Thoughts on Plagarism and Homeschool Writing Composition

While researching something having nothing to do with plagarism I came across this article written by a homeschooling mother named Susan Richman who also works with homeschooled students teaching writing composition, even AP high school classes. This is a detailed and interesting article about plagarism in general and how even homeschooled students plagarize sometimes. She winds up placing blame on two things, one is that the parents never taught the children about plagarizing and the other is that some students who would never steal objects have no problem stealing the words of others.

I would add that an issue is that some homeschooling parents don't know about plagarism and they may plagarize in their own life, so how can we expect them to teach their children NOT to plagarize? I would start by citing the homeschool blogging parents who regularly lift written content and photographs from the Internet and publish it as their own.

Here is a great paragraph from the article about homeschooled AP high school students:

"All offenders were strongly religious kids, from good families— the types of kids who would never steal things. They just didn’t think of words as things. Interesting enough, in my current studies of Hebrew I’ve found the fascinating fact that the Hebrew word ‘devar’ means both ‘word’ and ‘thing’— in Jewish tradition, stealing words is equal with stealing anything else, and much attention is given to the ethics of properly attributing ideas to their original source. I think more attention needs to be given to this in our homeschooling, to specifically telling our children about plagiarizing, and not just hoping they’ll somehow make the connection. Some won’t."

The author of the article also makes an interesting point that perhaps students mistakenly think that being told to write a report gets mistakenly thought of as them handwriting it; the students don't think of a writing assignment as writing composition and instead think it is more of an exercise in penmanship. I don't know if that is true or not.

I recall in fourth grade in public school, being taught how to research using encylopedias and using two or three sources then using our own words. We were taught about plagarism. I was torn, back when writing a paper on a single topic, mine was tomatoes, that it was hard to write on a topic I didn't know about. Every piece of content came from researched sources and the topic was so simple that the research didn't involve much tale spinning or fact connection (unlike something like what today's history book writers have to do to go through many original source documents to gather facts from different sources and weave them all together). To make matters worse for me as a student in fourth grade, when I wrote in my report that the tomato was both a fruit and a vegetable the teacher marked it wrong, chastized me in red ink saying that it was NOT a fruit and lowered my grade. Having been certain from my research that indeed it was true, I learned right then and there that teachers not only don't know everything but can be wrong about a fact and sometimes may impart wrong facts to their students. That was a major turning point for me to see teachers as humans who are flawed, they were knocked off their pedestal in my eyes, after that they had to prove themselves credible to me rather than getting automatic respect.

Anyway my point is that schools and courses (even for homeschoolers) place a burden on students by forcing them to write about topics that are 'worthy' and 'school-ish' but that children know little about. Perhaps in the elementary and middle school grades more emphasis could be given to allow students the freedom to write and practice writing composition about topics they know a lot of and can speak about "off the top of their heads". (I have done this with my homeschooled children with success.)

To me the primary goal is to teach writing composition, not research, in the elementary and middle school years, for those assignments. I think we should remember for younger children these are two separate things and the research part can bog the child down, confuse them as well as introduce temptation to bypass the actual writing composition part by plagarizing.

For one assignment for my older son, at ten, I had him write about the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game. He knew so much from reading about it for months from many different articles in a magazine and from playing it a lot, and talking with other players. At eleven I had him write about the xbox360 game console and how it differs from and is superior to other game consoles, and why.

I see the traditional teaching of writing composition as so flawed that I've struggled to accept recommendations from writing curriculum. I will confess that perhaps at their young ages my children have done less writing composition with the written word than if they'd attended public school. (For years they have practiced oral narration which is the summarization and composition process done in the mind then using spoken words though. To my mind a key part of writing composition is intaking information, understanding it, summarizing it, editing it, and retelling it, all processes of the mind that can be done without ever putting pencil to paper, if the teacher is able to listen to the student's spoken word. I understand the burden that institutional schooling brings with its a high pupil to low teacher ratio makes evaluation of written work more feasible. That issue/fact combined with the idea of teaching easy concepts done in short assignments for years and years, building up to harder and longer work produced as a teaching philosophy which is used in American public schools.) However the work my children have done has been of higher quality than typical public school assignments (read a story and write two sentences, a common homework assignment in second grade).

I would argue that this could be an area of study in which formal instruction need not be done regularly starting at too-young ages but can be practiced more in-depth in a higher quality way at an older age with better outcomes despite less time having been invested in the process overall. Actually writing composition is on my agenda as the biggest focus for my seventh grader's upcoming homeschool year so as I go through a vigorous plan this year I imagine I'll be blogging more of my thoughts based on what winds up happening as the process unfolds.

Teaching research can be done with elementary and middle school students completely separated from writing composition lesson. As a public school student in the 1970s in those early grades I recall filling out worksheets to answer simple questions about what I found after reserching a topic. I'd like to think that is still being done in school today. I think it is good to teach this to homeschooled kids too.

At the high school level I think it is reasonable and fine to require students to research a topic uknown to them and to write about it. I'd like to think the students have already been taught about plagarism and are not plagarizing. This article shows that not many homeschooled students know much about plagarism (even ones who have not been caught doing it). But now that I have read this article I think every writing class should start with a discussion of plagarism and every class should have consequences for the student if they are caught, and definately that all parents should be made aware that it happened (no matter how uncomfortable it is to handle).

Although it may be true that with the use of Internet research the technology makes it easy to copy and paste I will not blame plagarism on technology. Whether words are plagarized by writing them out longhand or copying and pasting, it is the same thing, the wrongdoing is on the part of the doer not having anything to do with technology. Certainly plagarism has existed for hundreds of years prior to the invention of the computer. I don't feel the focus should shift away from the offense of plagarism on the part of the plagarizer to putting the blame on technology.

I'll not spend much time discussing another important element mentioned in the article: that parents are more interested in thinking highly of their children's abilities than questioning if their exceptional writing is authentic. I'll point you to Richman's words and let you think about if you feel you would be so happy to see great writing from your children that you'd ever question (at least in your own mind) if they may have plagarized any of it.

I am wholeheartedly against plagarism in all forms. As a writer who puts time and effort into writing, carefully choosing words and sometimes seeking publication in print, and as a publisher of book reviews in print and on websites, I see plagarizing of my developed ideas or words as theft plain and simple. I've been the victim of plagarism. In one case a book selling website steals Amazon customer reviews (including at least one of mine) giving credit to Amazon as the source but not to the writer themself. In a discussion with the website owner, it became clear that they didn't feel they were plagarizing or stealing as the profits from the sale of books based on their customers reading stolen book reviews were being given to charity. Oddly enough, the website is run in the name of being a Catholic-related charity, so the religious nature of the site didn't impact the site's owners to use good ethics and to follow U.S. law regarding copyright infringement. Good intentions with profits made does not make the action of plagarism ethical. Additionally plagarizing copyrighted material is copyright infringement which is illegal. (This is a good example of moral relativism at work.)

Plagarism is an important topic that all homeschooled parents should educate themselves about and think about then teach their children about.

I feel that this excellent article on the Pennsylvania Homeschoolers site by Susan Richman: Homeschool Kids and Plagarism should be mandatory reading for all homeschooling parents.

I'm curious to hear what you think about this topic.

What the Wild Turkeys Love to Eat

The wild turkeys love to eat the berries of this plant.

I don't know what it is, but it grows a lot on the edges of my woods. This is one plant I'm trying to figure out for the 100 Species Challenge which I've not been spending enough time researching (lately I've just been observing and photographing).

Last week I saw baby turkeys jumping up from the ground in order to snag these berries to eat them. It was so cute!

I see that the turkeys seem to not like to stay in one place very long. They walk along, eat some, and keep moving, eating along as they go. Perhaps this is one method of self-preservation, as they move from open spaces to under bush back to open space, and so forth, keeping them not too long in one place where a predator may find them. They seem to do this more when their babies are young then when I see adult turkeys eating alone or in groups.

Or perhaps this is just smart browsing, to take a little from many spots instead of over-harvesting from a smaller number of locations. If that is the case then humans could learn some lessons from the wild turkeys.

Photo copyright ChristineMM, taken 7/26/09 in my yard in Connecticut.

Really Excited About New Memoir by Katrina Kenison

While looking over the "leftovers" list of books, that is, the stuff unwanted by other Amazon Vine reviewers, a memoir "The Gift of an Ordinary Day" caught my eye. I didn't look at who the author was but read the description, a memoir by a mother whose kids are going off to college.

I like memoir, when it is written well and is something of interest to me. I figured that with six years left until my older son heads off to college, perhaps hearing a bit of what this mother has to say would be of interest to me, so I requested the book.



I have my advance reading copy in hand and looked at the author, Katrina Kenison. The name was familiar. Then I saw the line "author of Mitten Strings for God". My eyes popped open. That is one of my favorite books of all time, a memoir about mothering children in the very early years. If my memory serves me correctly, her oldest child was about eight when mentioned in that book. I've read the book through twice, the last time being in about 2003. I recommend that book highly and have purchased gift copies for friends over the years. It is hard to put into words what I like about Kenison's first mothering memoir, perhaps it is her ability to express deep love or her gentle parenting, or, I don't know what, but it resonated with me, I could relate to it and I agreed with all she had to say about not taking things for granted and enjoying our children while they were young.



I can't wait to see what Kenison has to say about parenting her sons as tweens and teens and as they grew into young men.

"The Gift of an Ordinary Day" will be released in September 2009 in hardcover.




Disclosure: Through the Amazon Vine program, I received an advance reading copy of this book with a retail value of $0, and I'm not allowed to resell it for profit either.

Japanese Beetle

I don't give a darn if the Japanese Beetle wants to eat the wild plants on my property. Eat away! Just stay away from my vegetable plants and herbs! Thank you!

In my organic gardening experience I have never had a problem with Japanese beetles.

Really the Japanese Beetles are lovely creatures. I think they are overly hated by many homeowners unjustly so, or maybe it is just hype produced by companies who make products intended to kill them.

Photo taken by ChristineMM on 7/26/09 in my yard in Connecticut. Not digitally altered.

In Memoriam, Ned Vare, Unschooling Father and Homeschooling Advocate

For details see Judy Aron's post.

I'd like to share some thoughts but it will have to wait for later.

I'm blogging this in case you had not yet heard this sad news that Ned Vare has passed away.

Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual Book Review by ChristineMM

Title: Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: For Everyone from Beginner to Pro
Author: Bobbi Brown
Publication: Springboard Press (December 1, 2008)
ISBN: 978-0446581349 hardcover book
Full retail price: $32.00

My Star Rating: 5 stars out of 5 = I Love It.

Summary Statement: Clear and Concise, Great Advice and Information

The subtitle of BOBBI BROWN MAKEUP MANUAL indicates it is for the beginner to pro and I’m in the beginner category. All I’m interested in is doing my own makeup well. As a user of Bobbi Brown makeup for over ten years, I wanted to read this book to see what I could improve as formerly I was just applying the makeup as instructed by the BB counter saleswoman instructed me. I didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing until I read this book.

The bulk of the book (the first 138 pages) is designed to be used by both individual women for their own makeup and can also be used by professionals. After giving some brief opinions and recommendations on which products or product types to use on various skin types or for different purposes (such as when to use crème blush versus powder blush for example), clear directions for applying the makeup properly are given in brief text along with full step by step directions. Important to note is that all skin colors and different ethnicities are included. Special techniques for Asians are given such as handling eye makeup. I was happily surprised to see special advice given for women with freckles, the advice is to not cover them up completely but to use special makeup effects that allow them to show through. Also covered is how to handle makeup with skin conditions such as rosacea and others.

A section at the beginning gives information about brush selection, the importance of proper brush maintenance, and the reasons to use high quality brushes. Advice on compiling makeup kits is included, specifically, what items to buy and how to organize them for different purposes (travel, everyday use, and so forth).

I was impressed also with the section about eyebrows and eyelashes. Included is information about the benefits of and best ways to shape the eyebrows and when eyebrow makeup should be used. Directions for penciling in eyebrows for women with sparse eyebrows or who are currently undergoing chemotherapy is useful too. The proper way to apply mascara, how to use an eyelash curler and even how to apply false eyelashes correctly is included.

What struck me the most about this book is that it gives just enough information to be thorough but not too much so as to bog down or intimidate the reader. The photographed stepped out directions are done well. It is easy to find the makeup technique or effect you want to achieve to use the book’s directions when needed. When to use various effects is explained, such as daytime makeup and then touching it up for evening. Makeup for weddings and other formal events is also covered.

The last 80 pages are dedicated to professional makeup artists or those striving to become professional makeup artists. Those pages cover a range of topics from special makeup procedures to use on models in dramatic photo shoots to job basics such as career options, marketing oneself and booking work.

A short resources section is included at the end.

I read the book cover to cover and learned some things about makeup and makeup application that I never knew. I finally know how to pick the right shade of lipstick and foundation, and how to bring up the various levels of makeup for a more dramatic effect if desired. Now I will use the book as a reference guide for applying makeup. The book can easily be referenced for step by step directions.

Again from the perspective of an amateur, I loved this book. It breaks down a lot of information into easy to understand manner. I like the makeup style used by Bobbi Brown, of how natural her everyday makeup look is and the fact that Brown seeks to enhance a woman’s unique features rather than putting the makeup first and the women second. Unlike other makeup companies, Brown does not just churn out trendy colors each season and expect women to buy and use them as they are ‘in style’ at the moment. Brown wants women to look their best, to look natural but an “enhanced” natural. Brown’s makeup recommendations for evening and special occasions is elegant and beautiful, the makeup is not overpowering.



Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.

Thoughts Inspired by Wild Red Raspberries

Photo copyright ChristineMM, taken 7/26/09 in my yard.

Earlier this year, I decided to keep a small patch of wild red raspberries growing where our woods met our lawn rather than cut them down to make more of a "normal" and "acceptable" backyard.

The red raspberries are now are ripening at a fast rate with our sunny days, 80-something temperatures, and rainy nights. Berries not yet ripe at noon are often perfectly ripe by sundown and can be overripe by noon the next day or by sundown. I'm making it my business to pick daily if not twice a day now.

Yesterday at noon I picked over a pint, from those I could reach from the lawn without touching poison ivy or trodding on the ant nest on the woods-side of the patch and made a lunch of them, eating them immediatly after picking.

We had a severe thunderstorm last night with rains. This morning I found ripe berries on the ground, probably forced off by the hard rain. In about five minutes I picked over a pint of berries and ate them right then and there.

There is nothing as wonderful as ripe wild berries eaten right off the bush. Saving them for later, or eating while cold from being in the refrigerator is not the same at all. The temperature is important too, with air temperature being just right.



Photo copyright ChristineMM, taken 7/26/09 in my yard.

(Note the three leaved plant at the bottom of the photo, that is the horrid poison ivy plant!)

My husband put in a request to make jam from these wildcrafted berries. I figured in order to do so and make the effort worth my while, I'd have to harvest the berries daily and freeze them immediately. Then at the end of the harvest, I could use the frozen berries for jam.

