Learning Spanish in Homeschool

While I seemed to excel in other subjects throughout my schooling, learning languages was difficult.  I learned a small amount of French in elementary school, Latin in high school, and Spanish in college.  Little if any of it stuck in those traditional environments.  My husband was a little more successful with Spanish, but not enough where he can claim to be bilingual and do better in the job market or anything.

We hope that with the extra flexibility of homeschooling that our kids can spend more time on Spanish while learning at their own pace.  Of course, even though we are trying to learn with them, it isn't the same as speaking to native speakers or even going to a well run class in Spanish.  At some appropriate point, we are going to need to find some sort of class or environment to help with this, but in the meantime, we are working on exposure to the language.

So far, until they can read and do a more sophisticated online course or go to a real class with native speakers (maybe in a couple of years), we play Spanish Bingo or have them watch Kids Love Spanish.  We have had them watch many different sets, but this seems to be the favorite.

Spanish is important for several reasons.  First of all, in an urban environment it is clearly an important language.  When we ride the bus, many of the signs are in English and Spanish indicating the prevalence of people speaking Spanish.  Also, the hispanic population is growing at a faster rate than other groups in the United States so that Spanish will continue to be of value in the job market.

That said, I am not sure the need to speak Spanish will proportionately boom even though it will be pretty important.  Hispanics are one of the newest immigrant groups and are likely in another generation or two to blend in more language wise.  Just as my great-grandparents spoke fluent Italian (Sicilian dialect with one great-grandmother refusing to learn English only going to Italian stores in her neighborhood), my Dad, just two generations later, doesn't speak any Italian.  Ironically, my sister now is learning it to travel to Italy where my brother-in-law has dual citizenship.  Funny how things end up.  Anyway, we are going to try to emphasize learning Spanish as much as we can.  Any suggestions would be helpful!

Science Museum Visit

We went to the Buffalo Museum of Science last week.  We had a great time.  The kids especially love the Explorations section where they learn through play.  Check out some of the things T & C did:

We went to the exhibits too, but this was the part that was most fun for them.  It is interesting to see what exhibits they are drawn to, mostly the more hands-on ones, but sometimes they surprised me.  I know that I thought that rocks in glass cases would be of no interest, but because of the interesting shapes and colors, they actually wanted to stay in that part for a while.  I will need to keep that in mind.

Homeschooling and Less Wasted Time

When I look at homeschooling, it is hard to not see so many benefits, but for me, one of the most compelling one is less wasted time.  Some of it is obvious.  When kids do their lessons at home, they don't need to wait in line or for the class to settle down.  There is also the much better commute time.

What about when you are waiting at the doctor or dentist?  Today, I had some ear discomfort and decided to go to the urgent care clinic at my medical group.  Of course, depending on how many people are already there, there can be a lot of waiting (even though it is comforting to know you can go when you are sick and not worry about getting an appointment).  While we waited, we read five of the optional reading books that go with T's unit in Time4Learning .  They spent less than an hour on their online curriculum earlier and the rest we took care of while we waited at the doctor (actually more than usual, we usually do one or two of the optional books a day).  Homeschooling turns some of your potentially least productive time into the most productive.

The verdict about my ear, unfortunately, was a bad ear infection.  I talked the provider into letting me go three days with continuous over the counter decongestants first to see if it would go away without antibiotics, but I took the script anyway in case it doesn't work.  Since 80% of ear infections go away on their own if you are properly hydrated and draining, I hate to mess up my micro balance unless I have run out of options.  That being said, if it comes down to it, at least antibiotics are temporary and loads of yogurt can be eaten later to compensate.  It is still a better medical technology than some of these new drugs for blood pressure, cholesterol, or pain whose expected use seem to be indefinite.  Medical consumers need be skeptical and ask a lot of questions these days.  While doctors aren't bad, their training is biased toward trusting the drug companies and the FDA.

Sorry to get side-tracked, but I just wanted to share how homeschooling can be so efficient.

Opting-Out

Sorry, but another great post from City Kids Homeschooling.

See it and my comment there.

Homeschooling: Why Not?

Another great post at:

City Kids Homeschooling

Read it and my comment!

Loving the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library

One of the questions that seemed to come up in the Time4Learning forums was getting a hold of some of the optional reading materials that can go with it.  Some would say that their library didn't have them.  I would respond, of course, that they should put a hold on it from another branch or request an interlibrary loan.  I took for granted that all libraries have these features. 

I was shocked to find out that some people didn't have these services at their library.  It seemed that either they were in small towns or their library wasn't part of a larger library system.  This is a good reminder to all of us in in Erie County that we are very fortunate to have such a great resource in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.

Not only can the library help you get what you need, but they have great programs too, including story hours and crafts for kids.  If I wasn't so nervous about missing something, I might not even use our online curriculum, but homeschool completely with materials from our library.  Thank you Buffalo and Erie County Public Library!

