WhateverBlog

Oh how I love days like these...

2012-01-16T05:01:00.000-08:00

The sun hasn't yet come up, and I have been a busy girl. I woke up early, did a load of laundry (which I try to do only in non-peak hours to save money), cleaned up after the roast beef dinner party last night, finished the dishes, and finished my first work-related task for the day.

Now, I'm sitting in the livingroom with my feet on an ottoman, my computer on my lap, and a cup of tea by my side, feeling like I've accomplished something, and my little man hasn't even woken up yet.

I plan on pancakes for breakfast, because during my last minute grocery shop last night I forgot to buy cereal. As the last person in the grocery store before closing, I felt a little rushed, and forgot a few things which I'll have to pick up next time I have to go that way.

After a week of illness, David has convinced me he is healthy enough to get back to his activities this week, so we're back to homeschool work too. That might just throw me off my game later today, since it always seems hard to get him back into a schedule after taking time off.

Too bad I'm too much of a softy to make him work when he's sick.

On the agenda today is
Math: Converting fractions to decimals
Language Arts: review of all the stuff we did before the flu hit
History: Ancient Greece continued
Japanese: Review the last two pre-flu lessons

He's also got two Lego Clubs he can go to today. We're definitely going ahead with the homeschool Lego Club this afternoon, and we'll see how much energy is left before deciding to go to the neighborhood Lego Club held at a local church in the evenings.

Lego is fun, but I'd rather not have the kid burn out on his first day back.

Why does writing always lead to tears?

2011-08-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't get it. He knows how to write beautifully in cursive, and his printing is uneven, but readable. He can write wonderful sentences with fantastic grammar when he's typing emails and reviews on the computer.

So, what exactly is the reason that there's a temper tantrum whenever I try to get him to write something down on paper?

Is it because it takes longer than typing?

Maybe we haven't done enough long-hand to toughen up his finger muscles?

He wishes we could just skip pencils and pens and stick to touch typing lessons. I do too, based on the stress it causes every time we head down that road.

Is he even going to live in a world that will need writing and printing? Already smartphones have replaced pen and paper when I'm away from home, and the fact that I'm half-luddite is the only excuse for me having reams of paper reminders and notes around the house.

The simple answer is that I don't know if it will be important in his life at all in the future, and because I don't know, I'm going to keep pushing it.

Maybe not as much as I would if we were living a decade earlier, but he's going to be able to write notes in classes, and essays on test papers, even if it kills me.

Learning Sites to Bookmark

2011-07-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Bill Hammack's EngineerGuy.com
Awesome videos simplifying technical information from hard drives to pop can tabs.

Connexions
A site full of educational 'modules' that can be organized as courses, books, reports, or anything else.

PBS Teachers
Find teaching resources and program information such as episode descriptions and educational learning goals for PBS KIDS shows.

Modern Teachers
Lesson plans from the Museum of Modern Art

Google Code University
Sample computer science course content and tutorials.

YouTube Edu
Thousands of video lectures and tutorials

Why the public library does a better job of getting your kids to read than the public school does

2011-07-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today I took my son to the library. Since the summer reading program at the public library began, I've been taking him a lot. Since the program began, he's been reading a lot. And based on the kids I see lined up to report on their latest book each day, he's not the only one.

Many of the parents I chat with while we wait for our kids to finish have mentioned that their kids hate reading during the school year, but love it during the summer.

So what is the library doing that schools are not to get kids reading and loving it?

The library reading program lets each kid pick any book he or she wants -- whether that's above grade level or below, non-fiction or fiction, graphic novels or chapter books -- it all counts.
The library reading program offers fun rewards. My local library lets kids have a turn at a board game each time they report on a book. They get a prize if they land on special spots, and each time they pass 'GO'. Each time they report they also get a ballot for a draw made each week for a prize package. The prizes are cheap. In fact, they are cheap beyond dollar store cheap, but they work as insanely great incentives to kids. My son LOVES getting to pick a prize.
The library reading program has no pressure. There's no pass or fail. There's nothing riding on their review of the book. They just get to tell someone what the book was about and whether it was awesome or awful. That's it.
The library makes reading cool. Every kid who passes 'GO' on the game board three or more times over the summer gets a golden ticket to a pizza party held at the end of August. And who doesn't love a pizza party?

