Monday, September 30, 2013
If You Homeschool, You Must Be Flexible
Anyone who homeschools loves the fact that you can so flexible, especially during an emergency situation. Today was the kind of day that shows just how flexible a homeschooling family must be. The story (a true one, just written today) goes like this...
Sunday, September 29, 2013
September Mini Missions Complete!
We turned in our Outdoor Explorer, Mini Mission #4 tonight, making our September Mission Challenge completed. Our 2 free books from our August Challenge have already arrived in the mail and we are looking forward to earning two more free books from Scholastic
Your family can get involved in these Mini-Missions Challenges by going to Scholastic.com and clicking on the "parent" button. Once on the "Parent" page, scroll down until you find the mini-mission box. Click on the link there, and go to begin your family's mini-missions!
Your family can get involved in these Mini-Missions Challenges by going to Scholastic.com and clicking on the "parent" button. Once on the "Parent" page, scroll down until you find the mini-mission box. Click on the link there, and go to begin your family's mini-missions!
Something to think about...the difference (that fine line) between shame and humiliation. The sad fact that it happens both at home and in the classroom. This lady makes sense and gives some very good advice that we all need to hear.
Go to this website: http://www.upworthy.com/one-of-my-favorite-authors-says-theres-something-we-should-remove-from-all-classrooms?c=ufb1
shame: a feeling of guilt, regret, or sadness that you have because you know you have done
something wrong
humiliation: the action of humiliating someone or the state of being humiliated
humiliate: make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect,
esp. publicly.
Go to this website: http://www.upworthy.com/one-of-my-favorite-authors-says-theres-something-we-should-remove-from-all-classrooms?c=ufb1
shame: a feeling of guilt, regret, or sadness that you have because you know you have done
something wrong
humiliation: the action of humiliating someone or the state of being humiliated
humiliate: make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect,
esp. publicly.
We Do Have Our Bad Days, Too
So that everyone reading this will not get the impression that our children are perfect angels, I share this post. Even homeschooling families have "those days"!
On Friday, we used glue again. Nothing uncommon. Kenna (she's 4) uses a small 4-oz. bottle that I only keep about half full because she gets a little (ok, a lot, sometimes) carried away with the amount of glue she uses. When we are finished, I always put the glue on the highest shelf so Kenna can't get to it.
Have I mentioned that Kenna is an expert climber? On Saturday, I had to clean up a glue mess on the classroom carpet because she had climbed up and gotten the glue down. Had glue spills in two places in the floor. But didn't find anything papers that she had glued together.
Last night before I headed to bed, I went to check on the girls like we always do, and I turned on the hall light so I could see in their room but not wake them up. As I turned around to head back toward the livingroom, had had to back up when I realized something on the wall was not right.
Maddy has a really neat Polly Pocket Tree House that attaches to the wall with removable adhesive. I guess because I'm so used to seeing that on the wall, it had not caught my attention that there was some extra stuff sticking to my wall...some of the extra circles we used when Kenna made her pictograph this week, one Fruitloop, one chewed piece of gum, a piece of paper with an "S" on it, and a couple other things. Not only glued to the wall, but completely, totally, strongly glued to my wall. I'm pretty sure when I pull it off, my paint is going to come off with it. And then she used crayons and a pen to draw around these items to create a picture.
Where was I when this took place? I haven't a clue. At first I wasn't sure if she'd done it Friday or Saturday, but now am convinced she did it on Friday and that's how/why all the glue was spilled on the floor. But I can tell you that I'm never but just a room or two from her. Alan's reaction? He just shook his head, laughed, and said, "That kid!"
On Friday, we used glue again. Nothing uncommon. Kenna (she's 4) uses a small 4-oz. bottle that I only keep about half full because she gets a little (ok, a lot, sometimes) carried away with the amount of glue she uses. When we are finished, I always put the glue on the highest shelf so Kenna can't get to it.
Have I mentioned that Kenna is an expert climber? On Saturday, I had to clean up a glue mess on the classroom carpet because she had climbed up and gotten the glue down. Had glue spills in two places in the floor. But didn't find anything papers that she had glued together.
Last night before I headed to bed, I went to check on the girls like we always do, and I turned on the hall light so I could see in their room but not wake them up. As I turned around to head back toward the livingroom, had had to back up when I realized something on the wall was not right.
Maddy has a really neat Polly Pocket Tree House that attaches to the wall with removable adhesive. I guess because I'm so used to seeing that on the wall, it had not caught my attention that there was some extra stuff sticking to my wall...some of the extra circles we used when Kenna made her pictograph this week, one Fruitloop, one chewed piece of gum, a piece of paper with an "S" on it, and a couple other things. Not only glued to the wall, but completely, totally, strongly glued to my wall. I'm pretty sure when I pull it off, my paint is going to come off with it. And then she used crayons and a pen to draw around these items to create a picture.
Where was I when this took place? I haven't a clue. At first I wasn't sure if she'd done it Friday or Saturday, but now am convinced she did it on Friday and that's how/why all the glue was spilled on the floor. But I can tell you that I'm never but just a room or two from her. Alan's reaction? He just shook his head, laughed, and said, "That kid!"
Friday, September 27, 2013
Librarian Fired For Supporting Reading Contest Winner's 5th Win
This situation is so wrong in so many ways! When a library board takes on this attitude,
it's time to close that library. They should be promoting reading and if
this young man followed the rules set forth by the contest and put
forth the effort, he deserves to win. Surely, after winning
so many times, the other children know what they need to do to take the
winner's spot. It looks to me like there are a good number of children
who participated in the program. Perhaps next year they will strive a
little harder to read even more. You cannot blame the winner for doing exactly what the contest asked for. Nor can you blame him because the other children didn't put as much heart into the contest as he did. This librarian, I'm sure, encouraged
all the children to read more books, not just this one boy. She deserves her job
back! Go to the link at the bottom to go to the full article.
Library aide Lita Casey awards Tyler Weaver, 9, a t-shirt Thursday,
August 15, 2013, for being the top reader in the Hudson Falls Public
Library summer reading club. Casey was reportedly fired on Monday.
New York librarian fired after speaking up for child who read too much
9-year-old Tyler Weaver was accused of ‘hogging’ the Hudson Falls Free Library summer reading contest after winning five years in a row. The library fired Lita Casey after she spoke up for her little friend.
By Carol Kuruvilla / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 6:35 PM
Jason McKibben/The Post-Star
Library aide Lita Casey awards Tyler Weaver, 9, a t-shirt Thursday,
August 15, 2013, for being the top reader in the Hudson Falls Public
Library summer reading club. Casey was reportedly fired on Monday.
Making a Difference In Our Community
Today was a treat...Alan was home all day, which is rare on a weekday for my trucker husband. So Kenna opted to stay home with Daddy while Maddy and I did our monthly volunteerism at our local food pantry from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
We live just outside of a town of 950 people. Our food pantry is open each Friday to those in need. Today we served 19 families, which included 46 people. 3 new families came in today.
I think it's important to teach our children to reach out to others in need. You may be thinking, what can a 4 & 7 year old do at a food pantry? Each month Maddy and Kenna make a donation to the pantry...today was a case (30 packages) of hot dogs. They greet all the people coming in. If there are children with a parent or grandparent, the girls always show the kids to the children's table set up with crayons and coloring books. Sometimes the girls draw pictures to give to the people who come in. Even at this young age, the girls help stock the shelves when there are donations to be put away. The girls are good to open to the door to the folks as they leave with their hands full of grocery bags and always tell them "good-bye" and "have a nice day".
Doesn't take a lot of work or effort. But these little girls are learning that things as simple as smiles, friendly conversation, and opening a door for someone really does make a difference.
When Maddy and I got back, Alan and Kenna were outside enjoying playing with the girls' puppies and had moved the rabbits out to the outdoor cage to munch of fresh grass and enjoy the sunshine as well. We ate lunch, did the dishes, and then went back outside to enjoy the day before returning indoors to resume our work.
We live just outside of a town of 950 people. Our food pantry is open each Friday to those in need. Today we served 19 families, which included 46 people. 3 new families came in today.
