Carnival of Homeschooling: 42 edition

Welcome to the Number 42 edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling! Early this December, I celebrated my 42nd birthday. My son loves that I'm at birthday number 42. I now hold the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything! To celebrate this important age, I searched the internet and picked through books to find meaning in the number 42...

~In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything! Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is. I think the reason it is so hard to find the Ultimate Question is that it is unique to each person and it changes in the course of our lives. Right now, my question might be "Why do you homeschool?" and the answer would be "I have at least 42 reasons for homeschooling."

• In Transforming Family Life and Learning Through Homeschooling (Part One of Two) Parent at the Helm explores the many reasons we homeschool and how it brings meaning to our lives and the lives of our children. Love this quote from the article: Following this natural, loving approach, children involved in community service, volunteer work, and apprenticeship opportunities build experience, increase maturity, and find connection with the greater world.
• I believe all homeschooling parents share one very basic interest, regardless of educational style, political leanings or religious affiliation. We all desire the freedom to educate our own children. Corn and Oil discusses our parental rights in The Right Thing to Do for Children.
• What is the right thing? Sometimes it is radical unschooling. Balderdash and Blokus ponders why some homeschoolers consider radical unschooling evil in The Ultimate Question.
  

~Element number 42 on the Periodic Table is Molybdenum, a metal found primarily in steel alloys which are used for machine tools. It gives great strength and heat resistance. Homeschoolers could all use some strength and resistance at times, especially when answering questions about homeschooling.

• The Family talks about how some people think you Have to be Patient to Homeschool.
• Sometimes strength lies in knowing how to prioritize. Everything Home...with Carol explains why she doesn't do it all in I'm No Superwoman.
• Learning at Home doesn't do it all either, but she still manages to squeeze in some stealth learning this time of year while her children are Writing Christmas Lists.
  

~By the end of The Twelve Days of Christmas, there are 42 swans a swimming and 42 geese a laying.

• Are you in the mood for counting birds now? Punctuated Equilibrium has a cool project for you-- The World Parrot Count.
• And speaking of Christmas, Sage Parnassus has been thinking about What to Read for Christmas.
• Barbara Frank has found a Great Advent/Christmas Idea for Young Children. I read this suggestion when she first posted it and loved it! I wish I had known about it when Marina and Chase were younger.
• If you are tired of giving the typical swan or goose for Christmas, you might want to take a look at Crack the Egg and learn how to make your own Christmas Kits for Kids-Muffin Baker.
• And if you are doing too much...don't! Read this wise advice, 3 Ways to Avoid Martyr Syndrome this Christmas from Successful Homeschooling.

~In the last verse of Jingle Bells, we are told to "Just get a bobtailed bay/Two forty is his speed"... OK, I know this one is stretching it, but the two forty was close enough to forty two for me to use it. We are actually talking about a two minute forty second mile in this quote. Ever listen to the entire song? A young man recounts his sleigh riding adventures to a friend.

~Lewis Carroll used the number 42 often in his work. As a mathematician, numbers in general fascinated him. It is possible that his supposed obsession with 42 had to do with the 42 seconds he needed his subjects to be still when photographing them.
~Alice's Adventures in Wonderland had 42 illustrations. What I love about the Alice stories is that nothing is ever what it seems. Sometimes the lesson we imagine turns into something completely different.

• Ina's 5 & our Native Homeschool Blog tells about the poetry lesson she fantasized about and what really happened in Poetry: Fantasy Meets Reality.
  

~Rule Forty Two, also from Alice in Wonderland, directs "All persons more than a mile high to leave the court". Sometimes we need rules to help guide our teens into adulthood.

• In Facebook and Your Teens, SmallWorld has some great tips to share for keeping your young teen safe on the popular social networking site.
• Guiding our teens toward the next phase of their education is an important step for homeschooling families. Why Homeschool talks about that First Step to College.
  

