Home Spun comic strip #533

Carnival at Sprittibee

The latest Carnival of Homeschooling: School Rooms and the Places We Learn edition is up at Sprittibee. Please stop by and read some of this week's submissions!

Home Spun comic strip #532

Do you have days when you wonder why you let anyone buy toys for your child? I think back to what amused my children the most (or still amuses them) and I think of cardboard boxes and tubes, juggling scarves, socks, water, shampoo or soap, pillows, sticks, rocks, and dandelions. If anything, I buy a lot of art and craft supplies, especially pens, markers, beads, pipe cleaners, Model Magic and duct tape. If I feel like torturing myself, I also get some glitter.

What are some of your child's favorite non-toy toys?

Home Spun comic strip #531

Sierra recently learned the art of making glue skin. Now all of my children know this useful skill. I'm sure you're impressed.

Home Spun comic strip #530

Characterizing Learning

The other night, I started thinking about the many characters I know from books and comics and wondered about how unconventional their education was and how they might have fared as homeschoolers. This is the type of thinking that could keep me up all night. I figured I would start making a list of some of the characters. Please excuse me if I got any of my facts wrong. I realize it's been a while since I've read some of these books, so I'm simply using the impressions they left on me. I also realize I've listed more male than female characters. These were simply the first ones I thought of and I wanted to write them down before I forgot. If you like what I've done, maybe I will work on additional characters in a future article. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Christopher Robin: Young Christopher's love of nature kept him outside every day exploring the Hundred Acre Wood. He spent hours tromping through mud, observing the local inhabitants, playing Pooh Sticks, and building shelters for his friends. He learned a lot about natural science by observing cloud formations and noting weather conditions (e.g.: "Today is a blustery day." or "Tut, tut, it looks like rain!").

Alice: Classically educated, Alice had a tendency to let her mind wander during studies. The solution? She switched to a more eclectic style. This allowed for her creative spirit to shine through and favored her penchant for odd recitations, riddles, and chess.

Superman: Kal-El's father was a super homeschooling dad. Knowing his son had a long journey ahead, Jor-El made enough educational recordings for several trips between Krypton and Earth. These recordings would be cherished by Kal-El (aka Clark) and he could often be found listening to them as an adult at his Fortress of Solitude.

Batman: Bruce Wayne enjoyed a projects-based education. Alfred often found young Bruce inventing useful devices. He kept them handy in his utility belt. After all, you never know when you might need a bat-grappling hook.

Huckleberry Finn: As a decidedly independent learner, Huck followed any interest, no matter where it led. He was often found rafting along the Mississippi River, making observations about the people and places he came across.

Lucy Pevensie: It can be difficult being the youngest of four. Lucy often sought escape from the real world. Her imaginative play and love of animals led to many new friends and adventures in a world apart from her imaginings. She also developed a strong sense of right and wrong. It's amazing how much you can learn by stepping into a wardrobe.

Harry Potter: Harry followed a standard school curriculum, but because he was often bullied, most of his studying was accomplished in a cupboard under the stairs. These early learning experiences would later influence his educational choices. At Hogwarts, Harry preferred to pursue his own interests, such as sports and combatting advanced dark wizards, over the more conventional magical studies of history, herbology, and potion-making.

Westley: A self-motivated learner, Westley spent years educating himself while working on a farm before accepting an apprenticeship aboard the pirate ship Revenge under the tutelage of the Dread Pirate Roberts (aka Ryan). Learning through life experiences would eventually help Westley outwit many opponents and successfully blaze a trail through the Fire Swamp.

Home Spun comic strip #529

Home Spun comic strip #528

Home Spun comic strip #527

Even though I started leaning toward unschooling several years ago, I was never brave enough to try it until recently. What can I say? We live in a state where homeschooling is highly regulated. I scare easily. And actually, "try" isn't the right word. My youngest forced me to unschool.

The thing is, we were already at a point where I spent half the year unschooling. I would spend September through November trying to set up a routine, but by the time Christmas came, our schedule was so interrupted it became impossible to get back into anything resembling normal. I would leave Marina and Chase to study on their own. The past two or three years has been even more complicated due to several funerals and events. Sierra just pushed me the rest of the way toward unschooling because she was born independent.

