to see an empty patch of dirt suddenly fill with wonderful growing things of beauty. As I look out the window, the huge trillium patch in the woods is about to bloom. And I can't wait to see my peony garden in all its glory.

Happy April! Happy spring! Happy Wednesday! And happy belated Easter!

Koch Snowflake (Base-Motif Fractal)

It warmed up late last week. It was wonderful! Virtually all of the old ugly snow melted over the weekend. It was great to look out the windows and see something other than white. The skies were blue, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was great...while it lasted.

As I sit here this Monday afternoon in February, there is yet again another winter weather advisory. It looks like a blizzard, and from what I hear, the snow isn't supposed to let up until after midnight. Great.

Speaking of snow, here's a little diversion we took last week. Instead of getting out the Algebra books, we decided to try our hands at creating fractals. We each chose one and spent a couple of hours being creative. I have to say, it was a lot of fun!

This is a Koch Snowflake...

We neglected to take a photo of the first nine inch equilateral triangle, but I think it's easy to see it. During the first iteration, every side of the triangle has been substituted with a base-motif. The line you see running down the middle is where two pieces of construction paper have been joined. That line ended up helping keep everything plumb.

Because there's a lot of drawing and erasing required for this fractal, it's best to start out with light pencil lines. Light lines make erasing easy, but viewing photos more difficult. Sorry about that!

The first triangle is the first iteration. The photo below is the second iteration.


In the third iteration, each of the 12 line segments have been replaced with the base-motif again.


And again... (fourth iteration)


fourth iteration finalized...notice the inside corners?


and yet again... (fifth and final iteration)


Isn't that cool?! This is but a speck in the world of fractals! We could keep going except it's virtually impossible to erase any lines after this point. Be sure to look at this link to get a much better idea of base-motif fractals.


photo credit

Hey, have a happy fractals Monday!

P.S. I just noticed this is my 200th blog post. Wow Wee!

Standing In Line

Photo Credit

This article grabbed my attention this morning. This positive article on homeschooling is interesting, but it was the comments that really got me going. Many of the comments are from homeschooling families. Some comments are not. Of course, it's the "some comments are not" that tend to make my blood boil just a little.

Honestly, the socialization claims in this day and age make me yawn. Move on, people! This just proves that anyone who still thinks like this hasn't spent much time, if any, with anyone who homeschools their children.

One of the comments made me think back to a situation that happened years ago when my children were still fairly young. I took them ice skating at an indoor ice skating rink. Once the kids are on the ice, parents who are not skating can wait in a heated, glassed-in room. Basically, you are sitting on the ice with the ability to see everything that's going on, except you get to stay warm!

Along with several other parents, I was sitting there minding my own business when a woman and her husband walked in. She sees another woman seated by herself, we'll just call her Sue, and says, "Hi Sue! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. How's homeschooling going?" Sue responds, "Well, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I put little Susie back in school this year." The other woman starts blabbering about homeschooling and then gives this stunning reason as to why little Susie is better off in public school anyway...

She has to learn how to stand in line and you can't learn to do that at home.

I kid you not.

It was all I could do to sit there and keep my mouth shut. I'm certain there was smoke coming out of my ears!

Hello? Ever been to the grocery store? Ever been to a gas station? Ever been to a restaurant? Ever been, dear me, to the doctor's office? Well, at least you get to sit in a line and not stand in line, right?

This past weekend our family had the privilege of being involved in a regional speech and debate tournament. Families from several states gathered to watch almost 100 children each participate in five debate rounds (each round lasts an hour and 15 minutes) over two days with a final debate round for the top two teams. In addition, many more students participated in individual speech events which included prose, humorous interpretation, impromptu, impromptu apologetics, informative, rhetorical criticism, extemporaneous commentary, persuasive, and sweeps, which is an event where one student participates in three separate speech categories. The tournament lasts 12 hours the first day and 13 hours the second day. It is a whirlwind of organized chaos. Beautiful organized choas!

Shortly after we arrived on Friday morning, I said I had never seen so many young men dressed in suits all in one place. It was an amazing sight! The girls were all so nicely dressed, many in skirts and suit jackets. What an encouragement to see so many young people being equipped to effectively communicate to the world.

Each family is required to recruit guest judges to judge for debate rounds and/or speech events. Like all of the other families involved, we had several people help judge. One young lady we recruited just happens to be our niece. She's a high school science teacher at a local public school. We had a chance to talk during lunch and this is what I found out...

