The Thinking Mother

Getting Photos to Grandparents

2012-01-28T06:12:00.000-06:00

I am sure I'm not the only person whose parents are still not on the Internet or networked in any way (i.e. smartphone or email). Since we went digital with our photos nine years ago I have been getting flack from my parents and in-laws that they never see photos of their grandchildren anymore. They want print photos.

Now that we've moved long distance the guilt factor has hit and I've had to figure out what to do about this. Before I kept telling myself they got to see them in person and that would have to suffice (plus they took their own photos when they wanted to).

I hit upon an easy idea. I find a chain store near the grandparents (i.e. their favorite drugstore) that prints photos. I go on the Internet and upload the photos to the store, and place the order. I indicate the photos are for pick-up (not to be mailed out). The account name is in the picking-up-persons name with my email. I place the order and then tell them to go get them. At their convenience they fetch the photos (and pay for them at pick-up).

Done.

Everyone's happy.

(And it didn't cost me a penny either.)

Now why didn't I think of this when we lived closer to them?

Sunset on the Way to Austin

2012-01-27T19:52:00.000-06:00

Drive by photo by ChristineMM using iPhone4 and Instagram October 2011 on the road on the drive to Austin Texas.

Homemade Crouton Recipe (Using Old Bread)

2012-01-27T16:45:00.001-06:00

Here is a frugal living slow food recipe I made up for making homemade croutons from old bread. In this case I had three rolls from the grocery store bakery that were three or four days old. They were not moldy yet but were a bit stiffer than I like for fresh eating.

Homemade Croutons

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using a bread knife and cutting board slice the rolls then cut to make cubes.

Place bread pieces in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the bread and use your hands to try to get the oil onto as many pieces as you can.

Dump the bread pieces onto a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and spread them into a single layer.

Sprinkle fine grained salt over it. Take dried garlic granules (sold in the spice section) in your fingers and carefully sprinkle it around trying to get it on all the pieces. If desired, so the same with black pepper.

When the oven is hot, put the croutons on the oven and shut the heat off. Leave it alone for a few hours or overnight.

When cooled place in an airtight container or zip top bag. Store in a cool place and use within a week. Since there are no chemical preservatives and these have oil on them they are at risk for going rancid or becoming moldy.

Take note of the garlic flavor and decide if it was too much or not enough then remember this the next time you make your own croutons.

I can’t believe I’ve turned into one of those cooks like grandmothers are, who don’t tell you quantities and expect you to know how much is enough. Well sometimes, that is just the truth. How much oil and seasoning you need will depend on how much old bread you are trying to use up. That’s just the way it is.

Note: in the past our family has made these using the broiler, however with broiling there is a fine line between burned and under-done and you have to watch it like a hawk. This method of letting them sit for hours in a slowly cooling oven resulted in thoroughly crunchy and light puffy croutons that were golden in color and had the seasoning flavor baked into the bread. These are the best our family has ever made. To be honest the only reason I did it this way was I'd just finished roasting a chicken and we had to run out the door to pick our son up and I figured it wouldn't hurt to put them in the just shut off oven and leave them there. I then forgot about them and they sat in the oven overnight. It worked.

Ciao Italia Family Classics Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-27T06:03:00.000-06:00

Title: Ciao Italia Family Classics

By: Mary Ann Esposito
Publication: St. Martin’s Press, October 2011

My Star Rating: 5 stars = I Love It

My Summary Statement: High Quality Hardbound Book with Excellent Photographs and Truly Classic Recipes

I’m not of Italian descent but grew up in Connecticut with a large Italian immigrant population. We had access to Italian import grocery stores and family run restaurants were everywhere. I married an Italian American man who loves to cook so my exposure expanded and I began to cook more and more Italian “slow food” at home. When I moved to Texas last year I realized I’d taken access to these foods for granted now that I have a hard time finding high quality ingredients and imported Italian foods. I can't even find decent restaurants that make authentic type Italian food or even a decent pizza. So we're cooking slow food at home now more than ever before.

My first impression of this cookbook was one of familiarity, because it is has over two dozen recipes that our family already enjoys eating at home or in favorite Italian restaurants. Now that we have the recipes we can make these at home. The other 150 recipes are new to me and I can’t wait to go through the book and try some. Esposito explains that some recipes are from her grandmothers, some are newer recipes served at gourmet restaurants in Italy and some are her own creations using classic Italian ingredients.

I want to stress the word classic that’s in the title. There is a whole chapter on pastas and another on sauces, a chapter on bread and pizza, and I’m thrilled to have a chapter on risotto. In the Introduction she mentions family dinners served in courses and eaten leisurely over multiple hours’ time. The recipes in the book are meant for this purpose, so it starts with antipasti and then goes through the courses: soup, bread/pizza, pasta and sauces, rice, fish, meat, vegetables, salads then desserts. Of course not all of us eat long meals in courses so we often take one food or two, and eat it as the whole meal (pasta, pizza, or a meat or seafood entrée with a small salad on the side). The recipes stress using high quality ingredients. Many don’t use many ingredients at all, yet these are slow food recipes and some take work (risotto and handmade pasta) or long cooking (sauces, soups). That’s just the nature of slow food, and it is worth it.

The book opens with an explanation of what a well-stocked pantry for Italian cooking should look like. The plea to use high quality ingredients and the comment about using only real cheese is made (and I agree with both as being a firm foundation for good Italian meals). There are some stories in the book and some explanations about some of the food such as telling about her visit to the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese making factory which make this an enjoyable read not just a book of recipes.

The book is hardbound and high quality. The pages are sewn into signatures which are longer lasting than binding with just glue. The pages are thick and glossy (and not see through). There are a lot of full color, full page photographs that tempt me into wanting to make everything. The ingredients are in decent sized font down the margin edge for easy reference with the directions taking up most of the page. The over 200 recipes span 450 pages which makes this a hefty book.

Mary Ann Esposito has over twenty cookbooks on the market but this is the first book of hers that I’ve read. I enjoyed Ciao Italia Family Classics so much that I am curious about her prior publications. Esposito is the host of the PBS cooking show by the same name – Ciao Italia which boasts as being the longest running cooking show on television.

I highly recommend this book for slow food cooks who want to know how to make classic Italian dishes and to learn some new twists using classic Italian food staples.

I rate this book 5 stars = I Love It.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Amazon Vine for the purpose of reviewing it on the Amazon.com website. I was not required to blog this review. For my blog's full disclosure statement read the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.

Street Art

2012-01-26T19:51:00.001-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram Houston Texas.

A Read Aloud Day

2012-01-26T06:20:00.013-06:00

Yesterday it was chilly in the house when we woke up and my eleven year old asked that I do a read aloud. This is the first request for that in at least eight months, probably longer. I declined and cracked the whip about getting the same old - same old homeschool lessons done.

Today shortly after starting homeschool lessons for the day we got a tornado warning. This was our first since moving to Texas. The kids helped me put away loose items on the deck. The tornado warning expired before any inclement weather hit. Then we got a severe thunderstorm warning, and the rains came pouring down and there indeed was a lot of booming thunder and lighting. It was so bad that we shut the computers off meaning online math lessons and other computer related learning ceased.

Again I was asked to read aloud. This time I obliged.

My eleven year old's eyes lit up and he asked for Story of the World "like we used to do all the time!".

My fourteen year old asked for short stories from a new book Steampunk! which I received an advance reading copy of from Amazon.com's Vine program.

I read from Steampunk! because our copy of SOTW is in a box somewhere in my garage, surrounded by other good homeschooling books and curriculum, waiting to move to a place with more bookcases.

I read aloud for a couple of hours, going much longer than I usually last. (The two stories I read aloud were dark and there was child abuse and murder and revenge. We have certainly come a long way from reading Goodnight Moon. I guess if you want to continue read alouds with boys who are teens and tweens the subject matter shifts over time!)

It was like old times with the three of us on the couch snuggled under a large blanket with cats on our laps. The only problem was the kids are so big now that I had knees and elbows poking into me since they were in various odd sitting positions, and I was squished in the middle since they both wanted me next to them.

While the rain downpoured and the thunder rolled, we sat next to the window with the blinds up and looked out at the gray scary day out there. We were comfortable and relaxed.

It was one of the best types of homeschooling moments. I needed one such moment!

P.S. Actually I left something out of the story. During the second read aloud my ninth grader asked to make homemade pudding from scratch while I kept reading. He has never done that before but I made it last week and he loved it. I told him where to find the recipe. So I read aloud while he made the pudding. By the time we were near the end of the second story the pudding had cooled and we enjoyed some while I kept reading. It was so delicious I couldn't wait for the end of the story so I read aloud in between spoonfuls of custard. I like the way that my home baking and home cooking has rubbed off onto my kids....I'll read aloud anytime in exchange for kids making delicious desserts from scratch for me!

Ice Cream Sundaes

2012-01-25T19:48:00.001-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram at Pappas Burgers in Houston Texas. These were on display, we didn't eat them!

Trying My Best at Parenting and Homeschooling

2012-01-25T06:39:00.002-06:00

I have a few blog posts in draft that were not easy to write then never were published. So here is what I was trying to say. I'm just going to try to get it out, and however imperfect this post is, here it is.

I'm trying my best to raise my kids well. That's all I can claim that I know about parenting and homeschooling my kids.

I am not preaching on this blog. I am sharing information and stories. I hope the information helps you. I am not sure what value the stories are but hope they are not a waste of your time to read.

Some days I ask myself, "Who cares what I blog? Who actually is reading this?" Someone told me the only people who write about themselves must think they are a luminary. Do people think I think I'm some luminary? I don't think I'm a luminary. I'm just a mom who raised her kids with attachment parenting and I'm homeschooling them too.

I don't know why writing is viewed any differently than talking. To me writing is talking but in text not in auditory sounds. Writing is easy for me, easier than talking. Perhaps those who say negative things about people who write struggle to write and find talking easier. Would anyone criticize anyone for talking? "Who do they think they are to tell someone a story that happened to them? Do they think they are a luminary?" Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Why do people want writers to justify the fact that they write? I don't get it.

But back to parenting...

Years ago when I used to watch Oprah she said something to a Mom, "You do what you felt was best at the time and that's all you can do". There was some problem that happened, I don't recall what it was, but in 20/20 hindsight it was apparent that something should have happened differently to avoid the big bad thing. But the mother claimed she didn't feel there was any other option so whatever it was that the viewers wished never happened did happen. Oprah was trying to dig into the past to see what might have happened to make that thing happen or to see what didn't happen to stop that thing from happening.

Back when I used to volunteer with La Leche League to help mothers learn to breastfeed their babies and to mother them, while expressing happiness over breastfeeding a baby a mother would sometimes say she felt bad for not having breastfed an older child (or multiple older children). The word regret was incorrectly used by mothers. Regret is when there were two do-able options and you knowingly chose the worse one then later felt bad about having made that choice. Remorse is the right word that most should use, it means you now wish you'd done something differently if you had only known there was another way and that the option was something you could have done. It does no good to feel bad about not having done something that was not a choice for you anyway, even if the reason was just ignorance.

For example one mother I spoke with had a life threatening medical emergency after her first baby was delivered. She was bleeding out and nearly died. She had to have additional surgery and was not conscious for a couple of days, and was loaded up on strong drugs. The baby was put on formula and the bottle by the hospital staff. The mother lived and was healthy (Thank God!) but she was beating herself up over not breastfeeding. She was trying to get the baby back to the breast, it's not usually an easy process but it's something that some mothers want to try to do. I don't feel it does anyone any good to beat themselves up over past actions unless you really did have a choice and chose the worst thing of your own free will.

I mention regret and remorse and guilt because those are things that parents (probably more often, mothers) think about when they think about their parenting journey. Mothers can be very hard on themselves. The current psychology is so outcome based lately, the experts advise to do this and that and don't do that and that, and then your child will have that outcome. This is the case for both parenting a child and the education of a child. However since 99% of American kids attend school the responsibility of the education is taken away from the parent and put onto the school system.

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Sometimes I feel like I should stop blogging. I sincerely hope that people don't think that I think I know it all about parenting or homeschooling. What really do I have to share that is of any worth?

I am just living and writing and publishing some of my writing here on the blog. If you think it's funny or entertaining to read what I say here, then good. Read on and laugh.

I don't think I'm funny much at all anymore. I was a funny kid. I laughed almost nonstop with my friends when I was growing up. I started losing my sense of humor when bad things started happening in my life. When I became a mother and things started going wrong I became even more serious. These were high stakes! I was responsible for a human life!

Later other challenges that adults face, like unemployment and moving long distance further put a damper on general enjoyment of life. In the trying times, I have a hard time even finding something funny to laugh at on most days. In the most stressful times I sometimes realized I was going days without even smiling. The stress of life sometimes squashes the ability to enjoy the good things happening on that same day.

I don't know it all and never pretended to. I know what I don't know and that's one of the things that make me a more serious person who has concerns and worries. I can see the possible negative consequences and I don't want to see them happen to my children. I want my kids to have options that I didn't have. Besides being raised in a loving home with open communication and without the fear of corporal punishment I want my kids to enjoy learning and to know how to think and communicate well, I want them decently educated and to not get turned off by learning thanks to the worst part of what happens to some students who attend school. So, not using school was a major decision we made early in our parenting journey.

Mothering has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done but it's also the most work of anything and it's been the most stressful also. How can it be all three of those things? It just is, for me at least.

Good mothers are not perfect people, there's a myth I'd like to bust. I think I'm a good mother. Yet, I am an imperfect human. I make mistakes. I am not a Stepford Wife, I'm not a June Cleaver. I have real emotions. I get annoyed. Especially as my children grew older I stopped always talking to them in a perfectly pleasant tone of voice. Although I don't use profanity regularly anymore I have slipped and let out a few curse words with my kids sometimes. Mothering has taught me patience but I am not a saint.

I have less patience for other people's kids. Even in my well-intentioned volunteer work I have been tested and tried while dealing with other people's kids and some of them have seen my imperfections and flaws. If there is one thing that kids know, it is that no adult is perfect. They know their own parents are not perfect, and neither is any adult they come in contact with. So when other people's kids see my imperfections they are not disappointed or surprised, they are used to imperfection.

I know when I've reached my limits and may be causing more harm than I am doing well. After the fourth year volunteering at Cub Scout day camp I realized I was burned out when I had no patience left for their nonsense and when I couldn't deal with the kids who were creating an unsafe environment for the good-behaving kids one day I lost it. Nearly all the volunteers yelled but I never did, until that day and I let them have it. I still wasn't as loud or demeaning as some others I'd been hearing rant and rave all week but for me it was an all-time low.

For the kids to have a better program I knew it would be my last year doing that particular volunteer job. I knew I would leave a void to be filled with some other parent. The problem was those parents were not volunteering as they were telling me that they felt you needed some special talent to handle the job, but it wasn't true. All the kids needed was a person who was fresh and un-jaded who had just a mild amount of enthusiasm.

My talents and energy could be used elsewhere in the Scouting program to do good for the boys in some other way, if the organization needed me and wanted my help. (They found something else for me to do immediately. It really is true when you close a door God opens a window of opportunity for something else.)

About homeschooling: my self-confidence is getting less and less the older my kids get and the closer they get to college. I am getting to a point where I realize my limitations and I want a certain good (better) outcome for my sons (than I think I can personally deliver). I'm trying to decide if certain changes will truly result in something better happening.

I have been thinking about enrolling my older son in public high school. I've been wondering if it would be better than homeschooling at this point. If putting him there will give me less stress than homeschooling does (good for me) but the program is not good enough then it's not worth the trade-off (could have some bad for him outcomes). Sometimes things that seem like a great thing bring unintended negative consequences. Then there is the question of asking if the devil I know is better than the devil I don't know. Anyhow with the medical treatments he's getting three times a week right now there is no way he could attend school this semester as he'd be out on medical leave with home tutors anyway! So apparently there really is not any decision to make. Homeschooling will continue, for this year at least.

I'm willing to put forth a certain amount of work and effort (which is not always joy-filled) if it means a better outcome for my kids. The outcomes I refer to are not necessarily huge things, they can be small things like thanks to homeschooling I was able to change my son's math curriculum so now he loves algebra and understand it easily. Another is that homeschooling allows us freedom with our schedule so that my son can get the medical treatment he needs. Another is letting a sick kid sleep until they are well rested instead of forcing them to get up to go to school while still sick so they don't miss another day.

The good things with homeschooling and parenting add up over time and make any of the hard parts of my parenting journey worth it. These things do not necessarily happen every day. The easy and the challenging moments don't always occur in paced out equal shares so that it is easy at the end of the day to say "two crappy things happened but two good things happened today so it's a wash" or "three bad things happened but four good things happened so I get to feel happy about the day, it was a success".

Two months ago I was wringing my hands with worry over quitting the online math class and feeling terribly that the supposedly fantastic program was not a good fit for my son when today I'm elated that the new one he started is resulting in real learning and enjoyment in the process. Now it seems silly that I had anxiety over making the change! Sometimes it is not until months later that we can give ourselves permission to let go of the worry or negative thing so we can let ourselves feel happy about the current good situation.

Sometimes I worry that my blog readers think I think I'm perfect. To further bust that myth here's some dirty laundry on me.

Ways that I'm an imperfect homeschool mom are:

I'm not confident about doing high school science with labs. I am trying to find options to help my son through this that do not rely just on me teaching him in the home.

I am not at all capable of teaching my kids a foreign language. We're getting down to the wire with procrastination getting us to the last minute. Last year's Rosetta Stone use was okay but this year the kids hate it and say they are learning little. In the fall of his grade ten year my son had better be taking a foreign language class: either at a community college or online. We have to make a decision and make some plans and just do it.

My kids read a lot more than studies say schooled kids read, and they read more than the high school syllabi list, but we may not be discussing it enough, and my ninth grader has not ever written an essay about a work of literature that he has read.

I could go on and on but won't.

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Outcomes Depend on Strangers Too

Other times things are outside of my control and strangers contribute to my children not having optimal outcomes.

Right now I'm having a struggle over lacrosse for my younger son. When this situation is over maybe I'll blog it. I can tell it is developing into the type of juicy talk that moms share over coffee. I'd better not spill the story at this point since it is still in process. Maybe, just maybe, the outcome will be good.
My children's life experiences are not all in my control. I never thought they were, I just am trying to do my due diligence to help my kids do the things they want and do things that are good for them and to do what the parent is supposed to do. My own effort toward that goal does not always result in the good thing happening, but at least I'm trying to do what I think is best at the time.

Kid's Outcomes Depends on Them, Too

As kids grow up they should become more and more independent. It is right and best for parents to step back and let teens make more decisions for themselves.

Sometimes the teen makes a mistake that contributes to something not happening as planned or hoped. The teen needs to accept ownership for that. The parent has to let them make their mistakes sometimes.

Last year my older son wanted to rank up in Boy Scouting at a certain Court of Honor but he procrastinated about finishing two merit badges and he left them to the last minute. The merit badge counselor didn't show up at their planned meeting so finishing one badge on time was not possible. He pulled off the second but he needed both to rank up.

My son's error in judgment and choice to procrastinate meant his ranking up was put off for another six months. I was let down that the counselor failed to show up but I was not angry. Unlike some other parents who threw fits about the situation, I did not pitch a fit. Rather than focus on the adult's misstep that caused a less than optimal situation for the Scouts, I focused on my own son's personal responsibility error. I told my son the bottom line was the responsibility was his and that if he'd not waited until the last minute this would not have happened.

My son was disappointed but he survived. There was no huge negative consequence. It gave him another opportunity to learn to cope with negative emotions about something relatively small. That is good practice for when he needs to cope with a larger problem someday.

Some people have told me they don't like homeschooling parents because they are overly controlling and try to manipulate all the situations the child is in, in order to try to create a state of perfection for their child all the time. Parents cannot and should not control everything in the teen's life just to try to create an optimal outcome for the teen. Sometimes the teen can grow and develop only by taking responsibility for the process. They learn by doing the process. They do not learn anything by having perfect situations created by someone else delivered to them all ready for them to step into.

