Et tu, Costco?

This famous line was uttered in shock and betrayal and now I utter them as I skimmed through a recent Costco magazine. On page 16 of the September 2008 edition they have done a two page spread on the topic debating: Should parents be certified to home-school their children?

At first glance my initial response is the thought that this would be great. How can you go wrong in ensuring that these "weirdy" parents are on track in instructing their children. Considering that we have teachers go through an arduous training process to ensure excellence...right?

Sadly, I don't think that's completely true. While it is true that it can be a long (5 years in college) and a somewhat arduous process with the student teaching, it's going to come down to who is sitting in that chair, in that class, "learning" to become a teacher. Either they're doing it for the right reasons or the wrong ones. Either they're going to put their heart and soul into it or they're not. Either they're going to be a good teacher or an ineffective teacher. While we can only hope that that the children will survive and learn in spite of the person at the front of the classroom.

It's actually my sincere belief that either you are meant to be a teacher or not long before you step foot into your first college class but that's for another post.

So, while at first glance I thought I would lean on the pro side. I then reread the article and spent some time thinking about what was actually being said. You had the president of the teacher federation acknowledge that not every certified teacher is an effective educator while stating that "...a homeschool teacher may be a natural teacher but lack training and necessary supervision" My question is, supervision by whom and why is it necessary? The last time I checked with the county you are not required to obtain a license to become a parent. It is assumed that we will be a parent to our child, good or bad, but that appears to be a God given right and only in the cases of neglect and/or abuse is it necessary for the government to step in.

The other side of this question is responded to by a gentleman who is the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He counters that states have moved toward more home schooling freedom because research has shown that home schooled students on average score 20-30 percentile points above the national average on SAT's.

How can you argue with that. What is it that parents do that is difficult for all teachers to do?

Let's consider for a moment the benefits a "teacher" has when homeschooling; small class size (1-4 students), flexibility, not tied into a schedule (ie. computers, PE, art, library, assembly, etc. is at a certain time and my possibly interrupt other learning), opportunities to DISCUSS (more on the value of this later) at length, not governed by a bureaucratic school board/principal in what they can or can't teach, autonomy, ability to collaborate with lots of different resources/people, you know who your students are and don't spend the first couple of weeks/months just getting to know them and helping the class bond, and I could probably think of a few more but I'm worried about my run-on sentenece. Hey, Mrs. Johnson, I just think I broke my old record for number of words in a sentence ;-)

Now let's consider the benefits a "teacher" has when working in a traditional school; large class size (18-24 students or more - hang in there Aunt Karen!), inflexibility with the schedules of other classrooms and in coordinating everyone for pull-out classes, addressing a variety of learning styles and abilities, lack of opportunities to discuss topics at length because of the schedule, time constraint, and curriculum goverened and controlled to some extent in what they can or can't teach by a bureaucratic school board/principal, ability to collaborate with the teacher next door to you because you can or can't stand her/him, getting to spend the first couple of weeks/months of school getting to know your students and their parents, and then helping the class to come together and bond - can you say Kum Ba Yah?



So, in the end it comes down to making the decision to teach your child at home being a very personal one. Where we get a lot of debate is from folks who are not able/willing to acknowledge the good and bad of homeschooling and the good and bad of public education. Neither one is perfect but they both can work. Doesn't being able to make your own choice sound great?

Flight of Fancy

On a cold blustery day in January Nathan was laying around the house and there didn't seem much to do. So, we gathered the camera,tripod, pitch counter, notebook, and pencil and headed out with the hope of counting and documenting the number of Trumpeter Swans within a one mile radius of our house.

Out we went and right off the bat Nathan had to start clicking away on the pitch counter (device used to count the number of pitches during a game to ensure that your pitcher, or their's, does not go over the maximum number of pitches during a game). There were birds far out in the field and he was counting and I was counting to compare numbers and ensure some accuracy.

Overall it took about an hour to drive that square mile, count, and stop to take photos but it was a lot of fun. I should mention that the photos were taken with a small pocket camera so quality suffers but it was a lot of fun and you're able to see some of the beauty we saw. Final results were:

Trumpeter Swans - 874
Canada Geese - 56
Mallard Ducks -23

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Dills Family 2009

Brotherly Love

With a husband who works shift work and most holidays we have had to adjust our Christmas a bit and so we enjoyed our gift exchange on Christmas Eve. We all gave and received thoughtful and funny gifts. The funniest gift had to be the remote controlled fart machine that our 15 yr. old received. We were all rolling for about a 1/2 hour straight and we were not able to gain control of ourselves until we had called Grandpa and Uncle Randy to share the hilarity with them as well. 