What do public schools do wrong?

They limit the reading material to what's assigned in class, or what's at grade level, or by topic or genre. Not every kid is going to be the same level in reading ability or comprehension. Pushing them forward or holding them back is just going to make them dread reading time.
There's no incentives or rewards. Just the promise of more work and evaluations when the book is done. What great thing do you get for finishing a book? A writing assignment. Yay, isn't that fun! I love reading, and I read incessantly, but if someone was making me write a report on every book I read, I'd curtail my reading significantly. Reading I like. Writing book reports, not so much.
Not only does the school require a written report on every book, but that report that has to follow a specific pattern or else the child fails. Just imagine how this affects a child who read a book he loved, but wrote a report that failed to make the grade. It kills me just thinking about it.
The culture of the classroom that's generated by the problems above make it uncool to enjoy reading. You must be a nerd, or teacher's pet, to enjoy what you're reading in school. Would you admit to anyone that you liked to read if it made you a target for bullies? Me neither.

Now, I'm not saying that kids should never write book reports, or that their reading should never be evaluated, but too much writing and grading kills the joy of reading for way too many kids. And for what reason? Writing is not the same skill as reading. My son reads way above grade level, but his writing leaves a lot to be desired. Does it even make sense to evaluate his reading skills based on written reports?

I actually doubt anything can be changed in the school system to make kids love reading. Thankfully, the library is there in the summer to heal some of the wounds the school inflicts during the school year.

Wow. Blogger changed!

2011-07-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that Blogger is becoming Google Blogs, to tie in to the big G's master plan. I don't really care what it's called, as long as it works, but boyoboyoboy, do I ever like the changes to the admin area. It looks so much sleeker than the old admin.

Bloodless but Happy

2011-07-04T19:01:00.001-07:00

Today was a quiet day spend working around the house. I woke up feeling sick, so David made me breakfast in bed, and an hour or so later I was feeling a bit better, so I moved my computer out to the front porch and worked there a bit.

After lunch, I helped David with long division (again, since it's absolutely not sticking in his head at all), and worked until we had to leave for his karate class.

Yesterday David wanted desperately to fly his kite, but it didn't work out, so I promised him a chance to go to the park after supper.

Unfortunately, a friend ended up calling in a panic because she accidentally 'shared' a document containing personal information about her kids on Microsoft SkyDrive (which is apparently a little too easy to do) and needed some coaching to figure out how to unshare (which is apparently nearly impossible to do). So by the time we made it out to the park, it was 8:30pm, and the mosquitoes were out looking for supper.

Still, David got his kite up by himself, with a little coaching, and had some fun with it till 9:30, when the REALLY BIG mosquitoes came to call.

We reeled the kite in very quickly, and sprinted back home while we still had a bit of blood left in our bodies, laughing all the way.

Now we're both itchy as hell, but very glad we took the time to get to the park. It may not have been the most important moment of our lives, but it was fun, and as long as we don't come down with a case of West Nile, we'll look back on the evening as one of the best of the summer.

Required Reading

2011-06-23T11:00:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking lately about the books that were assigned in school when I was growing up. The thing is, I can't remember them.

I remember reading two books in Grade 9... Don Quixote and I Am Mary Tudor. I remember a lot about both books, including how they made me feel and think. But I read both of those books over the summer before I entered Grade 9. I don't recall what we read as a class in Grade 9. Maybe Romeo and Juliette? Probably something by Margaret Atwood. We were always reading something by Atwood. The curse of growing up Canadian. She might be a brilliant author, but school turned me right off her.

When I entered high school, during the summers I read Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy (having a thing for Russians at the time), but during the school year, I stuck to Stephen King, Heinlein and Azimov. One of my teachers once asked me why I read such "low-brow fiction" when I clearly could read at a much higher level. I didn't have an answer at the time. It just worked better for me that way.

