W15 Sampler

home|school|life WINTER 2015

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS TO YOUR BIGGEST HOMESCHOOL WORRIES BOOKS TO GET YOU THROUGH TILL SPRING REAL WAYS TO RAISE HAPPY KIDS 17 FIELD TRIPS YOU CAN TAKE AT HOME

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38 WAYS TO BEAT CABIN FEVER G 20 WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD G GET ORGANIZED! G

WINTER 2015

happy days inspiration 13 101 ideas Girl-powered biographies for Women’s History Month; investigating the science of infection; exploring the Harlem Renaissance; geGing creative with Chagall

community 25 You asked Answers to your questions about multiple age levels, accreditation. and more.

27 CurriCulum Junkie The Waldorf connection 31 Book nerd New Year’s Read resolutions 33 art start Creative stimuli 35 Hands-on sCienCe Starting a science fair 37 Wonder files Of games and growth 40 BalanCing aCt Breaking the balance myth 41 Career PatH Becoming a newspaper editor 42 our WaY Meet the Sears family 44 making tHe grade 38 cures for cabin fever

HaPPiness lessons | Page 68

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Happiness Lessons

Under the Covers

From creating your own curriculum to knowing when it’s time to let go, we’ve rounded up the smartest, savviest, most inspiring advice for better homeschool living.

Can we teach our kids happiness the same way we teach them math or history? Science suggests that it’s possible — and more important than we might suspect.

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WINTER 2015

Just in time for long nights and cooped-up winter afternoons, we’ve put together a collection of reading lists that will give your library card a real workout.

explore 49 Virtual field triPs Take a field trip without actually leaving the house.

53 adVenture Planner 3 cool literary museums 54 Calendar Exhibits, activities, and events this winter

obsessed 83 stuff We loVe Everything you need to get organized

6 a note from amY 8 VoiCes 12 mailBox 88 tHe toolkit 92 unsoCialized

pHOTOGRApHER | AGENCY

Peel back all the layers of those endless questions that parents ask themselves, and you will get to the core. Though we know it’s never a guarantee, our reasons for doing all of this is because we want our children to be happy.

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The Science of Infection It’s been 100 years since Mary Mallon (infamously known as Typhoid Mary) was arrested and imprisoned for the second and final time for spreading typhoid through her work as a cook, but last summer’s Ebola crisis proves that infectious diseases are anything but history — though their history can make a pretty fascinating course of study.

1370

1665

More than 20 million Europeans died when the Black death swept through the continent in the 14th century. The situation was so bad that the word quarantine was coined then, referring to the 40-day offshore waiting period the city imposed on incoming ships.

at the sign of the sugared Plum tells the story of the plague’s last outbreak in 1665 london.

1793

1906

1854

deadly imagines what it was like to track the New York typhoid epidemic as a young scientific researcher.

the great trouble: a mystery of london, the Blue death, and a Boy Called eel is historical fiction for the science geek, as a mudlarking orphan helps physician John Snow work to determine the true cause of the cholera epidemic aGacking the city.

Almost a tenth of the population of philadelphia died during the 10-year yellow fever epidemic, but laurie Halse Anderson makes the history personal in fever: 1793.

1918

1940s

2000s

More people died in the flu outbreak of 1918-19 than in World War i — more than one-fiFh of the world’s population was affected by the flu. american experience: influenza 1918 offers a fascinating look at the mysterious and deadly 20th century influenza epidemic.

Breathing room tells what life was like for tuberculosis patients sent to recover at sanatoriums in the 1940s.

in Code orange, a teenager’s science project turns into a smallpox scare, leading to a compelling investigation into modern day infectious disease research.

For the Birds

Break out your binoculars, grab a window seat, and be a part of crowdsourced science this winter.

Join ornithologists from around the globe from february 13 to 16 for the great Backyard Bird Count, one of the first citizen-science projects to track the distribution and abundance of birds. plan to spend at least 15 minutes each day logging birds in your neighborhood — the GBBC website has bird identification resources and a handy guide to figuring

out tricky bird iDs — and login to record your results and see what other birdwatchers have spoGed. in 2013, participants spoGed 4,258 species, more than one-third of the world’s total bird population. it’s a great opportunity to participate in a world-wide science project and a fun kick-off or send-off to a birds unit study. —a.s.

WINTER 2015

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BOOK NERD by Suzanne Rezelman

Reading Resolutions Need a little New Year’s reading inspiration? Explore some options for managing your ever-growing reading list. i’Ve alWaYs Been a Bit enVious of my friends who have something concrete to show for the hours they spend on their favorite pastimes. My friends who knit end up with scarves and cute hats. My friends who run have a collection of t-shirts from various 5ks and 10ks. As a reader, I have never had much to show for the hours spent curled up with a book, ignoring chores, friends and family, and the great outdoors. But a few years ago I decided to combine my love of reading with my love of lists, and everything changed.

First, I started keeping a book journal. I’ve never had the discipline to keep a daily journal of what’s going on in my life, but this came easier. I picked out a cute notebook and began writing down the title, author, and date read for each book, eventually adding a rating system. (It is very satisfying, after an especially infuriating read, to mark down that 1-star-out-of-5 next to the title. Take that, you terrible author who wasted my time with your badly-written morally-corrupt sexist-racist mind-numbingly-derivative unfunny-when-you-think-you’re-funny novel.