Truth be told I've never made homemade jam having always had a free supply from either my grandmother or mother. But now that my grandmother has passed and since my mother hasn't made any (with storebought berries) in a few years I figure it is time I learned. To that end I jumped with joy when I was offered a review copy of a new book on jam and jellymaking. It is en route now and I plan to read it and review it this summer. But I digress.

I decided to eat these berries each day instead. The flavor is so fantastic that I prefer to savor them daily rather than use every berry from this small patch for jam. If I had access to larger quantities of free berries then I'd make jam. When berries are of this high quality, I almost feel it is wasteful to douse them in sugar and make a jam of them. I'd rather use the future crop of wildcrafted black raspberries for that purpose, as they sometimes can be just a tad too tart au natural.

My grandmother would wildcraft raspberries and make jam with them, in Maine, even into her 90s. As she neared the end of her life she relied on her wildcrafting friends (they used to go picking as a group, it was a fun time for them and was filled with much talk and laughter). After my grandmother was too frail to pick berries herself, her friends would drop off wildcrafted berries to her for jam making. I was there to witness this firsthand and was moved by their kindness. Imagine giving over three gallons worth of ripe berries! What a gift!

At the end of her life, when she had lost too much of her eyesight to age-related macular degeneration, her paid caregiver was the jam maker, with active oversight and direction from my grandmother. At first I thought that was silly, as did other relatives, until I realized that in her eyes she felt she was fulfilling a need. She was able to continue her role as provider of homemade jams to her loved ones. We could all afford to buy factory made jams, or even small batches made by cottage industries, but that was irrelevant to her. She felt we had always enjoyed her jams and jellies and she wanted to continue providing them to us. So we let her. And we all appreciated the thought and her gifts, finally coming to accept them with hugs and kisses rather than saying it was unnecessary or that she should "rest as she is getting older". She didn't want to hear that, and it bothered her to be reminded that she was losing her independence and physical abilities.

In addition to the red raspberries she also wildcrafted with blackberries, fiddleheads, and high bush cranberries. She wildcrafted apples and plums from fruit trees on bare abandoned lots that had turned to wild field, which were former homesteads back when the area was thriving from the lumber industry.

Perhaps one reason that I enjoy wildcrafting is it reminds me of my grandmother. I can't help but think of her while picking berries. Wildcrafting is also a way to appreciate the simple things in life, to enjoy the superior taste of a small (free) food grown my Mother Nature. It is a good reminder that not all things created by man and sold in the marketplace are superior. I think that appreciating nature helps put humans in their place, as the simplest attempt at taming nature for garden, yard or a home is a constant effort against the elements and the Earth's critters. To realize the power and strentgh of the wild Earth keeps me feeling humble.

Related Posts

The View Out of Nanny's Kitchen Window (March 2006)

Rest in Peace Nanny (December 2008)

Peaceful Moment Thwarted (July 2009)

Style Naturally Book Review by ChristineMM (Shorter Version)

Here is a shorter, edited book review of "Style Naturally" by Summer Rayne Oakes which will be published on Amazon.com as a Vine review.



Title: Style, Naturally: the Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty
Author: Summer Rayne Oakes
Publication: Chronicle Books, December 2008
ISBN: 978-0811865241
Full Retail Price: $24.95

My Star Rating: 4 stars out of 5: I Like It

Summary Statement: Has Feel Good Vibe; Best as Shopping Guide;

I chose to read this book as I was most curious about issues with the clothing industry and how the manufacture process may be bad for the human workers or the Earth. I already know a lot about the issues with ingredients of personal care products and makeup.

Overall I feel this book is a very good attempt to bring a blend of information, some important and some more “feel good” information to a reader who may not already know this information. This book will inform readers a LITTLE BIT on the topics. The book handles the topics lightly. The author does not over-burden the reader by inciting anger or fear.

As the subtitle states, this is a SHOPPING GUIDE and it is worth mentioning that it does not steer the reader toward Do-It-Yourself projects such as encouraging readers to make their own soap, shampoo and skin care products.

Good to know also is the products and clothing in the book are for women and teenagers. This book does not have too much in the way of men’s personal care products (except where gender neutral items can cross over). Also the book does not cover the growing market for green baby and children products and clothing.
Some shortcomings are that the author recommends toothpastes but never explains the health risks or issues related to SLS in toothpaste (a special concern as if swallowed it has different implications as when SLS is in shampoo or hand soap). The big fluoride in toothpaste controversy is entirely absent. Also missing from the discussions are the issues chemicals that act as phyto estrogens which is especially an issue for young girls and boys and for women in peri-menopause (the dozen or so years before menopause).

An omission in the laundering clothes section was bothersome. The author focuses on laundry soap and reducing water usage and carbon emissions. However she does not mention fabric softener which is an issue in some people’s opinion. Inexpensive white vinegar can be used in place of chemical based liquid fabric softener products. Other issues regarding ingredients in softener sheets (chemical neurotoxins) is absent.

Also perplexing is that the author covers laundry detergent which is good but fails to carry it over to the next logical important topic: household and dish cleaning. I understand the book has to have limits on what is covered but one or two pages could have been included to discuss this. The same considerations given for natural laundry detergent could have been said for surface cleansers, bathroom cleansers and floor cleansers: avoiding the toxic, buying the ‘green’ or natural versions (or making one’s own for a lower cost). As a comparison the author found room in the book to discuss the danger of inhaling toxic chemical fumes when using perfume or chemical fragrances but the same thing can be said of using common cleansers for glass and surface cleaning sprays while cleaning one’s home. While we’re on this topic it would also have been good to discuss not just perfume for the body but issues with chemical fragrance in candles and diffuser oils and to present greener alternatives.

Praise:
1. Discusses the fact that in the USA the FDA does not regulate the safety of products such as makeup, skin care and sunscreen. Consumers must educate themselves and become informed consumers to make choices that will hopefully not cause them to become sick with something as serious as Cancer.

2. There are over 50 pages of resources to learn more and to find products, located at the back.

3. Good resources are also listed within the pages of the book such as reading sunscreen recommendations on the Skin Deep site.

4. The book is fully indexed which I find useful, especially for going back to re-read certain sections after I’ve already read the book cover to cover.

5. I learned new things about the manufacture of clothing such as how certain processes such as tanning leather can create pollutants or put workers at risk for developing diseases. To learn more about that was one goal I had for reading this book.

In summary this book covers a broad range of topics in a non-scary way and leaves the reader feeling hopeful and almost happy to go spend money on new products and clothes. The person who will spend a lot on fashion and wants to feel good about their purchases will be happy to hear about companies to buy from.

If money is not an issue the reader/consumer will feel good about being directed toward certain products and companies. The real life downside is that not all consumers will be able to afford these purchases and may have to rely on DIY methods that are not really encouraged in this book, such as opening one’s mind to making natural homemade bath soap and skin lotions. If you are in that category, more self-education is needed and there are plenty of good books on the market to inform you.

For Further Reading

To find out more about chemicals, products, and US Government’s involvement or lack of:



To find out more details about dangerous or risky ingredients in personal care products



To make your own household cleaners, laundry products & air fresheners



To make your own personal care products with natural ingredients:



Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in order to write a Vine review to publish on Amazon.com.

Style Naturally Book Review by ChristineMM (Long Review)

Here is everything I want to share about the book "Style, Naturally". This word count is too long to publish on Amazon Vine so I will have to edit it to shorten it in the near future, so I can publish the shorter version on Amazon.com.



Title: Style, Naturally: the Savvy Shopping Guide to Sustainable Fashion and Beauty
Author: Summer Rayne Oakes
Publication: Chronicle Books, December 2008
ISBN: 978-0811865241
Full Retail Price: $24.95

My Star Rating: 4 stars out of 5: I Like It

Summary Statement: Has Feel Good Vibe; Best as Shopping Guide; I Wanted to Read it for the Issues & General Information

For twenty years I have been educating myself about wellness and healthy living. That journey included learning about organic gardening and the dangers of chemicals in agriculture and in products we consume. Later this included learning about personal care products such as skin lotions, hair products, sunscreen, nail products, and makeup. I responded by making my own natural soaps and personal care products and house cleaning products.

I wanted to read this book because I didn’t know much about the clothing and fashion industry and how the manufacturing of them may negatively impact our environment and what I as a consumer might want to know in order to make different choices. I was curious to see what Oakes had to say about makeup and personal care products, perhaps some was different or more comprehensive than I already knew.

Overall I feel this book is a very good attempt to bring a blend of information, some important and some more “feel good” to a reader who may not already know this information. To be specific, the best audience for this book would be women who are interested in fashion and designer clothing and who use a lot of makeup and personal care products who don’t yet know about the issues with these products and want learn about the issues. The book handles the topics lightly (perhaps too lightly for my liking in some cases) The author does not over-burden the reader by inciting anger or fear. The author tells of a danger with a chemical in a shallow way and quickly steers the reader to use products that do not contain that thing. This is different from other books on the market which are much more detailed about the problems and dangers and have always left me scared for my health, angry at the industry, and in general, feeling doomed to possible death by product usage!

An important distinction between this book and others on the market is the heavy use of photographs of products and clothing. Other books are text-only and are not product specific. By using photos of clothing and seeing individual personal care products, the reader can use this book as a buying guide. Seeing the clothing along with knowing how it is sustainable or how lovely a used, vintage piece of clothing can be, it encourages the reader to open their minds to the companies and products. However, this may date the book, if personal care product lines cease to be made, or new and better ones come on the market, or as clothing styles change as they do so quickly. Despite the timeliness issue, the basic information behind the individual products is still there and is educational to the reader if the reader is not yet well educated in these areas. If the reader is well read in these topic areas this book may be considered to contain no new information or to treat the topic much more shallowly and lightly compared to other books on the market.

Probably due to her gender, age and stage of life, the author has targeted this book to her own experience and what she cares most about: she has focused the book on adult women mainly, and teenaged girls. There are only some personal care products being gender neutral for men. Perhaps another book on men’s fashion and men’s personal care products will be written? The book also lacks personal care product lines for babies and children and lacks children’s clothing. Again perhaps that will be in a future book? The area of baby health and safety regarding cleaning while changing diapers, bath soaps, and skin lotions is an area that has exploded with natural product lines. The issues of green cloth diapers and green clothing for babies and toddlers has also grown a lot

Some criticisms are:

1. Despite Oakes’ recommendation to simplify personal care products and to wear less or go without makeup (page 180), that category of products is covered thoroughly and seems excessive. For example the recommendation to carry a hangnail soother stick in one’s pocketbooks is a bit much for me, considering I get one hangnail only about every two years. I wonder if this large section was dominated by the fact that the author received samples of the products for free in order to review them. Other books on the market discussing natural products tend to encourage using very small numbers of items and using things that have multiple purposes. The fact that Oakes stresses using personal care products with expiration dates due to the fact that they spoil due to lacking chemical preservatives would therefore make over-buying of many products with short expiration dates a waste of money and resources.

2. I wish there were prices with the products. I’d like a ballpark figure, such as are those jeans $75 or $400? What is the present cost of turning one’s old jeans into a custom made pair of sandals? After reading the book I had a mental shopping list of products to try, but I’d like to know if that skin lotion is $4 or $40. A simple cute purse made from recycled candy wrappers I have seen in stores for over $100, not in my budget for a non-practical whimsical piece.

3. The product information for the personal care items should have a larger font and should include the product name not just the brand. The order of the list to the layout of the photos is hard to follow (despite the bar color coding method) because the order of the text list is not consistent on all page spreads.

Some Shortcomings:

1. The author includes some toothpaste reviews but never discusses the issues with toothpaste. One label says “SLS free” and although SLS was discussed in shampoos earlier it is never discussed regarding toothpaste. From what I have read in other sources an issue is that SLS can be unhealthy if swallowed (especially an issue with children who may not realize to never swallow their toothpaste or for anyone who does not rinse their mouth after brushing their teeth). Why that is not discussed boggles my mind. Secondly the controversy and debate over fluoride is completely absent from the book yet Oakes only has toothpastes that are fluoride free in the lists.

2. Not much is said about chemical soaps and the benefit of natural soaps. In my experience, natural soaps are less drying and have ended my daily use of skin lotions. I was surprised this was not mentioned.

3. The author discusses good reasons for avoiding unnatural laundry soap. However she does not mention fabric softener which is a big issue. Vinegar can be used in place of chemical based products. Some fabric softeners contain known carcinogens which is not mentioned.

4. The author covers laundry detergent which is good but fails to carry it over to the next logical important topic: household cleaning. I understand the book has to have limits on what is covered but one or two pages could have been done to discuss also how we clean the dishes and glasses that we eat off of and also how we clean our homes. The same considerations given for natural laundry detergent could have been said for surface cleansers, bathroom cleansers and floor cleansers: avoiding the toxic, buying the ‘green’ or natural versions or making one’s own for a lower cost.

5. Also missing from the discussions are the issues chemicals that act as phyto estrogens which is especially an issue for young girls and boys and for women in peri-menopause (the dozen or so years before menopause).

Some Praise:
1. Discusses the fact that in the USA the FDA does not regulate the safety of products such as makeup, skin care and sunscreen. Consumers must educate themselves and become informed consumers to make choices that will hopefully not cause them to become sick with something as serious as Cancer.

2. There are over 50 pages of resources to learn more and to find products, located at the back.

3. Good resources are also listed within the pages of the book such as reading sunscreen recommendations on the Skin Deep site.

4. The book is fully indexed which I find useful, especially for going back to re-read certain sections after I’ve already read the book cover to cover.

5. I learned new things about the manufacture of clothing such as how certain processes such as tanning leather can create pollutants or put workers at risk for developing diseases. To learn more about that was one goal I had for reading this book.

In summary this book lays out a detailed plan for the Three R’s: Reduce (buy less, buy things that look best on you not just what is in style), Reuse (buy used items or vintage used items, consumer repurpose one item into another (jeans into sandals, remake a t-shirt into a new garment or a consumer buy an item that someone else repurposed, or wear classic styles that can be worn for more than two seasons), and Recycle (donate your items to charity for people to directly re-use or for resale for the charity to resell to generate revenue or even to make into something else such as rags).

The book also encourages the consumer to have their money go to worthwhile companies or to benefit people who need it the most. Under the term sustainable, the author encourages things like buying items made by hand from poverty level third world country residents rather than buying factory made items in industrialized or becoming-industrialized countries.

A last note I’d like to make about the clothing, it is an odd blend of new, trendy designer clothing and wearing used vintage clothing including the recommendation to shop at Goodwill and other low priced charity thrift shops. Additionally some styles shown were made or altered by the owner using DIY techniques in an ‘artsy’ way. Books in the resource section provide DIY directions for DIYers to make their own custom designs.

Oddly while encouraging readers to alter or make their own clothing from existing pieces, the author never encourages the reader to make their own personal care items such as bath soap or body lotions. These are not hard to do and the products can be made for a fraction of the cost of buying prepared items (it costs me 33 cents for one bar of my homemade natural oatmeal soap). The book lacks recommendations for DIY of personal care products.

