Life on the Road

Brief back-story: We homeschool, as a rule. For all the usual reasons, including moral and religious values, smart kids, enjoying the time together as a family, flexibility, etc.

For High School, Nick auditioned and was accepted into the Band Magnet program at Coral Reef Senior High – a top-rated school with a great track record of kids going to All State Marching Band, good colleges, getting scholarships, etc. Between the music and the AP classes, since he wanted to go, we decided it was a good thing. He’s now in his second year.

The Miami-Dade County School System has a number of convoluted regulations about a student’s attendance.

From talking to various teachers, administrators, and friends, I understand that, by and large, these have come about in an effort to keep parents from taking their children out of school frivolously. Apparently, there was a big problem with repeated week-long absences for family trips to Disney World and such.

So now there are several sets of rules in place:

Excused vs. unexcused.

The definition here is much stricter that it used to be. Essentially only the child’s illness, or a death in the immediate family is “excused”.

Accumulate five unexcused absences in a semester, or ten in a school year, and they have the right to withhold your grades and credit for the entire semester/year.

We ran up against this with our recent trip to Mississippi to visit Wolf’s dad after his cancer diagnosis. Quite a struggle over “excusing” those absences, which even had another entire chapter after the saga I originally posted (over at As for My House!

Eligibility restrictions.

Any student who accumulates ten absences in a school year – regardless of their “excused” status – becomes ineligible to participate in all extra-curricular activities.

In other words, I suppose, “If you’re not present enough to reasonably be doing your school work, you shouldn’t be allowed to participate in ‘the fun stuff.’”

Such a rule seems designed to deter people from taking those excessive absences even if they can get their doctor to sign off on it and get it excused.

This is the one with which I am currently at odds.

Nick had five absences during the first half of the school year, all due to illness.

Then we took our six-school-day trip to Mississippi. Yep, that’s eleven, and ineligible.

But that’s not the problem!

We worked with the Assistant Principal to file an appeal with the District, and they granted a waiver for those six days for Eligibility purposes. So he’s back to five.

But Nick has been sick the last two weeks. Pretty darn sick, and out of school four days before all was said and done.

NINE absences!

So if he misses another single day during the remaining three months of school, he will become ineligible. And although the absences were excused, we have no way to know if the District would see fit to grant his eligibility back on appeal.

But here’s the thing…

Words mean things – including Extra-Curricular.

Here’s what it says at Dictionary.com:

ex·tra·cur·ric·u·lar /ˌɛkstrəkəˈrɪkyələr/ [ek-struh-kuh-rik-yuh-ler] –adjective
1. outside the regular curriculum or program of courses: football, orchestra, and other extracurricular activities.

Outside the regular program of courses.

Not something you’ll see there with a grade next to it on your report card.

So… Football, right? Makes sense.

If you can’t play in the football game, it’s no fun for you. It’s no fun for the team. But it doesn’t hurt your GPA.

They list Orchestra, which in a regular school setting might be something you do similarly after school, outside of your regular classes.

I remember how distraught my friend Vicki and I were, after months of practicing, when we couldn’t participate in the Senior Lip Synch because our third pal, Tammie, had gotten a bad grade and become ineligible.

But in this case, Band is Nick’s regular, graded class – two of his six, in fact. It’s “Curricular,” you might say.

They do some semantic weaseling, of course.

This policy is all spelled out in a two-page Contract that looks like something we shoud have signed when Nick started there… And we may have, in the avalance of paperwork, even though I don’t recall it.

The vast majority of the document explains how the student is representing their school, and needs to uphold standards like good behavior, dress code, etc.

When they get to eligibility, the prime requirement is a 2.0 GPA.

They also carefully use the phrase “Interscholastic Competitions or Performances” rather than “Extra-Curricular Activities”… although to me this leaves open the highly relevant question of whether they are discussing Interscholastic Events (be they Competitions or Performances), or (Interscholastic Competitions) or (any Performances).

But the real core issue is simply this:

If Nick does not participate in a concert, Nick will receive one or more grades of “F”, which will lower his grade in that class accordingly.

How is it reasonable to say that the school District is prohibiting a child from participating in a Requied Classroom Activity?

Can that even be legal?

“We’re not going to allow you to do your assigned classwork”??