If a teen using their own judgment makes an error, they have to live with the outcome of their actions. Hopefully the stakes are not too high. They learn from their mistakes, but not always after making the mistake once. Sometimes they make the same mistakes over and over before they decide to change and do things a different way to try for a different outcome. I find myself biting my tongue and holding back from intervening to help my son not do that thing again. I am letting him stumble and sometimes fall. It's part of growing up.

Adversity is a normal part of life. Adversity builds character. You can't avoid all the adversity in life.

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What I want to say to parents is you have a responsibility to try to do well by your kids. In this land of opportunity when we're not living in a third world country where life is not a literal day to day struggle for basic survival we feel pressure to create some kind of utopian childhood and to help our kids be the best they can be and arrive at the adulthood healthy and happy and ready for anything. I think that's a tall order.

Parenting is not typically all fun all day long. Parenting is not struggle free. There are good things to celebrate if you take time to notice that they happened and do not just look at what is going wrong or what is sub-optimal. It is normal for life to throw you problems and challenges in the midst of already being busy parenting your kids. We have no choice but to deal with whatever life has dealt us. It's too bad that sometimes dealing with regular life can keep us so busy that we can't notice something good happening right under our nose, or if we're under stress we can't even feel the happiness that we realize we should be able to feel when something good happens.

I don't know what it is about our society that makes parents feel we are never quite doing the parenting job well enough. If I could identify what the cause is then I'd call for parents everywhere to team up and work together to put a stop to it.

Active parenting is tiring. I can't do it all and neither can you. Sometimes I just don't have enough energy or time to do it all the way I think is right and best. I try. We shoot for the stars and if we hit the moon we'll be more than okay.

Someday soon my children will have flown the coop and I get to decide what I want to do with my life next. I'll have plenty of time on my hands, and probably less stress. Life will be easier. For now I truly am happy to have this responsibility and privilege, even though some days are tiring and life's not easy most days.

Twain's Feast Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-24T06:33:00.001-06:00

Title: Twain's Feast: Searching for America's Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens

Author: Andrew Beahrs

Publication: Penguin Press, June 2010

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

My Summary Statement: Excellent Storytelling by an Informed Food Writer – A Great Escape Read for Foodies

When I received this book I assumed it was what I call a project memoir, where a person wants to know something and travels around and does research and shares what they learned in writing and bundles their essays up and publishes a book. A pure project memoir is usually done by a novice who knows nothing of the topic and learns everything along the way, and is written from the perspective of a newbie. These are sometimes published by laypeople hobbyists or amateurs who are not writers, and as a result the books are sometimes uneven or just mediocre pieces of writing, with storytelling skills being a crapshoot. This is NOT a project memoir. And that is a good thing.

This book is more of a travelogue than a project memoir. It was written by a person who going into the project, already has a decent knowledge base about food and gourmet food topics. Beahrs is an experienced and skilled food writer, and is an excellent storyteller. Thus, this book is well written and interesting.

Beahrs set out on a journey to sample foods today that Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) mentioned in his book A Tramp Abroad, about a hundred years ago. A challenge is the world has changed, the landscape has changed, and not all the foods are really available (wild prairie chicken being one). Some foods are no longer daily staples for poor people but are served once a year at a festival (raccoon).

Beahrs’ writing pulled me in. He writes with a good flow from topic to topic and weaves between present day observations to history and facts and then to his personal opinions and experiences. This weaving in and out is seamless. He is able to write in a way that never was boring yet educated and discussed facts and things I never thought I’d care to know. Reading this book was an enjoyable escape reading experience.

I should also mention I am a home slow food cook and from scratch baker and enjoy fine dining in restaurants whenever I can, so learning about food and I like reading about food.

If you enjoy good storytelling escape reads, and are a foodie or are a big fan of Mark Twain, or enjoy travelogues or books about the history of food in America, you will enjoy this book.

I rate this book 5 stars = I Love It for the excellent storytelling, engaging escape read and interesting foodie subject matter.

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from Amazon.com’s Vine program. I was not obligated to blog about the book. For my blog’s full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog’s sidebar.

Tiger and Fire Hydrant

2012-01-23T19:47:00.001-06:00

Photo by Christine at a Spring Texas nursery 12/11/11 near Houston with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Megg's History of Graphic Design Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-23T06:12:00.000-06:00

Title: Meggs' History of Graphic Design 5th Edition

Authors: Philip B. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis

Publication: Wiley, November 2011

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

Summary Statement: Massive Tome of Chronologically Arranged History with 1400+ Color Illustrations - Teaching & Study Aids on Publisher's Site

Megg's History of Graphic Design 5th Edition is a massive textbook which has been expanded and improved. The page size is large: 8.5 x 11 inches, it's 600 pages long (and weighs five pounds!). The paper is high quality glossy, thick (and not see-though). Each of the 1400+ illustrations is in full color. The book is also available in eBook format.

Meggs spent over 25 years research and working on this book and after his death, Purvis has expanded the book for the 4th and 5th edition. As it always has been, this is a chronological history which starts with prehistory of early man's cave paintings then to the invention of writing and goes to the present day. This is a wide sweep, a comprehensive survey of graphic design. This 5th edition adds content for some previously unrepresented countries. It adds new information about the latest technologies such as magazines for iPad with moving graphics that breaks new ground for graphic design and makes it more complicated and enhanced.

On the publisher's website are free companion materials for teachers: study guides and sample tests and answer keys as well as study materials for students. There is also an app that can be purchased for iPhone or iPad to help students study with visual flashcards.

This book is a visual feast, filled with eye candy for graphic artists and artists to both educate and inspire. I found the writing easy to read and interesting, since I have a personal interest in this subject, it held my attention. This book is used by graphich design college course students. I'm an adult who has been teaching herself about art due to a personal curiosity and interest in the subject. It is not a dry and boring textbook. This is a unique and impressive text that people consider the Bible of graphic design history.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the Amazon.com Vine program. I was under no obligation to discuss it on my blog. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.

Tree at HEB

2012-01-22T19:45:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM at HEB grocery store parking lot The Woodlands Houston Texas on 12/12/11 with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Instagram Tips

2012-01-22T09:02:00.001-06:00

Here are some things I have learned in playing with Instagram.

If you are in a situation where you must shoot fast and not make decisions about filters, or if you are shooting in bright sunlight and can't see your screen well, shoot with the regular iPhone camera. Later when you have time, feel like it, and can see well, pull the photo from your iPhone photo album, crop it and filter it and share it. Just be careful to allow room for cropping the rectangle image into a square.

If you are trying to shoot in the Instagram app but want to zoom, you cannot, so exit Instagram, open your iPhone camera and use that to take the photo. I use this often for shooting city landscapes when I want pieces of buildings but when close objects would ruin the shot. When I'm passenger in the car I can zoom and shoot some interesting landscapes.

Take photos while stopped at a red light. We have some lights here that are 90 seconds long! That is a long time! I grab the camera and take shots of lovely clouds and sunsets as well as cityscapes.

If you are the driver ask your passenger to shoot certain objects you see while driving, that would be unsafe for you to attempt.

If you want to do multiple filters on the same image save the first crop as normal. Then start a second Instagram using the "normal" photo and use the filter. Then repeat. In this way you can get a series of identical shots that use different filters.

Use down time for Instagram. I have filtered shots while standing in line to pay the cashier at stores, while in waiting rooms, and while sitting in my car waiting for my kid to finish what he's doing so I can drive him home.

Using Instagram is so fast and easy. You don't have to do the whole process right on the spot. Instagram should be fun and should not have any pressure attached to it.

Speaking for myself I rarely waste time playing with Instagram, I'm just using up spare moments here and there. It's fun and it actually diffuses the stress for me because it prevents me from getting aggravated at a slow cashier or a forever red light.

iMainGo XP Ultra-Portable Stereo Speaker and Protective Case for iPad 1 and iPad 2 Product Review

2012-01-22T06:05:00.005-06:00

Product: iMainGo XP Ultra-Portable Stereo Speaker and Protective Case for iPad 1 and iPad 2

My Star Rating: 5 starts out of 5 = I Love It

My Summary Statement: Easy and Convenient Portable Audio System for iPad (and Can Use in Limited Ways with Kindle Fire) but Not for Everyday Carrying Case Use for Me

This is a hard plastic case that fits on the iPad1 and iPad2 with portable speakers. The two doors open outward to reveal a right and left stereo speaker with the device oriented horizontally. There is a separate plastic folding system to use to prop it up on a table or desk. The iPads fit into it perfectly. The sliding mechanism to open the doors is hard to operate. My eleven year old really struggled to open it.

This weighs two pounds. I am not complaining of the weight as a problem of design, common sense says that a speaker system has components that will weigh a certain amount. I mention this as heaviness may not be convenient for everyday use. Also I don’t like the outward door speakers for everyday use of the iPad2. If you used this as a daily protective case and wanted to use the iPad in a vertical position the speakers would orient up and down, and are in my way. If you want your iPad to be lightweight and slim for everyday carrying around, I’d recommend a neoprene sleeve protective case. So, you may choose to buy both of those two things for two different uses.

The speakers are fine at mid-range. At the upper half of the range they vibrated and the sound distorted. However that was too loud for my liking when sitting close enough to have a good view of the screen. In other words this does not convert your iPad into a home theatre with top quality volume at blasting volume levels. But who wants that anyway since when sitting at a distance you can’t see the screen! I played music at the mid-range volume and could hear it crisp and clear from thirty feet away in my home. Using it in that manner allows me to use this device in place of a home docking station speaker system. (It would be nice if we didn’t HAVE to buy every single type of accessory for these devices, especially if we own multiple devices! I’m trying to combine these to have more than one use.)

I am pleased with the quality of sound for the volumes that our family uses. It is convenient to have the speakers as a case system instead of freestanding speakers that are inconvenient to carry around. Because we don’t need to use this everywhere and every day we are using a neoprene sleeve case for everyday and using this when we know we want to a louder and higher quality sound system.

(The Kindle Fire has the same jack so you can actually use this on the Kindle Fire, when the unit is on a table or desk. Since it was not designed for the smaller Kindle Fire it doesn’t fit snugly and it wouldn’t work as a carrying case for it. However if you own both devices (as my family does) you can “make do” with this for stable tabletop surface use.)

I rate this 5 stars = I Love It because I feel the quality is high and it is great for watching movies and video clips with sound and also is a good enough for me speakers system to play music into a room with.

Disclosure: I received this product for review from the Amazon.com Vine program. I was not under obligation to blog this review. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.

Clock at Stata Center MIT

2012-01-21T19:50:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM at MIT Boston Massachusetts 11/19/11 with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Not How Our Family Would Pick a College

2012-01-21T06:29:00.000-06:00

One lecture I attended at the MIT ESP Splash parent lectures in 2011 was a total and complete waste of my time. The rest were fantastic and I am so grateful for them.

This one was a bomb. It was about college admissions. It wound up being a sales pitch for families to buy a software and online program that seemed completely unnecessary for me. The main thing was a timeline calendar telling you what to do when, for the college applications process. Anyone who has researched the process even a little bit already knows this information.

Anyhow the purpose of my post is to share this is when I realized this guy was not speaking to my family. No way, no how.

This is what he said about:

How Students and Parents Pick a College

Students:

Boyfriend or girlfriend goes there/ going to go there

All my friends go there

Location

“Good food” there

It’s a party school!

Have certain sports teams

Dorm size (is good)

Parents:

Money, can afford it

It’s their Alma Mater

Quality of the education there

Drive is within 2 hours

My thoughts---

UMMMM--------something was left off the list that is the top priority for my kids and my husband and I. That would be “has the major in the field I want to study”.

DUH!

Also “is a good school for that major, respected and well known as a good program for that major”.

And of course “the school is a good fit for my child for multiple reasons”.
Depending on your career choice, it may be important to attend a brand name school for that career field. It’s not always necessary but in some industries such as my husband’s, it is important. He learned that the hard way. I also experienced favoritism for job candidates who attended a select few colleges where I worked.

The audience contributed these as reasons to pick that school:

Brand name school

Well known school

Have area you want to study

(He stopped calling on the audience at that point.)

---

Well anyhow when I realized that this guy thought that the people in the room actually supported that list he provided for what students and parents wanted I realized he was not a right fit for the people in the room, or so I’d like to think.

I chose to not leave the room although I wanted to bolt, because I wasn’t sure if the lecture was going to improve or stop being a sales pitch. In the end, I didn’t learn anything there except perhaps my family is in the minority if what we are looking for is not stuff like “good dorm rooms” and “good food” and “party school” and “where my girlfriend goes”.

Frankly I think a little suffering in college is a good thing so a crappy dorm room and bad food is fine by me. That way when the kids start working and supporting themselves and have it better than college was they’ll feel grateful -- instead of living in a country club college that may be even better than home was, and then realizing when they are working in the real world they are now slumming it even worse than when they lived with Mommy and Daddy.

Twilight Sky with Clouds

2012-01-20T19:44:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram in The Woodlands Houston Texas 12/18/11.

Chanterelle Dreams Amanita Nightmares Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-20T06:22:00.002-06:00

Title: Chanterelle Dreams Amanita Nightmares Book Review by ChristineMM

Author: Greg Marley

Publication: Chelsea Green, September 2010

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

Summary Statement: Author Has Voice of Experience – A Lot About the Issue of Poisoning and Which to Eat Safely

Marley has decades of experience hunting wild mushrooms and researching them, he’s a mycologist. This book focuses on edible mushrooms for culinary use. (He has another book about the medicinal uses of mushrooms.) I enjoyed the fact that his voice had an air of confidence and experience. A major focus of the book is discussing the fear of wild mushroom poisoning and a focus on four of the most popular and common edible, safe mushrooms for people to eat.

The book starts off discussing the unique and irrational fearful attitude that Americans have compared to people living in Europe and Asia. There, wild mushrooming has been a food staple for thousands of years. In those countries, wild mushroom hunting is an annual fun family outdoor activity. (Confession: I am one of the ignorant Americans who, until reading this book, was afraid to eat wild mushrooms.)

After boosting our confidence, Marley focuses on five mushrooms and educates us thoroughly about each. Before reading the book I thought, “Why will he only tell us about four?” because it didn’t seem comprehensive enough to me. However after reading it I realized there was a lot to learn about mushrooms and the idea of knowing these “foolproof four” mushrooms deeply, to start off with, seemed reasonable, sensible, and smart. The mushrooms are: morels, puffballs, sulphur mushroom polypore, and shaggy mane.

Included with the information is the best way to prepare each mushroom in order to be able to appreciate its flavor and texture most fully. A small number of recipes per mushroom are included. If there are two best ways to eat a mushroom I’ll not complain that there are only two recipes, instead I’m grateful to know what they are so I don’t waste precious wild mushrooms on a recipe that masks the mushroom’s actual flavor or ruins its texture.

The issue of toxicity is thoroughly discussed. I was going to say it’s overkill (since I read the book cover to cover and the information sometimes gets repeated in various places in the book) but it is important. I felt perhaps it was repeated in case readers are not reading cover to cover and are reading select chapters or sections only.

The complex issue of the fact that some people can eat the same mushroom and have some ill effects (but not fatal) while other people eat them with no problem is explained. Some mushrooms are only poisonous when combined with drinking alcohol with the meal and other times you can eat a small amount and be fine but too much and you get sick. The method of preparation is also important; cooking some the right way will eliminate the problem. Marley explains all this information clearly.

This is a nonfiction book (not a project memoir) from a person who knows what they are talking about and has a passion for the subject. Marley has personally hunted wild mushrooms for many seasons in his area and in other locales. He has cooked with the mushrooms for a long time. In addition to facts and a professional air to the book, Marley speaks from personal experience such as saying a mushroom is usually up when certain wild trees are flowering in the spring. I was grateful for the personal tidbits as to me they are important nuggets of wisdom; if they can help a person then include them. Without these the book would have read more like a boring book of facts. Some readers have complained they live in a different region of North America than Marley and accused that his information is Maine-centric. I disagree.

I found this book entertaining and educational and loved that it had a voice of a professional yet the personal tidbits made it seem personal and made for more lively reading. There is a lot of information here from an experienced mycologist author who I think we can trust.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the Amazon.com Vine program. I was under no obligation to discuss it on my blog. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.

Tropical Plant in My Yard

2012-01-19T19:43:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM taken November 2011 in The Woodlands Houston Texas with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Internet Safety and Kids: Parents Do Your Duty & Beware of MapleStory

2012-01-19T06:04:00.001-06:00

It's pretty much old news, that some internet sites are created for kids to use and that they claim to have children's safety in mind.

If the site has any kind of free text box to chat, you had better watch out. Even a site designed for tweens and younger aged kids needs monitoring.

My younger son (age 11) has been playing a free role playing game on the Internet. This creeped in shortly after he saved his money to buy his own laptop. We had a ban on video games via xBox360 in the house except for two hours Saturday and two hours Sunday.

The creeping in thing happened for multiple reasons that happened at once. First, we had just moved to Texas in the 100-105-108 degree heat and drought of August 2011. It was too darned hot to go outside. We don't have a swimming pool at our house. I was busy unpacking and organizing the house and getting ready for homeschooling so I could not take the kids out to community swimming pools and to other places. My kids had not made friends yet, there was no one to play with. This is a small house with an open floor plan so what one person has on the TV is heard through the whole house. I didn't want more video games played. While older son did homeschooling in the quiet house younger son (who finished homeschooling faster) was playing a silent video game on the laptop: MapleStory.

I have looked at MapleStory and had not found a problem until today. There is a free text area where my son was chatting about game play, tips and tricks.

MapleStory is moderated and someone is supposed to make sure the chat is in alignment with the rules. Swearing is not allowed nor are sex jokes. Today something told me to look.

Today when I looked my stomach turned. I moved my son aside and scrolled back to read the chat. In order for you to think that I am not crazy I am going to blog the explicit details of the discussion. .

In the discussion multiple players were asking the other players to be Facebook friends for offline chat. (This is a common way that pedophiles contact children.)

If you do not wish to read what is being put on a site for children and tweens, stop reading now.

Being discussed was anal sex between males. One person said he likes it to be tight. One said he likes it from behind. The other said he likes to get it from the front. There was a reference to being in the shower and bending over to get the soap. Then there was a mention of transvestites and asking if the person was one.

That kind of talk goes beyond the rule violation of making a sex joke.

I read the site's rules and could not find more detailed rules about what happens if members try to lure other members off the site for discussion. Nothing was said about the punishment for outright sex chat but there were punishments for sex jokes (3 day ban for first violation, 9 day ban for 3rd violation and nothing said about 4th time or more).

My son told me that you can report problems. I filed a report against one player who was doing the sex chat. It is set up so you have to file a report against each person one by one. I tried to do a report on person two but it said that they limit submission reports to from one player once a week. So how are you supposed to report inappropriate behavior online?

I contacted the company and have a ticket number. We'll see what they say.

Meantime my son is banned from MapleStory, not because he did the sex chat but because I feel it's an unsafe place for kids.

The joke is that in trying to have my kids play less video games I limited the xBox360, but the truth is that is more controllable than free games on the Internet. My son was addicted to MapleStory and played for hours every day, it was something I was struggling with managing. I may as well just let the kid use xBox360 more often, at least he can't be contacted by potential sexual predators and child molesters or just sick people having detailed sex chat in an open game forum.

Companies who create video games and other websites specifically for children to use have an ethical duty to provide a safe environment. Based on what I saw yesterday I don't feel that Nexon - MapleStory is doing their job well enough.

Grogan's at Night

2012-01-18T19:42:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM drive by photography with iPhone4 and Instagram in The Woodlands Houston Texas.

Unintended Negative Consequences of SOPA

2012-01-18T15:42:00.000-06:00

Khan Academy has produced a video explanation of SOPA that focuses on the problems of the bill.

In my opinion the bill's language is too strict and too far-reaching. This gives too much power to judges and then there is really no recourse for justice to be served if the website owner feels an injustice has been done.

I am all for obeying the law for copyright infringement. I am against stealing and piracy. However SOPA has gone too far.

