Scribblings from a twenty-year homeschool veteran about homeschooling, life after homeschooling, occasional peeks into the world of writing for children, and the ups and downs of life in general.
I found this on the internet while researching Dime Novels of the 19th century. Poor "Johnny" has been the subject of many debates the last couple of centuries. [note the date of the article}
WHAT DOES JOHNNY READ? (from The Little Corporal, January 1872, p. 34)
"Oh, every thing," says his father, proudly. "Johnny is a perfect book-worm, and we just have to drive him away from his book."
Sorry to hear it, master Johnny; a live boy has no business to be a book-worm. It is no more a sign of a smart boy to be a great reader than it is of a strong man to be a great eater. One may read too much as well as eat too much, and the brain as well as the stomach be loaded with undigested food that is only an injury to it. It is not what you eat, but what you digest, that makes you strong. It is not the food in your stomach, but the food taken up by the wonderful machinery of your body and made over into blood, and bone, and nerve, and sinew, that keeps up the daily growth of your body and builds you up into a man. And just so the food which you give your mind must be taken up and worked over, and become part of the mind itself, or it is good for nothing. If it has no nutrition in it, nothing to make new thoughts and new ideas, if it can not give something to the mind, or waken something in it, then it is chaff, rubbish, poison, any thing but food. Half a dozen lines of the right sort, read in the right way, are worth volumes of trash, or even of good sense carelessly read and then forgotten.
Do n't throw away your books, Johnny, but learn to go through them as the miner goes through his panful of sand and quartz, watching for the gleam of gold, and carefully picking out the precious bits.
And we should like to say to Johnny's father and mother, do not rest satisfied while your boy "reads every thing." It is a direful day for you if you have neglected to direct and cultivate his taste until he has come to be a mere devourer of the stories of wild, improbable adventure and exciting fiction, which is poured out like a flood for the destruction of our boys; but even yet you can do something to counteract the evil if you are willing to work for it--by taking your child with you into the fields of art, of history, and of science, which may be made as charming to the unfolding mind as the regions of romance.
It was a long but exciting week last week, with Kristel and Sean in Switzerland. I'm finally feeling like I'm catching up and can post a picture . . . not from last week, but from my recent homeschooling experience.
I like to think I had it altogether when I was homeschooling, and perhaps I did. I had 2 'sets' of kids, so by the time Kristel and Chad were out of school, I was just beginning on Andrew and Ryan.
Kristel says I don't understand how hard it is to have 6 kids and try to homeschool. Well, folks, I've been "baptized by fire" and it ain't pretty. She's right. I had only the 3 boys to homeschool in the mornings, while Sean's mom watched the 2 little girls. Can't imagine having them running around too. Granted, I've been teaching the little boys since September, so K has only Nathan to homeschool so far, but just adding him into the equation threw everything out the window.
It was chaos. Nathan needed math instruction, but the 2 little boys needed to have me listen to their reading. They can't work very independently. Nathan kept getting distracted by what the boys were doing and then they were all talking. This . . . was . . . crazy.
Here is a picture from this morning. Nathan was off doing his Rosetta Stone German, but still . . . everyone sitting around the kitchen table is not a good plan. And the birds kept coming to the feeder, so there you go. Another distraction! Here are the 2 little boys . . . spread out as usual.
I learned a lot and have much more sympathy for anyone teaching more than two children. I suggested (and Kristel loves this idea) that she have her dad (since he is now retired) build the boys some student "offices" (A.C.E. design), so they can be lined up in their own spaces, with their own special spots for school. The boys can't WAIT until this happens. I think they'd like a place to get their work finished and keep it safe from being spread all over the house.
Here are the DESTROYERS: They may look sweet, but they are death to anyone trying to keep things nice.
Breaking news! My DD Kristel, her husband, and the baby are going to Germany and Switzerland on Friday---for an entire week! Sean works for a European company and often has to fly to Bern, company headquarters, to do some kind of fire testing of glass. This time, with the tickets being so reasonable, Kristel is going along.
Guess what? Sean's folks and we are splitting the care of the five "left behind" children. It took quite a bit of convincing (I never would have done this when I was her age), but she's going. Wow. I'll homeschool the 3 boys while Sean's mom takes care of the little girls. Then, after naps, I'll have them all for dinner and the evening. Since they live across the street, it's easy to take them home and let them sleep in their own beds. The following morning, Sean's mom will arrive, and I'll take the boys home to teach.