Due to the weather the boys were told that we were going to do our grocery shopping and Christmas shopping at one store. They were set loose in the local Safeway grocery store in which they had to locate the perfect gift for everyone. Mom was easy with lotions and bath salts. Dad wasn't too difficult with some goodies and motorcycle magazines but it was the gifts that the boys bought for each other that were the most thoughtful. 

The younger one fell in love immediately with the musical snow globes. He chose a reindeer one that played Jingle Bells because it just "put you in the Christmas spirit!" However, he felt that this was not enough for his older brother. He also felt compelled to get him some little finger skateboards since they were Plan B boards and it is his brother's newest hobby and favorite board. Tim shrieked with joy as he opened his gifts and Nathan was very pleased with himself.

Tim's search for the perfect gift was not as simple. He wandered aimlessly through the store unable to decide what to get Nathan when he struck upon the idea of creating a bit of a treasure hunt. He excitedly went through the store looking for items that would provide good clues. Needless to say, we were at the store for about 2 hours as Tim and Nathan wandered the aisles trying to avoid one another and agonizing over their gift choices. 

Tim's clues went something like this; it started with a Farmer's Almanac magazine with a bookmarked page with the word, distilled water circled. Nathan was instructed to go to this item in the kitchen and find the next clue. He did this and found a Symphony chocolate bar which led him to the guitar amp, which led him to a bottle of Thyme, which led him to the clock (time), which led him to where he lays his head. Nathan raced upstairs to his bed and found a felt gift box chock full of goodies that Tim carefully chose for him. 

It was difficult to get Nathan to go to bed tonight only because he wanted to keep practicing the yo-yo that his brother had given him. 

For a hilarious look at the sweetest little guys check this out! 

Nathan's Native American Button Blanket

For Nathan's art class he was asked to create a Northwest Indian button blanket. The assignment suggested that the kids use foam sheets and felt pens to create a blanket design. He did this initial assignment but then decided that he'd like to make a real blanket that he could keep. So, using the book, Northwest Native Arts Creative Colors 2 by Robert E Stanley, Sr. he chose an eagle pattern.

We then made a copy that he colored with felt pens. Using red and black he left some white space. We then scanned the colored copy and made two copies (one being a mirror image) to create the symmetrical effect. We then printed these copies onto iron-on transfer paper and used part of an old sheet to affix them as a base.

We wanted to attach the eagle pattern to a black circle which would then be sewn to a larger red circle. This decorative piece would then be sewn to the blanket. Nathan wanted the blanket to be soft so we selected a soft black fleece for the base and use red felt for the trim and background for the eagle design. We "measured" the width of the blanket by using Nathan's arm-span as the measurement.

Not having a circle pattern the exact size we wanted (we did check all the bowls in the house first ;) we fashioned a type of compass using a white oil pastel crayon tied to some dental floss. We positioned it and created a circle the size we needed. Nathan spent quite a bit of time getting everything in place just right with straight pins so that we could then sew everything.

Nathan did some initial practice runs with some scrap fleece on the sewing machine. The blanket took a lot of sewing so mom did a majority of that part for him. Once we got the blanket all put together Nathan learned how to sew a button onto fabric. This is actually a lot harder than it looks for little 11 year old fingers but he stuck with it and between the two of us we got all the buttons attached. It took about 3 days working on this in the evenings to finally complete. 

Creating an actual button blanket was a fun alternative that gave us a little more insight into all the work that is involved in making these beautiful blankets.

Ignorance on TV

There are a number of shows on TV that I simply refuse to watch. My body physically reacts when they come on.  One of them is Oprah and the other one is The View. I'm not a big fan of Barbara Walters to begin with but when you get Joy Behar going off on Elisabeth Hasselbeck it is almost more than I can bear. 

So, while taking my morning walk and listening to the news on the radio I heard a clip of a comment made by Joy Behar while on The View. I feel that her comment exemplifies the ignorance and misconceptions that many people still hold regarding homeschoolers including this educated talk show co-host who just happens to be a former teacher!

The comment takes place at about 7 minutes into the clip. 

 

Best Cold and Flu Tea

For those of you looking forward to the chance of snow here's a dandy little herbal tea recipe to help combat the sniffles. This recipe was take from "Herbal Antibiotics" by Stephen Harrod Buhner.

