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Yes, I am ridiculously proud of my knitting.

Why? Because I am just not that good at it, and it takes me forever.

This is a purse I am knitting and felting -- these are the before photos. So before that I have not even taken care of the loose strings! I have to find the missing bag with my tapestry needles so that I can weave them in and felt away. The red is prettier than the photos suggest -- maybe the contrast with the orangish hardwood is the problem. Plain old Cascade wool.

This last photo highlights my 1st attempt at i-cord. This i-cord is 9 feet long! The garter rows at the top of the bag merely keep the stockinette from rolling, but the other rows of garter, which are also the eyelet rows for the cord/strap, are a mistake that I didn't bother to correct. Can you guess? That's right, I started going the wrong direction on my circular needles!

Thankfully, felting=total fiber absolution

Cross-posted at redseahomeschool.wordpress.com

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FYI, I am in the process of revamping/updating our homeschool blog.

You can see the work in progress at our new address:

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This year at our parish we'll be having hot cross buns, coffee, and Easter Eggs after the first Mass, and our family was pegged to contribute some of the eggs.

So we've learned a handful of facts about Easter Eggs for the family project:

From ancient times the egg is symbolic of the grave and life renewed by breaking out of it. The egg itself is a symbol of the Resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it. In Medieval Europe, eggs were forbidden during Lent. Eggs laid during that time were often boiled or otherwise preserved. Eggs were thus a mainstay of Easter meals, and a prized Easter gift for children and servants. In addition, eggs have been viewed as symbols of new life and fertility through the ages. It is believed that for this reason many ancient cultures, including the Ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Romans, used eggs during their spring festivals. Many traditions and practices have formed around Easter eggs. The coloring of eggs is an established art, and eggs are often dyed, painted, and otherwise decorated. So you and your family are continuing to participate in this wonderful tradition.

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So busy lately -- very little time for the blog.

Our most exciting activity right now is, for me, our professional organizer. (Thanks Mom!) We have had one meeting, and our dining room secretary is being transformed into the household management center, while the big armoire in the dining room is finally getting organized as an accessible kid-craft area (in addition to holding regular dining room stuff like tablecloths, etc.).

There is hope for us yet!

We are just sailing along with fractions. I'm thinking we have effectively skipped 4th grade math and moved on to 5th, as we have not been back to the 4th grade book in some time. And next up in the 5th grade book is area of a triangle and angles, which we did last fall.

I am delighted that we have found more math that Violet finds fairly easy. Today we started division of fractions by a whole number, and after 2 minutes she was asking (and figuring out) -- "Well how do you divide by a fraction? How do you divide a mixed number?" Wheee! It is days like this when I am so glad to be homeschooling -- I know that her comparatively harder time with long division and memorizing multiplication facts (she's getting much better as we work with fractions, but there is still some counting even by 4s or 6s on the fingers) would have kept her stuck and prevented her from doing the higher-order thinking math that will keep her interested in the subject.

Victoria went back to preschool today. She was so excited that it made me a little sad. It was really nice having her home. I am so torn about how to proceed next year and in the future. And then I read this today:

Well, more to think about, as always.

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I forgot a choice kid quote from Victoria.

While reading What Do People Do All Day? I/the book asked, "What does your daddy do?"

Correct Answer: work with computers

Victoria's Answer: "Pick up poop."

"What does your mommy do?

Possible Answers: write books, cook, take care of children . . .

Victoria's Answer: "Drive."

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All you homeschoolers with 4 and more, just bug off! For me, homeschooling with two is a 100% increase in Red Sea enrollment, so it is new to me.

Victoria is on her 2nd week of vacation from preschool. It has worked fine -- as you might expect, at least some of the time we lose by having a demanding preschooler around the house is balanced out by the time we gain not having to drop everything at a particular time and go pick her up.

I have enjoyed getting more time to spend with her, and we have spent a lot of time reading together. One book has been such a hit, and is so wonderful for her age, that I wanted to mention it. It's one of Richard Scarry's busytown books, What Do People Do All Day?

She especially loves reading about Farmer Alfalfa growing corn, then taking it to market so he can get money to buy a truck, and so the Pig family can eat it. After that she likes How Wheat Becomes Bread. It reminds me of all the great Mr. Rogers segments about how factories make basic things like peanut butter or toilet seats (!) Oh, God bless Mr. Rogers -- still chokes me up to think about him.

