Favorites From the Holocron
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“You and the Naboo form a symbiont circle. What happens to one of you will affect the other. You must understand this.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
There are so many wonderful homeschooling moms that I rely on for homeschooling ideas, crazy kid commiserating, humor, and the occasionally much-needed kick in the pants reality check. I want to give a big and public thank you out to all the homeschoolers and homeschooling supporters that have helped to smooth the way along this sometimes Belgium Block bumpy road that Padawan Learner, Dad Windu and I are traveling.
Sometimes you just need to know that there are others out there that have been there, done that, and lived to tell about it – people that you can call on (or type at) when you’re most feeling like you’re a) on the brink of tossing it all in; b) about to make either the best or worst decision of your life; or c) absolutely over-joyed at the complete un-spectacular-ness of the day. I know some of your faces, many of your names, and even a couple of your kitchens. You mean the world to me.
“Exciting is hardly the word I would choose.” – C-3PO, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
We three Jedi have seen our share of pavement lately (and concrete and bridges), and it’s taken a toll on our homeschooling routine. **Take a piece of paper, run it through the keep-your-identity-nice-and-safe chipper/shredder, toss them all up into the air with a forced “Yippee!” (knowing full well that you’re only going to have to pick up all those little bits in about 30 seconds) and you’ll understand what I mean.** I may be going to go out on a limb here, but I think even Padawan Learner is tired of the unexpected days off as we drive from one corner of the state to another and another and another.
One thing I’m learning in this whole Dad Windu lay-off situation is that routine is our friend, our really good friend. PL and I do our usual math, writing and history/science stuff in the living room each morning while Dad Windu goes upstairs to practice Spanish, do some more job search stuff, and keep up with his professional network. In short, he stays out of our way and we stay out of his as we all get down to work. After lunch, we go about our own special projects.
There are so many things up in the air, and some unpleasant realities that we’re probably going to be facing in the months to come, that our routine is becoming a bit of a security blanket for the three of us. Christmas and the scheduled week-long break that followed it were nice, of course, but a bit too distracting at this already wildly distracted period of our lives. Normally PL looks forward to these days stolen away from our day-to-day routine, but on our way home after our Dutch class today he said a little wistfully, “Tomorrow’s just a regular ordinary day, right?” I know I breathed a sigh of relief when I answered, “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“Remember, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.” – Yoda, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
We did something tonight that we always do after returning home from a trip, we marked the map with our route using dry erase markers. We keep our US map on the wall next to the kitchen table so we see it often. After marking up this trip, we decided to touch up the routes of previous trips as many of them had gotten smudged (and even almost rubbed off completely) over the years. The updated map can be seen here.
 PL marks up the map with our travel route. Padawan Learner drew out the line as Dad Windu and I recalled the route we had taken. It’s always interesting to look back on our trips with this new piece of information. Somehow it’s easier to put a long road trip in perspective when it’s laid out before you on a map. Not including any of the bits and pieces of extraneous driving that we did for side trips, we learned from Google Maps that we drove 4244 miles point to point, over the course of 18 days. Per PL, that’s an average of roughly 236 miles a day. (I’m not one to miss a chance to throw in some math practice when I can.)
Another friend has a large table in her dining room, so her family keeps full-size USA and world maps right on the table with a large, clear plastic tablecloth over them. Because of this, their meals often have geography content. If one of her sons hears a tidbit about Latvia on NPR, for example, the entire family can find it on the map and understand why Latvians get ansy when politicians in Moscow start reminiscing about a return to “the good old days” of the USSR.
Does your family do anything special with maps?
Gold Five: “Stay on target.”
Gold Leader: ”We’re too close!”
Gold Five: “Stay on target!”
Star Wars IV: A New Hope
We have learned that taking a day off our morning lessons means much more work than anyone ever expected to get caught back up. Of all the things we’d like to do at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon, catch-up work isn’t one of them. Live and learn.
“You have paid the price for your lack of vision.” – The Emperor, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
And it is called… summer school.
Well, a few lessons this summer anyway in writing and math. (Before you tar and feather me, it was Padawan Learner’s idea.)
