Sunday, June 26, 2011

Take the best of everything

I've decided that summer is a time for sporadic school, depending on the weather and summer events.  Thus, my summer blog might include some random things we've done, but is mostly meant for me to share my opinions.  And I am OPINIONATED!

This week we did have a lemonade stand to raise money for the needy, and we actually got over $17!


And we did go on a field trip to the mountains for a gorgeous hike and picnic.


But that was about it.

Now for opinions.  I believe that as homeschool moms, you must always be researching different methods, techniques, theories, and through it all, you must sift through it to find what works for you and what doesn't work for you.

One hugely popular method of homeschooling in the LDS (and some non-LDS) community is Thomas Jefferson Education or TJED for short.  I've read the books, I've gone to the seminars, I personally became friends with some of it's "high-ups," and I have a deep respect for what they are trying to do.  But I do have an issue with the theories.  This list is a generalization of what TJEDers stand for.

Classics not Textbooks
Mentors not Professors
Inspire not Require
Structure Time not Content
Quality not Conformity
Simplicity not Complexity
You not Them

If you want to read the explanation of these "keys" then you can do so here

I LOVE how TJED focuses on classics, mentors, inspiring, and quality.  So much of the world has overlooked and thrown out these key fundamentals of leadership education.  Hallelujah that TJED has brought them out of obscurity and has emphasized their importance.  HOWEVER I think the flaw of TJED is in the word NOT.  TJED is too exclusive for my liking.  I would (except for perhaps Quality not Conformity) take out the word "not" and insert "and."


Classics AND Textbooks
Mentors AND Professors
Inspire AND Require
Structure Time AND/OR Content
Quality ...hardly ever if never Conformity
Simplicity AND Complexity
You AND Them

Textbooks are extremely useful.  You can read "1776" and learn from a classic about history, but if you use a textbook that highlights the overall history as well, it might become a bit clearer.  Science and math textbooks often ARE the "classics" (even TJED leaders have admitted this).

I personally have learned tons and had profound learning experiences from professors who never knew my name or face.  Of course mentoring is the preferred method, but professors can be effective.

Requiring school work, in my opinion, helps children learn duty and how to stick things out.  All TJEDers I've ever met REQUIRE housework out of their children, why not school work?

More often then not I structure content and not time, so I'm really backwards here.  If you never structure content, then in my mind, you don't plan.  If I don't plan, then books are not rented and activities don't happen.  Instead, Google and Youtube are the teachers.  I don't want the internet to be my children's main teachers.

Now, conformity is hardly ever something of value, but an occasional prepackaged learning program can be useful, and let's face it, we all have to conform to the ACT testing process.

I definitely like to keep my life and schooling as simple as possible, but an occasional complex project stretches us and makes us learn in ways we couldn't otherwise.

And finally, it's You and Them working together for a common goal of education.  We are a team.




Anyway, I will continue to buy TJED books and go to conferences because I really do believe in the things that they believe in....but I will still believe in the things that they DON'T believe in.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

So much for summer school

We didn't do much this week even though I had the ideas and supplies...no follow through.  HOWEVER, there are about twenty visiting cousins, and family is more important then school.

Maxwell is a bit behind in his reading.  He's great in everything else, but reading isn't clicking like it should.  I started bribing him to get through his Bob books.  That wasn't working, so we went back to the beginning of 100 Easy Lessons.  That didn't seem effective, so now I just read him simple books while pointing to each word I'm reading. When we are at word I know he can read, I go silent and let him read it.  PATIENCE!

I thought starting him on simple spelling would help him read because he would get so familiar with words he's learned how to spell.  I got three weeks worth of spelling games and put them in a box and once he's printed his words a few times, he can do a game.  The first day of doing this, however, I discovered my flaw: if he's not at ease with reading, he's just arranging letters nicely and not connecting the letters to the actual word.....BLAH....well, lots of experts say don't start spelling until age eight, but I thought I was smarter and now I have a box full of useless fun.....


Well, as for activities this week, we had Hyrum's birthday party.....and that's it.  Hey, the sun was out and cousins were everywhere....next week might be even worse as far as activities go....I do have things planned, and I WILL do them...eventually.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

We're Back

I decided that I would continue school for the summer.  I decided this when it was raining everyday. Now that it's finally blues skies, I might be a little relaxed on what I want to accomplish.

This week we finished post Civil war, but now I'm going to start an astronaut unit because Maxwell has decided that is what he wants to be when he grows up.

We will also change our schedule.  Science experiments are getting cut out because they are involved, and I would get burnt out if I did them all summer.  DO NOT FRET they will start up again in the fall.  Instead, I'm doing a service club where we do little acts of service for our school.

We talked about segregation this week and how even though slavery was outlawed after the war, that black people were still miss treated.  I think Maxwell is a bit confused though.  I think he thinks that black people used actual black colored toilets and black water fountains and black restaurants, and that white people used actual white colored toilets and water fountains and restaurants.  I couldn't quite get him away from him thinking that somehow it had to do with the color of the object as well as the person.  Oops.  Anyway, we took out Oreos and talked about how great they taste together, and how they don't taste as good when separated...but I think my boys just humored me but secretly thought they tasted great both ways...oops again.


We also talked about George Washington Carver, and how he triumphed over segregation and showed how much worth black people had and intelligent black people could be.  Did you know that he invented over 300 uses for the peanut so people would actually plant it as a crop to renourish soil? And that one of his peanut uses was laundry detergent?  I couldn't help but think of my nephew who is deathly allergic to peanuts while reading this and I just cringed at the thought of clothes covered in peanut oil.

We made homemade peanut butter in Carver's honor.


We had our first ever service club.  The first of many. We went to the store and got all the things we would need to put together hygiene kits for the church to give to disaster victims. We put the kits together and had soap left over.  The kids then took the soap and made sculptures from it and then shaved it and tried to trick people into believing it was coconut or whatever.  This made a huge mess, and so my sister-in-law ended up serving ME by cleaning it up....so much for our first service club...oh well.