But now I understand that you can't read Dostoyevsky on the bus. You can't appreciate Shakespeare in 40 minute blocks twice a week. You can't squish good literature into a homework session between algebra and chemistry.

Reading is different. It's intense and personal, even with pulp. More challenging books require even more attention, focus and time, and the life of a high school kid with a part-time job, friends and homework isn't conducive to that kind of reading.

So for me, summer was the perfect time to delve into something bigger, more intense, and more difficult than typical beach reads. And I remember every brilliant summer literary experience I had since I was about 12 years old. Books I read in school? Don't remember much about them at all.

And now I have a son. I clearly want him to read good books, and I have occasionally pushed him toward some reading purely for the purpose of cultural literacy.

I made him read Alice in Wonderland ("Girl's book," he said), and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ("What a rip-off. He wasn't even a real wizard!"), and he's currently reading Frankenstein (because he challenged me when I said that Frankenstein was the name of the monster's creator, not the monster itself).

I give him all the time he needs to read the books. The Wizard of Oz took one day. Frankenstein is taking several weeks.

But I wonder if he will remember these books, or simply forget them because they weren't of his own choosing. Is there a good way to teach good books, or is the best thing to let the reader stumble upon them on his own?

Homeschooling, at least, allows him to devour books at his own pace, to choose between ebooks, audio books and the paper versions, and to take all the time he needs to understand and appreciate what he's reading. No whole-class reading for him.

But even while I choose some of his reading for him, I hope I can restrain myself enough that the joy of reading something difficult and challenging stays with him for years to come.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T17:02:00.001-07:00

My Father was 50 when I was born. When I am 50, my son will be 18... old enough to fend for himself. I wonder now what was on my Dad's mind when I came around. Probably something like, "Holy Crap! I thought we were done with the kids, already!"

It must have been frightening for him, knowing that as I grew up, he'd grow old.

When I was 12, he had a massive heart attack that he wasn't supposed to survive.

He did survive it. And he lived another 18 years. What eventually killed him wasn't his heart, but a virus he picked up from the nurses in a hospital after a case of pneumonia. MRSA. Nasty stuff. Stay out of hospitals if you can help it. They'll kill ya.

As a parent myself now, I wonder if leaving children too young to be without parents was what kept him from giving up in the hospital when he was stuck to tubes and wires for what seemed like forever -- to me and probably to him as well.

Thinking about my own son, I'd fight hell itself to stay with him, to make sure he's safe, and to watch him grow up. Not that I believe in hell, but I'm just sayin' - a heart that doesn't work wouldn't stand in my way either.

It's been quite a few years since my Dad's death. I still miss him. I still think about him often. I wish I had talked to him more about his own childhood... but when I was growing up it was so hard to think of him as ever being young. I never even knew the man when he had hair on his head.

He never got a chance to meet my son. I think they would have liked each other, though. My son has a whole lot of my mom's personality, and my Dad liked that enough to stay married to her for 45 years. I think he would have liked that I named his grandson after him, too.

If he were alive, he'd be 91 right now. And when I think about him, I understand why people take to religions. I would love to believe he's still "out there" somewhere... that he knows what's going on (in a vague, not nosy, non-judgmental kinda way) and that I'll see him again.

But the only part of him that survives is his genes, which, I suppose, is a pretty darn good thing. I see my father in my brothers, in their kids, their grand-kids, and in me. Even his namesake grandson, for all my mom's personality, has some traits that make me think, "Yeah, that's my Dad."

So, for all the bits of him in those that are carrying on the best of who he was... Happy Father's Day.

Overheard at Cubs tonight...

2011-06-15T19:51:00.001-07:00

SON: "What's spirituality?"

LEADER: "Umm, it's sort of the belief that there's something 'out there' bigger than ourselves."

SON: "Like an elephant?"

Summer Camp Shopping

2011-06-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

The annual children and youth festival was held today in my small town. It's nothing too exciting -- a few entertainers, some games, spray on tattoos, and lots of info booths from summer camps.

