Tag Archives: Thoughtful Thursday

Feb 5 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 6 – More Guest Posts

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Happy Thoughtful Thursday!

Here are two more guest posts I wrote for two very interesting homeschooling blogs:

The titles pretty much speak for themselves. I think you know by now that it is my passion to encourage homeschooling moms to dare to teach a foreign language in their homeschool even if they do not speak it.

Thoughtful Thursday 6

On the other hand, I have a special interest in bilingual and trilingual moms who try to pass on their languages to their children. And yes, there are polyglot moms out there who still haven’t figured out how to do it.  Continue reading »

Jan 29 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 5 – Speed vs. Depth

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Did you grow up hating math or loving it? I grew up liking math. I made good grades in it, but I never thought I was a “math person” per se.

It turns out, there is no such thing as a “math person.” Everybody is capable of learning math. And everyone should have the chance of being introduced to math in a creative, fun way. Math should not be a series of mindless drills and repetition exercises. Math facts – especially the ones in arithmetic, or the early grades – should be understood.

Thoughtful Thursday

Which is why we chose to switch to Right Start Mathematics, a Montessori-inspired math program put together by Dr. Joan Cotter. I was getting a bit bored of this curriculum, not to mention confused – because it is so different, when… I discovered an MOOC by Stanford University called How to Learn Math – For Students. It totally reassured me Right Start Math is the right way to introduce my children to math concepts.

Oh, what a treasure trove of brain research and busted myths about mathematics I found in this Stanford course. It took me about two hours over two days (three sessions total) to finish all the lessons. My children came and hovered over my shoulder for a bit, as I watched the videos and answered the quizzes. Not sure they got much out of it, but some things sounded more interesting than others, I suppose. They stayed longer for some sessions.  Continue reading »

Jan 22 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 4 – Guest Posting

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My word for 2015 is Less, so, this week, I will not post a long Thoughtful Thursday essay. Instead, I will give you links to guest posts I wrote for other blogs.

Thoughtful Thursday Week 4 - Guest Posting

They are as follows:

  • a post about how my children mix Romanian, French and English words in day-to-day life; the post is in Romanian for a Romanian blog called Despre Sufletul Meu. The title (translated into English) is Modern Education. Homeschooling is not legal in Romania and this dear blogger desired to introduce her readers to homeschooling and its many advantages.
  • a post about Multilingual Homeschooling through Books and Music over at Trilingual Mama, a blog written by my friend Maria, who speaks English, Spanish and French and lives in France.

I hope you enjoy the reading.

Jan 15 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 3 – Start Creating

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We have been talking about how to stop learning and start thinking. The next step is to start creating. Because in the process of thinking you open yourself up to the Universe or to God, depending on your belief system, creativity comes naturally.

Oscar-nominated composer Pharrell Williams shares with Oprah that he creates his music either in the shower (think sensory deprivation) or in the moment when he’s got no more ideas. In the case of his song Happy, Pharrell reached the point where he had tried everything and the movies executives still did not approve.

To be exact, Pharrell took eight different songs to those who hired him to do the soundtrack for Despicable Me 2. They pushed him to try again by saying, “Close, but that’s not it.”

Thoughtful Thursday Week 3 - Start Creating

Did Pharrell give up? Did he tell them to get another guy? Did he start thinking negatively? Continue reading »

Jan 8 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 2 – Start Thinking

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There is a time for everything: a time to think. It would help if you stopped learning, as I explained in my previous Thoughtful Thursday post. [tweetthis]Cogito ergo sum, right? I think, therefore, I am.[/tweetthis] If I stop thinking, I have ceased to exist.

The man who came up with that phrase was René Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher. This phrase became a cornerstone of Western philosophy.

Thoughtful Thursday Week 2

In the context of homeschooling, how do you stop learning and start thinking? Well, how about not following the textbook to the teeth? How about using our minds to assess if our children are too bored or too intimidated by a particular curriculum? Thinking, in this case, is scary. What if you have to change curriculum mid-semester? Was that a waste of your money?  Continue reading »

Jan 1 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 1 – Stop Learning

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Last year, I published a series of weekly devotional posts for homeschooling moms called Mom Monday. Fifty-two weeks later, it is time for a new series. A new series for a new year. Introducing Thoughtful Thursday, a collection of essays about homeschooling and how it forces everybody to think outside the box. In some cases, it forces people to think. Period.

It’s sad, I know, but some people go through life without thinking, simply accepting the status quo, just believing everything that is handed down to them by the previous generation, and feeling scared and challenged when someone comes along doing a new thing.

Thoughtful Thursday Week 1 - Stop learning

When I started this blog, I knew I was going to focus on homeschooling. I also knew that homeschooling touches so many aspects of our lives – because it is a lifestyle – that it inevitably brings about some basic questions about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Which is why a personal friend unfriended me on Facebook and declared herself “highly offended” by one of my posts on socialization, for instance. She chooses to put her children in public school and once told me, “I believe in public school.”  Continue reading »