Making Jabba the Hut Body Pillows and Finding Mental Balance

Eva with her Jabba the Hut body pillow

I just read a blog post in which the author talked about how homeschooling is a lifestyle – it’s not a curriculum or set of courses; it’s your whole life experience. That has definitely proven true for me. I love exploring and learning with my kids, and though I had to alter some of my own life plans to do it, I have no regrets.

But it can be intense at times. The kids and I don’t do this lightly. We have a ton of fun, but we put 110% into our days. This time of year is especially difficult, as we’ve been at it for six months and still can’t quite see the end of the tunnel that is summer.

Last week, you may recall that the kids went on a public speaking frenzy, which was outrageously fun and inspiring. And exhausting. At the end of Friday, Eva, so proud of her accomplishments, also felt wiped out and emotionally drained. Teary, she longed out loud for a week off so that she could just what she wanted to do. I asked her what it was that she wanted to do. She said (in tears), “I want to make a Jabba the Hut body pillow!” You will be impressed that I didn’t even laugh.

Allow me to explain. A couple of weeks ago I brought home The Star Wars Craft Book by Bonnie Burton. Eva had been flipping through it, and set her heart on said body pillow, which is huge, and green, and looks like a giant slug. We had picked up a green fleece blanket at the thrift store for the skin, but really, we hadn’t had time to do any more.

Ian, in the meantime was beginning to buckle under his own stress. He’s forming a new teen band for a March gig, composing a piece for his middle school band to perform (also due in March), and trying to coordinate study times with his Science Olympiad teammates, who have been very busy and difficult to get hold of (regionals are once again, in March). So many big projects, and so much to coordinate. He was feeling overwhelmed.

Eva sewing pillows together for Jabba's innards

We decided to take five. Eva would get her week off so that she could bring her plush monstrosity to life, and Ian would drop everything except for the projects that were feeling so loomy. I bought a bunch of pillows for Jabba’s stuffing and gave Eva some sewing lessons. For Ian, I worked with him to set up a checklist of tasks, complete with a box to indicate when he would do them, and a friendly box that he would check off upon completion. I may not be able to do the tasks for him, but I can organize the heck out of them.

Ian composing his piece for band

And this is where the lifestyle bit comes in, because as you may have noticed, even though we’re “taking the week off,” we’re actually not. And I’m certainly not. Eva found great joy in her Jabba pillow, and Ian is feeling much more on top of things. But I still felt tired and wanted some time just being off duty.

Enter one Knight in Shining Armor. Husband Jamie, observing my downward swing (because I told him about it at length, blesshisheart), swept up the children yesterday, and the needy and aged dog as well and took them away from the house for four consecutive hours, running all the errands I was supposed to do with them. I almost cried when he showed up, smiling and waving, and telling everyone to hop in the car.

I took that blissful opportunity – something I haven’t experienced since last summer in all likelihood – and did many things.

1. I finished a novel I was reading.

2. I quietly put on my coat and got in our battered pickup.

3. I drove to a garden shop and loaded the truck with mulch. I drove back home.

4. Without speaking, I freshened the front gardens with mulch, cut back some perennials, and felt the sun on my face. I paid close attention to my breathing, to the smell of the mulch, the feel of the ground beneath my feet, the texture of the soil, the weight of the garden fork in my hands.

5. I re-stacked the rocks around our small garden pond. I felt each rock as I picked it up, enjoying the warmth, the smells, the amazing lack of sound.

6. I had a lovely visit with our propane service guy who had come out to look at our tank. We talked about homes, neighbors, and family. His wife had passed away three years back, leaving him with three children, ages 2-9. He was not beaten down. He was in fact, a force of joy and chatter, and clearly loved his life and everyone else’s he came across. He changed me a bit, I think.

7. I resolved to perform more random acts of kindness, because it will make me happy.

8. I lit a small fire in the fire pit and let the smoke play with my hair and clothes. I love that smell.

9. I just stood there, smelling the fire, and listening to the hundreds of Canadian geese who were flying by in their annual formations. I watched the geese and the fire and the smoke and smelled and listened and was so deliciously quiet.

My entire four hours was one overarching meditation. When Jamie and the kids and the dog returned, I was quite a new person. I had been growing increasingly testy over the past few weeks, but now I felt calm and recollected.