It is probably the best place to learn about some the privately run summer day camp opportunities that are available in and around town.

I was excited today to learn that a nearby university is holding a science and engineering satellite summer camp in my area for kids in grade 3 to 6. David was over the moon thinking about it. Once I went to the website to find out more, I see that it's in a location that's pretty much impossible to get to without a vehicle, so I will have to improvise something. Tomorrow perhaps he and I will hop on our bikes to see how difficult and dangerous the bike ride would be before deciding whether or not to sign him up.

A rocketry camp looked promising until I saw the price, which was nearly twice as much as other day camps being offered, and way out of my budget.

One other summer camp caught David's eye today -- a video game programming camp -- but it was only for ages 10 to 12. David asked why the age restriction was there. The lady at the info table said that it was because they were using a program that was difficult for younger kids. After hearing that it was Alice, David said, "but I use that all the time!" Still, no age exceptions, so if he wants to do a computer gaming camp, he'll have to wait.

Not all the available summer camps were there. The karate dojo we seem to be at daily wasn't there advertising their camps, nor was the dance studio where David took hip-hop classes last year, though I know they are offering a few camps because they've been sending out emails to their client list for the last few months about them.

In the end, what we choose will come down to timing, accessibility and budget. Whatever he does, I'm sure it'll be an awesome experience once again.

Computer Science Educational Resources

2011-06-01T08:28:00.001-07:00

MIT OpenCourseware Introduction to Computer Science and Programming
Video lectures, a little too advanced for my middle-schooler, but they give me a good idea of where to begin and where to progress.

Google's Python Class
A free class assuming a little bit of programming experience. The class includes video lectures, written materials and code exercises.

Computer Science Unplugged
Lots of amazing activities to teach computer science concepts without sitting in front of a computer. Absolutely brilliant, and free, resource.

Project Euler
Tons of mathematical problems you can devise computer programs to solve. Suitable for older kids and math whiz kids. And parents, if your kids don't mind if you lose yourself at the computer for hours at a time.

Making Math More Fun

2011-05-11T07:15:00.001-07:00

Sometimes there is just no substitute for brute force math learning. And face it, learning is hard work. Some of the concepts are difficult to grasp the first time around, and many of them need frequent and steady reinforcement, or they just drop out of small heads and into the ether.

But there's no reason math should be boring and repetitious. Back when I was in school, pages and pages of repetition and speed drills were the norm, but I remember hating it, and as a result, I hated even the thought of math -- until I started re-learning the beauty of it as an adult.

In our little home school, learning math concepts is still work. Some things are more fun than others. My little Jedi loves algebra and dislikes geometry, but we go through it all.

But instead of drills, we try to do games and slightly more entertaining activities to help the math facts stick.

My son has loved Timez Attack -- a computer game that's designed to reinforce multiplication facts. Get the facts right and blow stuff up. What more could a kid ask for?

I just noticed today that there's a new module for division, so I'm currently downloading it and my son is eager to give it a try.

But kids do not learn by video games alone. We also like to use math games to reinforce facts

The Making Math More Fun math games package is a great place to start. It includes games for everything from addition and subtraction to fractions and decimals, with lots of variety for each. Not only do they count as math work, but they also offer some fun one-on-one time with your kids. Most of the games are fast, and it's easy to squeeze in a quick game or two while water boils or dinner cooks.

When we're travelling, there are some amazing math workbooks from Mindware that provide hours of fun. Multiplication Mosaics and Division Designs create designs on a grid when you answer the questions correctly. Subtraction Secrets and Addition Adventures are like treasure maps, leading you to the correct object when you solve the problems. A particular favorite of ours was Code Breakers, which introduces algebra concepts in a very fun way.

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

2011-03-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

February is an evil month

2011-02-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

Of all the winter months, I've always had the most problems getting through February.

It's so close to spring you can smell it, but the cold and the snow, and the early darkness start to wear on my nerves and patience.