I also followed the advice of Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea and picked up What is Science and B is for Bunny, but I'll try to hold those until Easter.

(Yes, I know they have little to do with Easter, but they bulk up an Easter basket better than candy all the same!)

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It's too much to expect a 7 (near 8) year old to manage her time for a bit of the day, right?

It's different every day -- some days I get Violet started with her math and she whips through it, then the next day, with a similar set of problems, she sits there for 90 minutes, doodling, staring out the window, playing with the dog . . .

Last night we had some consequences for that. She must have spent 40 minutes to do two math problems. The result was that when she came home with the nanny she still had Chinese to do. During the pre-dinner PBS Kids shows she loves to watch. (Surely one of the few almost 8yos who is dying to watch Dragon Tales?)

I remember this from Linda Dobson's The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child, where she quotes several families who pull their kids out of traditional school to start homeschooling. As one mom says, "At first, when there was no one holding their hand every minute of the day, they strayed." Exactly

I'm re-reading this as a reminder to be patient -- one mom says "Four years later, they love it and manage time efficiently enough to assist me and still have the time to participate in their favorite activities." Another says, "We do lots better now, in our fifth year." Emphasis added -- it takes four years?!?!?!?

I admit, independence is something I place an extremely high value on, and I probably have extremely high expectations for young children, even a very gifted child, as far as independence and self-motivation goes. I just wish I could get across the basic concept that if you concentrate and finish your work (which I know she can do), then you have lots more time to play or do what you like later. (Like right now she is loudly singing the Korean hello song from Victoria's preschool, and then a Spanish hello/what's your name song she's making up.)

OK, I feel a little better . . .

So, here's a little photo update from some of our recent adventures.

I love this one of Victoria -- she looks like an old lady grimacing in the mirror

And another makeover shot -- to be clear, they are warriors, not just glamour queens:

Here we are skating, first Violet:

Then Victoria and I:

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Time is the theme of the 63rd Carnival of Homeschooling, hosted this week by the Cates of Why Homeschool. So check it out.

Why homeschool? Yesterday I had another reason. I listened to several different friends discuss their school troubles: no school seemed to fit, or their child was always coming home in a bad mood, favorite teachers were leaving schools because it was becoming impossible to teach there . . .

I have genuine sympathy for my friends -- I'm not thinking, "Ha Ha! If you would homeschool like me you wouldn't have these silly problems!" (Well, OK, sometimes I do, but not in these particular cases.)

But I confess I did think, oh, I am so glad my days of battling with the school system are over!

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Comments please:

Following is an article I've written for my MOMS Club newsletter at the request of the current editor, a good friend of mine. I've been in this group for 7 years now, and so far no one has ever homeschooled. My friend thought that people might like the opportunity to learn a little more about homeschooling, so this is what I've come up with. Let me know what you think before I publish it!

When my sister-in-law started homeschooling 12 years ago, it was just another example of the huge gulf between us. She was a stay-at-home, I was working to become a brilliant scholar. I’m sure at some point early in our relationship, I told her, “Good for you for staying at home with your kids—I could never do that.” And like all patient at-home moms, she did not slug me, though she probably wanted to.

And here I am now, not just an at-home mom but a homeschooler (and a part-time independent scholar too, but that’s another article). Having made that long mental trek from “”Hell, no” to “Hey, this is really fun!” I can give you some straight answers to those “questions” people usually ask when what they really mean is, “I could never do that!”

Definitely not! All kinds of people homeschool, and the majority of them seem pretty open-minded to me, no matter where they’re coming from. If you want to be part of an exclusive homeschool community based on your religion, lifestyle, or educational style, there are plenty of specialized support groups out there, but two of the main homeschool groups —Minnesota Homeschoolers Alliance and Early Childhood Homeschooling Opportunities-MN—are truly for everybody.

No more than you require those characteristics to be a parent. If you can get your child off to preschool with her totebag and indoor shoes, if you can remember which day your child has lunch bunch, if you can survive weaning and potty training, you have the skills and stamina to be a homeschooling parent, especially in the early years.