Free Homeschool High School Webinar: The Home Scholar

2012-01-18T06:33:00.000-06:00

Topic: Taking the Mystery out of SAT - ACT Essay

The Home Scholar will discuss the exams. Then Andrew Pudewa of Institute for Excellence in Writing will discuss the essay portions.

Monday 1/23/12 8:30pm EST

See this link for details. You must RSVP

Free.

Disclosure: I have nothing to disclose.

Water Fountain Art

2012-01-17T19:41:00.000-06:00

Hobby Airport Houston Texas photo by ChristineMM using iPhone4 and Instagram 11/18/11.

Some of My Education Reform Ideas (Part Two)

2012-01-17T08:40:00.000-06:00

This continues my ideas for education reform.

Ages of Students

The ideas I shared yesterday were geared toward middle school and high school.

I also support the mixing of ages and less grouping by grade levels. A reason to stop using grade levels as such a hard and fast determinator of what classes are taken is:

1. development varies among girls and boys, research shows girls are a bit ahead

2. The trend of holding boys back a grade is getting more and more common, called "red shirting", this is unfair as one boy in a class may enter Kindergarten in Connecticut at age 4 years 9 months (with a December birthday) while his peer who was red shirted may be aged 5 years 8 months (January birthday). I know of few girls who were red shirted but there are some I know of. It would be even worse to have a boy aged 4 years 8 months sitting next to a girl aged 5 years 8 months! Birthday cut-off dates vary by state but they seem to be flexible, if the parent wants the child kept out, they are, and that even puts some kids at an advantage developmentally.

3. Development is asynchronous even in labeled gifted kids. A child can be so called ahead in math and on grade level with reading and behind in writing composition. If we look at this from the perspective of the student's level of being challenged, it's uneven. Why shouldn't a student be able to move faster in some areas rather than continue to be bored in some subjects, half-way bored in others and still struggle in the rest. Even the area of natural talent for the student is not nurtured, it winds up being a boring class for them.

4. If the goal is to teach a skill such as arithmetic and writing composition the goal should be to focus on the skill being taught as the determinator of who's in that class, not based on the age of the child.

5. Some subjects are foundational and build upon mastered skills. My idea to chop a subject into three or four segments would help students who stumbled in segment 1. They could retake segment 1 the next term and when they got it, move on to segment 2 the next quarter term.

6. We all know we learn better from some teachers than others. Even a teacher who is "great" may not be a good fit for the next student. I hear this from parents all the time, they are surprised that their two children reacted differently to the same teacher. They loved the teacher with the first child but realized the second child was just not clicking with that same "great" teacher. Therefore if classes are taken in 4 segments instead of as 1 course for a whole grade the student could change teachers and find a better fit, perhaps.

If the idea of mixing ages, think about college. Except for colleges with a special courseload for freshman, students mix based on their skill level and prerequisites. A sophomore may be in the same class as a senior. If English 100 was not done well, a student retakes it. This really is not that foreign of an idea after all.

I would also argue that too many kids in the same exact developmental social stage together is less healthy than mixing up the ages. Younger kids can stand to have more role models in their life, starting with being in the same class as a kid one or two years older than them but with whom they can converse the same with on the topic being studied in the class.

The only barrier I see to all these ideas, is it would be a new system to plan and manage on the administrative end. It would mean a big change. Too bad for the administrators that would have to learn a new way.

The Financial Cost

When a superintendent is making a quarter of a million dollars a year why not make them really work for it? I have no problem saying "the creative thinkers who can take on a challenge to do something new are the ones who deserve to make more than our country's President".

Principals making six figures, how about thinking outside the box and initiating some real change?

How much do you have to pay a leader to be innovative and to do the right and best things to affect change? Is there some special number that switches a person from being more of a supervisor light-manager of people and changes them into a more courageous and able to institute change type of organization leader? Maybe the problem is people with the right skills are not being hired for those roles?

Some citizens complain that for profit corporations of multi-million or multi-billion dollar companies make big money, even when the truth is that nearly all of it is made from selling shares of stock (not paid out as cash from the company's pocketbook and therefore doesn't impact the company's budget). Well how much money should a government worker who is not a for-profit business make? How much should a principal and superintendent? Is $100K too much, $150K, $200K, or $250K enough? How much is enough to get some real change in the way things are done?

Public schools cost more than parochial schools but often the student outcome, measured by test scores on paper and by what colleges the students are admitted to is the same or better for the parochial schools.

There is research showing that money spent does not correlate with learning achieved. Thus I am not going to spend much time saying we can't afford changes. If you don't believe me, entire books have been read about the analysis of data. I recall watching a BookTV author lecture on this a few years ago, those lectures are like the Cliff Notes version of a book.

In my former town the cost of public high school was $21,500 per student. That is more than multiple local private schools. How much is enough to spend? How much is enough that someone is allowed to say "with this much money we can afford try try something different"?

How is it logical to increase the education budget 8-9-10% a year when residents paying taxes working for the private sector are not making a raise to equal that additional payout? When will the spending slow down? This increase of spending year after year comes with doing the same old-same old thing. Why would it be wrong to say "this year with the 9% increase we are making some changes"?

The cost of public education is complicated but you won't find me saying "we can't afford to change things". I would say that perhaps changing things may make it less expensive.

At this point I have some things to say about people, psychology and change. I think I'll stop here and continue tomorrow.

I realize this may seem rambling to you but this is a huge topic so it's hard to not have a long discussion when one is trying to touch upon the many issues.

Chanterelle Dreams Amanita Nightmares Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-17T06:24:00.001-06:00

Book Title: Chanterelle Dreams Amanita Nightmares

Author: Greg Marley

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

Summary Statement: Author Has Voice of Experience – A Lot About the Issue of Poisoning and Which to Eat Safely, with Recipes

Marley has decades of experience hunting wild mushrooms and researching them, he’s a mycologist. This book focuses on edible mushrooms for culinary use. (He has another book about the medicinal uses of mushrooms.) I enjoyed the fact that his voice had an air of confidence and experience. A major focus of the book is discussing the fear of wild mushroom poisoning and a focus on four of the most popular and common edible, safe mushrooms for people to eat.

The book starts off discussing the unique and irrational fearful attitude that Americans have compared to people living in Europe and Asia. There, wild mushrooming has been a food staple for thousands of years. In those countries, wild mushroom hunting is an annual fun family outdoor activity. (Confession: I am one of the ignorant Americans who, until reading this book, was afraid to eat wild mushrooms.)

After boosting our confidence, Marley focuses on five mushrooms and educates us thoroughly about each. Before reading the book I thought, “Why will he only tell us about four?” because it didn’t seem comprehensive enough to me. However after reading it I realized there was a lot to learn about mushrooms and the idea of knowing these “foolproof four” mushrooms deeply, to start off with, seemed reasonable, sensible, and smart. The mushrooms are: morels, puffballs, sulphur mushroom polypore, and shaggy mane.

Included with the information is the best way to prepare each mushroom in order to be able to appreciate its flavor and texture most fully. A small number of recipes per mushroom are included. If there are two best ways to eat a mushroom I’ll not complain that there are only two recipes, instead I’m grateful to know what they are so I don’t waste precious wild mushrooms on a recipe that masks the mushroom’s actual flavor or ruins its texture.

The issue of toxicity is thoroughly discussed. I was going to say it’s overkill (since I read the book cover to cover and the information sometimes gets repeated in various places in the book) but it is important. I felt perhaps it was repeated in case readers are not reading cover to cover and are reading select chapters or sections only.

The complex issue of the fact that some people can eat the same mushroom and have some ill effects (but not fatal) while other people eat them with no problem is explained. Some mushrooms are only poisonous when combined with drinking alcohol with the meal and other times you can eat a small amount and be fine but too much and you get sick. The method of preparation is also important; cooking some the right way will eliminate the problem. Marley explains all this information clearly.

This is a nonfiction book (not a project memoir) from a person who knows what they are talking about and has a passion for the subject. Marley has personally hunted wild mushrooms for many seasons in his area and in other locales. He has cooked with the mushrooms for a long time. In addition to facts and a professional air to the book, Marley speaks from personal experience such as saying a mushroom is usually up when certain wild trees are flowering in the spring. I was grateful for the personal tidbits as to me they are important nuggets of wisdom; if they can help a person then include them. Without these the book would have read more like a boring book of facts. Some readers have complained they live in a different region of North America than Marley and accused that his information is Maine-centric. I disagree.

I found this book entertaining and educational and loved that it had a voice of a professional yet the personal tidbits made it seem personal and made for more lively reading. There is a lot of information here from an experienced mycologist author who I think we can trust.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Amazon.com's Vine program for the purpose of reviewing it on the Amazon.com website. For my blog's disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.

Grove Street Sign

2012-01-16T19:40:00.000-06:00

At metal junk shop in The Heights Houston Texas by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Gosling at Night in the Rain

2012-01-15T19:39:00.000-06:00

Drive by photo by ChristineMM in The Woodlands Houston Texas.

Some of My Education Reform Ideas (Part One)

2012-01-15T15:33:00.000-06:00

Lately I can't stop thinking that the goal of school is to separate students and to identify the cream of the crop. So now I feel like some of the more radical homeschoolers and what I say is starting to sound more like John Taylor Gatto than I'd ever thought.

School seems to be a grueling long process and to come out at the end mentally sane and physically healthy and with top grades and having taken all the right classes and done well also on standardized tests narrows the masses to a select few cream of the crop students that the world wants to get their hands on.

The quest to be one of the top students can really harm some, if you don't believe me go watch the documentary Race to Nowhere.

In any event, the 95% plus students who admit to cheating, some of whom are those supposedly brilliant fantastic students, is proof the students don't really know their stuff anyway. The large number of teens taking AP classes at school but getting 3's, 2's, or 1's on the AP test is proof they didn't learn enough despite all the effort they made (and despite the school's good intentions to offer the students a rigorous education, something went wrong).

School in America is inflexible and its system is primarily just of one kind. There is not much difference in the things that different schools do in the name of trying to help kids learn. There is little innovation, compared to the rate at which the rest of our lives have changed, education is so slow to make progress.

It often seems the goal is teaching rather than learning. If the goal was learning then the system would change in order to help teach students things they didn't learn after initial classroom learning, maybe some kind of tutoring system or allowing more flexibility to re-take the class. Instead of taking a test, doing not well on it and moving on there should be some way to have the student really learn that material rather than abandoning it. How about dividing up math classes into smaller chunked sections rather than having all the kids in a year-long content class? One you get behind you are often doomed. With a different smaller-segmented class, those who struggled in phase A could retake phase A instead of passing onto phase B feeling already lost and heading for serious failure.

Schools ask a lot of kids, starting with rising early in the morning and attending many days a year. Kids who are tired will suffer as will those who get sick. Life happens, divorce, moves, and other things that divert focus from school learning. If the classes were not so linear it would be easier to flex from a lighter schedule at one point and then possibly doubling up on some classes later. The option would not be to repeat a grade or to just promote the student ahead to the next grade even though they didn't really master the content of last year's program.

Let's talk about the way the schools focus on a little information about many subjects and teach it every day (or just about every day), and dragging that out over the entire year is something that doesn't work well for all learners. No one asks why it is done that way. Why not focus for two hours a day on history and do units eight weeks long then switch it up over to science for those two hours a day? How about focusing on just three subjects in a day by doing concentrated learning?

If you want to argue that math is best done every single day I'm open to hearing that math should be a daily subject but not everything needs to be that way. How about making it more clear that 20 minutes a day is on review and an hour a day is focused only on new material. If a full hour of new material was covered a day I bet a lot of math could be learned in one year, instead of having a 45 or 50 minute class with review mixed into that. Then again, maybe the math whizzes should be accelerating the math, what can we do to keep the math geniuses moving along at a pace that's right for them?

The arts is an area where solid two hour sessions or even three hours would be better. Dive in and do your thing. Get in the flow and go with it. Focus and concentrate on the task at hand. Who doesn't recall that by the time you got the art supplies out and got working it was time to start cleaning up? It's ridiculous. Give the kids breaks as needed to stretch and use the bathroom while they have longer classes.

If you argue that not all learners would do well with hyper focusing on three topics a day I would counter-argue that others suffer with juggling eight topics all the time. In college the students have just 4 or 5 subjects at one time. Whoever decided to favor that learning style? If that way is best, why don't colleges do it that way? Why does no one say "college works, so why don't we make the primary schools more like the university model"?

How about breaking up what is learned into smaller chunks so that a topic could be re-taken without a giant negative consequence, if needed. For example divide up language arts rather than labeling it by a grade year, how about focus for one month on pursuasive essay writing. If you can do it well, you don't have to re-learn it every single year in the future, so long as you can show you mastered that ability. If you struggle you can re-take it over and over until you get it (with no negative consequence). Next month it's research paper learning as a topic. Divide out the literature analysis by type: short stories, poetry, fiction. In this way some of the learning of the skills would be fast tracked. The kids who 'get it' can move on and there would be less boredom in the classes. Everyone would be challenged "where they are at" and would move forward toward a goal. It would be easier then to claim the goal is academic excellence and that school is actually a true community of learning.

The schools could also offer higher levels of some of it for learners advanced in those content areas, or if the students just love the subject and want to learn more. In this way the student would not have to prove some kind of giftedness by general testing such as IQ tests or other screens, let their past performance in the classes determine it. There could be a system of prerequisites just like in college. Maybe a kid is behind in math but is taking higher level courses in history.

Let the students specialize. In this way locking kids out of certain classes due to past mis-steps would stop. I am not by any means suggesting that a kid who can't write the simplest essay should move to the most challenging writing class. I'm saying the girl who isn't the best writer could be let into the advanced science classes, so long as she showed proficiency in science.

These ideas are anything but cookie cutter. No two students could look the same. I love the idea. Do you? Or does such individuality scare you?

While we are at it, let's have more magnet schools with a focus on specialized skills or content areas. Stop making every school a basic college prep liberal arts program. Specialize. Our county and the world is far more specialized than we were in 1850 or 1900 or 1950 or even than 1990. Why are the schools the same?

Other ways this could help would be to have a special focus for kids with learning disabilities or language issues (not knowing English well) or to help gifted kids. Right now kids labeled with an LD get an individualized education plan. How about shifting the paradigm to the idea that every student should have more freedom to create more of an individualized education, with just some basic common goals such as learning the ability to do The Three R's well -- everything else is up for customization.

There is a lot that can be done to teach kids with LDs. It would start by not pulling them out of content area classes in order to do remedial work on weak areas. Think about that: how are they supposed to be proficient at the content the school made them miss due to leaving the class for special ed? There are so many ideas for LD kids that I won't even get into that now, this post is longer than you may want to read anyway.

I'll close the post now and tomorrow I will write more.

Giraffe

2012-01-14T19:32:00.001-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM at a Spring Nursery, Houston Texas with iPhone4 and Instagram on 12/11/11.

Don't Like Live Chats on Twitter

2012-01-14T15:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had time and logged onto Twitter just in time to see a livechat going on. I jumped in. I have decided Twitter livechats are not for me.

Deep questions were being asked that could and should lead to good back and forth dialogue. You can't reply well in 140 characters. To restrict us to such short snippets didn't do the topic justice.

Too many questions were asked and it was not possible to really explore even one question deeply enough with what I wanted to say let alone read everything everyone else was saying.

A complex topic was being discussed and solutions were being asked for but nothing could be resolved with short tweets. It was the ultimate example of people looking for answers and getting some ideas of the complex nature of the beast with no real solutions proposed and realizing the issue is so large that you just will never fix it.

The topic was gifted kids in school and education, reward programs, trying to motivate students to perform well, which was being discussed that wound up turning into a general education reform desire. You can't handle all those topics in 60 minutes with many voices and six big questions.

I decided that kind of livechat is like everyone in a room shouting out answers at once. We seldom know if anyone ever heard us. Then when the time was up, goodbye, it's over, go away.

I left the chat feeling hopeless and that the whole situation was a mess that I'm glad my kids aren't involved in because we homeschool. It was yet another nail in the coffin of the idea that maybe my kids should go to school. Forget that stupid idea.

Christmas Gifts 2011

2012-01-13T06:37:00.008-06:00

I have been asked to share what types of gifts our family had for Christmas in 2011. I really didn't think anyone would care to know. If you are wondering what kinds of things this homeschooling family got, here you go.

My brother-in-law said my mother-in-law wanted to increase her spending on Christmas gifts for my kids and she was buying everyone either a Kindle Fire or an iTouch. My kids chose to each receive a Kindle Fire from her. That is the largest gift my kids received. So, my kids now own ebook readers. So far they have only used them to fool around with video game apps like Angry Birds (I am ashamed to report).

My older son's old MP3 player recently broke so we gave him a new iPod Nano.

Our older son wanted the LEGO Advent calendar, this year's was a Star Wars theme which probably was the reason he wanted it. He also wanted one Star Wars LEGO set and a LEGO motor for a train that will now make it run (not that it is running in this house). This is the first time he has "played with" LEGO since our move. Besides a few completed items on display in his bedroom, all our LEGO is in the storage unit and inaccessible. There is no room in this small house for even one bin of LEGO to use. Anyhow, he is so busy with homeschooling, medical treatments, crew team, Boy Scouts, and robotics team to "play" with LEGO.

I bought my older son some nonfiction books in his areas of passion which, if they'd come on the market at other times of the year would have just been purchased as homeschool supplies for the whole family.

Solar System by Chown

The Elements Vault (different content than the original book)

Mad Science by Theo Grey

My younger son didn't want much. He mostly wanted cash to save for future purchases of his choice so whatever we spent on our older son, we matched with cash to our younger son.
Younger son got a neoprene laptop carrying case in a design he loves. (He has his own laptop that he saved his money toward and got a few months ago. As an incentive my husband said if he saved his money instead of blowing it on stupid stuff like chewing gum, as he always did, that we'd pay half of the cost.)

Younger son wanted an expansion pack for xBox360 Modern Warfare 3, which my parents bought for him.

Younger son received these books. Since we own so many books and he benefits from being able to read book we bought in the past, we don't need to buy as much for him.

Amulet 4 graphic novel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid DIY Book (revised edition) by Kinney published in 2011

Due to the frugal budget during unemployment last year, I let some magazine subscriptions lapse. For gifts I purchased for my kids, subscriptions to magazines that they like. I buy these from Amazon.com.

Scientific American

Popular Science

Science Illustrated

Popular Mechanics

Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine (Kindle edition: cheaper than print edition)

Make

Mad

Unless otherwise noted my kids are getting the print version as those were ordered before we knew we'd own Kindles. However, we are frugal, so in the instances where the Kindle edition of a magazine is more expensive than the print edition we will continue to choose to buy the print version.

I will let you guess which subscriptions were for which kid. If you are a regular reader of my blog you should be able to figure it out pretty easily.

Both kids got a cheap ($14) sleeping bag to use at regattas, the kids use them as blankets when sitting outdoors for hours on end, including arriving in the dark before sunrise. (Before the move I got rid of the old blankets such as we'd have used for this purpose.)

Both got one new pair of earbuds and two leather bound blank journals each. Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and HomeGoods are fantastic places to get expensive items at a fraction of the cost.

Each kid got a husband pillow aka bed rest pillow for their bed as they wanted to be more comfortable when sitting upright and reading in bed.

In their stockings the kids got a little candy, some chewing gum, some crazy cookies from Japan from the Asian market we frequent, and a flexible Bug Lite LED to use for camping (now I can't find a link to that anywhere on the web, sorry).

My husband bought a Kindle Fire for he and I to share. We were both unsure if we really needed or wanted it. We also didn't know if the iPad would be better for what we want or if we even need that either. We have laptops and a PC and I have an iPhone4. How much technology does one family need?

My husband gave me the thing I get every year that I love: a Mrs. Prindable gourmet candy apple. I also got the traditional new set of nice pajamas. You can laugh if you want. Go ahead. He also bought me a cookbook I wanted and a book about photography. (I picked the books out and ordered them and he paid for them.)

Vivian Maier Street Photographer book

The Italian Baker cookbook

I gave my husband the same thing I always give: the hardbound edition of the year's issues of Cook's Illustrated magazine.

