Sporadic posting to continue

Thanks for all of the compliments on my fisk. It only took about half an hour to pound out. Husband's usually take longer, but I felt inspired.

Things are busy around here. Even though we're on a light load for school, there's still plenty to do and one of those is keeping the kids occupied. I know there are only so many days of summer and, while I want the kids to enjoy them, I don't want them to forget everything they've learned. So there's a time drain.

We're trying something new with Dale for reading. The familiar practice of "read independently, do the questions, Mom will check them when you're done" resulted in hours--as in nine, some involving bouts of tears--of non-production. For seven questions.
So we're throwing a little Charlotte Mason into the mix. He reads the questions to me before the passage. I make sure he understands all of the vocabulary (last time he thought a "regiment" was a poor person or beggar--big problem). We use the Mason "narration" practice to be sure he's understanding the material. When I hear the answer to each question, I stop him and ask the question. Since he's just read the answer, it doesn't take him long. Last, he then has to write the answers to the questions.
It only took two hours today, from beginning to end. Yes, it was still a long time for seven questions, but it's a lot better than nine.

I'm also kind of re-prioritizing. We limit the kids' computer time to half an hour per day, and even have a timer on the desk for it. At this point in life they aren't doing research; they're playing games. What does it say if I'm there for hours? Reading blogs, news sites, Facebook status updates, comments, chatting with friends, writing blog entries? I mean, I do have other things to do. Like Laura Ingalls Wilder said in one of her books, "Man's work ends with set of sun; woman's work is never done." And it's true.

So I'm taking a tip from myself with my kids. Yes, I'll still be posting, but don't expect a dramatic uptick in frequency. Thanks for your attention, folks.

Let's try this fisking thing.

Over at Mama Says, she has her commentary on this article. I'm going to try my hand at my beloved husband's practice and fisk it. I don't know that it's as good as his, but it's an honest try.

The case against homeschooling
By JESSE SCACCIA
Homeschooling: great for self-aggrandizing, society-phobic mother…… but not quite so good for the kid.
Already a judgment. Any research to back that preconceived notion up?

Here are my top ten reasons why homeschooling parents are doing the wrong thing:
10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm (whether or not the offender was home schooled or not). And… say what you will… but it doesn’t feel nice to be considered an outsider, a natural outcropping of being homeschooled.
So being called "homeschooled" is an insult. Doesn't that indicate a destructively intolerant attitude? "Gay" is also considered an insult despite PSAs to combat it. Rather than stop the practice of homeschooling, we should work on the ignorance of those who hold such condemnatory viewpoints. Maybe we need nationally recognized Homeschool Awareness Month or Homeschool Pride marches.

9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.
Gee. Should we outlaw birthday cupcakes and snacks in schools too? Back in my elementary school, we ate lunch in the classroom. Really. Not to mention that he presumes the watching of American Idol (we don't) and Wii ownership (though we're thinking about that).
Where does he think public school kids do their homework, anyway? It's either at the forbidden kitchen table or in their bedroom, where they probably have a TV, stereo, their bed, et cetera.
Not only that, I can think of a couple families who DO have schoolrooms set aside in their homes.

8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates.
So he's jealous that homeschooling parents keep their educated, well-behaved kids at home out of public school? While his argument has apparent merit, the more likely scenario is those good homeschooled kids after spending 7-8 hours a day with them will start to act more like their poorly motivated peers.

7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)
While his Bible cherry-picking is an argument used by many Christians, it's also a rephrased version of #8. In response, I ask a question: exactly how informed in their faith does he imagine most kindergarteners are? Or third-graders? Has he seen the anti-Christian rhetoric spewed in some of our schools? Or the pro-multiculturalism where one faith is just as good as another so they're all screwy? How are parents supposed to unteach in a few hours--between arriving home and bedtime--what their children are exposed to for eight?
I suppose I should be grateful he doesn't spout Richard Dawkins and try to argue religious education is child abuse.

