Take a Lesson From Your Kid

I don't have much time to write this because I really need to get back to my studying..  My teacher is pretty tough and I have a Minecraft exam later on! WOW! How am I going to remember the Minecraft Table of Elements, mining rare elements, how to make a stone shelter , stove and armor, all about Minecraft animals and their enemies like skeletons, zombies, Endermen and the dreaded Enderdragon!  I am feeling the pressure!  But my son is a pretty darn good teacher!

I love my son and every time he has a new fascination, I get an education!   And honestly, I am not going to lie to you, I love it!

My favorite part of my Minecraft education is to watch my son glow!  It's definitely a bonding moment that we share!  He loves to get to share his passion with me and he relishes the experience of "being the teacher"!  And the hugs and kisses are a definite bonus!

But I wouldn't be a Renaissance Mama if I didn't admit the intellectual processing my son develops is just as important to me.  Its a great opportunity to encourage more reading .  He reads many of his books to me and he stops and discusses the content with me, explaining it to me and asks questions.  When he teaches it helps him to internalize the material.  Studies have proven the best way to learn is to teach the information.  I love that teaching me also encourages him to organize and verbalize his thoughts.

And, what lesson would be complete without tests! Test making requires that he understands the material, can form questions, and I love that it is an opportunity to encourage writing.  So even if your child's latest obsession makes you want to run away with your fingers in your ears and singing "La, la, la, la, lahhhhh" your involvement  in their passions will not only mean the world to them, and develop loving and tender moments, but you will also be helping them to intellectually grow, think and learn.

Think out of the box.

Show your child you value them.

And build loving memories

Nothing says "I love you" more then letting them share their passions

Today's out of the box thinking...

Food for thought.

Once in a while I read a book that has a real profound effect on me, one that changes the course of my life and how I am going to educate my son.  This profound moment came after reading the first chapter of the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  I saw my sons first 12 years of education  differently, and I realized what a disadvantage my son has.  The premise of the chapter was about hockey players and how  the  majority of the best players were born in the first quarter of the year.  No it was not that winter babies were better physically, but that the cut off for leagues was Dec 31 and if you were born Jan. 1  you had to wait a full year to play.  Well that is a full year a child has to mature and develop.  Then it leads to the fact that  these children  were viewed as more talented, and children viewed as more talented get better training and more ice time, which makes them even better.  I noticed this same thing to a point when my son played hockey, the better the child was at hockey, the more ice time they played.  The stronger gets stronger and the weak then get ignored.

After reading this and internalizing it I realized what a huge disadvantage my son had, my son was born July 31, just one month from the cut off!  He was only five by 2 weeks when on the first day of school!  There had already been many studies showing up about the advantages that girls have over boys in school, now look at a fall born girl over my summer born boy!  You just could not compare the 2, it was an unfair disadvantage!!!  I know, your puzzled,  because I homeschool, what does it actually matter ?!?  Plus my boy was reading at 3 and advanced in math.  Well, it WILL matter later in his education.  So I marched in and demanded that we “red shirt” my son.  What is “red shirting”, it is a little trick of waiting a extra year to enroll your child in school,  giving your kid one more year to mature.   But they would not let me do this, I think schools actually frown on this method because usually only the educated parents  use it.  BUT I learned something new I could do!!!  Keep in mind that my boy will be 17 when he graduates from high school on his current path, and personally that is way to young to send him off into the real world.  So I learned about a NEW IDEA!  Give him 5 years of High School!!!  I could be wrong, and please leave a comment on my blog, but there is no where on the college application asking if you did high school in five years, my son will just be a regular senior!