In summary this book covers a broad range of topics in a non-scary way and leaves the reader feeling hopeful and almost happy to go spend money on new products and clothes. The person who will spend a lot on fashion and wants to feel good about their purchases will be happy to hear about companies to buy from. If money is not an issue the reader/consumer will feel good about being directed toward certain products and companies.

If the reader feels they want more detailed information about the issues of personal care product’s safety issues and health concerns, there are other books on the market to meet that need. They can be found in the resource section of the book. One book I own that is recommended by Oakes is NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE THE UGLY SIDE OF THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY by Malkan and I second that recommendation. Additionally to learn more about the US Government and how they allow things to be sold that damage people’s health, the book THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON CANCER by Davis can enlighten you.

If the reader wants to make their own homemade personal care products for less money than buying factory prepared items, I recommend NATURAL BEAUTY AT HOME by Janice Cox (and other books by Cox) . If the reader wants to make homemade household cleaning items, I recommend THE NATURALLY CLEAN HOME by Seigel-Meier. I own and use those books.

Books Mentioned in This Review











Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program in order to write a Vine review to publish on Amazon.com.

Red Spotted Newt

Here is the Red Spotted Newt, Notophthalmus viridescens.

After a rain they are all over the forest floor and also perch on tree bark near ground level. I've never seen one out in very dry weather. They sit still on the damp ground, and are therefore easy to photograph.

I saw many while at Boy Scout Camp last week.

Photo taken by ChristineMM on 7/17/09 in New Hartford, Connecticut.

Added Followers List to My Sidebar

Blogger has had the ability to follow other blogs for a few months. It is a way to see on one's Blogger account, the latest blog posts made by blogs a person chooses. Essentially it is a "reader".

So now in my sidebar you can see some of the people who read my blog on a regular basis.

Other get my posts delivered by email through FeedBlitz.

Some are following me on Twitter and when they see a tweet from me announcing the latest blog post they click through to read it.

Some use Google's blog reader.

And of course some find me by going directly to my blog site to read the posts.

Thanks for reading my blog!!

Peaceful Moment Thwarted

Driving into the driveway today I spotted more ripe wild red raspberries on the edge of our woods and yard. After parking, I went behind the garage and carefully plotted a path to the berries, being careful in my capri length pants to avoid the poison ivy, poison oak and the virginia creeper. Having just healed from an itchy allergic rash I didn't want a new allergic reaction to start!

I'd not ventured to that side of the berry patch yet this year and there were many berries ripe for the picking. I plucked them off and was popping some into my mouth. They were delicious.

I looked at the clusters with the berries in various stages of ripening. The sun was coming through and dappled light was playing on the leaves as they swayed a bit in the breeze. I had a moment of reflection of the beauty of simple things in nature.

I started asking myself if the light was right for photographing them, or should I wait for later in the day? I was debating this and wondering if I should stay put and pick more or go fetch the camera and take photos before any more were picked.

Pain! Pain!

Scream!

Pain!

My thoughts came to a screeching halt as my ankles were suddenly being zapped. I looked down to see tiny black ants on both of my ankles and at least two dozen more fastly crawling on all sides of both sneakers, making a dash for the skin on my bare legs.

I jumped away, not knowing if I was still standing on the ant nest.

Then with one hand full of berries, I used the other to swat my legs repeatedly to kill the ants (a painful act in and of itself), then moved to smacking my sneakers and socks to kill those critters. At the same time I was looking to the ground to see if I was in a safe place now. I was not, so I hopped around to another patch of ground that was absent of poison ivy.

My legs were inflammed and red from being swatted. Not seeing any live ants on my person, it was time to find an exit. It was not easy to find the fastest route out of the weed and briar patch that would not put me in direct contact with a poisonous plant or another ant nest, since the entire place seemed teeming with ants. Once I found a route, I got the heck out of there ASAP.

To heck with nature! I was so happy to enter the safe interior of my house.

I'm going to have to figure out a Plan B if I'm to harvest any more of those wild red raspberries!

Carnival of Homeschooling Week 185 & 186

The Carnival of Homeschooling week 186 was published this week at Homeschool CPA’s blog.

The Carnival of Homeschooling week 185 was published last week at Tami’s Thoughts and Views.

This Carnival provides a lot of homeschool-related reading. Take a look!

If you have a blog or a website and write about homeschooling I encourage you to consider submitting an entry to this weekly blog Carnival. For information on how to make a submission, see here.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Carnival of Homeschooling, homeschooling, homeschooling information, blog carnival, homeschooling support.

I Agree

I agreed with so much of what Peggy Noonan wrote in her latest column, about Obamacare, health care reform, health insurance for or whatever the heck it is that I have to blog my favorite parts.

(All quotes are Noonan's from this op-ed piece: Common Sense May Sink Obamacare.)

Will whatever health care bill is produced by Congress increase the deficit? “Of course.” Will it mean tax increases? “Of course.” Will it mean new fees of fines? “Probably.” Can I afford it right now? “No, I’m already getting clobbered.” Will it make the marketplace freer and better? “Probably not.” Is our health care system in crisis? “Yeah, it has been for years.” Is it the most pressing crisis right now? “No, the economy is.” Will a health-care bill improve the economy? “I doubt it.”

Talking about Obama's talk about health care reform during the campaign versus what is being rushed through now, I agree with this statement of Noonan's:

The White House misread the national mood. The problem isn’t that they didn’t “bend the curve,” or didn’t sell it right. The problem is that the national mood has changed since the president was elected. Back then the mood was “change is for the good.”

and...

The final bill, with all its complexities, will probably be huge, a thousand pages or so. Americans don’t fear the devil’s in the details, they fear hell is. Do they want the same people running health care who gave us the Department of Motor Vehicles, the post office and the invasion of Iraq?

I would add that we all know, everyone knows, don't they, that Medicare, Medicaid and the Veteran's Administration's medical care are all a mess. No one is happy with them, not the patients, not the health care providers. Care is rationed in all three cases, whether it is being limited to certain providers, or having trouble finding participating providers (as is the case with Medicaid) or being forced to wait longer for appointments (for various reasons), or with run down and outdated equipment or facilities (as with the VA).

Private citizens currently with private health care or without health insurance will always have something to complain about. It may be that care is more expensive than they like or can afford (but they get a fast appointment, top quality and the latest equipment, and access to high quality doctors, or the freedom if they so desire, to see top specialists). If the patients get a good provider they may grumble about waiting ten minutes past their appointment time but not realize their over-chattiness with the doctor during their consult is making someone else's appointment start late.

From working in the health care field in private medical practices I know that a number of uninsured Americans CHOOSE to be uninsured. They don't want to pay for medical insurance as they think they are saving money and being frugal by keeping their cash. They are gambling that no accidents will happen and of course gambling that minor illnesses will be cheaper to pay out of pocket than to "waste" money on monthly premiums. Some feel they hate a body telling them they need health insurance, they want to exercise free choice by refusing to purchase health insurance.

Mandating health care coverage as Massachusetts started over a year ago has not fixed the situation. People are still uninsured and abusing the system from what I've read, such as going uninsured then buying the plan before a surgery then quitting the plan right after. That is not fair to the health insurance companies who get clobbered.

In general I think Americans have come to think of health care as an entitlement. Some have also taken for granted their free access to health care (such as the ability to seek a second opinion, to fire a doctor that they feel wronged them). Some have forgotten that health insurance is to help offset the cost of the larger bills, and they then complain about the smallest of non-covered services, while also sometimes spending large amounts of money on non-medically necessary procedures such as whitening their teeth, getting breast enlargements or tummy tucks. Rather than control one's desires for food or to force oneself to exercise, a number today think gastric bypass paid for by health insurance is the first stop option.

The overindulged Americans who have it very good, so good that others from developed nations come to America to access our health care system, have complained too much and now President Obama wants the government to step in and "fix things".

I have serious concerns that those who ask for health care reform may get something that makes things far worse than any of the complainers ever imagined they'd have to deal with. The problem is they may be forced to take it rather than having free choice to avoid it. I believe this comes from the "other people" mindset, in which a person who feels they have a good heart wants government run health insurance for non-Medicare and non-Medicaid patients but they don't want it themselves as they like the freedom of their private insurance. However if their employer ditches the private plan in order to offer just the cheaper government plan how much will they like it then?

This is not just about money, about possibly paying more taxes. The larger issue is about rationing care, about the scary idea of the government introducing more limits than any private health insurance company ever has done before, such as evaluating a person's age and saying "you are too old and it is not WORTH it for you to have this procedure" or "yes that drug would help try to cure your Cancer but it is too expensive for a person your age or with X other medical diagnosis complicating your case". The only thing worse than that, in my opinion, is if the federal government begins offering euthanasia as a cheaper option than treatment of a condition, as is being done in the state of Oregon. (Source: Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin)

Americans would be wise to remember that it is much harder to revise or un-do federal legislation than it is to prevent a new program from starting in the first place. One need look no further than the well-intended but much-criticized "No Child Left Inside" legislation which remains unchanged despite outcry from both teachers and parents.

The State of Our Houses

So I'm in the middle of repurposing a room here. I started in the spring but got sidetracked by important matters, a health problem (minor) and a sick kid.

I have been converting the kid's playroom into an art and craft studio for me. I was doing good by first decluttering stuff in the room, it was pretty empty, then cleaned it deeply. Then hauled stuff out of closets, going through that, and trying to declutter that. That is when things were stopped. You know, in that middle of the project stage it looks like total chaos.

Today I realized the repair guy for the air conditioning would have to get access inside of that closet. The room was a disaster zone and the closet was empty. I got a chill when I realized a stranger would walk through my house and see the room in disarray like that. What would this person think of me if they judged me on the state of that room?

As I tidied up so that he could reach the spot without getting injured, I suddenly saw the room with new eyes. Yes, I'm in the middle of a project but truly this looked terrible! What kind of person lives in this home?

I started with the guilt trip. Like I have a nice house why doesn't it look like a spread in a home decorator magazine? It is furnished, it is decorated, it is just full of STUFF.

I started asking, "What have I been doing with my time to not have finished this yet?" I've been super busy!

Truth be told today I was supposed to be driving north for our traditional family vacation in Maine. I cancelled it to spend time at home finishing house projects just like this one. So I need to give myself credit for having the wisdom to prioritize the situation here. I want these projects finished more than I want a five day vacation out of state.

Two days ago the kids and I re-did the shelving in the master bedrom closet which holds mostly my husband's clothing. It was a mess in there before that with overflowing shelves with crammed stuff. We changed the height of the shelves and I installed containers from Target's Itso line. But all the clothes were put on the floor for my husband to go through and get rid of some, and to put the keepers in the new spots.

Today when the repair guy came I walked him into that closet and realized, oops! My husband was not done with the project yet! He'd worked on it a little for the last two nights. Oh boy. I wonder what the guy was thinking. I apologized as I moved piles of clothes out of his way.

While making reports on our homeschooling for this last year, when I looked over May and June's calendar I thought, "Are we nuts? No sane family would have a schedule like this". The schedules were crammed to the hilt with activities and appointments, some long-standing and some urgent or emergent. I vowed then and there to slow down for the upcoming homeschool academic year. The crazy thing is that compared to some of my friends and other homeschooling families our schedule is light. So it is not just us, nearly everyone I know lives a rushed and busy life.

Between the painter and the carpenter being in and out of my garage, and the air conditioning guy also down in my basement, I'm feeling downright ashamed to have so much stored stuff.

I am vowing right now to get rid of tons of stuff. I just want it out of here. Now.

I keep wondering if other homeschooling families have these same issues with struggling to keep the clutter down and to keep the house clean at the same time. The more we are home the more we mess up the house, yet the more we are out and running around the less time we have to actually put the stuff away and to clean the house. It feels like an endless cycle to me, do you feel that way too?

So Much To Say, Too Hard to Edit

For about the last 14 days that I've been home I have spent over an hour writing blog post drafts filled with deep thoughts and strong opinions. The topics are so draining but the words were begging to be released.

However with so much to say and trying to write with brevity, it is a struggle. Each time I began in the early morning while the kids were still sleeping and would go until the kids woke up and wanted attention or deserved attention.

Then the blog draft was saved but ignored afterward.

I also have a fair amount to say about topics not usually discussed directly on this blog such as pertain to Obamacare ideas and Cap and Trade. A part of me does not want to stray into too much political talk lest I tick off my readers.

But on the other hand what I have to say about health care and health care insurance is from the perspective of having worked for private physicians and then later, at an HMO who worked also with Medicare Advantage and Medicaid's equivalent program. I have heard and know the issues from the perspective of the employer, the insured person, the doctors and hospitals and ancillary providers. I have worked with state and federal legislation and putting the laws into practical application through the insurance coverage and how it affects the patient/member.

I'm not a know-it-all. I have a good gist of the big picture, believe me, but I know enough to know the issues are so complex and not all can be solved with happy resolutions due to the very complex nature of the issues. The last issue with trying to have all involved parties happy is that we are dealing with perspectives and opinions and no matter what is done, someone is always unhappy, unsatisifed, finds more to complain about, or is so ignorant about the topic that they cannot grasp the situation or see reality for what it is, they see an illusion or an odd perception of reality.

I have insight as a person who has helped elderly, sick, and dying relatives navigate through the health care system and deal with real life ramifications due to their health care coverage or 'the way the system works'. I also have had sick kids and dealing with tricky conditions like Lyme Disease (if you don't know why that is political or sticky watch the new documentary "Under Our Skin").

I also have friends and relatives who are nurses, medical doctors and dentists so have that insight also.

At present I am not working in the health care field so my opinions are not based on a fear of it negatively affecting my income.

I don't seek to spout negativity but want to share genuine thoughts and insight from having been in the trenches.

But then after blowing off steam and moving on to good summer fun or enjoying the sun or feeling happy at seeing my garden growing and our yard alive with birds, bees, and all sorts of insects, I just don't feel like opening those saved documents to re-read, revise, and fine tune the thoughts. Plus I have no clue if anyone gives a darn enough about those topics to care what I have to say enough to actually read the words.

I have deep concerns for the future of our country after the bailouts, and if Cap and Trade passes, and if there are changes to our health care system or health care insurance. I have fears about limiting access to health care, having the government decide what person is "worth" treatment and the possible pushing of euthanasia including the government insurance plans encouraging and PAYING for it instead of paying for medical treatments, as is presently done in Oregon according to Mark Levin in "Liberty and Tyranny". (If you want to read about the legal state of euthanasis in Oregon here is one source.)

I am bothered by the media's one-sided coverage.

I am worried that Americans have no clue what they are possibly getting into. What complaints were made like "we want cheaper health insurance" and how the government feels they will "help" Americans get what they want.

I'm worried that the viewpoints and desires of a large part of Americans are not being represented by our elected officials. I'm moving to the mindset of "Let's throw all the politicans out and start from scratch".

I'll leave it at that for now.

It Boils Down to One of Three Reasons to Start to Homeschool

I came up with this idea about five years ago.

After speaking to many homeschooling parents and reading posts online, books and magazines, I believe that it really comes down to three main reasons that is the prime reason a family starts to homeschool.