I think it's important to teach our children to reach out to others in need. You may be thinking, what can a 4 & 7 year old do at a food pantry? Each month Maddy and Kenna make a donation to the pantry...today was a case (30 packages) of hot dogs. They greet all the people coming in. If there are children with a parent or grandparent, the girls always show the kids to the children's table set up with crayons and coloring books. Sometimes the girls draw pictures to give to the people who come in. Even at this young age, the girls help stock the shelves when there are donations to be put away. The girls are good to open to the door to the folks as they leave with their hands full of grocery bags and always tell them "good-bye" and "have a nice day".
Doesn't take a lot of work or effort. But these little girls are learning that things as simple as smiles, friendly conversation, and opening a door for someone really does make a difference.
When Maddy and I got back, Alan and Kenna were outside enjoying playing with the girls' puppies and had moved the rabbits out to the outdoor cage to munch of fresh grass and enjoy the sunshine as well. We ate lunch, did the dishes, and then went back outside to enjoy the day before returning indoors to resume our work.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Don't Bash Homeschooling - Part 2
We have dealt with naysayers regarding our choice to teach our children through our own personal homeschooling experience. Even some family members still, to this day after homeschooling Alayna and Afton for 8 years and now starting again with Maddy and Kenna on our 2nd year of homeschooling "round 2", ask, "Are you ready to put them back in public school yet?"
NO! We are not ready to put them back in public school. We have nothing against teachers in general. We are very good friends with both current teachers and retired teachers. We ask them for advice. Some of the very curriculum that we use - and love - were recommended by teachers (some of it they wish the public schools had stuck with, like Saxon math).
Some of the negativity, though, goes beyond those who know us. So much of it comes from people who have no clue. They may know us from way back when, but know nothing about our children or our lives. Mere acquaintances, yet judge us so harshly.
Now to be fair to many of our critics, there are some families out there claiming to be homeschooling their children when reality they are not making any attempts to educate their children in the subjects deemed necessary even by the State of Illinois, which is one of the less strict states regarding homeschooling. We do use an eclectic approach - we feel this gives us the "best" of all the choices of curriculum out there. We ARE choosey about our children's education. We want our children to have the best education available to them, just like every other parent out there. The biggest difference that I can see is that we are willing to put in the extra time, money, and effort to make our homeschooling experience a success. Not so that we look good as parents, but so that our child will have a solid start as they venture out into the world when they are older. It takes some major sacrifices to homeschool your children. We have just chosen to dedicate ourselves to willingly making those sacrifices to accomplish our goal.
So, this post is to better clarify any misconceptions about how we, at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., are traveling along our homeschooling journey. These may be kind of randomly ordered statements, but I hope it will EDUCATE some of those anti-homeschool people who seem so smug in their opinions of how all of us homeschooling families are "screwing up" our children's lives. Those folks are so far off, at least in our case...
1) We don't really care if our views on homeschooling (or any other subject) are politically correct. We are registered voters (as a matter of fact, Alan and I are registered as opposing political sides) but we vote for the man best suited, in our opinion, for the position regardless of his political affiliations. Seems like in the U.S. today, politics has gotten so far out of hand, that I wonder sometimes if it wouldn't be better to do away with political parties and just make the candidates stand on their own to vie for office. No lobbyist. No "you owe me" contributors. Just each candidate standing there telling us his views and offering his solutions. What we base our homeschooling views on is Biblically correct. We strive to base our whole lives on God's Standards, not man's.
2) Which leads to a frequently asked question of, "Are you homeschooling for religious reasons?" First of all, I hate the word "religion". Anything can be a person's religion. I take my FAITH and my personal relationship with JESUS CHRIST very seriously. But we are NOT solely homeschooling strictly due to "religious beliefs". Many, many factors played into our decision to homeschool. Those reasons, though, are ours and ours alone. Not everyone chooses to homeschool for the same reasons. And we don't have to please anyone except for the State of Illinois Board of Education - which by the way, we are well within the legal requirements. We go above and beyond the requirements of Illinois homeschool statues. For our children, and for them alone.
3) Going 13 years through public school does not make a child brilliant. It's the time and effort put into teaching a child that defines whether or not they will be a smart, productive citizen. Like in every profession and in every aspect of life, there are the "good" teachers and there are some really "bad" ones. Teachers come in all forms. Holding a piece of paper that states a person holds a degree does not guarantee that person will be a "good, qualified" teacher. Some of the smartest people out there have absolutely no common sense. It is our belief that anyone who learns to read and develops of love of not just reading, but of learning, will succeed at whatever they set their minds to. Yes, some subjects are harder to learn than others, but if the willingness to work at it, the eagerness to learn about it, and the mind is open to it, we believe that anyone can learn about anything. There are so many ways to learn, and the key is to finding how your child learns best. What works for one child may not be the best approach for another...even with the same family.
4) We don't blame the teachers for the many problems we see facing the public schools. A teacher can only do what a school allows him/her to do. A teacher can only teach using the curriculum and techniques available to them through the school. No public teacher should ever have to spend the very paycheck they are earning from a school district to turn around and purchase needed supplies for the classroom. And the problem isn't falling totally on the schools, even though it is the school board who decides what programs are cut. It's the government telling the school districts what they can and cannot teach, that they must "teach to the test", etc. If public teachers could get back to the job of teaching and not have to jump through so many hoops of red-tape, serving as baby-sitters, etc., the public schools would return to their former days of being institutions of higher, quality education.
4) Our children are not ignorant. You see, while your public teachers are being over-worked having to deal with "problem children", dealing with parents to don't care about their children's education, and are having to deal with an over-crowded classroom with a wide range of abilities, we are sitting at home (or sometimes outside or sometimes out on a field trip/outside class) putting our focus on our subjects at hand. It doesn't take us up to 20 minutes to get our class calmed down and ready to begin a lesson. We don't have to spread 1 teacher thinly across a room of 20+ students, some of whom need a lot extra help - from both their teacher AND their parents at home. We are concentrating on one thing: learning.
5) We begin our school year the day after Labor Day, take Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off, take from Dec. 24th - Jan. 2nd off, take a week off for Easter Break. We still get the required 178 days of school in. Depending on the year, sometimes our school years have ran 187 days. We don't take off for teacher institutes or for the little holidays, or even for snow days. I put in long hours, before and after school preparing our lesson plans. We learn about those holidays instead of spending the day doing nothing. And when the roads are icy? We have the choice as to whether we stay in where it's nice and warm or whether we'll bundle up and explore the beauty an ice storm leaves behind. Our school year always ends, required attendance complete or beyond, by Memorial Day.
6) In response to "if I homeschooled my kids, they'd be experts on...", there is nothing wrong with sharing your interests with your children. If you don't believe you are capable of homeschooling your child, then you never will be. If you are dedicated to the process of learning, ANY parent can homeschool their children and do it successfully. The difference in our homeschooling family and those who choose not to, sometimes is as simple as parents who don't want to spend that much time with their children. Remember when kindergarten was non-existent? It was created to help those children who did not get the educational boost they needed from home. Then kindergarten went to a full day because parents had the dilemma of needing a baby-sitter for the rest of the day. Then Preschool was developed to help those children "at risk", but again parents decided they needed free childcare. Our children already face 12 years of school and then college years. Why anyone would want to stick their young children in Pre-K at age 3 and be content with the fact that they are "out of my hair" until they graduate out of high school amazes me. What happened to bonding with your children? We enjoy spending time with our kids. We enjoy being able to eat 3 meals together at the dining room table. We enjoy teaching them new things...there is nothing better than to see that look of "I did it!" on your child's face when they master something new. Why would a parent ever want to miss out on that?
7) To those who think parents should have a degree to homeschool their children. First of all, since God created man and then made woman from that man's flesh and told them to "be fruitful and multiply", parents have filled the role of "teacher". Who knows your child better (or at least should)? I am not asking to teach a room full of students. I don't want to teach a classroom full of children. I am only concerned with my children, and giving them what my husband and I consider the best education.
