Home Spun comic strip #609

Educational Showmanship

There is a symbiotic relationship between performer and audience. When I did juggling shows, I learned that the hard way. Some days I juggled incredibly well, but if the audience wasn't into it, I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to engage them. Those shows always tended to run short and left me tired and frustrated. And if I was having an off day, my performance could be made ten times worse by a lackluster crowd. There were also shows where for one reason or another I wasn't into what I was doing, but I had such a terrific audience I could feed off of their energy. Their excitement would pull me out of my doldrums and usually the show ended better than I expected. Then there were those special shows where I was on and the audience was responding easily to everything I did. Those were the best shows. The ones where your energy combines with the crowd's energy and you come away feeling like you are the greatest performer ever.

Now add a partner to this relationship and you add another level of possibilities. My husband and I did many shows together. There again you had times when you reached a magic moment where you and your partner are juggling well and the audience is laughing and clapping in all of the right places. Nothing can top that feeling.

Teaching is also a performance. In my own experiences as student or instructor, I've found that the same issues that can affect my juggling show can also affect the learning experience. I've sat in classes where the teacher grabbed your attention from the very beginning and classes where the instructor was never able to gain control of her classroom before the bell rang. And sometimes it can be the same teacher on different days or teaching different topics.

I never considered myself good in math. Once I reached multiplication and division, I found myself floundering in the classroom. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, but rather I was slower at figuring things out. Part of the problem was the thought that math was a subject where answers were either right or wrong. I didn't want to be wrong, so I spent a lot of time figuring and refiguring to make certain I was right. I had a math teacher in seventh grade that I loved. Mr. Fuller taught general mathematics in a way that awakened an interest in me. In that class I not only learned math, but I wrote math stories and read some as well. I didn't even know there was such a thing! Because of the energy of my teacher, I realized it was possible to enjoy math.

Skip ahead two years. I had the same instructor for geometry in ninth grade. I was excited to have him again, especially after struggling for a year in algebra. But math was no longer fun and games in Mr. Fuller's class. There were theorems to memorize and proofs to write all leading up to the BIG TEST at the end of the year. Perhaps the specter of the statewide test made math more serious and sobered Mr. Fuller's teaching style. Perhaps my own confusion and eventual loss of interest drained my teacher of his ability to help me learn. Whatever the reason, I almost failed math that year, and I was only saved from failing by a private tutor.

When I've taught my own children, I have also seen how these energies can mingle. If it is a subject I like, I can sometimes cause my own enthusiasm to be contagious. If it is a subject that I am hesitant about, my children will sometimes reflect that. There are days when they have inspired me by their interest, and my teaching improves because they are excited about the subject. Best of all is when we are all interested in the topic and have that perfect symbiotic relationship where our combined energies create something wonderful. But how do you attain that?

I think the answer lies in how we view the experience. Teaching isn't merely about spoon-feeding facts, it's about exploration and discovery. A good performer knows how to bounce back from mistakes. No matter how much I might know about a subject, I try to approach it with an open mind, ready to learn something new. A good performer needs to be aware of their audience. I consider the strengths and weaknesses of each child. I help where I am needed and step back where learning seems to be happening spontaneously. I facilitate learning by offering books and materials that appeal to their interests. A good performer always acknowledges a great crowd and responds to feedback. I praise my children for the work they do and I am always willing to let them teach me a few things. Because it is always possible to teach this old dog--I mean, middle aged dog--new tricks!

Home Spun comic strip #608

Carnival at Corn and Oil

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is happening at Corn and Oil. Be sure to stop by and take a look at some of this week's submissions!

Home Spun comic strip #607

Home Spun comic strip #606

Home Spun comic strip #605

Guess what we're doing this week.

Finding Learning in the LOLs

I have always maintained that learning is possible anywhere. Some of our best learning has happened in the most unusual places. If you take a look at the links in my sidebar, you may be surprised that I add sites like Cake Wrecks and LOLcats. It just so happens that you can learn a lot from sites like these. (As always, you may want to preview these sites before sharing them with the kids.) Cake Wrecks takes bakeries and grocery stores to task for selling poorly decorated cakes. Many of these cakes make you wonder if the decorators were blindfolded with both hands tied behind their backs. Just by studying the pictures, you could start conversations about proportion, color scheme, the importance of planning ahead and, of course, spelling.

LOLcats often has gems among the LOLs. News lols have gotten us talking about various political and economic issues. We've questioned poorly designed graphs and Venn diagrams. And many times we will find a dog or cat LOL that mentions a scientific or mathematical concept or adapts a famous quote. Another favorite site of ours, Shmoop, also noticed the quotes scattered among the LOLs.