Yes we can make a list, maybe a long list of the many reasons why we choose it or why we homeschool now that was not necessarily on our list when we first began.

Here are the three main reasons, in a random order:

1. The Rescuer Families. These parents are now homeschooling but never planned to. Heck, some never even knew it existed. They found out about it and dove in for one reason only: to rescue their child from the school system. Some had high hopes or even past good experiences with older children of theirs, or with this same child, but this one child then had something different happen and the best solution and sometimes the only viable solution to "save the child" was to begin homeschooling.

I have heard these cases:

child suffering in school due to a learning disability not being helped enough by school staff or special ed services

gifted child bored to tears by slow pace or "not enough challenge"

parent says child bright and eager to learn but whatever is going on with 'school learning' is killing the child's motivation, altering child's behavior and having too many negative consequences

child being bullied terribly verbally, school not helping it stop

child being bullied physically, school not helping it stop

child bullied so badly they now suffer from anxiety mental disorders or anxiety caused physical ailments

child has a medical disease or condition that makes them miss too much school. Keeping up is too hard. Easier to just homeschool, on all concerned parties.

child has an allergy that is related to school, such as mold or mildew allergy that acts up when in the school building, or a severe food allergy that puts them at a health risk too much at school

school pushing child to take a drug for ADD or ADHD and parent doesn't think the child really has it or doesn't want to medicate the child

2. The Religious Families. Plain and simple the family wants religion infused into school topics more than the public schools do. Some families do not have access to a religious school for their religious preference. Other families who do live near a private religious school cannot afford to send their children there while living on a single income. The family may also seek to protect their children from other experiences or school agendas or perceived negative influences of school teachers or from other students.

3. The Alternative or Superior Education Families. These parents believe a range of things that all mesh together so I consider them one and the same general topic.

These families accept that learning does not have to happen inside of a school building. They realize ther are other ways to learn and other things to do.

Some use homeschooling methods which are similar or identical to alternative education methods used in private schools, others use other methods such as unschooling. Some feel their homeschooling method teaches 'more and better' things than can be offered in schools, such as due to cost limitations or logicstics for the school. Some dive more deeply into their child's interest areas such as the arts or the sciences. Some use older schooling methods such as classical education which the parents feel is a more rigorous and gives a more solid liberal arts education than what public schools presently offer.

Some families use alternative teaching methods due to their child's learning style, learning disabilities or medical conditions (neurological conditions that affect learning like Tourette's or ADHD for example.)

Some families would be willing to use private schools to access similar programs and alternative education methods IF a school was near them and IF they could afford it. In the absence of an available and an affordable private school that can meet their ideals or the child's needs the family homeschools.

The rarest occurance is the child who is a serious competitor in athletics, has celebrity parents or is a child star. They homeschool due to their training and career schedule clashing with traditional school attendance.

After thinking about this for a long time and discussing it with my friends, everyone has agreed that you can really boil down a family's reason to homeschool to one of these three main categories as the largest reason. As I said before, once the journey begins, our list of reasons why we are happy to be homeschooling grows, and the reasons may then fit into two or even three of these other categories as well.

Lovely Sunset

On June 26th I sat in the window seat nestled between floor to ceiling bookshelves and watched the sunset change by the second. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

At that moment my kids and husband were waiting for me so we could watch a TV show together. They know how I am with enjoying observing nature and taking photographs so they let me enjoy those minutes in peace. Thta is just a small example of how they show their love. I'll take it!

Note: this photo was not altered in any way. The colors were gorgeous.

A Thought About Lawn Care

When I became a homeowner I began to educate myself about lawn and garden care.

Back then I was working in the health care field and daily saw sick people. I wanted to be healthy and well for as long as possible. My relatives are long-lived, so I need to carefully plan my lifestyle or the long elder years may be painful or filled with coping with chronic diseases.

So back in 1995 I made the decision to not use chemical fertilizers on my lawn. I educated myself about the con's of lawn fertilizer. I didn't want to hurt wild creatures or my own health by the use of products to make a lawn look "perfect". By reading about organic gardening I came to realize that the idea of a monoculture, a lawn with just one species of plant living on it is a downright bizarre idea. Think about it for a while and you may come to the same conclusion.

Here is a current article published by Scientific American that discusses the downside to the use of chemical lawn fertilizers by everyone including homeowners. I know some who use it and they've told me that they feel their lawn is small so how can it have an impact? The answer is obvious to me, if we all use it, it builds up to a higher level and then there is a problem. I'm not sure why that concept is hard to grasp.

Article: How Fertilizers Harm the Earth

If an organic and safe solution exists, why not use it instead? It is not hard to have more natural lawn care.

Currently Reading "Crows and Cards"

Last week I committed to reading "Crows and Cards", a juvenile fiction (ages 9-12) book released in April 2009. Presently it is available in hardcover book, Kindle, audio CD and as a PlayAway.



My TBR pile of review copies of books is higher than I'd like. My latest reading strategy is to pick one book and then read nothing but that one book until it is done. This is atypical for me. I usually have about a half dozen books going at once, at a slow pace, and one to three others that I'm reading only portions of to educate myself on a topic about.

Anyhow what deterred me from digging into this book when it first arrived as an Advance Reading Copy from the Amazon Vine program was the dialect. This is set in 1849 in St. Louis. It is about a twelve year old who is sent off to start an apprenticeship with his uncle, a tanner, but instead chooses to join a riverboat gambler. From the beginning the book is heavy on dialect which is not typical to modern day America or at least to New Englanders like myself.

I just finished the eighth chapter and so far it is an interesting story filled with adventure. I enjoy hearing about the freedom and larger responsibility that boys had back in 1849, and the apprentice model of education rather than the prek-grade 12 method of schooling we have today.

When I was in chapter one I was wondering if today's boys (or girls) would want to read a book heavy on dialect and using terms that are not used today or not.

I'm curious to see what happens as the story goes along.

I will review it when finished.

Disclosure: I received only an Advance Reading Copy of this book which I cannot resell. I receive no pay for writing the review for publication on Amazon.com. I had no agreement to write about the book here on my blog (I chose to do that on my own).

Interesting Book Review Site for Amazon Reviews

While trying to use Google to find a past published blog post of mine's URL more quickly than scanning my computer files I stumbled across a site Planet Book. They had posted a book review of mine on their site.

The sole purpose of the site is to post to and link reviews from Amazon's top customer reviewers. I had no clue such a thing existed.

Planet Book is also on Twitter. They submit a Twitter post (a tweet or a twit) announcing new book reviews by "top" Amazon reviewers.

One last point is that Amazon owns the copyright for all submitted customer or Amazon Vine reviews. The only companies or individuals allows to copy the reviews and republish them on other sites are Amazon Associates using the review for the purpose of marketing or advertising a book for the purpose of trying to make a sale.

Still it felt wrong to see my words published on Planet Book. It also is a strange feeling to know my words are published in places that I have no clue are doing so.

I am still pondering why a site like this might be useful. If you have ideas about that, or other thoughts, please post a comment.

Homeschool Filmmaking Class for My Kids This Fall

When something does not exist that you would love for your homeschooled kids to do, you or another homeschooling parnet sometimes have to create it. When opportunities do not knock on your door you sometimes someone in the community (like you) has to create it.

"Make Something Happen"
-quote seen on a mug in a psychologist's office

In this case a homeschooling mother found out about programs offered to children in the community that were run in after-school hours. She approached the center about custom making a class for homeschooled kids during school hours on a school day. My sons will be in the class.

Most places are open to this if the homeschool parent is willing to do all the work to coordinate, find and market the class to the homeschooling community. I've been told that not all centers have the staff to start a new marketing project to go find homeschoolers for homeschooled kids to take the class with especially if they have no clue about how to find the homeschoolers in their area. This is especially an issue for nonprofit centers such as YMCAs and their various branches. Most centers are happy to do these classes to put bodies in the otherwise empty building during the school day, to generate revenue that would otherwise not be there.

Only once did a (for profit, new) center I approached have a problem and that was because they were using only public school teachers to teach the classes in the teacher's after school hours and they could not find fine art teachers with open schedules to teach classes once a week during the school day.

I have organized some classes for homeschoolers and can say with honesty that it is not always easy. To be frank some homeschooling parents can be a pain in the butt, rude, or outright demanding beyond what is considered normal etiquette or courtesy. Some homeschooling mothers are so used to having everything so custom tailored to their personal whims and needs that they can be overly demanding in their requests even when taking a class at a professional center.

"I want this class for this aged child, yes mine is younger than the stated age the center offers but my child is gifted and is beyond what is offered for her age. I also need the class to be over before 1:15 p.m. as my younger child needs a nap at home and simply cannot alter their napping schedule and to keep our lunch on schedule it should start no earlier than 12:15 p.m." This is a sample of the many special requests that I had to contend with when trying to set up new classes for homeschoolers. After a really bad experience I swore off organizing classes until further notice.

However my experience not let it not deter you from attempting this in your area. Maybe it was just the people I dealt with, maybe it was my geographic area, blame it on the New York City attitude that overflows here, I don't know what it was.

I signed my kids up for a class at this center based on an email. Only now am I seeing the wonderful brochure they have online and I'm blown away by other options available for other programs and for other aged kids. I see endless possibilities here.

One more thing. In order for my kids to do this class some things have been done by me. I am making changes to our typical plans to make room for this opportunity. It is not that this class is two doors down from me, cheap and happens to jive with our lives seamlessly.

1. I am willing to drive the one hour to get to the Center each way, due to the unique nature and wonderful opportunity that this class is.

2. I am willing to shuffle around my preferred home education lessons at home schedule to make room for this class.

3. I am willing to pay for this class. The cost seems reasonable to me given the expensive equipment the children will be using and the fact that they have real studios and experienced staff to work with. However not all families may want to spend their money in this way or put money toward something in performance arts like this filmmaking class.

I note in their regular programs that this nonprofit organization has some scholarship money available to families temporarily or more permanently living with a low income. Other Centers that you may work with may have the same thing. I also found that fine art classes being offered at an Art Center branch of the YMCA had much lower prices (one half to two thirds lower) due to having received government grant money to offset their costs to the students taking the class (general grants not grants for homeschool programs).

I have made this decision for both of my boys to try this class as I feel this is one of the unique opportunities that schooled kids do not get to do inside regular schools. I feel that something that could be a great experience like this one should be made a priority at least for this fall semester. If it means putting history or math on the back burner for these two months, so be it. We can always catch up with those home-study lessons later in the year.

I hope the class is high quality. My boys are very excited about it.

I blogged about this to try to encourage you to open your eyes and ears for opportunities like this in your geographic area. There may be great things available that you don't know about. If you have to travel an hour each way or go into a city you think is not easy to drive in, your opportunities will broaden from what is in your backyard.

Look for these unique opportunities and then approach the centers asking for special homeschooler classes. Taking the class with other homeschoolers (not just taking after school classes with the general community) will let your child make friends or continue seeing existing friends in their local homeschooling community. You may also have a better chance of getting into high demand classes by creating a special homeschooler class instead of competing for slots with schooled kids using their after school programs.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling, homeschooling classes, art classes for kids, filmmaking classes for kids.

A Natural Consequence Story

Note: This blog post was written in May 2009 but had not been published. At the end is an update revealing how this turned out as of July 2009.
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As I write this there is tension in the home. Yet again my eleven year old's disorganization has resulted in something getting lost, something he needs for his comfort and well-being.

Last fall the eleven year old finally outgrew the largest size of a boy's raincoat. We had to move up to men's sizes. He needed a lightweight rain jacket with a hood to wear especially on Boy Scout camping trips when he'd be forced to spend hours outdoors despite it raining. Men's outerwear is not cheap you know. We got this one on SALE at the LL Bean factory outlet for just over $40.

I'm suddenly realizing this about clothing costs. I thought kid's clothes were expensive before. I note that a boys XL is usually the same in measurement as a men's small but even in the same brand and same style the price jump for the men's size is huge. My brother-in-law complains of this also with girl's clothing. His issue is his middle school grade daughters say it is a stigma to wear outerwear or shoes in girls sizes, they want women's XS or S size for the winter coats or the different size of shoes and sneakers but the price change is sometimes $75-100 higher for the women's size especially with high quality ski jackets and with the Uggs. My nieces report that the other girls at school read the bottoms of their Uggs to see who is wearing girl's sizes versus women's sizes and ditto for the winter coats and other outerwear. Upon hearing things like that I am glad I have two boys and no daughters. I feel for them with their peer pressure situations but my practical side would go ballistic when faced with that demand from a child of mine.

My son had worn the jacket the prior week at wilderness school and it was full of mud. He washed it. (He and his brother do the family's laundry and he puts away his own clothing.) Now it is now lost. Only six days had gone by and it had not been re-worn. Where was it?

As we pack for his camping trip this weekend, with rain predicted for Saturday night I told him to pack the raincoat. Well now what?

Now my other son and I are running around with him looking in all the places where it should be. We can't find it.

Yet again this is something we spent money on and bought a quality item as I wanted something that actually worked (unlike cheaper rain coats I've bought that are actually not waterproof!) and this son has lost it.

So I told him if it rains I will give him a big garbage bag with holes cut out for his arms to wear as a poncho. He got a look of horror on his face.

Then I recalled we have a big rain poncho, it is bright yellow with a giant Mickey Mouse on it. We bought for a couple of bucks at Disney World when a big rainstorm hit on one of our past trips. I gave it to him and again he got a look of horror on his face.

The third alternative, the choice is up to him, is when it starts raining and he must be outdoors for the many scheduled events at the camping trip, he can choose to wear his regular spring jacket or a hoodie, and get all wet, then go to sleep wet.

So, parents, there you go with a story of natural consequences being used instead of traditional punishment. I'm giving the boy his choice of three options.

For the record I did consider lending him a nice rain jacket/windbreaker that my husband got for a gift, but I use it when I'm outside exercising or doing yardwork, and frankly, I don't want to risk letting him use it this weekend lest he lose that one too, then I'll be out a jacket that I use and I'll need to buy one to replace it. Forget it.

Update May 2009: My husband went on the camping trip with him. When I told my husband the plan for the natural consequence he said I was being cruel. We discussed it and I lost out. My son was given one of my husband's extra windbreakers the he received free from attending a professional conference for work. It is not as high quality as my son's LL Bean one but it is better than a big poncho or a trash bag.

Update July 2009: The raincoat suddenly appeared. My son had put it on a hanger and put it in his closet with his short and long sleeved shirts. He says he looked there back in May but didn't see it. In his daily use of said closet since May he never noticed the coat hanging there. I had not double checked the closet in May since my son swore it wasn't there, I was looking elsewhere. Since my son dresses himself and puts away his own clean clothing I have no reason to ever go into his closet so I never saw it there later either.

The real place the jacket belongs is in the hallway closet near the door we exit the home from. That was thoroughly checked and it wasn't there.

This is yet another example of that son of mine not putting things away where they belong, being careless in his organization and storage of items. It is also another care of him not seeing what is right in front of him. He often does that, says he looked for something in a drawer and complains it is not there when I know it is there, then when I look it is there.