I didn’t discover Sonlight until Nick was in the eighth grade, and he was essentially an “only” as far as any sibling close enough in age to share interests or educational opportunities.

One of the great things about their setup is that a given curriculum can be used over a wide range of ages. You read a book (together or alone), then vary the depth of analysis and type of activities based on the child’s age.

I would like to find a way to combine my two “littles”, but I’m not sure how to start. Right now, Miss J is almost 5 and my littlest is just 2.

I can see how you could possibly combine over a 3 year spread later on – although even then that seems like a bit of a stretch… but how do you handle the beginnings?

J actively begs to “do school” already, and we are dabbling in things this year and will do some more next year. I bought a copy of the Weaver curriculum used, and I think we’ll wrk through that… Seems like a lot of fun books for both of them could be incorporated.

I’m not particularly worried about her age, “getting started”, or anything like that. I’m not an unschooler, but I do think it’s counterproductive to do busywork and stress about it with little ones. She’s really working on reading and writing, all on her own. Gee, ya think there’s A Plan in all this?

But R.T. isn’t remotely ready for anything like that yet. He’ll barely sit still and listen to a simple board book most of the time.

Typical little boy, no big deal… But not conducive to sharing “school” time with big sister.

Anyone done this and want to share some words of wisdom with me?

I am pleased to announce that we are again hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling next week…

But this time, for variety’s sake, it will be over at As For My House.

Head on over to check out the particulars, and please – spread the word!

“Back to School” doesn’t mean as much around here as it does for some folks…

Miss J and R.T. are too young for real “school” yet, and we’ll be homeschooling, anyhow.

Nick will be back in school for his sophomore year, including Marching Band. But the year has in many ways already started for him, even though the official first day is still two weeks away.

Marching band camp is all this week, 8 am to 6 pm. Whew! And he’s been doing Spanish in Virtual School over the summer, and still needs to finish up the “over the summer” literature assignments for his English class.

Some vacation!

Anyhow, in honor of Back to School, Sprite is giving away $100 every 10 minutes. In case you don’t drink Sprite, here’s a Free Code for a chance to win over at My Coke Rewards. Just type in 100876829464 and be sure to click through the several screens of “yes, enter me” until you see the result.

A recent report found that between 2003 and 2007 the ratio of boys to girls being homeschooled went from right around 50-50 to 42-58. 

The folks over at Why Homeschool have created two polls for people to indicate how many boys and girls they are homeschooling.  If you homeschool, please take a moment to fill it out:

http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/05/survey-how-many-boys-and-girls-do-you.html

I would appreciate any insight you have into why parents might be more likely to homeschool girls, so please leave any thoughts you have.

Have you heard? On April 17th High School students nationwide – and even some faculty – will participate in the “Day of Silence”, an activist “protest” for the promotion of the homosexual agenda sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

From their website:

1) The Day of Silence’s purpose is to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment and effective responses.

The goal of the Day of Silence is to make schools safer for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. In a Harris Interactive study on bullying, students said two of the top three reasons students are harassed in school are actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender expression.

I’m not sure, then, why this is even necessary, since Nick’s school has anti-bullying and anti-harrassment rules in place, which would cover these situations – and I’m sure most others do, too.

Still, I’m not opposed to their First Amendment rights. If they want to wear T-shirts with the message on them, that’s fine. If the school has a homosexually oriented club that wants to have a table with literature to hand out, that’s fine.

But this politicization of classroom teaching time is wholly inappropriate in a public school!

School administrators err when they allow the classroom to be disrupted and politicized by granting students permission to remain silent throughout an entire day. The DOS requires that teachers either create activities around the silence of some or many, or exempt silent students from any activity that
involves speaking. Furthermore, DOS participants have a captive audience, many of whom disagree with and are made uncomfortable by the politicization of their classroom.
(From the DOS Walkout website)

How many political demonstrations have you heard of that are allowed to disrupt all classes for an entire schol day?

“Meet Me at the Pole” prayer activities, for instance, take place before school starts in the morning. Can you even imagine asking the school administration to allow students to hijack an entire school day for anti-abortion protests, or support of the Marriage Amendemnt, or other causes we might hold dear?