A better question might be, "Do you have a big college degree or credentials or a fancy framed license that specifically qualifies you to raise your children?" The only difference between those of us who homeschool and those who do not may be the simple fact that we homeschoolers are more attentive to what we want our children taught, want to be more involved in their school curriculum choices, and care more about whether our children are actually learning or just going through the motions. I am amazed at the number of parents who happily drop their kids off at school, have someone else pick them up, and maybe - if the child is lucky, the parent may glance through all the papers in their backpacks over the weekend. I can hear the heads "boiling" right now, but I am telling you that as a reading club leader and a parent who attentively watches everything my kids do during Tae Kwon Do, that I have had conversations with parents that leave me feeling sorry for the child who is the topic of the conversation and makes me so thankful that we do homeschool. Parents need to be involved in their children's education! Personal involved, not leaving it up to the teachers or the baby-sitters.
8) To the person who stated that an education is more than just the three "Rs" - well, duh! Homeschooling lets us broaden our schooling experience to cover so much more than the just basic public school requirements. How many foreign languages can you speak? My newly-turned-7-year-old is learning Spanish as part of our regular school lessons, American Sign Language through a music group which performs their songs in sign language, and is learning Korean through her Tae Kwon Do lessons? Will she be able to speak proficiently in 4 languages by the time she has graduated from high school (and I mean graduated with as many, probably more credit hours, than the public schools require)? Probably not. But right now, at age 7, she knows more of those additional languages than most adults do.
This same person seemed proud of the fact that school teaches kids to hate an alarm clock going off each morning. What an odd statement to make! Our children get up and do at least one chore before school begins and they still like getting up and facing the day. Teaching children to be good stewards of their time and to have good ethics is something every PARENT should be doing. It's a shame to blame the public schools for making people hate their morning alarms go off.
And this same person gave all the credit for learning to read to the public school. I believe that a parent should be reading to their children from the beginning of their young life. Yes, school - of any form - reinforces the lessons of learning to read. But any parent who has not spent time teaching their preschoolers the alphabet, the sounds a letter makes, started them writing, and recognizing simple words have done a huge injustice to their children. Not because I knew we were going to be homeschooling, but because I am a PARENT, all of my kids knew most, if not all, of everything they would be taught in kindergarten before ever beginning that first school year. As a homeschool educator, our reading curriculum not only has the kids reading long before the 100th day of school, but helps them continue to develop a love of reading, which leads to a love of learning.
9) To the socialization of homeschooled children, I offer these definitions to start the topic off:
According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, socialization is defined as" the process by which a human being beginning at infancy acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of society through education and training for adult status."
This same dictionary defines the word "socialize" as "to talk to and do things with other people in a friendly way."
I must tell you that my children have plenty of time to socialize...not only with kids their own age but we also make it a point to offer them lots of opportunities to interact, or socialize, with mixed aged groups, too. Family, friends, Sunday School & church, library reading club, missions groups, Power of Praise (where they are learning to perform songs using American Sign Language), Tae Kwon Do, community service projects, 4-H, attending programs and festivals in the community. We go on at last 12 field trips each year. We host fall hayrides and play dates year round. All these things provide a well-rounded socialization. Once again, it is not the public school's job to socialize your children...kids need time to play and "be a kid" at home and in fun social settings. Just because we pick and choose what type of settings and/or what children we want our children to socialize with, doesn't make us wrong or bad parents. It means we are teaching our children to be particular about whom they call a true friend and not to always "follow the crowd". We ALWAYS know where our children are and whom they are with...can most parents honestly say that? Or are there many out there thinking, "Well, they are SUPPOSED to be..."?
Just because our children are not at a public school each day, does not mean they are "missing out" on socializing with kids their age. And think about it...students are supposed to be sitting at their desks, NOT talking for most of the school day. Their recesses and lunch break time have all been cut back. How much socializing do public school kids really get? Sitting at their desks being quiet is NOT socializing.
Please do not assume that just because we are a homeschooling family, that we are keeping our kids quarantined at home so that world doesn't contaminate them. Do not assume that we are "religious fanatics". Do not assume that during our homeschooling experience that we never touch a book or sit down to learn a subject. Do not assume my children are stupid or that I am not qualified to teach my own children. Do not assume we do not keep school records or do not use a grading system. Do not assume anything about our family. Do not judge our methods until you have come and spent some time with us during our homeschooling experience.
I wonder sometimes, just how many parents of children in the public schools even bother to check into what the laws regarding Illinois schools really say. I, for one, check them each summer so that we can keep up to date on any changes that may have been passed.
I know these "Bashing Homeschooling" posts have been long. If you have patiently following along from start to finish, I thank you. Thank for for sticking around. Thank you for allowing me to vent a little. I'll leave you with one last thought that maybe would have sufficed all along:
It all comes down to the fact, I guess, that we here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E. aren't too concerned about the methods other homeschooling families are using. We aren't in a contest to out-do someone elses's schooling experience. We shouldn't even care what anyone else thinks about our eclectic approach to homeschooling. See, we don't care if we are doing it "socially" correct or "politically" correct in the eyes of the world. We only care that we are putting forth our best efforts and striving to give our children a homeschooling experience that is done correctly in God's eyes. Which means we don't worry about being a worldly school but a Biblically based school. And not just our schooling experience, but we feel this way about every aspect of our lives. If you think that makes us "religious fanatics" or "Jesus freaks", well, then maybe we are. Because...
NO! We are not ready to put them back in public school. We have nothing against teachers in general. We are very good friends with both current teachers and retired teachers. We ask them for advice. Some of the very curriculum that we use - and love - were recommended by teachers (some of it they wish the public schools had stuck with, like Saxon math).
Some of the negativity, though, goes beyond those who know us. So much of it comes from people who have no clue. They may know us from way back when, but know nothing about our children or our lives. Mere acquaintances, yet judge us so harshly.
Now to be fair to many of our critics, there are some families out there claiming to be homeschooling their children when reality they are not making any attempts to educate their children in the subjects deemed necessary even by the State of Illinois, which is one of the less strict states regarding homeschooling. We do use an eclectic approach - we feel this gives us the "best" of all the choices of curriculum out there. We ARE choosey about our children's education. We want our children to have the best education available to them, just like every other parent out there. The biggest difference that I can see is that we are willing to put in the extra time, money, and effort to make our homeschooling experience a success. Not so that we look good as parents, but so that our child will have a solid start as they venture out into the world when they are older. It takes some major sacrifices to homeschool your children. We have just chosen to dedicate ourselves to willingly making those sacrifices to accomplish our goal.
So, this post is to better clarify any misconceptions about how we, at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., are traveling along our homeschooling journey. These may be kind of randomly ordered statements, but I hope it will EDUCATE some of those anti-homeschool people who seem so smug in their opinions of how all of us homeschooling families are "screwing up" our children's lives. Those folks are so far off, at least in our case...
1) We don't really care if our views on homeschooling (or any other subject) are politically correct. We are registered voters (as a matter of fact, Alan and I are registered as opposing political sides) but we vote for the man best suited, in our opinion, for the position regardless of his political affiliations. Seems like in the U.S. today, politics has gotten so far out of hand, that I wonder sometimes if it wouldn't be better to do away with political parties and just make the candidates stand on their own to vie for office. No lobbyist. No "you owe me" contributors. Just each candidate standing there telling us his views and offering his solutions. What we base our homeschooling views on is Biblically correct. We strive to base our whole lives on God's Standards, not man's.
2) Which leads to a frequently asked question of, "Are you homeschooling for religious reasons?" First of all, I hate the word "religion". Anything can be a person's religion. I take my FAITH and my personal relationship with JESUS CHRIST very seriously. But we are NOT solely homeschooling strictly due to "religious beliefs". Many, many factors played into our decision to homeschool. Those reasons, though, are ours and ours alone. Not everyone chooses to homeschool for the same reasons. And we don't have to please anyone except for the State of Illinois Board of Education - which by the way, we are well within the legal requirements. We go above and beyond the requirements of Illinois homeschool statues. For our children, and for them alone.
