Loving the Struggle



     I teach adults at a technical college.  I also teach two future adults.  I remind myself of that fact every day, the fact that I am working with future adults.  What abilities do I want my children to posess?   Do they need to know Organic Chemistry?  I think I would rather have them know the struggle of learning Organic Chemistry, Physics, poetry, or our current dilemma, handwriting.

     Sometimes, I have to remind myself that the struggles that my children and I are sharing together are more important than the actual outcomes. 

     Today, my eight year old son had an absolute meltdown about subtraction.  He yelled at me, saying that I would not help him because I would not write the numbers down for him in nice, neat rows.  He got mad because I wouldn't enable him.  That is what I have to remember.  I told him directly that I am helping him by letting him do things for himself. I hope that some time very soon he will believe me. 

     I don't think we let our children (safely) struggle enough.  I see the results of enabling with the adults with whom I work as well.  They start doing math, or writing, whatever, and they throw their hands up and say, "This is hard!" Yup.  That's why it's worthwhile.

     I remember my dad answering my 'When am I ever going to use this!?!' question in regards to Geometry with a "You probably won't, but it's more important that you see how you work when something is difficult.  What do you do when you meet a challenge?" I bought it back then, and I still do. 

     I had the pleasure of teaching high school for six years.  When I see those "kids" now, it's the ones that I challenged, and they might have bucked me, that say 'thank you' now.  The adults are thankful for how I helped them as teens.

     I want to do that for my own children.  I want them to struggle, not give up, and know how good it feels to succeed.  I want them to do this so many times, that it is a normal experience for them.  I want them to love a challenge, not to shy away from one. 

     A good teacher leads by example.  I need to follow these lessons as well.  I need to role model a challenge, a struggle, and I need to persevere.  One way that I am doing this, for both myself and my family, is by running a half-marathon in May.  Yesterday, I ran nine miles, the longest I have ever run in my life!  I need to grow as a person, just as I hope my children will always want to do.  I want us to love the struggle, and know how good it feels to cross the finish line, until the next race. 





Withdrawal-Not Really

Every Lenten season, I give up Facebook.  I really thought that I would have a tough time doing it this year, I mean, somedays, Facebook is my connection to grown-ups and the outside world.  Then, this happened:

 

My beautiful state of Wisconsin is divided into two.  I don't want to talk about it.   I am all talked out actually, and that is why it was no problem for me to quit FB.  

No one really has 750 friends that they want to talk to every day.  I would rather talk to these guys:

I found myself checking FB too often anyway, one of the perils of being a homeschooling mom.  The computer is always there, and so, my attention always wasn't.  So, I'm out, and fully tuned back in.  Or, as my kids are saying, my FB account is:

 

So, if you want to see "what I am thinking/doing", pick up a phone and give us a call.  We might answer, we might not...hopefully the music will be too loud or we will be outside, so we will call you back. 
 

Peace and love,

Jessica

The Earth Goes Around the Sun



Dominic turned 8 years old yesterday.  He, along with some friends, lined up at the table to build Lego Star Wars ships. 
I looked at the group and realized the kids were 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 years old, and playing together beautifully I might add.
When we first started thinking about home schooling, I asked myself and others the dreaded "S" question, you know, "socialization"?  Now I just laugh because we have to remember the other "s's", like "squeezing" in "school"!

That brings me to my second point for today.  We are trying out the Oak Meadow curriculum.  We haven't really used a curriculum before, I have just put things together, but I am feeling a greater need for a routine and an underlying structure.  Today's science experiment had us moving a ball around a light bulb to simulate the rotation of the earth for days and years.  My guys took that and ran.  We looked up lunar and solar eclipses, phases of the moon, and when Sophia dropped "Earth", earthquakes.    It amazes me how they so inately want to learn. 