My life won’t be this full always. Though I wish I had more of these wonderful balancing moments in my life now, I am also aware that our homeschooling and family lifestyle changes with the seasons. There may even be one day when my life feels off-kilter the other way and I long for some of the fullness and noise of my current experience. But for now, I am so thankful for this wonderful afternoon, and this week of restoring balance.

How to Nurture Children’s Creativity

Last week at Career Day, one of the 6th grade participants turned a question to me. She said that after going to both of my kids’ tables, it was clear to her that I was raising a couple of prodigies. How, she asked, did I as a parent know to nurture these gifts? This girl was clearly ahead of the game herself, already identifying and analyzing the important role that parents play in the development of their children. I was impressed.

Eva telling stories through art, at two years old

I told her that I simply watched my children’s play when they were little. I’ve talked about this in past blog posts, but Eva became a storyteller when she learned to talk. She narrated the art she was making: it was never just a picture of a flower – if you asked her what she painted, she would go into great detail about the story that was unfolding on the paper. She also narrated her dolls in play: “‘Let’s go to the park.’ she said. ‘OK,’ he replied.” She read her playtime like a book.

For Ian, well, Ian started drumming and performing as soon as he could stand as well. The story has become almost famous now about how he mimicked two hour rock concerts back when he was still in diapers.

Ian jamming with some friends at about three years old

But that’s where it happened for them. I observed what gave them the greatest joy and dreamed up ways I could help them pursue these things more fully. This was never about turning them into career machines; it was about giving them more opportunities to explore the things that made them happy. I’m not saying the going never gets tough. Like any other parent, many times I have had to insist on a certain amount of time for practice, or help make attainable (though resisted) goals like “you must write 10 sentences every day.” That’s just a natural part of any discipline. But when you ask them, both kids will say eagerly that it’s worth it.

This leads me to another interaction via email last week. I was talking with a woman from the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, and she mentioned that her young son was into theater. She was impressed with what all my kids were accomplishing and wanted to know how we managed it. So I thought for about 30 seconds and excitedly exploded back to her all sorts of thoughts about how one could pursue theater. As long as the interest is there, a kid who loves theater can explore famous and historic plays, acting, directing, script writing, lighting, set building, sound effects, costume design, and makeup. By exploring these avenues, the child would be learning literature, history, writing skills, communication, leadership, technology, art, critical thinking and problem solving. Wow! Just through a love of theater. If the love stuck, this child could orient the whole of his education around his passion. The opportunities are endless; this is when project based learning is at its best.

The thing is, there are many interests that could be explored in this way – perhaps all of them. I haven’t thought through every possible interest, so I really don’t know. But I imagine with some creative brainstorming, you could come up with some fabulous ideas. Just take the foundation interest and think about it both forwards and backwards. Does the interest have a history? How can you branch off and explore history through that lens? What about its present? Think about every last aspect of the interest and explore them all. Then think about its future. Are there potential innovations that the child could explore? When the student is invested and passionate about the topic, she is more engaged. This is where we jump the track of learning for a grade and land in the wide open world of empowerment, creative thinking, and self-motivated education.

Do you know of any kids with an interest that could be explored further? Mention them in the comments and let’s brainstorm an individualized education plan!

Kids Video-Conferencing and More: Two Days and 12 Public Speaking Engagements, Day 2.

Eva testing out the video-conferencing equipment.

Hey! Welcome back for the report on Day 2 of the two-day public speaking frenzy for Ian and Eva. Day one was all about sharing passions in 15 minute presentations. During day two, Eva explored more in depth sharing. Let’s jump to it, shall we?

Friday: Video-Conference with Sweetwater Elementary in Devils Lake, ND

Thanks to the coordination of EduTech, Eva was a guest speaker via video conference to two classes of third graders at Sweetwater Elementary in Devils Lake, ND. She was a guest as part of Read Across North Dakota – a day devoted to shared literacy between classrooms via video conferencing. This was a completely new experience for Eva. She was in a room with a camera and a large screen. The kids she was talking to were in another room with a camera and a large screen, looking back. They were 180 miles apart. Additionally, this was the first time that Eva had presented to kids her own age.

Though we didn’t know this when we connected with the classroom, the Sweetwater students were fully prepared for their time with Eva. They had read her books, explored her website, watched her writing videos and prepared questions. They were excited and eager to lay eyes on Eva and interact with her. Eva was excited right back. She started with a brief presentation and then began answering questions as the kids raised their hands. They had great questions; they wanted to know more about how she got started, where she got her ideas, and if she enjoyed what she did.

