I’m exhausted.  Not by the loss of one hour of  morning sleep to DST, although that is never a good thing.  No, I’m bone-deep tired from getting sucked back into the world of public school education.

I had a good thing going these past three years while Teen Daughter attended a private middle school.  No more evenings supervising mind-numbing homework assignments.  No more supplemental work to cover academic areas missed in school.  I was able to relax as I had complete confidence that this school community had the highest expectations of all their students.  I also knew, from experience, that her teachers would immediately shoot me an email if a child wasn’t working to potential.  And somehow, they managed to encourage the very best from my daughter without wasting weeks on assessment tests, busy-work homework, and other stress-inducing assignments.

Unfortunately, the good times are over.

Next year, Teen Daughter will rejoin the public school system when she enters high school.  It’s not a great high school, but it’s not bad either.  It’s not on the local list of top public high schools in the nation, but it has enough Honors and AP classes to challenge and engage most students.  If she is allowed to take those college-track classes, she’ll receive a good enough education.

And that’s where my headaches begin. 

Our school district severely limits who can enter those accelerated classes.  In order to enter 9th Grade Honors English or the accelerated Social Studies class, the 2-year AP World History, public middle school students have to: write a statement of interest; earn a minimum high level 3 on the NYS ELA 8 Exam; maintain an academic average of 90% in Social Studies; obtain a teacher recommendation; complete the mandatory Summer Project; AND earn a satisfactory score on a qualifying test.  Fortunately, my daughter doesn’t have to take qualifiers for Math, Science, and Spanish as these are determined by performance on the Regents tests in June. (I think, still not 100% certain about this.)

As a private school student, she is exempt from the New York State assessment.  Thank goodness!  Not that she wouldn’t do well, it’s  just that we don’t have the time.  As it is, I have to pull her out of school so that she misses two afternoons of classes to take the English and Social Studies qualifiers.  I’d hate for her to miss an additional three days of school for the NYS ELA tests.

I’m glad she doesn’t have to take the ELA test, and I’m confident that she’ll do fine on the Honors English qualifier without any preparation other than the usual writing-intensive Language Arts schoolwork. 

No, the headache starts with figuring out what all the hoops and hurdles are in order to enter the college-track classes.  And then, the headache worsens in trying to prepare my daughter for a test of two-years worth of US History content.  At her current school, she is taught to think, reason, and write.  The students discuss the relevance of Supreme Court cases and political ideas to current events.  They develop research and writing skills on annual thesis reports and other interest-led projects. 

She has been developing the skills and habits of mind necessary to succeed in the 21st Century, but not the content knowledge that is needed to pass the Social Studies qualifier.  Modeled on the AP US History Exam, the qualifier will cover historical content from the onset of the “discovery” of the Americas through the Great Depression.  The test will include multiple choice questions as well as a DBQ, a writing assignment that requires the student to use primary source scaffolding to generate a formulaic 5-paragraph essay. 

At her current school, my daughter has had no experience writing DBQs.  In my opinion, that’s a good thing because allocating time to these would have wasted time that was better spent actually doing research, learning how to locate primary sources, and then crafting a well-reasoned thesis which often requires more than 5 paragraphs.

Still, the DBQ portion of the test won’t be a problem.  Now that my daughter knows what a DBQ is, and how to follow the formula, she’ll be fine.  It’s getting through the content that’s painful.

At first, we were advised by the Social Studies Department Chair to have her study from Barron’s Regents Exam Preparation for US History, but my daughter was struggling using this.  Struggling to stay awake, that is.  Later, a young friend who is currently in the AP World History class suggested using a prep book for AP US History, which makes sense as those are the kinds of questions that will be on the test.  Using the AP prep book also had the added benefit of not being as sleep-inducing as the Regents book.  It may be material that is harder to comprehend, but at least it’s interesting.

It’s the difference between stating that President Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, or making that statement and then explaining the Monroe Doctrine within the foreign policy context.  The first is meaningless, but the second leads to all kinds of passionate debates.

And there is the reason that I’m encouraging my daughter to jump through all these hoops and hurdles.  I want her to be allowed to take the classes that are interesting, even if she has to work hard to get in.

It’s worth the headache.   Now, if this was the only public school related headache, I wouldn’t be exhausted.  I’m too tired to share the rest of this story right now, but I promise it’s a doozy.  Enough to bring the local news vans into my neighborhood, and to put my face on the 6 o’clock news.

I’ve gone and done it, taking another bold leap toward publication, by signing up for Writer Mama Christina Katz’ online class:

Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff (Especially for moms!)

Finally, a writing workshop that fits into the busy lives of moms! This class focuses on getting you into print sooner, rather than later, and without pulling all-nighters or paying a fortune in babysitter fees. You will learn how to create short, easy-to-write articles—a skill that will make it easier to work your way up to longer, more time-consuming articles (like features and profiles) when you’re ready. You will try your pen at tips, fillers, short interviews, list articles, how-tos, and the short personal essays—all within six weeks. And you will learn to submit your work with a basic cover letter. Opportunities for self-assessment and self-reflection are woven into the class, and you’ll benefit from reading your classmates’ submissions.