6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me?
As a matter of fact, I think I can teach English better than you can. I recognize the subjective versus the objective use.
Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…
Maybe true for most of that but I have the Timmy Turner defense: "Internet." Not to mention the public library, the zoo, the local art museum, the local science center, and... and... And we get to go to these places as often as we like when the public schools are in session teaching cooperative learning and fuzzy math.
One last thing on that topic: I really hope I can do a better job of guiding my children to college better than my own guidance counselor did. I can think of no other school staff member so frequently parodied as a guidance counselor. I know ONE who was worth her weight, and I'll bet she'll tell you the same.

5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)
Your ignorant attitude does the same to me. So there.

4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism. Unless the student is being homeschooled at the MTV Real World house, (I wouldn't want to visit there, let alone subject my kids to such an environment) there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?
This is where I get to go all papistical on you. There are Catholic saints from every continent and every ethnic background, going back to St. Augustine of Hippo at least. St. Martin de Porres, St. Charles Lwanga, Blessed Kateri Takakwitha... That's a start. Not to mention the regular visits to all of those places I mentioned back in #6, unless you think we only go to the zoo on Catholic Homeschoolers Day.

3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. So how much Spanish do they get in your class? Or art? Or gym? Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.
Yes, during the waking hours they're not at the dreaded kitchen table, they're trapped in their closet. They aren't going with me to the grocery store, buying things on their own, working at local charities, going to Park Days where the ten-year-old pushes the four-year-old on the swing, or groups of kids from 14 months to 11 years celebrate a St. Patrick's Day party, or any of the other multitude of activities they're involved in. Unlike your peer-socialized public school kids who only play with kids in their grade, they function with a variety of ages.

2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.”
More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.
Oh, and every curriculum decision made in public school committees is a sure thing. Same with district-wide discipline/classroom management procedures; they're all a given. That's why new ones are adopted every 3-5 years.
Oh, and we don't see homeschooling as a gamble. We see it as a sure bet.

1. And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but they do tend to be pretty geeky***.
And Heaven knows, there are no geeks at all in the public schools. Well, not in the hallways. They're all stuffed in trash cans or lockers.

*** Please see the comments for thoughts on the word ‘geeky.’ But, in general, to be geeky connotes a certain inability to integrate and communicate in diverse social situations. Which, I would argue, is a likely result of being educated in an environment without peers. It’s hard to get by in such a diverse world as ours! And the more people you can hang out with the more likely you are to succeed, both in work life and real life.
This in italics may be the only sentence with which I agree. Let me refer you, though, to my comments on #3 above.

One last note, to those homeschooling parents out there: it’s clear from the number and passion of your responses that TeacherRevised is missing an important voice in the teaching community. If any of you are interesting in writing for us, send me an email: jessescaccia@gmail.com. I would love to have you as part of our conversation.
Sure you would.

My solution suggestion

By now, everyone reading this has heard of the murder of George Tiller. Like every pro-life blog, newspaper, website, or person I know, I do not condone the actions of his killer and will not make excuse or pardon. I pray for the repose of his soul as well as justice for the shooter.

Considerable and understandable concern has been expressed over how this cold-blooded killing will affect the pro-life movement. Worries that it has been hobbled, set back decades, will now be under increasing scrutiny, etc. have been stated. We will face broad-brushing by the media as murderous nutjobs, armed with sniper rifles, intent on sending barefoot women back to the kitchen or worse. I personally don't think these fears are unfounded.

However, I have a solution to this. What we pro-lifers do is get out and make our presence felt. Instead of hiding and cowering, we need to go demonstrate that we are NOT nutjobs, we are NOT murderous, we are NOT women-hating. We need to show that real pro-lifers are not murderers. We are not out to kill abortionists; while we would rather they find another line of work due to absence of demand, we are not going to kill them if they don't.

I saw two abortion clinics last Saturday while plant shopping with Rachel. They each had maybe five people walking in front of them; at both there was an umbrella stroller with pictures. I noticed rosaries in the hands of some of those people.