---

I think it was a pretty slim Christmas. We weren't looking to burn money just to have a zillion presents. How much do kids really need? I feel like my kids have a lot already.

We don't buy our kids clothing for Christmas as we consider those to be basic necessity daily living items. The sports gear for team sports or fitness or camping gear for Scout camping is all bought during the year as needed. The fees we pay for Scouts and competitive teams and sports are not considered "Christmas gifts". Our kids pretty much have unlimited budgets for learning materials, curriculum, and fiction books for pleasure reading, or we use borrowed material from the library.

If there is something else the kids want for themselves they can save their own money for it such as: MP3 music songs, extra unnecessary technology gadgets (multiple MP3 players, their own laptop instead of waiting your turn for the family PC or whatever).

Giant Rooster Blue Elephant

2012-01-12T19:31:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM at a Spring Nursery, Houston Texas with iPhone4 and Instagram.

For You To Ponder: How To Describe Education, School and College

2012-01-12T10:13:00.002-06:00

A blog post by my friend blew me away. But it was not what she said, it was what others wrote that inspired her post.

My homeschool mom friends whose children are older and have already gone through the college application process, and moms on internet chat groups tell me that college is big business. Colleges hire professional marketing firms to write ads that they send to prospective applicants via the snail mail. (I have not yet had the pleasure of viewing this type of advertising.)

Colleges take in a lot of money from application fees. The college rankings done by U.S. News take into consideration the number of applicants vs. admitted students as one indicator of how exclusive and "good" a college is. Thus it is helpful for a college to inspire more applicants to apply than are admitted. So, to pay marketing firms to make these advertising materials seems to be worth it to the colleges.

Before you click this link please think for a minute about what education and school is supposed to be. Now think about what you think college is and what it should be.

Now click this link to see some collages made by Polly Castor from college info brochures and booklets.

Does public education in this country provide these things, so that kids would expect this from college?

Do any schools attended by kids up to college admissions provide these things?

If we asked teens and were able to get an honest answer, what would they say about their school experience and if it was like this?

Do you think that the enticement of seemingly too good to be true temptations is perhaps a result of trying to appeal to students who have never, or rarely felt these things about their education up to that point in time?

Are these marketing blurbs just a pipe dream?

For homeschoolers: does your homeschool provide anything that fulfills any of these descriptions?

To consider:

"peace"

"the wind of freedom"

"culture of creativity"

"to lose yourself in generous enthusiasms"

"spontaneous"

"strong work ethic"

"unleashes the imagination"

"balance"

"deep, philosophical"

"excitement"

"joy"

What did I think?

I literally laughed out loud when I saw the descriptions the college's had written. I'm feeling like a curmudgeon, but what I really am is an honest realist. In my own public school education and also in college I didn't feel any of the things I listed above. People says things are even worse now then when I was in public school in the 1970s and 1980s.

A major reason we're homeschooling our kids is to make their education less negative and more intellectually stimulating, deeper and less dumbed down. My kids have experienced some of the things listed in that collage but it is not all those things 24/7, simply because learning is hard sometimes. To grow takes work and pushing oneself through boundaries is not joyful.

I hope my kids get more out of college than I did. I would love it if my kids had the experiences promised in those brochues. However, I am not sure that making promises such as what those colleges are saying is a good idea, it more likely would set students up to feel that they personally are failing if they don't feel all those things every day. Perhaps these pie-in-the-sky notions could lead a student to drop out if they think they're too stupid to succeed in college or if they are not having some stellar creative, freedom filled, joyful daily existence at college.

I also propose that putting these ideas in student's minds might actually be dangerous by inciting stress if a student feels their real life experience is more negative or harder than they thought it would be. They may feel stress, anxiety, fear, and maybe despair, anger and rage, and quite possibly, it could develop into depression and maybe they even feel suicidal, if they start to think a more ordinary daily grind or typical hard work in order to learn college material is abnormal. Sometimes kids and teens think that they are somehow flawed or defective, when in reality there is nothing wrong with them at all, just by having to put forth effort to learn is normal, appropriate, and necessary.

Statistics show that depression in teens and medicating teens with psychiatric drugs is on the rise. I wonder how the stats are for college students?

Evening 12/06/11

2012-01-11T19:30:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM 12/06/11 in The Woodlands, Houston, Texas with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Son's Opinion of Museums

2012-01-11T14:05:00.000-06:00

While in downtown Houston today, older son (age 14) asked when we were going to visit the Museum of Natural History. Younger son (age 11) groaned and declared he hates museums.

(How can a child of mine hate museums?)

For a sense of the kind of kid I'm raising, I'll tell you what he said next.

"Museums are boring. Here's the tissue used by Thomas Jefferson at age seven when he blew his nose. It was accompanied by a sneeze and he held his arm at a thirty degree angle when using it. I mean, who cares?"

You can't make this stuff up.

Yeah, just a day in the life of this Mom.

(I didn't tell him Kleenex was a 20th Century invention. I let his error stand because I was laughing too hard.)

I 45 North Houston Flyover at Night

2012-01-10T19:29:00.001-06:00

Drive by photo by ChristineMM on 12/15/11 on I-45 North in Houston Texas, taken with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Knit Kimono Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-10T10:52:00.000-06:00

Title: Knit Kimono
Author: Vicki Square
Genre: Nonfiction, knitting

My Star Rating: 3 stars out of 5 = It's Okay

Summary Statement: Inspirational and Different but Highly Impractical and Expensive to Knit Also

I stumbled upon this book in the library and was interested enough to borrow it. At first the book was interesting. I felt inspired by it. It was refreshing to see something different. I can respect the author's creativity by taking a traditional Japanese garment and interpreting new knit designs for a western audience.

However the second time I went through it I viewed it with a more practical eye. Some of the very wide sleeves, while looking artistic and interesting on models in photos, are completely impractical in real life. You couldn't do much in many of the sleeves, even eating dinner in a fancy restaurant for a special occasion, or doing anything at home is risky. In cool weather if you needed to wear a coat, you couldn't get one on if you had the sweater on, it would have to be removed before the coat went on, then transported with you to your location (i.e. to attend a party where you are trying to look nice in this unique garment). Thus this is really not a garment for cold winters or on days when you need to wear a raincoat.

Secondarily I worried that to knit these as something fun could make me go broke. Using yarns I enjoy, some of these would cost over $400 or $500 to make.

I enjoyed the vests the most, they seemed to be flattering on multiple body types and they were more practical to wear and more affordable so a customer buying yarn at retail could actually afford to make them.

Kudos to the knitwear designer for creativity but other than the vests, these are not for me.

Cross-Curricular?

2012-01-10T06:03:00.000-06:00

This is the stupidest example of supposed cross-curricular content with historical questions used for math word problems that I've ever heard.

Downtown Houston at Night

2012-01-09T19:28:00.000-06:00

Drive by photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram on 12/17/11 in Houston Texas.

New Project: Older Son is on the Robotics Team

2012-01-09T06:25:00.001-06:00

I am thrilled about a new fantastic change in our homeschool plans: my older son has joined the local FIRST Robotics team for grades 9-12. It is a team comprised of kids from different area schools: public, magnet, private, and perhaps there will be some other homeschoolers too.

I found out about this through a mom I met at Boy Scouts. Her (schooled) son is on the team. I found out about it the day the first meeting was held and it all started suddenly for us, just two weeks ago. (I had been asking around in the homeschool community for information but no one was sharing anything at that point. I didn't know a way to locate a local team via the internet.)

With just a couple hours notice, my son was at the first meeting of the year. I think it took a certain amount of courage to walk into a room full of complete strangers, most whom already knew each other. (The one teen he knows who is on the team was out of town that day.) The first meetings were at the robotics lab in the high school so we both had our first visit in the building. It is an impressive school, as it is all shiny and new, and huge. Instead of feeling intimadated both of us were impressed.

My son has been coming home from the meetings psyched and happy. He said the kids were nice and were talking to him, laughing as they tried to guess who he was, as no one knew him from their school or through any other activity they do. This is consistent with other interactions we've had with the kids here in Texas: they don't have the attitude like most in Connecticut do which is: "I don't know you, therefore I have no reason to address your existence and will just ignore you".

In Connecticut I knew of just one FIRST Robotics team in all of Fairfield County and I am not sure that my son could have gained admission to the one team I know about. FIRST Robotics was (surprisingly) not something offered through our town's (highly ranked and respected) public school system.

Due to the high cost of running a FIRST Robotics team, I was concerned that a grassroots group of homeschoolers couldn't undertake starting such an endeavor on our own (if an existing team was not available). The team we just joined spent $35K last year to run the team and to compete. It would take a lot of fundraising to start a new team and if you had just a handful of students doing the work it could be difficult to say the least.

You also obviously need a coach, preferably someone who knows what they are doing. If a homeschool parent was incapable, we'd have to hire a coach to work with the kids, which would add to the expense, if you could even find such a willing and able person to hire. Then you need a location to do the work in, an adquate space to meet and do the work in. Not all of our homes have such a space, room for storage and room for the robot to move around in. Homeschooling does have some limitations if you try to do everything yourselves and not do at least some things in the community.

It also helps to join into an existing team where the students have prior experience instead of scraping up a new team from scratch. On this team there are team leaders, older students with experience that have certain reponsibilities.

My son was impressed with the team's equipment and with the Robotics Lab. Apparently some local businesses have donated equipment such as a laser drill machine. In Houston, around here they actually make stuff, so companies who use such equipment are able to donate it. Another company donates labor time and materials to make parts that the students design with their computer program, a CAD program called Solid Works. My son had been asking to learn CAD but I was unable to find an online class for homeschoolers that had openings and/or would let him in, as they had math prerequisites that he'd not completed at the enrollment time.

My son was happy to be put right to work. He has done some soldering and some filing of small components. He's pitched in when asked. The coach told me he's fitting in well and that he's already contributing to the team in a positive way.

I can't tell you how happy I am that my son is able to participate in such an endeavor. This will alter my son's winter and spring schedule, to say the least.

This also gets added to the list of things that my son is able to do while homeschooling that makes his educational experience a good one. Formerly I thought my son was missing out on doing this by not going to school, since I incorrectly assumed that attendance at the school was mandatory to access such endeavors.

I am happy to see multiple adult mentors who are subject matter experts and engineers volunteering to help the team. This is not like being on a team with one adult coach who knows something about the competition and robotics. My son has access to more than a handful of knowledgable adults who will inspire him.

I am adding this to my list of good things we have been able to do thanks to having moved to Texas.

For More Info:

FIRST Robotics grades 9-12

Polly Castor, a Connecticut homeschool mom's blog post about her kid's competing in Internationals April 2011

Feeder Road Houston

2012-01-08T19:27:00.000-06:00

Drive by photo by ChristineMM 12/10/11 using iPhone4 and Instagram in Houston Texas.

Update on Younger Son's Homeschooling Plans for This Year (Grade 6)

2012-01-08T06:36:00.010-06:00

We have homeschooled almost five months so far this academic year, since we began in the middle of August and have taken just two vacation weeks from studies.

Due to the move the plan was to do home based homeschool studies in the fall. I would research educational options for group learning, outside classes and homeschool co-op's and hopefully start using some of those in the second half of the academic year.

Using a to do checklist system for the first time, my son thrived. He apparently loves check lists. He had a breakthrough in October realizing that if he actually does his work without dawdling he can usually get it all done before one o'clock, if he wakes up at a decent hour. (We now rise at 7:30 a.m. to an alarm and get started right after showering and eating breakfast.)

My younger son puts his nose to the grindstone and doesn't take breaks, including for snacks or anything, until it's all done. He feels a sense of accomplishment and a healthy kind of pride knowing he's done what was expected of him.

I am not used to working with a kid who can work with such autonomy and with such stick-to-it-iveness. My two sons are quite different from each other. My younger son is much more like me. My younger son wants independence and to be left alone and trusted to work on his own. He wants to get the work done and move on to the fun and relaxation part of the day.

I am thrilled with the fast pace that my son is flying through his lessons. He has not struggled with any learning and everything pretty much comes easily to him. He finds math simple. He has been reading a lot of history and science. He finds grammar, spelling, and writing composition simple. He did a lot of art lessons but dislikes it as he is disappointed that technical drawing skills do not come immediately and simply: it takes work, and he does not care enough about it to put in the effort. If the kid's weakest subject area is drawing, I can live with that.

We had just a couple of struggles where he was trying to get one past me with exaggerating the work done to say he did it all when he really only did a portion. We got over that by me supervising him more closely and taking away priviledges when he would lie. So, he's acting more responsibly and being truthful now.

Even in mid-fall my younger son was complaining he was lonely. I forced him to go to every Boy Scout meeting and to go on every camping trip. He has made friends in Scouts and although they don't see each other outside of the meetings he sees them at least once a week and has a lot of laughs.

In a moment of homeschool self-doubt and despair last week I offered for my son to go to public school. He said he didn't want to go as he was enjoying homeschooling and loved doing lessons at home. He said he liked the freedom and flexibility to get the work done before 1:30 p.m.-ish and then have the entire day free (and no homework). It is funny how when things turn good he doesn't say much but he only complains when things are going rough. (Oh wait, I think I sometimes do that also. Hmmm.)

I sat down with my son earlier this week to tell him the fantastic news that I had just found a homeschool co-op that sounds like a good match with our family's educational philosophy. I told him not only could he go for half a day or one day but if he wanted he could use the university style system to attend two or three days a week! I offered for him to discontinue studies at home that I selected or designed and to begin attending classes instead. It sounded like a perfect thing for him!

My son surprised me by saying he doesn't want to go there. He said again how much he likes the homeschooling lessons and the freedom and independence that homeschooling offers. I asked if he was still lonely and wanting to be around groups of kids, and he said no. I asked why. He responded, "You made me go to every Boy Scout meeting and every camping trip so now I have a lot of friends at Boy Scouts and I'm not lonely anymore." He also said, "Spring is coming and then lacrosse will start and I'll make more friends there."

I'm at a decision point where I can either force him to go there or just keep doing what we're doing for this academic year and see how it goes. I don't think I'll force him to enroll in that school.

So there you have it. Apparently my younger son is happy doing lessons at home and he's thiving socially now too.

Ginger

2012-01-07T19:33:00.001-06:00

I ask: Can this really be comfortable?

Photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Neurofeedback Update for Older Son

2012-01-07T06:11:00.001-06:00

We are pleased with the results of the neurofeedback therapy for our older son. I have been asked to share his progress so here it is.

Before I tell you more I want to explain some basics the way they were explained to me.

(I am not a health care provider. If you are curious about neurofeedback I strongly encourage you to consult a BCIA board certified neurofeedback therapist which you can find on www.bcia.org.)

Two "Camps" in Neurofeedback

I have learned there are two types of neurofeedback providers. One uses their personal judgement and training to find weaknesses to address to try to build those deficit areas up to a higher level that is a more "normal" level. The other type uses a "z score" or "z scored" computer program that uses a normative database that sets levels for every area of the brain. That computer system is what "thinks" to "plan" the therapy for the patient based on a database sample of 600 adults. The FDA has approved the z score system, I see.

Our board certified neurofeedback provider does not believe in using the z score / z scored system as he explained that the brain has such plasticity that you can not only train up the parts that need boosting to change from a deficit to normal but you can bring down a person's "abnormal" superior abilities such as training down the cognitive thinking ability to a more "normal" level. To say it another way if a person has high cognitive abilities that are 1 or 2 standard deviations above "the norm" why would you ever want to train those down to be in the middle of the bell curve? Is that not a literal "dumbing down"? I was told that some in the field consider this controversial and that it is often a topic of debate at neurofeedback conferences.

I believe that neurofeedback should be practiced with special ethical considerations. As an example of the seriousness of this issue, read the BCIA "ethical principals of biofeedback" statement.

My Son's Treatment Plan

Our BCIA board certified provider did not require a BrainMap as a mandatory starting point (in early October) as it is expensive (other providers require it as mandatory). I can see the benefit of having the BrainMap up front yet the price may scare off some parents who may wonder if the test is really valid or if it is just a way to make a profit quickly off of new clients (I do not believe that, to be clear).

My son went 11 sessions just using our interview and patient history. At that point we felt we wanted more concrete clinical evidence so we paid $650 for the MindMap which is also known as a qEEG, which was performed in late November. The qEEG confirmed what was already suspected but it revealed some other things such as saying there is not clinical evidence that my son has ADD or ADHD or dyslexia but that some symptoms I witnessed (that are on some of those symptom lists) are present due to the "brain injury" from Lyme Disease or Mono or past fevers.

At that point I wanted this process over faster, so we increased therapy from two days a week to three days a week for the month of December. The commute time and the therapy takes half a day and the therapy makes my son exhausted to the point that he falls asleep in the car at lunchtime. He is mentally 'tapped out' and can't do any learning the rest of the day. This meant he could not keep up a typical grade nine academic courseload in December; he could only "do school" two days a week. Also in December, he took a week and a half off due to office closure for the holidays and to attend Boy Scout sleepover camp.

My son had a breakthrough in late December. We found that his brain functions best with eight hours of sleep. More sleep negatively impacts his brainwaves so that learning is more difficult. He also had done well when supplementing with fish oil (omega 3's) since he doesn't eat fish or any foods that contain omega 3 (and the body cannot manufacture omega 3's on its own).

As we start the new year I was worried about getting all his work done this year with three days a week used for treatment. The therapist had said last fall, that we should perhaps keep my son back a grade for medical reasons.

However at the first visit in January, the therapy changed and the plan is for 7-10 visits this month then he will stop! I'm not sure if he'll take some time off then have some more visits, we'll have to see.

So we have light at the end of the tunnel!

We have all noticed a positive improvement in my son's daily living skills and behaviors, and I've seen changes in his learning and thinking and memory recall ability and his ability to do abstract thinking for algebra has improved greatly. I am thrilled to say the least, as is my husband.

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DIY Neurofeedback

I was horrified to learn of do it yourself neurofeedback from my neurofeedback therapist. There are some toys on the market that advertise to help a child develop a longer attention span and help cure ADD. One toy appeals to young boys as it has a Star Wars design that tells the kids they are using the force of their mind to make an object move (a ball in a tube). These toys that are sold for under $200 and under $100 are inexpensive enough to tempt parents into giving them a try.

I take neurofeedback seriously and I, an untrained and not board certified neurofeedback therapist would never, ever, attempt to save money and time by purchasing a toy and trying to administer neurofeedback on my kid(s) myself.

Please -- if you are curious about neurofeedback, find a board certified professional to consult, plan and execute the neurofeedback.

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Reading About Neurofeedback

I direct you to the recommended books for reading list at BCIA.

Here is a list of articles on the BCIA site.

I have not read any books on this topic so can't make any personal recommendations.

In Conroe

2012-01-06T19:25:00.001-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM in Conroe Texas November 2011 with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Found What Looks Like a Great Homeschool Co-Op Near Me

2012-01-06T06:38:00.000-06:00

After much digging and the help of local homeschool moms I discovered a learning center that sounds a lot like our favorite Connecticut homeschool co-op. However it is not just a once a week half day or full day endeavor, it allows flexibility to take one or a few classes only, or to go "university style" with one, two or three full days a week with a core education program more like a private school (with lots of homework assigned so 'enough' learning takes place).

One thing I like is there is an explanation of their educational philosophy which is alternative. They realize kids are unique, they know about multiple intelligences and learning styles. They are aware of learning disabilities and asynchronous development of kids (and gifted kids). Kids are allowed to learn at their ability level they are not just grouped by chronological age or grade level. This is very promising and exciting for me to hear.

The location is a house, the same as our favorite old co-op. It has a large kitchen and a big grassy yard for outdoor room to learn or to just hang out or play in at recess. The photos make it look inviting and decent and light-filled -- like a pleasant place to be.

Teachers are the homeschool moms or they are hired professional teachers or subject matter experts such as the retired medical doctor who teaches high school biology with lab.

The photos of the kids in classes look so much like our old homeschool co-op kids who were happy to be there.

