Deep Thoughts from "The Secret Garden"

The kids and I recently finished reading The Secret Garden.  The following is quoted from the last chapter.  Emphasis added by me.

"In each century since the beginning of the world wonderful things have been discovered.  In the last century more amazing things were found out than in any century before.  In this new century hundreds of things still more astounding will be brought to light.  At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done-then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries ago. 

"One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts-just mere thoughts-are as powerful as electric batteries-as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison.  To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet-fever germ get into your body.  If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live.

"..surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one.  Two things cannot be in one place.

"...there was a man wandering about certain far-away beautiful places...who for ten years had kept his mind filled with dark and heartbroken thinking.  He had not been courageous; he had never tried to put any other thoughts in the place of the dark ones."

As I've applied the 12 Steps of the Addiction Recovery Program in my life, one of the most important things I've learned is that Faith and Fear cannot coexist.  They cannot occupy the same space.  And that's exactly what I thought of when I read this section from The Secret Garden.

Every day I have to choose to be courageous and replace negative, fearful thoughts with positive, faithful thoughts.

No matter what craziness is going on around me, I can find peace in the faith and knowledge that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me.  He loves me, he knows me, he knows my struggles, he knows what I need to learn, and he knows how best to succor me.

Fear and worry are nothing but unproductive, dark, heartbroken, poisonous wastes of energy.
Faith leads me forward.

You Don't Hate Math

This comes from a discussion I had with the girls recently:

It's unfair and inaccurate to say that you hate math.  You only find the parts that you're learning right now difficult.  And of course they're difficult!  They're new!

You don't hate the part of math that you're good at.  Simple addition and subtraction are easy.  You don't hate doing that because you learned it so long ago so you've become really good at it.  But at the time when you were first learning it, it was hard and it wasn't fun.

The "hard" stuff that you "hate" that you're learning today may become your favorite part of math in just a few weeks or months!  With some practice you could become really good at this stuff the same as you got really good at the easy Kindergarten stuff.

Just because you find something difficult, doesn't mean you should avoid it.  We only learn and grow in life when we're challenged.

I don't want you to label yourself as "bad at math" or "hates math" because that automatically limits you.  Don't put limits on yourself when you're still learning and still so capable of learning so much!

Quartus' Drawing

The study of children's drawing development has always fascinated me.  It's so interesting to see them go from mindless scribbles to intentional drawing of people with multiple body parts.  

Since I'm familiar with the typical development steps, it blew me away when both of my boys seemed to skip steps.  This drawing is from Quartus when he was 3 1/2 or less.  Before this day, I hadn't noticed him attempt to draw any people.  And now suddenly he had drawn two characters, with multiple body parts (even if some of those parts were made up of scribbles instead of clear shapes), with multiple and intentional color choices.  

So if I scored this correctly, according to the first link below, Quartus supposedly has a mental age of 6 years.  Cool!

If you're interested in learning more, here are some good links:

http://www.slideshare.net/hawraaalromani/goodenough-scoring-psychometrics

http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html

http://www.earlychildhoodcentral.org/childrens-art/developmental-stages

http://www.nucleuslearning.com/content/draw-person-test-dap-great-way-tell-kids-intelligence

Homeschooling Means...#25

...my 8 year old knows who Rosie the Riveter is.  

This girl cracks me up and I sure do love her!  

She has always loved to pose for the camera.  People often tell me that we may have a future model on our hands.   Usually she does sweet, head cocked, "aren't I adorable?" type poses.  But this is her new favorite.  I think she needs to be Rosie the Riveter for Halloween next year.   

She first learned about the character of Rosie because of a President's Day event we go to every year.  In addition to all the other things going on at this living history event, there are 5 women dressed as historical figures walking around.  You have to find them, learn a little about them, and then get a sticker.  Once you find all 5 and get your 5 stickers, then you get a prize.  We look forward to it every year!

(This series is meant to be mostly lighthearted and fun.  Some may be serious, but most will be silly, braggy, or of the keepin'-it-real variety.  Not every homeschool is the same.  And some of these things could be said by public school parents.  This is just to highlight MY experience with MY homeschool and MY children.  Enjoy these little insights into our life and feel free to share your own "Homeschooling means..." in the comments!)