I have a call in to the Coral Reef administration, asking if they will be allowing students to remain silent in observance of the DOS. I have also emailed all Nick’s teachers the question, since so often the administration is not even aware of what’s really going on.

If I find out there will be that kind of disruption, then I will certainly be keeping him home – and telling them the reason why. They obviously don’t need my tax dollars for his attendance that day if they do not intend to put it to good use.

Keep kids home, parents are told…

Last week Nick rode his bike to the bus stop on Wednesday, put the bike on the bus’ rack, and rode the bus up to school (almost 10 miles)….  

Then got off and went about his business. 

Yep, he left the bike on the bus. 

<sigh> 

I didn’t find this out until he showed up at home after walking the 2+ miles home from the bus stop after school.

I called the transit folks, and was eventually directed to the bus parking yard…  But it wasn’t there.  Apparently it got swiped during the day (as you might expect). 

Not just the (nearly new!) bike, but the add-on lights, comfy seat, fenders, etc., etc. 

Grrrr…

So how much do you hold a child accountable for things?

Sure, “accidents happen.” 

But for some people, “accidents” are actually the norm, and being responsible is the exception. 

And by the time someone is 14, and in High School, is one not supposed to begin taking responsibility for one’s actions?  Beginning a transition into self-sufficiency?

What is a viable consequence, though? 

It’s not as though he has a job and can buy a replacement.

So far he’s walking home from the bus stop most days. 

But I can’t see making him walk that far, in the dark, getting up that much earlier in the morning… So I have to get the little ones up and drive him there at 6 am. 

The kids (and I) are the ones who are suffering the consequences of his negligence, which hardly seems right…

Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling! 

I am honored to be hosting the carnival again, and I want to extend my hearfelt thanks to the dozens of bloggers who submitted these incredibly interesting, challenging, and diverse posts for your reading pleasure. 

If you follow the blog, you’ll know we’re an RPG (role-playing game), Renaissance Fair kind of family.  I recently posted about what a cute idea I thought the Chore Wars site was – earning “XP” (Experience Points) for the “adventures” in housework we do every day.

Homeschooling is no different, and deserves the same kind of heroic credit!

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Earn 10 XP for encouraging your child to “think outside the box,” challenge assumptions, and, fundamentally, THINK.   That’s one of the main reasons many of us are on this adventure in the first place, right?

Michael Gold of the MGTutoring Blog asks, The Great Industrialists: Heroes or Villains?

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Teaser to Exercise your Memory and Reasoning Skills posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution.

Cristina presents Pill Bug Pioneers! posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Jena asks Do Schools Kill Creativity? on The Life Without School Community Blog.

Janine writes about actual brain development in Parents with Purpose over at Why Homeschool.  (Must be in the air!  See my post near the end).

Earn 25 XP for reminding your children that they are part of a larger “Party of Adventurers.” They need to learn to pitch in, help out, and just plain get along…

Carol Topp, CPA presents Resolve Conflict: take a PAUSE posted at HomeschoolCPA’s Blog.

Susan Gaissert presents The Idea of Service posted at The Expanding Life.

The Reluctant Homeschooler  contemplates a Mission to Mexico.

25 XP for attending to thine own training, growth and development.

Sue Richardson reminds us to keep an eye on our priorities… Oh, just go read it! My Dining Room Table posted at Homeschooling High School.

Timothy Power issues us a warning about the siren song of Debt for College in A Few Thoughts on College Debt posted at Sometimes I’m Actually Coherent.

Wendy Metzger of A Divine Calling…Musings on Motherhood has a great reminder for us all: Take Time to Enjoy Them.

Margaret reminds us that Homeschooling Moms need to be educated too, at Two Kid Schoolhouse. 

ChristineMM shares about a re-committment to studying world history after a too-long lapse in History Blitz posted at The Thinking Mother.

Becca presents us with 5 Things to Tell Yourself when Angry with the Kids at Inspiration for Mothers . Com.

Rack up an extra 10 XP every time you come up with a practical solution to a real-life challenge…  Another vital reason many of us are questing.

Rose describes her mealtime secrets in Iron Chef, Homeschool Edition, posted at Learning at Home.

Katherine writes about The Longest Week of the Year at No Fighting, No Biting!

Concerning Kids presents Healthy After School Snacks For Kids posted at Concerning Kids.

