The kids are sick

Today is our first day home schooling, or rather barely homeschooling with sick kids.  All 3 boys have the virus that is going around.  Yesterday Grinmaster barely moved off the couch, and even though his much better I decided to keep him home from school to keep from spreading the virus through the school.  Last night Allboy and G-baby Supreme came down with it, and Mama Ruff is wiped out.   On top of that it is raining, so it is the perfect day for me to take a nap. 

Yet all three boys are behaving out of boredom.  Running through the house, playing hide and seek and screaming.  Usually a normal day on the Island.  Today I don't have the patience.  I either need to get my butt in gear and get school going, or I need to give them a project that will keep them busy without all the activity.

Either way, a nap is not going to happen.

Jamestown and the Powhatan

We are wrapping up our Native American studies and yesterday we went to Jamestown for Home school week.  Allboy and Grandbaby Supreme had a class about Powhatan tools and the things they used in everyday life.  Where they got them from and how they made them.  It was a fabulous learning adventure except for the snotty receptionist. (but that is another story) 

The leader of the group kept the kids involved, was patient, and the kids were interested and excited about what they were learning.  I couldn't ask for a better experience.  The kids sat on deerskin, beaver, and bear rugs and made needles out of bone, arrows out of rock, and learned about the foods the Powhatan ate.  Lastly they made fire.

After the class presentation we had to make sure the kids looked the part.  (They aren't a true representation of the Powhatan's though because they rarely wore head dress unless it was ceremonial)

The best part of the day for me was when Isaiah turned to me and said, "I can't believe I am actually inside a longhouse."  During our studies we made replicas and crafts, we read interesting books, and the kids enjoyed it, but there is NOTHING like actually experiences it hands on.  The kids loved it!    The boys were able to grind corn into cornmeal.  

                             

They also scraped hair off of a hide which is right out of our history read aloud, "The Birchbark House".  Omayakayis scraped a moose hide, using its brains to soften it, and they were able to see what that would be like, minus the brains, of course.

It was a wonderful learning experience, and even though we saw parts of the fort side we didn't spend much time there and I look forward to going back in a month or two when we study the original settlements.

The Letter People

I am so excited that it is almost silly!  I love thrift shops and I often stop in for a few minutes a couple of times a week.  I look at toys searching for legos, Knex, or games.  Then a quick look at books and within 5-10 minutes I am back in my car if they don't have anything I want.  Well I found THE LETTER PEOPLE today.  If you remember kindergarten you might remember learning about Mr. M....and his munchy mouth.  The entire box of letter people books, and skill books were less than $10 and I am going to use them with Grandbaby Supreme while he is learning his letters and sounds with Get Ready for the Code.  I searched Google and found that all the songs are on You Tube with the Videos from the original PBS series.  Just so you know how excited I am, you have to go watch the Mr. M video to see why.

September 11th.....we will forget

I listened to the memorial plans on my way to Isaiah's football game this morning and prayed at 8:46 am when the Radio played the National Anthem in remembrance.  I was also glad to see flags everywhere and thought about that day 9 years ago when my world changed forever.  About 15 minutes later the boys ran out on to the field, faced the flag for the opening Anthem and then there was a moment of silence on the football field.  It was a good moment, and it wasn't, because I thought about the little guys on the field, and the cheerleaders.  September 11th is a historical date to those kids.  They weren't even alive, and they do not have the experience of watching events unfold live on TV.  They didn't cry when the first tower collapsed, and then sit in shock when the second tower fell as well.  They didn't shake off the first reports of the Pentagon being hit as paranoia and the news people overreacting only to find out half an hour later, that yes, the Pentagon was attacked.  They didn't hear jets overhead racing north and go outside look up at the sky and wonder if there were any more planes out there piloted by madmen, only to find out later that yes there was one more.  I am glad they didn't experience it, and I am sad because I know that it will never seem real.  The same way that the bombing of Pearl Harbor doesn't seem real to those of us that weren't there.  I can only imagine that when reports came in about the Japanese attack, that there were many of the same feelings, and I know from historical reports that there was preparation, and even hysteria on the West Coast of our Nation since they didn't know if the Japanese had more planned.   We read about it in history books, we watch movies about it, but we don't feel it.   September 11th will be the same for these children and the children to come.  They might eventually get the day off from school, it might become a federal holiday, a mark on calendars, but nothing but history.  That is the way it should be, but it feels too soon.  Way to soon.

Summer is over.

I know summer doesn't officially end until the 21st of September, but who are we trying to fool?  Labor day is when summer ends.  The pools close, the nights are cold, and public school is in session.  Because of that I spent most of Monday rather depressed.  We had a wonderful weekend at the campground for Labor day and on Monday as everyone slowly packed up and left for real life, I began the process of cleaning everything and shutting it down for the winter.  Because even if we go back, it won't be for fun but instead projects and work. 
Then at home it was time to make sure that Rashad had everything in his book bag, got together his first day of school outfit, and scrubbed-a-dubbed himself from top to bottom.  Summer is over.  I love summer.  I love sleeping in the mornings, I love feeling the sun bake my toes, I love floating in the water, weightless and nearly asleep.  I like going outside at night and feeling the heavy air while watching the stars.  I also love the clothing of summer.  Laundry at my house almost doubles when summer is over.  Instead of light shirts and shorts, I need to wash jeans and match socks.  I adore sandals and flip flops. 
But most of all I like all of my boys home.  I like Rashad here during the day.  We miss him when he is gone and I find myself thinking about whether I want to wait until he gets home to read a certain book out loud, or if he is having a good day.  I also wonder what he is learning and if he is going to 'get' it or if it will take awhile.  I also HATE homework.  I think it is torture for the kids and the parents.  The kids are at school all day and it just doesn't seem fair for them to need to come home and do more work.  It eats into family and play time.  Rashad doesn't mind doing it, but I mind for him.
But with summer over Fall begins and I love Fall.
I love the smell of burning leaves.  I love snuggling in at night under a big quilt and feeling the crisp air on my face.  I love football.  I love it on TV, I love watching the kids play little league, and I even love wrapping up and sitting in the stands on a cold Autumn night, to watch our high school team lose to everyone they play.
Every season has great aspects to it, and saying goodbye to one season means saying hello to another.