Eva talking to the kids at Sweetwater Elementary School in Devils Lake

After answering questions, we decided to have the kids act out one of the chapters from Attack of the Reptiles. We chose the battle scene, as it had the most action and included the most characters. The classroom was packed, so we asked the volunteer actors to simply stand and act out their roles from where they stood. Once Eva had coordinated the scene, I read the chapter out loud. We couldn’t see a lot from our end as the camera was blocked by legs and the like, but we heard tons of giggling over the speakers as the kids played out their parts.

And there were more and more questions afterwards. The Sweetwater students were now departing from their prepared inquiries and going out on their own, coming up with new questions piqued by their time together. Eva asked for a show of hands of kids who either wanted to write or who were already writing their own stories. The vast majority of hands shot up. Eva encouraged them to keep writing and to share their success with her through her website. It was a wonderful time.

When we got home, we received a delightful email from one of the staff at Sweetwater, who had videoed some of the experience from the Devils Lake end. She posted it on youtube, which means I can share it with you here!

They also posted a lovely entry on their school’s website. Thanks so much to the staff, students, and teachers who coordinated the event and made it so successful. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you!

Later that morning: Saxvik Elementary in Bismarck, ND

Eva talks to two classes of third graders at Saxvik Elementary.

After the video conference, Eva and I set off across town for Saxvik Elementary. Eva’s presentation here was also a part of Read Across North Dakota, but since the school was local, we decided that an in-person visit made more sense. We were greeted by the smiles of two more classes of third graders and a host of friendly teachers. We discovered that though these children had not read Eva’s books, they had spent a lot of time on her website, exploring her videos. Like the Sweetwater students, the Saxvik kids had all prepared questions for Eva.

Eva spent some time answering the kids’ questions, and we invited the kids to play-act the battle chapter of Reptiles. We had more room to spread out, and we divided the students into birds and reptiles. Eva gave the backstory, and soon all the kids were ready to play their parts. It was so much fun. The kids acted out their parts beautifully, were very respectful, and giggled all the way through.

After the reading, the students returned to their seats, and Eva began asking them questions about their own interests. Many of the kids wanted to be writers (or already were writers), but there were also three aspiring mathematicians, some engineers, atheletes, artists, and a couple of veterinarians. These eight and nine year olds already had definite plans and dreams. Since this was a presentation on writing, Eva talked again to the writers of the group, asking if they now felt like they had the tools to turn their works into books. Eager nods all around.

Several students wanted to hear Birds on the Run. Though Eva has never read from her own books aloud (she prefers that I do it), she agreed to read it herself, and did it, from a comfy rocking chair in the front of the class. Of course the class didn’t realize it, but this was another big step for Eva; I can see her confidence blooming daily. They were a delightful audience, and the teachers closed the presentation with some group photos.

Eva and the third graders at Saxvik Elementary

During these two days, I had a lot of reflections. I loved watching how positive the experience was for both Eva and the students. There was true sharing going on here, and genuine mutual inspiration. I wished for these kinds of opportunities to be available for more kids. There are so many children out there with extraordinary talents and passionate interests. What if we had a “Share Your Expertise” event, set up like Day 1′s Career Day? Tables spread out and hosted by kids for kids. Or perhaps we could have an ongoing video conferencing program that connected kids like Eva and Ian with students across the state or country. Topics could rotate based on the interests of the presenter. Could be interesting….

Two Days and 12 Public Speaking Engagements (and I Wasn’t the Speaker). Day 1.

Over the last two days, Eva and Ian have been quite busy talking to students about following their passions. It’s been a wonderful experience, sharing dreams, meeting people, and honing public speaking skills. In this post, I’m going to report on Day 1. But the two days were so different from each other; I hope you’ll come back for the post on Day 2 as well.

Thursday: 6th Grade Career Day

6th Grade Career Day

Each year, our school district hosts a Career Day for 6th graders. On one day in February and one day in March, over 800 students attend this event, which is held at the local armory. Tables are strewn across the armory’s floor, each stationed by a representative of a particular career. I saw a paramedic, a vet, professor, artist, wildlife biologist, cosmetologist, and a dozen or so more. Each table has about a dozen chairs spread out before it, and the kids (200+ per session) are instructed to play a game of musical chairs. They go to a table that has interest for them and listen to a 15 minute presentation about that career. If the chairs are full, they move on until they find some empty seats. They get to do this five times before going back to their schools. In the afternoon, another group of 200+ comes and does it all over again.

