February through May Experiential Learning

February:
1. Sean took the kids to the Flour Mill Museum, took the train there
2. Sang at the nursing home twice
3. Conrad's music class at the library
4. Trevor's Polymer Chemistry at The Works Museum, made slime
5. Toured the Ice Castles with whole family
6. Trevor's Nature Center homeschool class
7. MOA amusement park with whole family
8. Trevor's Base Camp through BSA (archery, rock climbing, group games)
9. Homeschool play groups, book discussion
Also library visits, play practice, dance lessons each month

March:
1. Breakfast on the Lake with whole family
2. Nursing home visit and visited the Jones' to teach yogurt while kids played
3. Children's Theatre backstage tour
4. Trevor's nature center class, geology
5. Baptism (Mark)
6. Eileen Ivers Fiddle concert
7. Trevor's 6th birthday party
8. MN Mormon Chorale Easter concert
9. Whole family went to 3D movie

April:
1. 2 Baptisms (one was Markus)
2. Youth music night concert
3. Mille Lacs Indian Museum
4. Bowling as a whole family
5. Went to James Sewell ballet w/ whole family- Carnival of the Animals
6. Cleaned church
7. Trevor's nature center class- layers of the earth
8. Homeschool friends over to our house for set building
9. The Works Museum homeschool class- kaleidoscopes

May:
1. Pilobolus performance with the whole family
2. MN history museum
3. Painted sets for the play at friends' house
4. Children's Theatre live showing of the play Alice in Wonderland (whole family)
5. Trevor's homeschool nature center class
6. Trevor performed in the homeschool play, "Felicia and the Pot of Pinks"
7. Father and Sons Campout/ Girls Night with Laura and Abigail
8. Dance dress rehearsal and dance recital

There are always things I don't include because it feels weird putting things on the list like doctor's appointments or dinner guests or helping families move, but what we're going for is a wide range of experiences, not just field trips or passive audience events, so in my mind, those things really are on the list.  Throughout these months, we also had dance lessons, play practices, library visits, playgroups/playdates, and nature walks.  I learned a lot about trying to give my kids in-the-real-world experiences this year, and I'm excited to share, but I hear Abigail waking from her nap, so that will have to wait.  :)

Carrots

I am studying (I did say that deliberately rather than just "reading"--I need something more than a casual read in order to improve!) another parenting book that is opening my mind a lot.  I'll have to post more on it another time, but for now, I want to share this quote that I really do agree with and relates to education:

"One researcher, after spending more than fifteen years following the careers of high school valedictorians, concluded that most of them simply 'know how to do school. They are not the group to look for, for creative breakthroughs...or for becoming notable leaders in a particular area."

I'm definitely not saying they are all like this.  But the point the book is trying to make is that sadly, many of these students are just the ones who have fallen into the trap of "doing school" for the carrots, the rewards, and once they end up in the real world where the carrots are more intrinsic in nature, they fail.

Book Review

Homeschooling in America: Capturing and Assessing the Movement

I really enjoy reading research as long as it comes from a credible, uncorrupt, objective source.  I just like truth.  So this book was enjoyable for me for that reason.  There are tons of books that will slant either way, toward public school or (more likely) toward home education.  This one is basically just a comprehensive review of research, and answered some questions I've been curious about for some time. 

The first 2/3rds of the book was old news for me, having already read a lot of research online and in other books, but the last three chapters were definitely worth my time.  A few statistics I was interested to learn:

The average number of library visits per month for homeschool families is 3.8.

36.4% of homeschool families watch no television at home.  Wow!  I knew it would be high, but never would have guessed that high!

I've already mentioned this in previous posts, but homeschool kids overwhelmingly score higher academically than public schooled kids.  While I try not to focus on grades and scores, this is still a telling fact.  Sean and I both come from lower-income families and parents who were able to gain little or no college education, so even more interesting on a personal level is the fact that children from both low-income families and families with parents with lower levels of education do much better than children from similar families whose children go to public schools.  I also found it interesting that the race, income, parental education, and gender differences that sadly have a profoundly negative impact on achievement in public schools are muted or almost nonexistent with homeschooled children from the same backgrounds.