Entries from July 2009 ↓

There hasn’t been a whole lot of *schooling* going on around here lately, hence the lack of posts.  Between sickness running its course two by two through the family, and then playing catch up on all the things that were left undone during those weeks, it simply hasn’t been our top priority.  Learning, however?  Learning has been happening all over the place.

Gamma’s starting to really read.  Not just two or three letter words, but really read.  We have some easy readers Gramma Alpha gave him years ago, and he can read 90% of what is on the page.  Of course, the stories are familiar, so some words are coming more from context than actual print, but he’s definitely progressing very quickly.  As most people report, I’m so amazed at how quickly the reading is coming.  He’s been able to sound out words for quite some time now, but that’s completely different from reading.

But he’s not limiting his new-found skill to easy readers.  Signs at the library, titles of books, cans at the grocery store, analyzing my shopping lists…

All over the place.

Alpha and I are sick.  Dog sick.  Feel like we’re going to die sick. Last week the kids were suffering.  Now it’s our turn.

The kids are ruling the roost.

It isn’t pretty.

It’s been a few weeks since I participated in the Well-Read Child meme.  Not that we haven’t been reading, because we have.  It’s 86˚ here today, and I’ve had one boy or another pressed up against me half the time, reading.

In this weeks bag, we’ve got:

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, by Eugene Field, illustrated by Giselle Potter.

• This has been reviewed previously on The Well-Read Child.  What can I add?  Beautiful pictures, wonderful meter to the poem, magical theme.  The combination is like a beautiful dream just barely remembered.  We’ve been to the Netherlands, and have friends there, and Gamma even has a pair of wooden shoes, so we’ve been able to tie in many other themes as well.  I’ve read this so many times in the past three days that I have the poem memorized.

Anansi the Spider: A Tale From the Ashanti, by Gerald McDermott.

• This is another favorite, with both Gamma and Epsilon.  This is a retelling of a West African folktale about Anansi, the trickster.  The pictures are bold and vivid, and the storyline kept both my sons hooked.  I had a little problem with the language — I kept wanting to put it into “correct” grammar.  For example: “He split open Fish.”  And, “Very soft, Anansi came down.”  But the grammatical structure, I’m sure, was intentional, to help make the story as much as possible as if you were listening to an Ashanti storyteller firsthand.  This story also introduced us to yet another tale of how the moon came to be in the sky, ant to yet another god.  While writing this review, Gamma came over and begged me to read it to him, and is now sitting on the couch, flipping through the pages, naming all the sons and telling the story back to me.  Although Gamma tends to be into longer, chapter-type books now, this has been a real hit.

Monsieur Étourdi, by Roger Hargreaves.

• Each week, Gamma and I will be tackling at least one children’s book in French.  This week was one of the Mr. Men characters — in English it’s Mr. Forgetful.  This series, in English, would be more of interest to Epsilon, but in French, it’s just a bit beyond Gamma’s level, so it’s perfect.  Even I learned a couple verbs and phrases I didn’t know before!  The story is simple, but sweet: M. Étourdi forgets everything: what he needs at the store, what he dreamt about last night, even where his bathroom is in his own house!  He is  given an impossible task — to take a message to his neighbor, M. Pâturage.  (Mr. Fields, in English, I’d guess).  As you would expect, he messes up his task completely, but all ends well and happily.  Not really a tale for a kindergartener, but if you have a 3-4 year old, the English version would be quite amusing, I’m sure.

We’ve got other books in the bag, obviously, but these are the ones we felt noteworthy enough to blog about.  For Gamma, the hit of the week would have to be Anansi the Spider: A Tale From the Ashanti.

Beta has covered the three states of matter with Gamma (at least the ones we can touch).  He understands that the same substance can appear differently.  Particularly water.

He also knows the distinction between matter normally progressing from solid, to liquid, then to gas as it’s molecules move faster and faster as they gain energy from heat.

Further, he also knows that a few water molecules in ice can actually move fast enough to go straight to a gaseous state.  How does he know this?  We tested it.

Water frozen in an open bowl kept in the freezer can never be in a liquid state, it’s too cold in there.  But, after weeks of weighing a small bowl of ice every few days, we graphed the loss of water.  The bowl was a small bowl I’d call a monkey dish (I don’t know why, that’s what we called the small bowls we used at the restaurant I cooked in a lifetime ago).  We’ll have to see what we can find out about that name’s etymology.  That ice had to go somewhere, and it couldn’t have turned liquid and poured out.