Touching Raw Meat = Stink Face

I really don't like touching raw meat.  I don't avoid cooking meat, but I do avoid touching it whenever I can.  

I taught Primus how to make meat loaf, which meant she got to be the one to squish the stuff by hand.   She really did not enjoy it.  She's making the same faces I do!

Poor kid.  Don't you feel sorry for her?  :)

Baking Soda and Vinegar Fun for Preschoolers

This was a fun, easy activity to throw together for Quartus.  And it gave him opportunity to work on fine motor skills!

Put several drops of food coloring on the bottom of a cake pan in random places.  Then cover the whole pan with baking soda.  Put a thick layer of it so you can't see the food coloring anymore.  

Next, give your child a bowl of white vinegar and an eye dropper (along with an admonition to be very careful not to get any vinegar in their eyes.)  

As he squirts vinegar on the baking soda, it will bubble up.  If he squirts it over the place where food coloring is hiding, then the bubbles will be colored.

This kept Quartus entertained for quite a while.  And then when he grew bored, the big kids took over and enjoyed it too!

The Best Compliment

My oldest is my mini-me.  We've been told ever since she was a baby that she looked just like me.  

When people say that, and I think about how beautiful she is, I take it as a huge compliment!  If I'm half as beautiful as her, then that's pretty great!

T-shirt Bags For Kids

My kids love bags of all sizes.  They have a whole tote full of purses, messenger bags, cloth bags, baskets, buckets, and backpacks.  I find them laying around the the house and car filled with all kinds of random toys or books.  

Here is a fun way to make a cute bag out of a t-shirt, without sewing a thing!  I often use size 6-8 shirts and fill them with new or gently used books for inexpensive, easy, personal, and practical birthday party gifts.

1. First, cut off the collar.  Keep your scissors close to the seam.

2. Next, cut off the the sleeves.  Again, stay close to the seam.

3. Then you need to cut strips on the bottom about 2 inches long.  I start by cutting it into 4 equal-ish pieces (no need to measure.)

Then I cut each of those 4 sections into thirds.

Don't forget to cut up the side of the shirt so you have 2 strips on each end.

4. Finally, tie square knots with each pair of strips.  This will close the bottom of the bag.

The finished product!

Homeschooling Means...#24

...my 10 and 8 year olds know who President Nixon is.

Today in the car the girls started talking about various Presidents of the United States.  This was prompted by seeing a street named Orlando, which reminded one of them about Nixon (I guess I can thank the Minion movie for that?)

Primus authoritatively reminded her sister that Nixon was a bad president and so he left office because he thought he was going to be thrown out.  And therefore he gave the office of President to Ford.

It warmed this homeschooling mama's heart!

(This series is meant to be mostly lighthearted and fun.  Some may be serious, but most will be silly, braggy, or of the keepin'-it-real variety.  Not every homeschool is the same.  And some of these things could be said by public school parents.  This is just to highlight MY experience with MY homeschool and MY children.  Enjoy these little insights into our life and feel free to share your own "Homeschooling means..." in the comments!)

An Interesting Anecdote About Teacher Training

I have a friend who is working toward a teaching credential at a well-respected university and so is doing his Student Teaching.  Recently he was told by his supervising professor from the college (after only observing a small portion of one class period) that he talks too much and should really just give the kids more reading assignments.

This really upset and confused my friend because he likes to give lectures and engage the students in discussion as he goes and was very proud of the PowerPoint presentations he had come up with.

(He could write a whole essay himself as to why he thinks engaging lectures > textbook reading assignments and worksheets.  But I feel it's fairly obvious and will leave that for another day.)

A week later, he was assigned a different supervisor.  When this new professor observed his class (on a day he decided to give a reading assignment, as he was told he should), she was concerned with what she saw.  She asked if he often gave mindless reading assignments with worksheets, because clearly that was a bad idea and not something that should be done frequently.

A few weeks after that, he mentioned to this supervisor about the progress he was making on his PACT.  (PACT is a big huge project that must be submitted to determine if one has earned a teaching credential.  Lawyers take the bar exam, teachers submit a PACT.)  Her response was, "What's PACT?" Record scratch.  Jaw dropped.  Head desk.


I'll let you draw your own conclusions about what these sorts of exchanges say about the state of public education (and how we educate our educators) in America today.  It sure is fascinating to hear about it from this unique perspective!