By starting short, you will learn to identify multiple possibilities for your material that will strengthen your freelancer’s eye in the long run. You will receive two detailed reviews of your drafts-in-progress at weeks three and six (you choose one of your pieces for an instructor critique each time). The instructor offers personal attention throughout the class in the form of questions answered for the entire class, just like a traditional “live” class. Because of the high volume of student productivity in this class, the instructor does not critique each and every student submission, but she does share all of your work with the entire class.(Busy dads are also welcome to sign up, but they should expect a course designed to address and overcome the challenges busy moms face. Stay-at-home dads are sure to feel right at home!)

This week’s assignment is to write tips.  What are tips, you ask?  Well, “a tip is a solution to a problem addressed to an audience that will appreciate it.”  Right about now, I could use a few tips on how to write engaging tips!

Anyway, if you’re wondering what I’m up to this week, I’ll be looking for problems.

Last month, flush with the excitement that a new year brings, I vowed to diversify my writing as the next step in my plan to get published in 2010.  Idiot!

What was I thinking?  Of course, one month later, I’m in full overload trying to write daily for a new blog, not too infrequently for this blog, and failing to write short stories for bi-weekly submission to a fiction group.  Fail!

Meanwhile, I still have to fulfill all kinds of responsibilities in the rest of my world.  Not happening!

You’d think that I would learn from previous mistakes.

Every year, in February, I go through a winter slump where all the new year enthusiasm disappears, and all I want to do is escape from thinking.  This is when I usually end up in a mindless marathon of trashy romance novels or all-engrossing TV on DVD.  One year, I watched all the permutations of Stargate.  Last year, I managed to view the entire Buffy/Angel saga.  I even rationalized that I was learning from these TV retreats, but the real value was that it gave me a chance to still the endless To Do List in my head, and to emerge refreshed and ready to recommit to my endeavors.

I didn’t get as much of a brain-dead junket this year, but after a weekend of romance novels, and a week of recuperation from a pestilence dubbed the vomit comet, I’m ready to get back to business.

First, I’m scrapping some of the diversification plans.  I’m really enjoying writing for Albany Kid, and I don’t want to give up my plans for On Living By Learning.  However, I can’t do the fiction writing as well.  I’m tabling that until next year. 

Second, I’m limiting my time on social media.  While it’s beneficial to my writing career to maintain an online presence, I rather have more time for writing.  Right now, it doesn’t feel like I’m communicating on Twitter, as much as I’m just wielding a megaphone.  But, with other a thousand Twitter friends, I haven’t succeeded in stifling the sheer noise factor.  I’m not abandoning Twitter, but I’m going to have to think about how to use my time wisely in that forum.

I’m also staying on Facebook, but I’ve already scaled back how much time I spend there.  It’s great for keeping up with my scattered real world friends and family, but I have to avoid it during writing time or it becomes a time suck that enables my natural tendency to procrastinate. 

On the other hand, the Facebook pages that I’ve created for my blogs are worth some effort as I envision these as being where I can share material that I don’t yet have time to develop into articles.  Ideally, these will become communities but we’ll see if that’s possible.  Optimistic or unrealistic?  We’ll see.

Finally, the biggest change I’m making right now is to put a time limit on blog posts.  Some days, I spend inordinate gobs of time perfecting an article.  I don’t know why, or how, but I just lose all sense of time.  I don’t think the posts benefit from the time investment, and they may suffer from it.  So, for now, I’m looking at the clock, and letting these babies go.

Ciao!

We LOVE this video!  Inspired by a xkcd webcomic, Olga Nunes and Elaine Doyle have produced a new video spoofing Discovery Channel’s “Boom De Yadda” commercial.  I love the odd cast of nerd characters (Muppets ,Neil Gaiman, Mr. Toast?) and their playful contributions, all set to a darn catchy tune.  Boom De Yadda, Boom De Yadda.

Via Cory Doctorow’s Boing, Boing.

things to learn from Matt Edgar on Vimeo.

After a gloriously unplugged day, I booted up my laptop and rediscovered why I love being connected.  One of my most inspirational online friends, Jeanne of Soultraveler3, retweeted a video link from social media superstar, Guy Kawasaki.  They were sharing a video created by a Dutch group, Kinderpostzegels, that might as well have been made just for me. 

Before I tell you about the video, I just want to stop for a second to admire the beauty of these connections and the media-rich world that we live in.  Soultraveler3 is a family on an extended world adventure, currently living in Spain.  Guy Kawasaki was born in Hawaii, and currently lives somewhere in America where sushi is not called bait.  If I had to guess, I’d say he’s somewhere in California.

Here I am, on a snowy morning in Upstate New York, watching a video made in Holland and shared around the world instantaneously.  Social media is full of warts, but there is no denying that it’s full of marvels too.

