catching up

The blog has been idle for a while! We successfully transitioned the boys to public school this past school year. They are old enough, the wife and I are both gainfully employed, and the boys were ready. The big kid is now going to a small Waldorf-based public charter school, and the monkey is going to a small public Montessori school. We don't hew to one philosophy or the other; we just know that each kid has his own learning style, and that they are comfortable in smaller communities.

Both are doing well; the big kid has had a TON of homework, but has gotten a lot out of his experience as a high school freshman and is looking forward to growing within his new school. The monkey went to a penitentiary-style meat grinder of a school when he first started this year, and of course hated it, but we managed to get him in the Montessori school by mid-November. He loves being in charge of his own work at his own pace (which is fast), and loves the fact that his class is pretty quiet compared to the first school.

We have always hated standardized testing, and suffered it as a condition of being part of a public charter (that caters to homeschoolers) for the last few years in order to get a little funding. Even though we don't like the system of standardized tests, and don't think it measures anything meaningful, it's still a bit gratifying to find the boys testing at the highest end of the scale, and getting almost all A's (one B for Adon. Still on the honor roll).

It's always been hard to put up with the constant criticism and scrutiny and doubt from people we came in contact with over the years, much less hear the constant putdowns in mainstream media implying that homeschoolers are maladapted morons who never learn anything. The media paints homeschoolers as unmotivated unschoolers or fanatical faith-based cultists, with little room for people like us, who just wanted our kids to be happy. We wanted to preserve their love of learning, and make sure they understood how to think critically. We wanted them to have the time they needed to focus on whatever subject they wanted, and the attention from us to guide them to things they might otherwise miss or find boring. We also didn't mind bypassing all the handwringing and competition and angst about whether or not the boys would be in a "good" public school.

We succeeded. The boys are happy, healthy, well-adjusted (granted, a little quirky), and we never had to hear a teacher tell us our kids should probably be on medication. For those six years, we didn't have to put up with bullying, popularity contests, or heartbreaking apathy. The boys are enthusiastic, well-mannered, and learning to be more independent. They still have a long way to go in public school, but they both have their eyes on college and beyond. They got a chance to do something unique, and their perspectives are forever changed because of it.

O geeks of my heart

...my little nerdlings, welcome to the game of RISK. You make your father proud.

Happy Grandparents' Day!

(Click on each image to see it larger):

Slip N Slide

The boyzos love the slip n slide -- ours is a 25 foot plastic sheet with a sprinkle hose on the edge. I put some landscaping fabric grommets on the edge and corners and used smooth-headed plastic stakes to hold it down. Of course, the boys manage to pull the edges up anyway. Still, WAY better than Wham-O.

Proud papa

My boy is reading Batman...*snif*
I have been itching to introduce him to my favorite titles for years, but comics are way more mature than they were when I was a kid. Sometimes it feels like the maturity level of mainstream comics was pegged to my personal growth rate, but that can't be right, can it? I know when "The Dark Knight Returns" came out I was READY. If you're younger than 40, look it up. Chris Nolan didn't come up with it, Frank Miller did, and for WAY different reasons. I am starting Adon off with the established reboot of Batman, beginning with Year One and working our way BACK to DK Returns, even though DKR paved the way for Y1.

Epic Origami

Zan has experimented with miniature origami:

as well as massive:

FB vs remote blog posting

This is a test to see if Blogger can handle this emailed post. I tend to send things to FaceBook from my phone on a regular basis, but save the blog for more lengthy commentary. Unfortunately our blog gets short shrift.

I posted this video to FB a couple of days ago. Let's see how Blogger handles it via email

Midyear = first blog post

Woohoo!

The blog efforts take a backseat to all other efforts, natch. The boys and I have been and still are working through all the nuances of being home together all day every day; we have a certain amount of work we HAVE to do, and a certain amount of playing to get in, and scheduled activities and classes. We mainly go with the flow. Since last November the flow has dictated that I concentrate on the boys' happiness and fulfillment first, my schoolwork second, freelance work after that, and then housework and bills (sorry, honey). My health issues have ebbed and flowed as well, keeping me under the weather sometimes and lifting other times, but I am nowhere near as productive as I used to be. Looking on the bright side, exercise and sleep help a lot when I am fighting one of my low periods.

I made it through my fourth semester of grad school and pulled As. I have been working hard, but was still worried that I was going to pull it out. I have finally made it through all of my in-class work and can concentrate on graduation in December. I am going to TA and work on my "Culminating Experience," which is the school's term for the effort I spend on my thesis, exam, or project. I am opting for the exam.

The boys are doing wonderfully; we belonged to a charter school this year that caters to homeschool families. We chafed a little bit under the state requirements but when it comes right down to it the state's expectations are LOWER than ours and the boys had no problem showing competency in the required subjects without compromising our philosophy about child-directed learning. Their imagination and creative energy still drive our daily activities, with moderate detours into enforced math and writing. Everything else comes naturally into our learning cycle.

So, with summer I get a reprieve from the weight of my schoolwork and will be more inclined to write about our homeschooling life. The boys are both having fun with scouting, martial arts, music (Adon plays drums) dance (Zander is learning hip-hop), and lots of other stuff. LEGO still figures heavily into our daily life. We fly model rockets, do origami, make our own plush creations (monsters, mostly), and do whatever else comes to mind!

scenes from our morning

Zander: hey Dad, did you know that someone once sold a corn flake in the shape of Illinois for $1,300?

Dad: wow, that's some cornflake.

Zander: yeah.

Dad: (thinking) here it comes...

Zander: Do we have any cornflakes?

---

Dad: (going in to Adon's bedroom) time to wake up, big kid --

Adon: ...

Dad: you know I know when you're faking being asleep, right?

Adon: ...

Dad: do I need to send Louie (the chihuahua) in here to lick your face?

Adon: that would be kind of nice, actually.