3) Going 13 years through public school does not make a child brilliant. It's the time and effort put into teaching a child that defines whether or not they will be a smart, productive citizen. Like in every profession and in every aspect of life, there are the "good" teachers and there are some really "bad" ones. Teachers come in all forms. Holding a piece of paper that states a person holds a degree does not guarantee that person will be a "good, qualified" teacher. Some of the smartest people out there have absolutely no common sense. It is our belief that anyone who learns to read and develops of love of not just reading, but of learning, will succeed at whatever they set their minds to. Yes, some subjects are harder to learn than others, but if the willingness to work at it, the eagerness to learn about it, and the mind is open to it, we believe that anyone can learn about anything. There are so many ways to learn, and the key is to finding how your child learns best. What works for one child may not be the best approach for another...even with the same family.
4) We don't blame the teachers for the many problems we see facing the public schools. A teacher can only do what a school allows him/her to do. A teacher can only teach using the curriculum and techniques available to them through the school. No public teacher should ever have to spend the very paycheck they are earning from a school district to turn around and purchase needed supplies for the classroom. And the problem isn't falling totally on the schools, even though it is the school board who decides what programs are cut. It's the government telling the school districts what they can and cannot teach, that they must "teach to the test", etc. If public teachers could get back to the job of teaching and not have to jump through so many hoops of red-tape, serving as baby-sitters, etc., the public schools would return to their former days of being institutions of higher, quality education.
4) Our children are not ignorant. You see, while your public teachers are being over-worked having to deal with "problem children", dealing with parents to don't care about their children's education, and are having to deal with an over-crowded classroom with a wide range of abilities, we are sitting at home (or sometimes outside or sometimes out on a field trip/outside class) putting our focus on our subjects at hand. It doesn't take us up to 20 minutes to get our class calmed down and ready to begin a lesson. We don't have to spread 1 teacher thinly across a room of 20+ students, some of whom need a lot extra help - from both their teacher AND their parents at home. We are concentrating on one thing: learning.
5) We begin our school year the day after Labor Day, take Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off, take from Dec. 24th - Jan. 2nd off, take a week off for Easter Break. We still get the required 178 days of school in. Depending on the year, sometimes our school years have ran 187 days. We don't take off for teacher institutes or for the little holidays, or even for snow days. I put in long hours, before and after school preparing our lesson plans. We learn about those holidays instead of spending the day doing nothing. And when the roads are icy? We have the choice as to whether we stay in where it's nice and warm or whether we'll bundle up and explore the beauty an ice storm leaves behind. Our school year always ends, required attendance complete or beyond, by Memorial Day.
6) In response to "if I homeschooled my kids, they'd be experts on...", there is nothing wrong with sharing your interests with your children. If you don't believe you are capable of homeschooling your child, then you never will be. If you are dedicated to the process of learning, ANY parent can homeschool their children and do it successfully. The difference in our homeschooling family and those who choose not to, sometimes is as simple as parents who don't want to spend that much time with their children. Remember when kindergarten was non-existent? It was created to help those children who did not get the educational boost they needed from home. Then kindergarten went to a full day because parents had the dilemma of needing a baby-sitter for the rest of the day. Then Preschool was developed to help those children "at risk", but again parents decided they needed free childcare. Our children already face 12 years of school and then college years. Why anyone would want to stick their young children in Pre-K at age 3 and be content with the fact that they are "out of my hair" until they graduate out of high school amazes me. What happened to bonding with your children? We enjoy spending time with our kids. We enjoy being able to eat 3 meals together at the dining room table. We enjoy teaching them new things...there is nothing better than to see that look of "I did it!" on your child's face when they master something new. Why would a parent ever want to miss out on that?
7) To those who think parents should have a degree to homeschool their children. First of all, since God created man and then made woman from that man's flesh and told them to "be fruitful and multiply", parents have filled the role of "teacher". Who knows your child better (or at least should)? I am not asking to teach a room full of students. I don't want to teach a classroom full of children. I am only concerned with my children, and giving them what my husband and I consider the best education.
A better question might be, "Do you have a big college degree or credentials or a fancy framed license that specifically qualifies you to raise your children?" The only difference between those of us who homeschool and those who do not may be the simple fact that we homeschoolers are more attentive to what we want our children taught, want to be more involved in their school curriculum choices, and care more about whether our children are actually learning or just going through the motions. I am amazed at the number of parents who happily drop their kids off at school, have someone else pick them up, and maybe - if the child is lucky, the parent may glance through all the papers in their backpacks over the weekend. I can hear the heads "boiling" right now, but I am telling you that as a reading club leader and a parent who attentively watches everything my kids do during Tae Kwon Do, that I have had conversations with parents that leave me feeling sorry for the child who is the topic of the conversation and makes me so thankful that we do homeschool. Parents need to be involved in their children's education! Personal involved, not leaving it up to the teachers or the baby-sitters.
8) To the person who stated that an education is more than just the three "Rs" - well, duh! Homeschooling lets us broaden our schooling experience to cover so much more than the just basic public school requirements. How many foreign languages can you speak? My newly-turned-7-year-old is learning Spanish as part of our regular school lessons, American Sign Language through a music group which performs their songs in sign language, and is learning Korean through her Tae Kwon Do lessons? Will she be able to speak proficiently in 4 languages by the time she has graduated from high school (and I mean graduated with as many, probably more credit hours, than the public schools require)? Probably not. But right now, at age 7, she knows more of those additional languages than most adults do.
This same person seemed proud of the fact that school teaches kids to hate an alarm clock going off each morning. What an odd statement to make! Our children get up and do at least one chore before school begins and they still like getting up and facing the day. Teaching children to be good stewards of their time and to have good ethics is something every PARENT should be doing. It's a shame to blame the public schools for making people hate their morning alarms go off.
And this same person gave all the credit for learning to read to the public school. I believe that a parent should be reading to their children from the beginning of their young life. Yes, school - of any form - reinforces the lessons of learning to read. But any parent who has not spent time teaching their preschoolers the alphabet, the sounds a letter makes, started them writing, and recognizing simple words have done a huge injustice to their children. Not because I knew we were going to be homeschooling, but because I am a PARENT, all of my kids knew most, if not all, of everything they would be taught in kindergarten before ever beginning that first school year. As a homeschool educator, our reading curriculum not only has the kids reading long before the 100th day of school, but helps them continue to develop a love of reading, which leads to a love of learning.
9) To the socialization of homeschooled children, I offer these definitions to start the topic off:
According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, socialization is defined as" the process by which a human being beginning at infancy acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of society through education and training for adult status."
This same dictionary defines the word "socialize" as "to talk to and do things with other people in a friendly way."
I must tell you that my children have plenty of time to socialize...not only with kids their own age but we also make it a point to offer them lots of opportunities to interact, or socialize, with mixed aged groups, too. Family, friends, Sunday School & church, library reading club, missions groups, Power of Praise (where they are learning to perform songs using American Sign Language), Tae Kwon Do, community service projects, 4-H, attending programs and festivals in the community. We go on at last 12 field trips each year. We host fall hayrides and play dates year round. All these things provide a well-rounded socialization. Once again, it is not the public school's job to socialize your children...kids need time to play and "be a kid" at home and in fun social settings. Just because we pick and choose what type of settings and/or what children we want our children to socialize with, doesn't make us wrong or bad parents. It means we are teaching our children to be particular about whom they call a true friend and not to always "follow the crowd". We ALWAYS know where our children are and whom they are with...can most parents honestly say that? Or are there many out there thinking, "Well, they are SUPPOSED to be..."?
Just because our children are not at a public school each day, does not mean they are "missing out" on socializing with kids their age. And think about it...students are supposed to be sitting at their desks, NOT talking for most of the school day. Their recesses and lunch break time have all been cut back. How much socializing do public school kids really get? Sitting at their desks being quiet is NOT socializing.