Perfectionism

Allboy is a perfectionist.  It makes him and me crazy.  I think he believes that he should already know everything, and he beats himself up when he makes the smallest mistake.  I am not sure how to handle this because I don't have a perfectionism bone in my body.  In the words of Tim Gunn, I am a "make it work" type of person.  Allboy on the other hand is convinced that he should just know everything because he wants to.  He decided that it would be fun to learn cursive and since his other work was complete I figured it couldn't hurt.  But he didn't want to learn how to form letters, he just wants to write in cursive.  I explained that first you learn the letters and then you can make the words.  But instead he insisted that I give him a phrase and he would write it.  I gave him a phrase, he tried to write it, saw for himself that it wasn't working, and cried because he is a stupid big head.  Then he wouldn't calm down.  Anytime he makes a mistake in his writing or spelling he freaks.  Not when I point out an error because I rarely need to, but when he figures out something is less than perfect he goes into a tizzy.  I am to the point I don't even worry about grades or anything since I am right there with him and I know how he is doing without needing to record a grade or worry about it.  But he wants to know if he got everything right and then writes 100% on his papers.  If I show him something that is wrong he calls himself names.  I have tried to explain that  if he knew everything we were learning there wouldn't be any point in doing this at all, and that practice makes things easier.  He also gets upset with himself when he doesn't play football as well as he think he should.  I asked some other mom's about this and was surprised to find it was common.  Most kids get better at dealing with it, but most never completely get rid of it either.  I want to encourage him to work hard, take chances, and try new things even if he makes mistakes.  I think that is the best way to grow as a person.  But this might require me to rethink some of the strategies I use with him.  One suggestion is to reward hard work instead of excellence and to also tell him that something will take 10 tries before he is able to get it.  That way if he does something quickly he feels good about it but if it takes the 10 tries he doesn't feel bad about himself.  The strange thing is that he is wicked smart and as soon as a concept is explained he gets it and usually does better than expected.  I am shocked at how quickly he grasps new concepts.  I don't know whether it is just the right time, or I found the key to his learning style or a combination of both, but his growth this year is amazing.   He bought something at Gamestop today that cost 21.79 with his own money.  He knew that he was going to get .21 back without us ever having taught him to subtract that way.  He just figured that 1 penny would make 80 and then 20 more made a dollar.  All on his own.  Yet right before that he only wanted to give the man $21 to pay for his purchase and ignored the 79 cents.  So it isn't that he gets the entire concept, but the chunks he has are strong. 
I need to figure out how to encourage him without babying him or lowering expectations.  I also need to learn more patience.  I have discovered that when he begins beating up on himself that it is better for me to walk away until he gets himself under control.  He can't be argued out of it, and nothing can get accomplished when he is that upset.  I definitely have some more learning to do about this perfectionism thing.

Socialization,homeschooling, and fitting in

There is a forum right now on one of my home schooling boards as to whether an older kid should say something to his friends if they say things he is uncomfortable hearing.  There are hundreds of posts about how this young man should respond if he hears his peers say something is gay to mean it is bad.  The young man knows it is wrong, but his mother worries about him fitting in with the other kids.
I am shocked, saddened and a bit ashamed at the responses she is getting.  A lot of mothers are telling her it is no big deal and not something he should care about or say something about.  I can handle the posts that state that it is no big deal because I assume they themselves use it, and don't see anything wrong in doing so.  That is their choice.  But the posts stating that her son shouldn't say anything when he is bothered are the ones that make me crazy.  They think he should give away part of who he is to fit in?  I can't wrap my head around that. 

Part of the reason most people say they home school is to teach values, and so that their children have a strong sense of who they are and what they believe.   They want to raise well educated people.  When Socialization concerns arise they state that they are more concerned with the right type of socialization.  Well what does that mean if that is how they feel?  For me socialization means knowing how to interact with a wide variety of people.  It means being friends with different ages and backgrounds.  It means not bowing to peer pressure, but instead standing up for what you believe in.  It doesn't mean mocking others, or setting yourself up to police others beliefs, but if my child felt strongly about something I want them comfortable enough in their own skin to share it, defend it, and own it.   If they believe that gay people are stupid, or anything, really, they need to be able to defend it.  Even my adult kids who went to traditional schools know that is how it works.  I never told them that they couldn't believe something but I would question the premise of their argument.  I am proud to say that they are their own people and they don't squash who they are to please anyone. 

I am quite disgusted with more than a few home schoolers today, and even throughout our philosophical debates I can easily say that this is the first time they embarrass me to be part of their ranks.