Using English captions and brilliantly simple illustrations, the video reminds us to let children learn at their own pace, and in their own creative ways.  Although targeting children, I believe the message of allowing learning to take place, in its own, sometimes unexpected way, is relevant at all ages.

I was curious about the organization that prompted this video, and decided to explore the Kinderpostzegels website.  Since I don’t speak Dutch, I had to rely on a free online translator to figure out it’s purpose.  Apparently, the organization encourages Dutch children to raise funds for less privileged children by selling postage stamps.  The idea being for children, by children.

That’s a great idea, as children learn important skills and are empowered as they help other children.  Of course, service learning benefits all life-long learners, and not just children.  An individual learns as much about themselves as they do about others when they take on service projects.

Thank you, my online friends, for sharing this video.  It’s a lovely reminder of  the power and beauty of learning, anywhere and anytime.

It’s my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!  Yes, I know, I’m 45 years old now, and I shouldn’t get so excited about another birthday.  But, I’ll only get to be 45 years old once in my life.  I’m celebrating with a special treat, and a sweet new ride.

Way back when I was a child, my parents didn’t discuss the relative merits of various enrichment programs.  In that regard, they were typical of most 1970’s parents who practiced benign neglect, turning kids out to play until dinner time.

At the time, I was incredibly envious of a friend who took piano lessons.  I begged, and begged, but my parents never signed me up for lessons.  I ended up learning how to play a couple of songs on my friend’s piano, but I never learned how to go beyond Hot Cross Buns.  Throughout my childhood, I was signed up for only two enrichment programs: Saturday morning Argentinean school where my aunt taught; and  a skating class the summer I stayed with my cousins.

Contrast this with my two children who – just this year – are enrolled in: fencing, riding, harp lessons, ski team,book clubs, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Lego League, and Math Counts.  Some of these activities are part of our homeschool day schedule, but it doesn’t include short-term enrichment classes.  And it doesn’t reflect all the requests that were denied, or opportunities that were ignored.

Nowadays, most American parents are juggling several enrichment programs throughout the week, and struggling to keep up with it all.  Even those of us who labor mightily to limit enrichment activities, hoping to keep them manageable; still find that each week brings new opportunities, new stresses, and new reasons to say, “NO!”

What Is Enrichment?

Enrichment is a common term, but I’m not sure that everyone agrees on a  definition. 

In the school setting, enrichment programs are one way to provide services to gifted and talented students, while benefiting all students.  Enrichment is thus defined as:

• staying with a theme, subject or skill and developing it in depth;
• ‘rounding out’ the basic curriculum subjects with a wider context;
• relating learning to new areas;
• and/or providing pupils with experiences outside the ‘regular’ curriculum
  (breadth).

In the home setting, I define enrichment as opportunities to explore interests and passions that fuel learning, with the added benefit that these interests could lead to life-long endeavors. 

What Kinds of Enrichment Programs Are There?

The extent and variety of enrichment programs vary by location.  Here in suburban Upstate New York, some of the most popular enrichment programs are: sports teams, dance class, gymnastics, acting, martial arts, and music lessons.  Many children also join Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, or 4H.  Additionally, there is also a good selection of less common enrichment activities from science and robotics to Irish bodhrán.

When we lived in southern California, I also found many enrichment options for babies through preschoolers, including Mommy and Me classes in a wide variety of settings.  There are some in our area, of course, but not to that extent.

Obviously, population density, climate, and culture will all factor into the availability of enrichment programs.

Why Enroll Kids In Enrichment Programs?

There are many different reasons for signing children up for enrichment programs.  Some reasons that I’ve heard:

• It will help get my child into college.
• She really likes ________ (fill in the blank.)
• It’s a stress relief.
• She needs the exercise.
• This will help her be a well-rounded individual.
• This will help her excel in _______ (fill in the blank.)
• This is what I did when I was her age.
• I didn’t get to do this when I was her age, and I want her to have the opportunities that I didn’t have.

All of these, and many more, are all good reasons to encourage children to try enrichment programs.  The conflicts that I see come with trying to find balance.  Too much of a good thing, is just too much.

Balancing Enrichment Activities and Family Life

In our family, we’ve often ended up stressed trying to balance what at first glance doesn’t seem like a lot of outside commitments.  However, with two children who are each signed up for at least two activities, there is hardly a single night when my husband and I don’t have to chauffeur them to something.    Afterwards, we still have to make sure there is time for completing school work and other chores.  This leaves very little opportunity for the elusive family time.

Despite the drawbacks, I’m still a big advocate of enrichment activities.  I think that they should be an important part of a child’s life (and even an adult’s) as they:

• motivate learning and achievement
• provide opportunities for recognition
• are a way to discover and pursue interests
• can be used as incentives to persuade students to do work that they wouldn’t otherwise do
• build skills and talents
• promote self-confidence built on success in areas of interest

Enrichment On Living By Learning

In On Living By Learning, I write about certain kinds of enrichment activities: digital learning, service learning, and travel learning.  I get very excited when I find new activities, technology, ideas, experiments, service projects, or places to explore.  And, I love to share these discoveries with others, because although we do not have time to do it all right now, this is one way to keep a record so that I can find these when we’re ready to try them.  If I’m lucky, I’ll also get feedback that may enhance the endeavor.