“For a mechanic, you seem to do an incessant amount of thinking.” – C-3PO, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
Padawan Learner wants to be an inventor. Maybe I should say PL is an inventor, because he’s been imagining improvements to just about everything that comes his way since he was old enough to declare something “to be when he grows up”. His inventions/improvements are often fantastic (lovely word, that – multiple meanings), frequently push the laws of physics, and sometimes lead to quite interesting discussions – occasionally heated discussions when he feels that Dad Windu and I are just not getting the point.
Once or twice a year, I hear this refrain, “Why am I learning about (insert annoying topic o’the week here)? I’m going to be an inventor.” My answers usually run along these lines:
- Who cares if my spelling isn’t right? Only the people reading your grant proposal.
- Why do I need to learn calculus? Do you think you’ll ever need to calculate things in motion?
- Do I have to learn the metric system? Only if you want people in the scientific community to take you seriously.
- Is good grammar really a big deal? It is only if you want patent clerks and investors to fully understand your invention.
- What’s the point of learning history? You might find a new solution by exploring an old problem.
One of the best things to help stem this tide has been talking about all the different shapes that ‘inventor’ can take. Is a chemist working on a new cholesterol-lowering drug an inventor? Is a biologist who designs a test for resistance to a new pathogen in trout an inventor? Is a writer an inventor? Where is inventing an important part of success in a person’s job – even if they don’t think of themselves as an ‘inventor’? Did you know that Uncle Owen has invented processes and contraptions to further his research? Does that make him an inventor of sorts? Would a person who creates a new computer language be an inventor, a linguist or ‘merely’ a computer programmer?
Padme: ”You’re not all-powerful, Ani.”
Anakin: ”Well, I should be.”
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
Sometimes I walk through the house with my bathrobe flowing out behind me like a super-hero, pretending that I’m not really a homeschooling mom that just set off the smoke alarm making pancakes and with a pile of dishes waiting for me.
[Darth Vader has just learned of Admiral Ozzel's latest blunder]
Admiral Ozzel: “Lord Vader, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed and we’re preparing to…”
[Ozzel stops, suddenly begins to choke, and clutches his throat]
Darth Vader: ”You have failed me for the last time, Admiral. Captain Piett?”
Captain Piett: “Yes, my lord?
Darth Vader: ”Make ready to land our troops beyond their energy field, and deploy the fleet, so that nothing gets off the system.”
[Admiral Ozzel utters one last strangled gasp and falls over dead next to Piett]
Darth Vader: ”You are in command now, Admiral Piett.”
Admiral Piett: “Thank you, Lord Vader.”
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
I need help picking a name for a new homeschooling website for my area. Since everyone loves a contest, I’m giving a $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com to the person who suggests what I think is the best name (even if I don’t end up using it). Contest ends Tuesday, April 7 at 5 p.m.
The website will contain pages for:
- local play/networking groups;
- regional educational programs (such as for a biology or chemistry lab, a film-making class, a theater class, etc.);
- tutors/mentors and people seeking help with a certain topic (e.g., electronics, piano, fiction writing, foreign languages) to find each other;
- a calendar with community-wide cultural programs;
- a place for people seeking more/new recreational buddies (golf, model trains, tennis, D&D, running, avant-garde foreign films, disc golf, papercrafts, fishing, etc.); and
- who knows what else! (Feel free to leave suggestions.)
It will be primarily directed at homeschoolers, unschoolers, life-learners, whatever you want to call us. It will probably have an emphasis on classes that are offered during the day, but really cool stuff will be included regardless of when it is offered. I know that – like all homeschoolers – I have spent too many frustrating days hunting for local resource info, only to fail to find the necessary info when needed. I’ve also heard about really wonderful programs that Padawan Learner couldn’t use, but that someone out there would love to know about. I’ve decided there has to be a better way. This website, hopefully, will allow people in the area to pool useful homeschooling-related info in a single, convenient location.
The rules for this contest are simple. The name must
- suggest educational info;
- be easy relatively to remember;
- allow for a city name (use Great Forks as your model); and
- not be crude. (I know. I suck the fun out of everything, don’t I?)