Home Spun comic strip #526

A Pool of Tears: September 11th

A tear for each name
Falling in the dust of destruction
A pool of sorrow
Covered in petals of reflection
Ripples of sadness
Spreading open in consolation
Fluttering a flag
Tattered but proud in restoration
Faces lined with the pain of mourning
Angels reach to ease their suffering

Home Spun comic strip #525

It was Chase's cat, Merlin, who first learned the secret of waking the boy. He would walk along Chase's dresser and knock things down, starting small and moving to more breakable objects, until Chase finally gave up and got out of bed to feed him. This gave us many early mornings for learning adventures. And then, the inevitable happened.

Chase learned how to lock his door.

It is the saddest thing to see Merlin mournfully mewing at his boy's door. Mainly because when he gives up he comes into our room. And he knocks things off of our dressers. He also taught Dusty how to do this. Dusty doesn't like to wait for her morning meal, so she's been forcing us out of bed earlier each morning.

If it's Dusty, it must be 6am. Or earlier. Depends on her mood. I'm so sleep deprived...

Home Spun comic strip #524

So now I admit my weakness. Spiral notebooks, sketchpads, blank books...if it has a pretty cover I feel woozy and need to talk myself out of buying it. This is easy most of the time, but sales put these pads into the affordable range for me. Rest assured, they won't go to waste, but I also won't need any new pads or notebooks for a long time!

Carnival at Lesson Pathways

The latest Carnival of Homeschooling: The Road Less Traveled edition is up at Lesson Pathways Blog! I happen to love the theme for this week. It is so meaningful for those of us who wander off on roads that are barely visible and often need to be carefully traversed as brambles threaten to catch at our sleeves and vines threaten to entangle our feet. Check out the diversity and creativity of our homeschooling community in this week's links!

The Click

Looking back on my life, there are many moments when I can say I truly learned something that made a profound impact on me. These were not necessarily moments when someone was trying to teach me, but rather spontaneous learning, where my mind was open to what I was doing or listening to, where the right words were used, where neurons fired, the planets aligned and suddenly...POW! Enlightenment. I've decided to call that moment of profound learning the "click".

Here are some examples of the click in my life.
~My grandma was something of a rebel. A native New Yorker, she was unafraid of jaywalking and picket lines. I remember when there was controversy over a movie called Fort Apache, The Bronx. It was picketed by many minorities for what was seen as negative stereotyping and they demanded a boycott of the movie. (I don't remember if my father protested too. Dad, tell me in the comments.) Anyway, my grandma saw the movie. No one was going to tell her what to do.
My click: Don't let others tell you how to think. Seek out knowledge and form your own opinions.

~When I was little, I had a hard time focusing in church. My mind especially drifted during the homily, where the priest discusses the day's readings. But I clearly remember when Father Richard asked the congregation, "When was the last time you said thank you to God?"
My click: Always remember to keep a spirit of gratitude for what you have.

~It all started with multiplication in sixth grade. It would take hours for me to figure out homework math problems. I just didn't understand math and except for the easy ones (2, 5, 9, 10), I couldn't keep the times tables in my head. I started floundering, losing confidence, and continued my downward spiral until my lowest point: geometry. Flash forward. When I started homeschooling Marina, I would read DK's My First Math Book to her. The section on multiplication encouraged searching for the patterns in the numbers.
My click: Everything has a pattern, and if I can figure out that pattern I can learn it. I can even find joy in it through my exploration and discovery.

I don't know what my children's clicks are, but I'm sure they have them. If we give them opportunities and they are ready, clicks happen. They are exciting and highly personal experiences. You never know what might cause it: it might be a casual phrase, something overheard, a picture, a computer game, a book. All experiences offer an opportunity of profound learning.

Think about it. What are your clicks?

Home Spun comic strip #523

So, yes, this is on my mind these past two weeks. And yes, I bought supplies, but I only bought things I absolutely needed, like pencils and extra scissors. It was either that or a strong padlock for my desk drawer to keep my supplies from walking. I suppose you could say I bought school supplies for myself!