Let me be clear, too much enrichment is too much.  Hopefully, we’ll each have a full lifetime to try every activity that interests us, and there will be time to balance family and community with our individual desires.

I believe that it is possible to balance family life and enrichment; and in fact, enrichment activities can enhance family life.

Now, I’m not going to suggest that I’ve got this figured out.  Quite the opposite.  However, I hope that by writing about my experience, you won’t make the same mistakes that I have made.  And, perhaps, we’ll learn what does work from each other.

“Enthusiasm is the match that lights the candle of  achievement.” ~ William Arthur Boyd

I now have another excuse for not keeping up with On Living By Learning blog posts: AlbanyKid.com.  Another blog?  Yes, another blog.  At this point, you’re probably wondering why in the world anyone would want to launch another blog when they’re barely managing to keep up with the first one.

Diversification, my friends, diversification.  In the 21st Century, wise investments in a writing career call for not putting all your eggs in one basket.

In counseling writers on how to generate a goals document, Jeff Vandermeer writes:

“it should acknowledge that you want to grow as a writer, and push yourself to do new things.  Diversification, if you have the temperament for it, is one of the ways in which you can best take advantage of the opportunities that have opened up in this century.  It also limits your susceptibility to those elements outside of your control – like a weak economy, for example.” (Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer)

I mulled this over for awhile, not sure that I could do any more diversifying with my limited time as a homeschooling-jack of all-trades-mom.  As much as I would like it to be, sleep is still not an optional item for me.  Then, I came up with a list of reasons to go ahead with this foolish notion.

7 Reasons to Diversify My Writing:

1. Practice – You have to write in order to get your writing published, and you also have to practice writing to produce anything worth publishing.  My daughter’s harp teacher likes to say, “perfect practice makes perfect music,” whatever that means.  I don’t think there is any such thing as perfect practice of writing.  Any kind of practice will do. Diversifying your writing means that you’re writing, and writing means that you are practicing your writing, ipso facto, diversifying your writing means that you’re practicing your writing.  So, as one thing leads to another, in circular reasoning fashion, diversification gives you an excuse to do more writing.

2. Test your strengths and weaknesses – Some kinds of writing are just easier than others, no matter how much you practice. But, you can’t know what you’re good at until you try.   I have some dreams (private, for now) as to what kind of writing I’d like to get published.  As part of my master plan, I’ve created a new blog that I think will be a better venue for that kind of writing.  However, I’m such a fledgling writer, that I’ll pretty much try anything, including tackling the list of writing specialties described in Christina Katz’s Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside your Kids:

• Tips.
• List articles.
• Fillers, also called “shorts.”
• How-to articles.
• Personal experience articles.

3. Write faster – The tips and tricks that you pick up when tackling different kinds of writing, especially when they are under the gun of deadlines, will help you become a faster writer.  I hope.  No, I’m pretty sure this is true.  Once you’ve written a few tips, lists, or how-to’s, you’ll have a feel  for those kinds of templates.  Diversification into these avenues gives you new tools that you can choose to use, or not, to generate content.  I suspect the same is true even when writing fiction, but I’ll have to test out this hypothesis before making this assertion.  (Note to self – Nora Roberts seems to crank out the novels at a prodigious pace, and she’s writing romances, suspence, scifi, and who knows what else.  Maybe diversification is the secret of her speed.)

4. Write for strangers – If the only writing that you’ve done so far has been for a private audience of me, myself, and I; then diversification could be the first time that you write for strangers.  Just thinking about taking that risk is frightening; but just like getting on a roller coaster, once you get over the initial fear it’s an exhilarating ride.  That cycle of fear and increased comfort level helps build your confidence as a writer, giving you the strength to tackle bigger challenges.  Diversified public writing gives you the opportunity to ride all kinds of roller coasters, from the baby coasters to the Kinda Ka of publishing.

5. Find a new audience – Self-publishing, either with a blog, e-book, or other media, gives the writer a chance to get a response from readers.  That alone can inspire you to write more and more, leading to more practice and better writing.  I may be wrong on this, but I suspect that Dave Barry and E.D. Hirsch, Jr. appeal to different audiences.  I’m also betting that Hirsch isn’t getting the kind of laughs that make Barry such a popular writer.  Diversification into other subjects or writing styles can reward the writer with a new audience, and possibly a different kind of response to that kind of writing.

6. Find the writing that clicks – If all goes well, this process of diversification should lead the writer to discover the writing that clicks.  I don’t believe in the stereotype of the angst-ridden writer, when even Edgar Allen Poe has been revealed as a more robust fellow.  At some point, the writer who has explored all available avenues should be able to find a kind of writing that more or less flows, and that is received sufficiently well. (Note – the level of flow or response will vary with the individual.  What is acceptable to me may not be sufficient reward for you.  It’s a personal thing.)    If that doesn’t happen to the extent that it meets your needs after you’ve given it all you’ve got, then maybe it’s time to pursue another challenge.