Though the tables are exclusively hosted by adult professionals, last month the event coordinator asked if Ian and Eva would each host a table and talk to the students about being a musician and author, respectively. Ian did this last year, but it was a first for Eva. It’s an exciting but grueling lineup. Ten presentations in one day! They were honored to participate.

Dakota serves as audience during Eva's speech practice.

For the last two weeks, English class has been speech preparation. The kids outlined their points and practiced their speeches. We wanted to give students a positive example of what they could accomplish now – as kids – if they put their minds to it. The purpose of their speeches is to inspire others to believe in themselves and pursue their passions as courageous individuals; the kids do this by offering examples of their own experiences.

We were all a bit jittery the night before, but when the big day came, it was a blast. Eva and Ian, in consecutive booths, began their speeches as the first kids filed in. Once they finished their presentations, they opened up their time to answer questions from the students. As you might imagine, there were a lot questions about their ages and homeschooling, but there were also a lot of questions about craft – especially as it related to writing and music. I stayed primarily with Eva, since she’s still newer to this than Ian, but I did a lot of pacing back and forth.

Ian talks about being a musician at Career Day.

We took a long lunch break and reviewed the ups and downs of the morning, tweaking a little here and there. Since there were so many presentations, it was easy to review what worked and what needed adjustment.

After lunch, we did it all again. Ian was developing a sore throat, and Eva was feeling pretty tired, but they both persevered. Eva felt like her best presentations were in that second group. Though she looked to me for assistance several times during the morning, she was completely independent in the afternoon.

I love the way the kids are leaning forward. Great listeners!

We came home and made hot chocolate chip cookies and played a round of Munchkin. ‘Cuz you know how we love that Munchkin game. After that full day, we were all just ready to chill out for the afternoon.

All in all, Eva and Ian each presented to 10 different groups – that’s about 135 kids apiece. I was amazed by how many kids in these groups were writers and musicians themselves. Those kids in particular seemed to really connect with Ian and Eva, asking questions that could help them promote their own passions.

That was the best part of it, for me: kids inspiring each other to follow their own dreams. So thankful for that opportunity, and looking toward many more to come.

Don’t forget to stay tuned for Day #2!

Rube Goldberg, Falling Pendulum, Take One Zillion

I know you’ve been dying to know how our falling pendulum project is going. Well, cats and kittens, I’m happy to report we worked on it all morning yesterday and called it success. First off, as discussed, we cut a new board and replaced the sweepy piece. The cool bit about the new straight zigzag is that it looked like Harry Potter’s scar. Since this piece of our Rube Goldberg is dedicated to the Harry Potter story (broomstick a’flying), this was an Exciting Discovery.

Unfortunately, the new piece of plywood wasn’t quite as wide as the original, so the incline of the zigzag turned out to be a bit steeper than we had intended. This ended up being a problem. But here we are before we knew it would be a problem, all so very proud of our construction skills.

Here's the new pendulum board, with the straight zigzag.

Here’s what happened:

It just went down too quickly. There was no pendulum action to speak of, and it looked messy. We hrumphed. Ian got super frustrated and had to take a break. But Eva and I carried on, brainstorming possible solutions. Generated ideas included cutting a new board to decrease the incline, increasing friction somehow, and decreasing the weight of the broom. We decided that the most effective option was to cut a new board. But we also wanted to move past this portion of the Rube Goldberg. So we chose what we felt was the second-best (and quicker) option: decrease the weight of the broom.

Eva is a Harry Potter fanatic, and like any witch worth her salt, she owns more than one flying broom. Her second broom is a wooden dowel bound with twigs. We weighed it and discovered it was a good 11 ounces lighter than the plastic broom. We switched it out. We also switched out our heavy wooden pendulum arm for a much lighter picture frame and hot glued a small plastic ring on one end. We then used green yarn to keep it from sliding down the dowel. You just need to see it:

The new, lighter broomstick, ready for take-off.

At this point, Ian was working on a music theory assignment, with a small black cloud looming over his head. He can’t stand not being able to figure something out right away, so he had switched to a topic that he felt he had more control over. But Eva and I were not to be deterred, so after lightening the counterweight bucket and giving everything one last cinching, we took off! And here it goes!