This was her first time at an event like this and her first time around a group of homeschool students. I was told there was no comparison to the students she deals with daily at her high school to the group of kids she was around for the weekend. She said every student was polite and respectful. She told me the one thing that made the biggest impact on her was judging her first debate round and seeing kids that don't even know one another hug and then stand in a circle to pray. She said it was amazing sight to see!

But our niece also made quite an impact. Here's what our club's debate coach had to say about her...

I just wanted to let you know she was so encouraging to the novice debaters. When I heard her praise for the kids, I was so blessed. I'd never before heard a judge so generous and enthusiastic.

As the Bible says, A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. Proverbs 25:11. We were blessed! Kids were blessed! She was blessed!

Caleb joined a homeschool debate club back in October. The meetings are weekly and usually last for three hours. In addition, he has spent at least two hours every school day (Monday through Friday and oftentimes on Saturday), working on his case as well as preparing for his individual speech event. My son has been transformed from sweating at the thought of standing-up to speak in front of people to absolutely loving the idea. He loves debate! At one point over the weekend, I remember saying to myself, "Is that my son?"

I have been around homeschooling families for 14 years. I will admit that even I was amazed at what I witnessed this past weekend. What an encouragement! What a blessing! And we get to do it all again in March, April, and May!

If you've never had the opportunity to see an event involving homeschooled kids, it might very well be worth standing in line.

Thanking God for the freedom to homeschool in America,



P.S. After I posted this I thought I needed to clarify something. As much as I do not like the public school system for a variety of reasons, I am not dissing public school kids nor their families. The article I referenced gave me reason to reflect and pause on our choice to homeschool and I am thankful. By God's amazing grace, we have experienced great success homeschooling our children. Homeschooling, however, is not for every family. I am thankful that when we seek guidance from our Heavenly Father, He gives wisdom and direction for what's best for our children.

Wordless Wednesday

First Day of School 2005

Take time to linger in your memories,

First Day of School

Yes, we are four days past our regular start date, but that's one of the great things about home schooling. I get to make decisions that are best for me and my family. In this case, it was best for me. And so our 2010 - 2011 school year begins!


Fall has arrived in the sky and you can smell it in the air



Caleb is holding-up the famous maple tree. Yes, that's lichen. This photo also shows the severe lack of rain we've had and the severe hot weather we endured all summer. I don't think any of our first day of school photos have ever had, um, such a lovely color in the background.

Master Caleb, 14



Miss Rachel, 12



The side-by-side pose we've taken every year since the beginning



They haven't changed too much...whaaa!



Mr. Wonderful was standing behind me making faces...or making fun of me. I don't know which. I know. I know. He would never stand behind my back and make fun of me! Mmmm hmmm.

Anyway, I'm so glad to be back on a regular schedule. I don't know why it's so easy to get out of sorts during the summer...I suppose from staying up too late and sleeping in too much. I do enjoy those lazy hazy summer days, but it really does get old after a while.

School is now in session!

Learning and Growing and Serving

It's kinda hard to believe I took this photo of the big white dry erase board at the end of the school year minutes before Rachel erased it. Rules for negative numbers. Yikes! And here we are once again, school is just around the corner.

We have a tradition of heading outside to a maple tree in the front yard where the kids stand in front of it and have their first day of school pictures taken. It's been amazing to see how the kids have grown and how the tree has grown since 2000!

We usually start school the day after Labor Day, but this year we'll be starting on the following Monday instead. I thought it might be nice to extend summer just a little bit longer! Besides, that's the same week our homeschool co-op begins. This is the first time we'll be attending a co-op. It's almost an hour and a half away from home, but when we sat in on the classes at the end of the year, the kids absolutely loved it. They will be taking classes for apologetics, speech, debate, and art.

This year we'll tackle Omnibus II by Veritas Press, Apologia Physical Science, Teaching Textbooks Algebra, French II, Wordly Wise 8, and IEW's writing program.

We always start our school day by gathering at the kitchen table and praying together and reading scripture. And I am absolutely convinced this is why the past nine years of homeschooling have been absolutely wonderful.

I cannot believe we are about to begin our 10th year of homeschooling! Oh God, that you would go before us once again and bless our time of learning and growing and serving.