7. Busy writers write – It makes no sense, but the busier you are, the more you’re able to accomplish.  This was true when I was in school.  The kids who didn’t have jobs or after school activities were also the ones who didn’t finish their homework.  Lots of free time led them to lots of time wasters such as TV sitcoms.  What else would explain the popularity of Three’s Company?  Juggling a busy schedule keeps you from the Farmvilles and other time suckers of our time.  Even if you do check in on your kumquats, or whatever else is growing on your virtual farm, you won’t stay long because you can’t.  Your diversified audience and deadlines won’t allow it.

Warning: It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Okay, I’m convinced that diversification is a good thing, and I’m going to try it from now on.  But, I’m still the busy mom that I was before I made this grand decision.  I’m not really seeing how this will play out, but I do know that I want some time for sleep and family play.

In the short tem, I’m thinking that there might be even longer intervals in the On Living By Learning posting frequency.  I’m not saying that’s going to happen, but it’s a distinct possibility.  Just in case, so that you don’t miss me too much, come join me on Albany Kid, where I write about fun and educational things to do with kids in New York.

Come for a visit, or stay awhile.  You can get the free Albany Kid daily updates by email or by RSS Feed.  I hope to see you there!

Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer (9781892391902): Jeff VanderMeer: Books

Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids (9781582974415): Christina Katz: Books ISBN: 1582974411 ISBN-13: 9781582974415

For the record, here in the On Living By Learning Household, we are in full compliance with New York State regulations regarding home instruction.  Not only do we cover every subject that we’re supposed to cover, we go above and beyond.  It’s just not always on the typical school schedule.

Our Typical Home School Day

When Teen Daughter gets on the bus to go to Parker School, Tween Son starts reading in bed.  Sometimes he’ll read an assigned book, not usually something he would choose himself, and sometimes I let him read whatever he wants.  Depending on what we’ve got lined up for the day, reading in bed time can go on for 1-3 hours (and sometimes even longer!)

Next, Tween Son tackles his core school work: Math, Grammar, Spelling, Journal.  I set a  stack of books  on his desk with post-its indicating what needs to be done that day, and he chooses the order in which he will get it done.  Usually, he prefers to tackle the Math first as it is his least favorite subject, and the one that takes the longest, anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours.

Math Is Not His Favorite Subject

Most days, his Math work is drawn from Singapore 4A, but sometimes I’ll assign other material that ties in with the current topic.  We start by looking at the textbook to figure out the lesson, and we work through the sample problems together.  Sometimes that’s all he needs to understand the topic, before going off to do the workbook exercises on his own.  Other times, I spend a lot of time going over the material in different ways, and we end up working through the workbook exercises together, one at a time, until he gets it.  Recently, I found that even with doing all the workbook exercises, supplementary material, lots of one on one coaching, chapter reviews, and end of unit test; I’m still not confident that he has mastered basic equivalent fraction concepts.  Thus, I’m still adding in fraction practice problems to his current daily workbook exercises in Geometry.

On some Fridays, Alex attends a Math Counts Club where he spends two hours working through a sheet of math problems, independently and with a group, until they discuss the solutions at the end.  He doesn’t do any other math work on those days.

Language Arts

After the dreaded Math, he likes to tackle the Language Arts work because he can zip through this quickly.

These days, we’re using the Harcourt Language textbook and workbook for Grammar; but Alex does not do assignments every day, as Grammar practice is incorporated into his other written work.  When he does explicit Grammar work, we start by reviewing a section of the textbook together, and then he goes off to do the textbook and/or workbook exercises.

Most days of the week, we work through Spelling Power together.  First, he fills out the Spelling Journal header with the date, level, and spelling rule of the day.  Then, I test him on the words he got wrong the previous day, before testing him on the new words.  As he writes each word, I check for accuracy, and those that are wrong are rewritten correctly.  Afterwards, he runs through a practice checklist with missed words that includes writing a sentence with each word.  Later, I check the sentences for spelling and grammatical accuracy.

Daily, Alex writes in his journal for at least ten minutes.  Some days, he writes whatever he wants to write; other days he completes an assignment such as a book review or expository essay.  Many of these are later input into his blog, sometimes directly, but other times after substantial revision where I comment and he edits and/or rewrites.

Social Studies, Science, and Everything Else

This is where the typical homeschool day no longer applies.  Most days, after completing the core, we try to include Social Studies and Science.  For the most part, we’re covering Social Studies chronologically, using the Story of the World as our guide; and we cover science subjects as independent units.  However, we sometimes go off on a learning tangent that turns into an unscheduled unit, such as our current exploration of Leonardo Da Vinci which combines all of these subjects.