I chalk it up to another trait of the very visual-spatial person.

Homeschool Stuff Reorg Before & After

Here is a home reorganization project I did in May 2009 related to homeschool supplies.

This is a hutch in my kitchen which is not being used as a decorative piece only (as is typical in most American homes). It was a center for kid's stuff like board games (on bottom shelf) and homeschool supply storage and our most-used cookbooks (on main shelf).

This I had originally set up with Montessori inspiration back when we moved here when the kids were aged one and three so the (safe, child-friendly) items would be at their level and available for them to help themselves to on their own.

Not visible is stored inside the drawers and cabinet are children's casual art supplies (cheap paper, markers, crayons), and fine art supplies (good paper, professional art markers, drawing pencils, charcoal), art and nature journals.

The hutch was so over-cluttered that it hurt my eyes to look at and gave me various negative emotions to just see in my visual field.

The impetus for finally doing this, and for doing it in May was that my kids were blaming me for lost homeschool student workbooks and misplaced books. In my defense I will share that after the reorganization, the kids were still losing stuff and I realized that 90% of the time indeed they were leaving it all around the house where it doesn't belong. They were just blaming me because the hutch looked too messy and they assumed the stuff was lost in the mess which was somehow "my mess".

BEFORE:



AFTER:



DURING:



About This Stuff

The homeschool stuff in this area is supposed to be only materials we are using this school year. I confess some of the folders, binders and papers were from the last three years due to not decluttering it on a regular basis.

One shelf with the clear glass containers is a nature shelf which I adapted from the Waldorf education "nature table" concept. Any natural thing brough into this house must go on that shelf. Period. I do not want rocks and feathers and driftwood laying all over the place. I do have some limits you know. Originally this was to change with each season but we just keep it all there as the kids don't want to part with the rocks, shells and all the other stuff. Going forward I will periodically get rid of some of it, especially the nuts that wind up opening, the seedpods that wind up spitting out seeds and the not-pristine things.

The main shelf is now the cookbooks and family recipes. It also holds homeschooling things that will be used this year but are not being used at this very moment. Random other homeschool related things that have no other home are there too like fancy math dice and the math drill Flashmaster gadget.

Now each child has a bin at the bottom (Target's Itso system, cloth container with vinyl bottom). In the bin is just their active homeschooling workbooks and books reading right at this very minute. It holds their assignment schedules and anything else. One bin is mine and holds our current logbook for homeschooling records as well as teacher's manuals and answer keys using right now and books I'm reading aloud to the kids right now.

A note on the American flag. We were given the big flag by veteran's at an event we went to. To keep it off the floor I store it there. We do not pledge allegiance to the flag while inside our home. I just don't know where else to store it that will not descricrate the flag by accident.

From the board games, I gathered three or four boxes to either resell or donate to charity. The keepers were placed in another room.

The art supplies were decluttered including letting go of things they'd outgrown such as preschool type coloring books.

The baskets on the floor were children's books (living books) that the kids will soon read or have finished reading. I do not have a perfect system for keeping up with all the books that are lined up to be read in the next year, the ones being read right at this second and the ones finished reading in the last week or month.

Not seen in the photo is a wooden box which we keep in the family library which is where all the library books are kept except those being read right at this moment which are either on our nightstands or in the new bins. I just don't have room to keep it right with the hutch.

This system is working wonderfully so far. It's been this way for a solid two months and no additional clutter has accummulated, even though we are actively still homeschooling and using these materials on a daily basis.

My husband is happier now as the too-cluttered appearance was bothering him as was the fact that before his cookbooks and recipes were hidden behind surface clutter.

Confounded by Kid's Lacrosse

Young children and teen’s participation in community based Lacrosse teams is on the rise in Connecticut. It is all over the place here. I swear this is new in the last five years or something because before that the rapid expansion in popularity of soccer was all the rage. I don’t know how popular it is in other places but assume it’s on the rise in other states as when I travel I see parent’s cars with LAX stickers all over them.

I probably am going to have to put my kids into an organized sport as they are not getting enough exercise on their own at home. I have tried family bike rides, family walks, and the last effort was to try to get them to agree to go jogging with me with the end goal of running as a family in short road races that occur over the summer. I can’t get them to do anything.

Because we homeschool my boys don’t have access to sports at the public school. Connecticut does not allow homeschoolers to participate with public school sports even if a family is a property owner and pays their property taxes. Contrary to assumptions of citizens of all ages and parents of schooled kids, Connecticut homeschoolers do not get tax rebates if they homeschool, tax discounts, nor do we get educational content advice or free textbooks or educational materials from our local school or from the state or federal government. I am not asking for any of that but I’m stating it for the record as in other states some homeschooled kids can play team sports at public school.

Being a homeschooling family means we must rely on community based sports. These are prolific in the elementary grade years but start to taper off in middle school and by high school grades they are nearly non-existent.

Homeschoolers must find their own ways to be physically active.

Baseball is way too serious around here. My brother-in-law is very involved with his town’s team and the stories I hear are so insane that I don’t want my kids involved with any of that. I am talking about adults going nuts at games, screaming, parents getting kicked off the field and suspended from attending games and so forth. Baseball in my own town is not that bad, I don’t think but it super competitive. It is not primarily for fun or to play the game it is about winning. Kids who are not the superstars sit on the bench. And anyway, there is not so much exercise in baseball if you ask me.

Neither of my kids is into soccer. My younger one tried it at age five and the town’s program at that time was completely boring and poorly run. Thus he has negative memories and refuses to join a soccer team. To the defense of AYSO I’ll state I never put him on the AYSO team. I so hated being the parent at Little League in this town that I cringe at the idea of attending those soccer games. I don’t want to deal with the Nannies or the Soccer Moms or the Helicopter Parents or the overly-competitive fathers.

So I’m thinking of Lacrosse for my younger son. Now here is the thing. I have been approaching other parents asking about Lacrosse. One family is a soccer family and says that she has friends who do Lacrosse and she worries about it as the kids get so injured. They don’t wear helmets, apparently, and they not only run into each other and bash their heads together but they allowed to use the sticks to stop the other players in any way they want including bashing them in the head or face! With no helmets! I kept on asking around and spoke to parents of kids who DO play Lacrosse and they say the same thing.

Now here is the most surprising thing of all. I asked the Lacrosse parents about how their kids like it and they say they love it. Then I say I may put my son into it and they tell me NOT TO DO IT. Why? Due to the injuries and the danger. So they say their kids love it but it is dangerous and my kid shouldn’t do it. They say it is more dangerous than football as with football they were all that protective gear. When I push them to explain why their kids do it if it is dangerous they admit they didn’t know that up front and so they put them in, but the child loves it, so they let them keep doing it, all the while they are petrified their child will get hurt.

It is at that point that I started thinking indeed the parents of today have gone nuts.

First off we are an over-protective society lately and a culture that is largely driven by fear of lawsuits. Where are the lawyers on this? Why is someone not pushing the league or whoever runs this to make the Lacrosse players wear helmets, even if it is not “normal” for the college kids who play? These kids playing in my area are as young as seven years old. Sometimes perhaps it would be wise to have different rules for certain games in order to protect the health and safety of the young children in our society.

Second how can a parent be so worried of their child getting hurt yet allow them to keep doing the sport? Are those families completely running a child-driven household? I note those families use schools so they are not having a child-led experience with the child’s education such as with certain methods of homeschooling.

For the record the people I’ve been asking are all highly educated people, all have either a Master’s Degree or a Medical Doctor degree. These are not stupid people or uneducated people.

I’m scratching my head over this. If anyone can share insight to this Lacrosse thing please do, by leaving a comment. If you have an opinion on this and agree with me that something is amiss please leave a comment.

Technorati Tags: Lacrosse, Lacrosse kids, kids and sports.

Another Milestone for Older Son's Orthodontia

Last week my son's expander (RPE) got loose and came off of his lower jaw. This is the last one he has in. He has used a retainer for the top jaw for a long time.

We had an urgent visit to the orthodontist to address this fallen out expander. We were all surprised to hear news that the thing is to be kept out and it may be gone for good. Hooray!

The orthodontist is designing a lower retainer for him now.

The upper teeth are coming in, in ways that makes the upper retainer not fit right. That retainer was cut so the teeth can come down. Once they are all down a new retainer will be made with a piece across the front teeth because now his two front teeth have a little overlap starting to occur.

It looks like this boy may completely avoid braces!

I'm happy for him to avoid the braces for the pain and annoyance they cause. (I had braces for 3.5 years with headgear so know this all too well.) My husband has perfect teeth and never needed any braces so I can only assume that son inherited his jaw and teeth from his father.

I'm also glad to not have to pay for braces, another reason to rejoice.

At this moment dental insurance usually doesn't cover much for orthodontia. Braces remain largely an out of pocket expense. This spells G-O-O-D I-N-C-O-M-E. Based on the bodies I see sitting in the orthodontist's chairs, more and more adults are getting braces, which surprised me as I only know one adult with braces. I had no clue so many adults were getting braces. And with the use of palate expanders kids aged 7 and 8 are sometimes getting those and some still need the regular braces later (like my younger son).

My point is that if any of your children are interested in a career in health care perhaps they should look into dentistry or becoming an orthodontist!

Especially since so far the big health care reform or health insurance reform that President Obama wants to pass seems to not touch either plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures for dental (teeth bleaching, veneers, etc.) or orthodontics. Anyone who wants to work in people's mouths could stand a chance at a very good income compared to other types of doctors who are already saddled with dealing with insurance companies and forever being threatened to make less money due to health care reform.

I have a feeling that no matter what health care reform comes down the pike, American citizens will always be willing to pay out of pocket for cosmetic dentistry and cosmetic medical procedures. (If people are so unable to pay for medically necessary medical prodedures one has to ask how the others can afford to pay for so many botox injections and breast enlargement surgeries!)

He Already Knows It

My eleven year old is not happy at the moment about reading some science books. Although they count toward the library summer reading program (a plus) he says they are a waste of his time.

We have not officially covered all these topics as formal study in our homeschool. Some topics we covered in depth in his Kindergarten or First Grade year. (He is now just entering seventh grade.)

My son informs me he knows all this stuff already, the names of the parts of plants and trees, names of specific plants and trees and so forth. He said the book about weeds was all information he completely knows already. Some of it he can remember learning at his homeschool experiential nature class. Other things he doesn’t recall where he first learned them but he remembers it all.

The funny thing is that if you had asked me if we studied all these topics I’d have said no. Yes I can credit some of it to the class, but as we don’t get any kind of list of topics covered from the class I often don’t actually know what was done in the class (nor have I asked for such a list in the last two years, when we first began doing the class I’d inquire what was done).

Meanwhile I was feeling badly that we didn’t "do enough” science in the last two years for home study due to busy-ness with other learning projects and real life intervening.

When I looked at the book shelves of books not yet read, I felt guilty for having bought them and never having used them ALL. So when I’m cracking the whip to use learning materials we already own in book form here at home, I’m finding the kids already know the stuff (since my younger son has been saying some of the same things). Great.

So much for me worrying about gaps in their homeschooling.

For now I’m staying with the plan to go through these children’s books we own and have the kdis read them to themselves over the summer. They will count toward the library’s summer reading program. I’m making a list of topics covered to include in their homeschooling records. Later in the upcoming year when I am sure we are too busy to get to do all the formal lesson planned, or when we take days off due to colds and flu and such, I can remind myself of all that was done in this area to feel that my kids aren’t falling behind as indeed they have learned plenty.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling gaps, homeschooling, living books, experiential education.

Notes From Today's Parenting Interactions

I'm helping my eleven year old pack for a week at Boy Scout summer camp.

I decided to write this down as a way to remember the small, mundane things that make me smile about mothering my kids. My older boy, who this post is about, is growing up so quickly. I dread the day, perhaps in the next year, when his voice changes and when the facial hair appears.

I'm trying to smile at the small things, and laugh out loud at the truly funny. I'm trying not to grumble complaints but to celebrate the good, small stuff. The "big" moments are so few and far between that if they are all we celebrate we will miss out on most of the parenting journey.

Here's what went on tonight when packing for camp, I'll tell about the funny tasks only.

Task 1: Pack underwear.

Me: "You need seven pairs of underwear."

Son: "I only have one clean pair."

I turn to look at his hamper. It was overflowing. I note I reminded him each day in the last three days to go get his dirty clothes and run a load. Loads were run. Apparently they were not his clothes! He and his brother do all the family's laundry so this problem is not on my shoulders.

Me: "You'd better go start a load of laundry!"

Task 2: Put last name on all clothing items. Some are last year's clothes that are already marked, others need to be marked.

Me: "What's this writing?" (on a class B Troop t-shirt) "This is not my writing, it's really small and faded."

Son: "I don't know, I can't read it either."

Me: (squinting) "It says Owen!"

Son: "Oops."

Me: "I'll call Owen's mother to let her know I have one of Owen's shirts!" (Then I wrote over it so the writing would be dark.

Task 3: Pack swimsuits. I know my son owns three swimsuits that fit.

Me: "Get your swimsuits out please."

Son: "One is camo and that is not allowed. That means I only have one."

Me: "I know you have two. Where is the red one?"

Son: "It doesn't fit."

Me: "That's impossible. It's the same size as the other one. Try it on please."

Son: "See? It doesn't fit. I can't even pull it up."

Me: (Thinking: this is not possible.) "Why can't you pull it up?"

Son: "It is knotted."

Me: "Let me see." Upon inspection, I see the tie to tighten the bathing suit is knotted by accident. My son thought they were too small. "This knot needs to be undone. If you can't do it, go ask Dad."

Son: "Okay." (Gets Dad to undo the knot after trying and failing.) Stands there holding the bathing suit.

Me: "Try them on please."

Son: "Oh! Now they fit!"

Me: (thinking: "Imagine that!")

Task 4: Get more Class B t-shirts from closet. His shirts are hung on hangers.

Me: "What is this pile of folded shirts on the floor doing here?"

Son: "Oh. That is clean laundry that I didn't hang up from when I was sick with the fever. I was tired so I just put it there. Consider it another "Adventure from My Adventures in Lazyness".

Me: (nodding my head) I decided to hang up those shirts as my son was busy packing other stuff. I found three of my own t-shirts hanging in his closet (plain colored, Land's End, same brand as some of his. So that's where they went! I don't have many t-shirts and this is one reason why my drawer is so empty!

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I wonder what crazy things will happen at camp this week. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it!

Blogged Book Reviews at Semicolon

It's Saturday which means there is a new edition of Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books.

Visit to read what bloggers have reviewed in the last week.

If you have blogged a book review submit your review today by visiting the post and following the simple directions.

Semicolon Saturday Review of Books July 11, 2009 Edition

Enjoy.

Wellfleet Cape Cod Photo

Drive by shooting = take photos from a moving car.

Wellfleet Drive-in, Wellfleet, Cape Cod Massachusetts. This place is like a time warp, in a fantastic way. The latest movies in a 1950s era drive-in.

Photo taken by ChristineMM on 7/02/09.

(double click to enlarge)

New Bird Identified!