Closing with those famous words of the old preacher man I loved dearly, Bob Cook, "Walk with the King today, and be a blessing!"

The Very Last First Day of School

Awww! Aren't they just the cutest kindergarten students ever?

As we wrap-up our ninth year of homeschooling, I thought it might be fun to take a short walk down Memory Lane.

That picture up there was taken on the first day of kindergarten. It has been our tradition every year to have the kids stand in front of a maple tree in our front yard. As the tree has grown, the kids have grown. I need to get all of my "first day of school" pictures out and compare them and the tree. I'm certain my kids have grown more. Actually, it's hard for me to believe Caleb is almost as tall as me and has feet bigger than mine. Poor kid. Well, at least he's a boy, right? Boys with big feet are acceptable. But that's another story for another time!

I started attending a local homeschool group when my kids were only 2 and 4 years old. I wanted to peek in on the lives of other homeschoolers in order to find out what worked and what didn't. I wanted to formalize in my own mind, what school would look like for our family. And so I had a few years to create a vision for our school, pray about what God would have me do as my children's teacher, do lots and lots of research, read lots and lots of books, and come-up with a plan tailored for our family. Can I just say the vision the Lord gave to me (I wrote out this vision like I did my business model in earlier years) has been a wonderful blessing for our family. I have stuck to the plan and I have found God to be faithful to our family in ways that are beyond my comprehension. Some ask if I will school my children through high school. Lord willing, absolutely. I can't imagine it any other way.

Anyway, here's my story as I recall our very first day of school. Let me just say that I happen to be one of those people whose life is built around structure. I happened to think it would be good for my children to learn early on that structure and discipline are great habits and character qualities. So, school starts at 8. And that's that.

Before anyone gets all excited, let me just say that that's how I do it. Thankfully, everyone has the flexibility to do what's best for their home school. I've always been a morning person and so it only made sense to get up and get going. OK? OK!

We have always started our school day by praying and reading scripture together. I have not been shy to tell others that I believe with all my heart this one single commitment has been the heart beat of our school day, our school week, and our school year. After our Bible time together, math followed, and then phonics and handwriting. Our school time ended with Caleb and Rachel snuggled on my lap as we read together, over those first few years, literally hundreds and hundreds of books.

I thought on our very first day of school it would be a special treat to take the kids out to lunch. After all, if they were in "school" they would get to go to lunch. So we hopped in the car and drove to a nearby outlet mall that had a food court. The kids could choose what they wanted for lunch (just like going to the school's cafeteria) and we could make a wonderful memory for our first day of school.

I wasn't surprised to find that both Caleb and Rachel wanted pizza for lunch. We headed over to a little pizza restaurant where, surprisingly, there wasn't anyone in line. Each of the kids took a tray and we each chose our slice of pizza. Just about that time, the guy standing behind the counter looked at me and said, "What? No school today?"

Pause here... Can I just say I had absolutely no idea this was a loaded question. None whatsoever. You can start feeling sorry for me right about here.

With my two beautiful kindergarten students by my side, I held my head high and said, "Oh, yes! This is our lunch break. We homeschool!" Without even so much as a pause, this man said, "I suppose that means you all sit and watch Sesame Street all day, right?" I was so taken off guard, still smiling, I said, "Of course, not!" To which he said, "Yea, right. I'll be watchin' you all on Jerry Springer in a few years! I know your kind."

My little itty-bitty heart just pounded furiously. I couldn't believe this man had just said this to me. To me! Thank the good Lord, my tongue was frozen. I couldn't think of anything to say. Not one word. I paid for our pizza and slunkered away.

Of course, on my way home I had all kinds of come backs that came to mind. I'm certain I was talking out loud, in my car, with my two kindergartners strapped in their seats. This is the one I remember most. It may be because I kept saying it over and over again: "Well, sir, I'm sure my children will not aspire to be a pizza man when they are 50 years old. And just where exactly did you go to school?" This was followed by huffing and puffing and absolute disbelief. I mean, really. How could anyone say this to me?

I got home with the kids and was so flustered, I picked up my Bible and started reading. And, of course, the Lord planted this one verse right in the path of my daily reading...

Proverbs 9:7
Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult.

So there you have it. Had my tongue not been frozen, I'm sure this story would be much longer. Who knows what else might have happened. I suppose it's possible I could have jumped over the counter and had my hands wrapped around that sorry man's neck! Insult my kids? Well, I never!