Skipping the Mall

I haven't been too big on malls generally because I hate shopping and the setting is pretty artificial compared to shopping in a thriving urban setting.  There have been times in my life though that I have gone to malls more often.  One time was when the kids were babies and we wanted to walk during the winter.  When I used to work, I went a little more often to shop too even though I still thought of myself as less of a mall person than many.  Recently, though, I have gone very rarely and hadn't been in several months until this last time.

The kids were long overdue for new sneakers and I exhausted the really close to home places.  Then our coffee maker broke.  Tom and I decided to take the kids shopping at the Boulevard Mall to buy the items we needed.  I am not stupid in that I know that certain stores have sexually suggestive ads in them.  When you walk by Victoria Secrets there are exploitive photos of women.  When you walk by Hollister, there are pictures of teenagers (thankfully at least female AND male) engaged in intensive kissing.  This time, however, it seemed worse.  The ads for some stores were in other parts of the mall, not just their own store.  Perhaps it had always been like this, but now that T & C are 5 and 4, I am noticing it more.

I am not big on shielding kids from everything because that just makes them more curious.  I am probably less apt to worry about hiding the occasional racy content in movies than many parents are.  I would rather them encounter things with us than not with us.  However, exposure to sex or nudity in art or even in movies (providing it isn't gratuitous) as part of the story is completely different from the blatant, in your face, way it is used to sell products.

That's when I was thankful for homeschooling.  It is bad enough that kids see these things when visiting the mall to buy near necessities, but what about the pressure in schools to go to the mall.  In schools there is a lot of pressure to fit it which includes hanging out at the mall or at least buying the right things to wear to fit it in.  If I am uncomfortable about C seeing pictures of women in underwear all over the mall on the rare occasions it happens, how bad is our society that many girls, who spend all week in school away from their parents, go more frequently to the mall (than C) and even feel pressured to do so?

Many would argue that parents should just restrict how often their kids go to the mall.  I am not sure that is the complete answer.  With the level of peer dependency so high, the peer pressure of not fitting in may cause more stress and thus more harm.  Not fitting in may seem like nothing to parents who know better, but to a kid who is couped up with peers full-time, it is everything.  Explain the many child/teen suicide stories on the news.  Eliminate the peer pressure with homeschooling.  That is the answer.

Real Art by Ylli Haruni

The best part about homeschooling in an urban environment is coming across interesting things in your own neighborhood.  Last week, on one of our mid-day outings (it was 40 degrees out) we walked by Ylli Haruni, a real artist, doing an oil painting.  I didn't want to disturb him too much but asked if we could watch him work for a few minutes.  He graciously said that we could, so we stopped and watched him as he worked on Four Corners at Bidwell.  We got to see him paint the red awning in the painting.

I had seen some of this work in the window at Brian Art Galleries so we stopped there to get more information on Ylli Haruni.  Brian Cheman graciously gave us the correct spelling of the his name so we could look him up online and right there in his store, still a little wet, was the complete painting we saw him working on.

It's experiences like these that make homeschooling in Buffalo, or any urban environment, so interesting.

Bad Teachers or a Bad Model

While I like books on homeschooling, I often read books about education in general or economics.  I recently read this one:




I never see Dr. Steve Perry on CNN because we don't have cable, but I thought it would be interesting to see what he has to say.  Warning, I am not a snob about foul language, but there is a bit too much in this book.  While not over the top conversationally, it feels strange in print.

He does make some excellent points about teachers behaving as professionals.  Instead of whining about the kinds of kids they get in terms of poverty and home life, if they were good teachers they would be able to get good teaching results regardless.  In some ways I agree with this because if you turn your kids over to certified professionals full-time, it seems shameful to not be guaranteed reasonable results.  He even goes so far as to talk about suing school districts over poor results which is not a bad idea.

That said, is it really that simple?  While he isn't wrong, everyone knows excellent teachers who work 10 or 12 hour days regardless of their union contract or poor pay in the case of private schools.  They certainly do far better than bad teachers proving competency does matter, but even in their classes there are still a few students who struggle at times.  Can even the best teacher follow up and guarantee success for twenty or more students?


It seems to be a tall order.  A talented teacher can work his or her butt off and not necessarily get through to all students.  I, as a homeschool mother, don't work any harder than my conventional school parent counterparts (following up on homework, meeting with teachers, calling about a bus problem or bully takes more time than people acknowledge), but am getting far better results than the schools (so far).


Am I a great teacher? No, far from it.  Again, I don't work that hard at homeschooling - for many reasons I can't.  The self-pacing, low stress, and resulting high motivation of my kids take care of all of it.  When will everyone get off the merry-go-round and see that the model is to blame and not necessarily the people?  Sure, there are plenty of incompetent professionals in education, but by focusing on that everyone just stays wedded to the model when it should get thrown out.