Gamma now knows that water can go straight from a solid to a gas.  It’s called sublimation.  He knows this because we measured it.  He saw it happening over time.  But wait, there’s more.

What if the bowl were bigger?  Would the ice sublime away any faster?  We talked about the differences between the small bowl and the big bowl.  The only difference that Gamma decided mattered was the surface area of the ice in the bigger bowl.  He thought the ice would sublime faster.  So, we tested that, too.

A few more weeks of measurements, and we had our data.  Not only does Gamma know that water molecules in ice can go straight to a gas (sublimation), he knows that it happens faster if there is more surface area of the ice.  Here are our results:

Sublimation of water in our freezer

As you can clearly see, the ice in the large bowl sublimed at a much faster rate than the small bowl.  The X-axis is the number of days in the freezer, the Y-axis is the weight of the water in the bowl, in grams (I did mention to him once that water is the standard for grams and volume [1 gram of water = 1 cubic centimeter], but we’ll expand on that later).  Obviously, I drew the graph, this wasn’t an art project.  But Gamma was there while I drew it and made the actual measurements.

Now, of course I didn’t bother explaining graphing, domains, and ranges to him.  We haven’t done Cartesian coordinates just yet.  But Gamma did understand that the steeper curve meant that what we were measuring  happened faster.

My point in this was to expose Gamma to having an idea, figuring a way to test that idea, conducting the experiment, and then making conclusions about the idea based on the results.

OK — those two books over there ——>?  They are totally pissing me off.

First, the French book.  Le Secret de Monsierur Verlan.  I don’t know if you’ve blown up the image, but in the bottom left-hand corner it says “huit et plus” — eight and older.  So the typical 8-9 year old should have no problem with this text.  Yet I, at thirty-mumble mumble mumble, am agonizing through it!  I can read it, and yet it makes no sense!  Why?!  Well, because it’s not supposed to make sense.  M. Verlan, apparently, does everything in reverse. He says “good evening” when he should say “good morning”, he asks the class to write in tiny script so he can see it from far away, he claims singular objects end in “s” and plurals do not.  Amusing to young French readers, no doubt, but confounding as all get out to adults trying to read in French! I’m trying to figure things out logically, and fill in vocabulary I don’t know contextually, but that doesn’t work in a book where everything is backward!  I think I need to abandon this and try another early French reader.  I can figure out this book, but figuring out what is serious and what is farcical is taking up too much of my time.    I’m sure Gamma, in 3 or 4 years, will find this highly amusing.  I, however, am moving on.

The Canon… sigh.  I wanted to love this book.  And a part of me does.  I’m listening to this, by the way, in audiobook format.  Nike Doukas is  great, absolutely great narrator.  The repartee is exhilarating and fun, and makes me forget I am listening to a science book.  The witty repartee, which some reviewers find annoying, resonates with me.  Because I am more an English major and less a Science major.  But when Angier, the author, starts waxing poetic about electrons and atomic bonds, I’m lost.  I feel like I should be reading this with a science textbook open in my lap.  And maybe I should.  She’s so excited by, in love with, her topic, it makes me yearn to feel the same passion for thermodynamics and electromagnetism and all that good stuff.  I suppose that’s the point to a book like this — to inspire literary-types to glimpse the beauty and poetry in science, as well as in Shakespeare.  But I had hoped this book would explain thermodynamics and electromagnetism in a way I could understand, rather than simply giving me a brief glimpse.  My search continues…

This week’s Think! project was to build a hovercraft using only the following:

tape
3 rubberbands
3 sheets of paper
3 balloons
3 straws
3 paperclips
3 pennies
3 feet of string

This project called for a little more parental involvement than I normally “allow” for our think projects.  It’s Gamma’s project, not mine.  But his ideas were bigger than a five year old boy’s dexterity allows.

version 1

He envisioned a ship-shaped vessel, but had a hard time following these instructions himself.  I lent a hand, then Gamma went off to test his hovercraft over our floor fan.  It sailed right out the window!

Next he added three pennies taped inside the ship for weight.  He got a little more “hover”, but still a tumultuous flight and crash.  Not the hovercraft I want to be on!  He added straws taped to the corners, Viking-ship style, but that tumbled about and was getting quite ungainly.  He decided to try making a more square version.