I am thrilled to know of this option to say the least.

This week I am investigating details and discussing options with my kids. I will share the outcome of our decision with you. I am taking my kid's desires strongly into consideration when making our decision. Last fall they begged for such an opportunity so I expect them to jump at the chance.

Buildings with Soft Sky

2012-01-05T19:23:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram in Houston Texas.

Watercolor for the Serious Beginner Book Review by ChristineMM

2012-01-05T06:12:00.001-06:00

Title: Watercolor for the Serious Beginner (1997)
Author: Mary Whyte
Genre: Nonfiction

My Star Rating: 3 stars = It's Okay

Summary Statement: Not Enough Info on Basic Topics and Uses Too Complicated Example Paintings Which Intimidates

I started reading this book, was not happy with it, put it aside, immediately read a different book for beginners, then read another book, then went back to re-read this whole book from cover to cover, and rate it 3 stars = It's Okay.

My main problem with this book is it leaves out some important information for beginners. It went too quickly past important topics, not giving quite enough information on topics like paper, stretching, brushes, and paint for beginners to buy. This sometimes happens if the writer or teacher has trouble putting themelves in the mindset of the newbie, or if they have not been around the beginners much lately and have forgotten what a beginner knows and does not know.

Secondarily, and the bigger issue, is the book starts right off with complicated examples of watercolor paintings, things that I as a beginner could never imagine being able to paint. The simple things being discussed were not shown simply with straightforward painting examples. This felt intimidating to me. In other words simple things were written about with advanced paintings on the pages.

The book is loaded with portraiture and complicated detailed paintings such as combining objects in a room with a person and a flower arrangement, that type of detail of varied subject matter is way beyond what even a "serious beginner" would be able to paint.

Too many gorgeous paintings by other artists and many by Whyte herself made me feel like I could never get to that level. That is the worst thing to do to a beginner. Therefore I was on the fence about whether I felt this was a 2 star = I Don't Like It or 3 star = It's Okay rating. I'll go with 3 stars as I'm not in a harsh mood at the moment.

Toupee

2012-01-04T19:46:00.000-06:00

Toupee in tissue paper as we decorated our Christmas Tree December 2011 taken by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram.

A Poem I Wrote Today

2012-01-04T15:13:00.000-06:00

Weather Inspired Memories and Emotions

by ChristineMM
January 4, 2012

Today is
the kind of day
when you walk outside
and you are surprised at the experience.

The memories flood your mind
All what you know about the date it is
and what it should be like
and what yesterday was like
and what the weather man said it would be
is gone.

What you experience
is a memory flood,
many mottled memories
that recall that feeling
that air
that warmth,
but some memories are clear and sharp
like
a day in 1985 --
that senior slide,
burned out,
"almost done" feeling
in April
when you ditched school with your friends
before lunch period
and drove fast with the windows down
wth the music blasting
some pop song
(maybe Madonna or Price or Duran Duran)
and we sang the lyrics at the top of our lungs
together
not caring how we sounded
just enjoying the freedom
the liberation
of getting out of that place
and enjoying the day that was happening beyond those walls.

Our hands outside the window
feeling the wind go through our fingers
something about that feeling
that feels so good
that you can't stop doing it
even though it probably looks silly
to the other drivers.

And we didn't stop singing
until we pulled into the parking lot
of our town beach.
Way before Memorial Day
so no security guard on duty
Thank God
(or our plans would have been foiled).
No one to bother us
to check our residency stickers
and to inquire about
why we weren't in school.

And we walked through the park
and climbed to the top of the tallest hill
and sat on the bumpy granite edge
with our feet dangling down
and felt like we were literally
sitting on top of the world.
No one could touch us.
The teachers had no idea
we'd been set free
and we were in control
of our own selves
at that moment.
Free.

The sun warmed us
and it took the chill off
from the breeze
that blew over Long Island Sound
and tried to make us cold
since technically spring had not yet arrived.
As if it wanted us to accept that fact.
But nothing could make us feel cold
like we did sitting in that jail-like brick building
that they call the high school
the same old place
my parents went
that they also couldn't wait to escape from.

Here the sun was so bright
and it smelled so fresh
that just being in its presene
we were happy.
Even to lie back on the bumpy rock
(that hurt, technically,
but we didn't care
because we were free
and the little pain was worth the good
that the earth and sky and sun offered us).

Unusual for us,
we laid in silence
each lost in our own thoughts
letting the sun warm us
its rays threatened to give our pale winter skin
a bit of a sunburn
(which I thought the teachers would be suspicious of
when we returrned to class
with that look of energy
and a reboosted spirit
a twinkle in our eye
plus pinked cheeks and noses
surely they'd figure it out
especially if they got close enough
to detect the scent of fresh sea air on us).

But for now I was still out there
enjoying the day.
We just laid there.
Some stared into the blue sky
squinted into the sun's semmingly strong rays
or we succumbed and shut our eyelids
and let them be warmed too.

We felt trapped by this town
limited
so bored
nothing much happens here
we thought.
Life was so ordinary
and boring
(as if those are things that should never be experienced).
We looked forward
to our futures
out there in the big wide world
where more interesting things happened
where the possibilities were endless
and where new lives awaited
when we had a chance to start all over
fresh
at college in a place farther away
where no one knew us
or from where we came
and they didn't know who we were in school
and from what clique we were a part of.
That would all be ancient history.

We could "make a new life for ourselves"
and "create our future".
We could really be ourselves
not just to our small circle of friends
but to everyone we'd meet
and we'd be with so many people
that we'd surely meet others of like mind
to like us for who we are as people
not for the size of the house we lived in
or because of what part of town we were from
or for who our parents were
or because we're wearing a certain brand
of sneakers and jeans.
That kind of college life never happened for me.
Life took a different path.

Wait a minute.
Where am I?
What is the date?
Surely this is spring?
Right?

No.

I'm in Houston
Texas
(still can't believe I'm gone from Connecticut
is this a dream or is it reality?)
and it's January 4,
(not spring).

There is no ocean here,
no waves lapping the shore
and no laughing friends
and no big wide future ahead.
I'm not seventeen,
I'm 44
which from a teenager's perspective
is really old
but I feel almost the same now
albeit less agile
(just because) I'm out of shape
and probably that's to blame for
having less energy too.

This is the first time in my life
I'm in a new place
completely starting over.
But the thing is,
I wasn't really looking for this big change.
I liked my old life
in Connecticut,
the life I built for our family
was a good one
surrounded by friends
acquaintences
and family from both sides of the tree.
Yes, I said I was open to change
trying to be flexible
open minded
really it was necessary
so there really was no choice.
This kind of just happened
so quickly,
for practical reasons
we're here for a job,
money to support the family
it's a fact of life in America
that's the way it is.
You gotta do
what you gotta do
that's part of life
of a grown up.

Who am I to complain
about a major life change
shouldn't I be happy
we have an income stream?
Others don't have it so good
in this crappy economy,
in this recession.

We're all here together
one family
and healthy
isn't that what matters?
Isn't that good enough?

Life is much more serious now
than when I was seventeen.
Now there are
real world problems
things I'm respnosible for
there are plans that didn't pan out
and people that let you down
and sometimes people hurt you
intentionally.
Manipulators,
sociopaths,
and other assorted nut jobs
who you once trusted
or had no choice but to have in your life
who messed with your head
and hurt you.

The ones we always want in our lives
unfortunately sometimes go
just because our paths went different ways
or because they died.
How could a woman my age,
a friend,
suffer and die of lung Cancer
when she never even smoked?
Avoided it, as they said
it gives you Cancer
and will kill you.
And she didn't want to die
especially not in her 30s
with two little boys
she was enjoying raising.

(Am I next?)

It doesn't feel like my time to go
but the others felt that way too
and it didn't matter.
They're gone.
How can bad things happen to good people?

We all die eventually
but some that have passed,
we just weren't prepared to let go of yet.
We weren't done with them
and other people in their lives needed them too.
They still had things to do here
or at least we thought so.
I guess God didn't agree.

I'm still here
and "shit happens"
like job loss
and dreams unfulfilled
and realzing life really is hard
even when you try to have a positive outlook
and even if you do the right things
it just doesn't always pan out.
We are left to
"make do"
and to "make the best of it".
"Make lemonade out of lemons"
they say.
As if that helps?

But today it's 73 degrees outside
humid
bright and sunny
with big fat puffy white clouds
against a robin's egg blue sky
and the air is calm
and fresh
and smells delicious and clean
and new.

The sun warms my face.
The day feels full of hope
and possibility
and joy.

The map tells me so,
but I don't feel like I'm in Houston
and the calendar says we've just started a new year,
it's only January!
I feel like it's a regular spring day
in Connecticut
or on Cape Cod
or in Maine
those familiar to me places that I love
and it feels like this is
a day full of promise and hope.

I realize life is good
overall
and I have a lot to be thankful for.

The good overpowers the bad.
Life goes on.
Life is a roller coaster.
We can't control everything
sometimes we just have to go with the flow.

I'll take this upswing while it offers itself to me.

And when today's appointment is over,
the rest of the day's plans are being cancelled
just because I feel like it--
we feel like it--
and I'm heading outside
with my kids
to enjoy this day
while it's here with us.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Photos:
Me on my 17th birthday, taken with my camera by my ex-boyfriend at Hammonassett State Park May 1984 at Junior Class after-prom picnic day.
Houston 1/04/12 taken by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram in my backyard.

"Depression Doubled in Last 5 Years in Schooled (American) Kids"

2012-01-04T06:07:00.000-06:00

First sentence in this video "Race to Nowhere Roundtable Discussion at Stanford Dec 2, 2010" is quoted in the title of this blog post.

School as "test factory".

Students are not "learning or retaining".

Let's think about "how to have kids thrive instead of achieving success".

How about the student in the audience who is starting to cry and what she says about what the schools value?

And the mother of a fifth grader that has three hours of homework who says this comes down to civil disobedience if they refuse to do the homework or have all their kids show up an hour late for school!

As homeschoolers we can escape all of this craziness if we allow ourselves to truly learn outside of the box.

I wonder if a high achieving academically rigorous alternative education magnet school in an area of a student's passion falls prey to this same thing?

For this academic year we are staying with homeschooling.

El Camino

2012-01-03T19:26:00.000-06:00

Drive by photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram 12/10/11 in Houston Texas.

Heart Wrenching Essay About Kids in School and LD Kids

2012-01-03T06:11:00.002-06:00

I have so much to say in reaction to this but have no energy to articulate it, but I simply must share it with you now and let you think about it on your own. If you wish to comment, please do.

I'll just say that when I read things like this it validates things I suspected and it makes me so grateful that my children have never been in typical public schools. It confirms that some of the things I suspected go on, do go on. In reality, things that we hope that never happen to our kids are happening to kids. Would you want yours to be one of them? Is your child one of them?

This was written by a parent of a child with a label who wanted to help kids so went to work in the schools in special education.

Don't Hurt the Children in Front of Me
Published in: Washington Post 1/01/12

excerpt:

"I switched careers and became a special education teacher out of the naive belief that I could make a difference in the lives of other children with special learning needs.

My biggest challenge in fitting into the public school system has been and continues to be my tendency to think like a parent first, and a teacher second. I insist the needs of the individual child come first, which is legally what a special education teacher is supposed to do."

---

"I now have the answer to my question of whether teachers are crazy or mean with their unrealistic homework demands. As individuals, they are neither. However, a group of desperate, overworked and extremely stressed-out people under the constant threat of being punished if their students perform poorly on tests can make poor decisions, especially when the person accountable for their behavior looks the other way.

Because they have little to no control in terms of what they teach and how, teachers often resent being “given” students who are a challenge to teach. Without daily support for the special education students in their classes, educators may even view behaviors that are directly related to the child’s disability as purposeful acts of disobedience. When this happens, they resort to the same method the Department of Education has decided to use on them: punishment."

---

Update 1/3/12: (I drafted this post yesterday and set it to auto publish. Here are more thoughts now that I've had a good night's sleep and re-read the essay.)

A very smart woman I know through the Connecticut homeschool community formerly was a public school teacher and left to homeschool her kids and be a mother-at-home. She found the schools different than she thought they would be and wanted something better for her kids: homeschooling. She had wanted to teach her passion and make the school kids feel passion for her favorite subject.

Later, she wound up with some children with labels and to give them special education, she enrolled some in school and then more problems were had, instead of what seemed like it would be a solution (accessing specially trained teachers). I could share some horror stories but I promised confidentiality.

I once confided in her that due to all that I love about learning and education and the fact that I like kids I am tempted to think of becoming a school teacher but in reality I know two things: 1) I can't save them all and 2) the way I think "like a parent" would not serve me well and would be the demise of an attempt at having a teaching career. I feel too deeply and I care about kids, so to see kids suffer in various ways, or to see an LD kid not get what they need, or even to only have access to second best, a dumbed down curriculum or feeling other negative things about the education I'd be getting paid to deliver (which I could not change or improve) would kill me.

I have been able to use my skills in volunteer work with kids in Cub Scouting and in Boy Scouting and volunteering teaching at homeschool co-ops, primarily. I have done other things such as organize events that kids attend in order to help create worthwhile experiences for them.

I have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours doing things to encourage and support homeschooling, locally in Connecticut and statewide and nationwide, and even worldwide vis a vis online communications on homeschool chat lists, various bulletin boards and here on this blog. I never really know who I am inspiring but once in a while I get an email or I meet someone in person who recognizes my photo from this blog and I get a compliment and a thank you and I hear they've been reading my stuff for YEARS.

Some days it's frustrating to see how much effort and time it takes to produce something good for kids to experience. It takes so much work! Sometimes so many hours are put into organizing something that is over within hours (not unlike the thinking and planning that goes into a wedding).

It also takes time to work to change something to be something better, even something like making a change to the way a Cub Scout program is delivered with just one Pack. The smallest changes sometimes take so many hours!

I have found books going back to the year 1905 crying for education reform and pointing out how the quality of education has eroded. It is a huge challenge and one I don't feel will ever be resolved, certainly any small change would not occur before my children have grown to be adults. My choice to homeschool and the decision to continue has mainly been my way of creating something different and good for my kids. I can't help or control the changes necessary for large numbers of other people's kids but I do have a legal right (and in Connecticut the state law defines it as a "parental duty") to raise my children with a good education. I'm trying and I don't always feel like I'm succeeding but the reality is my kids are turning out to be good people who are doing just fine.

Houston City Hall in December

2012-01-02T19:34:00.000-06:00

City of Houston, City Hall, 12/15/11. The lights changed color every few seconds, it was surreal actually.

Photo by ChristineMM using iPhone4 and Instagram.

Homeschooling: I'm Struggling

2012-01-02T16:02:00.001-06:00

I've been calling some of my old homeschool friends long distance to get some support. We have been boosting each other up for years when we needed someone to lean on. We've gone through so much that our talks are authentic and there's no BSing going on. My friends know my kids and they know the good and the bad parts of me. I have been quite confident in the past about our family's choices so perhaps some of them didn't believe that I was struggling as much as I was since I have been such a cheerleader to others for years.

I can't take the uncertainty much longer. I have myself so stressed out about my older son's situation with his neurological issue from the Lyme Disease and the three times a week treatments are taking their toll. He did have a breakthrough just before Christmas, improvement was seen but it took longer than expected. This means that who knows how long this will go on before it is done (and how much money will have been spent and how it will impede his learning until he's done).

I am feeling pressure about the academics and most likely he will have to stay back a year. If I could just decide on that now I could sit back and relax and think more about enjoying our family life. Instead the biology SAT II test is looming in June and if he is to pass it I worry he'll (meaning also, I will) have to obsess over biology from now to then.

I feel isolated here without a strong support network of homeschoolers. Today I reached out asking for some information about tutors here, and wound up meeting someone face to face for a talk. Her situation and mine are opposite. She's a new homeschooler whose oldest is in grade 12. They had been in public school and I got to hear some horror stories from her past in other states as well as one town over (not my school district, Thank God). Our kids have different goals and aims than mine so our children's paths are different. I still face the challenge that if my kids are to have these certain career choices they have to have a rigorous college path, period. I can't sit back and say, "We can skip subjects X, Y, and Z."

I was close to throwing my kids into school and closing the homeschooling chapter. I don't think I can just put them in public school and wipe my hands of their education and end years of happy homeschooling on this sour note.

Today I realized that I have high ideals and that I am harsh on myself and that I don't give myself enough credit for what my kids are doing nor do I commend myself for helping my kids do well.

In the big scheme of things I think my kids have a great life and I think my husband and I are good parents. I don't think my kids have any idea how good they really have it, nor do they know how lucky they are to have parents who are such strong advocates for them.

I think I need a vacation, a real vacation, one that can recharge my batteries so I can get back up to speed, to be my old self, someone who loved homeschooling her kids so much that she helped anyone and everyone who was looking for support and encouragement. Exhausted, stressed-out, burned-out me is not the person who can help my kids achieve their goals.

Decay - Back of a Truck

2012-01-01T19:19:00.000-06:00

Photo taken by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram in Houston, Texas.

Courage and Homeschooling

2011-12-31T11:09:00.039-06:00

Years ago I read in Home Education Magazine, a request to think about what it takes to homeschool and what makes homeschooling parents different from other parents to allow them to take the plunge and do such an alternative thing.

I think it takes real courage to homeschool. Courage is the thing that is most necessary.

It takes even more courage to pull a child out of school if the situation is non-emergent. There may not be enough pressure to fix the situation to push a person over the tipping point from "think we really should do this" or "homeschooling could be better" to "we're going to start homeschooling now".

The parents facing some crisis have it easier as they are reacting to a bad situation and no matter how alternative or strange homeschooling may be if it rescues the child then they do it. The urgency to fix the issue overrides the weirdness or scariness of the concept of homeschooling. They can also tell themselves that it is just temporary and they can always go back to school again later so they don't feel they have made a long-term committment, so jumping in is easier.

Those who entered homeschooling in their children's early years won't need as much courage to begin as they will need to continue, especially through the upper middle school and high school years. The higher the stakes get, the harder it is to stay on track. As children grow from happy little kids who like to play for hours every day start to change into independent young adults life gets more complicated. It can be draining and stressful to parent a teenager and to handle that and the administration of their home education can get to be too much for some mothers to handle.

I've been worrying about homeschooling my older son lately, mostly worried that our best efforts won't be good enough to prepare him for what he wants to do with his life. I've been asking myself, "Who do you think you are to think you know enough about high school academics to plan a course of study let alone to teach or facilitate most of it?"Some days I tell myself, "You are winging this too much."

A mother of always-schooled kids has been talking to me about the desire to start homeschooling, it's something she's thought about for a long time but she is not quite ready to jump in. The fact that there is no ideal perfect thing established to move right into that would be a guarantee of a successful outcome is too scary to her, so I believe that they will not wind up homeschooling. Despite dissatisfaction with the school's curriculum and the lack of academic rigor, the devil she knows is better to tolerate than the devil she doesn't know. While speaking to her I realized yet again that courage is vital and that stepping off into unknown territory is what we are doing. We have to be able to handle facing that fear and to keep moving forward, to keep pushing through the fear, in order to continue.

My self-doubt has largely been fueled by the long distance move and losing all my contacts, my support network and losing the old good learning opportunities, as well as my kid's negative emotions regarding not being able to see their old friends on a frequent basis. (Keeping touch on Facebook and xBoxLive is just not the same thing as face to face experiences.)

If I try a little harder I think I can find some local resources to hire to help us. I think I'm going to look for a math tutor so my older son can have a live person to ask questions of face to face, and to check his progress on a regular basis such as weekly. Perhaps I could hire a science tutor to run biology labs with my son. Now that he has started doing the robotics team he will make more local friends from the area also.

Regarding boosting myself up to keep going with homeschooling, all I need is a small bit of encouragement to stay the course, which is not hard to muster up.

Awesome Junk

2011-12-30T19:18:00.000-06:00

Photo taken by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram, in The Heights, Houston, Texas at some crazy metal scrap junk shop -- I loved the place!