Living By Learning presents Customize A Web Browser For Home School Use posted at On Living By Learning.

Therese of the Aussie Coffee Shop discusses Our Curriculum for 2009.

And a challenge near and dear to my heart – homeschooling with a home business – is addressed by Pat Fenner in Creating a Vision for Your Homeschool – and Your Home Business on her NetworkFromHome blog.

Tom Zirpoli discusses supervising your children in his Thought for the day on Tom Zirpoli’s Blog.

Earn 1 XP per minute of reading aloud!

Hilary Kay discusses reading to your kids in Read, Read, Read! at Love, Life, and Everything Between.

Nothing to read? Miss Amanda offers On Moi’s 2009 Book List posted at The Daily Planet.

Go on an ADVENTURE within your adventure! Earn 50 XP for each excursion with educational value.

Shannon describes their introduction to the wild world of Geocaching: An Educational Adventure at Song of My Heart.

HappyCampers maps one out for us with Take Me On A Tour: Sixth Floor Museum, Dallas posted at Reese’s View Of The World.

Misty presents Part 1: Our Vacation is a School Trip – Science Classes posted at Homeschool Bytes.

Amy wants to help us all help each other go on adventures!  Check out How Many Homes Do You Have? from Neighborhood Clubhouse.

Pamela describes some great Winter play tactics in After the storm….. at Homeschool AND Stay Sane!.

Earn a bonus 50 XP each time you give them special training for the specific quests they will face, or share the best of your personal knowledge and skills with them…

Dianne M. Buxton presents Some Highly Effective Tips For Ballet Summer Intensives Auditions – And The Nerves posted at Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes.

Barbara Frank presents Woodworking with Dad posted at Barbara Frank Online.

Kim at Countdown to College offers us some hope and peace of mind about scholarships, with God Rewards the Work. 

Collect 10 XP each for discovering new resources to assist you on your campaign.

Sarah Scrafford presents 50+ Free Open Courseware Classes for Social Media Mavens posted at Online Best Colleges.com.

Margaret Garcia presents target=”_blank” Top 20 iPhone Apps for Overwhelmed Students posted at Phlebotomy Technician Schools.

The Eclectic Female presents Three Easy Ways To Learn Spanish posted at Lifestyle Blog For Women.

Dolfin presents Friday Finds – Fairytale Feasts posted at Lionden Landing.

Sarah presents SmallWorld’s WordSmithery: Good Words (Assignment 2) posted at SmallWorld.

Kevin presents Homeschool Ideas for Physical Education posted at More4kids Homeschooling.

Beverly Hernandez shares some great resources for Groundhog Day Fun (next Monday!) at Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com).

Agree or disagree with the goings-on, as a Homeschool Adventurer you need to know what’s going on in the political landscape.  Earn 10 XP every time you check the map.

Dana address the troubling question: Christian homeschoolers have “left the battlefield?” on Principled Discovery.

Summer presents Politics and Homeschooling In Oklahoma posted at Wired For Noise.

Sheri offers a tongue-in-cheek view, in Attention Citizens posted at The Joy of Home.

Catherine muses on Applying the Principle of the Declaration of Independence to Education over at Petticoat Government.

Helen Hegener presents One Perspective on Homeschooling posted at HEM Editor’s Blog.

Mary Nix comments on the news story out of hte UK, in Child Abuse does not = homeschooling posted at The Informed Parent.

And on a lighter note, I literally laughed out loud with Laura’s A Sign Of The Times… posted at Practical Homeschooling.

25 XP shall be awarded for each and every cool hands-on project undertaken – regardless of outcome.

Kris of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers presents Step-by-Step: Making a Paper Mache Earth Model.

Renae presents For the Birds posted at Life Nurturing Education.

Deanna aka Pop Tart presents Why Craft With Kids posted at Things Your Grandmother Knew.

And of course, a good Adventurer never passes up FREE TREASURE!

You can win a free book from Rachel Starr Thomson of Inklings.  Writers age 11 and up can find all the information about it here: Writing Contest – Write a Book Review!

Denise tells of fame and, well, FAME to be won! MathNotations Contest for Middle-High School posted at Let’s Play Math!.

Our entry this week (I can list a regular post even when I’m hosting, right?) is a Brain Rules – Book/DVD Review and Giveaway!