And that, my friends, is the story of our very last first day of school.

April First Day

Master Caleb


Miss Rachel

Guess what today is? I mean, besides April Fool's Day.

I've been blogging for a month! So I'm taking today off. I'm posting one of my favorite pictures of the kids, then heading outside to enjoy this gorgeous day.

I told the kids if they wanted to double-up on homework they could be done with school...are you ready for this...until next Tuesday! So guess what that means? I don't have any school until next Tuesday too! Love that.

P.S. They tried to get me by putting a big plastic spider on the griddle which is stored on top of the refrigerator. I had a funny feeling something would be there waiting to scare me. They kept telling me how much they wanted pancakes for breakfast. They need to learn to keep it quiet if they're going to fool this Mama!

My Own Einstein

We will finish up our 9th year of homeschooling at the end of May. It has been a wonderful journey for our family and we look forward to seeing what the future holds. I have found God so faithful in helping me all along the way, in every detail.

We started this journey when Caleb was just 4 and Rachel was 2. I figured she could sit with us and do whatever she wanted, for as long as she wanted. We started off by learning a letter and number of the week (preschool as I like to call it). We also used Before Five in a Row which really started my children's love for reading great books. Every afternoon we would snuggle on the big chair for an hour, reading wonderful books. Who knew this little two year old girl was getting it! That's why today, both kids, even though they are two years apart, are in the same grade. Which is great for me, but sometimes not so great for them.

We made sure when they chose a musical instrument almost 7 years ago, they chose different instruments. Caleb chose guitar. Rachel chose piano. For the most part, this has allowed them freedom to develop and mature as individual musicians. They performed together at church for the first time on Christmas Eve. Caleb played guitar and Rachel sang. It brought great joy to this mother's heart.

Sometimes, however, comparisons are made and challenges arise. Math can be that one area. Caleb is my very creative, free-thinking, problem-solving, Energizer Bunny. He goes and goes and goes and is usually thinking about what's next. This doesn't necessarily bode well for math (although I will say he has always been an A/B student). Rachel, on the other hand, is very detail-oriented, a logical thinker, note-taker, and must complete a task before moving onto the next thing. As you might guess, this kind of thinking is more conducive to math.

Up until recently, my name would be called whenever a question or additional explanation was needed. I would step-in, help explain the concept, and my student would be on his/her merry way. That is until Algebra.

I did very well in school, but unfortunately for me, I studied to do well on a test. I got mostly A's. Once the test was over, however, not much remained up there, if you know what I mean. Thus, Algebra is something I have to re-learn. I have found this easier the second time around.

A few days ago, Caleb called for Rachel instead of me (that ought to tell you something). He asked if she could help him with an equation. I heard her walking him through, step by step. He had to do the problem, though, and came up with an answer. They both got the problem correct, so I didn't think anything of it. That is, until lunchtime. Here's how their little conversation went:

"Rachel, you know that problem you were helping me with? Well, I thought your way was confusing, so I did it my way. I thought my way was easier. I actually got the answer right."

"Oh... Well, OK."

"I just thought I'd tell you that today, I was my own Einstein."

Today...I was my own Einstein!

I actually laughed out loud. That's a great line, don't you think? I can't say I've ever had an Einstein moment, but I was so happy that he was happy.

P.S. This is the post that was lost when my internet connection died...somehow it magically appeared today. How weird is that?

Creative Genius

Let me explain before you go and call the FBI!

This is what happens when you live in an area where the sun doesn't shine for weeks on end, snow has been covering the ground for months, and the kids get tired of going outside and playing in the snow. I call it their creative genius.

Not too long ago I found a rope dangling from the second floor to the first floor. When I realized my son was attached to it, I asked him what he was doing. His response: "Rappelling!" Aw, too cute. It wasn't too funny, however, when I learned he had the other end anchored to the bottom of the upstairs toilet. He changed the anchor to the banister and all was well. He practiced rappelling for days.

On another day, both kids were dressed in their black Ninja outfits. Caleb has Rachel's neck in the crook of his elbow and he's dragging her, with great sound effects I might add, up the stairs. What were they doing, you ask? Why, Caleb was rescuing her, of course. When I realized she was a little red in the face, I told him he probably should try a different method than the choke hold otherwise his rescue efforts might end up differently.