Think about it!!!  Really think, especially if you are fiercely competitive like me and really wish for your child to have a chance at going to an elite university ;)  If you have a summer child like I do, our kids have a big disadvantage, and we can even up the odds.  Summer children are underrepresented in college!  They are forced to compete with children older, socially/emotionally more mature, physically more mature, and cognitively more mature!  When you are 5 years old , 11 months makes a huge difference developmentally!!!   The older children get treated like they are smarter and more mature, while the younger child who can be just as intelligent will not be treated as well.  Leaving a younger child feeling inferior and that can last their whole school career.  Even IF your child is gifted, there are other gifted children in your child’s grade all across the country,  born 11 months earlier!   And if you love sports, image how much more mature a fall child is to the summer child.  It is simply not fair to put such a wide group of children together and expect fairness!  But there is a way to get around it and even up the odds if you’re  willing to put in an extra year!

Few points to consider.

1.     1. ` Students today can go to college and high school at the same.  There are programs like running start.  Getting the advanced math and science classes are easier to aquire and will continue to become easier as home schooling continues to grow.  They can take a language class and it can count as college credit too.

2.  2.      Think SAT and ACT scores,  giving your student one more year will increase their scores.  If you have a gifted student, can you image what another year will do.  My intention is for my child to get into Air Force Academy , MIT or Harvard.  With one more year to raise his scores, it should really help to increase his chances in getting into these schools.

3.      3. Sports, are you looking at getting your child’s college paid for with scholarships?  Giving them one more year to grow and mature will help them to get into leadership or captain positions. 

4.    4.   We are working towards a goal of  earning an Eagle Scout award, black belt in Karate, accomplished musician, etc. etc. This will give him one more year to boost their college application.

5.     5.  One more year to emotionally and socially mature.   They will have another year tomature and be able to handle life on their own.

    It is just a thought, think out of the box.  If you have a spring or summer child, our kids are at a great disadvantage.  I am not one to cry in my beer, but instead to seize control of the situation and do what is best for my child’s future!!!  I joke around with my kids that I am going to do the absolute best that I can do now, because they are going to be the ones to pay for my old folks home.  Thankfully I know that they love me very much and know that there has never been anything I would not do for them .

May I introduce to you Mr. Round Peg and Mr. Square Peg

First let me introduce to you Mr. Circle Peg, we will call him Mark.  When Mark was a young boy his dutiful parents  enrolled him into music lessons and he began his formal education.  Lots of instruction,  practice and time.  Mark went from recitals, to high school orchestra, to his college orchestra and performing  with an  orchestra professionally.  Finally one day he is proud to be sitting among the finest and most accomplished musicians in his handsome tux, playing amazing pieces by brilliant composers at Carnegie Hall.  He had worked hard all his life for a moment like this.

Now I would like to introduce to you Mr. Square Peg, let’s call him Jimmy.  Jimmy’s father bought a guitar for his son when he was young because he was fascinated with them.  Jimmy had very little, if any, formal training.  But he loved playing his guitar and was passionate about it.  He taught himself by trying to play his favorite songs and trying to develop new songs  with his own personal style. It was said that Jimmy loved his guitar so much that he took it everywhere with him so that if he had a melody playing in his head he could practice it.  Jimmy worked on his own style that would set himself apart from other performers, like playing behind his head and he was even known to set his guitar on fire!  With dedication and practice his career grew and grew.  Eventually Jimmy would play many gigs, even play at the most famous music concert in history, where he played on of his most popular performances ever!  Even after 40 plus years after his death, he is still a legend!

Here I am trying to reflect on the differences between “schooled” and “unschooled.”  Many people do not understand “unschooling” and a stigma has been attached to it as a thing bohemian, hippy parents do.  But unschooling is not new or unusual if you really look at education throughout human existence, it is quite normal, and “schooling” has JUST recently become the norm .  Some people actually really thrive in school, they tend to be the more conformist type, they like routines and order and can handle sitting for long periods of time and concentrating.  Then there are people just like me, who are active daydreamers, nonconformist, obsessive and creative, who thrive when they can throw themselves into subjects they love.