Learning doesn't happen in a vacuum. Being open and aware of opportunities brings learning to every situation. I figured this out when Marina was a toddler. She would freak out if we passed an exhibit sign in the Botanical Garden or the zoo without reading it to her. It seemed as if she was afraid she would miss something important if she didn't know what the sign said. It is important to nurture and encourage that inquisitiveness, to follow those rabbit trails of learning. I want my children to wonder about everything. Even if it is as simple as a quote translated into LOLcat.

Home Spun comic strip #604

Always know your audience. They may not remember that yeast releases CO2 when it eats sugar, but they will remember that it burps CO2. And don't get me started about where honey comes from.

Rock Climbing at the Quarry

On Thursday we went to the Old Quarry for a homeschooling class on rock-climbing. It was a lot of fun, even though it meant I had to do two hikes. Marina works on Thursday, but I wanted her to have a chance to try climbing before I took her, so after she climbed, we hiked--and ran--the mile back to the car. I got her to work with 3 minutes to spare. Then I went back to the nature preserve, but I didn't really want to wait for the group at the nature center, so I hiked back up to the quarry. The park ranger said it was a mile, but since it is up a steep incline it feels more like a mile and a half. I also didn't return the same way I came. So I will say I hiked and ran between 4 to 6 miles on Thursday. I should wear a pedometer and check the distance.

The climbing was fun. While one group climbed, another looked for snakes. At least 3 black racers were spotted. I saw one of them. Those snakes can move! It sped across the leaf litter faster than I could gather the kids to see it. The park ranger also found a red slider turtle. Two turkey vultures circled ominously overhead while the kids climbed. During my hike back to the quarry, I had a red-tailed hawk fly in front of me as squirrels chittered nearby. It was an excellent day!

Here are the kids climbing:




Looks steep, doesn't it? It's not as bad as it looks. There are lots of wide ledges. Marina and Chase reached the top very quickly. Sierra spent a lot of time free-climbing all over the rocks after her turn in the safety harness. That scared me a little, but she was safe.


Sierra didn't make it to the top when she was climbing with the harness. The shorter the child, the harder it was to find foot and handholds. Sierra later told me that when she was standing on the ledge pointing out footholds for another child, she learned how to do it. She could better see what she had to do when she stepped back and looked at it. She may have some teaching blood in her.

Home Spun comic strip #603

From the Free Dictionary:
e·thos (ths)

n.

The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement: "They cultivated a subversive alternative ethos" (Anthony Burgess).

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[Greek thos, character; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

This one was tough for me. I had to talk out ideas with Marina to figure out how to represent ethos. Luckily, she's good at explaining concepts she's read about. I tend to need to see things to understand. She says she can't teach, but I've learned plenty from my daughter. I like that we have so many learning styles and interests in our family. It means that we all have strengths and our own way of looking at things and are able to help each learn.

Home Spun comic strip #602

Yes, there was a real argument between Marina and my father about arguing. Marina doesn't remember the details, she tried to block it out when it was over. My father is good at arguing. He can argue about anything. Even arguing! It's likely Marina inherited some of her arguing skills from him. Of course, I like to think I helped a bit by handing her some good books on arguing. The Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston is a straightforward guide, while Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs was funny (but geared more toward mature teens, so you might want to preview it before using it.)

Home Spun comic strip #601

From The Free Dictionary:

pa·thos (pths, -thôs)

n.

1. A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.

2. The feeling, as of sympathy or pity, so aroused.

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[Greek, suffering; see k^went(h)- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Home Spun reprints #68-70: Learning to Read

Home Spun reprint #17- Tree time

Do you have a reading tree? We have a tree that has been the favorite for climbing. Marina first discovered how nice it was to read while sitting on a branch. Chase liked to climb up because Marina was there. As Sierra has gotten older, the tree has become her special reading place in warm weather. The branches are too close together, so the others are now too big for it.

Home Spun reprint #15: Stealth Teaching

I am taking you waaaaaaaayyyyy back to the beginning of my comical endeavors today with this strip from 2006. Ick. I might need to redo the lettering on these older ones. And maybe the artwork. You see? This is why I try not to reprint.

I also discovered that my comics #1-14 have disappeared. It is possible that I did not maintain the old blog and it was shut down. Ah well. I'm not really good at keeping more than one blog running. At some point I will need to redo the first strips anyway, since I am working on a project and I originally scanned them at a low quality resolution. Heh. I feel so tech savvy!

Home Spun comic strip #600

My goodness! This is my six hundredth comic strip! I never would have thought I could keep it up for this long. Thanks to all of my readers who have inspired me through your sweet comments to keep cranking them out.

I have quarterlies due next week, so this may mean I need to post reprints next week. Depends on how quickly I can put everything together. The price I pay for the freedom to educate my kids in NY. I hope you all have a pleasant weekend!