Now on this particular day, I could tell something big was going on. Stuff was piling up on the counter and a lot of running around was happening. The next thing I knew, there was a "bomb" in my kitchen. Let me make this clear...they were not playing terrorists or bank robbers! I'm convinced this was all due to an old movie we had watched where the hero diffuses a bomb at the last moment and saves the day. I took this picture because the creativity it took to pull this together was, quite frankly, amazing to me!

Here's what was used:

• The silver case holds a card game
• The timer is used for our outdoor lights
• The little silver rectangle to the right is a calculator
• The shiny wire attached to the calculator is picture hanger wire
• The red and black wires belong to an electronics building kit
• Who knew we had so many D batteries
• There are some AA batteries in there too
• The cardboard was measured and carefully cut (I remember this took a couple of times)
• And the countdown going-on is just a piece of printer paper
• I think the digital clock is pretty cool!

I remember my husband telling us a story of when he was younger, he and his brothers would tie Clorox bleach bottles to their backs and wear big socks, barely pulled up, and hanging off their feet. What were they pretending to be? Scuba divers!

My childhood creativity probably amounted to a clothes line tied to two trees with a blanket thrown on top. A tent. Yep, that's about as good as it got. Although I do have a fond memory of pulling leaves off of trees, stacking them all together, and using them as play money. We rode our bikes around and around the house. At some point, we would stop on the patio, flip our bikes over, and fill the "gas tank" by cranking the back wheel as fast as we could. Whoever was the gas station attendant got the neatly stacked leaves. Then we'd just go pick more leaves and refill our pocket. Whoever said money doesn't grow on trees!

I'm so glad they love to play and pretend and be creative. Just think of the stories they'll have to tell their kids someday.

The weather has finally come around, so spring is in the air. Now the kids can come up with all sorts of creative ways to play as they move their genius outside!

Big Business

We homeschool. We don't take snow days. We don't have teacher in-service days. We don't take a spring break. We study Martin Luther King on MLK Day. And President's Day, well, I can't say we do anything special except have school. Yes, I am one of those teachers. We do have a nine year tradition of taking a "Sun Day" though. The first gorgeous sunny spring day we take school off and do something fun outside. Did I mention we are always done with school on the Friday before Memorial Day? Trust me, it's worth it.

Today I let the kids take a recess outside. See how nice I am? We've had eight days of sunshine in a row (that probably hasn't happened here since last August). Remember the two feet of snow? Most of the yard is now clear although the huge piles accumulated on the edge of the driveway will take a while to completely disappear. This disappearing, however, caused an appearing. A really awful appearing. We knew it would happen. And we knew what would need to be done when the appearing appeared.

I think we've had snow on the ground, deep snow, since Christmas. That was 2 1/2 months ago. We have a dog. A big dog. Big dogs do big business. 10 weeks x 7 days = 70. That's at least 70 days of big business, if you know what I mean! So today's recess involved two kids and two 5 gallon buckets. They took turns being finders and scoopers. They informed me they divided the yard into four sections. Each one tackled two sections, although Rachel informed me her sections contained more business than Caleb's. Not surprising. So how many business transactions were found in each section? I'll let you do the math!

By the way, that's Jesse in the pretty pink bandana. She'll be 9 in July. We love you, Jesse. Big business and all!

The Chicken or the Eggshell?

An egg without it's shell



Wha...


La...

We love doing experiments for science. Some experiments are very cool and exciting, others don't work out quite the way we planned. But that's how science goes in the real world, right? Sometimes we'll throw in a little something extra just for fun. That's what we did the other day.

I have this memory as a kid doing this little experiment under the direction of my father. We took a fresh egg and gently placed it in the bottom of a glass jar, covered the egg with white vinegar, put a lid on top, and then set it aside for a week. We'd check on it from time to time, seeing mostly bubbles surrounding the egg. Seven days later, I took the egg out of the vinegar and held it under gently flowing water from the tap. All of the egg shell came off leaving the egg perfectly intact! It feels kinda like a rubber bouncy ball. I wouldn't recommend bouncing the egg though. We were able to hold an uncooked egg, without its shell, in our fingers.

My very deep and thought-provoking scientific question is: Which came first, the chicken or the eggshell?

P.S. You can do this same experiment with a cleaned-up chicken leg bone. A week later, take it out and rinse it off. Gently bend the bone and tie it in a knot. Let the bone air dry and keep it as a very cool conversation starter with a curious 8 year old.