Sorry for my loud “woo hoo.” I can’t seem to help myself. Though the end result was not as graceful as had first imagined, we decided that it was good enough to be considered a success. In the final project, the broom will knock over something when it reaches its destination. Of course we’ll have to create something else to get it going to begin with. All to come. We still have 5 weeks to work on this.

And what about poor Ian? This lesson led into a wonderful momma-son discussion about the importance of problem solving. Ian is incredibly bright, and concepts come to him with remarkable ease. There is not much in the way of academics that he struggles with, and when he does hit a snag, he gets down down down. I told him that though his memorization and comprehension abilities knock my socks off, the more important skill here is to think creatively about how you use the facts at hand. This is how new technologies get invented. It will be how we figure out what to do about this climate change mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. So many problems don’t have instruction manuals; we have to create new solutions to these unprecedented issues. This is difficult for Ian, who likes to master something at his first go. I told him (again) that the point of doing the Rube Goldberg isn’t the finished product, but all the fabulous, infuriating toe-stumpers along the way. It’s the process that we’re learning from here.

He nodded and said he understood. But I think this is a life lesson for him, which will need to be re-experienced one zillion more times in the coming years.

NCLB Waiver Follow-Up

After a several weeks of blogging frenzy on my part, I had to take a breather over the last few days and get my head back into my present-day at home. It’s been a nice week of pursuing projects and assignments, of tending to our immediate needs and looking forward to the next couple of months. More about that in the next post, I think.

But today I watched Barack Obama’s speech about the NCLB waiver. I will admit to being cautiously optimistic. On the one hand, I applaud his efforts to provide relief and flexibility to schools across the nation. On the other hand, I’m still hearing a lot of phrases like “test-scores” and “under-achieving students.” I support efforts to help under-achieving students, but one of the many flaws of NCLB has been its 100% focus on that end of the academic spectrum. It’s time to share the love, you know? I suppose it still remains to be seen how this will all fall out exactly. A nine minute speech is not intended to lay this out.

And I do remain optimistic. Any winds of change are in my mind good winds at this point. If you haven’t seen his talk, I’ve taken the liberty to share it below. Check it out. What do you think? And do you see yourself as a part of the next stage in the development of our education system?

 

Rube Goldberg Progress Report

As you may remember, the kids and I are spending a large chunk of our school year building a Rube Goldberg machine. For those of you just joining us, I’ll give you the nutshell story so far (you can also click on the Rube Goldberg category at the end of this post, and it should pull up all my related previous posts).

We began by studying physics, simple machines, and Newton’s laws all while working through the Lego WeDo robotics kit. Then Ian signed up for the Rube Goldberg project with his Science Olympiad group at the middle school, and I thought: I want in on that. So we decided to build one at home as well.

To start the Rube Goldberg project, we began with youtube video research, sketching plans on our hallway wall, and building smaller projects to get our feet wet. When we got brave enough, we picked one of the kid’s brainstormed components, which happened to be Eva’s Harry Potter themed falling pendulum. She wants to make her Harry Potter broomstick “fly” back and forth and down; at the end, it will knock something else over starting a new series of events.

There a couple of things you should know before I share our progress with you.

1) Despite my most fervent efforts, I can find no resources that teach how to build a Rube Goldberg machine, or how to do this in a classroom setting. This is probably due to the fact that the very essence of these machines is their uniqueness. It’s really whatever you come up with. But I can’t find resources to even help us get started. I’ve heard to begin by building the beginning and end components, but that wasn’t working for us. So we’re starting in the middle and moving both backward and forward. We’re making this up as we go here.

2) I am in no way an engineer or handy-woman. Once early in our marriage, Jamie and I knocked out some wet sheet rock in the top of a tiny closet, looking for the offending leak. What we found was a distressing lack of pipes. Perplexed, we went upstairs only to discover a leaky water bottle stored in the closet directly above. The angst and agony we went through to replace the unnecessarily removed sheet rock served as an early relationship test. We made it out alive, but we now try to limit our household projects to stay within our limited abilities.

3) I’ve never studied physics.

4) We have no working budget.

Now that I’ve said all that, I’m sure you are reading with the appropriate non-mocking attitude that I strongly desire. I’m going to tell you our story through pictures.

Eva's sketch of her Harry Potter broomstick falling pendulum

This is what we started with. We decided to use plywood to make the main face of the structure. I raided my garage and found quite a few handy items, namely all the wood we needed. The plywood is left over from a playhouse we built several years ago. The 2x4s we found to make the stand were old concrete frames that a contractor left here after laying in a patio for us.

