We attend a political science workshop every year, in Nashville. Well, the children do. We have to take them there the day before, as it is a four-hour drive for us from the house. The next day, they have courses from 10am-4pm, with a lunch break.
We get to sit in the back of the room and watch. They start with an icebreaker – the box game. They each get a booklet for the day. Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 39 talked about my childhood. Our history book has finally caught up with me. It feels strange to read about one’s lifetime in a history book. We called it “contemporary history” when I was growing up but I see they only call it “modern” here.
First step in a langar meal: roast potatoes and cauliflower, chop tomatoes
The 1980s in the East and the Mideast took us to India after partition and Iran and Iraq. In all honesty, I did not know much about those places. I mean, I knew Indira Gandhi got assassinated by her own body guards but why I did not comprehend. Now I know. And I had never heard of the Bhopal disaster. So this was very educational for me. Continue reading
If you can teach your children art, more power to you. I have tried. It worked for a bit, when they were younger, and we brought out the paints or the sculpting clay and went to town, not caring about the final project that much. The process and preparation was more important than the result.
Sketching a scene from Ender’s Game
Then, we got older and wiser. We realized the art curriculum was just sitting on the shelf and we never got around to using it. Why? Because it had become obsolete. Or, it was too much preparation for me to teach. I have bought more art curriculum than I care to recount, but I do not regret it. It still sits there for us to use one day. Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 38 is titled Two Ways of Fighting, referring to Soviet invasions and the rise of international terrorism. Fascinating chapter, of course, for someone who grew up in Eastern Europe. We did not know much about the invasion of Czechoslovakia or Afghanistan under communism. So every new detail I learn or every new angle means a lot to me.
They made signs and I placed them in the wrong direction so that they would not find the toy.
The first invasion happened before I was born, so I cannot tell you what the communists reported in their highly controlled news at the time. But I do remember reading in the newspaper about the Mujaheddin in the early 80s, when I was in elementary school, and we had to prepare a news flash for a report. Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 37 has a funny title: Two Short Wars and One Long One. The Vietnam war represents the long war. Two wars in the Middle East appear as the short ones in the titles. After all, they only lasted days.
Apricot coconut rice cake for the Vietnamese Festival of Tet
The Six-Day War lasted exactly six days, miraculously enough. The Yom Kippur War went on for 20 days or so. Of course, the Vietnam War went on for twenty years, with American involvement shifting from economic pressures to actually sending troops. Continue reading
My son has written a book. We published it through Amazon. The Knight of Asper is the first volume in a series he came up with all on his own.
The Knight of Asper, my son’s first book
When he told me last year in October that he was writing a book, I smiled and said, “That’s nice!” Did I think he was going to stick to it? Nope. What 11-year-old do you know who has finished a book?
Did I check on him periodically to see how the project was coming along? No way. I did not want to discourage him, but I did not want to make him feel like a failure either, if he left it unfinished. Continue reading
If you do not write down your goals, you might not meet them. In no particular order, here are our homeschooling goals for the 2019:
I am using the Well-Planned Day planner in conjunction with Google Calendar.
There! I wrote mine down. Now you all can hold me accountable by the end of 2019. I have learned to be realistic in my goals. Finishing the math curriculum by mid-March will work. Why? Because we started this curriculum last year in April.
When we go to our umbrella school for testing, we want to feel confident. Consequently, we finish the math curriculum, then the kids feel prepared. So last year I hurried through and we finished it all before the test.
We took spring break for two weeks. Afterwards, we started on the next grade math, which began with a review of the previous material. This scenario works great for April and May, when everybody is sort of “done with school” mentally.
We also could pick and choose some chapters in random order, like “Money” or “The Clock.” So yeah, these goals are realistic.
Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 36 is rather dark, covering the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. On the bright side, we have the Civil Rights movement and the victory over segregation.
Pop art: comic strips and book cover
When the chapter mentioned Rosa Parks, we Googled it and found the famous pictures of her bus protest and subsequent arrest. Also, we pulled up a copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” I would start crying just reading it, so I let them do the reading to themselves. What is it with me and crying these days? Am I getting soft in my old days? Continue reading
Story of the World, Vol. 4, Chapter 35 is titled The Cold War. The space race between the Soviet Union and the USA covers the first story. The second story takes us to Cuba during the 13 days in October, when the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.
My son weighed himself with a stack of books.
Once again, I teared up during reading because of my personal experience with communism. The kids make me laugh with their reactions to my tears, so I end up crying and laughing at the same time. Continue reading
In many ways, 2018 has been a crucial year for our homeschooling. Our oldest was 10 for most of 2018 and tackling fifth grade, which, where I come from, counts as middle school. I kept looking over my shoulder at the last five years (Where did they go?) since we started homeschooling. On the other hand, I also kept looking forward to the next eight (Can I do it? I think I can! I think I can!).
My daughter and I got to meet Tennessee Governor and First Lady Haslam in Nashville at the Executive Mansion, where we had dinner with the Top 100 Readers of TN.
It feels like we are in the middle of our years with children at home. We have had children for 10 years (now 11) and we have another 10 to go to graduate our youngest, who is 8. If you cannot follow the math, it is my fault. My words fail me. The point is, I feel like we are in the middle of my homeschooling career, should I choose to accept this mission all the way through. Continue reading