Both Mark and Jimmy were very successful in their paths, but how they got to where they were was very different.  You have to ask yourself, if Jimmy would have been forced into a round hole, where he could not personalize his gifts would he have thrived or just given up.  And Mark, would he have had the creativity and passion to pursue music in a “unschooled “  manner.   As you know, no two minds are the same, we all think differently, and  I want to help in raising awareness that we all have something to offer.  In schools sometimes  we see the hyper, distracted, daydreamer as a child we have to fix, not understand.

As a mom, that chooses mostly to unschool, (yes unfortunately I still mostly school math and Language Arts, and I have written about what a battle that is)  We mentor our children, not necessarily teach.  We encourage their exploration and be there for discussions, activities and often gentle reminders that they sometimes need to do more than just their one thing.   I make sure that there is a wealth of learning material around,  and I try to find fun and interesting ways to stimulate my young boys mind.

Developing the Love of Learning

Most of my life I have been treated like "Oh your JUST a preschool teacher. You teach ABC's and 123, how hard can that be???"  UNLESS you were a client, then you saw someone passionate about  opening up this amazing world to their young child's mind. I chose preschool over primary because I loved that I could TEACH, and not worry about standards. Standards drained the fun out of learning. Infant, toddler and preschool children have the most amazing minds, it is the time they will be learning faster than any other time in their life. The world is full of amazing things and a few loving people want to take their little hands and introduce them to all the beauty, to answer their precious questions and invite them to explore the world all around them. I want to encourage creativity and through love and active learning introduce them the all the math and science around them in their natural enviroment, and to prepare them to read. I love that preschool is a time for the simple "love of learning" And then they enter school... yeah! Sit still, get it done, read this book! Science and exploration, what is that , we have a test to prepare for!

I entered into education almost 30 years ago and my passion for it has grown, and my ECE background has helped me perfectly with my love of homeschooling.  I try to allow my son to explore and create.  When he finds something that he is absolutely passionate about I am relaxed enough to facilitate him, by offering him plenty of materials for him to learn with.  I do still lead him in his learning, but I try to take guidance from him as to what he needs.  Ever is it so apparent in his dislike in forced education than in his reaction to grammar and his work books.  I have to fight my son, set timers and get mad at him for waisting his time away with daydreaming.  Education becomes a real battle.  Yet when we study things that he is passionate about, it is easy, he practically teaches himself.  When he loves something, he wants to read it, talk about it, write about it and he even internalizes it so much that he acts it out and I can see it in his play.  I just know that it is working, because we have many many interesting and stimulating conversations.  Please, do not ever get me wrong.  I am NOT a hippy type of mom, a slacker. Anyone who knows me knows that I have extremely high expectations of my children.  But I am more passionate about the "love of learning" , than passing a bunch of test and I know that there will come a time, where he will have to narrow down his pursuits and focus heavily and with mastery his future career goals.

What the heck is this floating in my soup?

I can just see it now, my child at an important meeting with the CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies, and he leans over to the guy next to him and asks “What is this green stuff floating in my soup?”   Well fortunately for us, my son has seen plenty of green stuff in his life.  But I am always amazed when I am in the process of going through the checkout lane at the grocery store .  When the cashier gets to my produce I am always asked a long string of questions. “What’s this? “,  and me “ An endive.”  “What’s this?” and me “A horseradish root.” “What’s this?” and me “Watercress.”    You get the picture.  The amazing thing about the kids I live around in Delta Junction, Alaska, is that a lot of these kids are vegetable genius, these kids know their veggies!  Gardening in Interior Alaska is a way of life, and right now Alaskans are starting our plants indoors!  It may only be March, but we are getting started on our leeks, celery and celeriac and those with green houses get to be even more adventurous! 