~Mathematician Paul Cooper calculated it would take 42 minutes to fall through a tube straight through to the other side of the earth. The idea of travel by a gravity train was first proposed in Lewis Carroll's "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded" (chapter 7). Half of the trip would be downhill, the other half uphill until it reached the other side. Imagine being able to take your children on a field trip to China, Brazil or Madagascar!

• The California Homeschooler offers some great ideas for having children start The Culture Notebook as a way to introduce them to different traditions and cultures.
  

~In Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, the centipede has 42 legs. Imagine the stamina you would have for your homeschooling journey with 42 legs!

• Sprinkle on the FUN discusses her own journey in Home Schooling my Boys.

~Gimli, the dwarf from The Lord of the Rings, kills 42 enemies in battle, one better than Legolas the elf. (The Two Towers, Chapter VIII- The Road to Isengard) How do our kids stack up against the competition? Are you keeping score, or are others doing that for you?

• NerdFamily has finally realized the reason why she doesn't have to worry about testing her kids in Evaluation.
  

~Juliet will be dead for "two and forty hours/ and then awake as from a pleasant sleep" according to Friar Lawrence (Romeo and Juliet: Act 4, Scene 1) Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could awake as from a pleasant sleep? Homeschooling can really wear you down! That's when it's a good idea to look for support.

• For homeschoolers who are feeling overwhelmed and stressed, Lesson Pathways has some helpful ideas and advice about Managing it All.
• Speaking of managing, good management skills are important for home educators and their children to learn. EverydayChristianFamily.com is Reviewing The One Minute Manager.

~There are 42 lines on each page of the Gutenberg Bible.

• Adventures in Mama-Land publishes a weekly Bible-based kids' poem, based on the Jewish "parsha" or yearly Torah portion cycle. Take a look at Vayigash. It's set to music! If you want to see more, she has several in her Parsha Poem series.
• How good is your bible knowledge? Take the T or F? Christmas Trivia Quiz at Chrysalis!
• Witty Jester shares a unique take on the story of Noah and the Ark in Just Like Old Times!

~According to the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, there are 42 Principles of Ma'at, one of the oldest sources of moral and spiritual instruction. History is one of our favorite subjects. I remember rolling out the old timeline we made so Marina could write in important events on it.

• Practical Pages has a wonderful article about how to make and use timelines, wall charts and Book of Centuries. Check out the Frugal Timeline Book.
• If you have a history buff in the family, you might want to take a look at The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson which covers life in Chicago from 1890 -1912. Read the review by Alasandra.

~In the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, Milo meets half a child. The child explains he is a little bit more than half, ".58 to be precise." The child tells Milo, "A few years ago I was just .42 and, believe me, that was terribly inconvenient." (Chapter 16: A Very Dirty Bird) This idea boggled my daughter's mind when she read the book. Math concepts are tricky enough, but now she wondered how a half child could exist!

• Math curricula are commonly divided into mastery vs. spiral. But perhaps there is a third way that works more naturally for younger learners: a number-centered approach. Introducing the World talks about Math: A Third Approach.

~There are 42 spots on a pair of dice.

~The symbol for 42 in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is * (an asterisk). Technology is wonderful isn't it? Where else can you find useful lists of links to various resources?

• DIY Learning offers this list of The Top 50 Education Pundits to Follow on Twitter.
  
• Online Masters in Education offers a list of 20 Trend-Setting Teachers Worth Following on Twitter.
  

Every time you frown, you use about 42 muscles.It's only 17 if you smile. I hope I've made you smile today and brought a little meaning to your life. Thank you for visiting the Carnival of Homeschooling! Next week, the carnival will be hosted by No Fighting! No Biting! You can submit an article to the next carnival here!