Tonight I went out to get the mail and all kinds of bird craziness was going on in the trees around my front yard the likes of which I'd never heard before. I could not ignore this, of course.

Tiny little birds were flittering here and there. They were calling to each other nearly non-stop, making clucking noises I can only describe as sounding a bit like a chicken. The sounds were coming from all over. At first I thought it was the clucking of a wild turkey coming from the woods.

They were hard to spot because they kept moving from branch to branch. They were light grey and as soon as I'd see one between the leaves and branches it would flit to another branch or to a different tree. There were at least four.

As I stalked them they moved across the yard and away from me. Oddly despite me being close and them trying to get away from me they'd land on the ground and hide in weeds then go up into low branches then higher into tall branches then back down to the ground. I just read online that they swish their tail in order to stir up insects to catch them and eat them.

I finally got some good glimpses of them. Tiny, shaped like a chickadee, smaller than a chickadee, grey all over. It was starting to get dark so the color shading was hard to tell.

Once in a while a sound like a rattlesnake would be made.

They were quite noisy!

I wondered if they were babies and the mother or father was calling to them that danger was present.

They moved off into the dense woods and out of my sight. I could hear them in the woods though.

After about twenty minutes of searching online I identified the birds as blue-gray gnatcatchers. The calls heard on this site are not exact but the body shape is exactly right and all the other characteristics are identical.

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, the light was poor anyway.

A Bit About the Gray Catbirds

In my spotting process I also discovered a nest in my crab apple tree that was made this spring sometime. I have seen a pair of gray catbirds in that tree daily so now my suspicion that they had a nest there was confirmed. This is my first year with a pair of catbirds in my yard. They spend most of their time outside my bedroom window and the front of my house. Due to this I hear them first thing in the morning, last thing at night and even when I'm at my computer during the day. I'll take a photo of the nest soon, when the light is better. This evening while reading about nests of Gray Catbirds I was surprised to see they have robin's egg blue eggs. I wonder if that intact blue egg I found in my yard in May was actually a catbird's?

An Autodidact

I came across this Amazon customer reviewer's profile which was linked from a site that also links to my profile.

Read his profile. I love how he turned into an autodidact about science. Love, love, love it.

Life long learning is awesome!

Robin McGraw's Complete Makeover Guide Book Review by ChristineMM

Title: Robin McGraw's Complete Makeover Guide: A Companion to What's Age Got to Do with It?
Author: Robin McGraw
ISBN: 978-1400202515

Star Rating: 3 stars

Summary Statement: Will Be Liked by List Makers Who Like Prompts

This book is a companion to “What’s Age Got To Do With It?” by Robin McGraw. The background information behind the reasons to do each recommended thing (eat good foods, exercise, etc.) is contained in "What's Age...". This companion book is 128 pages and does not repeat all of the much longer and detailed information. This book has summaries of the important topics which read like reminders for readers who can’t remember what they read in the “What’s Age…” book or who don't want to re-read the entire "What's Age...".

This book is intended to be written in like a consumable workbook. It has many places for lists. McGraw prompts the reader to answer questions and set goals by writing them in this book. I felt some are useful such as measuring and weighing one’s body before starting a diet change, others like “make a list of hair products you think you want to try” and the section with the same thing for makeup seemed stupid to me. These are not thought provoking questions that the reader must ponder and discover through writing out the answers, it’s a simple shopping list for goodness sake!

I didn’t find the book very useful. To explain why I’ll share that I’m well read about wellness, women’s medical issues including peri-menopause and menopause. I’m well informed regarding nutrition and eating well to try maintain wellness. I’m very informed on issues with trying to lose weight including owning, having read her husband’s two books on weight loss and eating to maintain one’s weight. I also saw all or almost all of Dr. Phil McGraw’s TV shows on his methods of weight loss. I’ve been informed about fitness and exercise since I was a teenager in the 1980s back when Jane Fonda’s LP was my first aerobic exercise instructor. I also know enough to know of the fads that have come down the road for the fitness industry (the present being Pilates which is recommended in the book).

Actually me not learning anything new is not true, I learned that there are two hair care products that I never knew existed and that some women use way more makeup than I’ve ever purchased or used. My ignorance is due to my choice to try to use natural personal health products and I seek to avoid chemical based skin and hair products. Actually I’m surprised that the author recommends such a strict and natural plan for food, avoidance of alcohol, and exercising yet she uses so many chemical laden makeup, skin care products, hair products and I can see she wears fingernail polish too (although nail care was not included in the book).

I’m trying to be optimistic to think that someone would really like this book. Perhaps the perfect audience for this companion book is someone who feels overwhelmed at where to start when designing one’s own makeover and loves prompts and lists. A person who is a list-maker but who feels they can’t come up with their own lists off the top of their head would like this book. It can also serve as an easy book to re-read if the reader does not want to re-read the entire, longer “What's Age…” book.

I rate this book 3 stars = It’s Okay. Despite me feeling it was not beneficial to me, I don’t feel that I necessarily dislike it (2 stars) or hate it (1 star). It is also low-priced so the low price doesn’t contribute to a reason to like it even less.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program. I am not allowed to resell the book for profit. Full retail price of this book is $9.99.

Technorati Tags: Robin McGraw’s Complete Makeover Guide, Robin McGraw’s Complete Makeover Guide book review, makeover guide, makeovers.

My Older Son is Blogging Now

A year and a half ago my son started a blog. After creating three blogs he didn't want to do the writing, when he started writing drafts, so the blogs sat unused.

Last week he asked to start blogging on one of the blogs. He's posted a few entries so far.

I'm considering this a good exercise in writing composition.

I feel like an unschooling parent regarding this project because my son has resisted and we've had power struggles over formal writing composition lessons. Yet in this blogging endeavor through writing short blogs posts, in the editing process I am teaching him elements of English grammar. He's relearning and practicing capitalization at the beginning of the sentence, proper nouns versus common nouns, spacing between words and paragraphs, and all the punctuation. Dividing up text into paragraphs is being covered. Lastly, the actual writing composition, moving from a first draft which is more like free flow writing into clarifying his thoughts by adding more details so that other readers will know what he is talking about is being done. For example if he mentions Halo I remind him to tell the reader it is a video game in the beginning of the post.

My son has his own Amazon Associates account so just in case anyone buys anything through the links inside of his posts or from linking from his sidebar he'll make a small profit from the sales. I don't expect this to happen too much but just in case, I want him to make his own money rather than mix up his sales with the commissions from The Thinking Mother.

Today he asked to add a photo to his profile and he selected which picture to use.

In case you are wondering I have not given either of my children much access to the computer. Unlike other parents my husband and I have not given them free reign to fiddle with our PCs. We fear they may crash the hard drive or erase critical programs like some young children we know have done to their parent's computers. So the last thing that my son is interested in and that I'm not pushing is for lots of experimentation with designing his template or making a custom template.

He is asking for a Site Meter to track his visitors and he'd like a world map tracking program like I use.

I am thrilled that he wants to blog and write in this way.

He was funny when he said, "Does writing for the blog count as writing composition for homeschooling?" I said yes. I had told him that in the upcoming year a major goal is for him to do regular writing composition and to really get to a point where he feels more comfortable with creating written pieces (handwritten or on the computer, I don't care which, I care about the composition process itself).

Let's hope his enthusiasm continues!

Privacy Issues

In case you are wondering my son is not using his real first name or last name. We do not reveal the town we reside in. He uses a pen name. He does not have the password for his account. I have to log in to Blogger for him. All his comments are on moderation so I will be the one to see them and approve or deny them in case someone is trying to contact him or if they are rude or post inappropriate content or send spam to his blog. I did not put his email contact on the blog. He actually does not use email yet but in order to create his own Blogger account he needed his own email account.

His Blog Revealed

In case you want to read his blog the one he is actively writing on is The Dragon Seeker's Reviews. His Blogger name is Dragon Seeker.

My Younger Son

Now my younger son wants to get in on the game. In the next two weeks I'll be spending time setting up an email with our ISP and a Blogger account for my nine year old son.

One Last Word on Non-Traditional Learning

So far this project is taking up a lot of my time! Sometimes doing things in the unschooling way can be more time intensive for the parent than simply administering a homeschool lesson.

When relying on the child's passion I think it helps for the parent to be available when the mood strikes and when the child is "on fire" to do the project. I'm trying to both be available to my son but also sometimes he must wait until I am available, sometimes he has to wait. I can't drop everything I'm doing in order to help him at the exact moment he desires. I won't go that far with child-led learning. (Such as the other night I was trying to get dinner made and things were cooking and needed immediate attention or they would have burned, so he had to wait until I was free.)

I am reminded once again that doing things "in real life" not learning always based on a lesson or using a curriculum can be more productive. I'm finding we went through many more concepts in the 45 minutes that I worked with my son this morning than a structured lesson ever would have "dumped" on the child in one sitting, yet my son was okay with that amount of new material or re-learning old concepts as he wanted the blog posts to both be published today.

It is more work for the parent sometimes. The concepts may be more erratic, not logically organized or thorough. In this way things are learned when they are needed to be learned and practiced when it comes up in real life (not in a predictable schedule). Anyhow this is what unschooling parents try to explain to non-unschoolers all the time but I think sometimes the others "just don't get it".

My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters Book Review by ChristineMM

Title: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Author: Sydney Saltar
Genre: Young Adult Fiction ages 12-16 (Girl interest, main character girl age 17)



Summary Statement: Realistic Characters, Good Lessons Learned, Funny & Sad

Star Rating: 5 stars out of 5: “I Loved It”

**At the very end of this post is a spoiler that some parents may want to know about. Do not read the very bottom of this post if you don't want to hear a spoiler.**

Unfortunately, this book and I got off on the wrong foot. It is a shame that in the first few pages I was turned off by the main character’s complaining tone and mistook it for whining. Thus this book sat on my “to be read” pile neglected for three months! When I finally picked it up to read it I was surprised at my initial impression. I grew to understand the main character more deeply and I realized she was NOT as shallow as her complaints about her life and about the appearance of her nose first implied.

I wound up being glued to the book. It was funny and later, sad. I started it in the afternoon and in between doing other things, had to find out what happened so stayed up until two in the morning to finish it off! For me it was a page-turner.

I quickly grew to like the main character as to me she is a very real girl. She and her friends reminded me in some ways of my friends and me as teenagers (despite me having been a teen back in the 1980s). The story focuses on the summer before their senior year of high school. Each has goals for their summer. These three close friends are imperfect, make mistakes and learn from them. Bad choices have negative consequences and in all the cases the girls learned from their errors.

At times I literally laughed out loud (when in public), which is a compliment to the author’s storytelling. I found myself thoroughly liking the main character and rooting for things to go in the right direction for her, wanting a good outcome in the end.

A deeper message in the story is to love yourself as you are and to realize that people care more about your authentic, unique self rather than liking or loving a person based on the size of their nose, which I bet you can tell based on the title of the book is the main character’s big complaint about her looks.

I also appreciated the message with multiple characters in the book deciding to not be promiscuous and to choose to remain virgins at least through the end of high school. The lessons learned when some drink too much alcohol (as underage minors) are clearly stated and it is not glamorized. The mother's constant attempts to clim the social ladder in town are clearly negative and the topic is handled well in the end. These messages are a wonderful antidote to the many young adult fiction books presently on the market for girls that focus on external appearances, designer clothing, having a social life filled with promiscuous sex, alcohol consumption and sometimes drug use, and being rich as the main points to the story.

I felt these characters were very “real” and believable. I grew to like them all.

This book has many talking points and lessons to be learned, which would make a great book discussion for a mother/daughter book club.

With the publication of this book I felt there is hope for young adult fiction for girls after all. We need more books like this and less of the other type, please!



Disclosure: I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program. Retail value of this ARC is $0 and it cannot be resold by me for profit. I received no money in exchange for writing this review.


Technorati Tags: My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters book review, young adult fiction.













SPOILER for my blog readers not included in my Amazon Vine review on Amazon.com:--- some parents may want to know about: A male character winds up being gay. He is in the closet and limited kids find out. His parents do not know. I didn't mention this in my Amazon Vine review as Amazon reviewer guidelines (for both customers and Vine reviews) now prohibit spoilers in the reviews. Homosexuality in YA novels seems to be on the rise, meaning while a book's main focus is not about homosexuality or the main character is not a homosexual, but sometimes it is a topic with a minor character, as is the case in the book. If you don't want homosexuality in any book your child will read, you would want to know this. Most characters in this book are aged 17 and it is about the summer before their senior year in high school. There are no homosexual sex scenes in case you are wondering.

When the Whistle Blows Book Review by ChristineMM

Title: When the Whistle Blows
Author: Fran Cannon Slayton
Genre: Juvenile Fiction ages 9-12
Publication: Philomel, June 2009
ISBN: 978-0399251894 (hardcover book)



I was attracted to this book because it is a coming of age story with a teenaged boy character set around a train town in the 1940s. Both books about trains and good stories from the 1940s are not common themes for children aged 9-12. I hoped it would be a good story for my train aficionado son to enjoy reading.

The book was quite different than what I assumed, it was better than expected. But first I'll share that my almost-twelve year old son grabbed the book first and when he read the back cover he said, “This is the best idea for a story I’ve heard in a long time!” He put aside the book he was currently reading in order to read this one and he finished it over two days, riveted to it. He said it was a very good book with sadness in the end and he implored me to read it right away.

When I began reading it I was surprised by the format and the storytelling style. The format is telling one long story of what happens on All Hallows Eve, in seven stories total. So, the book is like a short story collection of one boy's life from ages 12-18. Author Fran Cannon Slayton weaves in details of what happened in the last year and more about the main character's life and of his family and the changing times so with each chapter we learn more and more about the family, the railroad, the times and how they are changing.

Secondly I was surprised at the voice of the character. I was reminded of the wonderful storytelling of my grandmother who passed away recently at age 98. I used to love hearing her old tales, rich in the language of days gone by, with local terms and old fashioned sayings. I love the way the author chose to tell this story! This storytelling style is not common in new published fiction for readers aged 9-12. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I wondered if today's kids would like it and specifically asked my son what he thought of that method of storytelling. He said he loved it because it was different than most books he reads and that it made him feel like he was transported back in time and really helped him feel like he was in that place and in that time. You couldn't wish for much more than that in a story! (I'll note that his favorite genre is fantasy such as ERAGON and secondarily he likes fiction such as Andrew Clements, so I was happily surprised that he enjoyed this writing style which is very different from the books he usually reads.)

Two elements that I was drawn to were the very strong family bonds especially between the brothers and the boy's father (the mother is not a strong figure in the story) and the feeling of brotherhood and camaraderie between the teenaged boys and the men. These were clear in the stories about pranks with friends and dealing with an older bully, the football championship game, the men who worked on the railroad together and the adult men in the Secret Society. This is a masculine book through and through with strong men as role models. This is a book that boys should read and is one that I hope girls will enjoy as well.

As I already said my son said the book had sadness in it, and that is true. The book is emotional and I shed tears in the scenes when characters were mourning deaths of people they loved.

