Bj had a sleepover last night with four friends to celebrate her 12th birthday.
Several things were very cool about that.
This was her first time at having sleepover guests at our house. Bj planned who to invite, made the invitations and delivered them in person and/or got them mailed, how the night would develop, chose what movies to watch, the dinner to eat, the games to play, supervised and helped clean the house over the course of a week or so, rejoiced in knowing the day would be perfect, especially the weather and it was (75 degrees in Helena yesterday)!
The four friends are all in public school and it turns out that they had more in common than each being friends with Bj. All four play the clarinet, three of them go to CRA and one goes to HMS. Two of them dance at QCB with Bj, two of them know each other from some time ago and hadn't seen each other in awhile because they go to different schools. Bj has known two of them since they were little kids, but they never played together as a threesome back then.
I've had conversations thru email with moms inquiring about hsing in Montana, they wonder if there is a large hsing community as one of their concerns is their kids being able to make friends with other hser's.
I wonder, is this a throwback thought/feeling from our ps days, of socailization with the kids in our grade level?
The general public has concerns about kids that hs, they wonder about socialization, how will hs'ed kids be able to fit in, etc...
Do parents of hs'ed kids only want their kids to socialize with other hs'ed kids?
Is my family not mainstream in either the hs'ed world or the mainstream world?
Bj does know other hs'ed kids, she dances with some at QCB, but her buds are girls in ps. Amy our oldest child, had tons of hs'ed friends in the mid-west, one she still has connections with, but here in Helena, her friends were all in ps, same goes for my boys.
Me, I have friends of many ages, interests, professions, etc...
One of my best friends and hs mentor said to put my kids in classes, not just to learn what was being taught in the class, but to connect and develop friendships with other kids, be they in ps, hs or not.
... works for us.
Anyway, Bj had a great time last night and this morning. she is already planning for next year's birthday sleepover... and ones for this summer.
As for me, I had a wonderful time, listening to the chatter and the laughter as the night or wee hours of the morning wound down...
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Highly Evolved Imaginations
I am re-reading a book from a seminar called the New Lead the Field Seminar, by Bob Proctor.
In the chapter titled, A Worthy Destination, he says ... the first phase of the creative process in setting and achieving any goal is fantasy. Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, William Lear and Buckminister Fuller all had highly evolved imaginations. Their imagination was highly evolved because they never stopped exercising it. Imagination is an intellectual factor of the human personality... it is a mental muscle. Since the body is a physical manifestation of the mind, the mind is subject to the same laws as the body. Whatever you exercise, you strengthen; what is not exercised becomees lethargic. Little children exercise their imaginations contantly, however when they start school, this is called "daydreaming" or "not paying attention", and is definitely discouraged. ...
Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were homeschooled and I'm thankful that George and I chose to homeschool/unschool our children. They have healthy imaginations and are creating their lives, setting goals and achieving them daily.
In the chapter titled, A Worthy Destination, he says ... the first phase of the creative process in setting and achieving any goal is fantasy. Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, William Lear and Buckminister Fuller all had highly evolved imaginations. Their imagination was highly evolved because they never stopped exercising it. Imagination is an intellectual factor of the human personality... it is a mental muscle. Since the body is a physical manifestation of the mind, the mind is subject to the same laws as the body. Whatever you exercise, you strengthen; what is not exercised becomees lethargic. Little children exercise their imaginations contantly, however when they start school, this is called "daydreaming" or "not paying attention", and is definitely discouraged. ...
Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were homeschooled and I'm thankful that George and I chose to homeschool/unschool our children. They have healthy imaginations and are creating their lives, setting goals and achieving them daily.
Monday, March 19, 2007
"A" to me sums up unschooling...
Last night I created this blog and my first post was definitions of all the words in the title of my blog.
What amazed me at the time and again this morning, excuse me, now... it is afternoon, is that the smallest word _A_ has the most meanings. Everything from physiology, chemistry, biochemistry to size, ratings, music, gradings spoken sounds, letters and as an idiom to know nothing.
As unschoolers, our curriclum is life, which is everything out there in the world around us, just waiting for our exploration of it.
And standing in nothing is the greatest place to stand, because in nothing anything and everything can be created!
What amazed me at the time and again this morning, excuse me, now... it is afternoon, is that the smallest word _A_ has the most meanings. Everything from physiology, chemistry, biochemistry to size, ratings, music, gradings spoken sounds, letters and as an idiom to know nothing.
As unschoolers, our curriclum is life, which is everything out there in the world around us, just waiting for our exploration of it.
And standing in nothing is the greatest place to stand, because in nothing anything and everything can be created!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Definitions of words
All definitions are from Dictionary dot com Unabridged (v 1.1)
A, a [ey]
–noun, plural A's or As, a's or as.
1. the first letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
2. any spoken sound represented by the letter A or a, as in bake, hat, father, or small.
3. something having the shape of an A.
4. a written or printed representation of the letter A or a.
5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter A or a.
—Idioms
6. from A to Z, from beginning to end; thoroughly; completely: He knows the Bible from A to Z.
7. not know from A to B, to know nothing...
or
A
Symbol.