Blurry, I know, but the only picture I have of Gamma with his first hovercraft.

version 2

Next, his design called for two pieces of paper taped together, to make a slightly more square ship.  I again helped with the paper folding and with some taping, as we seem to have Herculean-strength tape.  Three pennies (actually 3 2-euro cent pieces, we don’t do pennies here!) helped weigh the craft down, this time placed in a triangular shape in the middle instead of strung out end to end.  Gamma fastened the straws to the opposite sides and had me blow up balloons and affix them to the straws.

Success!  Sort of.  The craft does hover over the fan, but spins around quite a bit.  Kind of like a hovercraft crossed with the spinny carnival ride.  Gamma thinks that if he could use more pennies to weigh it down, he’d have a better hovercraft.  I think if the fan hadn’t been quite as powerful his results would have improved.  Nonetheless, this was two hours of fun and experimenting and problem-solving for Gamma.  He couldn’t be happier!

Some shots of the hovercraft in action.  Note the self-satisfied yet ever-anxious engineer standing close by to rescue his baby just in case!

See you next time!

OK, first of all, it’s been a busy week.  The kind where nothing quite goes as expected, and “me” time, which is normally spent on the computer, updating for all my very lovely readers, falls by the wayside.  Chances are there will be many, many more long silences in this blog.  I love to blog, but my family comes first.  No apologies.  Sometimes living life is far more important than writing about it.

But TODAY….

Today, Sunday, I took Gamma to the local indoor child-play area.  You know, bouncy castles, ball pits, tumbling mats, obstacle courses… that kind of thing.  I love to get him out to play with local kids — he learns to communicate in a foreign language, or without language.  He was having a great time until he happened to piss of THE THUG.  You know, the kid that every other kid has to please or he’ll pay dearly with his lunch money, pride, and anything else  he has to give.

The first time, Gamma fought back.  They were pushing each other about, slapping at each other, fighting as little boys do.  THE THUG looked to be about the same size as Gamma, which means he was probably about a year older.  Because Alpha is a giant, and Gamma takes after him, usually being mistaken for a kid a year or so older than he actually is.  Anyway….

I stepped in, fairly calmly.  I took Gamma away, bought him a drink, and reminded him that we don’t fight, EVER.  We don’t back down and let bullies win, but we don’t engage in fistfights, slapping, etcetera.  We shrug and turn away (perhaps with a “whatever” rolling of the eyes, once you’ve perfected it), showing that you couldn’t care less and engaging in this argument just isn’t worth your time.  Gamma got the message and, once refreshed, went back to playing.

At which time THE THUG sought him out.  And pinned his arms behind his back.  And pushed him up against the mesh “wall” and wouldn’t let him go.

The bastard.

Gamma called for me, a loud, plaintive “Mom!”  Not, “Mom, I’m scared, come help me!”;  but, “Mom, he’s not playing by the rules!  What do I do?!”  I was already on the way, and when THE THUG saw me, he quickly released Gamma.  I gave him the evil eye, and he retreated into the funhouse.

Although I stayed relatively close after that, and evil-eyed THE THUG twice more to avoid confrontation, the fun seemed to sour for Gamma.  Shortly after that, we went home.

I’ve been lucky thus far.  Bullies have been few and far between.  But now I find myself — Gamma, really, — faced with a dilemna.  How do you teach a young boy like Gamma — only five and a half — to be nice and gentle and gentlemanly, and yet to stand up for himeslf?  How does a boy avoid confrontation, yet not cave to THE THUGs of the world?  How does a boy please his mom and do what he knows is expected of him, without looking like a mama’s boy?

Bueller?  Anyone?

p.s. — I totally wanted to kick that kid’s ass!  I need to figure out how to intimidate little shits in French, because that hasn’t been part of my education thus far!

This month, Alpha is taking an immersion French course at the local université.  He says it’s kicking his ass and that it’s a complete waste of time, obviously geared for someone with far more French experience than he.  And yet he’s coming home with all kinds of new words and phrases daily.  I think he’s getting more out of it than he realizes.

Rather than driving into the city daily to drop him off and pick him up, or him attempting to find parking within the city limits, we purchased bus passes for the month.  Unlimited travel within our zones for an entire month for just 27 euros each.  Both kids travel for free.  We find this to be a remarkably good deal.  Aside from the obvious savings on fuel and parking fees, you simply can’t beat the convenience.  I don’t have to worry about parking, or loading and unloading Epsilon from his stroller.  So many times I’ve wanted to take the kids out and about and go exploring in the town, Mons, Belgium, but haven’t wanted the hassle of getting there.  It’s been wonderfully convenient — so much so that we’re considering getting a yearly pass.