The book is well written and the author is an excellent storyteller. I really enjoyed this book.

I can't say much more without spoiling the story.

I was left wishing there were more books on the market like this one...

If you have a boy in your life aged 9-12 have them read this book. Actually, any aged reader with an interest in reading good storytelling or interested in tales from the 1940s or about railroading would enjoy it. It would make a great read aloud from parent to child or even grandparent to child (the grandparent may enjoy this very much also).

I hope schools and libraries purchase this book as I feel it will appeal to some readers who have trouble finding newly published fiction that they like.

Railroad and Trolley Museums as well should offer this for sale in their gift shops. Parents of train enthusiast children are always on the lookout for good books with trains in them.

This is a window into the 1940s in a time when steam trains were on the way out and diesels were coming in, so the book can be used in classrooms as an educational book as well. I can also imagine this being a summer reading program selection.

The last thing I’ll say is this book deserves to win an award. It is that good!



More Information



Official website of Fran Cannon Slayton

Fran Cannon Slayton’s blog about the road to publication

Disclosure: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from the author as a review copy. Retail value of this uncorrected proof is $0 and it cannot be resold for profit. I received no payment for writing this review.

Site About ADD & Also Homeschooling Science

One of the mothers who attended homeschool support group meetings that I also attended was Teresa Gallagher, who lives in Shelton Connecticut. For five years she homeschooled her son who has ADD. Teresa has a degree in environmental science as well as a passion for science.

I recall attending one meeting in which Teresa Gallagher spoke to us about teaching science in our homeschools. I found the evening enriching and informative.

Teresa Gallagher shares her thoughts about homeschooling science on this webpage of hers: Homeschool Science Suggestions.

If you are interested in ADD/ADHD, she has a larger site for that topic here.

Although Teresa Gallagher no longer homeschools, she was one of the positive supportive people in my local homeschooling community that was there to help me learn and grow. I feel that local homeschool support groups are unique. I think that every homeschooling mother's experience would be enriched if they were active in a (good, positive) homeschool support group.

Yes, the Intenet is helpful in some ways, but having contacts that you talk to face to face are different. Not every helpful person chooses to discuss things on email chat groups, not every informed person has a homeschool blog. Not everyone thrives or even likes to write enough to post emails or to write for a blog or website. To tap into some of the other minds, we have to meet those people face to face and talk to them, and to listen to what they have to say.

I hope you find something of use from Teresa Gallagher's website(s).

Unintentional Self-Portrait

I was doing "drive by shootings" with my camera in Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts on this rainy and chilly day.

Photo taken by ChristineMM on 7/01/09 in Cape Cod.

A Little About a Young Woman with HIV's Memoir

Tonight I was scrolling through my DVR's recorded shows, through my BookTV recordings. Due to the poor programming of the AT&T U-Verse, we have no program description for the BookTV lectures and the DVR cannot distinguish reruns. Thus, this last weekend my DVR recorded 60 lectures!

60 lectures!

I have to play each show and fast forward a bit to find what the real content of the show is.

One recording began with the end of the last lecture. It was a 20-something, beautiful African-American woman speaking with raw language. She said something like, "Any more questions? No? Buy the book. And I will sign the book. I will not sign papers or take pictures if you do not buy the book. (laughed)." I wondered who she was.

So I found in another show on the DVR, this lecture and found out she was Marvelyn Brown, author of "The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and HIV Positive". I watched her book lecture while knitting.



I gleaned she contracted HIV while in high school due to sexual activity with a male. She said she had it for five years before her diagnosis which was when she was a college student and very sick in ICU in the hospital due to HIV related conditions such as thrush and pneumonia.

One thing that struck me was she said she never knew straight people could get HIV from sex. She said in (public) school their sex education classes taught of "STD and HIV" so she thought HIV was not an STD. She also said she knew that homosexuals, IV drug abusers and prosititutes could get HIV but she didn't know that straight people could get it from sex. Wow. Something went very wrong in that sex ed class to not be clear that HIV can be contracted in straight couples through sex.

I found an interesting review of the book written by a mother who used parts of the book to help have discussions with her daughters. Now that is an excellent way to use a book! You can read the customer review here.

Update and Changes with My Kid's Homeschool Math Lessons

There are changes happening regarding my homeschooled children’s learning of the subject of math.

The first and most thrilling is that I am thrilled to say goodbye to Singapore Math! There are three reasons for the switch.

My younger son (age 9, grade 4) has been looking at his older brother doing Teaching Textbooks for the last year. This was our family’s first experience with Teaching Textbooks. It was also the first time using a program on the computer that teaches via lecture and moving animation. As the homeschooling mother, with Teaching Textbooks I am out of the loop completely. For the first time, last year I was not teaching my older son math. The program teaches it to my son. After a few years of trying to nudge that son to do more work independently and having him refuse he actually loved being taught by the program.

The reason I switched my older son to Teaching Textbooks math was I was telling my husband about the program during dinner last August and he said he wanted our older son to try it. I had already purchased the next level of math from the company I loved that my son also liked (Math-U-See). For the first time my husband made a curriculum decision. I said something about buying a second program for $120 was double spending and wasteful but my husband said he didn’t mind in this case as Teaching Textbooks sounded so appealing to him; he loved the idea of how the program taught.

A cool aspect to the program that my husband especially liked was that the math problems are done one at a time and the answer is put into the computer and the student gets instant feedback about whether the answer was correct or not. This prevents the student from doing a whole lesson with the wrong procedure. That is a major issue with textbook (paper) math systems that I recall as being a problem from my use of such programs in public school. I also recall doing pages of math problems and handing them in to be corrected but the teacher not handing them back for 3-4 days so that meant that al the math I did (or other kids did) was wrong for all those day’s lessons.

Another thing my husband loved was that if the child gets an answer wrong and doesn’t understand why the program will be worked out step by step on the screen for the student to observe and learn from (if the student clicks on the button so the program does so).

In the past I had made all homeschool curriculum decisions and my husband wanted no part of making any decisions about it. I am not math phobic and enjoyed math in school, finding it easy to do without much effort (except geometry which actually required effort and studying). My husband is excellent in math and due to his better education than my public school education; he was taking college classes in Calculus while still in private (parochial) high school. He took advanced math in college and loved every minute of it, Calculus being fun for him. (To explain further one downside to my own public school education was we had a new middle school with vigorous programs. I passed Algebra I in Grade 8 which had me on a track with “honors” students (now called AP classes). However the high school was not vigorous and I was told they didn’t have enough math teachers to give all 9th graders Algebra 2 who qualified for it. Because I had parents who did NOT advocate for me at all my guidance counselor plunked me in Algebra I again, repeating the whole darned thing in Grade 9. That put me in Track 2, which was not the Track 1 Honors Track, it was just the Track for college. That meant too that when it came time to take Calculus, I was “off schedule” and was told “you don’t really need it as most colleges don’t require it”. So in high school I took Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and Trigonometry. In case you are wondering, Track 3 in our school was for students who were D students or failing in classes who would immediately begin working for minimum wage after high school graduation in retail or a factory job, or that would attend a trade school such as to be a hairdresser or an electrician. Those kids were flagged from way back in middle school as bordering on failing and were “not smart enough for college”. (Sorry if that sounds harsh but I’m being honest and actually am holding back some of the other facts that are more harsh but are still true.)

One thing my husband wants for our sons is to not slack in math and for them to “get it” and to hopefully find it easy and not to be afraid of math. We also have our kids on a college track. So far all the jobs that our children have voiced an interest in do require a four year college degree and actually both kids are pretty sure they want to do jobs that will require higher degrees than a Bachelor’s Degree. So my job as homeschool mom is to make sure I get my kids ready for what THEY want to do with their lives.

Anyhow my point to share all that about my older son using Teaching Textbooks (TT) is that in the last couple of months my younger son has been saying he wished he could do TT too.

In the last year we have been using Singapore Math for my younger son. At this point he hates it because he feels it is too simple and too easy and that he feels “like a baby” with their easy problems and cartoon decorations in the curriculum. Because I used their placement tests as a gauge, and because I made him do that level to start with, he was basically doing math he already mastered, 90% of the time. He was learning “their way” of presenting material though. He was learning to do more in his head, more mental calculation instead of focusing on needing to do the operations on paper. So I hope it was not all for naught.

Due to the scope and sequence of Singapore Math, they teach the metric system and fractions a bit earlier than my son’s former program which was Math-U-See. So although he was in grade 3 he tested to start at Singapore Math level 2A. Last year he completed 2A, 2B, and 3A. He is bored to death.

A problem that still exists for my younger son was the thing he was stuck on learning in Math-U-See (double digit multiplication) was not yet taught in Singapore 2A, 2B, or 3A. So a year has gone by, he has done lots of math but never got to that math operation to learn it Singapore’s way. So what progress has been made? I was feeling angry about it. I’m trying to console myself by saying that three things are good. What he accomplished was: 1. Metric system learned, 2. Simple fractions learned and 3. More mental calculation of math operations was done.

After years of hearing how great Singapore Math is I had that feeling of “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” thing happening. Whenever a homeschool mom would sing the praises of Singapore Math I’d wonder if I made an error by choosing Math-U-See. I tried to console myself with the fact that because Math-U-See was working for my kids then they were just fine. Well now we’ve used Singapore Math for a year and I’m not very impressed. Sorry if that disappoints anyone. I’m entitled to my own opinions.

There are two reasons we’re doing math through the summer for the first time this year. One is that due to busy-ness and lots of winter sicknesses my kids didn’t do as much math in the last year as I had planned. Second, the busy-ness during the school year due to outside classes, events, and extra-curricular activities makes doing all the home lessons difficult. I figured that if the kids did math this summer when we had a very light schedule of outside classes and camps and such that it would take off some pressure to do math every single day in the upcoming school year during September to June.

Anyhow today I was looked again at Teaching Textbook 5’s Scope and Sequence and decided that it seems right for my younger son to use right now even though he is 9 years old and just starting fourth grade. I was going to start it in September after having him do Singapore 3B over the summer as we’re doing math lessons when home and not traveling on summer vacations. But today my son begged me to start using Teaching Textbooks 5. When I told him he could, he was shouting with joy. (I am not making this up.) So today I’ll print off my older son’s records, uninstall the program then reinstall it so that my younger son can start in on the curriculum tomorrow. (At present the program can only be used by one student at a time so the only way to wipe off the old records and to use it with a new student is to uninstall it and then reinstall it.)

One last note is that homeschooling parents often say they tweak a curriculum’s use by tailoring it to the child to sometimes skip ahead if the work is too simple. I will confess that I have taken the opposite approach which I think has bored my kids and wasted their time. (See related blog post here.) I always want to be thorough and I would worry about gaps especially where foundation-building topics like math are concerned. So when switching curriculum I have made my kids go further backwards in grade levels of math to have them re-learn and practice more concepts. This is why my son who was in sixth grade last year did Teaching Textbooks 5. Now he is officially starting grade seven but is starting Teaching Textbooks 6. Last week I blogged that I was surprised to see a lot of review in TT6 and since we are not taking the summer off there is none of the ‘forgetting over the summer’ happening.

I am proud to say that I am making myself get over this thoroughness and backtracking issue (see related blog post here). I looked at TT5 and TT6 last night and figured that I can safely skip my son ahead to Chapter 4, Lesson 22 (of 116) as all the former lessons are review, going back to whole numbers, sequence of numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication and simple long division. Some of what is in future lessons is review but within that same lesson they go deeper or make the problems more complicated, so my son should find it all a breeze.

I anticipate that if my older son does math through the summer on days when we are home and if he does math at least three hours (three times) a week (if not four) from September-June he will finish TT6 mid-year and can move on to either TT7 (and skip the review in TT7 also) or he may do Pre-Algebra (grade 8 math).

One more thing I’ll mention is that as my older son receives therapies for his visual processing disorder (an eye tracking problem), which includes exercises to speed up the visual processing in his brain, his math speed and accuracy is improving. He is able to learn the math concepts faster and finds learning easier, he “gets it” faster. His memory is improving which helps when doing operations which have an order and multiple steps, like multiplication with double digits and with long division. He used to get fouled up with remembering which number to put where, what step was next, and other things that seemed so simple to me. Finding learning easy and being able to do work accurately and with less stress boosts his self-esteem and he is back to loving math. Hooray for not being afraid of math! Hooray for not just tolerating math but for loving it!

The very last thing I want to share is that sometimes a math curriculum can be just fine but some problem with a child happens and the child can associate negativity with that curriculum even though the real issue is something else. So sometimes a very good math program takes the fall as the scapegoat for blame as the cause of negative feelings. Sometimes switching to a new program can appeal to the child and if the unrelated issue is resolved the child may credit the success as being thanks to the new program when in fact it was a separate thing.

Looking back in hindsight, in my older son's case I feel he was struggling with math due to his undiagnosed, then later, his new diagnosis of a visual processing learning disorder. His issue was not with Math-U-See but was within his brain. Because we sought treatment and did syntonic phototherapy and later, vision exercises for vision therapy for visual processing issues, the problem seemed to start to resolve. So my son blames Math-U-See for his not "getting" the thing being taught, and I could blame myself as I administered it. My son credits Teaching Textbooks as the thing that helped him. I still hold Math-U-See in high regard and recommend it to anyone who asks me for a recommendation. In our case I feel it is my son assigning wrong blame when in other cases it seems to me a homeschooling mother is assigning wrong blame on a certain curriculum. In my case with not liking Singapore Math, I think it is due to starting off with a different curriculum and switching mid-steam. I bet that people using Singapore Math from the beginning and moving along at the child's pace would not have the same issues with it as I did. Due to the switching mid-stream, my younger son has learned to hate Singapore Math, even though the issue may not be with their whole program but due to his switching from one company's scope and sequence to another's in grade three.

Technorati Tags: Singapore Math, Math-U-See, Math U See, Teaching Textbooks, homeschool math.

Lesson Relearned

(double click to enlarge photo)


Last week we were going to watch fireworks. I have always wanted to photograph fireworks but never owned the proper camera equipment.

In the mid-afternoon I suddenly thought of photographing the fireworks. I now own a DSLR camera so this is the first year I could take photos that came out well.

I don't know a lot about the technical workings of my DSLR yet. I went online to find a tutorial about taking fireworks photos with a DSLR. The instructions were clear but the writer boldly stated that the only way the photos would turn out is with using a tripod and a remote shutter release cable.

I do own a tripod but had not planned on using it. I wanted to travel light.

I do not own a remote shutter release. The written instructions were clear that if you attempted to use the regular shutter release it would cause camera shake and no pictures would come out.

For a moment I contemplated stopping at the one and only camera shop in an hour's radius of my home on the way to the fireworks to buy one. I wondered if they'd have one in stock.

Then I decided that was too much work at the last minute so forget the whole idea. I'd not even bring the camera to the fireworks.

The next thing I thought of was how disappointed I was to not bother to try to take photos since I didn't own the right equipment. I thought of my favorite quote:

"It is better to have tried and failed then to have done nothing and succeeded."

I decided to play and have fun and take the photos without the tripod using the normal shutter button and see what happened.