And it's doubly bad when things go wrong in February, which a lot of things did this month. Add a cold that isn't going away, the death of a friend and an extended family member, and relationships past coming back to haunt me, I can't wait for March to begin.

Homeschooling has been a bit lax this month. A few days ago I finally got myself together enough to start doing more than the minimum math and language arts, and the added work has met with some resistance as well.

But it is Friday. David has a friend coming over in a few hours, and I'm going through the last of my work for the week.

Tomorrow we'll find out more about the karate tournament in April that David wants to sign up for, and once we know what's going on there, we'll get our tickets to go to Vancouver Island that same week.

Something to look forward to is good. And March is just around the corner.

I know it's just an artificial construct, but there's something magical about starting over with day #1.

I finally get Internet Access

2011-01-28T16:10:00.001-08:00

On the 15th of this month, David and I moved into a new house.

It was a bit rushed, but it was something I needed to do, and I'm glad we made the move. We have a lot more space than before, and with a bit of work this house will be exactly what we need.

But, because I was waffling on which Internet service to get, and whether to get a home phone or not, I delayed ordering high-speed Internet until last week, which meant that I had to wait till today to get hooked up.

But today was the day! I've got nice speed...enough for Netflix...and an unlimited package (fairly unusual in Canada), so we're good to watch documentaries, use skype, and use Time4Learning for math again.

It's a small thing, but it's making me happy.

Another Year has Begun

2011-01-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

I always find it difficult to get back on schedule after the Christmas/New Years break. We home school through the summer so there are no big gaps in our year, but I find this little one difficult enough.

Having two weeks without any organized activities makes a person realize how fun it is just to hang out at home all day. Ok, maybe not everyone, but I was born a homebody, and I think I was misled to believe that homeschooling would have a lot more home in it than there actually is.

So, this week a bunch of things started up again. Karate, Cub Scouts, history classes and gym days. Next week Lego club and art class begin again, and we'll see if we can still squeeze in dance class, or whether my yearning for more home time overwhelms David's desire to hip hop.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T12:30:00.000-08:00

Computing with Lego

2010-12-12T12:06:00.001-08:00

I thought this was utterly brilliant.

Teaching Computer Programming to an 8 Year-Old

2010-11-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

For the last two years my son has begged me to teach him how to write programs. I was hesitant to get too deeply into the subject while he was so young. I did set him loose with both Lego WeDo and Scratch, but didn't spend much time working formally with them.

Finally this week I got him started with Alice, a free 3D programming environment developed at Carnegie Mellon University. It includes tutorials that are simple enough for him to follow along, and it's a great way to expose him to Object Oriented Programming.

It's great to see his enthusiasm for a programming experience that is easy to use but still applicable if he pursues programming in other OOP languages -- Java in particular.

There is an Alice Teachers mailing list with archives for teaching ideas, and plenty of textbooks if you really want to delve deep, but we found the built-in tutorial was at just the right level for him.

However, once he knew how to control the worlds and characters, he had a hard time formulating a plan for movies and games for himself. So, I've come up with a series of challenges that he can use to see if he can (for example) have the ogre use his club to smash a beach chair, or make a character hop around like a bunny when he's clicked... and then make it look like the wizard did it by waving his wand.

Once he's through those, I'll teach him about storyboarding, and hopefully use the results of the challenges to storyboard an interactive movie so he just has to transition and add a few intermediary motions and scenes to get a pretty satisfying result.

My plan right now is to work with Alice for a full year, then see if he's ready for Java programming with BlueJ, an integrated Java environment specifically designed for introductory teaching.

If he's not ready for that yet, we might upgrade to Alice 3.0 which allows you to type your own Java code and run it inside the Alice world.

Although the Alice website recommends Alice 2.2 for High School and College, based on our experiences so far, I'd also highly recommend Alice as a teaching tool for lower and middle elementary age kids who are eager to get a handle on computer programming.

Surreal Religious Experiences

2010-11-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

For the third time this year, I found myself in a church service. Today it was because of a Remembrance Day service where Cubs and Scouts were asked to attend. Since my Cub opted out of just about every other activity this month, he thought he should at least attend this.