This Saturday, I intend to join them. With a rosary, not a gun.

Tired, but an accomplished tired.

This is going to be a long post with the infinitesimal details of my weekend. You're warned.

Thursday afternoon in a regular email to my beloved, I listed all kinds of things we wanted to accomplish in the next three days. Grocery shopping, a dinosaur field trip, a date, lawn mowing, a trip to DIA for him and a couple friends, a trip to a plant nursery to finish our garden, Mass, Costco, shopping for summer clothes for Madeleine, all on top of the usual daily chores of laundry, meals, and dishes. We also knew we would want to watch the hockey games too.

Can you already feel the fatigue? Well, when two people decide to work together and a little bit of neighborly intervention occurs, it can really work out. Spectacularly.

I realized coming home from our parish Moms' Club Thursday that I could, really, go grocery shopping on Friday morning rather than wait for the weekend. I've done it before with all the kids; weekdays aren't nearly as crowded, either. So, there I was at 10 AM at Meijer, list in hand and kids in tow. They wanted new toothbrushes--fine. Oh, Daddy's birthday is Monday, can we get him presents? Sure, as long as you agree on what. Oh, and cards too!
They also talked me into strawberries for shortcake, which I promised we'd get on the way out if they were good. They were, with the overlooked exception a truncated tantrum in the cereal aisle when one lost the coin flip and we got Cookie Crisp instead of Apple Jacks--along with Mini-Wheats, Raisin Bran, and Caramel Delight Fiber One.

Upon getting home, I discovered one of our neighbors in our backyard... with a lawnmower. Okay, when we first moved in almost eight years ago, I had no intention of socializing with any of our neighbors--this was the "bad part" of our town, too far in the south end. I've said before when God serves humble pie, He always remembers the sugar. Yet another occasion to add to that list.

The kids loved the dinosaur field trip. It involved digging in sand for dinosaur bone replicas, carrying them inside a building, and turning them in to an expert who did her presentation while putting them together. She was right at their level and they loved it.
Friday night was Date Night, where we went to see Star Trek while Grandma indulged the kids with too much TV. Ten kinds of awesome was the movie with clear nods to the original series (including Kirk trying to get it on with a green-skinned chick). I did expect Bones to grow out a beard and ride a horse, I admit: Rohirrim!

Saturday I managed to get away with just Rachel to the nursery. It took two stops, but we got both a lilac bush and tomato plants. (I had to order the roses I wanted online since I didn't feel like driving all over God's green earth looking.) I have wanted a lilac bush outside my kitchen window for years. I've put it off since this was to be our "starter house," but we've been in this house twice as long as we've planned already with no change really in sight. Bloom where we're planted, right?
Now, if the wind is right, I get a lilac-scented breeze all the way into our living room. It's only a dwarf plant and will top out at about four feet tall, but when the lady described the regular ones as "invasive," I thought dwarf would be better. As to tomatoes, we got two "early girl" and two "big boy," which made Rachel happy.
Daddy managed his trip to DIA without incident. A couple of his friends who had never been to DIA were interested in the Rockwell show, and since this was the closing weekend, they got it in. I managed to nap with Lou while the other three kids were driving the neighbor crazy (okay, maybe just playing there, but still...).
Pizza for dinner, a walk afterward, and the hockey game (yay, the good guys won!) rounded out the day. Dessert of strawberry shortcake, where we used up the can of whipped cream purchased on the walk by spraying it directly into our mouths, was wonderful. And easy.