I had fun before the fireworks began, taking photos of our family and the sights of the crowded park.

When the fireworks began I stabilized the camera's body against my leg and pressed the shutter release. Guess what? The photo came out JUST FINE.

I wanted to mainly focus on watching the fireworks not obsessing over the photos so I just pointed the camera, kept my eyes to the sky and pressed the shutter release when I saw something nice in the sky. Later I did switch the ISO from 100 to 800 then later to 1600 just to see what would happen with the different shutter speeds. I also moved the zoom lens a bit.

I had fun doing that while watching the fireworks.

Guess what? I have many very good photos of the fireworks. A lot came out great except the aim was not perfect.

The lesson that was learned was that if an expert tells you that you need A, B, and C to do a job right and you don't own B & C it is better to try with what you have and see if it works.

Another lesson learned is that the fun is in the process and sometimes just playing and having fun at the process does produce excellent results despite what the experts say will happen if you just play.

I think too many adults are way too serious about approaches to various hobbies, creative pursuits and artistic pursuits. Sometimes some people overly focus on preparing themselves with material things or never get to do certain processes as they don't own the "right" material things that someone says must be owned to do X thing. Some people get too obsessed with the material possessions part of something, they want to do a process but can't as they think they need certain things that they don't own or can't afford.

We should all try to do things with what we have. This is called "making do". While it is true one can't take digital photos if one does not own a digital camera but something like not trying to take photos of fireworks because they don't want to lug a tripod to the site, or they don't own a remote shutter release is silly.

Don't put off trying something because not every single piece of equipment is owned. Work with what you have and have fun in the creative process.

Use what you have.

Make do.

Have fun with the process.

If some of the results are good or great, then that is fantastic, a bonus!

Sometimes great things happen from a "mistake" too.

If some of the results are sub-par or garbage, who cares? The fun was in the process!

Think outside the box.

Throw caution to the wind and don't follow all the directions.

Dare to improvise.

Free yourself from other people's declarations by paving your own path.

Feel the freedom that breaking free from restrictions gives you!

Just try stuff! There is no harm in trying, in playing around with the materials you own.

Have fun!

Son's Reaction to Next Year's Math

Last week my 11 year old was finishing up Teaching Textbooks 5.

He asked about the next level of Teaching Textbooks. I pulled it off the shelf. It was still wrapped in cellophane. We unwrapped it together. We read down the Table of Contents.

My son was deflated. He said, "This is all the same stuff I just did in Grade 5 math!"

He is right.

He was looking forward to something new.

I said they must review the easy stuff then go deeper with more difficult problems into each area.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

We will see how this goes. I wonder now if I wasted my money by purchasing this. I wonder if I should have skipped him up a grade.

Another Mom's Reaction to Saxon Math

At the homeschool park day math curriculum was being discussed.

One mom said her children do math year round. They use and love Saxon Math. She did say that one child is working two grades above his actual grade level (as defined by American schools by age). She said in the last month one child moved on to the next grade of curriculum. She said she reviewed the Saxon Math curriculum and saw that the entire FIRST THIRD of the program was review! She skipped him past that and he began 1/3 the way into the math book.

That is a perfect example of why some homeschooled kids are "working above grade level", because we can, if we want, skip all the review and move on. It works for that family to not review since they do math year-round and so the child never has that 'forgetting the math over the summer' issue that schooled kids deal with.

The other reason why so many homeschooled kids CAN be working ahead of grade level in math is that they can work at their own pace. They can speed through lessons that are easy for them and slow down for extra help only when needed. Every child does not have to wait for the majority of the class to be ready to move on like it is in school.

I have very clear memories of years of math work in my public school classrooms waiting for the kids to catch up. Waiting for the slow writers to catch up writing out the stuff the teacher made us copy off the board, and waiting while some kids asked questions as they didn't understand what was being taught.

The issue with waiting was that I waited in every class (every subject), every day of the 180 days of public school and waited grade after grade. It was like torture for me. So much waiting, all day every day was maddening for me. I came up with tactics like sneaking reading a fiction book brought from home behind the textbook. For years I wrote notes to my friends in class and we'd swap notes in the hallway. Other times we met up in the bathroom during class time to chat. I daydreamed a lot in between the work (not holding up the class in the process).

Waiting for the others is one of my most frustrating memories of my public school. I want my own kids to not have to deal with that so much until college. They do take different kinds of formal classes for homeschoolers and do Scouts and Sunday School which entails having a teacher, doing a group activity, and waiting. I just don't want them waiting every class every hour of every day right now.

On the Fourth of July Menu

We're having really slow food on this Independence Day.

On the menu:

Recipes from The Barbeque Bible




Elizabeth Karmel's North Carolina-Style Pulled Pork
page 154

Vinegar Sauce for the pulled pork (use is optional)
page 155

rolls from a local restaurant

Hot Dogs for kids who refuse to eat pulled pork

North Carolina Style Coleslaw
page 156

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes (in olive oil, salt & pepper)

Mesclun Salad with balsalmic vinegar and olive oil

Purple Grapes

Fresh Watermelon

Then we're going out for ice cream cones at a local shop that makes their ice cream from scratch.

Dinner is with some relatives who are free and available to visit us today.

Newest Book on Right Brained Learners

I have a very visual-spatial thinker (right brained learner). My friend who also has one visual-spatial learner that she is homeschooling says I have to read this latest book by Daniel Pink.



My TBR pile is high. Some are books I agreed to review and am behind on.

Yes I would like to read this. But in the last 15 months I've been more concerned with practical ideas for homeschooling visual-spatial learners, ways I can adapt traditional learning materials to be better suited to an eleven year old. Given that a goal of our home education is to prepare both of my children for the career of their choice, I need to see that certain topics are covered in our homeschooling. When teaching materials are laid out in the opposite way, and learning doesn't happen at all, or easily, I need to adapt them in some way. Not many teaching materials are tailored to the right brained thinker.

So while this book by Daniel Pink seems interesting, I'm not sure I have time for it.

Also, to read theory and idea books, I need to be in the right frame of mind. I need to be in the mood to think about ideas. When my schedule is busy, when I'm dealing with life problems, when my brain feels like it's overflowing, I have no energy for reading theory books.

If I was feeling down about the future of my right brainer I might need to read that indeed there is a place in the world for people whose minds work in this manner. However I'm already convinced that our world needs diverse minds, not just simple differences between the concrete-sequential learners and visual spatial learners but also, the more I learn about atypical neurological brains (Asperger's and Autism Spectrum), the more I realize we very much need them too.

If you are in need of opening your mind to the idea that not everyone should strive toward the left brain model, perhaps this is the book for you. If you are feeling discouraged about dealing with your right brained child at school or in your homeschool, perhaps this book will boost you up.

The book that has helped me the most with practical applications for right brained learners is the book by Jeffrey Freed "Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World".

I have also been helped by listening to the lectures of Dianne Craft of DianneCraft.com about "Teaching the Right Brained Child". You can buy a DVD of her lectures from her website if you are unable to hear her speak live at a homeschooling conference. If you are up for some research you can also see if you can buy online, an audio recording of Craft speaking at a homeschool conference, sometimes the nonprofit homeschooling organizations offer the conference recordings for about $5 for one CD (about one hour of lecture).



If you want a brief overview of the right brained learner versus the left brained learner, read this short article and comparison list written by Linda Silverman: The Visual Spatial Learner: An Introduction.

One last thought I'd like to share is that sometimes people like to have a dialogue to tell me that they have an issue with the label of the right brained learner. The point I'm at right now is I don't feel like debating about this with anyone. I know my son's mind works differently than many other people's minds and I know, through working with him closely in our home school, that materials made for left brainers by left brainers often result in work being done and scored well but no real learning happening, the information goes in one ear and out the other. I'm not in the mood to hash out if minds are really different or about learning styles. I'm most interested in helping my son learn. He's got six years left until he's the traditional age to be sent off to college. That is not a lot of time. As his home educating mother I need to do what is right and best for him. I don't care what other people think about what I'm doing or how I'm educating my children (except if I was under scrutiny by government workers, in which case I'd want to do what I had to do to keep them off my back, like forcing him to learn certain academic topics, so we could keep homeschooling with as much freedom as possible).

Happy Independence Day!

Photos taken by ChristineMM in Connecticut on 6/27/09.

Keeping a "Books Read "Journal for Kids

This has been one of the successful attempts at homeschool record keeping that I’ve tried so I thought I’d share it with you.

This last year I tried something new. I came up with this idea myself. I wanted a nice list of books that my children had read in the year. The previous year I kept a list on paper but it was messy and kept getting lost. This last year I kept the list in a hardback book journal, in a blank book.

I had purchased the blank book ("bare book") from Miller Pads & Paper, a homeschool and art supply company. It is a sturdy hardcover book with blank pages inside. The original intent was for my children to use it for creative writing and to make their own illustrated story. We hadn’t done that so I turned it into a book journal.

The books read journal is just a list of books read. Each page is one month. I write the books in and give each a number. I write the title and author and the genre. At a glance I can see the number of books my kids read in that year to date. I divided the year by our academic year which runs July 1 to June 30, in step with schools. The fact that this is a small, real bound book means it is not easily lost.

I asked the kids to decorate the blank cover and to write in the months on the pages. Due to their ages and their stages they were not too keen on doing much decorating. (Not to sound sexist but I bet girls would have a field day with the cover decoration!) I also wrote the title of the journal on the spine so we can read it when it is on the bookshelf. As their penmanship improves and gets smaller in size I’ll have them write the books in. For now, so that I can read it and so the info can fit on the page, I’m doing the writing.

My kids like seeing all the books they read in one place. They get a feeling of accomplishment to see all that they have read. They like to add the latest book to the list immediately upon completion.

Included on this list is any book they have read cover to cover, no matter whether it was read for pleasure or as part of homeschool assignments. I also include audio books listened to and just note that for my own records, in case for some reason that is something I’d want to remember. The only other rule is it must be a book (not a magazine) and they must have read the whole book.

Over time I think this will give a snapshot of my children’s changing tastes in reading and will show their progression in reading complexity.

Last year’s book was the “bare book small” with a blank cover. I may start using the larger book because my older son was running out of room on some of his pages (using both front and back of the page). At present the small book (bare book small) costs $3.00, not an expensive item. They sell a ten pack of two different sizes for $30 . There is also a big one with 60 pages for $3.50 (Bare Book Plus).

Perhaps a nice list like this is something you'd like to do with your kids?

Note: I receive no pay for mentioning this product or this company.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling, homeschool record keeping, homeschooling records, children and reading, journals.

The Old Days

I have no clue now what the heck they were looking at.

This photo is so cute.

Love it.

Back then my boys were aged 3.5 and 6.5.

You know the cliche. It is true. Time does fly. Enjoy your little ones while they are little.

Photo taken by ChristineMM in April 2004.

Thought Provoking Criticism of Science and Health in America

Last weekend CSPAN’s BookTV re-ran a book author lecture that originally was taped on 5/28/08. It was author David Michaels talking about his book “Doubt is their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Our Health” which was published in April 2008.



I found the author’s talk easy to understand as a layperson who already had some ideas and knew some information about the way the studies and government agencies work. I was already aware of how conflicts of interest that individuals have who are on boards for the government that make decisions about whether to approve a drug or vaccine. You see it’s a big problem when an individual who owns stock in a company making a new drug gets to decide if the government will approve it or not. Even an idiot could see the problems such a situation can present.

Michaels talked about specific stories such as the issues with tobacco going back to the 1950s and the Vioxx story that helps us get his main points by hearing real life stories of how the problems unfolded over time. We should learn from these past mistakes and try to prevent such problems from happening in the future. Who in the world would say that we should continue with bad practices that wind up literally killing people?

He also spoke about some laws that protect industry by not forcing full disclosure about how a study was run and other details that help evaluators decide if the study is “junk” or scientifically valid. There are known issues and it is shameful how the government allows bad practices to go on.

Additionally the use of consultants who help an industry by casting doubt in the public’s eyes about a study is explained. For example to intentionally manipulate public opinion in order to deter for a couple of years or more, the real truth from being accepted, such as in the Vioxx case and also with tobacco back when some were still trying to say that smoking cigarettes was not bad for one’s health. Specific stories were told in the lecture to explain this process. Michaels said currently the same thing is being done with global warming which he seemed to believe is true and real.

Another topic touched upon was the scientifically illiterate journalists who, due to their ignorance, sometimes help the “bad industry” by helping in the ‘casting doubt’ process. When journalists don’t know enough about studies, how they are done, which are valid, which were done by people with conflicts of interest and such they don’t report on it and sometimes spread around half-truths or over-simplify things so the public, the laypeople, are getting half-truths or flat out incorrect information. Laypeople trying to do the right thing by reading or watching news items about health topics may be getting wrong information.

This was taped while President Bush was still in office and Michaels had nasty things to say about the government agencies under Bush specifically but the issues do go back to the 1950s so Administrations from both parties have been in power in times when these past problems were occurring. No party is immune. Michaels did express hope that maybe some good would happen if there was a change in the Administration. Now that we have President Obama I have not yet heard any plans to change anything about the FDA or CDC or other government agencies that deal with approval of substances or drugs that can harm people.

I felt Michaels was well spoken. I’d like to read the book if I can find the time. At present it is still only published in hardcover book format (not a less expensive paperback).

In speaking with a friend with whom I share opinions on these matters with she mentioned this is the same topic that Kevin Trudeau speaks of but she felt Trudeau was not a good writer which was a shame. I hope that Michaels is as good a writer as he was as a speaker with his lecture.

The point I’m at now is that I’m disgusted with the American government’s system of approving drugs (FDA) and treatments (CDC). I don’t quite know what to do but as a consumer trying to have informed consent about my family’s health and health care options I try to self-educate on certain matters. Laypeople like me should be able to rely on our government agencies to protect us. I feel let down by our government in this regard and blame all of them going back to the 1950s. Perhaps rather than think about health insurance reform President Obama should start by reforming the federal government agencies who have screwed up over and over for the last fifty years.

My Little Bob the Builder

Ah the carefree days....to have them back again...

My kids have a much better childhood than I did, it's a fact. I work hard to provide them with a better experience than I had.

I hope they realize how good they had it.

My kids have no clue how crappy some kids' lives are, even American kids. They are lucky to be spared some of the really bad real life experiences that some American kids live with.

Photo of my younger son when he was 3.5 years old.

Photo taken by ChristineMM in April 2004.

Singapore Math Scope & Sequence Online

In case you are looking for, or are curious to see the Sinagpore Math scope and sequence, it took me a few minutes to find on the site.

Today I found it located inside the product information for the textbook under a tab called "contents and samples".

I started at this list of Singapore Math for grades 1-6 (Primary Math).

Then I clicked on the Textbook, then on the right tab that says "contents and samples".

As of today the workbooks I looked at did not have a scope and sequence, just the textbooks.

I find the site a bit hard to navigate.

Technorati Tags: Singapore Math, Primary Math, math scope and sequence, Singapore Math scope and sequence, homeschooling curriculum.