The Best Cold and Flu Tea

2 teaspoons sage

Juice of one lemon (or 1 teaspoon lemon balm herb)

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey

Pour 1 cup boiling water over sage and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Strain out herbs, add remaining ingredients, and drink hot.

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 98101

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Snow in the Forecast

With all this talk of possible snow I thought I'd whip up some delicious butternut squash and leek soup to eat by the fire. Here's the recipe - Bon appetit!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND LEEK SOUP

4 1/2 lbs. butternut squash, halved lengthwise 5 tbsp. unsalted butter 4 lg. leeks (white and tender green), chopped 7 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp. dried 5 c. chicken stock or unsalted canned broth 1 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper 1/2 c. sour cream 2 to 3 tbsp. chives, chopped 8 slices of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash, cut-side down, on a baking sheet and bake until tender, about 40 minutes. Let cool slightly. Using a spoon, scoop out and discard the seeds. Scrape the squash from the skin. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Add the leeks and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs. Stir in the stock and the squash. Simmer over moderate heat for 20 minutes. In a blender or food processor, puree the soup in patches until smooth. Pour the soup back into the pan and season with the salt and pepper. (The recipe can be prepared to this point up to 2 days ahead. Reheat the soup before proceeding.) To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream, 1 teaspoon chopped chives and a sprinkling of the bacon.

Born To Read

We've heard the statistics, reading to your baby is incredibly important for brain development and their ability to learn and read later on. The evidence is indisputable. There is the saying that in grades 1st - 4th children learn to read and that from 5th grade on they read to learn.

I loved to read as a child but I don't really recall my parents reading to me on a regular basis. This was also a time, however, when I was like thousands of other kids growing up in the 70's where exposure to second-hand smoke, no seat-belt laws, and bad fashion were the norm. In fact, as a kid I could actually walk into a corner market without a parent, a note, or anything and buy cigarettes. What were parents thinking? How did we survive? As the old adage goes, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. So, even without the ritualistic bedtime story I survived and even thrived in spite of it all.

Part of the reason I loved to read was that I discovered nursery rhymes, oh yeah, and I adored my third grade teacher, Mrs. Prange at Washington Elementary. I know this sounds kind of simple and you might question my first love but nursery rhymes were my foundation. So, if told that I could only choose one book in the entire world I know the right answer should be the Bible and it probably would be for me, the adult, but for the kid it would definitely be a big huge edition of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. In close second would be Father Fox's Penny Rhymes and Free To Be You and Me. These were staples to my reading diet as a child. I could play with the language, memorize, and share with my younger siblings at will. This was back in the day when we could get three networks on TV... sorta and a Canadian station when the weather was conducive, so being able to entertain ourselves was vital.

Siblings were mentioned and I will share that my younger sister enjoyed reading as much as I did but my two younger brothers did not. One of my brothers will even tell you, with a touch of pride in his voice, that he did not have to crack a single book in order to graduate from high school. Yeah? I guess that's another story for another time. But I do know that I always bought him a nice book for his birthdays. I would go to my favorite and only book store in town and choose a classic of some sort. One year it was Shel Silverstein's, Where the Sidewalk Ends or the next it was The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I am happy to say that although my brother may not have read in high school, he is reading now as an adult and recently I had the pleasure of listening to him read to his children and I like to think that I'm a small part of that. 

Children become readers on the laps of their parents. - Emilie Buchwald

Standing In the Way

Last night we attended a local home-schooling group potluck. They meet once a month so families can get together, eat, visit, and play board games. This was our first time so Steve and I didn't really know any of the families but we wanted to be sure to give the boys a chance to play with some of their friends from Spanish class and perhaps, we could possibly get to know some new families. We ate and had a great time playing Guesstures, especially when Steve was trying to act out "Fairy" for Tim. Well, after a while we were ready to go since we had worked all day and Nathan had an early basketball game the next morning. 

As we got up to leave there was  a woman standing in the walkway speaking to another woman. As we approached I said, "Excuse me". Nothing, so I said it a little more loudly..."Excuse me". At this point the other woman that she was speaking to tried to get out of the way a bit but the other lady remained in the walkway totally oblivious to us. The interesting part was that as we passed by her I heard her tell the other woman how serious she is in telling others about the gospel. That got me thinking about how we'd like God to use us for his glory but sometimes the very thing standing in our way is ourselves. We get so caught up in what we're are saying or doing that we don't take the time to notice what's happening around us...