Having that "Throw Them in School" Phase Again

2011-12-30T14:42:00.002-06:00

I knew this would be a rough year due to the long distance move and this being a kind of in-between year (since we are not settled into a new permanent home here yet). We don't know when the next part of our lives will happen: selling the old house and house shopping here and then moving again, so I don't feel like we're "done" with this life change yet. Despite my realization back when this started that I'd have to brace myself for experiencing what I figured would be a far less than ideal and imperfect year, it's still hard to deal with moments of self-doubt when they confront me.

I'm at a place where what I'm struggling with is a result of me having a good sense of reality, seeing clearly my limitations as homeschool parent-teacher and feeling constrained in this new place (not having yet figured out the local opportunties). Before me I have a clear picture of the parts of our homeschool that are not working fantastically this year and I see my kid's weaknesses (and my own). I ask myself if I can live with the worst parts of it. Is dealing with the mediocre or sub-par parts a good idea? Are my kids getting enough of the best stuff to balance out the things that aren't going so well?

I also tend to not think much about our successes or what we're doing well, my mind just focuses on what needs fixing or what is failing. I know some would tell me that's unhealthy do to that, but it is just how my mind works. It is not something I choose to do, it's just how I think. I have to constantly fight against myself to get myself to try to not think that way (it has been a lifelong battle that I have not yet won).

When I think of using school I need to be careful that I am also not just seeing the best things that school can offer. When pitting the worst things about our homeschool against the best things in school it seems obvious that I should just throw my kids into school and leave homeschooling behind. Yet, that is not really looking at the situation objectively.

If we quit homeschooling we will leave behind many very good things and the best parts of school also come with negative things. Some of the bad things we could never know until we experience them firsthand.

A friend is telling me to give school a try and if it doesn't work out to just pull the kids out again, that it's not that risky to put them in. I am not sure about that, because if I wanted to pull them out to homeschool again, I'd need my kid's buy-in with the process. It seems easier for me to give up on homeschooling and say "I'm putting you in school, period." than it seems possible to pull them out of school against their will and try to get them to cooperate with homeschooling with me as their teacher.

One of my concerns especially for my younger son is that he will love the fun social parts of school so much that he'd be willing to endure other things. I worry about lower academic standards, boring schoolwork that results in shallow learning and such. If he likes the ease of school (as surely he will find it very easy as he's that type that just can "do school" so easily) and if he likes the rewards of school (easily getting high grades and then loving the stamp of approval he gets on the papers, tests, and report cards) then he will be happy to remain in school even if it's not the type of learning I'd prefer him to experience.

This is my fourth day in the house alone, the kids are at sleepover Boy Scout camp. It's not the same here without them, I miss them. I've had time to relax this week and do some things just for me for fun. I have also had time to think about our family life and our situation with homeschooling and to think of a mid-year evaluation of sorts.

I really am happy with how this homeschool year has gone so far, the kids have done four and a half months of serious studies, except for some fears about the adequacy of my older son's high school year. To be fair, his abilities to study and get work done have been hindered due to his medical condition and the two or three half days a week he has to go for treatment challenge us for time, and the therapy tires his brain, literally, on those days so it's hard to get much learning done. I am confident we have our priorities in line with getting his medical treatment as top priority. He wants to keep homeschooling but he is also disappointed he is not doing a full courseload this year, but he's doing all he can given his temporary neurological limitations. Whether we keep homeschooling or start to use school, we may keep him back a grade in order to make up for time lost.

As for my younger son I am thrilled with his academic progress this year but he is lonely socially. He has friends through Boy Scouting that he sees once a week at meeting and who he camps with about once a month but so far time with those friends has not spilled over into seeing them on other weekends or to be together in after school hours on weekdays. I know he would thrive in school socially as he's the type who just likes to be around other kids all the time and prefers being in groups to being by himself. If he had it his way he'd never be alone, he's that type that wants a buddy with him all the time.

When I think of what the best of school has to offer for my younger son, I think he'd like to be around kids all day. On the flip side if the kids are not good kids, if they are a negative influence or if they teach him that learning is stupid and that school sucks then that's not a good thing for my son to learn from peers. I want my son to have a positive outlook about education going into college so he can be on good footing so he can have the career of his choice, one that is challenging to him and something he wants to do (rather than be forced to do some second best option with his secondary education due to slacking off in high school like I did once school burnout set in for me).

I'm so confused! I'm taking things one day at a time but that is not really a good idea when sometimes planning ahead is required. For admissions to private school or magnet schools, the testing and application process starts twelve months ahead of time. If I'm going to wing it about deciding to put my kids into school it would have to be public school. I don't know enough about the public schools in our new town to know if they are something we should feel more convicted to avoid, or if they are just fine places that I shouldn't feel worried about enrolling my kids into.

Update: I phoned a local homeschool mom to ask her for a pep talk and advice. She was a teacher in a local public school here. She boiled it down to this: I can't put my older son in school now as his treatments conflict with regular school attendance anyway. Since my younger son is doing well academically now why make a change, especially in the middle of juggling the running around with my older son. Trying to adjust to new school attendance and help the other son get medical treatment could be too stressful for the family. So, we are going to get our sons together and see if they click and may become friends. Coincidentially, her son was also at the same Boy Scout camp as my sons so that's how we had time to have a phone chat. Well it looks like I'm making one real friend in the homeschool community here.

Autumn Arrived on December 13 in Houston Texas

2011-12-29T19:18:00.001-06:00

December 13, 2011 was the first day of real colored foliage in the Houston Texas area.

It arrived almost two months later than this Connecticut Yankee is used to.

Thoughts on Our Personal Limits

2011-12-29T06:07:00.025-06:00

The new year is approaching. This is the time when some Americans make New Year's Resolutions. In this time the self-help gurus and the overly optimistic tell us all to not set limits and to feel free to accomplish things unhindered by limits or boundaries.

That is dangerous thinking. If you believe it, you are setting yourself up for failure.

I am all for people pushing themselves out of their comfort zones in order to break past the plateau and surge forward to reach a goal. I understand the need to sometimes push through our fear in order to finally do something we think we've wanted to do for a long time but were scared to try. I wish all people would try new things and not be afraid to learn or do something new.

The problem with that line of thinking is seldom is moderation discussed. The truth is we only have some much time in a day to do things and those of us with high ambitions and many ideas will never get to try everything let alone dedicate ourselves to something enough to become skillful or master it. Those of us who are curious want to do so many things! There will never be enough time or money to do it all! Thus people who think that way (like me) go through life thinking we're failing and that we are "not good enough".

The reality is that to do a thing well takes a certain amount of practice and learning. Once you thing you are starting to understand something, you learn more and it is more complicated. In order to do well, you have to keep trying and keep practicing. Then skills are learned and you get better and better.

Learning is hard. Mistakes happen. It is frustrating to learn something new. Even if you think a thing will be fun the truth is, it is hard work to learn it at first. Only when new skills become honed does it get easier. Once the hard part of mastering the techniques that take practice become more automatic can the mind be more free to create and experiment and then it feels more like play and a stress relieving activity than a stress-inducing endeavor.

Things that are experiences are limited by money and time. For example, if you love to travel the world, you will be limited by the money you have available for trips, and your time will be limited based on your personal committments such as your job or being busy due to raising your kids or other obligations.

Americans and women do have lots of freedom compared to some other people living in other countries. Many of us have enough funds to dabble in a hobby or two, and to do a bit of traveling. There are always ways to do things on a very tight budget, if a person is willing to work to figure out how and if they are willing to accept the limitations. For example, traveling by car instead of flying, staying in a less fancy hotel, teaching oneself to paint instead of taking lessons, and shopping for used items (i.e. yarn to knit with, craft supplies) instead of paying full price at a local small store.

If you believe too much that you can do it all and do it all well, and that you have no limits, you are setting yourself up for stress and a feeling of failure about your own abilities which will lead to poor self-esteem. Instead of feeling happy at what you've accomplished about teaching yourself about watching wild birds and identifying them by sight and sound and using your DSLR camera you may feel badly that you don't have time to teach yourself to bake bread from scratch or to crochet.

I think the key to happiness is to realize we have few boundaries as to what we may choose to do with our time but to realize also that time is finite. Choose carefully what you want to do with your time and money. You may think you want to do a zillion things but if you keep thinking and never plan you risk doing none of them.
Make a decision about what you want to do, keep a small list of one or two new things you want to try. Make a real plan as to how you can achieve it and find the time to do it. Start off slowly. Maybe you only have one or two hours this week to do the new thing. Buy only what you need for that one thing and then commit to doint it. Borrow things if possible, or use free resources, until you see if you like doing it. If you find it's not worth your time, give yourself permission to quit, then get rid of all the stuff you own that you won't be using, and scratch that thing off your list as not being worth your time and energy. Then move on to the next thing.

It is not easy finding balance in life, especially if you are married and have children to raise. Yet, other people with other situations are also busy: teens are busy with school studies, college student's are busy learning, fathers are busy working and trying to see their kids while they're awake, so forth and so on.

Life is a juggling act. You deserve some time to do things that enrich your life and express your creativity or give you some kind of enjoyment. Yet you need time also to eat well, sleep, exercise, spend time with your spouse and kids, and do the many other things that we are required to do to live our daily lives, like doing the laundry and keeping the house clean.

Try to carve some time to do the things you want and then accept that amount of time as sufficient and be happy when you get to do the thing you enjoy. Don't just focus on thinking you never have enough time to do everything you want or you will ruin the good that comes from the activity.

If it doesn't come to you automatically, force yourself to think thoughts of gratitude for the good things you have and the fun things you have chosen to do with your time instead of thinking negative thoughts. Before you say "I don't have as much time as I want to do this thing", I suggest that you don't think about quantity, think about quality.

Stop the negative thoughts if they intrude into your mind. Happy thoughts put you in a better state of mind for doing the fun things, so that's another reason to keep your thoughts positive!

Life is too short to have our heads filled with negative thinking and self-doubt. Decide what you want to do, make a real plan, set do-able goals for doing the activity each week, then do it. Do things that are worth the time, energy and expense and let go of the rest. Give yourself time to get good at doing something and let yourself enjoy doing it.

Inspiration for Painting Watercolor

2011-12-28T06:36:00.002-06:00

I have wanted to paint in watercolor for years but was afraid to try.

Here are examples of scenes I saw and photographed that made me yearn to paint.

This week while my kids are away at Boy Scout camp, I am teaching myself to paint in watercolor using books and YouTube videos. It's time to stop dreaming and give it a try once and for all. Over the years I have slowly purchased watercolor painting supplies and they sat untouched. Many of my art and craft supplies were given away before we moved but the watercolors came with me to the little rental house. I vowed to myself to do this thing before we moved again. It's one of the few hobby things I am committing to doing while in this transition year.

Photos taken by ChristineMM 8/30/09 in Cape Cod.

P.S. I miss Cape Cod. We weren't able to travel there in 2011 and now I'm 2000 miles away so it's no longer a quick trip to go...mabye in 2012?

Odd Parking Lot Litter

2011-12-27T18:59:00.000-06:00

Adding this to the list of things I never saw in Connecticut that exist in Texas.

Photo by ChristineMM 12/26/11 with iPhone4 and Instagram.

Thoughts on Documentary Pink Saris

2011-12-27T06:28:00.002-06:00

I recently watched the documentary Pink Saris (on HBO On Demand through my cable company).

Just the other day I was reading an art magazine in which an amateur artist remarked that she enjoys making art with influences from India becuase "she loves everything about India". I would question that amateur artist's statement. How much does she know about India, the poverty, the caste system and the lives of women?

This is a terribly depressing movie about the realities happening today in India. If you know something of a woman's life in India, but it seems too remote or faceless, I urge you to watch this movie to get a sense for the real people and what life is like living with the thousands of year's old traditions which include marrying very early not for love but by arrangement, the caste system, being verbally and physically abused by both of one's in-laws and sometimes being pursued sexually or raped by one's father-in-law, as well as being abandoned by one's husband and left alone with the abusive in-laws.

One of the most moving parts of the movie is right near the end where Sampat Pal says, "A girl's life a cruel, a woman's life is cruel."

This movie is about a woman, Sampat Pal who has been an activist for 20 years for women's rights. To this American woman what she is saying seems not extreme, it's like the women's liberation movement albeit being just her as leader and a "gang" of followers who show their alliance to the cause by wearing solid bright pink colored saris all day, every day, to show the world what they stand for.

Pal wants girls to be able to marry for love and to marry up into higher castes. She wants an end to abuse of the girls and women. She is very "in your face" with her attitude which is not appreciated by the men who she yells at and demands that they change the way they live. They don't want to hear it, of course.

What was so depressing is seeing the terrible living conditions and the abuse of girls and women and realizing that truly not much is being done about it. This is complicated. I'm an outsider looking at how India is, what their culture says is normal and fine. I'm horrified. It's depressing also because this American woman is helpless to affect change, and because I worry that the work of Sampat Pal will not amount to change on a grand (enough) scale.

The movie uses subtitles to translate to English. The photography is stunning and whether it's the dirty city or the wide landscape of the country, we get a real sense of place by watching this film.

I didn't have my sons watch this with me but I should have.

--

Postscript: I was also reminded when I watched this that life as I know it in America is not how the rest of the world lives.

I don't know exactly why but upon graduating from public school I didn't have a true sense for the cultural differences between countries. I somehow thought that "all the bad stuff" was all in the past and that everyone everywhere had become enlightened and were living in better conditions, all as part of progress. For example, I knew of the genocide of the Jews by Hitler but thought no genocide went on after World War II ended, which is incorrect. I also was never told who else Hitler killed (the handicapped, the deaf, the homosexuals).

In school, I learned nothing about India. I also never learned anything about China or other Asian cultures and learning nothing about the Middle East. As a senior in high school I got to choose between a half year of Russia or China and I chose Russia. It was the only time in all those years that I learned anything about that country. Given that we are a more global world today it seems ridiculous that kids aren't learning more about other countries in the world and current events and things like cultural differences that show how others view the world and how it compares to the United State's views (i.e. women's rights, murder is illegal, physical abuse is illegal, the age of consent for sex, marriage of minors is illegal, so forth and so on).

External Links About This Film

Women Make Movies Pink Saris

The Guardian article

Wild Bird Feather Collection

2011-12-26T19:58:00.002-06:00

Found while on nature walks over the years.

Photo by ChristineMM with iPhone4 and Instagram.

I Love the Spirit of Little Boys

2011-12-26T11:33:00.001-06:00

After having been around girls lately I was reminded again of how boys are so much simpler and easy to parent and deal with.

Boys lay it all out, they are who they are. When they are little they are full of energy. Some adults may feel worn out by the energy but if you just let them get it out (with some rules about not damaging property in the process) they will calm down when they get tired. Let them be who they are and let them run and be silly. Some say that parenting little boys is exhausting and little girls seem easy until the teen years, then the girls get hard and the boys suddenly seem easier to deal with.

Most boys don't put on false faces, they reveal their hearts on their sleeves and let it all hang out. Boys don't usually play mind manipulation games and their interactions are not about social exclusion nastiness. They are nto players of whispering in front of others or secret keepers nor do they make clubs and play "who's in and who's out" games.

Boys play at what they want and if you want to join them, you may, no matter your age or gender; if they choose to not play the other kid's game it's not anything personal, it's just that they don't want to do that thing.

In watching little kids play for years I've noticed this pattern over and over. It is the girls who leave the boys when they reject the boy games and go off together to make a new game. The boys keep up playing at what they want, even sometimes if the group winds up tapering down to two or three players, and if the thing can be done alone, they may choose to continue when by themselves if everyone leaves them.

The girls go off away from the co-ed group with other girls and talk. It's not uncommon to see boys doing active play, running games, tag, or make believe games such as light saber fights, long after the girls have abandoned such things and prefer to just sit and chat. The boys are not asked to come sit and gab. Yet the boys will accept any girl who wants to come and play the game that's in process. So long as she wants to do what they are doing, she can join in. They make no judgements about the girl who acts like a "Tomboy", she's accepted.

Boys always seem to have a bit more daring energy and they boldly do what they want without worry of judgement. They don't think about things like what someone will think about them or how they look, they just do what feels right or what seems right.

Of course, life experiences change the natural course of things. A child's experience with their parents, such as the mothers who seem to be more comfortable raising a daughter and just don't feel the same about raising a boy, can change a boy's behavior, expecting what some would say is more feminine behavior, training the "boy" out of them. Experiences in school or other places with peer dominance may make some boys more inhibited and curbed.

When I saw this boy on a lighthouse tour doing his own thing and enjoying every minute I was seeing little boy energy on full display. I loved seeing it!

Ornaments on the 2011 Christmas Tree

2011-12-24T06:09:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve Day!

Here are some Christmas ornaments on our tree. A tradition I started was to buy one ornament relating to my children's interests each year. I couldn't always find one, but most years I did. Sometimes it was related to something special that we went as a family.

I also have old ornaments handed down to me used on trees of the past, from my paternal great grandmother, paternal grandmother, and my parents, as well as some from my husband's maternal grandmother and from his parents.

1970s bird from my parents. Just realized the poor thing's beak is missing!

Gingerbread man, special to me, the baker, and all the times I've made gingerbread creations with my sons.

Electric guitar for younger son's hobby. Boy Scout insigna for both kids. New England snow scene handmade in Maine purchased in Freeport while I was dating my husband.

Husband's Alma Mater.

Space Shuttle for my space nut older son, bought when he was maybe four years old.

Train museum in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, we stopped on the way home from visiting my grandmother one time when my kids were about age 5 and 2.

---

This is our first Christmas in Texas, our first Christmas away from our families. Coming from families with strong holiday traditions, and with everyone living so close to one another, this is a big change for us.

We chose not to fly back East for the holiday due to a tight budget and an uncertain future, since our Connecticut home is still up for sale, and we're paying for two households.

Photos by ChristineMM with iPhone4 & Instagram filters.

Most Everything We Do Really Isn't Optional

2011-12-23T08:06:00.000-06:00

Here is a reply to a blog post by Jenn Casey in which she presents that homework in the homeschool co-op class is optional if her daughter (age 6.5) has deemed the homework assignment stupid. Here most of what I say is addressing what other blog post commenters did not say.

Rational Jenn blog post: Homeschooling and Perfectionism published 12/19/11

I look at this differently than you approached it. To me this is about making informed choices and accepting responsibility (yes even for a 6.5 year old).

I would have said to my child, "If you sign up for this co-op class there is homework this is like this (describe it) and you must do it as it is part of your responsibility as a student and the teacher feels it helps form your experience in the class in some way. Whether you like the homework or not, I don't know but, it's a part of the class that you will have to do."

In my favorite co-op the homework estimate was put in the course description so there was no surprise. Some kids chose to not take a class as they liked the topic enough to go sit in the class but didn't want to do homework as they had homeschool lessons assigned by mom to do on non-co-op days or they liked the idea of the class but didn't want to do more work. And they didn't want surprises after enrolling in the class and starting to attend.

(Although in your daughter's case she was doing most of the homework, the reading.)

If you found out about the homework after attending then again present it as an option to do the homework and stay in class or drop the class.

I think the assignment was easy and very do-able for a 6.5 year old especially if you helped by typing out what she dictated to summarize the book. She also could have kept the books read log in Excel in an easy list format, or Word if she wanted to avoid trying to make perfect looking handwriting by hand.

It may seem small to you but if you present everything as optional and open for their rejection, even to young kids, they grow up with an attitude that their opinion or whim or desire comes first and foremost ahead of things like obligation and responsibility to an outside party (i.e. teacher, authority figure, boss, police, friend,or spouse and anyone).

People who abide by the law, who are good employees, who are good neighbors, good friends, good spouses, and good parents often have to jump through some hoops or be bored or do things we may not think is what we want in order to just live through daily life in a civilized manner.

"I really don't want to clean this barf that my child just did on the rug but for the family's health it must be done."

"I don't feel like stopping for this red light but I need to so the other cars can go."

"This meeting at work is really boring how can the boss think this is worth my time, I feel like walking out, but I can't."

