Too Many Oranges

This is our first week of school. It's usually a very busy time of getting books organized, pencils sharpened, and routines established.

Not this year. This year, it seems, is the year of too many oranges, all up in the air at once with no hope that any of them will be caught. I blame it on my crashed computer. My brain is in there. Meanwhile we're sharing a computer that spontaneously restarts several times a day and that only charges if you hold your tongue right.

Day 1 -

The older kids get up and do science and math on their own. Done by 10. Hmmm... maybe they need to do more work each day.

Science, math, handwriting and history for the little one. Check.

Field trip to a life-sized replica of the tabernacle. Interesting setup. Heavy emphasis on prophecy.

Make chocolate chip cookies as per 1st day of school tradition. Double the recipe, but quadruple the number of eggs. Messy, but they taste great.

Day 2 -

The older kids are done by 9:30. I help them do a science experiment to prove something they insist they already know. Send them back to do more work. Done by 10:30. I really need to get their other subjects ready.

Little one does a science experiment. Decides it's taking too long to get to the human body part of the book. Can't we just skip the history of anatomy? History, handwriting, an errand or two that turns into 5. Tears over still having math to do when the neighbor kids have early release day.

Day 3 -

Older kids done by 10. Really? I've GOT to get them more work to do.

Little one gets her own breakfast--a victory! I let her use the calculator to do math, not that it's any help. When did they start teaching algebra to 3rd graders? She draws a pretty good picture of a cell, plays a song on the piano and recorder (history activity).

All 3 jump into Grandma's car at 10 to learn canasta. I get 3 hours of quiet. Ahhh.

Bible project with all 3 in the afternoon, then some other stuff I can't recall. Nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something. Huh.

Little one goes out to practice roller blading. I work a little on 6 different projects I've committed to. Do some grocery shopping. Get a note that we missed the little one's Awana class tonight. I knew I was forgetting something. Write it on the calendar for next week.

At nearly 11, I say to myself, "What time is it?" and 2 kids answer me. Must establish school year bedtime better.

Maybe next week. Next week we'll be organized.

Legacies

High school memories center mostly around my triangle of friends, my extra-curricular activities, my family, my, my, my. A few projects, a few orchestra pieces still have a spot in my head, but much of the information I learned in school has long since leaked out and soaked into the floor.

Here are a few things I remember:

I can still recite the first two stanzas of "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" thanks to Mr. Chu, the first two stanzas of "The Raven" thanks to Mr. Greeley, most of Hamlet's To Be or Not To Be soliloquy and the opening lines of MACBETH thanks to my dad.

I can still play pieces of the Brandenburg Concertos and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by memory, thanks to Susan Horst and Fred Mayer.

I can say I read a lot of American and British literature thanks to Mrs. Harris, though I don't remember many details and I'm sure I skimmed a lot. She also introduced me to A Prairie Home Companion, which has been a constant through the years.

I can draw a decent likeness of pretty much anything (if I'm looking at it) thanks to Mr. Groves.

I can look across the table at my husband of 22+ years thanks to Mr. Dennis (who split me up from my triangle of friends and stuck me with the new boy on a physics project).

And I can tell if an argument is sound or not thanks to Mr Ferrell. At the time, I had no idea what logical fallacies had to do with anything. In hindsight, though, learning how to recognize a slippery slope, a bandwagon, and a begged question has had more to do with real life than almost anything else I learned in school.

Mr. Ferrell passed away last week, but the concepts he taught live on.

Homeschool Whiplash - Action Requested

A California court ruling on February 28, 2008, took the case of one homeschooling family and changed the law for the whole state of California. According to this new ruling, no family can homeschool its children unless at least one parent is a certified teacher.

This ruling directly affects 166,000 children in California, and indirectly affects a whole lot more. (about 4 million kids in the USA)

As a homeschool parent who used to hold a teaching certificate, I know from both the education standpoint and the mother's standpoint that my ability to educate has nothing to do with my college degree. It has more to do with knowing and loving my kids as individuals and wanting what is best for them. In our family, that means diving in deeper with history with one, geology with another, reading together several times a day with the third.

I'm not one of those homeschoolers who thinks everyone should choose this route. Honestly, I don't know many homeschoolers who feel that way. But I do believe that I have a right to educate my own children. And I believe they're better people for not having been exposed to some of the influences that come through our public education system.

Not that I think public education is terrible or that I haven't had days when I've been tempted to enroll them, but I think the choice should be mine and my husband's. This should not lie in the hands of one judge who (probably) doesn't have a clear picture of what home education looks like.

If you think this was a bad ruling and would like to see it depublished, sign a petition at hslda.org which will be presented to the CA Supreme Court. You don't have to be a homeschooler, a citizen of California, or a member of HSLDA to sign the petition.

All the Way to the Top

I should have known that the thing to put my alma mater on the map would have to do with drug reference and defiance. That was the status quo when I was there. Between all the phony fire drills and prank bomb threats, it's amazing any of us got an education.

Kids in my class said stupid things all the time. They got suspended a lot, too. But, to my knowledge, none ever took the school to court for squashing their right to free speech. To read about how one student's "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" sign has taken the issue of a student's right to freedom of speech and expression before the highest court in the land, click here.

I wonder what it was really like that day as the Olympic torch was carried from person to person through the Southeast Alaskan streets. It sounds like Frederick's sign didn't cause that much stir among the students who lined the parade route, but it did make an impression on the principal. I wonder how far Frederick and his family would have pushed their case without the help of some big time lawyers.

Which brings me to another case. At a local high school a few weeks ago, a group of students was suspended for praying in school. At least that's the way it was reported on the local news. From what I've read since, though, it seems that their suspension was not a result of their prayer, but of their refusal to move the prayer out of the flow of traffic and into a classroom. The students are now back at school and have moved their prayer place to a sidewalk just off school grounds.

For the students, it sounds like the fight is over. They found a solution which allows them to continue praying without defying school authority. I wonder, though, if the Liberty Counsel will follow through on its threat to sue the school district. I wonder what other seemingly innocuous events are taking place around us that will eventually shape the law of the land.