The kids sketched out the design on the plywood, and I suggested a sweeping pattern to enhance the broom’s sweeping motion (pun intended). I used a jigsaw to cut out their pattern.

Cutting out the sketched pattern

I cut our stand down to size, and the we put it all together in the basement.

Ian nails the plywood to the stand

Once the kids put the feet on, they could stand the whole thing up:

The erected pendulum structure

Next the kids took an old dowel, tied the broom to one end, and a bucket full of weights to the other. Old margarine lids served as the “washers” to keep the dowel from sliding. Here’s Eva adding the counterweights to the bucket:

Eva balances out the counterweight bucket

And here’s Falling Pendulum Version 1:

The falling pendulum, ready for its first trial

Here’s what happened when they tried it out:

The result of the first falling pendulum trial

As you can see, it was a total train wreck. The margarine lids had no ability whatsoever to keep the dowel from sliding, and the broom spun in circles, crashing in to the frame. We had issues to resolve, so it was off to the hardware store to see what we could find!

Hardware store bounty!

The washers and pins replaced the margarine lids. Here’s the new look:

Much fancier than the margarine lids. And more effective.

But the next trial didn’t do much better. Turns out that the washers, big though they are, weren’t big enough to stay on the track at the peak/turns. They fell right out. Eva tried to fix this by hot gluing some yogurt lid pieces to the corners, but that didn’t end up working, because the washers tended to slip up inside anyway. To make a more effective correction, Ian took the wood I had cut out of the plywood piece and had me hacksaw off some pieces that they hot-glued back into the slot.

Eva hot glues on the plastic frame adjustments

And here’s the revised revision:

Eva glues in scrap wood to fill in the gaps

The next issue we tackled was the broom-on-rope-swingy-issue. We needed it to swing back and forth, not twist. Ian grabbed more scrap wood out of the garage, and had me drill some holes to make a non twisty-pendulum arm.

Ian secures the broom to the pendulum bar

We were so proud of ourselves! We had accomplished so much and felt pretty good about how the next trial was going to turn out. And that was our mistake. For alas, when we tried it again, my cleverly advised sweep-up track proved too much; the broom never made it past the first level. It just sat there, staring at us, mocking a bit, I think.

And again:

I didn’t excuse “class” until the kids identified the next revision. They decided to remove the sweep cut, which means I need to cut another piece of plywood (thankfully, I have one more in the garage). We’ll try a straight zig-zag pattern instead.

I’m loving all the problem solving this project is providing. When you don’t know what you’re doing, then you just have to figure it out.

Why I Let My Kids Have an Internet Presence

Eva and Ian using the computer Eva bought with income from her book sales. Those sales have in part been made possible by her website.

Education and technology – it seems everywhere I look folks are talking about it. Should we do more, less? What about virtual schools? Interactive white boards? Cell phones? Facebook and Twitter? Should we let kids be out there on the ‘net? Should we post their pictures? Won’t they be kidnapped??

These are legitimate conversations, and each person has to make these kinds of decisions based on their own comfort levels and according to the needs of the individual child. I know people who are aghast that my kids each have a website with their names attached. I know many others who don’t even blink about it.

The way I see it, there is risk in everything we do. We put our kids on school buses every day without seat belts. We let them play contact sports. We drive our cars on roads with thousands of other imperfect drivers (the legal license age here is just 14!!). We fly in planes. Heck, we get up in the morning. I figure you can get injured or killed just as easy staying safe at home as you can if you travel across the world. But personally, I would take the second, far more interesting option.

So yes, I let my kids have a presence on the internet – first and last name and everything. And though I’m sure there are risks involved, the benefits for us far outweigh them. Here are some of those benefits:

I’m going to be talking mainly about Eva’s online presence, because it is more fully developed than Ian’s is currently.  Ian is still developing product for his site; once he has sheet music that bands can use, he’ll be able to connect with people in much the same way that Eva has. We are also still developing his website’s overall message and determining how it will best benefit other kids and musicians.

It Provides Real-Life Motivation for Quality Work

I talk a lot about doing away with grades for my kids’ work and instead providing the same types of motivational opportunities that drive adults. Kids aren’t so different from adults in that respect. Getting an “A” might feel good, but having your story published in a magazine feels better. Eva knows that her books aren’t just going to be filed in a cabinet, but read by dozens and dozens of people, many of whom she’ll never meet. Talk about motivation to produce quality work.