Recently, this has led to assigning various readings about Da Vinci, as well as You Tube videos and other interactive features online.  I’ve also asked Alex to tackle art and invention projects.  Sadly, I have to admit that I’m more excited about Leonardo Da Vinci than my son.  I had hoped that he would want to recreate more of the inventions, but he doesn’t at this time.  At least, he’s been exposed to the ideas, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this reflected in future activities.

That’s how learning goes.  I lead by example and instruction, inspiring unforeseen endeavors, but I can’t control the results.  And I wouldn’t want to.

Homeschool Enrichment

Daily exercise is an important part of our lives, whether as part of school or not.  At a minimum, Alex walks the dog most days of the week.  We use this walk to break up the day between school assignments.

Additionally, Alex has weekly physical education classes, as well as seasonal activities.  Right now, these classes are not within typical school hours as he joins non-homeschooled students in evening and weekend classes such as fencing and horseback riding.

Today, we’re heading to Jiminy Peak for an afternoon of skiing as we join big sister at Parker School’s Winter Fridays Program.  We’ll alternate this with Math Club for six weeks.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon traveling to Saratoga Springs for a Homeschool Indoor Games Event.

Tomorrow, on a Saturday, Alex will spend the morning observing a Homeschooler Spelling Bee, and the afternoon at the barn where he will receive a group horseback riding lesson.

On Sunday, he’ll meet with his team to do a post mortem of the First Lego League tournament, and to plan robotics activities for the rest of the year.  And, we’ll probably go skiing in the morning.

Next week, we’ve lined up a Science Class and Boy Scout Outdoor Event on Tuesday, Indoor Games on Thursday, Math Club and Cub Scouts Pack Meeting on Friday, and so on, and so on.

Unschooling or “No Schooling”

Due to core subject coverage, enrichment programs, and our family’s interests; our homeschool days spill out into evenings and weekends.  It does not leave as much time for unschooling as I would like.

What is Unschooling? (reprinted from www.unschooling.com)

Have you ever described ‘red’ to a person who is color blind? Sometimes, trying to define unschooling is like trying to define red. Ask 30 unschoolers to define the word and you’ll get thirty shades of red. They’ll all be red, but they’ll all be different. Generally, unschoolers are concerned with learning or becoming educated, not with ‘doing school.’ The focus is upon the choices made by each individual learner, and those choices can vary according to learning style and personality type. There is no one way to unschool. Click here for more definitions.

Unschooling is trusting in a child’s natural curiosity to teach them what they need to know. The parent is there to answer questions, talk, infect the kids by their own curiosity about life! (though curious about what you’re interested rather in what you think would be good for the kids to be interested in!), bring in cool resources (that the kids can feel free to ignore if it just isn’t the right moment for their interest to ignite).

I imagine that unschooling is child-led learning in its purest form, and I’d like to encourage this at home.  But, there is so much that I want to include in our learning plans, that I end up encroaching on self-directed initiatives.

Rarely, I let Alex have what he calls his Pajama Do Nothing Days where he does whatever he wants.  And, on the days that we don’t have other plans or visitors, he’s free to do whatever he wants after the assigned school work and chores are done.  Usually, I find him reading his books (right now that means he’s rereading some favorites such as The Phantom Tollbooth.)  And, it means that he spends a LOT of time in virtual worlds like Roblox, and now, Dungeon and Dragons.

Is his computer time unschooling or “no schooling?”  Personally, I think that he’s doing a lot of learning while playing games online.  Not only is he learning programing skills such as scripting to create video games, but he’s discovering important lessons about collaborative vs. combative engagement in the virtual worlds.  Most importantly, he comes up with the ideas that interest him, and the topics that he’s willing to research and pursue.

This is his self-directed learning.  I’m his mom and his instructor, so I keep an eye on what he’s doing and I suggest other directions, or refer him to his mentor, the Geek Expert, as needed.  Mostly, I’m hands off and don’t control this area of his life.  I believe that this is the best way at this time to allow him to learn about Technology, and to develop tech skills, but it is not “no-schooling.”

What does he know?

Anyway, all of this is a long-winded response to a comment by Montgomery County District Attorney James “Jed” Conboy regarding his prosecution of local New York homeschoolers for failing to turn in paperwork in what he described as “the no-schooling case.” (See bold text below, emphasis added for easy viewing.)

Editorial: What was home-school parents’ crime? (The Daily Gazette, Schnectady, NY, January 15, 2010)

If Richard and Margie Cressy, of Glen, had kept their four kids
chained in the basement for seven years, or otherwise subjected them
to serious harm, then they would have deserved to be arrested and
charged with endangering the welfare of children, as they were by the
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department in late December. But it looks
as if all they did was fail to comply with the state’s paperwork
requirements for home-schooling.

Criminal charges should never have been brought, even if the
authorities truly believed there was no education going on, which they
did not. But now that the family is in compliance, District Attorney
James Conboy should drop the case.

Parents have a right to home-school their children, as long as they
can demonstrate to the local school district that their curriculum is
substantially equivalent to what they would get in the public school.
The Cressys admittedly didn’t do that (in seven years of living here,
they contacted the school district about none of their four children),
but they maintain they were home-schooling the children all along and
can prove it.