"I did want to finish watching this YouTube music video but my brother needs the computer to do his math work so I'll get off it now instead of in five minutes."

---

I am a perfectionist too, and I understand that whole part of the discussion, and others have already said good things about it so I am not addressing that much. I think you are handling that part well.

I will add:

Perfectionists need direct instruction in time management so they do not continue to push off a task. There is a fear underneath (they may not realize) that they won't do a good enough job so they put it off. Then that gives them stress, facing that deadline and not having it done. Often they don't do as well on school assignments as they run out of time.

(There is actually brain science behind this, the brain which is anxious has different brain wave activity that impedes things like congnitive thinking ability, memory recall and other thinking tasks that would make it harder to perform well to write a paper, summarize one's thoughts in writing, or take a test.)

If you can directly teach your DD this and get her to face that fear and push through and get to the other side, and use planning and time management early, she may bypass years of repeated action and failure before she discovers that fact herself.

It seems to me you want your kids to figure out a lot on their own and arrive at their own conclusions. Sometimes a little nudge by Mom can really help kids rather than letting them flounder for perhaps years. You have wisdom and I feel that parent's role is to impart their wisdom to their kids.

Hard to Get a Good Photo of My Sons Lately

2011-12-22T15:09:00.000-06:00

Younger son, age eleven, is again at the stage where he makes faces every time I try to snap a photo. Here I am bothering him while he is playing a role playing game on the Internet.

Older son has not been cooperating either, asking if something I photo will be blogged or wind up on Facebook "where your friends always comment saying I'm handsome and I hate that". Here he is trying to grab the camera out of my hand as I'm shooting.

Well, that's life with boys. You can't always get good candid photos of them, no matter how hard you try.

Starbucks Natural Fusions Cinnamon Flavored Coffee Product Review

2011-12-22T06:24:00.000-06:00

My Rating: 2 Stars out of 5: I Don’t Like It

Summary Statement: Rank and Bitter

Why I thought I’d enjoy this coffee:

1. My daily coffee is Starbucks French Roast (extra bold), which some call bitter but which I don't find bitter.

2. I love cinnamon.

3. I loved the Starbucks Natural Fusions Vanilla Flavored Coffee.

4. It’s winter and it seemed like it would be a good time to try something different.

I don’t like this coffee and give it 4 stars.

Why?

1. It is “rank”, a term my grandmother used to describe “too much” cinnamon (or “too much” molasses). Rank is the perfect word for this.

2. It is bitter and to be palatable I had to double my normal amount of sugar.

Yes, I did play around with the amount of grounds to use to make the coffee (in my French press). As I used less coffee grounds it just went watery and did not turn into “not bitter” and “a non-overpowering cinnamon bad taste”.

I also tried this iced which actually was a bit more palatable and interesting.

I’m disappointed in this cinnamon flavor, to say the least and am going back to Starbucks French Roast.

Disclosure: I purchased this coffee. For my blog’s full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog’s sidebar.

Atlantic Odyssey Luggage 21 Inch Spinner Product Review

2011-12-22T06:23:00.000-06:00

In the last year, three of of our carry-on pieces bit the dust. One was ripped to shreds, another one's zipper broke and the third's handle broke off (plastic broke apart).

We purchased this piece of luggage and loved it so much we bought a second one (see note below on the model name).

This is 21 inches but oddly has more room inside than a different 22 inch piece we own. This expands with zippers.

The fabric is durable and thick which is important so it doesn't rip. Sometimes the airplane runs out of room and they made us gate check the carry on piece and it has been ripped by airline staff. Other times we choose to check the luggage and it has gotten ripped in processing by machinery. We did own a hard case piece once and decided it is too inflexible. You can really cram stuff into durable fabric luggage, press on it to compact it before zipping --- you can't do that with the hard case luggage that seems to be getting more popular now, so we really wanted fabric. We compared this fabric to other brand's offerings in a store and it was obvious that this one is thicker and more durable.

This has a suit rack inside should you wish to use it.

This easily fits in the overhead compartment which is important. Some other brands have wheels that stick out and they are too big for the overhead compartment by about an inch! Those bags have to be turned sideways instead of going in the long way.

The wheels turn 360 degrees for effortless wheeling in any direction.

We feel this is higher quality than some of the luggage we presently own.

We own the charcoal gray which is a nice color that will not show dirt as easily as some other colors. This line does not come in black.

Atlantic is a line owned by TravelPro, which is a maker of high quality luggage.

We are very happy with the two pieces of this luggage that we own. One that we own is Odyssey and the other is Odyssey 2. We can't tell the difference, they seem identical to us in side by side comparison, the only thing we can see that is different is the name on the label.

Disclosure: I bought these items for our personal use. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.

A Delicious Chocolate Mousse Recipe

2011-12-21T18:29:00.001-06:00

Today I tested this recipe as I may make it for dessert for Christmas Day. I made mousse only one other time and ruined it.

I am pleased to say the mousse came out perfect. The key is that the eggs must be hot and the chocolate must be about the same hot temperature when they are combined. If one is colder than the other you risk either having little pieces of cooked egg or grains of chocolate suspended through the mousse. I am a slow microwave chocolate melter. I have ruined chocolate by burning it over a double boiler in the past.

I used this recipe from FoodTV.

Notes: I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate as I think it always tastes better and richer than semisweet chocolate. I used the instant espresso but that meant the coffee hater in the family disliked it. I loved it.

Some Free Open Courseware from Top American Colleges

2011-12-20T06:29:00.000-06:00

I found this easy to use listing of free open courseware today (dated 2007). If the links are dead at least you know what the college is, google it and I'm sure you will find the new, current URL.

Top 10 Universities With Free Courses Online by Jimmy Ruska

Any person of any age can use these. Homeschoolers in high school may find them useful.

I have been using some source material from some of these courses to guide me to good books to use when developing custom courses for my ninth grader. I am still working to develop a thorough "History of Comic Books and the Graphic Novel Storytelling Format" which relies not on teacher lectures delivered by me but uses either books as teachers, online text articles written by subject matter experts, or video lectures. I am also trying to determine reasonable assignments to go along with the course so it is not just a read and learn course.

A Conversation with a Teen About High School Here

2011-12-19T17:07:00.001-06:00

I had an interesting conversation with a seventeen year old high school junior. He is American born but has also lived overseas and attended school with kids from all different countries. He has lived in more than one place in America. Presently he lives in the same Texas suburb as I do. He also has been homeschooled, in earlier grades. He was mature and happy to talk to me, and he was friendly. He was not the stereotypical teen who will not look an adult in the eye or have a conversation.

I asked how he felt the overseas experience was, as a teen, since my husband had interviewed for a job in Dubai. He said it was one of the best experiences because it was transient, there was not a firm pecking order or cliques since kids moved in and out. He explained that he felt that he was judged truly based on who he was as a person not based on some other characteristic, and he liked that.

Our town has two high schools. Each has 8000 students with a graduating class of 2000. Yes, I said each, it was not a typo. In this town that just ticked past 100K inhabitants we have 16K who are in grades 9-12 in public school, and even more teens attend private schools or are homeschooled. (I wonder how many minor aged children are here all total?) This is a family place as you can see.

I asked him what it was like in the high school here. I said I asked as I wondered how my kids may fare in the school here, should they ever wind up there. He said the school here was a not a place that he was enjoying. He said it was a socially brutal place with a ton of cliques.

At that point his mother walked up and we started talking. She agreed that the social climate was nasty. She said something interesting, after asking who my son was, and I pointed him out, and she looked at him, she said he would probably do just fine in school since he is a handsome kid. I got the sense that life is much harder if you are homely. They both also said something to imply that the wealthiest kids in town were at the top of the pecking order and that anyone below them were looked down upon.

I graduated from public school in a class of 250. I cannot imagine what a school that has 2000 in each class would be like. How are the kids not lost in a sea of bodies? How can students ever get repeat classes with their old friends? How can kids cultivate friendships that are based on shared experiences if they probably don't get to see each other in multiple classes and year after year? How do the kids not feel lost and unattached?

If my kids wind up in school I wish it could be a smaller school!

A List of Parenting Priorities

2011-12-18T06:14:00.000-06:00

Sometimes parenting (and in my case homeschooling) can get overwhelming. I need to review the priorities every once in a while to reset the framework and to shift my perspective.

It is hard to put these in order, so within each grouping, what matters is the groupings. I see it this way:

Top Priorities:

children are kept safe from harm, parents prevent others from harming them if possible and keep them from harming themselves

children have basic shelter, food, clothing

children have parental love

children receive appropriate medical attention if needed

Next down on the list:

parents see that the child is receiving a basic education

parents help the child become independent and self-sufficient members of society by age 18

parents take action to maintain health and wellness (a separate issue from the above listed medical attention)

parents teach a child about being a good citizen, about the country and state laws so they can be law-abiding citizens

Lower still:

parents take action to provide children to be exposed to people, places, things, and actitivies that enrich them above and beyond what their basic education consists of

parents help a child make friendships and have positive relationships with peers (such as seeing that they join a certain activity to be around kids of similar interests), especially important if school or the neighborhood kids are not providing friends

children are given material possessions for entertainment and fun play

children are exposed to cultural things such as The Arts for viewing and enjoyment and personal enrichment

children may receive extra training in The Arts for personal enjoyment and enrichment (i.e. music lessons, acting in a play)

children's education changes from something basic and rudimentary to something deemed "better" by the parent (i.e. parents provide for a private school education and opt out of the default free public school or they homeschool the children themselves)

parents help identify struggles in learning that impede a child's ease of seeking educational excellence and provide resources for treatment of the conditions (versus in past generations things which would now be labeled as learning disabilities that need treatment were left untended and the child was left to fend for themselves, kids were sometimes just deemed "not bright" or "not good at schoolwork")

---

Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough or that I'm not a "good enough" parent. I need to remind myself of the basics sometimes, and then I feel like my kids are what some would label "over-indulged" and "priviledged".

I also need to remind myself to not over-focus on the non-important and optional things while neglecting the "big rocks".

Some Advice I Received About Homeschooling and School

2011-12-17T10:28:00.000-06:00

I met someone the other day who asked about our move to Texas. In a very short summary I explained the sudden move, the packing, the renting of a temporary house, the ice dam claim on our house, me dealing with house renovations and the insurance claim, more work to make the house nicer for potential buyers, the house not selling right away as was thought (based on what the real estate agent said), our poor air conditioning and heating system in this rental house and that we are homeschooling all the while.

I was asked how I did not get sick or go crazy. I said I didn't know but I felt that I could use a vacation.

I was told, "You should take a pill".

(For the record, I have not taken any pills to help me through this. I've also not self-medicated with alcohol or food treats.)

I was told "just throw your kids in school so you can relax".

I have considered schooling options based on ease for me. I am not sure that I'd completely relax if my kids were in school. Yes, I'd have less responsibility but I'd have other things to deal with which would be stressful.

My kid's education is not "all about me" or my ease. I'm just trying to do what is right and best for my kids. I have said it before and I'll say it again. If school ever seems better than what is happening in our homeschool we will use it.

My Interests

2011-12-17T06:46:00.000-06:00

I just updated my Amazon customer reviewer profile.

It is interesting to boil one's life and one's interests down to a few words.

Here's my current info:

Practices: autodidactism, attachment parenting, gentle discipline, homeschooling, teaching, education, writing, blogging, book reviewing, Boy Scouting and volunteer work.

Enjoys doing: slow food, cooking, baking, gardening, herbs, soapmaking. natural food, organic gardening, alternative medicine, exercise, wellness, photography, knitting, felting, and art viewing.

Curious about: Autism, Asperger's, learning disabilities, learning and the brain, education pedagogy, education reform and American culture.

Former passions: natural childbirth, breastfeeding, La Leche League, collage, artist trading cards, rubber stamping, art journaling, and mixed media art.

Former career: medical assistant and collections manager for primary care doctor's office, HMO, corporate training, technical writing and quality assurance.

Formal education: public school and BA Corporate Management.

Lived in Connecticut until 2011, moved to Houston Texas. "You go where the jobs are."

I Should Have Attended

2011-12-16T06:13:00.000-06:00

Perhaps my error will be something you can learn from.

Having just moved long distance and being really busy with unpacking and settling in I passed up an opportunity to go to a local seminar about how to homeschool high school. Why did I pass it up?

Besides the obvious fact that I was stressed out and very busy unpacking, there were other reasons I avoided it. I had attended a very helpful semniar in June of this year about rigorous high school homeschool plans. I also have some books here to help me. I felt I knew the basics.

All of them required a fee. We're on a tight budget. I don't want to pay to hear information that may not be useful. I was not able to find enough information on the presenters to figure out if we were on the same page or not.

I was afraid of going to something that may not be what I want, like the session I heard last year where the mother giving advice on how to homeschool high school who only has daughters told us her main goal for her girls is to raise them to follow Christ and to be good help-mates to their husbands. I have sons who I want to educate with a college prep program, partly so they can get the education required to be able to work and to be good providers for their future families.

I was afraid if I heard more info I may reach the point of feeling overwhelmed as I was already on the brink of that from both homeschooling and the move and all the changes in our family.

Today it hit me that I really should have gone because (still as of now) I have not made decent contacts locally in the homeschool network about homeschooling high school. I have had a hard time finding out about local resources for options.

I also just realized that the use of community college in the high school years is a bit different than the simple thing told to me by three other people. That showed me that I need to check and double check what people tell me. I was also just told by a mom whose son goes to the public high school that homeschoolers can join the school's robotics team. Who knew?

What I need is to know our options, locally. If I have to attend local "how to homeschool high school" events (even when I think I know the basics) just to find that information, then I'll attend. I'm still busy even though we are all unpacked, but I'll have to make the time. What I can do is if I hear other information that does not apply to my kids and does not align with our family's goals then I will just "take what works and leave the rest behind".

All along I've said that homeschoolers can benefit from getting connected locally. I thought I was doing enough to get connected but it's not enough, so I'll have to do more.

Shutting Out the Noise: Going No Mail

2011-12-15T06:11:00.000-06:00

The time has come. I just went to "no mail" on a bunch of internet discussion groups. I joined them over a year ago in order to learn more about homeschooling high school.

I have reached the brink and am trying to save myself from going insane. By listening to what is said I have now seen the crazy go round and round and I'm getting off the crazy train.

I have seen advice given that was portrayed as being the ultimate and final word then I see evidence that those who did the opposite achieved success not failure as predicted.

I am reading advice from parents about college admissions that directly conflicts with what I have just heard college admissions counselors say. Why should I listen to voices who are flat out wrong?

I have seen example after example of people worrying about fulfilling a college admissions requirement, then applying without that thing then their kid gets in anyway.

Then there is the other nonsense such as the bashing of other people and rude things being said that in my opinion break the rules of netiquette but no one does anything about it.

I've had enough.

I went "web only" on the groups and am just going to focus on living our lives and doing what I think sounds reasonable for homeschool high school. I'll use the college admissions own websites for advice.

I can't let myself be influenced by those who are scared and fretting. I shouldn't take advice from people whose other advice is just not accurate.

I need to save my sanity. So, I am shutting out the noise and going no mail.

Thoughts on the Book "How to Be a High School Superstar" by Cal Newport

2011-12-14T06:16:00.002-06:00

Viewing the book from the perspective of a homeschooling mother who was seduced into homeschooling by the appeal of the unschooling method I say this:

What the book "How to Be a High School Superstar" by Cal Newport does is presents a formula for (schooled) teens that Newport feels may help them gain entry into elite colleges. He take success stories of (schooled) teens who did something unusual, a project or a typically more adult task and shows how that helped them gain entry into elite or respected colleges.

In order to do those projects, the (schooled) students lightened up their traditionally heavy academic load. And the (schooled) students then (surprisingly to some) gained entry to elite colleges while their AP class heavy, sleep deprived and stressed out schooled peers did not.

What I want to say is that maybe what Newport doesn't know is that the schooled teens he picked out who did something alternative, are so similar to the stories of some unschooled and homeschooled students. As I read Newport's book I kept thinking, "This is not too different from stories I've heard John Taylor Gatto tell about his students in the 1980s" and "Gatto inspired homeschoolers to step outside the box and to do similar things and they did it and those who sought to also gained admissions to top colleges". Also, stories such as these have been discussed by John Holt and written about in the pages of Growing Without Schooling and Home Education Magazine.

Meanwhile with the inpsiration of Holt and Gatto, I have crafted my kid's preschool, elementary and middle school years to be something alternative and interesting, good and enriching yet not copying at all the way that school kids learn.

And I sit here, a homeschooling mother of a 9th and 6th grader feeling pressured to change what we do in order to make my kids look acceptable to college admission's officers by making them look like schooled kids. Some colleges have doubled down the requirements for admissions for homeschoolers, wanting even more than they require of schooled kids. If we jump through those hoops we have not time for "the good stuff" or "the alternative stuff". With the nose in the boring textbook and memorizing vocabulary words there is no time left to watch an interesting documentary or to go to the Holocaust Museum, let alone time to build a robot one designs oneself.

So it was a surreal feeling to read Newport's revelations about how to get school kids into college by doing stuff JUST LIKE RADICAL UNSCHOOLED KIDS DO. Especially shocking was seeing that the teens were doing "adult things" in their teen years JUST LIKE THE RADICAL UNSCHOOLED KIDS DO.

I was thinking about the lectures and panel discussions that I've attended at homeschool conferences. The ones where a parent or young adult tells how they had an alternative education and did get into a great college and were able to study what they wanted. They say that eventually they did buckle down and do the regular college traditional work after years of not being forced to parrot facts and not using flashcards and not doing everything else the schooled kids have been pushed to do since elementary school. (The stuff that some homeschooling parents worry will kill the joy of learning and leads some kids to hate school and to hate learning when actually schooling and learning are two different things altogether.)

The message at the conferences has been "be brave" and "follow your heart" and "maybe they never wrote an essay until age 16 but they did X, Y, and Z great cool things that they learned stuff from" and "it seemed they played too much with LEGOs and video games but they turned out smart and wonderful".

Well, when I finished "How to Be a High School Superstar" I was completely confused and my head was spinning. I actually started feeling that way half-way through the book and put it down for a couple of months while I thought about all of it, then I returned to the book to finish it up.

One thing I should mention is my opinion was, although it was not directly stated by Newport, was this:

It seemed to me that the kids who slowed down their academic classes in order to make time for a project and to keep their sanity and to get enough sleep had already had a solid foundation in The Three R's and already had solid study skills and a general competency to do "school learning" with success. Thus when they pulled back on doing high level academic courses and did other great stuff with their time which developed them into someone who their typically schooled peers could never be as they were never allowed to spend their time doing things like networking with adults in the business field or putting time to writing their own software or writing a book.

So, the take-away for me, a homeschool mom, was that if there are any gaps in skills when homeschool high school starts, skills that will be needed for one's future plans (which may include college) then it would not be alright to slack back and not address those in order to undertake some big project. My opinion is that any gaps in skills that are present should be dealt with as those skills will be needed in the future. I refer to writing composition, math and other things such that are necessary for taking the SAT and filling out one's own college application.

I also feel that the core subjects should be studied that are required for college admissions and so that whatever is on the transcript is not a fraudulent made up bunch of lies. If college is not in your child's goals then do whatever you want (to keep within your state's law) and revel in your freedom of choice!

I would like to see that a homeschooled student knows who they are and what their passion is and that they take the time to do interesting and enriching things they want to do in order to fulfill their curiosity and act as a true autodidact in their field of interest. I say field of interest because there is just not enough time in the day to study every single subject deeply and let's be honest, we all have different interests and there are some things we not just dislike but loathe. Not everything can or should be studied a mile deep before age 18. Must I mention the obvious fact that learning should be a lifelong pursuit and that even with learning something new every day of one's life you will never learn everything? There is just so much that can be studied and learned!

For me, Newport's book brought me back on track thinking that our family's original home education vision was good and right. I was not crazy to do something so out of the box. I had been led to believe that high school was time to abandon all that in order to do some kind of school at home to satisfy college admission's officers desires for my kids to look like the cookie cutters (that they say they don't want but really they set it up that they have to be). The two things were extreme and at polar opposites.