Mass was first on the agenda today. We made it on time, which is kind of unusual. Lou was fascinated by the procession. Father had a really good homily, combining Pentecost with the graduates on how we are called to spread the love of Christ too. After the announcements, when the graduates had introduced themselves and told where they were going to school, he commented, "All these graduates and none going to seminary. Perhaps next year?"
We then went to Costco, where the samples were enough to serve for lunch. After that stuff was dropped off and Daddy at the helm with three, I went out with Madeleine for summer clothes. She likes the same kind of stuff I would, mostly; she did talk me into a shirt for Rachel (so they'll match!) and a bathing suit for Dale.
Daddy grilled burgers for dinner per Dale's request earlier in the week; sides were baby carrots and celery sticks. My kids aren't fussy.
They played in the yard after, did a "show" that was more performance art/Ninja Warrior episode than anything else. Talking to Neema and Papa was fulfilling and their motivation for pajamas was the hockey pre-game.

Now they're all in bed, probably asleep. I'm going to have some Nutella toast for my own dessert and revel in a weekend well-spent.

Oh, great. Another website to go broke on.

I'll admit that one of the more challenging subjects to homeschool well is science. Even if you have a terrific text (we do), even if you visit the library for supplementals/rabbit trails (we do), even if you have a membership to and visit local science museums (we do), even if your kids have a natural curiosity (they do)... it's the experiments. The hands-on stuff. Let's be honest--the fun, interesting stuff. It's one thing to take advantage of observing a dead squirrel that lost to someone's front bumper; it's another to get hold of owl pellets. Ants and worms are easy to find and observe, and we've found a praying mantis on our window unit one summer day. But mealworms? Not so much.
So... there's this place. No, this is not a paid post; I don't get paid for blogging which is why it happens when I feel like it. Just check this one page out for the young set--pre-K to second grade. Rachel would love the flower book; Dale would treasure the bug set. Poke around some more. It's like Science Geek Heaven.

Yeah. Like Amazon. "Oh, that would be so cool!"

Coupla links for ya

On why I've discovered an affection for country music, here's this one from Catholic Exchange. Toby Keith's Unleashed was the first album I got--because of Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.

And this one on the alleged Missing Link. This is going to get lots of folks I know all atwitter; some will be, "Wonderful! Now will you stop your meaningless weekly rituals to your imaginary sky god?" At least one, though, will surely be tactful enough to refrain from saying something like that. Others I know will be saying, "Fraud! It was coated in resin! Carbon dating is inaccurate! It's all a fake!"

I've been mulling this topic for a while and this announcement is as good a reason as any to post about it. My thoughts? To start: there is nothing inherent in Catholicism that conflicts with evolution. Godless evolution, sure; but evolution per se not so much. You see, if God sees fit that wolves can be selectively bred by humans over thousands (millions? I don't know how long amateur AKC folks have been working on this) of years to create this kind of creature, who's to say that He in His infinite abilities couldn't do the same on a larger scale? As Mark Shea is wont to say, "God in a scientifically controlled environment will do whatever He pleases."
I haven't gotten into a discussion of evolution with anyone ever, but one question plagues me on it. Scientists have proven the idea of spontaneous generation false, right? We know flies lay eggs on rotting meat, it doesn't just sprout maggots on its own. We buy vacuum-packed food because it's not going to spoil; all the germs are either absent or dead. They won't just grow out of the strawberry seeds in the jelly. Life does not arise from non-life, even on a microbial level.

So...
When Earth came into being six billion years ago or so, there was no life on it. Now, there is. I don't think anyone disputes either of those premises. But... At some point in the past six billion years, there had to be one moment where life didn't exist and the next it did. So we have one occasion where we have life springing from non-life. On the microbial level.

Now I'm going to braid a seven-year-old's hair and then coax a 17-month-old into taking a nap. Back to the grind.

Daddy kept his poker face.

This is a real conversation that happened after dinner tonight; my beloved husband and I were talking after the kids had left the table.

Dale comes back and picks the drain cover from the coffee maker out of the dish rack and puts it to his lips.
Me: "Dale, that doesn't belong near your mouth."
Son, looking at it: "What is it?"
Husband: "Something we use to clean the cats' butts."
Pause.
Son, quietly: "I'm going to wash my lips."

We'll tell him the truth eventually. Like puberty, high school graduation, his wedding...