They say they offered some evidence to the Child Protective Services
representative and Sheriff’s Department investigator who visited their
home after receiving an anonymous tip in November. But according to a
Sheriff’s Department spokesman, “it wasn’t enough to prove they were
not in violation of the law.”

The investigator gave the parents until Dec. 17 to file all the
necessary paperwork with the district, says their lawyer. He says they
did so on Dec. 12, and on Dec. 21 received a letter from
Fonda-Fultonville School Superintendent James Hoffman that they were
in compliance. Hoffman has since told the Albany Times Union, “They’re
very nice people and I’m confident that there was some teaching going
on. …. I see it as a case of best intentions gone awry.”

The Sheriff’s Department spokesman acknowledges that they knew about
Hoffman’s approval of the Cressy’s home-schooling plan, but a week
later, on Dec. 28, still chose to arrest and charge them with
endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor that can come with a
punishment of up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000. The Cressys
were booked, had their fingerprints and mugshots taken, and were
issued an appearance ticket to show up in court. The court date is
Jan. 26.

In a phone conversation Wednesday, Conboy said he wasn’t told in
advance of the charges by the Sheriff’s Department, but plans to
pursue them now. As an indication of his attitude, when asked about
“the home-schooling case,” he said, “You mean the no-schooling case.”

He said that if the Cressys had produced any piece of paper or
anything to show they were educating their kids, “We wouldn’t be
having this conversation now.” Perhaps he should have another talk
with the Sheriff’s Department spokesman who acknowledged that some
proof was offered that the Cressys were educating the children, or the
investigator who concluded that they were “somewhat educated.”

When asked why the Penal Law was used in this case rather than
Education Law, which has a provision for bringing charges of
“educational neglect” in Family Court when parents of public school
students allow them to be chronically truant, or home-school parents
don’t do the job, Conboy replied, “I don’t practice in Family Court.”

Law enforcement officials have discretion and the Sheriff’s Department
should have exercised it in this case. Prosecutors also have it, and
Conboy should do the same. He says “the only thing we want to do is
make sure their kids are being educated.” It appears they were before,
and there is a plan and mechanism (through school district monitoring)
for making sure they are in the future. Drop this foolish case.

We Lean Toward School-At-Home, But Wish We Leaned More Toward Unschooling

Jennifer, Blogging ‘Bout Boys, asked:

“Wow, you have to do a lot of work in NY! I’m just curious how this works out in a day-to-day fashion. Do you have a typical routine/schedule? Where would you describe yourself on the school-at-home to unschooling continuum?”

I’m sorry to say, as much as I’d like to be closer to the unschooling continuum, allowing Alex to direct more of his learning, I’m way too close to the school-at-home continuum. 

Even though we don’t follow a typical 9-3 desk work schedule, we end up covering all the NY State Core Curriculum either during daily desk work or through various enrichment programs.  At least, since we are homeschooling, I’m able to differentiate the work to skip over material that he’s already discovered on his own.  This is particularly important when we cover Science, as he seems to have absorbed through osmosis all the information and skills that are expected through his grade level.

In Science, as in the other subjects, we cover more than is required in New York.  We also add subjects to our curriculum, such as Foreign Language, that are not required in this state.  And, we provide the school district with the link to Alex’s blog as an ongoing portfolio of his work, but this is NOT a requirement at all.

It’s just my nature to go above and beyond, and sometimes that’s not such a great quality.  For me, and for my children, the real challenge is finding balance, figuring out when to chill, and really, truly, DO NOTHING!

Before you can get published, you have to write. Duh.

I know it sounds obvious, but apparently, not so much to the students in Ariel Gore’s writing class:

Maybe it goes without saying that if you want to become a famous writer before you’re dead, you’ll have to write something. But the folks in my classes with the biggest ideas and the best publicity shots ready to grace the back covers of their best-selling novels are also usually the ones who aren’t holding any paper They’ve got plans, lemme tell ya, and their book is going to be better than yours. Too bad it’s written entirely on the sheaves of their imagination.

She goes on to describe all the ways we put off doing that writing, and ends with:

“No one ever does the last thing on their to-do list. Grab a pen and paper, and if you’re going to use them to write a to-do list, make sure you give yourself time to write way up there at the top. (How To Become A Famous Writer Before You’re Dead: Your Words In Print and Your Name in Lights.)

With modern distractions such as email, cell phones, and social media, it can be almost impossible to find the time to put writing at the top of the list.  Jeff Vandermeer, author of BookLife: Strategies and Survival Tips For The 21^st Century Writer, recommends setting up your rules of public engagement and a writing schedule.

But, what do you write?  Anything? Everything? 

Christina Katz, author of Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform and Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, suggests a more focused approach in the following guest post (available for free download):

Platform Resolutions for Writers 2010

Before writers establish an author platform, they typically establish a writer platform. Over the past decade, thousands of writers have parlayed established influence into traditional book deals. Landing a traditional book deal is still an effective way to exponentially increase your credibility and visibility.