1. the first in order or in a series.
2. (sometimes lowercase) (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the
quality of a student's work as excellent or superior.
3. (sometimes lowercase) (in some school systems) a symbol designating the first semester of a school year.
4. Music.
a. the sixth tone in the scale of C major or the first tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.
b. a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.
c. a written or printed note representing this tone.
d. (in the fixed system of solmization) the sixth tone of the scale of C major, called la.
e. the tonality having A as the tonic note.
5. Physiology. a major blood group, usually enabling a person whose blood is of this type to donate blood to
persons of group A or AB and to receive blood from persons of O or A. Compare ABO system.
6. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 50 or 500. Compare Roman numerals.
7. Chemistry. (formerly) argon.
8. Chemistry, Physics. mass number.
9. Biochemistry.
a. adenine.
b. alanine.
10. Logic. universal affirmative.
11. British. a designation for a motion picture recommended as suitable for adults. Compare AA (def. 5), U (def.
5), X (def. 9).
12. a proportional shoe width size, narrower than B and wider than AA.
13. a proportional brassiere cup size, smaller than B and larger than AA.
14. a quality rating for a corporate or municipal bond, lower than AA and higher than BBB.
Mon·tan·a [mon-tan-uh]
–noun
a state in the NW United States. 786,690; 147,138 sq. mi. (381,085 sq. km). Capital: Helena. Abbreviation: MT (for use with zip code), Mont... bordering on Canada. It was admitted as the 41st state in 1889. Most of the area passed to the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and was explored by Lewis and Clark in 1805 and 1806. Split for many years among other western territories, the region was organized as the Montana Territory in 1864. Population: 935,000.
Unschooling
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a homeschool education with the child taking the primary responsibility instead of a parent or
teacher; also called [child-directed learning], [self-learning]
Example: Under unschooling education, parents may act as "facilitators" and may provide a wide-range of
resources to their children.
Usage: also [unschooler] (n.)
Mom (mŏm)
n. Informal
Mother. 1894, Amer.Eng., see mamma. Adjectival phrase mom and pop dates from 1951.
Mus·ing (myōō'zĭng)
adj. Deep in thought; contemplative.
n.
Contemplation; meditation.
A product of contemplation; a thought. "an elegant tapestry of quotations, musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflections" (James Atlas).
A, a [ey]
–noun, plural A's or As, a's or as.
1. the first letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
2. any spoken sound represented by the letter A or a, as in bake, hat, father, or small.
3. something having the shape of an A.
4. a written or printed representation of the letter A or a.
5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter A or a.
—Idioms
6. from A to Z, from beginning to end; thoroughly; completely: He knows the Bible from A to Z.
7. not know from A to B, to know nothing...
or
A
Symbol.
1. the first in order or in a series.
2. (sometimes lowercase) (in some grading systems) a grade or mark, as in school or college, indicating the
quality of a student's work as excellent or superior.
3. (sometimes lowercase) (in some school systems) a symbol designating the first semester of a school year.
4. Music.
a. the sixth tone in the scale of C major or the first tone in the relative minor scale, A minor.
b. a string, key, or pipe tuned to this tone.
c. a written or printed note representing this tone.
d. (in the fixed system of solmization) the sixth tone of the scale of C major, called la.
e. the tonality having A as the tonic note.
5. Physiology. a major blood group, usually enabling a person whose blood is of this type to donate blood to
persons of group A or AB and to receive blood from persons of O or A. Compare ABO system.
6. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 50 or 500. Compare Roman numerals.
7. Chemistry. (formerly) argon.
8. Chemistry, Physics. mass number.
9. Biochemistry.
a. adenine.
b. alanine.
10. Logic. universal affirmative.
11. British. a designation for a motion picture recommended as suitable for adults. Compare AA (def. 5), U (def.
5), X (def. 9).
12. a proportional shoe width size, narrower than B and wider than AA.
13. a proportional brassiere cup size, smaller than B and larger than AA.
14. a quality rating for a corporate or municipal bond, lower than AA and higher than BBB.
Mon·tan·a [mon-tan-uh]
–noun
a state in the NW United States. 786,690; 147,138 sq. mi. (381,085 sq. km). Capital: Helena. Abbreviation: MT (for use with zip code), Mont... bordering on Canada. It was admitted as the 41st state in 1889. Most of the area passed to the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and was explored by Lewis and Clark in 1805 and 1806. Split for many years among other western territories, the region was organized as the Montana Territory in 1864. Population: 935,000.
Unschooling
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a homeschool education with the child taking the primary responsibility instead of a parent or
teacher; also called [child-directed learning], [self-learning]
Example: Under unschooling education, parents may act as "facilitators" and may provide a wide-range of
resources to their children.
Usage: also [unschooler] (n.)
Mom (mŏm)
n. Informal
Mother. 1894, Amer.Eng., see mamma. Adjectival phrase mom and pop dates from 1951.
Mus·ing (myōō'zĭng)
adj. Deep in thought; contemplative.
n.
Contemplation; meditation.
A product of contemplation; a thought. "an elegant tapestry of quotations, musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflections" (James Atlas).
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