After Dominic's 8th rotation around the sun,

sometimes I feel I just need to set them up and get out of their way. :)





Epiphany

Happy Epiphany!  Funny, I had an Epiphany of my own just now.  I used to postpone writing a post until I thought about it, put it all together, took the time to fine tune it, etc.  In other words, I barely posted anything because I didn't make the time to put that process into action.

So, just as I didn't make any resolutions this year, I think things are great the way they are and if I want to do something, I will do it when it arises, I am just going to write when I want to write.  Whether it's short, thoughtful, or just an idea, writing will happen because it truly gives me joy.  So on that note, ironically, on to Epiphany... :)

I got a wonderful book from a friend called All Year Round by Ann Druitt, Christine Clinton, and Marije Rowling, about the seasons and traditions of the year.

Traditions follow nature, so when our outide world becomes colder and more barren, our inside world becomes more colorful and festive.

Today, January 6th, is Epiphany.  Epiphany is also known as the Three Kings Day, or Twelfth Night.  Basically, the 12 days of Christmas end on January 5th, and Epiphany is the day when Christians celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ into human form.  If you want to read more about it, go to this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(holiday)

Today, we are going to make the traditional Epiphany cake.  There are many different recipies, but the basic ideas that remain constant are two fold: a crown on top, and a surprise within.

The cake has something hidden in it, whether it's an almond, a bean, or a figurine, whoever finds this treat while eating the cake gets to be "King" for a day, and of course, gets to wear the crown.  (I think we will wash it off first :)

We are going to use an almond.  The figurine idea scares me a bit, dental costs...you know.

If you want to make the traditional French puff pastry idea, here is a recipe:

http://www.education.com/activity/article/bake-easy-epiphany-king-cake/

the recipe in our book is heavier with cherries, nuts and honey, but hey, if you are reading this you have the internet and you can find whatever you want.  It is also totally okay to just make a cake mix out of a box; the main idea is to hide something to find your "King". 

So happy Epiphany, and I'll let you know who is our monarch next time!

J

Quieting the Monkey Mind

I am very good at wasting time, but I am horrible at "doing nothing". Big difference.


This morning I found myself at a combined 3 hour yoga class.  Now for some of you, this may be a normal occurence in your life.  Not for yours truly.  I find that I make excuses to not carve out that essential time for myself.  Truth be told, I really enjoy my day to day, and it's not until I do something like this that I realize how much I really needed it.

So I looked forward to this morning and the Yin Yoga with Great Expectations.

Yin Yoga practice involves holding poses for a longer time, and going within the mind.  My dear friend Julie quipped that this is very challenging, and the first time that she did it, Yin kinda drove her nuts.  (Julie is a wonderful yoga teacher.)

My mind has a tendency to drive me nuts because I have not taken the proper time to train it to BE QUIET!

So, for this post, I thought I would share with you a direct transcript of my mind during Yin Yoga:

that is so cool that i am here...tony really should get his brakes fixed on his car.  i can't believe that he drives that....oh!...listening...listening...she really explains things beautifully! this is fun this is fun this is fun...downward dog...ouch!  why does my left calf hurt?  maybe because i haven't run since i got sick-shoot i forgot to take my probiotic this morning!  okay, holding a pose...count like a zen master 1 in, 2 out three in, four...i am hungry!  good thing i had coffee though...what am i doing shhhhh!! okay, 1 in, 2 out, 3 in...switch legs!  on it...1 in, 2 out, 3 in...my feet are kinda cold...can't really put socks on right now...I can't forget to give Julie her daughter's socks back...oh this stretch feels really good!  man,.these yoga pants are lint magnets STOP!! okay, 1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...this feels so good....i should do this like, 3 times a week!  yeah right Jessica, how is that going to work?  you work like 4 nights a week...do i work next wednesday?  STOP!  1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...downward dog...blossoming butt!  ha...that's funny...k, moving...to the next...pose...ahhhh....1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...i want some of that chocolate in the other room...5 in....6 out...I wonder what we are going to do tonight?  7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out...ssshhhhhhhh...1 in...2 out...Dominic is reading at church tomorrow!  I have to print that..SSSSHHHHHHHH! okay...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out...this is good...1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................okay...letting go into the pose......1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................i am doing it!  shoot, I just blew it by doing that...1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................1 in...2 out...3 in...4 out...5 in....6 out...7 in...8 out...9 in...10 out....................
........bliss..........
namaste...
i hope you all get a chance to "quiet your monkey mind" today.
Thanks Julie :)



What's the point?