No, son, there are NO spiders in the grapes...

I'm a serious arachnophobe.  Sometimes it's just ridiculous.  I'm especially scared of Black Widows because those are plentiful here.  Money may be tight, but I still consider regular pest-control spraying an absolute necessity!

Meme created by Hubby. He doesn't like spiders, either, but he's a good man who always comes and squishes them for me. Once he helped me tear apart our entire bed/bedside table area at 10pm to look for spiders because I had the not-founded-in-any-real-evidence notion that there might be one trying to kill me in my sleep. True Love.

I had this conversation with 6 year old Tertius.  He was supposed to get the bag of grapes out of the fridge and wash them while I did dishes.

T: "Mom, do you think there's a black widow in the grapes?"
Me: (momentarily panicked) "Is there a spider in the grapes?!"
T: "No."
M: "Then why would you ask that?!"
T: "Because remember that lady who found a black widow in her grapes?"
M: "What are you talking about?"
T: "Remember!  You told us that story of that lady." (It was something in the news a couple years ago.)
M: "Well, I didn't remember that until now because I had worked so hard to not remember it.  Why would you bring that up and remind me of that possibility?  Freaked me out!"
T: (giggle)
M: "No, there probably isn't.  The chances are very low that would ever happen." (shudder.  so glad he's the one washing the grapes and not me.)

TV-Inspired Halloween Costumes

This year the kids' costumes were based on one of our favorite shows, Wild Kratts.  

Secundus was Koki and Primus was Aviva.

Tertius was Martin Kratt and Quartus was Chris Kratt.

My friends and I also did costumes and a trunk inspired by a favorite TV show: Call the Midwife.  We had so much fun!

We had lots of baby dolls, a wooden crib and high chair, a bike, a British flag, and a Nonnatus House sign.  Of course, only a few adults actually understood the significance.  But we joked all night that that was how we were determining the "cool" people in the Stake.

Excellent Educational Videos for Kids

We love to watch educational videos while we eat lunch.  It's a fun, easy way to sneak a little more learning into our day.  The following are all the ones we love.  We get them any way we can: check out from the library, Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, or buying the DVD's off Amazon on sale.


DK Eyewitness
The videos in this series move pretty fast and seem to be lacking in content.  So, not good for a definitive study of a particular subject, but they sure are visually interesting and may spark a kids' curiosity enough to inspire them to do more studying on their own.

Schlessinger Media
This brand makes a huge variety of videos for all grades in all subjects.  They are produced specifically for schools, so they're pretty thorough.  That means mom loves the educational content, but the kids aren't always enthusiastic because the entertainment value is low.

Bill Nye the Science Guy
and
The Magic School Bus
I grew up on these two shows!  They're hilarious and a great way to learn all kinds of science concepts.

Good Eats
Even though this Alton Brown show is made with adults in mind, he's just so silly that my kids find it entertaining.  We just skip the episodes on coffee and liquor.  The great thing about this show is that it teaches cooking along with how it relates to science and history.

Liberty's Kids
This is an historical fiction cartoon set in 1700's America.  It covers United States history leading up to, including, and after the Revolutionary War.

Wild Kratts
I remember watching the Kratt brothers' old animal shows "Kratt's Creatures" and "Zoboomafoo" when I was a kid.  This new version is a favorite of my kids.  They've learned so much about all kinds of animals and habitats.

Horrible Histories (UK)
I can't even remember now how I stumbled on this show, but I'm so glad I did!  Sometimes it makes us laugh so hard our sides hurt.  They take the silly, disgusting, and weird things that happened in history and present them in a sketch-comedy format.  My greatest sadness in life is that they were never aired in the USA so it's hard to watch them here.  DVDs for sale on Amazon are not formatted for our players, Hulu used to sometimes have episodes for free viewing, but now they are a paid service I won't pay for, Netflix doesn't have it, and the BBC keeps removing clips that people put on Youtube.  Sigh.  If you ever have the opportunity to watch it, jump on it!


Schoolhouse Rock!
I've seen the newer Schoolhouse Rock: Earth! DVD and was not impressed.  But the old ones from the 70s, 80s, and 90s are awesome and timeless.  History, government, science, grammar, money, and numbers are all covered by these catchy songs.


What are your favorite educational shows to share with your kids?  Did I miss any great ones?