True, you may not remember algebra or chemistry, but your elementary-age child will probably be OK with that. In the meantime, take advantage of the wealth of resources available to homeschoolers, including curriculum designed specifically for the non-expert parent, teaching software, online classes, local co-ops, and more. When it’s time for quadratic equations, you can learn along with your child—if they teach it to 14-year-olds, surely you can figure it out. Or maybe you have a math-savvy friend who would love to barter for babysitting or lessons in Latin or knitting.

Almost no homeschoolers sit down at the kitchen table with their children for 6 hours, with 20-minute breaks for recess and lunch. One of the great things about homeschooling, especially in the elementary ages, is that you can cover the standard curriculum in about 2 hours or less. No getting 25 kids to stop talking or stand in line: schooling one on one takes very little time, meaning that for the rest of your day you can go to the park, send the kids into the yard while you knit, join a family oriented health club, visit family, work part-time . . . And once your child is able to read and follow simple directions, you can take 10 minutes to get him/her started and then go clean the kitchen or fold laundry while s/he works for a while. Learning software can guide even the non-reading child through a 30-minute lesson.

There’s also the time you don’t spend with your kids: the battle to get to school on time; the worn-out whiny time after school; the time you struggle with homework; the time looking for misplaced permission slips, driving forgotten backpacks to school, selling candy and wrapping paper . . . (Although I like the paper, so think of us next fall!)

One last friendly note: You know that annoying sister-in-law you have? The super-busy, super-important corporate type who always looks down her nose at you for being an at-home mom? You know the patronizing way she tells you, “Oh, it’s so great for you to stay home with your kids – I could never do that!” when she really means she could never be content with your dreary life?

Truth is, homeschool moms often hear “I could never do that” in the same way. So the next time you're tempted to say it, consider this: 1) You should probably cut your sister-in-law a little slack, for karma’s sake, and 2) Even if you never choose to homeschool, you can rest assured that if you wanted to, you surely could!

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On Monday, March 5, I celebrate one year of blogging about our homeschool, which means . . .

One year of having Violet home!!

We won't officially have done one year of homeschooling until April, which is when we started "formal" school -- math lessons, Chinese program, etc.

But leaving school is the much more exciting anniversary--the day we woke up and didn't lecture Violet about remembering her homework folder, or about ignoring other kids' bugging her about going to two classrooms, or about finishing her work so the teacher would give her work at a more appropriate level, or about not saying she has to go to the bathroom in order to wander the halls for a few peaceful minutes . . .

I hope I have a minute or two to spare to reflect on the year and try to summarize it a bit, though with all the travel we've done the past few weeks I'm not sure when that will be.

For now, we'll just enjoy the many blessings of homeschool and get back to those Vicious Vikings:

Have I mentioned how much I love Horrible Histories lately? And I wonder where Violet gets her Gothic sensibilities . . .

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Once again I am posting a link so that I remember to look at it more closely myself when I have more time.

Johns Hopkins University has one of the big academic talent searches and some popular distance learning program through its Center for Talented Youth. So far Violet is a bit young and too far away to take advantage of any of it, but it is a resource for homeschoolers as well as traditional schoolers. (Besides, we're much closer to Northwestern and its Midwest Academic Talent Search and Center for Talent Development.)

Anyway, the JHU site is called Cogito.org, and describes itself as "an online community for academically talented youth." I think by "youth" it means junior high and high school students, and it seems pretty science oriented. JHU has partnered with Northwestern, Davidson, and some other talent search-type programs to create the site, and one of these organizations has to refer you to get full membership. But you can get stuff from the site without being a member.

Here's part of the "about us" statement:

You're passionate about math and science. You already like to think about, talk about, and do math and science, but you also want to know what else is out there-and who else is out there. Or maybe you're someone with a developing interest in math or science and trying to figure out what's out there for you and who's out there to share your ideas with.

Either way, Cogito is just the place for you. On Cogito, you can read news and features on topics ranging from global warming and biostatistics to cold fusion and bioethics, and beyond. You can explore the intersection of science and the arts, from computer animation to science fiction. You can find great resources including book reviews, "Best of the Web" guides, and listings and reviews of summer and distance-education programs, internships, and academic competitions. And if you are a member, you can participate in online interviews with experts in various fields and in discussion forums with other members like you. Membership also grants you access to the Cogito virtual library where you can find a wide variety of research materials and a librarian dedicated to helping you.