Please do not assume that just because we are a homeschooling family, that we are keeping our kids quarantined at home so that world doesn't contaminate them. Do not assume that we are "religious fanatics". Do not assume that during our homeschooling experience that we never touch a book or sit down to learn a subject. Do not assume my children are stupid or that I am not qualified to teach my own children. Do not assume we do not keep school records or do not use a grading system. Do not assume anything about our family. Do not judge our methods until you have come and spent some time with us during our homeschooling experience.
We may not be doing school the way you think it should be done, but our children ARE receiving instruction in
the branches of education taught in the public schools and in the English
language. All instruction is in compliance with the requirements of
Chapter 105, Section 26-1 of the Illinois School Code, commonly known as the Compulsory
Attendance Law.
I wonder sometimes, just how many parents of children in the public schools even bother to check into what the laws regarding Illinois schools really say. I, for one, check them each summer so that we can keep up to date on any changes that may have been passed.
I know these "Bashing Homeschooling" posts have been long. If you have patiently following along from start to finish, I thank you. Thank for for sticking around. Thank you for allowing me to vent a little. I'll leave you with one last thought that maybe would have sufficed all along:
It all comes down to the fact, I guess, that we here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E. aren't too concerned about the methods other homeschooling families are using. We aren't in a contest to out-do someone elses's schooling experience. We shouldn't even care what anyone else thinks about our eclectic approach to homeschooling. See, we don't care if we are doing it "socially" correct or "politically" correct in the eyes of the world. We only care that we are putting forth our best efforts and striving to give our children a homeschooling experience that is done correctly in God's eyes. Which means we don't worry about being a worldly school but a Biblically based school. And not just our schooling experience, but we feel this way about every aspect of our lives. If you think that makes us "religious fanatics" or "Jesus freaks", well, then maybe we are. Because...
" If serving the Lord
seems undesirable to you,
then choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve...
But as for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
See You At The Pole
Did your family participate in See You At The Pole yesterday morning? One of our goals is get an outdoor flag pole up (would actually like to have 3: one for an American flag standing taller in the center with an Illinois flag and a Christian flag waving on each side) for next summer.
As part of our homeschooling experience, we do all our pledges and have prayer and Bible study during our Morning Meeting time. So, for us, yesterday was not much different. We thought about taking our small, hand-held flag outside, but with only 3 of us here and 1 having to hold the flag, it would not have made much of an impact.
Thinking that next year, we may make a big deal out of this special day of prayer where the students initiate it all. Providing Alan can get us a flag pole up. We may invite family and friends who do not have kids at the public schools to join us and serve'em up a breakfast, too.
Stay tuned...till next year's See You At The Pole!
As part of our homeschooling experience, we do all our pledges and have prayer and Bible study during our Morning Meeting time. So, for us, yesterday was not much different. We thought about taking our small, hand-held flag outside, but with only 3 of us here and 1 having to hold the flag, it would not have made much of an impact.
Thinking that next year, we may make a big deal out of this special day of prayer where the students initiate it all. Providing Alan can get us a flag pole up. We may invite family and friends who do not have kids at the public schools to join us and serve'em up a breakfast, too.
Stay tuned...till next year's See You At The Pole!
Lowering the Grade Scale is Going To HELP Students' Education? Really???
Check out this website: http://m.imgur.com/ANy1J02 to read about a school who has lowered their grade scale to "help" students. Since when are homework completion, classroom activities, and studying non-academic??? Instead of lowering the grade scale, shouldn't they be raising the student learning level?
To clarify, I am NOT blaming teachers for this. A teacher can only do what a school district allows them to do, which in turn is doing what their State Board of Education is telling them to do or not to do. It's the government who has in fact has taken "education" out of the public school while trying so hard to only "teach" what's on the state tests. Instead of how much the students are truly retaining, the State is only worried about the scores of the state tests.
Whatever the public schools decide to do regarding this matter, and for whatever reasons, I just want to make it clear that my children, through their homeschooling experience here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., have and will always be under the following grade scale (notice there are no "+" or "-" levels either):
Grading Scale Point Values
A = 4.00 93 – 100
B = 3.00 85 – 92
C = 2.00 77 – 84
D = 1.00 70 – 76
E = .00 69 & below
I = *Incomplete
My children, as my students, must make an effort to do their ALL of their assigned work and turn it in on time, must learn to STUDY for a test and truly learn the material not just cram for the exam. They are required to correct all their mistakes after papers are graded so that they, again, learn from those mistakes and understand why their answers were marked incorrect. Yes, that makes them have to work harder and it makes me have to grade papers twice. But we are talking about my daughters education here. We are not haphazardly going through the school year just to promote them to the next grade level. We are in it to EDUCATE our children.
We homeschool using the same academic requirements put forth by the state Board of Education, and usually exceed those requirements because we put more time into our schooling experience. We do the required work, but also "chase rabbits" so to speak and study topics and subjects that go beyond the average classroom and interest our children's personality. If they want to learn about the proper way to host a tea party, then we fit it into our schedule. If they want an up-close, be-there-when-it-happens, hands-on study about a calf being born, then we try to put them right there at the moment a calf is arriving into this world.
Part of the reason we choice to homeschool is because we do not believe in teaching to gain statistics on a report somewhere. I really don't think the teachers out there like to teach using that as their class goal either. If the government would allow teachers to get back to their original goal of teaching the STUDENTS, not teaching for that one state test grade, schools would not be failing on their state report cards.
It saddens me that a school would even consider lowering their grading scale thinking - or trying to convince parents - that they are helping the students. What should be happening is that the states should be making sure that their school districts have the funds to keep updated curriculum, hire enough teachers and aides, and stop dropping educational programs left and right (yes, I believe that art, music, drama, creative writing, etc. are educational).
Those countries who are "out scoring" America's students, like China and Italy, are attending school SIX days a week, not lowering the grade scale. And many attend PRIVATE schools, not their local public schools.
To clarify, I am NOT blaming teachers for this. A teacher can only do what a school district allows them to do, which in turn is doing what their State Board of Education is telling them to do or not to do. It's the government who has in fact has taken "education" out of the public school while trying so hard to only "teach" what's on the state tests. Instead of how much the students are truly retaining, the State is only worried about the scores of the state tests.
Whatever the public schools decide to do regarding this matter, and for whatever reasons, I just want to make it clear that my children, through their homeschooling experience here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., have and will always be under the following grade scale (notice there are no "+" or "-" levels either):
Grading Scale Point Values
A = 4.00 93 – 100
B = 3.00 85 – 92
C = 2.00 77 – 84
D = 1.00 70 – 76
E = .00 69 & below
I = *Incomplete
My children, as my students, must make an effort to do their ALL of their assigned work and turn it in on time, must learn to STUDY for a test and truly learn the material not just cram for the exam. They are required to correct all their mistakes after papers are graded so that they, again, learn from those mistakes and understand why their answers were marked incorrect. Yes, that makes them have to work harder and it makes me have to grade papers twice. But we are talking about my daughters education here. We are not haphazardly going through the school year just to promote them to the next grade level. We are in it to EDUCATE our children.
We homeschool using the same academic requirements put forth by the state Board of Education, and usually exceed those requirements because we put more time into our schooling experience. We do the required work, but also "chase rabbits" so to speak and study topics and subjects that go beyond the average classroom and interest our children's personality. If they want to learn about the proper way to host a tea party, then we fit it into our schedule. If they want an up-close, be-there-when-it-happens, hands-on study about a calf being born, then we try to put them right there at the moment a calf is arriving into this world.
Part of the reason we choice to homeschool is because we do not believe in teaching to gain statistics on a report somewhere. I really don't think the teachers out there like to teach using that as their class goal either. If the government would allow teachers to get back to their original goal of teaching the STUDENTS, not teaching for that one state test grade, schools would not be failing on their state report cards.
It saddens me that a school would even consider lowering their grading scale thinking - or trying to convince parents - that they are helping the students. What should be happening is that the states should be making sure that their school districts have the funds to keep updated curriculum, hire enough teachers and aides, and stop dropping educational programs left and right (yes, I believe that art, music, drama, creative writing, etc. are educational).
Those countries who are "out scoring" America's students, like China and Italy, are attending school SIX days a week, not lowering the grade scale. And many attend PRIVATE schools, not their local public schools.