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Thank you for reading…  Please let me know if you find any errors or broken links!

Please take a moment to post a link to the carnival on your blog, as well as adding it to any social bookmarking sites you use (the “Share This” link, below, will make it easy for most of them!) — help spread the word about homeschooling, and the carnival, and send some traffic to all these terrific bloggers who took the time to share their lives with us.

Don’t forget to send in your post for next week’s carnival, as well, hosted at Dewey’s Treehouse!  Just click on over to the easy submision form at Blog Carnival anytime before Monday at 6pm Pacific.

I first heard about the book Brain Rules from a great review over at Parent Hacks.  Asha wrote so much of what I want to say, so well, that I’m going to start by sharing a snippet of her post with you:

Medina, a molecular biologist and brain researcher, is so excited about the subject (obviously his passion) that the energy of his writing leaps out a grabs hold. He also embodies that rare combination of scientist and storyteller, so he can distill complicated biological and atomic processes into accessible metaphors without insulting his readers’ intelligence.

In this book, Medina provides twelve “rules” that explain how and why the brain thrives under certain conditions (most of which are the polar opposites of American school and workaday culture). He shares the evolutionary roots of the brain’s functions, and he ends the discussion of each rule with a practical application in modern life. This is no “Mozart effect” mumbo-jumbo; he’s not promising “super genius in 12 easy steps.” He’s simply pointing out the basic changes we can make in our daily lives that will help our brains do what they were designed to do.

Medina’s writing really does make this a “can’t-put-it-down” read.  If he wasn’t so into science, he could clearly have had a career as an author, or perhaps a stand-up comic.

Here’s his (very brief) introductory trailer, which is not nearly as entertaining as the rest of the book:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U732xPrL0bc&feature=PlayList&p=9AF11C792AC4244C&playnext=1&index=12[/youtube]

Okay, here’s a fun one to watch, and try out on your friends ad family – the McGurk Effect:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtsfidRq2tw&feature=PlayList&p=9AF11C792AC4244C&index=14&playnext=3&playnext_from=PL[/youtube]

Let me tear myself away from the videos - every book comes with a DVD! – and give you some more Brain Rules brain food.

These are Medina’s 12 Rules:

EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEMORY | Rule #6: Remember to repeat.
SLEEP | Rule #7: Sleep well, think well.
STRESS | Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.
SENSORY INTEGRATION | Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses.
VISION | Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses.
GENDER | Rule #11: Male and female brains are different.
EXPLORATION | Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers.

And in addition to the book, AND the DVD, there’s another whole slew on information posted over at his website: http://www.brainrules.net.

P.S. To my fellow Christians: In several sections Medina discusses evolution and our ancient human ancestors - but that doesn’t invalidate what he says!  I wouldn’t necessarily suggest you let an impressionable pre-teen read the book without your guidance, but I would whole-heartedly recommend the book to you.  If you remove the date references, the information about the brain – and even its evolution (on a micro scale, not a macro scale) – are of tremendous value!

Want to win a copy of the book (with DVD) for your very own?  It’s easy!

Just leave a comment below telling me which Brain Rule intrigues you the most, and why.  Something that just “rings true”?  Something you can’t imagine is true?  Just arouses your curiosity?  Please be sure you leave me your email address (won’t be posted) so I can contact you if you win.

To earn a bonus entry, tell a friend!  You can blog, Tweet, post on Facebook, or whatever your “thing” is.  Just link back to this post.  Then post a comment below (separate from your first entry!) telling me where to find what you did.

On February 1 I’ll use a random number generator to pick a comment as my winner.  You’ll have three days to respond to my email with your mailing address, and I’ll ship it off! 

Good Luck!

I am pleased to announce that, once again, Life on the Road is hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling next week. 

I’m writing this in the hopes that you’ll join the party! (Check out our the last adventure, The 12 Labors of Hercules Edition)

If you have a blog, you’re welcome to submit an article: 

• The post can be new or old – anything you’ve written is fair game!
• Your *blog* does not have to be about homeschooling, only the post you submit.

It’s easy to submit with the Blog Carnival form.

You can also find more info at the website that runs the carnival, “Why Homeschool“.

Hope to see you “there”!