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The e-mail list for our state gifted and talented council linked to a couple of blog posts on the Teacher Leaders Network about gifted ed.

Some "intriguing" quotations:

. . . and also ...

. . . and even this . . .

At first I reacted really strongly and started composing a response about how sloppy this 30-year teaching veteran -- and gifted specialist with a Masters in Gifted Ed -- was with her terminology and definitions. Then I was too busy and I dropped it. Then I started thinking about how poorly served my daughter had been by this type of thinking -- basically that giftedness is so nebulous and so parent-driven that no one should have to change what's "worked" (heavy sarcasm there) for every other student for the past 20 years -- and I got even madder.

And that's when something in me clicked, and now I say again:

I am So over school.

I was headed in this direction from the day I realized we had to pull Violet out of school -- the day that my conversation with a very nice and well-meaning teacher had me repeating the phrase "at home she . . . " and "well at home she . . .," "but you see at home she . . ." and -- ding ding ding ding ding -- popping lightbulbs -- oh, I get it! She's happier and learns much better At Home!

But now, well, let me just say that my thoughts are still a little raw, and I have a strong inclination to express my "over-ness" with some deliberately chosen expletives, something along the lines of "Forget school," but a little rougher!

Forgive me if I'm not interested in the advocacy route: I know so many wonderful parents and educators who give hours and hours of their time to advocating for better institutional education. I just . . well . . . you can't get blood from a turnip, you know? No matter how great your advocacy skills are, no matter how justified your requests.

Besides, and I hope this doesn't sound too sanctimonious, but the rewards of giving my hours and hours to my girls instead have just been so huge. Violet and I talked for an hour last night about Harry Potter, lines of symmetry, finding the volume of cuboids, and the nature of the 4th dimension. Meanwhile, it's been nearly a year since I've sat and agonized over a letter to a teacher or principal or prepped for yet another meeting or sat with my husband as we both cried about how unhappy our daughter was.

No, you can't get blood from a turnip, but I sure have gotten a lot from bringing my Violet home.

Sayonara, school! I'm just not that into you. It's not you, it's me. I'm just not ready for the level of commitment you want. I want to start seeing other people. It's just not meant to be between us. There's plenty of fish in the sea—you'll find someone else. I know I have!

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In the car this morning Violet and I listed to Dr. Mel Levine on MPR, talking about how children learn. Levine is a pediatrician and brain researcher.

She found it so interesting that I had to leave her in the car with the car running while I picked Victoria up from preschool. One thing we listed to was Levine explanation of how some people have “superficial attention,” meaning that they tend to ignore details on the first and even second pass. These kids suffer in school, obviously, but in Levine’s studies these kids were very often the big-picture, visionary thinkers. Another group focuses intensely on detail, so much that they overlook the big picture. Violet said, “that’s very interesting,” and we had a talk about our styles of thinking.

It was good timing: this morning during math she was doing double-digit multiplication, but she kept messing up by forgetting to put a zero in the ones place when multiplying by the tens digit. (Is that clear? It would be easy to see on paper.) She knows to do it, and she understands the reasoning behind doing it, but she does not pay great attention to detail, which is a killer in math. The speech gave us a good opportunity to say, hey, it’s good to be a big-picture thinker, and we can practice the details because details really matter in subjects like math.

We talked about other ways merging big-picture and detail-focus is a great skill, including writing books. We talked about the great detail in the Harry Potter books—Quidditch rules, types of candy—and the huge story that spans seven books. I think that was an even more persuasive example than doing math problems correctly . . . ;-)

There are so many other interesting bits that I really recommend that you listen to it!

Some other themes:

The new “F” word – “fun.” We should encourage our kids to value that which is "interesting" in addition to asking whether this or that was "fun."

“Visual/motor ecstacy” – the impact of excessive visual, non-linguistic input (e.g. video games) on language development.

Socialization – Children are spending too much time with peers, not enough with adults. As a result, children abandon their own affinities and talents to merge with “the group.”