So, at church we were.

It was a United Church, which means I wasn't expecting any theology or anything like that, but I wasn't expecting the preacher to quote John Lennon's "Imagine" --including the line, "Imagine there's no heaven" -- in the middle of the sermon as if no heaven is a thing every good Christian ought to imagine.

I was a tad flummoxed.

Mind you, I was still getting over the little ceremony before the sermon where the preacher "dedicated" a flag pole. Yes, not even a flag, but the pole the flag was hanging from. And all the people in the pews earnestly bowed their heads and prayed that God would bless the flag pole and use it for his glory.

I barely managed to stifle my laughter, but I did behave.

Anyway, I like hymns. If there was a Church in town that regularly sang hymns instead of "worship music", I'd be a regular attendee. I just like hymns. I can't even explain why. Thankfully, in deference to the veterans in attendance, they sang some old hymns (which they had to print the words to in bulletin, since none of them were in the songbook). I enjoyed the sing-along.

And after an hour or so, we meandered out of the service and went home. My Cub thought it was pretty dull, and went to play with his friends after changing out of his uniform.

Looking back, I find I rather enjoyed the experience. I think I might do it again next year, even if my Cub wants to stay home.

And then there's days like these...

2010-11-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Had you asked me any other day this week, I would have told you that I was fed up with homeschooling, trying to keep up with all the various subjects and classes, running around from activity to activity, all the while trying to keep up with my work for clients and keeping the house at least marginally clean.

Nothing at all went as planned all week. I was tired, frustrated and ready to give up.

And then today everything feels different.

Not all the problems of the week are even nearly resolved, but as the weather turned colder and the snow started drifting down (even though it melted on impact), a nesting instinct took over at home.

Kiddo has been laying on a quilt in front of the fireplace in my office, completely absorbed in his 39 Clues book for hours, while the normally hyperactive dog is sleeping in the wing chair beside my desk.

We've no plans to leave the house today, so kiddo and I are both out in sweat pants and sweaters with no particular regard to coordinating colours.

In the mellow atmosphere and silence, I've suddenly become productive, and I've made great progress on my to-do list.

Of course, the only schooly subject we've managed to cover today was history, but I'm not about to disturb the atmosphere by suggesting a move to math.

We have plenty of time to cover the material, and spending a day reading and relaxing is educational too. And very therapeutic for mom.

November Goals

2010-11-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been difficult ones in terms of organization and accomplishments. It seems like every time I have a goal in sight, some other emergency pops up and interferes.

My mind is scrambled most days, and between lack of sleep and perpetual chaos, I lose track of the things I'm supposed to do, and fall behind on everything else.

So, my November goal is to clear out some of the clutter in my life, get organized, and find a system that will work for me even on the busiest of days.

This morning David and I set out some goals for the month for his education, and I've create a to-do list for this week that takes in to account all the activities I need to get him to and from.

I'm hoping that if we work together, we can get through what we need to with a minimum of chaos.

You never know, though. We've already run into our first unscheduled emergency for the week, since our wireless network has broken down, and despite my best efforts, has remained down all morning, making us skip history class.

Added to my list for the day is a trip to the computer store to buy a new router to see if that can fix the problem and get us back on track for tomorrow.

Today we're going to do the best we can with what we've got. David's doing math and language arts, while I'm working through my own to-do list - doing some laundry and client work before heading to the post office and bank.

Things that irritate me...

2010-10-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

Usually when homeschoolers make lists of things that annoy them, things like people who ask questions about prom and academics rank high on the list.

I don't actually mind answering the odd question about homeschooling, and for the most part the response is overwhelmingly positive when someone hears that kiddo is homeschooled.

What has been irritating the heck out of me is the certainty that some folks have that I can be available just about any time of day for any particular reason to help out because I'm always at home.

For the record, I am NOT always at home. In fact, I'm rarely home in the afternoons, and when I am home, not only am I trying to educate my son, but I am trying to get some work done to pay the bills too.