Your “platform” refers to what you do in the world with your professional expertise that makes you visible and influential in the world. Having friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter is not your platform, unless the majority of those people know who you are, what you do, and are enthusiastic about your work.

I thought I would offer some advice about how to slowly and steadily establish a lasting platform. You may note the lack of fanaticism in this advice and the emphasis on enduring success instead. I’m a mother and a wife, a freelancer, a speaker, a teacher, and a blogger, so aiming for balance is the only way I can afford to work if I plan on sticking around for the long haul.

This advice has worked consistently for my students over the past several years. I think you will find that a grounded, step-by-step approach works just as well for you if you choose to follow it:

1. Develop a platform topic that you love and can work on tirelessly for the next few years. Your passion of the moment should come in second to the topic you could delve into deeply for a good, long time. Prior professional education and a depth of personal experience are going to be a boon to your platform if you have an eye on a future book deal.
2. Hang back from establishing a blog on your topic until you have cultivated a wealth of content and experience working with others on specialty-related activities that lend credibility and trust to your name. Others will tell you to start blogging immediately, but don’t, if you want to be efficient with your time and money.
3. Instead, gain authority by seeking publication in established, highly visible publications both in print and online that serve your target audience. Avoid the kind of publishing that anyone can accomplish, like posting on article sites, and work on your professional communication skills instead. By all means, avoid the content mills offering writers slave wages with the promise of future earnings.
4. Don’t begin any kind of marketing campaign for any product or service offerings until you have established yourself as a go-to person on your topic, again saving you time and money. Before you look at ways to serve others directly, channel your expertise into the best service methods possible based on your strengths and weaknesses. This is a meaty topic that is covered in-depth in my book, Get Known Before the Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths to Grow an Author Platform (Writer’s Digest Books 2008).
5. Then, develop a product or service that can become one of several multiple income streams over time that will support your goal of becoming a published author. For example, teaching classes over the years has allowed me to re-invest more of the money I earn from writing books back into book marketing. Make sure any offerings you produce are released conscientiously and are integrated into the professional writing you already do. Otherwise, you will seem like you are all over the place and just trying to score a buck.
6. Don’t expect your platform to support you financially for at least one or two years, as you micro-invest in it, re-invest in it as it grows, and expand your visibility.
7. Once you have a professional publication track record in your niche topic, then it’s time to hang your online shingle. I’ve seen this accomplished in as little as six months by exceptionally focused students. Take a portion of the money you’ve earned writing and invest it in a professional quality online presence.
8. A low-cost way to do this is to purchase your name as a URL and use a hosting site like GoDaddy.com to host a Wordpress.org blog. I use the Thesis Theme, which you can see in action at my blog. In this way, a blog can also serve as your website where you post your published clips, offerings and bio. If you don’t have a ton of money to invest in the look of your site, you can always pay a designer later.
9. Delay partnering with others on joint ventures until you have a clear idea of your own strengths and weaknesses in and around your topic. And when you do partner with others be extremely discriminating. Make sure the partnership is going to be win-win-win for everyone involved.
10. Start an e-mail newsletter or e-zine with those who are most interested in your topic. Build your list by invitation and then grow it into a permission-based following over time. Create an expected, ongoing dialogue that is mutually beneficial to everyone involved and your list will grow.
11. Now you are ready to start blogging. And yes, I mean while you continue to do all the things we’ve already discussed. Be sure to zoom-focus your blog on what you have to add to the conversation that is already going on about your topic. Don’t just share information; make an impact. Make your blog a go-to, up-to-date resource for your audience.
12. Partner selectively with others who serve the same general audience that you do with integrity and humility. Spend time getting to know folks before you decide to partner with them. You can’t afford to taint the reputation you have worked so hard to establish by partnering with just anyone.
13. Now that you have an established niche and audience, definitely participate in social networking. I like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn because they all offer something unique. The best way to learn is to jump in, spend an hour online each week until you are up and running. Follow the instructions for getting started provided by social media expert Meryl K. Evans.

This start-up plan for a writer platform will eventually blossom into an author platform. From start to finish, implementing a solid platform following this advice should take you about a year. By the end of that year, you will have established yourself as a serious contender in both professional and online circles, without killing yourself for some huckster’s promise of overnight success.

Trying to Follow Good Advice (Me, Again!)

This is fabulous advice, but a little late for me. As usual, I dove in headfirst without stopping to think about what I was doing.  Now, it’s going to take a lot of writing, and thinking, to push my writing career in the right direction.

Over the next year, I’m will feature a weekly series, “Get Published,” in which I’ll share publishing advice from established authors.  Please join me in tackling and discussing these assignments, on this blog or in the Home Educators Writer’s Group.

This week, I challenge us to:

1. Write.

2. Identify distractions that keep us from writing, and possible solutions.

3. Create a weekly writing schedule.

4. Set up your rules of public engagement.

Will you join me?