Helping your child identify which of their “learning switches” are automatic (intuitive) and which are manual. (For example, I am intuitively “big-picture” oriented, but I have to turn my “detail switch” on manually.)

Strengthening strengths rather than concentrating on deficits.

Mel Levine on MPR

The excerpt seems to start in mid-sentence.

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Here are a few views of our recent trip:

First, Violet in her new sarong

Victoria on Playa Norte, Isla Mujeres

Dancing in front of the Loncherias and the market

Sampling cocos frios -- cold coconuts cracked open on the spot

Hanging out on the street

Our front yard

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Population -- 3 and growing

I mentioned recently that Violet has her own favorite operating system -- Linux. (In part a show of loyalty to dad, I'm sure. Ageeksez What?

We've also added a new game to our stash that ups our geek cred. Have you heard of Carcassone?

It's fun, but it's geek all over. I can recommened it highly for homeschoolers. You build cities, roads, cloisters, etc., and then at the end you claim fields to get points. Victoria is still too young, but otherwise its a great game that school-age kids to grandparents can play together.

To cap off a night of geeking-out, my husband then chased me around the house and forced me to listen to Frank Zappa on his iPod.

Do our children even stand a chance of normalcy?

On another note, the number of photos I have to upload is daunting, but I'll try to get started tonight.

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We're back, having missed the coldest week in 4 years! That's good timing.

I'll post photos and details soon, because they are too good not to, but here is a distant view of one of the beaches we frequented.

Of course we were also blessed with a beach for our front yard, where the girls set up their "seaside bakery" and played water sprites for hours on end.

Isla Mujeres was about the best vacation we've had, and that's saying something!

For now, I'll try to appreciate the lack of sand in my sheets rather than consider how cold my toes are, and how hot I was just a few days ago.

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Our blog is going on vacation!

Why not visit the 57th Carnival of Homeschooling?

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Part of what made yesterday a good day was getting another real-world experience of why homeschooling is working for us. [I’m sure nonhomeschoolers must wonder why so many homeschool-bloggers write on this subject. Well, swimming against the tide isn’t easy!]

There was a very interesting study in contrasts among the kids—all girls, mostly ages 7-9. A few kids were very eager to share, had very imaginative observations. Violet and a girl she chose to buddy up with hung in the back, wrote notes to each other, and drew a lot of pictures. The thing is, the two girls are among the best artists of the bunch, and they really were taking it all in. They just weren’t really inclined to share their thoughts or feelings with the group—although Violet did share several of her drawings, and made a very cool one as a thank you for the tour leader when we had to leave.

What struck me was that in a regular classroom setting, Violet and her friend’s style of participating would typically not be valued as highly as the more vocal kids’ participation. Violet was really excited to be there and share her excitement with her one friend, she drew her own stuff as well as interpretations of the pieces they looked at, but she also totally turned her back to the group at times, and when she did have something to say she sometimes wrote it down rather than speaking it aloud. Both the other girl’s dad (a professional artist) and I commented, observing the girls’ actions, that we were glad that homeschooling allowed them to learn in their own ways. (OK, I just have to add that I was really pleased when the dad mentioned that he thought V. drew really really well. Moms need a little maternal pride now and then.)

I also reflected on our experience with school, and teachers’ expectations of gifted students. I would be the first to acknowledge that the kids who were speaking up today are very bright kids. In school I would guess that most teachers would be happy to identify them as gifted. The problem is that my very bright kid doesn’t act like that. She wants to wear a black dress to First Communion, she loves Tim Burton-style art (her friend was drawing “Corpse Bride,” which we have not seen), she’ll speak out if she thinks she can make everyone laugh but won’t raise her hand to answer questions even if she’s sure of the answer. She doesn’t like to be instructed (and will openly say so), and she doesn’t ever like to think out loud. This is not a kid destined to be a teacher’s pet.

For a more academic discussion of which students teachers pick out as gifted, and how highly+ gifted kids respond, see the article Small Poppies on the Davidson website. It was a great article that really helped us understand what Violet was going through as we tried to make school work for her, and when we decided that it probably wouldn’t, at least not now. I love this article, and gave a copy to our old principal (being careful to assure her that we were trying to illuminate our daughter's feelings, not condemn the teachers who see "good kids" as "gifted kids").

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