My other pet peeve is people who think that because I homeschool I must have some outside source of income that doesn't require me to work. Like child support, or a lottery winning, or a big fat inheritance.

Trust me, I dream about those things at night, but they don't exist in my reality. I count my pennies, cut coupons, and swear at incoming bills more than most in order to live comfortably, and it totally irritates me when people (particularly a certain someone who happens to be the other parent of my child) assume I am rolling in dough.

Yes, karate classes are expensive. And I made my son choose between cable TV and karate because I couldn't afford both. When my son asked to take dancing lessons, I stopped buying breakfast when I go out with the girls Saturday morning and just take coffee while my friends eat so that I could afford his classes.

So, there you go. I don't have time or money, but if you want, I'd be glad to tell you why my kid is so well socialized, and why I don't care if he never gets to go to a prom.

What have I gotten myself into.... again?

2010-10-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last year, about the time I was going insane shuttling kiddo from one activity to another, I declared (to no one in particular) that there was NO WAY that I was going to let him get involved in so many things again.

And yet, here it is, same time the next year, and he's even more involved than before.

Rather than just taking two regular karate classes plus one homeschool class per week like he did last year, he's now usually at the dojo five days a week, and he doubles up on Wednesdays taking both a regular sparring class plus the homeschool class.

Add on top of that :

Lego club on Mondays,
Art class on Tuesdays,
Cubs on Wednesdays,
Dance class on Thursdays,
and Book Club on Fridays

I still haven't had the nerve to call the pool to add swimming to this list, but I'll need to soon.

Suddenly, I feel like I am perpetually on the go. We start the mornings doing math and language arts, then we make lunch and he goes online for his history class.

Once that class is over, it's a rush to finish up any school stuff we've scheduled for the day, and off to whatever activity we need to get to before karate.

I've started to leave science stuff for Saturdays and Sundays when there's a bit of a lull in the activity.

How I get enough work done in between all this to pay the bills, I'm not entirely sure, but it does involve a lack of sleep.

Yoga and Faith

2010-10-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler has made waves in the world of Christianity by stating that the practice of Yoga is incompatible with Christianity.

This is hardly a new position. I remember hearing preachers say the same stuff about Yoga, TM, and the martial arts, many decades ago when I was a kid.

I didn't see the point of their objection then, but now, many years later as a skeptic and atheist, I get where he's coming from.

When I was searching out a martial arts school for my son, I visited a number of dojos, and spoke with countless senseis before settling on the school we're in. I was, of course, concerned about atmosphere and attitude -- I didn't want to send him to one of those quasi-military dojos where nothing but perfection is tolerated -- but as a skeptical thinker, I was also quite concerned with a lot of the "woo woo" surrounding the martial arts. As far as I'm concerned, breaking a board is about physics, not channeling your ch'i.

The same applied when I wanted to try tai chi. It's huge in my area, but dominated by the folks from the big Taoist temple that's down the highway from me. In the end, even the class offered by the local United Church was too mystical for me.

Yoga is easier in my town, and most of the yoga classes are about the forms and breathing while complaining about your kids and significant other with the other women on the mats, and they pretty much ignore the added meditation and mind-emptying weirdness, but I do understand Mohler's objection. In many cases, the theory and talk about the practice is very mystical and contrary to the historical Christian position. In its inoffensive form, yoga is about stretching, breathing, and toning your body, and not about some sort of cosmic energy distribution or spiritual purification or other such weirdness.

Of course, many Christians today have a belief system that actually seems quite compatible with eastern mysticism.... If you are somewhat gnostic and believe in a some sort of divine consciousness in the spirit world that you can connect with by abandoning all thoughts of the physical world, then yoga seems to be the perfect fit. In fact, most of my Christian friends fall into this category.

But I have met several Christians who hold to a little more historically orthodox protestant position, and I would definitely say that yoga in its traditional form is incompatible with their belief system.

And it turns out that as an atheist I have something in common with my high-church friends, as the woo-woo forms of yoga are incompatible with my beliefs as well.