"42" Sources:

Wikipedia: 42 (number)
42opus: 42 Reasons to Love the Number 42 by Brian Leary
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray
My First Body Book by Melanie and Chris Rice
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Wikipedia: Jingle Bells

Home Spun comic strip #559

My children are perfectionists. They come from a long line of perfectionists. Each exhibits this perfectionism in his or her own unique way. With Marina, she fluctuates between feeling confident in her abilities and then breaking down into tears and fears of inadequacy. As the college experiment winds down to the end of her first semester, I think I've earned half of her grade in English 101, simply because I held her hand, read through her work, and stroked her ego whenever necessary. In her defense, she had a rigorous class. Her final project was a multimedia report comprised of three essays, an interview, and annotated bibliography. Here is the link if you would like to see it. (I can't put it on the refrigerator, so I'm going to make certain others can see it before she tries to take it down!)

Chase does not like to use pens. His perfectionism makes him hesitant to take the chance of making a mistake. So he writes and draws in pencil. Lightly. I had this vague idea that he was turning into a good artist, but since I had to squint to see many of his drawings, I couldn't be completely sure. Last week, he was trading Artist Trading Cards with one of his friends. His friend looked at Chase's card, pulled out a Sharpie Fineliner, and started inking in my son's pencil lines. The result was spectacular. Now that he's seen his work inked in, Chase was willing to pick up a pen himself. I gave him an artist's marker filled with India ink (Sharpies tend to bleed) and he has been darkening some of his artwork. It's a first step, and I'm proud of him for it.

Sierra will get angry and crumple her work if she doesn't like it. If the picture she drew didn't match the idea in her head, or her name wasn't printed just right, her work was ruined as far as she was concerned. It took years to get her out of the habit of destroying cards we were writing for friends and family. She's also been known to squash clay sculptures that aren't working out the way she envisions them. Temperamental artists!

Home Spun reprints #296-8: Christmas Decorating 2008

Every year decluttering seems to get harder. Keeping decorations in place is also hard. I have cats and kids. This is why we can't have nice things. I imagine once the children are grown and on their own I might miss all of the excitement, chaos and whirlwind of activity that our Decembers bring. Holidays are supposed to excite us! They are special times in our life. They interrupt our busy schedules, mess up our routines, and send us back to the beginning--family. Because family is the heart of our traditions and the core of our identity.

No matter what, everything pulls together. Clutter can be shoved to one side to make room for the tree. Cookies will get baked. Classes will finish for the year. Cards will be mailed. We will exchange our gifts with family and friends and go to mass and contemplate the great love that we have for one another and give thanks to have it in our lives.

And maybe we'll say a little prayer that the tree is still standing after five cats have been left alone with it. That would be a true Christmas miracle.

Carnival at Our Curious Home!

The latest Carnival of Homeschooling is up after some technical difficulties! Please visit the Carnival of Homeschooling: The Gingerbread Can Cure Poison Hour edition at Our Curious Home!

And if you feel inspired, please consider submitting an article to the next Carnival, which will be hosted right here!

Home Spun reprints #167-9: Christmas Baking 2007

There is so much math to be learned from baking! Measuring and doubling ingredients, counting cookies one by one and tray by tray, estimating baking times and recipe yields, dividing cookies among tins and children, and lots of subtraction. I have four rolls of dough waiting to be rolled out. Soon the baking will begin!

Home Spun reprints #35-36: Christmas 2006

Home Spun comic strip #558

Today I took Chase and Sierra to a nature class, left them there about halfway through class to drive Marina to her job at the library, returned before the nature class ended, drove Chase to taekwondo, stopped at the store for some groceries, picked up Chase, picked up Marina, and then went home.

My job description should be educational facilitator.

I will be taking a little comic writing break next week since my birthday is tomorrow and I will be preparing to host the December 14 Carnival of Homeschooling. More on that when it's closer to the day!

If a Tree Falls and No One is There to Stop It...

November was a difficult month for me. At the beginning of the month, I found out that our local electric company wanted to "take top out off spruce" (their written words) in my front yard. I know some might find it silly to be upset over something like this, after all, it is done in the name of protecting the power lines, but I have seen too much devastation in our area as a result of their extreme tactics. Beautiful trees have been cut in half or branches have been removed to give the 10' x 15' clearance the electric company has decided will keep their power lines safe. I guess I should be happy they don't fully understand physics or geometry, otherwise trees that were further back but taller would also be on the chopping block.