At this moment in time I have arrived at a more middle of the road position. I am back to supporting alternative projects even if they take a lot of time. We are addressing skills gaps. I am going to begin working with my ninth grader teaching different study skills and finding which he feels works most efficiently for him, using the book Study Smarter, Not Harder. And a broad typical curriculum is being studied that checks off the base requirements while also allowing for some customized learning in non-traditional ways (such as his fine art class in the history of comic books, comic art, and graphic novel storytelling and his literature class focusing on dystopian literature).

I'm back to feeling confident again. It is hard to do an alternative thing, it's risky and sometimes it is scary. On different days I feel different things: confident, worried, fearful, happy, brave, or uncertain. While the good feeling is with me I'm happy to embrace it.

P.S. My opinion is that the teens in the Newport book who did those projects which were borne from within themselves, did them because they had an internal drive, and they were improved by their actions by learning new things and becoming diffrent people in the process.

I do not have as much confidence in the teens who take that path as part of following the formula that Newport has laid out after they read his book. Anyone seeking to get admission to an elite college by taking on a project just because someone said doing that worked for other people, I think, is taking a big risk.

The projects that the others worked on were labors of love that their hearts, souls and minds were in alignment to do. Anyone going through the motions just because someone says it may be an easy ticket to get into a top tier college is, well, a faker. Such projects could wind up being transcript padders which would then undermine everyone else who really is doing different and productive things out of a true desire to do them.

Thus, college admissions officers will have to find more ways to figure out whether the applicants are authentic kids or posers. That's their job. I think the interview process is important and I wish all colleges did interviewing at some level of the application process because I think it's easier to sniff out the fakers in a face to face discussion than trying to determine it by reading lists and scores and essays on paper.

Since I feel I'm raising my kids to be authentic people I am telling myself that at college admissions time, their true nature will shine through on their transcript, in their essays, and in their interviews.

I have already seen this to be true in my kid's interactions with adults in the community such as with sport coaches and Boy Scout leaders and with parents of kids they interact with. Anyone who knows my kids can see they are unique and genuine people who know things and can communicate well and who have good character traits and are more often than not well behaved people that others want to be around. (They are imperfect humans who also display typical human traits and make mistakes, trust me. I mention that in case you mistakenly think I think my kids are perfect angels: they are not. They are human just like you and me.)

Lifting Weights at the Gym (Haiku)

2011-12-13T06:22:00.000-06:00

Doing lat pulldowns
Feels like 1986
Working hard, alone

Haiku by ChristineMM 12/12/11

Kaplan SAT Strategies, Practice, and Review 2011 Book Review by ChristineMM

2011-12-13T06:18:00.001-06:00

Title: Kaplan SAT Strategies, Practice, and Review 2011

Publication: Kaplan, 2010

My Star Rating: 5 Stars out of 5: I Love It

Summary Statement: 700+ Pages for the Price of a Take-Out Pizza = Cheap and Provides a Lot of Practice!

The book explains what the SAT test is and all the directions so the student can be familiar with those and not hear them for the first time when the test is administered.

Just as with Kaplan’s PSAT book, the best things about the book, though, are the test strategies that Kaplan recommends which they spell out clearly and concisely and the practice tests which are a lot for a low cost.

Just knowing and using these strategies must put students at an advantage perhaps that is why students always improve their scores upon taking it more than once.

The book comes with a serial number which allows the book owner to gain access to the Kaplan website where they can take more sample tests online (free of charge) to help them determine a studying strategy. (There are sample tests in this 700+ page book also.)

An impression I got from being on Kaplan's shiny impressive website is that everyone would benefit from taking Kaplan’s classes for SAT prep. Perhaps some who are tempted by this cheap book then feel scared and pay a lot more for additional courses. Whether you choose that is up to you. I honestly feel that if a student really started preparing ahead of time, not doing last minute cramming, and if they really do all the practice tests and understand the SAT’s format, and if they had a decent education, they’ll do fine on the SAT.

As I said about the Kaplan PSAT book, for the price of a take-out pizza, you can buy this book and access the website and the book to do a lot to practice. At least the book is not being sold for a ridiculous high price. The book is valuable for the student because it guides the student to find their weak areas so they can independently study or to go on to form a small study group. A student can learn a lot using just this book. So how hard can a parent really be when rating a 700+ page book that is such a low cost which can help the student a lot *if they actually use the book and do study*? I can't be that hard on the book, therefore I'll rate this 4 stars = I Like It.

I recommend that you buy this book, use it fully and see what you get out of it. If you feel you are floundering studying alone or with a small study group that you created, and consider enrolling in classes such as Kaplan's, if you either are not disciplined enough to stick to a study schedule on your own or if money isn’t an issue and you can afford the for-fee Kaplan services.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Amazon.com’s Vine program. I was not paid to write the review nor was I under obligation to write a favorable review. I was not paid or mandated to post this review on my blog. For my blog’s full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog’s sidebar.

Thoughts on Micro Essays for College Applications

2011-12-12T06:26:00.000-06:00

I had some thoughts after hearing about this. My impressions were before reading what others said later on in the article.

The new college admissions essay: short as a tweet

I bet this is a backlash against hearing too many essays that didn't reveal much about the candidate beyond showing they can write. Surely there are enough decent writers that they all start to look the same. Thus the colleges don't want to hear the "right response" they want to hear an "honest response".

I bet colleges get too many canned answers of stuff that the applicants think is what the colleges want to hear, and they are sick of it. If I were an admissions officer I'd reject anyone who gave robotic canned answers.

I bet applicants are following expert's advice about what to write and how, and that it's been happening for more years than the colleges can stand. They probably are just dying to hear more about who the student really is as a real person and they hope the essay can help put a more human face to it than the other parts of the application do (the numbers and lists).

I know some applicants are using ghost writers they hire. Some have the gall to call themselves college admissions coaches when in fact they are just essay ghost writers. I bet colleges are onto this scam. Now that more people are aware of such a paid service and so many can afford it, they're using those services, and the colleges must hate that. It's kind of like scamming the admissions office. Is there anyone who likes knowing the wool is being pulled over their eyes?

By asking quirky questions of the applicants, they are able to see if the person is unique or boring, and if they are a creative thinker.

By limiting the number of words in the response to a low number they force the applicant to use creative thinking and to use brevity. It is not easy to get the most content out of a short word count.

Lastly, I think it saves time on processing the college applications! I heard that some colleges are not even spending five minutes reading an application!

What do you think?

Estes Viper Toy Review by ChristineMM

2011-12-11T06:01:00.001-06:00

Price: $45 MSRP

To review this product I enlisted the help of my sons aged 11 and 14 who have experience playing with various (under $50) flying toys.

The first recommendation I have is to not fly this over a hard surface (i.e. asphalt or concrete) as the first few runs (when we had not figured out the controls yet) resulted in dive-bombs nose-first into the ground. Even hitting a mown grass field the Styrofoam plane began getting beat up after the first crash. The construction of this toy is just like some of the Air Hog brand helicopters that we’ve owned.

This plane comes with two extra propellers which I advise you bring with you because we lost one of our propellers after the fifth crash. They are black and hard to find when on the ground after they fall off mid-flight or after the crash. Note: if you crash it, look at it immediately and check for the propeller. Don’t walk away and realize later that it’s gone as finding it among the grass blades will be impossible. (Maybe they should have made them a neon color to help us?)

My main complaint is the price. I estimate $20 to be a more reasonable price than MSRP $45.

The Styrofoam construction which is typical of other brand toys on the market at present presents a problem when sometimes during a crash they break, so I worry about how long this will last. You cannot fly it without the propellers. I believe you may buy extra ones from the manufacturer.

The item was packed well within the Estes box with Styrofoam so it was not damaged in shipping. Mine came with a set of instructions but to get a feel for how to fly it correctly you just have to use trial and error and play with it.

My sons loved this. After family discussion we rate it using Amazon’s rating system of 4 Stars = We Like It, taking 1 star off for lack of durability and the high cost.

Disclosure: I received this product from Amazon.com’s Vine program. I was not paid to write the review nor was I under obligation to write a favorable review. I was not paid or mandated to post this review on my blog. For my blog’s full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog’s sidebar.

Mother and Son Portrait

2011-12-10T18:37:00.000-06:00

Photo taken 12/05/11 by ChristineMM using iPhone and Instagram.

Word Hero Book Review by ChristineMM

2011-12-10T06:37:00.000-06:00

Title: Word Hero: A Fiendishly Clever Guide to Crafting the Lines that Get Laughs, Go Viral, and Live Forever

Author: Jay Heinricks

Publication: Three Rivers Press, October 2011

Star Rating: 5 Stars out of 5: I Love It

Summary Statement: Breaks Down Elements of Witty Writing & Teaches You How to Write Like That

I found this book interesting and engaging and anything but boring. Heinricks teaches techniques of witty writing which can be used in writing or blogging or in speech writing or as tidbits to add into any type of public speaking you may do. Also anyone who just likes to insert wit into conversations may enjoy this also.

The lead-up to each element is engaging, always witty (of course) and fast-paced. Giving examples from history, current events and even quotes from the current popular TV show, Glee, we read many examples of the type of witty writing that is being discussed in that section. Then the reader is given writing exercises to practice in order for us to flex their own writing muscles.

There really is no way to improve one’s writing without writing, so I appreciated that the author not only teaches us this type of writing by providing us with text to read, but he also directs us with writing exercises to do on our own. I feel that by just reading this book a reader would not transform into suddenly being witty: you really have to do the work and practice.

Although I’m a clear writer and can write both technical process and persuasive writing, I definitely am not a witty writer. Witty thinking does not come naturally to me. My mind doesn’t think like that so I appreciated wit being broken down and dissected by Heinricks. I kept thinking, “Oh! I see how they did that! I can do that if I just tried!”

I appreciate that so much information is packed into this one inexpensive book. If anyone were to do all this writing it would probably equal a full college course’s worth of writing.

Anyone who thinks writing and the writing process is boring should give this type of writing a try. Actually everyone’s writing may be improved by working through this book. I recommend this book for interested writers aged 12 and up. (Teaching middle and high school students to write this way may actually get some of them more interested in writing.)

Dandelion

2011-12-09T18:36:00.000-06:00

Photo taken by ChristineMM in Connecticut in June 2011 with iPhone and Instagram.

View Free Vintage Comic Book Online (One Per Week)

2011-12-09T06:15:00.000-06:00

Click here to link to The History of Comic Books site to access the one free online viewing of a vintage or antique comic book.

I found that site while researching information to use for my grade nine son's high school art class which focuses on the art and craft and history of the comic book and graphic novels.

When Christians Carve Trees

2011-12-08T18:05:00.000-06:00

Noticed in my backyard after a heavy rainfall which made the crucifix pop.

Photo by ChristineMM using iPhone and Instagram.

Photographing Flowers Book Review by ChristineMM

2011-12-08T06:15:00.001-06:00

Title: Photographing Flowers

Author: Harold Davis

Publicaton: Focal Press October 2011

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

Summary Statement: Gorgeous Photographs with Both Creative Artistic Process and Technical Process Explained

I really enjoyed the format of this book, I found the method of showing a fantastic photograph with the explanation of how it was made engaging and interesting reading. I noticed the difference between other books that attempt to isolate one technique then show examples and liked Davis’s presentation much better; the other way sometimes comes off dry and uninspiring. Perhaps there is no other way for his process because often one photograph will use two or more different techniques, so splitting them off one by one would have been impossible. What I liked so much was reading about his thought process, what drew him to that flower, what different techniques he tried to capture the image then how it worked out in the end. I loved the process-oriented approach that this book has.

If you read this cover to cover as I did in the end what you will have learned is about:

Taking photos outdoors in the field and indoors in a studio as well as about how Davis uses Photoshop in post processing to create the images

Taking photographs with a very controlled setting and improvising outdoors in sub-optimal conditions (too bright sun, breeze, etc.)

How you can use cut plants, garden grown plants, wild plants, and store bought flowers

Using natural light, artificial light, and a combination of both

Shooting against black velvet and white backgrounds as well as using a lightbox and even scanning cloth and using Photoshop to create textured colored backgrounds (i.e. papyrus and linen)

Regarding equipment he discusses using regular lenses, macro lenses, extension tubes, close up filters, and the Lensbaby.

I want to emphasize that unlike some other books I’ve read I didn’t finish this book thinking that my capabilities were lacking due to not owning certain photography equipment. Davis left me with the impression that the photographer must have a creative vision and it is important to observe, see, and to be inspired by flowers. You can’t get that from just buying a macro lens or a Lensbaby or any piece of equipment. I know already that I’ve taken some very good macro photos using just my 18-55 mm lens on the macro setting. Even with limited equipment by using some of these techniques or buying some black velvet from the fabric store anyone would have enough to stretch one’s creativity.

Much of what Davis knows he has learned through trial and error. By the time I finished the book I was reminded yet again of the importance of the power of observation, of training our eye to really see what is in front of us. Davis encourages us to see the flower in ways that perhaps we have ever taken the time to. It is clear that the author enjoys photography and that what he’s learned has come from many hours of working with the flowers and trying different techniques then doing digital editing with Photoshop.

As I finished the book I felt inspired to try some of the new-to-me techniques. I really enjoyed the focus of the book being on process and discussing inspiration and hearing the author’s creative vision.

(I see that Davis has written other photography books now I am interested in reading more of his books.)

Finally Some Fall Color

2011-12-07T17:43:00.000-06:00

Photo by ChristineMM using iPhone and Instagram 12/07/11 in The Woodlands, Texas.

Some Info on Lyme Disease and Children (Neurological)

2011-12-07T06:39:00.000-06:00

For anyone looking for this information:

The Role of Neuropsychological Testing in Children with Lyme Disease by Leo Shea PhD

If it looks like a duck it is not always a duck. Lyme Disease can cause symptoms that look like certain other conditions but they are not really those other things. Lyme Disease can cause some of the same symptoms as ADD, for example, but it doesn't mean the person has ADD, they had brain injury from Lyme Disease.

With certain testing a more conclusive diagnosis can be found. For example my son's (expensive out of pocket expense we paid for ourselves) qEEG shows he does not have brain evidence of ADD or ADHD but he has some of the symptoms of ADD, and he does have a history of many new cases of Lyme Disease and possibly "chronic Lyme Disease". I used quotes as some of our doctors say no such thing exists as chronic Lyme Disease.

I-45 South Spring Texas

2011-12-06T18:17:00.000-06:00

Heading south at dinnertime, Spring, Texas, 11/26/11.

Photo by ChristineMM taken with iPhone and Instagram.

New Photos of Me

2011-12-06T15:02:00.000-06:00

Here I am in October 2011 after getting my new Texas hairstyle. Gone is the perm that gave me my curly locks. Curly hair is a disaster in this Houston climate. (I decided to update my blogger profile picture after 18 months of using that old one, that's why I'm sharing these here.)

While I'm in the sharing mode, here I am in November 2011 sitting in front of my computer. I now have to wear cheaters when reading most of the time, sometimes when reading on the web. So far I'm still in my contact lenses with cheap drug store reading glasses.

Both photos I took myself with the iPhone and then filtered through Instagram.

We Saw Where Robert Frost Wrote Poetry

2011-12-06T06:30:00.031-06:00

In August 2010 my children and I were in New Hampshire and on the spur of the moment I decided to visit the Robert Frost Farm in Derry. My ten year old son and I arrived at opening time.

Robert Frost Farm Derry, New Hampshire

Photo by ChristineMM, 8/18/10

My plan was to view the home briefly on a self-guided tour, then to walk the grounds with camera in hand and take photos for most of the time. I wanted to spend time outdoors and to try to see some of the nature that Robert Frost may have seen and to imagine how it may have influenced him. Would I notice some of the same things? What of this landscape is the same as when Frost lived here?

Instead the experience turned out to be something quite different and better. To sum it up, the docent who works for the state has studied the life of Robert Frost and written a manuscript about him. To say he is an expert on his life is an understatement. The docent started the small group by having us watch a documentary about Frost, then we started a tour the interior of the small farm house which to my surprise lasted three and a half hours. He was still going when we had to leave to pick up my older son from his appointment.

As to my outside viewing, I walked around the house and in the parking lot. I had no time to go on the grounds!

Today I will share a photo of where Robert Frost sat to write poetry, at his kitchen table.

This is not the actual table or chair but this is the spot where Frost's table and chair were. According to his daughter, as told to this docent, he would sit in the left-most chair, on the end, and look out that window and write his poetry by hand.

Photo by ChristineMM 8/18/10

This is the present day view of what Frost would see as he looked out the window at the kitchen table seat. We were told he would look out and think as he wrote his poetry. The view looks over the driveway that leads to the barn and you can see the road. I don't think much has changed since all you can see is lawn (or field) and trees across the street (unless back then the forest was farmed fields).

I learned more than I ever thought I wanted to know about Robert Frost that day. I learned a lot about his very human traits and his imperfections.

One tidbit is that his children were homeschooled. In a separate post I will show photos of their homeschool curriculum. The farm has a shelf full of the actual books that they used.

A video of the farm in Derry from YouTube:

One of my favorite Frost poems is "The Tuft of Flowers".

Tall Drink of Water, Literally

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Photo taken by my older son while at Mario's in Spring, Texas in November 2011 using iPhone and Instagram.

Slam Poetry About an Elderly Woman

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This is Rock Wilk. My sons took poetry writing classes with him, with a small group of homeschoolers. It was arranged by a homeschool mom who is friends with him. Wilk also sometimes visits schools to work with schooled kids.

Wilk's poetry touches me. All of it.

After he wrote his one-man show and brought it to the live stage our whole family went to see him perform. I felt it was good for my kids to see a person they knew take a dream and make it into a reality. While some of the content of that show was a bit mature for my kids, and some of the language in that show was profanity, I felt their exposure to it was justified and worth it.

This piece is special to me as it addresses a sick hospitalized 85 year old woman who Wilk loves.

Eldercare issues deeply touch my heart. It all started with my maternal grandmother who fought hard to remain living independently in her rural Maine home with a desire to die in the home she and her husband built with their own hands. For decades I heard of her wishes to remain living with dignity and independence for her whole life. She was 98 when she finally passed. (If you are curious she was brought to my uncle's house during a blizzard and passed during the storm. At least she never did have to live in a nursing home.)

I feel that elderly people have a right to live with dignity until the end, if possible.

It is hard for a person such as myself to try to be an advocate for an elderly person while navigating the waters of what other relatives are responsible for. Different relatives have different responsibilities for helping the aging person and when there is more than one person involved it can quickly get complicated.

Back to the topic in the video, I often ask myself what hospital staff think about the patients. They really have no clue who the patients are as people or how they normally are when they are not so sick and are "not themselves" or are dying.

I wonder also what nursing home staff think, if they wonder who the people were when they were more independent and able-bodied.

Bubble Gum Machine

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Mario's in Spring, Texas.

Photo by ChristineMM using iPhone and Instagram.

eBook Price Tipping Point Story

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This is a perfect and a fantastic story that illustrates what I have been saying for years.

For self-published eBooks, the price must be right or no sales will be made. In this case, self-publishing to Kindle in only eBook format, this unknown author of YA romance fantasy novels has now grossed over $2 million and averages 9,000 sales a day, with her books priced

ONLY AT

99 cents to $2.99.

I told you the price should be low.

I continue to be miffed at self-published eBooks by unknown authors who demand $20, $30, or $40 for one eBook. That is just too much money to gamble on an unknown author. Sales will be few and far between.

The marketing gurus who (also make money) by counseling would-be authors to self-publish to eBooks often encourage them to overcharge. They are behind the "you deserve $20-$30-$40 per book" idea.

I will never pay more for an eBook by an unknown author than I'd pay for similar content in a paper bound book published by a real publishing house after real editing. Period.

Here's the story about formerly unkown author Amanda Hocking who is now a millionaire: Want to be a Kindle Millionaire?

Kudos Hocking for making big bucks and for doing it by offering very reasonable prices to your customers!

Hat Tip: AnnKRoeker on Twitter