Sound easy? In theory. We shall see. I wonder if I will have time to provide a running commentary on our adventures.
I think she'll have a wonderful time once she's in the air and realizes there is no turning back. LOL
I have to tell you, that was not a fun case of the flu. Wed, Th, and Friday. Thought I was feeling better by Friday morning but felt tired and dizzy. And had a fever. What's with that? I'm never sick, so this was quite the inconvenience for me.
So it's Monday, and the boys are over for school (the letter "V" today: "Victor the vole, always looked his best, wearing his vivid, velvet vest" for anyone familiar with the ABCs of ACE). I'm sick to death of the ABCs of ACE right now and can't wait to be done! We start PACE 1011 tomorrow! The reason is that they are reading pretty well now and need to read real things, yet controlled. ACE does a nice job with their Science and Social Studies PACEs for reading and writing practice. And it's at the child's own pace. Nice if you have 6 kids with a newborn. I want to get the boys well on their way reading and working on their own before leaving it completely up to DD. She's mighty relieved, let me tell you! They can READ!
It's a little nogstaglic to be teaching your grandchildren to read, using the same materials (and I do mean the SAME ones!) that their mother was taught with. DD attended our church's ACE school for first - fourth grades, and her teacher used the exact materials I hold in my hands each day. When our school closed down, the ABCs curriculum became available for us to check out as homeschoolers. So I've taught this a bunch of times and you start singing those letter songs in your sleep!
Tomorrow! "Q": Quentin the quail. Can't wait (really, I can. And rats. I can't remember this song so I'll have to learn it really quick in the morning. Good thing I play the piano).
This is a first! On Christmas Eve we put the 3 babies to bed and told the 4 "middles" they could have a slumber party, never thinking they would actually go to sleep. They did, and we played Trivial Pursuit until late. (The oldest cousin stayed up and played with us).
Christmas was an interesting experiment this year. All of the adults chose not to exchange gifts at all. Only the two youngest boys (Andrew and Ryan) got 2 gifts each, and then DH and I bought a couple books for each of the grandkids, and a couple little girls got homemade doll clothes. The result? No paper disaster strewn all over the living room, no lost toys, no crying. Nothing but peace and tranquility. Oops. Well, not quite tranquility. I forgot about the marshmallow guns. I was selling books at a bazaar and some vendor was selling marshmallow guns and ammo (marshmallows). I bought 5 of them, and they were a hit! Indoor playing, with Levi and Julie (both around 2 yrs.) rushing around to find and eat the "Mammo."
Much to my DD's chagrin, the real crazy shooter was her little princess, who refused to wear the scratchy party dress and went after her brothers and cousins in her petticoat. (And Kristel had such high hopes for her girl to be a lady, but I'm afraid she's her grandma's clone.
I can't believe this is happening! It's a new year again. 2009. All you young mothers in bloggyland, take note: the older you become the faster the world turns. Really. Now, on to some New Year's resolutions . . . goals:
1) Blog more! I have been remiss and scandalously absent lately from bloggyland. When I saw Vicki's blog(s) I was astonished that she could keep current on THREE blogs and say something different on each one. She has a true writer's heart that I must be lacking.
2) Visit more blogs, not only on HSB but all the new friends from other blog hosts. I need to set up a "visiting hour" where I hop around, like dropping in for tea and talk as if I were visiting in person. This goal needs prayer and discipline.
3) Get organized in this book marketing thing. I feel totally overwhelmed with all the "responsibilities" of blog tours, finding folks to review the books, interviews, and thinking up fun contests. I've discovered one thing: It never ends. There is never a time when I can just sit back and watch the books find new homes. Although I love the creative part of all this--especially the PhotoShop and Book Trailer aspect--I'm not so enamored with the rest of it. I feel pulled from every direction and sometimes long for the time when I just wrote for fun after a long day of homeschooling. So . . . for all you bloggy friends that think becoming an author is your deepest heart's desire, I've got news for you: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR. You may get it. It's a lot of work, and the rewards are new friends, new fans, but not much money. LOL
This hasn't been a very spiritual goal-setting post. But I did start a read-the-Bible-through-in-a-year challenge this morning. And I just thought of a GREAT idea. Anybody here want to start reading the Bible through with me? I think for my Show and Tell tomorrow I may start the CHALLENGE. Hmmm...must think on this.
Tune in tomorrow to see what I came up with. I need accountability in this area.