A Renaissance Man Mama, believes that every young child would greatly benefit from the lost art of horticulture.  Not only does this Latin Lover Mama get some vocabulary in like hortus/garden, herba/plant, flos/flower, humus/dirt, and folium/ leaf, but the science behind plants and gardens is amazing!!!  There is a cornucopia of activities that you can do with a garden.   Plus your exposing a child to a garden CAN (but not always) encourage young ones to try a greater variety of vegetables, plus save you some bucks in the grocery store.  Personally speaking, but I am an experienced horticulturist, I only grow the vegetables that cost me a small fortune at the grocery store, like fennel, leeks,  and gourmet lettuce.  This year we are going to experiment with lemon grass, celeriac,  kohlrabi, broccoli raab, and even more varieties of radishes!  My idol, the ultimate Renaissance man, Thomas Jefferson,  had a very large garden, he experimented with plants all from all over the world and tried to learn about the natives horticulture styles.

Culturally speaking I really do believe that it is important to expose your children to as many types of vegetables as possible.   You find that food is culture and culture in foods.  Being well versed in vegetables is a way of being exposed to many cultures.  Before my first trip to Europe, there were a lot of  vegetables that I had never been exposed to, but after traveling through Europe, I was enlightened!  It really changed how I view food.  When I cook Asian food (major and minor) I recognize that they have their own vegetables and spices, and it inspires me to grow new types of vegetables to make my food more authentic.  Exposure makes children more worldly, and let’s face it,  but do you want your offspring to grow up and go on an important lunch interview and order a hamburger because they are to  afraid to explore new foods.  Or how foolish they will look if they are invited to the bosses house for dinner and do not recognize the food their bosses wife just put in front of them!

Birth of a Renaissance Mama

Being philosophical here...

I wonder if the growing movement of homeschooling is the Renaissance of learning and culture in the Modern ages.  My peers that I connect with, have the same goal, we want to groom our children into Renaissance Men (children). We feel that we want to leave the "dark ages" of institutionalized education and their desire to "teach to pass the test" and "pump and dump" mentality and create an environment that nurtures the love of learning and culture.  

     So, what is a Modern Renaissance Man?  Is it a "person" who knows a lot about many different subjects?  My personal goal, when mentoring my son, is to guide him in learning all about the world all around him.  I expose him to the arts and music, Latin, science, great leaders and history, and modern technology.  We spend a great deal of time researching,  creating,  exploring and trying new things, and I would like to share with you our experiences.  

     I am a stay at home mom who has been homeschooling my son since birth.  I have a background in high school and college in Early Childhood Education.  I loved ECE because instead of feeling the pressure of tests and making sure children met standards, it was a time to explore, create and imagine.  Everything in life was a "wonder" to them, I remember when my son had a strange fascination with the washing machine, he would love to just stand there and watch and feel everything the machine did.

  As his mom, I just watched patiently, and enjoyed the delight I saw in his face.  Everything was new to him and if allowed, he would explore everything until he was completely satiated!  I "try" to approach homeschooling in the same manner, to let his natural curiosity lead his way.  I am not saying that we do not do the drudge work, but I emphasis the creative achievements and the love of learning.                                                                Latin is a growing language, especially among home schoolers, but also the passion for the arts and music are being reignited. We treasure music in this household and my son is exposed to opera and classical music on a daily basis. I looked at public schools curriculum and I am not fond of the material that they present, but I teach my son about the greatest minds in history, to inspire him. I teach him a great deal about Ancient history and great civilizations! Then I pursue STEM, because I am training my son to enter the work force as a professional, not a worker.

     When I talk to people that are on the fence about homeschooling I find that they already have the same dreams and desires for their children, I am new at blogging, and I promise that with time I will get better.  But I hope that you might enjoy the journey with us and we might inspire you too, to develope a generation of Renaissance Men (and girls of course).  I have so much to share and a great deal of passion for learning. 

     I am always open to ideas and encourage new thoughts and ideas.  Please feel free to share.  This path that we take with our children, speaking as a homeschooling mother, is difficult and I love to learn from other mothers how to make this an enjoyable experience.  Please feel free to ask questions!