Homeschooling: Time to Change Political Parties?

Like most people, I am pretty discouraged by politicians generally.  Most seem pretty clueless about what regular people are going through and only interested in being re-elected.  Currently, I am a registered democrat, not because I am thrilled with them, but because they seem a little more in touch with regular people than republicans.  Not only do most republicans running for office seem bigoted against low income or minority people, I don't believe in their general philosophy that government shouldn't have a role at all.  Clearly the resources of government can, when used properly, bring equality and stability to the wide citizenry in a way that competition alone cannot.  Unfortunately, democrats take it too far by not only having government fund basic services, like education, but operate them.  While cut-throat competition is too far, the inefficiencies of government is not all that desirable either.

Then I read up on Ron Paul's views on homeschooling.  He is proposing tax credits to defray the cost of homeschooling.  It is perfect.  Government funding of education without operating it.  Parents who are the best champions of their students would be in charge without the penalty of a reduced income.  It is a real program of equality.  Low and middle income people wouldn't have to be afraid to give up an income.  While homeschool is more efficient and so it doesn't take as many hours to educate students, taking kids out of public school does mean parents are without free day care making a second income almost impossible.  The credits would fix this.  There would also be more family stability because a parent would be home to be a homemaker removing some of the stress of the over scheduling that often goes on in two income families.

Should I rush out and change parties?  Not sure, I think it was Ron Paul's son that thought civil rights went too far.  Also, most republicans don't want federal involvement in education, but leave it to the states.  Perhaps, I should lean on my state politicians for consideration of tax credits.  Mark Grisanti, my state senator whom I already strongly support, despite being a republican has gone out of his way to support equality by supporting gay marriage and funding for the NFTA (public transportation is a very important way to further equality).  He is the type of Republican that would be well worth changing parties for if it came down to it.  However, voting for Ron Paul would also sent a message to politicians about homeschooling.  If republicans in NYS took it up, they could begin to cut education costs in half since the $5000 that Ron Paul is proposing is half the per student cost in most school districts in WNY.  Time to send our politicians an e-mail!

Homeschooling and Parent Illness

In a recent post, I talked about the advantages of homeschooling when it comes to kids getting sick.  It is pretty intuitive that the flexibility would be an advantage.  But what about when you, the parent, are sick or maybe have a chronic illness?  Most people would assume that you couldn't homeschool, but my experience has been that homeschooling is far better.

From talking to my counterparts with kids in traditional school, despite turning their kids over to professionals thirty plus hours a week, they still face significant work in educating their kids.  There is homework (even in the younger grades) with deadlines, getting them ready for a school bus on a tight morning schedule, being home to wait for the bus (or drive to pick up their kids), calling the teacher about progress reports, meetings with the principal over bullying, etc.  All of these things are stressful, deadline driven activities.

I stopped working several years ago due to pain and signficant fatigue which I recently found out is fibromyalgia, an illness that is not life threatening but life changing.  I need to live at a careful pace to feel well and keep up with daily activities.  I rest ten to twelve hours a day and have a careful exercise routine of swimming and stretching.  Even with these careful measures, I still have quite a few bad feeling days.  Getting up on a strict schedule (the stiffness in the morning can make things hard) or having to help with homework in the evening with waning energy would be very difficult.  It would be unfair for T & C to do poorly on a homework assignment because of how I am feeling.

With homeschooling, we can go at our own pace.  On a good feeling day, we do a field trip or go to a homeschool group.  On a bad day, they can stick exclusively to their online Time4Learning and free play (puzzles, library books, board games, blocks, dolls) at home which requires virtually no work on my part.  Most days are in between where (in addition to their online lessons) we go out for an hour or two to the playground or library and some local neighborhood errands before my energy starts to fall again.  On balance, I probably don't spend any more time than my traditional school parent counterparts, with far better educational results and very little stress.  The flexibility also makes it possible for Dad to pitch in when needed since he can be with T & C whenever he isn't at work.

I hope this helps people understand more of the advantages of homeschooling.

Outcomes for Urban Unschoolers

I very much like this blog post (and blog):

City Kids Homeschooling

See it and my response by clicking on the link above.

Board Games with the Grandparents

You just can't beat them as an educational activity, board games: reading or math many times, principles like good sportsmanship, and socialization, yes socialization.  Being able to get along with people of all ages, including the older adults like their grandparents.  It is a great way to learn.  Since I hadn't played Chutes and Ladders in many years, I forgot how great it is for math with all the spaces marked with a number 1-100.  By advancing through the board, kids get in the habit of seeing what happens to the larger numbers as they add numbers between 1 and 6.