The kids’ online presence serves as an important element for this type of motivation. They each want to enhance the quality of their websites, and in order to do so, they have to continue to produce quality work. They also love it when I share their accomplishments on facebook. Though I emphasize that it’s not about the hits, likes, and comments, but instead about the connections those things represent, there is something exciting about seeing that positive feedback. It’s validating.

It Enhances Sense of Identity and Purpose

Over the past two years, Eva has come to see herself as an author. This year, she’s also come to see herself as a public speaker. Her website has not only enhances that sense of identity, but has helped create it, as it has made the sharing of her video lessons on writing possible. Making the videos allowed her to practice public speaking with the comforting lack of a physical audience. Her global positive feedback has boosted her confidence. And when she spends time tweaking and evaluating and adding to her website, she is learning to polish her professional image.

It Connects Us with People from Around the World and Creates New Opportunities

Through social media, our family has been able to connect with some pretty amazing folks – people we would have never had the opportunity to meet otherwise. Many of these people are our creative heroes, including Neil Gaiman, Sir Ken Robinson, Adora Svitak, and for Jamie, Peter Straub. These people live all over the world, and we live in middle of North Dakota. But with twitter and facebook, we have been able to talk with them as if they were next door. Amazing.

We’ve also “met” dozens of writers both young and old, teachers, principals, musicians, home educators, parents, kids. Eva has talked with folks from all over the world, sharing inspiration to write and tell stories.

And the opportunities! As a direct result of Eva’s video lessons on writing, she has been invited to speak in elementary school classrooms, both in person and via Skype. The possibilities are terribly exciting. One year ago, I would have thought the idea of public speaking for Eva was out of our grasp, at least for several more years (she can be very shy). But now… I stand in amazement at her poise and courage.

It Helps Us Be the Change We Wish to See in the World

What I want most for my kids is two things: 1) I want them to be happy and fulfilled by their life choices and 2) I want their life choices to benefit not only themselves but others as well. We’ve got just this one world, and it will be what we make it. I want my children’s world to be full of compassion, intelligence, generosity, and creativity; we have to be those things if we want that reality. We are living in a unique time, and can connect with people across the world in seconds. My kids have gifts to share – to inspire and create, to collaborate and enrich. What better way to improve both the quality of their lives and that of others than by encouraging this exchange of ideas and support?

And There’s More to Come!

With all my talk of internet presence, I recognize that we only dip the surface. We primarily use blog-based websites, facebook and twitter to achieve our digital goals. Starting today, husband Jamie is forging a new online frontier. To promote his novel Barking Mad (Typecast Publishing, 2011), he is embarking on a blog tour. Every day for three weeks, a different literary review blogger will post a unique interview with Jamie. Some of these interviews actually feature the dapper Reginald Spiffington, the main character of the book. What an exciting prospect! He hopes to connect with more readers and writers this way, and of course he hopes to boost his sales.

It really is a hilarious book, by the way – a comedy murder mystery with a werewolf! Set in 1931 England, the book reflects some of the literary joy of Agatha Christie and the Jeeves and Wooster stories. You should come along on the blog tour and learn about this exciting new venue together with us. His publisher is also giving away prizes both during and at the end of the tour. For more information, visit Jamie’s calendar page.

One Final Note on Security

I shouldn’t close without letting you know the ways I do protect my kiddos. They each have email addresses, but I receive copies of every incoming email. I proofread most of what goes back out as well. Youtube comments have to be approved by me, and I don’t allow youtube likes or dislikes. All comments on their websites also come to me for approval. As neither kid is 13 yet, neither of them have facebook accounts. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s not a perfect world. I say we forge ahead and embrace the positives in a smart, informed manner!

What about you? How do you feel about giving your children a presence on the internet? And how do you think the internet should be used in the classroom?

Altering the School Schedule to Meet Changing Needs

This is my beautiful mother, from whom I get all my organizational skills. Isn't she lovely?

One of the joys of home education is being in charge of your own reality. If something isn’t working – an approach, a text, the schedule – it’s my job to change it. We do this all the time, tweaking here and there, dropping something to pick up something else.

Spring is coming, no matter what the groundhog says, and with it a host of activities with increasing demands on time – specifically, Ian’s time. Band performances kick in, as do Science Olympiad “workouts” with the local middle school (I love that they allow him to participate, even though he’s home educated – those teachers have my gratitude). At this point in the year, our normal schedule begins to break down, so we have to shift our approach.