I love how my world gets to revolve around the pursuit of knowledge, and in the background, I continuously question for what purpose?

When I was in my last semester of student teaching, I remember our TA always asking us to question why we were teaching, what we were teaching, and how we were teaching.  I became so frustrated with him because his questioning was not applicable to my 'here and now'.  That kind of thinking served no point for the student teacher...I remember challenging him, saying something like 'he was asking us to question how we ran before we could even walk.'  I just wanted to know how to make a bunch of 17 year olds listen to me and hopefully learn something.

Now I get it.  I am in a place and time where that makes sense.  I taught high school for six years.  I taught preschool movement classes for a year (somedays, toddlers are just like sophomores, and vice versa).  I was the teen director at our YMCA.  Now, I work at a technical college, helping adults to get their GED or HSED. 

All of this experience truly leads me to 'what's the point?'  I see the adults I work with struggle with finding the area of a triangle, both of us knowing, for a fact this time, that they will never again use this in the real world.  Is it the struggle that earns you the right to say that you graduated from high school?
As adults, they are still cramming and regurgitating for a piece of paper, fulling knowing the futility of the exercise. 

 I am fortunate enough to home school our two kiddos.  Seeing what ultimately is supposed to be the outcome of a high school education gives me a sneak peek of what traditional schooling holds out there for the basic requirements to send one out into the world.
The most precious thing about my children's learning is their love of learning, without labeling it.  Kind of Taoist...don't label it, categorize it; it just is what it is.

Now I find myself doing the delicate tightrope walk of not only maintaining that love of learning, but balancing it with life, liberty, and the pursuit of property.  (Sorry, we're studying the Constitution.)

It would be criminal for me to crush their spirits.  Somewhere, that happened to every single adult that I work with at MPTC.  I hear how they hate to read, hate math, what's the point?

Leads me to even more questions, what, ultimately is the point?  Now that my children and I can walk together, I am questioning, only 15 years after student teaching, how can we run together.  And I don't want them to ever have a finish line...

Back to School

I ended up taking the summer off from blogging, didn't mean to, but as the air grows cooler, I find myself back in an academic frame of mind.  (Today it's in the mid-80's in Wisconsin, but it was cooler before, summer's hanging on, and that's okay with me.)

It's so cliche to say that summer "flew by", but there is something about unplanned days that unfold to include watermelon, swimming, and late nights of Harry Potter movies  that just make the sand go through the glass at an alarming rate.

I usually cringe at the end of summer, but since we started home schooling, it's another exciting phase of our lives. 
I don't mind the shift to a routine after lackadaisical summer, but it's because I have one that I appreciate the other. 
We officially started our school last Monday.  Our recent family trip to Washington DC encouraged us to up the ante.  I found it fascinating to see how our founding fathers loved to learn.  How in the Smithsonian's exhibit about Lincoln, it said he was "home schooled".  Now I am not naive; I know that he was in a log cabin, and he probably did not home school by choice, but his passion for learning never wained.  Walking through Jefferson's library in the Library of Congress, here was a man whose quest and purpose in life was to learn everything about everything. 

Side note, at a store yesterday, I saw all of those inane shirts for kids that say things about how they would rather be playing video games as opposed to doing homework...wonder how that follows the dreams our founders had for this nation....

So, our family found inspiration in the largest sense this summer...the kids have lofty goals for themselves, and Tony and I are here to help them along the way.  Why would anyone sell their children short with curtailing their possiblities?  Cherry Street school is now in session...