Board games are a great, simple, low cost, low stress winter activity that can reinforce valuable skills and provide for hours of fun.  In our modern times of overscheduled children, it is something that warrants rediscovery.  Homeschooling can give you the time to use them more often and enjoy family time too.  Any way that we can teach our kids with less stress and more fun is a way to reinforce lifelong learning!  How often do you play board games with your kids?

Being Thankful for the Bus

We are finally getting the snow, and I can't tell you how grateful I am for the bus, the NFTA Metro bus.  When we had a car, I remember how nail biting driving in the snow was.  We would avoid unecessary/semi-necessary trips out.  Work, school, and maybe church were it, not much else.  Today, however, I went out walked a few places and took the bus downtown to the central branch library of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.  I didn't need to go to the library - I just wanted to - so I did without any stress and without risking my life (which we all should acknowledge we do when driving a car especially in the snow).

Public transportation is critical for homeschoolers even though most people in a smaller city, like Buffalo, don't think of going without a car.  First of all, using public transportation is a good skill for kids to learn including reading schedules and maps.  Second, there is an opportunity to learn about science and climate change.  Third, homeschoolers can more safely go on local field trips.  Fourth, there are all kinds of people on the bus and that builds general community awareness.  Fifth, and maybe the most important, is that the bus is less costly than a car.  This is critical because expense reduction is the best way for a parent to reduce their work hours to be able to homeschool.  Certainly it isn't easy in all cases, but would both parents need to work if the family went carless, got rid of cable, went to prepaid cell phones and Skype, did their own hair cuts, and ate out less (not hard if one parent is home to cook)?  Something to think about.

Our bus dependence is a little more complicated than just homeschooling, because there are other financial factors with which we are dealing.  That being said, strong public transportation may be the way to combat some of the lack of upward mobility going on these days.  Saving money on transportation may be one of the final sources of funds for the middle and working classes if the economy stays in its current state for the longer-term. If you live in Buffalo, please sign the petition to restore NFTA funding.  If you live in another small to middle size city, pay closer attention to public transportation in your area and support it.

Outdoor Art Class Meets City Surprises

I know that it seems that weather keeps coming up, but this long warm spell we have had in Buffalo has put the focus on the outdoors despite the winter season.  For days, T and C have been begging to try new 3D chalk they received for Christmas.  Today, we finally made it out to give it a whirl.  That is one of the best parts of homeschooling, the ability to take a advantage of good weather days in the winter.

On our way to Delaware Park, we came upon the local balloon artist who made balloons for the kids.  He is often at the Elmwood and Bidwell Farmers' Market but I never expected to see him in January.  Of course, that is one of the great things about city living even in a smaller city, walking out your door and feeling like the world has come to you. 

It seems that the best homeschooling happens when you take advantage of your environment particularly in either very rural or very urban settings.  While I have never lived in the country, I imagine rural dwellers have the benefit of a great connection to the land and the pride in producing things they need.  In the city, it is the exposure to a variety of people and experiences so close to home.  There are also great conservation opportunities in more dense land use, climate control of multiple unit dwellings, and the use of public transportation.  Homeschooling can give you the time and focus to fully benefit from your surroundings!

Drinking Smoothies in Winter

While still not all that winter like today, when you look at the calendar, it says January.  Why the heck are we drinking smoothies?  Ideally, we would be eating local and organic fruits.  Organic gets expensive so we do this for some items, but not all.  By January there aren't many local fruits in Western New York it seems except for well-stored apples.  Since produce must be brought in from further away and the nutrients start to disintegrate, frozen is a great option until the local farmer's market starts back up in the spring.  Most people think of smoothies as a warm weather food, but for us it is a small part of adjusting our food habits to the season.

It feels strange trying to explain this to my 5 and 4 year olds who walk through the local grocery store begging for fresh fruits that have traveled very far.  Of course our frozen fruit travels too, but it may be the most nutritious alternative until great local produce is back!

Homeschooling on a Balmy Day in Buffalo

It’s hard to believe that it is the first week in January. We are smack in the middle of the solstice and the peak of winter (around the 3^rd week in January) and it hit 50 degrees today. While other parts of WNY received more significant snows this winter, the City of Buffalo itself has received very little, several dustings and about two inches at my house. I (Liz) am very much torn between fearing that we are in for a horrible February and believing that it really may be a mild winter courtesy climate change.

Today we skipped the bus and took the stroller on our errands. They are pretty big now so they take turns walking and riding. We got a little over confident about the weather and hit the playground, but didn’t last long due to the mud that is quite prevalent in Buffalo in winter and spring. While I look forward to being able to teach the kids about climate change and good environmental stewardship, it is amazing how much they’ve absorbed already from our conversations and use of public transportation Once when we walked home from the playground and errands, T told me that he knew “why all the cars had angry faces.” When I asked him why, he told me that it was because they were “hurting mother Earth and making God sad.” I know for sure that we never told them that cars had faces, but it is satisfying to hear them express some understanding of our values.