I’ve also noticed lately that Ian’s had a difficult time changing gears. He’s a naturally intense kid, and gets lost in his various activities; he has become reticent to start the next subject once an hour has passed. I hate to pull him away from something he’s enjoying, especially when he’s producing so much great stuff. Conversely, Eva benefits from the variety of activities, and is usually ready to switch gears.

To address these issues, I had an Official Meeting with the kids yesterday to evaluate their general satisfaction and ask their opinions about how they would like to see us move forward. The result? Eva’s schedule will largely remain the same, and Ian’s has been modified to address his particular needs. Instead of studying all the subjects every day, he will now have 2 & 1/2 hour chunks of time devoted to one subject each day. We’ll also cut back on math. Here’s how it plays out:

Ian’s Schedule

MTThF 7:20 am Jazz Band at the middle school

MWF 8:20 am Literature with Dad

TTh 8:20 am Racquetball with Dad

MWF 9:00 Math

TTh 9:20 Spanish

M-F 9:50 Break

10:15 Focused learning time. Monday: Rube Goldberg, Tuesday: Science Olympiad study, Wednesday: Music Composition, Thursday: Creative Writing, Friday: Animal Attack (his trading card game) work and anything else he wants to work on again.

12:30 Lunch

1:30 Band at the middle school

And then, afternoon lessons in drums, music theory, Science Olympiad workouts, etc. He’ll also have to do his drum practice in the afternoons.

This schedule will work through mid-March, at which point we’ll be switching from science back to history for the last quarter. I’ll have to re-evaluate when that time comes, since we work on that subject all together.

Like I said, because it works for her, Eva’s schedule is more typical of a traditional classroom, roughly changing subjects by the hour. She’s done by about 2:00 each day. Her studies include literature (which is book production now, with the photograph illustrations and layout, etc.), math, science (Rube Goldberg) for another six weeks (when we will switch to history), Spanish, trumpet practice, creative writing on another book, and racquetball.

Like everything we do, our schedule is about maximizing the kids’ performance and enjoyment of their educational experience, while maintaining a sense of balance. I would love to hear from other teachers – both traditional classroom teachers and home educators about how you approach time management with your students.

Creativity Day

Yesterday I woke up and felt deep down that the normal school day wasn’t meant to be. So I declared Creativity Day! And there was much rejoicing. I do this from time to time, especially when our hearts are committed to particular projects. Yesterday’s was a justified proclamation; the kids and I all have projects going right now, and what we really want to do is work on those all the time. I felt pretty powerful just naming the day and changing gears like that. So what are we up to?

Ian and his story...

Ian’s still digging his composing work and has several songs in his head. He can’t get them out fast enough, and new tunes keep budging their way into his brain, pushing others aside. Basically, he needs more time to get this stuff down. He’s also been assigned to write a science fiction story; he just finished reading The Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku, and Jamie thought this would be a fabulous way to tie his preferred reading into literature. Ian’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, and he can’t stop writing. So yesterday, that’s what he did: composed – both music and story.

Set #1: Kinzy's house

Eva has finished editing her new book and is now ready to begin the artwork. Her book, Kinzy’s Chronicles, is a series of short stories based on her battered and beloved stuffed koala named Kinzy. She’s decided to stage photographs of the stories using her stuffed animals, and this kind of work also takes dedicated time. Yesterday she began building her sets. You can see from the photograph that things are getting messy around here. Actually, that’s her art area, and it’s always that messy.

I’ve been working on a painting for four months now, and was itching to finish it. Additionally, the kids had sketched out the first piece of their Rube Goldberg project, and the wood had been set aside for several days awaiting the touch of a jigsaw. It was a warm day yesterday. Perfect for all these activities.

My finished painting, started in fall and completed in winter

It’s so important to make this time during the school year. I try to keep Fridays open for these kinds of activities throughout the year, but then there are those times when everyone’s just got the craving for more. Stopping our normal routine and honoring the creative nature in each of us is essential for our personal growth; the activities also clear our minds and refocus us for more structured work later. Not to mention that these activities are no less important than those “structured” ones anyway. Ian’s a musician; Eva’s an author. It’s what we do.

Tomorrow I’ll talk a little about revamping our schedule for the spring to accommodate increasing activities and the kids’ unique learning preferences. And don’t you worry, dear readers. I’ll have some Rube Goldberg updates for you very soon. Be forewarned: they’re not all pretty.