Tangrams
While Kenna did counting practice with her counting bears in math today, Maddy's math lesson found her again using her Tangram pieces. Once Kenna finished with her counting (and since she's counting twice as high as the kindergarten requirements for Day 18 of her Kindergarten year), she also joined in "covering patterns with Tangram pieces". Here are just a couple:
What the World Eats: Have A Monthly International Cuisine Day
Here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., we set aside one day a month as an "International Cuisine Day". It's not always held on the same day each month, but we make sure we get it scheduled in. What better way to teach our children about different cultures? Experience the food first hand! Sometimes we visit an ethnic restaurant...but we have more fun researching and preparing the food here at home. Celebrating at home also lets us play games from that month's chosen country and perhaps dress the part, too.
Your international meal doesn't have to be lunch or dinner, either. Try an ethnic breakfast every once in a while! Or perhaps devote the whole day to a country's meals. And when we are talking about an international meal, we are NOT talking about an America's twist on international cuisine or even what the "best" restaurant in that country is serving, but on the real, authentic, traditional foods families from that country prepare and eat in their homes every day.
With internet capabilities, it's easy to find authentic recipes from countries. Just search for "a typical meal menu in..."
Some of our past/future International Cuisine Day ideas include:
China:
We know a family who moved here from China and up until recently owned a Chinese restaurant. Sin (not sure that is spelled right), the father, taught me how to make Egg Drop Soup and Crab Rangoon. I have helped them in their restaurant and he's also shown me how to make many of the buffet dishes, but we have learned that people in China do not eat the delicious dishes we find on the menu of most Chinese restaurants. Our friends eat a lot of rice noodles, a lot of native rice (not the common white rice or fried rice we love), and very little meat. They love Fish Head Soup and soup made from the tail of a deer (my husband saves the tail of his deer for them during deer season).
Our family loves going to the local Chinese buffet restaurants, but we also make Chinese meals at home. Egg Drop Soup, Lo Mein, Egg Rolls, Crab Rangoon, chicken and beef satay, and stir-fried main courses are a fairly common sight around here. My most recent new Chinese recipe that I've made is Kimchi (a cabbage dish).
Mexico:
Another of our favorite ethnic cuisines are those from Mexico. Taco Bell is nice, but I have a friend whose husband owns one of the local Mexican restaurants and their food is "Delicioso!". Making it at home, I must admit is not as "maravilloso" as El Ranchito's, but we have fun in the kitchen and eating it. Everyone knows that tacos, burritos, and fajitas are good...but a true authentically made tamale is fabulous! Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is a great day to celebrate the foods of Mexico.
In 3rd grade I met a friend whose mother was from Mexico. I loved going to her house! Their house always had the best cooking smells wafting from the kitchen! Estella's homemade corn tortillas were the best!
While taking Spanish for two years during my high school years, for some assignments we would have to find and prepare authentic foods. There are some amazing Mexican/Spanish desserts to be found!
Africa:
Africa, like the U.S., has many cultural regions within is boundaries. To decide on an African menu, you need to decide on which region to represent. Most meals are served on a mat on the floor with everything put down at the same time. In the cities individual plates are used and a large spoon (no knives or forks).
I know exactly what you are thinking! Many African countries are in extreme poverty and their meals don't consist of much at all. So true. Do you want you child to truly get a feel for what a child in an African country eats each day? Our International Cuisine Day is not only a taste test, it's a lesson on being thankful for what we have here in America (and yes, we will be including regions of the U.S. in our Cuisine Days, too. What you may consider a harsh punishment to your family ("We only get a little bowl of rice?"), is a reality in many countries. I want to teach my children the truth. I want to teach them about compassion. I want them to help others who are struggling to feed their families (that's why we volunteer at our local food pantry once a month). My family may think they are "starving" if we have a skant day of meals, but trust me, we are far from starving. I want my family to learn that a slight hunger pang because they have missed a snack, is NOT true hunger. So, yes, I challenge you to include all the "very little to eat" menus, too.
I highly suggest that you look through the 28 pictures of "What the World Eats" with your family. It's a collection of pictures of families from different countries posing with a week's worth of their groceries. The weekly grocery bills run anywhere from $1.23 to $731.71 (equivalent of American dollars). The U.S. ranked somewhere in the middle.
Greece:
For breakfast we had a small filled phyllo dough pie filled with ham called zambontyropita and Yaourti me meli (Greek yogurt and honey, served separately so that each person can add their own sweetness).
For lunch we had Choriatiki (salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, olives and feta cheese, oregano, basil, dill and/or thyme - no lettuce - with an olive oil and vinegar dressing), Tyrokafteri (a spicy cheese dip made from the seeds of a local pepper, the kafteri - we used hot peppers we had on hand, a soft cheese such as feta , roasted red pepper, oregano, olive oil and garlic) spread on Pita bread. Or you could cheat and buy a favorite cheese spread at the grocery store.
Italy:
For breakfast, cornetto and cappuccino. The “cornetto” is the Italian term for a croissant, filled with cream, chocolate or jam. Focaccia (Italian bread) is another we have tried. To be honest, the girls love plain old coffee with their Daddy, but I am not a coffee drinker but we did try a flavored cappuccino.
Supper, or dinner as they call it in Italy is 5-component dinner. We served what we would call the appetizer, an antipasto (which literally means "before the meal") tray with sliced pepperoni, olives, mushrooms,cheese, carrot sticks. Next we enjoyed the primo, which in our case was a pasta dish (could be soup, rice, or polenta), and in traditional Italian meals the primo is the appetizer not the main course. The main course is called "il secondo" and is usually simply served in small portions - we had beef but chicken or even fish could have been served. We served the contorno (meaning "contours"), which is a platter of vegetables with the il secondo. Italian dessert is the dolce (or sweet). We served up fresh fruit and biscotti.
Ireland:
St. Patrick's Day seems the logical day to schedule an Irish meal.
For breakfast, we actually enjoy a full Irish meal often. Your family may, too, once you realize what it is: eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes and tomatoes. Except here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., we consider this just a "truck driver's special", especially if throw some gravy and biscuits on the table with it!
My crew loves potato soup so it's a good place to start. Corned beef and cabbage (not cooked together because I am the only one in our family who loves cooked cabbage) is our own traditional St. Paddy's Day meal. Another of our favorites is potato pancakes, called "Boxty" in Ireland
Sahara Desert:
I admit it took a little while to find what looked to be a reliable internet source on the type of foods the nomadic people of the Sahara Desert eat. And since I didn't find much at all on the subject, I am going to share with you everything I did find.
Wikipedia had this to share about the Tuareg people who live as nomads in the Sahara Desert:
This site, http://danslapeaudunpapou.survivalfrance.org/content/tuareg-people, contained a lot of information on the Tuareg people. Did you know the Tuareg were the first to invent powdered milk?
We celebrated the cuisine of the Sahara desert by serving up this breakfast: flat pita bread with a heavy cream "sauce" we made (basically, gravy). We substituted millet porridge with Cream of Wheat and drank cow's milk. Yogurt was part of our breakfast, too.
For lunch: bread (called "taguella"), cheese, dates, and melon.
For our traditional afternoon tea: We set a kettle full of tea leaves (could not find any "Gunpowder" tea) and mint leaves (which our Amish neighbors have kept us supplied with this summer) on our gas stove and let it reach a full boil. It's traditional to pour from the same pot three times...the first pouring is very strong, then add more water for a weaker second pouring, and finally add more water for a third pouring which is a very weak tea. The Tuareg people have a saying, "The first pot is bitter like life, the second strong like love, and the last soft like death".
For our supper: chorba (thick soup, similar to minestrone, cooked on a fire fueled by camel dung - but sorry, we were all out of camel dung so we just used our gas stove), taguella (bread), cheese, melon.