I love trees. I grew up in the city across from a park on a tree-lined street. This was unusual for an urban kid. Trees have always brought me peace. They bring the singing birds and the silly squirrels. Their appearance changes with the season. Beneath their arching branches and outstretched limbs, I feel protected.

This doesn't mean we have never cut down a tree. I keep an eye on the health of the trees in our yard. When we first moved in, we had a large oak that had been strangled by poison ivy vines and was rotting at its base. One of our front yard oaks had to be removed several years ago when it split down the middle during a storm. I cried over that one, it was as hard as losing a favorite pet. Last spring we removed three trees from our backyard. One was declining, one was dead, and one was leaning precariously toward a neighbor's house. We are very responsible tree lovers.

When I first got the notice, I was devastated. I've long lectured to my children about the importance of trees and about the dangers of improperly pruning them. Topping a tree stresses the tree, which can expose it to insects and diseases, and causes weaker branches to quickly grow at the crown. Now that this was actually scheduled to happen to one of our trees, I felt powerless, angry, and upset.

But then I got busy.

I started by contacting the electric company's customer service and shooting off an email to them. Not feeling that was enough, I started an internet search to see if there were any groups that had formed for the purpose of helping people dealing with our issue. I am very grateful for finding The Irvington Tree Preservation Project. Thanks to the help and support of Mark Gilliland, who runs the blog, my husband and I were able to get in touch with our town forester and we were given the tools we needed (the right questions) to prevent our spruce from getting topped. It is interesting to note that the electric company's tree pruning supervisor insisted it is not its practice to top trees. I've held onto the original notice. Some day it might come in handy. Especially when I consider my next donation to the Arbor Day Foundation. They named my electric company a "Tree Line USA Utility" for their "care and maintenance for trees within New York City and Westchester County along with its commitment to public education programs, all while meeting service objectives."

After talking to our electric company's representatives and exchanging many emails, we knew by the end of the first week of November our tree was not to be touched. However, since the electric company would still be pruning our large oak that stands next to the spruce, we figured we should stay watchful. The work was scheduled for after November 18th. That date came and went, and I was on edge, listening to the sounds of chainsaws one street over. If I left the house, my teenagers were instructed to call me if trucks pulled up. They finally came, the day before Thanksgiving. I immediately went out and asked what branches would be pruned and then my children and I watched from the window inside. They did a good job. I was a little nervous as they cut oak branches close to the spruce, but they didn't let anything fall on it. Our Christmas tree is safe for now, and I am planning to add some smaller evergreen shrubs near it, because in three years, it will only be taller, and I will have to go through all of this when the pruning trucks come through again.

My children learned a lot from this experience. We could have cried and sat idle as we watched our healthy tree get topped. I showed them that if you care enough, you don't sit still. You gather information. You ask for help. You speak politely to those who are against you and listen to what they have to say. My children learned that it is possible to take a stand for what you believe in and win.

The December Carnival of Unschooled Life is Up!

The December edition of the Carnival of Unschooled Life is now up at The Expanding Life! Head on over and take a look at some of the interesting links posted!

Home Spun comic strip #557

It's true. I spend so much time trying to encouraging my kids to be independent, but when they actually show some sign of self-sufficiency, I feel unneeded. Take unschooling, for example. I love that Sierra has been pretty good at learning things on her own. The other day she folded a circle to show me how she figured out what one half and one quarter are. She also showed me the sevens table pattern she had drawn on her chalkboard. As she traced the pattern with her finger, she told me the entire sevens table up to ten times seven. This is great. Except my inner teacher wants to horn in on that success and say, "Hey! I taught her that!" But I can't. She did it out on her own. I'm only responsible for giving her the tools to find answers.

Marina read through this and compared me to James Bond's Q, who made all the nifty gadgets that 007 used on his missions. I like that analogy. I am an education Q!