Sadly, I live in a city that does not fully appreciate crude so my initial favorite, Crazy A$$ Homeschoolers, is not an option.
Good luck, have fun and feel free to pass the word. I look forward to seeing everyones’ ideas.
“All right, engage . . . and hurry. These droids are all over me like a rash.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Maybe not droids, per se, but definitely dust bunnies. Yes, dust bunnies were all over me like a rash today. I pulled everything out of my closet, wiped down baseboards, reached blindly under the dresser, and got back there behind the headboard of my king-size sleigh bed. *waves arm around to clear a path through the dust* It’s spring cleaning time at the Jedi Academy.
I know not all of you do a spring cleaning. Some of you are so on top of the housekeeping ball that you don’t need to. You probably don’t serve leftovers 2-3 nights a week either. Well, la di frickin da, little miss Becky Home Ec-ie. One room a day is getting deep-cleaned this and next week whether it needs it or not; but let’s not fool ourselves. Every single one of them needs it.
In order to avoid having to think too much about the grit, grime and gestation cycle of dust bunnies, I’ve also been taking some much needed time to spring clean my brain. Extended family dramas were evaluated and put into the proper hazardous waste containers for safe disposal. Un-employment fears have been given their due and then removed to the back burner. Educational and learning ideas are still being tossed around and played with.
- “Ooo, look how far that one bounces!”
- “Oh, too bad. That one has lost a wheel.”
- “Hmm, we seem to have out-grown this outfit.”
- “I think we’re missing a vital part here. Better start looking around for a replacement piece.”
Shelves cluttered to the brink with personal wishes, dreams, fears, goals, and disappointments are currently being cleared, dusted and then sorted to determine which items may stay, which should be donated to someone who will put it to better use, and which must go out with the trash. My brain feels fresher after only two days.
Doing any spring cleaning yourself these days? (or autumn cleaning for those of you in the S. Hemisphere)
Yoda: “Powerful you have become Dooku, the Dark Side I sense in you.”
Count Dooku: ”I have become more powerful than any Jedi. Even you.”
[Dooku shoots Sith lighting at Yoda who effortlessly deflects it away]
Yoda: “Much to learn, you still have.”
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
I wonder if Count Dooku relied a little too heavily on his Sith Lord’s praises while learning about the Dark Side of the Force, because in the end he got a little cocky. It’s a common enough danger, I suppose, when your entire feedback loop is a single person. You read the book, fill in the worksheets, write the paper, ace the exam. Ta-da! You’ve won a 4.0, an A+, a custom-made light-saber, or a smiley-faced sticker that says, “You’re a star.” If he never wandered off to find out more about the topic on his own, he’d never realize how much there was left to learn on the subject.
Teaching myself leaves me with a perpetual sense of wonder about how much I still have to learn about a topic. It’s one of the reasons that I love educating myself; I get to dive into something with both arms wide open to all the material I can find related to the subject matter (and then some). Books, videos, stories, textbooks, iTunesU audio/video/podcast materials, children’s books, newspapers, periodicals, music, cookbooks and foreign food wrappers. You name it and I’ve probably used it.
You wouldn’t believe my Dutch language bookshelf – it’s absolutely bursting at the seams. I’ve pulled so many things from the library in the Dutch language that my favorite librarian pulled me aside once to ask if I was planning to move to The Netherlands soon. I wish. Now that would really speed my process along!
Currently, I’m digging into adolescent development, American colonial history, astronomy, assorted memoirs, US geography, the ever present Dutch language, and spring cleaning. OK, I’m not exactly ‘learning’ about spring cleaning but I’m certainly digging into it. I’m considering having Padawan Learner teach me a little on the piano. I think he’d like doing that and I’d love to learn.
UPDATE: Doh! Dad Windu also wants to learn to play the piano and has beaten me to the piano and is now pecking out (in an increasingly quicker and more melodious manner) the song that Padawan Learner was just playing earlier. I guess I going to have to wait a bit longer.
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