Well, contrary to the National News, the Pacific Northwest was not hammered as much as the hype let on (at least not in Enumclaw). Our winds were only 60 mph, and the power never went out. But we did get some nice white stuff. Ryan took the little boys and Kaetlyn out to make a snow fort. Alas, it wasn't the right kind of snow, but he did manage to make a tunnel. Here are some pics.
It's late; I haven't posted for nearly a week! Guilt is building up. Waves of guilt. So here's a video I took a few weeks back. I think it's 17 seconds. Wish I'd had one of these when I was a kid. So I tried it. No video of that, thank you very much. I bottomed out half way down. Very embarrassing. I took it of a number of the cousins and happened to have this one already hosted over at the Lounge. So the video "lottery" fell to . . . Kevan.
New babies are fun! And it's such a privilege to watch the older siblings so Mom can have a couple days with just baby.
So . . . here is why I'm too tired to find any pictures to go along with this.
This is DAY TWO of a 2-day "watch the kids" adventure. Sean will be home the rest of the week.
--Our day started at 8am when DH and I crossed the street and brought home the kids--all 5 of them. The boys built the Lego monorail (the classic), but the 3-year-old and I went on a bike ride (she rode, I walked/jogged) three times around the development.
--Yesterday the 1-year-old ate a lot of blueberries. Today I paid for that.
--Today we took the more relaxed view of things: Wiping bottoms, washing hands, dirty fingers, and messy mouths, my speciality. Food on the floor, food on the table, Capri-suns leaking on the rug, and hmmm...what else? Oh, a dish of ice cream balancing on the table's edge.
--Then, E didn't want to eat her chicken noodle soup, and a few noodles found their way to the floor. Then E stepped in them. "Yikes!" I yelled. "E--, you're stepping in squishy noodles, just like stepping on a slug." Peals of laughter from around the lunch table. Then cleaning up the slimy foot.
--J-- goes home for a nap in her own crib, to return two hours later.
--Oops, I forgot to eat lunch (no wonder young mothers never have to diet).
--Then, since we were feeding a horde already for supper, I called up and invited Chad and kids, since Joanna was taking a final away from this chaos, at the college extension center in town.
--Kristel comes over with the new baby, who sounds like a cat with his tail stepped on. J--, the "former baby" is in "melt-down" and Levi, whose very "life" is food, is melting down as he watches the the food get nearer the table. Sean is not home from work yet. Smart fellow.
--I dish up the assembly line food for the kids, we all pray, help ourselves, and then I remember we forgot to tell Ryan that it was supper time. He's in his room playing video games (another smart fellow). Poor guy. "You forgot about me?" he cries out. No wonder. All the plates looked taken. (I was going to take a picture of 7 little kids around the table and in high chairs, but I was just too tired to find the camera. Sorry. It was pretty precious...uh, I mean...messy).
--As Chad is cleaning up under the table after supper, he remarks, "Cornbread was probably not a good choice for a meal menu tonight." (Along with baked beans and hot dogs). Cornbread crumbs are everywhere. Poor Chad. He and his dad did up the dishes; baby still crying; Katelyn stuck in a tree.
--The other boys in trees, but not stuck. Good thing it's not raining!!!
*****
OK, they're home; I have so much writing to do--proposals and things. But you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go watch a Stargate SG-1 DVD or a Stargate Atlantis DVD. Worth every penny I paid for them. I'm gonna veg tonight with a bowl of ice cream. I slept 10 hours last night, and I expect I'll sleep about that tonight.
Last night we in the Pacific NW had a terrific thunder storm. A real whopper! Well....actually...compared to the Kansas thunder storms I've been in and the No. Carolina storms, ours was....not a whopper after all. But to US, it was so beautiful. And it lasted a long time, too (longer than 10 minutes). There was sheet lightning that lit up the entire eastern sky and zig-zag lightning, and then the wind blew like crazy and the rain began to fall.
But what struck me as funny was the fact that DH, DS, and I all went outside and stood under the eaves to watch it. We couldn't wait to see another lightning bolt! It's funny because I think in the Mid-West when the thunder storms begin, folks head indoors, not outdoors. We so rarely get a thunder storm that everybody goes out to watch it. I know. A little weird. But so was the 95 degree temperatures on Saturday and Sunday. That storm was welcomed and now it's in the 70s. (See my new little widget-temperature-flag in the sidebar).
I was just wishing that the rain that always falls sooner or later around here could fall in California instead, to put out those horrible fires that are everywhere.
Here are the 2 little boys . . . spread out as usual. 
They may look sweet, but they are death to anyone trying to keep things nice.
