Locks of Love

RMD has been letting her hair grow for over a year now. Her plan was to let it grow long enough to cut 12 inches for Locks of Love. Well, this past month BOTH of us were finally ready to cut it, even though it was not yet at the 12 inch point. Thankfully we found the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Program, which only requires 8 inches of hair. We made an appointment the same day we found the program! RMD was really excited to be helping make wigs for cancer patients and equally excited to cut off her mane. I was really proud of her!

Mother-Daughter Book Club

This year RMD and I joined 7 other mother-daughter pairs and started a book club. One of our founding moms has wanted to start a group since her daughter was 3 or 4 and she read The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh, and Learn Through Their Love of Reading by Shireen Dodson. This was finally the year. The girls are all advanced-level, avid readers, and the majority of them were in the 4th grade.

We met 7 times, rotating among each members' home. The host of the month chose the book.

The meeting format was as follows:
Have a craft/activity related to the theme
Snacks related to the theme
Provide information about the author
Have prepared open-ended questions to encourage discussion
No hand-raising necessary.
Confidentiality—what is discussed in the meeting, stays in the meeting

Each meeting lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Our book list for the year was:

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes byEleanor Coerr
The Little Princess by Frances Burnett
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech
Princess Academy byShannon Hale
Ida B byKatherine Hannigan

It was great to see the girls so focused and really interested in the literature. RMD and I are looking forward to the coming year and more books!

The Gap Year

Although unnamed, I had thought about it often. A year between high school and college when I could have figured out what I really wanted to do. Some time after college, traveling the world or volunteering with an org like Americorps. A hope for my children, when I mentioned to my husband a few years ago that I wanted the kids to spend a year "doing something" before going to work for the rest of their lives. Now, thanks to my attendance at Susan Wise Bauer's lecture at the NW Washington Homeschool conference, it has a name. "The Gap Year".

No, this is not a year the kids will spend working at the Gap, theoretically saving money for college, but actually spending it on Gap clothing, music CD's, video games, or whatever else is the latest craze. It is a thoughtfully planned out year between high school and college that will be included in our long-term homeschooling agenda. Hopefully, the planning will be mostly child-led with parental collaboration. A well planned gap year should include travel - ideally in the form of volunteerism - and work. Susan Wise Bauer got alot of laughs at the lecture when she said she wants her kids working in "The Office" - you know, the one with Michael Scott as the boss. (Thursday's on NBC). She wants her kids to know there is something more to aspire to. Not a bad idea.....

During the lecture, Susan detailed the many benefits of having kids do a Gap year. It gives the kids time to mature before heading to college. It gives them a sense of the greater world - not just theirs. It might hopefully inspire new ideas and create a passion to pursue during the college years and beyond.

Is it too late for me to have a Gap year????


PS - Wouldn't you know - they have websites and articles on it!!!!!!


Try these for a start -

USA Today - Gap Year
Transitions Abroad
Catholic Gap Year

Journal of the Plague Weeks

During homeschool next year we will be learning Modern History with a focus on America. In order to get ready for the year, I decided we should do some "pre-learning" about what might have been a catalyst for European Expansion into the United States. One of many factors was likely the ongoing bubonic plague and black death episodes, especially the London Plaque of 1665.

I have found learning about the plaque particularly fascinating. Probably more so then the kids. APD has actually had to lie down after reading some of the plague books, claiming they make him feel like puking. RMD usually really likes gross stuff, especially having to do with animals and the human body. So, I thought the plague would be right up her alley. It was, I think, until she realized that my saying "Hey, let's watch a netflix" in the middle of the day really translates as "Let's learn something here", after which I would put on one or another fascinating video - this one included - The Scourge of the Black Death.

Anyway, I felt the desire to learn more. Did you know that the plague still exists in the United States? See the CDC website. Also in the book Rats by Robert Sullivan , I found out that there are currently more animals carrying the plague in the United States now then there were in Europe during the Black Death period of 1348.

Well to end it, APD is supposed to write a paper on the plague - he might have already done it. RMD is reading and actually enjoying some historical fiction about the 1665 London Plague - At The Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper. It's a good book - also contains alot of information about herbalism and wildcrafting. To wrap it up for myself, I am going to read Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year.

Why we decided to homeschool 101

I decided I will do interim posts on why we decided to homeschool. These will be sporadic and out of order and random. But they will serve as a way to help myself remember, esp 10 years from now, the why of it.

This is an edited version of an e-mail I sent to friend who was contemplating homeschooling her kids. It was great for me that she asked. Homeschooling is a touchy issue. I don't want to act TOO happy, because some people (not most, and not good friends) get bent out of shape by this going against the "norm" thing. It was also great for me to have a reason to revisit my own thought process.


