Declaration of Independence

I have been working on memorizing the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence this month. I wrote up those two paragraphs on two huge pieces of paper. Colin thought we should make it look more authentic (old) by burning the edges of the paper. So we did and then I hung them on the wall by the dining room table so I could read it every time we sat down to eat. It's coming...slowly. If we work together, Colin and I can almost recite both paragraphs using just the first letter of each word as clues.

Tonight after family night, Grace sat on the table and read the entire thing! Of course she needed lots of help, but she stuck with it and wouldn't quit until she'd finished. She can now read words like "government" and "usurpations". I tell you what - it is really fun to hear your four year old read "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights..." Pretty darn impressive.
The whole "Inspire, not Require" thing does work.

One of my friends forwarded a link to this post to me. I think I will keep a copy with me always. :)

The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List

By Hannah Russell-Davis

November 9, 2007

Tags: homeschool, humor, lifestyle design.

There are predictable reactions when people find out we homeschool our kids. So, when I ran across this rant in Secular Homeschooling Magazine, I had to laugh…hard…and share it with you all. Consider yourself warned. We homeschoolers can be a scrappy bunch.

1. Please stop asking us if it’s legal. If it is — and it is — it’s insulting to imply that we’re criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2. Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you’re talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we’ve got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3. Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

4. Don’t assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5. If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.

6. Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You’re probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you’ve ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7. We don’t look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they’re in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we’re doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

8. Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9. Stop assuming that if we’re religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.

10. We didn’t go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11. Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn’t have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don’t need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can’t teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there’s a reason I’m so reluctant to send my child to school.

12. If my kid’s only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he’d learn in school, please understand that you’re calling me an idiot. Don’t act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13. Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We’re the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it’s crowded and icky.

14. Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we’re into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don’t have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15. Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don’t get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I’m one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16. Don’t ask my kid if she wouldn’t rather go to school unless you don’t mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn’t rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17. Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it’s some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you’re horrified. One of these days, I won’t bother disagreeing with you any more.

18. If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you’re allowed to ask how we’ll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can’t, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn’t possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19. Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child’s teacher as well as her parent. I don’t see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20. Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he’s homeschooled. It’s not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21. Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she’s homeschooled.

22. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.

23. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.

24. Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won’t get because they don’t go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25. Here’s a thought: If you can’t say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!

Science

Science is one of our favorite subjects.  See here we are learning chemistry/marine biology. 

OK, really it was just clean out the fish tank day.  Amazing how much real learning takes place when you don't have to fake it.  

Homeschool Chemistry

So I have been studying cooking lately using Alton Brown as my mentor (through his DVDs and Cookbooks that are so handily available at our local library - good stuff!).  Anyway, Randy took me on a date (yes, a real DATE!) a couple of weeks ago and we ate at Fuddrucker's Restaurant.  As we were ordering our food, I suddenly really wanted to see their kitchen.  So I asked to speak to a manager and asked him if he ever did kitchen tours for homeschool groups.  He said that he had never thought of such a thing but it sounded like fun and he would love to do it.  

I invited a few other families and we went this morning.   It was great!  I had a great time and I think the kids did too.  We got to see the kitchen and walk in the fridge and stuff.  The very best part was when we got to go into the in store bakery where they make their own buns, bread, and treats.  We got to sample some treats and play with their dough.  They have great dough! Here's what I learned: heat = height.  It's so simple, I can't believe I never learned it before.  

What, you don't know what I'm talking about?  Ok, I'll explain.

When your dough is raising, the more heat you have the higher your dough will raise (to a point, too hot and it will cook).  If you want wider dough, you want more humidity.  And, conversely, if you want less spread on your dough, lower the humidity.  

It's that great!  I love the chemistry in cooking.  Maybe I would have learned chemistry better if Mr. Bill had used more food.  The only food he ever had was bananas and oatmeal, and he never shared that.  

I love this homeschooling stuff!