Iceland:
Iceland has us, again, confessing that we decided that some of their traditional foods are NOT for the squeamish tummy. We did NOT attempt to duplicate their hakarl (seriously decomposed, rotten shark meat (excuse me, the correct term, I guess would be "fermented") that has been buried in the ground then served in a sealed glass jar to keep the stinky odor contained as long as possible. They seem to like fermented lamb also...not happening in my kitchen! Nor did we even consider sheep's head - yes, the whole head on a plate...no thanks. And I didn't have the heart to tell my children they also eat horse meat.
For breakfast, we could not find skyr, made of pasteurized skimmed milk and a bacteria culture similar to yogurt. It's not actually yogurt though, it's a soft cheese that is rich and thick and very healthy. We will be looking for it during our next trip to the International grocery store in Carbondale. If not, maybe next time we'll just substitute a different soft cheese. The pönnukökur, or Icelandic pancakes are thin, sweet, and usually rolled up with jam, powdered sugar, or cinnamon, similar to crepes.
Lunch was an easy one: The Icelandic pylsur is a hot dog (granted theirs has lamb in it as well as beef and pork parts) and if you order a pylsur "eina með öllu" (one with everything), it's served up with the works: a sweeter brown mustard ("pylsusinnep"), ketchup, raw onions, crunchy deep-fried onions ("Cronions"), and a mildly tangy remoulade (salad or seafood dressing made with hard-boiled egg yolks, oil, and vinegar, and flavored with mustard, capers, and herbs).
Black licorice is a favorite snack in Iceland, but I am the only one in our house who likes it.
Supper was also a breeze: Iceland, being surrounded by all that water, has an abundance of seafood and lobster always gets Alan, Maddy, and Kenna's attention.
Russia:
за́втрак (breakfast): kasha (a type of porridge made from different grains), butterbrots (a kind of sandwich made of a single slice of bread (rye or black bread) and one topping such as butter or ham, boiled or fried eggs, tvorog (similar to cottage cheese), coffee, and tea. Blinis are pancakes that stuffed with a range of fillings.
Obed (lunch): soup (пе́рвое блю́до), meat with potatoes, and kompot (a non-alcoholic drink made by boiling fruit in water - the girls added sugar to theirs), and tea.
Uzhin or у́жин (supper): My family loves piroggi! There is a /Russian saying that "A home is not beautiful without a piroggi at the feast!" Piroggi are made from leaved, fermented dough, and the rituals of rising and proving the yeast are immensely important. Piroggi can be filled with cheese, meat, mashed potatoes, or vegetables, or you can try sweet piroshky, filled with honey or fruit. Rye bread (ржано́й хлеб), also known as "black" bread (чёрный хлеб) is a Russian staple. Did you know that beef stronganoff is a classic Russian dish?
Your international meal doesn't have to be lunch or dinner, either. Try an ethnic breakfast every once in a while! Or perhaps devote the whole day to a country's meals. And when we are talking about an international meal, we are NOT talking about an America's twist on international cuisine or even what the "best" restaurant in that country is serving, but on the real, authentic, traditional foods families from that country prepare and eat in their homes every day.
With internet capabilities, it's easy to find authentic recipes from countries. Just search for "a typical meal menu in..."
Some of our past/future International Cuisine Day ideas include:
China:
We know a family who moved here from China and up until recently owned a Chinese restaurant. Sin (not sure that is spelled right), the father, taught me how to make Egg Drop Soup and Crab Rangoon. I have helped them in their restaurant and he's also shown me how to make many of the buffet dishes, but we have learned that people in China do not eat the delicious dishes we find on the menu of most Chinese restaurants. Our friends eat a lot of rice noodles, a lot of native rice (not the common white rice or fried rice we love), and very little meat. They love Fish Head Soup and soup made from the tail of a deer (my husband saves the tail of his deer for them during deer season).
Our family loves going to the local Chinese buffet restaurants, but we also make Chinese meals at home. Egg Drop Soup, Lo Mein, Egg Rolls, Crab Rangoon, chicken and beef satay, and stir-fried main courses are a fairly common sight around here. My most recent new Chinese recipe that I've made is Kimchi (a cabbage dish).
Mexico:
Another of our favorite ethnic cuisines are those from Mexico. Taco Bell is nice, but I have a friend whose husband owns one of the local Mexican restaurants and their food is "Delicioso!". Making it at home, I must admit is not as "maravilloso" as El Ranchito's, but we have fun in the kitchen and eating it. Everyone knows that tacos, burritos, and fajitas are good...but a true authentically made tamale is fabulous! Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) is a great day to celebrate the foods of Mexico.
In 3rd grade I met a friend whose mother was from Mexico. I loved going to her house! Their house always had the best cooking smells wafting from the kitchen! Estella's homemade corn tortillas were the best!
While taking Spanish for two years during my high school years, for some assignments we would have to find and prepare authentic foods. There are some amazing Mexican/Spanish desserts to be found!
Africa:
Africa, like the U.S., has many cultural regions within is boundaries. To decide on an African menu, you need to decide on which region to represent. Most meals are served on a mat on the floor with everything put down at the same time. In the cities individual plates are used and a large spoon (no knives or forks).
I know exactly what you are thinking! Many African countries are in extreme poverty and their meals don't consist of much at all. So true. Do you want you child to truly get a feel for what a child in an African country eats each day? Our International Cuisine Day is not only a taste test, it's a lesson on being thankful for what we have here in America (and yes, we will be including regions of the U.S. in our Cuisine Days, too. What you may consider a harsh punishment to your family ("We only get a little bowl of rice?"), is a reality in many countries. I want to teach my children the truth. I want to teach them about compassion. I want them to help others who are struggling to feed their families (that's why we volunteer at our local food pantry once a month). My family may think they are "starving" if we have a skant day of meals, but trust me, we are far from starving. I want my family to learn that a slight hunger pang because they have missed a snack, is NOT true hunger. So, yes, I challenge you to include all the "very little to eat" menus, too.
I highly suggest that you look through the 28 pictures of "What the World Eats" with your family. It's a collection of pictures of families from different countries posing with a week's worth of their groceries. The weekly grocery bills run anywhere from $1.23 to $731.71 (equivalent of American dollars). The U.S. ranked somewhere in the middle.
Greece:
For breakfast we had a small filled phyllo dough pie filled with ham called zambontyropita and Yaourti me meli (Greek yogurt and honey, served separately so that each person can add their own sweetness).
For lunch we had Choriatiki (salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, olives and feta cheese, oregano, basil, dill and/or thyme - no lettuce - with an olive oil and vinegar dressing), Tyrokafteri (a spicy cheese dip made from the seeds of a local pepper, the kafteri - we used hot peppers we had on hand, a soft cheese such as feta , roasted red pepper, oregano, olive oil and garlic) spread on Pita bread. Or you could cheat and buy a favorite cheese spread at the grocery store.
Italy:
For breakfast, cornetto and cappuccino. The “cornetto” is the Italian term for a croissant, filled with cream, chocolate or jam. Focaccia (Italian bread) is another we have tried. To be honest, the girls love plain old coffee with their Daddy, but I am not a coffee drinker but we did try a flavored cappuccino.
Supper, or dinner as they call it in Italy is 5-component dinner. We served what we would call the appetizer, an antipasto (which literally means "before the meal") tray with sliced pepperoni, olives, mushrooms,cheese, carrot sticks. Next we enjoyed the primo, which in our case was a pasta dish (could be soup, rice, or polenta), and in traditional Italian meals the primo is the appetizer not the main course. The main course is called "il secondo" and is usually simply served in small portions - we had beef but chicken or even fish could have been served. We served the contorno (meaning "contours"), which is a platter of vegetables with the il secondo. Italian dessert is the dolce (or sweet). We served up fresh fruit and biscotti.
Ireland:
St. Patrick's Day seems the logical day to schedule an Irish meal.
For breakfast, we actually enjoy a full Irish meal often. Your family may, too, once you realize what it is: eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes and tomatoes. Except here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., we consider this just a "truck driver's special", especially if throw some gravy and biscuits on the table with it!