The E-mail
I'm glad you asked! .....I just got a new book yesterday and have to share it with someone! It's called :
The Well-Trained Mind
A Guide to Classical Education at Home
The library has it. Read Chapter 2 and you will be a homeschooler! For me, since APD was 3 I have actually wanted to homeschool. I think that is why we had a few crazy years with school changes. MV was the ideal but when they closed, I was not in love with SJS and NBE was fine for a few years but we were never totally satisfied. When APD was 3 I read Snow Falling on Cedars. I liked it so much that I did a search (before the library was even officially on the internet - I had to backdoor in) and found other books by the author, David Guterson, and one was Why Homeschooling Makes Sense. Guterson is a public high school teacher and his family homeschooled! That really struck me. His rational is that schools do the best they can, but given the variety of learning styles, kids temperments, etc., coupled with the fact that he saw first hand what was going on at the schools, he thought homeschool was the way to go. This year has been great for us. Everyone is overall much happier in all aspects. We have our own schedule and agenda. No fighting with RMD over homework, no having APD worry about the whole middle school dynamics. Less stress on the whole family. Wilderness class is great ... As I was sitting in the forest on Parent's day, I looked around at all the 30 or so kids who most people think should have been in "school" and thought how lucky they were to be in the woods - acting for themselves and not the "group" and not constrained by the regular system. It's pretty amazing. Curriculum wise - I'm still learning. APD has a sort of pieced together block of classes which works and will end up getting him 3 or 4 high school credits, but it is a little haphazard. (I can tell you more on how to get the credits later - very easy and it is from an officially recognized and accredited school - so no worries about diplomas etc.). For RMD, I mainly want her to do math and just found a pretty good program that has a computer "teacher" who she will listen to better then me. I also have her reading some classic books, and learning cursive and keyboarding. We started out doing the 5 paragraph essay thing, but since that is really a "state test" thing and has no bearing on real life writing, quit. Now she is journaling and writing fiction stories.Most people say the first year of homeschooling is sort of a deprogramming year. I will say if I had read the above book last summer we would have had a much different plan and been ahead of the game. Now, if I want to do The Well Trained Mind program we have some catch up to do this summer. I will probably most likely do some parts of the TWTM program and some of my own choosing. Looking ahead - for APD I am pretty sure we will not head to high school. I feel it will be too crowded and not conducive to advanced education. Many things I have heard from good students' parents lead me to that conclusion. Alot of people have the plan of high school for 2 years and then Running Start. As a homeschooler we could do Running Start too, and avoid the 2 year of HS thing. Some people think HS is necessary for the social experience, but I don't agree. I had a fine time in HS, but could have lived with a different path as well. We figure as long as APD keeps ties with some good kids we're fine. Plus we have met a ton of homeschooling kids and it is refreshing to see the politeness and ease with which they can talk to adults, look them in the eye, etc. We were and I guess are still looking at (an expensive Catholic school) , but we added it up yesterday. If both kids start in 2009, we will spend $?@$!!!! not including tuition increases! That could certainly pay for some great private college tuitions if we need to go that route. Some very good trips too! One woman we know has homeschooled her 3 older kids through high school and her daughter got a full ride to Stanford, so I am less worried about the whole "getting in to college" thing. Here is a website - I met this woman. Her boys both got full rides to colleges in Seattle. When you read this stuff coupled with Chapter 2 from the Well Trained Mind, it really makes alot of sense. Also, one last thing, we just found and joined a homeschool coop. APD has made some friends there and really likes it. Sooo..... my long story is YES homeschool! It has its good days and bad days and you are definitely more constrained with personal time, but overall it is worth it.

Why I like "Ecotopia"

Based upon my last post, it has hit me that this little blog could actually be a forum for a variety of my highly evolved opinions (or dare I say reflections) on some critical (to me) matters. Good thing I have turned off the "comments section" of this blog as I am sure I would get comments for offending.

So, why do I like the book Ecotopia? Well, first some background. Ecotopia was published in 1975 and is considered the world's first dramatic portrait of an ecologically sustainable society. I discovered the book in 2005, when the 30th Anniversary Issue was published. It is not a fantastically well-written book and I could definitely do without the "1970's free-love" dissertations. But, I like the book because the ideas presented 30 years ago are exactly what we need today for so many of the issues the United States currently faces. (An excellent book discussing the current situation is Deep Economy, another one of my recommendations).

The premise is that Washington, Oregon and Northern California secede from the United States, close their borders and become a self-contained country, economy and government. Instead of " living speeded-up, stressed-out, consumption-driven lives," Ecotopians learn how to live sustainably. They work fewer hours at jobs that are personally fulfilling; send their kids to schools that value nature, the outdoors, "real" learning and being a kid; and take the time to know their neighbors for who they are, not for what they have. Life is simpler. There's not so much pressure to get stuff, and more and more of it. People actually have time to read, work on hobbies, relax and think. And there's no criticism for not running 24/7. It makes me want to move to Montana and build a cabin off the grid. Well, sort of.... Maybe as a vacation home.... And therein lies the problem. We affluenza-afflicted Americans, myself included, are so addicted to stuff and comfort and being busy that it is really hard to change.

For now, the best I can do is try to make small changes. Make sure the kids know what is important even as they enjoy their electronic toys. Demonstrate by example - community service & ecological responsibility. Purchase and consume only what we need. Be aware of WHAT we are purchasing and where it comes from. Support local CSA's. The list goes on and on. I think our family is doing somewhat okay, but we can certainly do alot better.

I'll end with a plug for "The Story of Stuff", a video that APD brought to my attention - watch it following this link. The Story of Stuff

Interesting aside - if you are intrigued by this post you might like this article by Ernest Callenbach the author of Ecotopia

Why Northwest Reflections?

A few years ago I was really into making jewelry with a friend. And of course hoping to sell it. I figured I needed a catchy name that sounded local - hence Northwest Reflections. Well, I only sold a few pieces of jewelry, although it is still a fun hobby to do with RMD. But I like the name. And since this is where I am currently living and reflecting, it fits here too.