So a few days ago the kids set out to really begin exploring the city.  Here’s a teaser photo — the local collégiale church — St. Waudru.  We didn’t venture in today, but I’ve visited before.  It really is a beautiful gothic church, and not the tourist throng that some of the larger European churches can be.

That’s Gamma in the picture, more interested in running around than in getting his picture taken with a piece of history.  Also in the background is the Belfry.  More on that in coming posts.  Today we simply walked around, seeing what there was to see.  It’s high time we really learned about our local area and took advantage of all that it has to offer.  While we’re educating ourselves, we’ll give you a brush with European History as well!  Come back soon to read about our exciting European adventures!

This week’s Think! challenge was to build a water wheel.

Allowable materials:

a long dowel
a cardboard tube or a two liter bottle or a can
8 index cards
a sharpie
string
tape

You may use scissors in construction but not the solution.

We went to You Tube and a watched a few videos of homemade water wheels to get Gamma’s creative juices flowing. Then we examined the raw materials at our disposal. A few used toilet paper rolls, a book of index cards cut in half (for flash card purposes), no string, cheap “magic” tape. I think we both sensed that the water wheel wasn’t going to be terribly hardy, so we’d better get movement the first time around.

Here is Gamma with his design. Simple, but functional.

Demonstrating what he thinks is going to happen.

A large wooden spoon, just long enough to bridge the expanse of our sink, served as a dowel.

You can’t tell in the photo, but it really did work! Unfortunately, we only got two revolutions….

… before it looked like this.

So… we never got a chance to try it behind a boat. But I think this week’s challenge has really sparked an interest for him. He’s making a design on paper for a better water wheel that he plans to build later today or tomorrow out of K’NEX. I’ll update with his results!

*****

edited to add some of his latest inventions. Obviously, these aren’t sticking to the materials of the challenge, but still fun to see!

Version 1: a little hand-held model.

Version 2: V1 upgraded to make it self-supporting.

Version 3: trying out a windmill design.

Gamma really enjoyed using his little grey cells and solving this challenge!

There is a wide spectrum of homeschool blogs. There are the mom blogs, posting pictures of their children’s lapbook projects and other creations. Then there are the activists. In the case of the blogs I read, this refers to activists for both secularism and homeschooling. I always thought I’d fall much more in the former category, with a rare post in the latter.

I’m no activist, no revolutionary. I’m a mom, first and foremost. Then a wife. Somewhere way, way down the list I would have listed “atheist”. And I find it extremely difficult to find the perfect label to affix to myself. Secular? Yes. Humanist? Yes. Freethinker? Yes. Atheist? Yes. Skeptic? Ummm…. no.

I’ll admit it. I’m no skeptic. I read skeptic blogs; I see the logic in their arguments; I aspire to be like them. But I don’t think skeptically. Don’t take that to mean that I’m gullible, and fall for every con that comes my way. I can often smell a rat, but I can’t tell you what it smells like. Just…. not quite right. My husband, Alpha, also known as The Skepdick can identify the distinct nuances in scent that identify said rat, and give you a lecture on the olfactory system while he’s at it. So I guess I depend on him to do my skeptical thinking, kind of like he depends on me to speak French for him.

But I digress…

I thought this blog would be primarily about homeschooling. We added the word “secular” to the title simply to keep traffic targeted — so other secular homeschoolers could find us, and so christian homeschoolers that wanted to avoid us, could. But I’m finding that speaking out and identifying yourself as an atheist is incredibly important to us as a group. Atheists are too often maligned and demonized — I confess, when I was a christian I thought the term “atheist” was synonymous with “satanist”. More people need to understand that atheists are just people — some good, some bad. But the majority of atheists I know are people like me, people who want the best for their kids, their families, their communities, and their world.

So I’m making the effort — here, but more importantly, in real life — to identify myself as an atheist. No more smiling and nodding when someone I barely know says they’ll pray for me. No more using Epsilon’s naptime as an excuse to not attend PWOC or a women’s bible study. No more keeping silent when a very casual friend — let’s call her Kappa, to keep with the theme — mentions how the crystal she has placed around her baby’s neck has completely healed his teething pain.

Speaking out isn’t easy for me. I’m basically a shy, introverted person that likes to avoid confrontation whenever possible. But I think that if atheism is ever going to become “acceptable”, it will be because average, everyday people like me help to remove the stigma.