For the record, I still think it is wasteful to ask students to buy brand new supplies every year. If children still have unused or barely used crayons, notebooks, folders, etc. from their previous school year, they should have the option to use them. Just saying. This is how most (if not all) homeschooling families I know operate. We use up consumables like paper and pens, we recycle books, and what we don't need anymore we offer to others.

London, Part 7: Golden Hinde, Globe and Gryffindor?

In the final day of Marina and Linda's trip, they managed to pack in as much sightseeing as possible.

They saw a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hinde. Ah, the life of a privateer! Queen Elizabeth I had the original ship preserved, and it became the first maritime museum...


They went to the Globe theater. These gates were designed by various artists. (The first picture is two pictures I combined.) Each decoration is a reference from a different Shakespeare play...

This timeline shows events surrounding the theaters in Shakespeare's time...

The Globe Theater is a replica of the original, which had been destroyed in a fire. Here is the stage. The columns are wood, like the original, but painted to look like marble. A lot of what we know about the Globe is from travelers' accounts...


A production of The Merry Wives of Windsor was doing technical rehearsals that day. They stayed for part of it, but photography was not allowed. Here is a view of the balconies...

Here is a costume from the Globe museum...

Outside view of the theater. There is an authentic thatched roof, the only thatched roof in London. Thatch is illegal in London because it's so flammable. To have the roof approved, the theater had to have a special sprinkler system set up on it...


After the Globe tour, they crossed the Millenium Bridge and visited Cleopatra's Needle, which is not really Cleopatra's, but her name is easier to say...

Then they went to Covent Garden, which is like a covered market full of stores, craftspeople and performers. From there they searched for the Hogwarts Express station at King's Cross. This is for all the Harry Potter fans...


And that was their day. Marina's parting shot of London was a view from their hotel at dawn...

Home Spun comic strip #522

I may be late with next week's comic strips. Just a warning. I have no idea what we have planned for this weekend, but sometimes it gets busy!

It's Like Christmas Shopping, but with Office Supplies

I can always tell it's September. Around the last week of August, I always fight bouts of depression. It takes me a while to figure out that it is caused by all the Back-to-School frenzy. You would think I would be over this by now. I haven't been in school since I finished my B.A. in 1991. My kids have never been to school, unless you count the afterschool juggling workshops I used to do in various districts. Or their religious instruction classes. In that case, they have seen the inside of schools.

And yet, I still get sucked into the melancholy that is the end of summer. The supposed loss of freedom. Crowded stores full of people buying office supplies. Yes, I was in one of those stores. I like one particular brand of Uniball pen (Jetstream) which, in our area, seems to only be sold in Staples. And I went with Sierra, so of course we "needed" to buy some folders and glue as well. As I stood on line, I listened to a couple of women lamenting how different teachers want specific brands/sizes of notebooks, binders, crayons, etc. All I wanted were the pens. I wondered what happened to all of the notebooks, binders, crayons, etc. that these students used last year. Where do they go? I usually reuse things until they are used up, falling apart, turning to nubs and stubs. How wasteful to ask parents to buy new stuff. What message are we sending to our children?

Schools have such a lasting impact on us. For those of us who didn't homeschool, they had us at the most impressionable time of our lives six hours per day, five days per week. At least I had summer vacation. These days, summer reading lists can be found in every library and bookstore. School seems to follow children, haunting every aspect of their lives. To this day, when I'm anxious about something, I STILL have the dream about trying to find the room for a final exam and it's a class I didn't go to all year. I'm over 40 years old! When will this stop?

I do admit to buying one notebook this year for Marina. She's going to take English 101 at the local community college beginning next week. I face a new chapter in her life and I'm not too sure I'm ready for it.

For my own preparation, I am always looking for inspiration as I continue nurturing Sierra's child-led education and kind of unschooling Chase (complicated story). I'm finally reading Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar by James Marcus Bach, which Chase read back in May. The September edition of the Carnival of Unschooled Life is up at The Expanding Life, and there are several inspiring links for those of us looking for more educational freedom for our children. Check it out.

Home Spun comic strip #521