My crew loves potato soup so it's a good place to start. Corned beef and cabbage (not cooked together because I am the only one in our family who loves cooked cabbage) is our own traditional St. Paddy's Day meal. Another of our favorites is potato pancakes, called "Boxty" in Ireland
Sahara Desert:
I admit it took a little while to find what looked to be a reliable internet source on the type of foods the nomadic people of the Sahara Desert eat. And since I didn't find much at all on the subject, I am going to share with you everything I did find.
Wikipedia had this to share about the Tuareg people who live as nomads in the Sahara Desert:
This site, http://danslapeaudunpapou.survivalfrance.org/content/tuareg-people, contained a lot of information on the Tuareg people. Did you know the Tuareg were the first to invent powdered milk?
We celebrated the cuisine of the Sahara desert by serving up this breakfast: flat pita bread with a heavy cream "sauce" we made (basically, gravy). We substituted millet porridge with Cream of Wheat and drank cow's milk. Yogurt was part of our breakfast, too.
For lunch: bread (called "taguella"), cheese, dates, and melon.
For our traditional afternoon tea: We set a kettle full of tea leaves (could not find any "Gunpowder" tea) and mint leaves (which our Amish neighbors have kept us supplied with this summer) on our gas stove and let it reach a full boil. It's traditional to pour from the same pot three times...the first pouring is very strong, then add more water for a weaker second pouring, and finally add more water for a third pouring which is a very weak tea. The Tuareg people have a saying, "The first pot is bitter like life, the second strong like love, and the last soft like death".
For our supper: chorba (thick soup, similar to minestrone, cooked on a fire fueled by camel dung - but sorry, we were all out of camel dung so we just used our gas stove), taguella (bread), cheese, melon.
Iceland:
Iceland has us, again, confessing that we decided that some of their traditional foods are NOT for the squeamish tummy. We did NOT attempt to duplicate their hakarl (seriously decomposed, rotten shark meat (excuse me, the correct term, I guess would be "fermented") that has been buried in the ground then served in a sealed glass jar to keep the stinky odor contained as long as possible. They seem to like fermented lamb also...not happening in my kitchen! Nor did we even consider sheep's head - yes, the whole head on a plate...no thanks. And I didn't have the heart to tell my children they also eat horse meat.
For breakfast, we could not find skyr, made of pasteurized skimmed milk and a bacteria culture similar to yogurt. It's not actually yogurt though, it's a soft cheese that is rich and thick and very healthy. We will be looking for it during our next trip to the International grocery store in Carbondale. If not, maybe next time we'll just substitute a different soft cheese. The pönnukökur, or Icelandic pancakes are thin, sweet, and usually rolled up with jam, powdered sugar, or cinnamon, similar to crepes.
Lunch was an easy one: The Icelandic pylsur is a hot dog (granted theirs has lamb in it as well as beef and pork parts) and if you order a pylsur "eina með öllu" (one with everything), it's served up with the works: a sweeter brown mustard ("pylsusinnep"), ketchup, raw onions, crunchy deep-fried onions ("Cronions"), and a mildly tangy remoulade (salad or seafood dressing made with hard-boiled egg yolks, oil, and vinegar, and flavored with mustard, capers, and herbs).
Black licorice is a favorite snack in Iceland, but I am the only one in our house who likes it.
Supper was also a breeze: Iceland, being surrounded by all that water, has an abundance of seafood and lobster always gets Alan, Maddy, and Kenna's attention.
Russia:
за́втрак (breakfast): kasha (a type of porridge made from different grains), butterbrots (a kind of sandwich made of a single slice of bread (rye or black bread) and one topping such as butter or ham, boiled or fried eggs, tvorog (similar to cottage cheese), coffee, and tea. Blinis are pancakes that stuffed with a range of fillings.
Obed (lunch): soup (пе́рвое блю́до), meat with potatoes, and kompot (a non-alcoholic drink made by boiling fruit in water - the girls added sugar to theirs), and tea.
Uzhin or у́жин (supper): My family loves piroggi! There is a /Russian saying that "A home is not beautiful without a piroggi at the feast!" Piroggi are made from leaved, fermented dough, and the rituals of rising and proving the yeast are immensely important. Piroggi can be filled with cheese, meat, mashed potatoes, or vegetables, or you can try sweet piroshky, filled with honey or fruit. Rye bread (ржано́й хлеб), also known as "black" bread (чёрный хлеб) is a Russian staple. Did you know that beef stronganoff is a classic Russian dish?
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Children of the World
As part of our kindergarten Social Studies, Kenna has been learning about children in other parts of the world. Here are neat websites that made helped bring these lessons down to her level and gave information that a young student would be interested in learning about. Some include videos, too.
A Kid's Life in Italy Also on this same site, you can access reports written by children from other countries, such as China, Mexico, Ireland and Russia.
Studying about a kid's life in the Sahara Dessert took a lot more research. We did find an interesting site that talked about a recent discovery in the Sahara where scientists have found a huge burial site of not one, but two civilizations that once lived in the Sahara region before it became a vast dessert. Check out "A Glimpse of Life in a Green Sahara".
Our Google search led us to a page that gave information on living in the Sahara Dessert today. And You Tube had a video that gives a tour of the Sahara Dessert.
Searching for how kids in Iceland live, we found that TIME for Kids' Around the World site has lot of neat resources. We studied about Maya Laufeyjardottir, who is 8 years old and lives in Iceland. Maya tells all about a typical day in his life in Iceland. Then we found a page on 11 year old
Josef Dimitriou, who tells about a typical day in his life in Greece.
When we studied about kid's in the U.S.A., I let Maddy and Kenna do the lesson. They did an oral report all about their life as a kid in America. We talked about a typical day for them and how it was different from some of the kids we had studied about.
For our study about children in Africa, I found a website in which a young girl wrote about living in South Africa. It was touching because, although she was one of the luckier kids and lives a pretty privileged life, she also is aware of those around her who are less fortunate and shares about their lives, too.
We are fortunate enough to be friends with both a family who moved to the U.S. from China and from Mexico (actually, 2 families). They have taught us a lot about their culture and about cooking authentic foods from their homelands.
If you happen to live nearby a town that has ethnic restaurants or grocery stores, you could also take a field trip to explore both. We happen to live close to both Mexican restaurants (one of my friend's husband owns one of the local Mexican restuarants). We have an international grocery store about an hour from us and we make several trips there each year, too. We have some favorite foods we keep going back for and like to try new things, too.
A Kid's Life in Italy Also on this same site, you can access reports written by children from other countries, such as China, Mexico, Ireland and Russia.
Studying about a kid's life in the Sahara Dessert took a lot more research. We did find an interesting site that talked about a recent discovery in the Sahara where scientists have found a huge burial site of not one, but two civilizations that once lived in the Sahara region before it became a vast dessert. Check out "A Glimpse of Life in a Green Sahara".
Our Google search led us to a page that gave information on living in the Sahara Dessert today. And You Tube had a video that gives a tour of the Sahara Dessert.
Searching for how kids in Iceland live, we found that TIME for Kids' Around the World site has lot of neat resources. We studied about Maya Laufeyjardottir, who is 8 years old and lives in Iceland. Maya tells all about a typical day in his life in Iceland. Then we found a page on 11 year old
Josef Dimitriou, who tells about a typical day in his life in Greece.
When we studied about kid's in the U.S.A., I let Maddy and Kenna do the lesson. They did an oral report all about their life as a kid in America. We talked about a typical day for them and how it was different from some of the kids we had studied about.
For our study about children in Africa, I found a website in which a young girl wrote about living in South Africa. It was touching because, although she was one of the luckier kids and lives a pretty privileged life, she also is aware of those around her who are less fortunate and shares about their lives, too.
We are fortunate enough to be friends with both a family who moved to the U.S. from China and from Mexico (actually, 2 families). They have taught us a lot about their culture and about cooking authentic foods from their homelands.
If you happen to live nearby a town that has ethnic restaurants or grocery stores, you could also take a field trip to explore both. We happen to live close to both Mexican restaurants (one of my friend's husband owns one of the local Mexican restuarants). We have an international grocery store about an hour from us and we make several trips there each year, too. We have some favorite foods we keep going back for and like to try new things, too.
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