Tales of Learning

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to the Musician about her high school classes, and she mentioned that she was only one of two people in her physics class who knew what the definition of "work" was. I thought about it for a few seconds, then gave the definition. Then I laughed, and said the only way I knew the definition was because I remembered it from teaching the Musician science back when I was homeschooling. The Musician said that's how she knew it too, because she remembered our talking about it. A lot of homeschoolers dislike the style of teaching that I was using at the time, which was the usual public schooling method; I was using books that covered a lot of science topics (physics, biology, earth science) that became more complex in presentation each new school year. But obviously, some of it stuck with both her and me!

On the other hand, I tried Exploring Creation with Botany with the Dancer when she was in third grade or so. She didn't strictly remember a lot of what I read to her, but when she studied plant development in the fifth grade in public school, some of what we had talked about came back to her, and helped her digest what she was learning in fifth grade, better.

I used to read the education blog, D-Ed Reckoning, when it was still active, and many of my experiences as a mom of two students taught in various ways over the years reflect what he says in his last post. The kids who are easy to educate will learn. Find what works for you and go with it. In my case, my daughters have learned from a more traditional homeschooling style, from a more Charlotte Mason style, and from the regular public school approach. In fact, although my eldest daughter fought against the "school-at-home" method I tentatively started with as a new homeschooling mom, she told me only last week that she prefers the more rigid style of public school now.

Some of what I taught them didn't "take." They don't remember much from our course on Ancient Egypt besides learning to write their own names in hieroglyphics. I doubt they remember anything from our study of Ancient Israel besides making a model of an ancient Israeli house. Are you sensing a theme here? They also will never forget the carnation and food coloring experiment, and feel sorry for kids who never did that in school. On the other hand, I doubt they remember much of anything from the museums in Chicago to which I, as a dutiful mom, took them when Mr. BTEG was living there as a consultant. But they did learn things, and I think both of them are poised to do whatever they want with their futures.

Free Museum Admission!

Mr. BTEG discovered a great deal for homeschoolers this Saturday, free museum admission for two to lots of good museums. For those of you who pay attention to such things, it *is* being sponsored by dictator-owned Citgo, and I'm not sure what business the Lt. Governor of Louisiana has sponsoring a nationwide museum opportunity. But it's still a great chance for learning, for those whose homeschooling budget is tight. Which is probably just about everyone. :)

Yesterday

I had a very full day yesterday! My sister-in-law came in to town and spent the whole day with us. We had wanted to go to the Monet exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art, but the museum is closed on Mondays (!*@!), so we went to the Children's Museum instead. The girls did have a great time there, probably more so than if we had gone to the Monet exhibit. They got to play with water, and learned about water wheels and locks.


They got to climb.


They got to be weather forecasters on TV.

They got to grocery shop and check out.


They got to drive a bus and fly a rocketship.


Among other things.

We joined my husband for lunch at his office, then hung out at a mall for a while, then joined my other sister-in-law and a friend and co-worker of hers for dinner, with my husband, at the fat fish blue restaurant in downtown Cleveland. The Scientist tried crawfish for the first time, and liked them. Wildchild and I are not big on seafood. However, my sister-in-law's friend got an awesome dessert called a Carpetbagger. It is chocolate poured into a paper bag mold, then filled with cake, whipped cream and fresh fruit, and chilled. It makes quite a sight when they bring it to the table. Yum!

Let's Talk Cleveland

Had a very nice day today, but I will talk more about that when I get some pics emailed to me. I was too lazy and disorganized today to bring a camera along on our adventures.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a frustration of mine. My youngest daughter has become interested in Balto, the lead sled dog on the last leg of an urgent trip to get diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska. She recently watched the movie loosely based on his adventures. As I feared, the scene where men are crafting coffins for children who might die due to the disease was a little unsettling, but not overwhelming.

Anyway, we took a trip to the bookstore to fill in a few holes left in the homeschool curriculum, and I bought my daughter an "early reader" type book about Balto. Now why do so many books and web articles talk about a statue of Balto put up in New York City, but do not talk about how the city of Cleveland put together $2,000 (in the 1920's) in the space of two weeks to rescue Balto and his teammates from a vaudeville owner who was mistreating them? The dogs then happily lived out the rest of their lives at the Cleveland Zoo, and the Cleveland Musuem of Natural History now has Balto's body, which has been stuffed, periodically on display. I suppose they don't think little kids should read about Balto being mistreated, but why not give Cleveland some credit here? We need all of it we can get!

As a matter of fact, I discovered that the Cleveland Museum of Natural History will be having a presentation early next year about Balto's trip. Ironically, it is on Wildchild's birthday, which is also the day the sled dog team finally pulled into Nome with the serum. At least my daughter will have something to associate with her birthday beside Groundhog's Day! I'm thinking a homeschool trip to the presentation might be fun. Anyone else think so?