Consider yourself rated!) I also try to write down what I loved or

hated, which is a fairly good substitute for the conversations I’m dying to have about a particular book on those occasions when I don’t have a book club handy. My great-grandkids may not be able to learn much about life in the long-ago 2010s by reading my journals, but they’ll at least know what I thought of the latest Neil Gaiman (4 stars out of 5).

As the stack of notebooks began to accumulate on my bedside table, I decided that I wanted an easy way to rank and sort my have-read list. librarything (librarything.com) and goodreads (goodreads.com) are two good online options to catalog book collections and maintain various book lists — I use LibraryThing and, every so often, I update my online have-read list with the latest entries from my book journal. Here’s where it really gets fun. Once the books are entered and tagged with various categories (of my own choosing), I can sort them in all kinds of ways.

I can tell you that my fiction to nonfiction ratio is about 2:1. I can tell you that my most prolific reading year (since beginning this system) was 2009 (some of my favorite kids/YA fiction that year: Garth Nix’s keys to the kingdom series, oJoline and the Yellow

Take that, you terrible author who wasted my time with your badly-written morally-corrupt sexist-racist mind-numbinglyderivative unfunny-when-youthink-you’re-funny novel.

Consider yourself rated!)

Look for our spring issue in April!

home | school | life

Cat by Chris Riddell), and my least prolific was 2012 (faves of that year included the girl Who Circumnavigated fairyland in a ship of Her own making by Catherynne Valente and oJoline goes to school by Chris Riddell). Using LibraryThing’s Stats/Memes section, I can see that my reading is nearly evenly split between male (51%) and female authors (49%) and that I favor living authors (68%) over dead ones (32%). My favorite thing to do, though, is to page through LibraryThing’s list of book awards and honors (updated by members of the online community). For each award — and there are hundreds here — the books are listed with the ones I’ve already read helpfully checked off, so I can see at a glance that of the 1001 Books to read Before You die, I’ve got 150 down, 1164 to go. (Since there have been different editions of the 1,001 list, the total number of books included is 1,314, which hardly seems fair.) Seeing the books I’ve read listed by award also helps me find awards that I was previously unfamiliar with, but which seem to do a great job picking books that I’ve loved. The Alex award, given by the ALA to books written for adults that have special appeal for young adults, is an example — after finding that it included several longtime favorites (to say nothing of the dog by Connie Willis, the eyre affair by Jasper Fforde, and the Book of lost things by John Connolly, just to name a few), I knew I would be returning to find books to add to my to-read list.

I’m not going to tell you how many books are on my to-read list. Suffice to say that even if I don’t add any more books from now on, I’ve got a solid decade (maybe two) of good reading in my future. My to-read list is something to look forward to, something to help me manage my disappointment about all the wonderful books that I can’t quite get to at the moment, that I’ll forget about (in the midst of homeschooling and planning dinner and picking the kids up from dance class) if I don’t keep track somewhere. And while it’s not exactly a scarf or a t-shirt, when I check something off the to-read list, or rank all the fiction I’ve read in 2014, or add another full notebook to the bedside stack, I have a sense of accomplishment in building a lasting record of my reading life.

So in 2015, as you’re considering your reading resolutions (I’ll be trying to break the 2009 record), think about starting your own life-list of books read — or helping your kids start theirs, so they can watch the notebooks stack up, concrete evidence of hours well-spent ignoring chores, friends and family, and the great outdoors. Happy reading! z suzanne rezelman is home/school/life’s books columnist and homeschooling mom to three read-aholic kids and one read-aholic former homeschooler who now aGends the local high school.

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Meet the Sears Jacqueline and Andy Sears recently decided to homeschool their children, Roscoe (age 5) and Merritt (age 3.5).

They have been pleasantly surprised to find that their home, Richmond, Virginia, is very homeschool friendly.

Why did you decide to homeschool?

We hadn’t considered homeschool for our family until I found Lori Pickert’s blog on Project Based Homeschooling (PBH) and fell in love with the possibilities for where the homeschool life could take us. After a lot of thought and research, homeschool felt like the logical next step for us — a natural extension of both our parenting style and our overall approach to lifelong learning. When we realized we could reallocate money we had planned to invest in private school education to make our travel dreams come true too, we decided to go for it.

How would you describe your homeschooling style?

It was important to us that Roscoe have a play-based kindergarten year so

child-led, emergent, project based homeschooling makes up the bulk of our homeschool right now. I see us continuing this relaxed/eclectic approach into the future, although we are following his lead and figuring it out as we go.

Briefly, can you share what a typical homeschool day looks like for you?

Roscoe has designated project time three mornings a week for the 2.5 hours that Merritt is in preschool.

Roscoe is in charge of that time, and I make myself available to observe and document his work, and help him to dig deeper into his interests. Sometimes he chooses to work on a specific project — he spent the first four weeks of the year dissecting animal specimens, drawing and taking pictures of

his work, reading books and doing research online, watching YouTube dissection videos, and making animal representations in clay —while other times he wants to go explore in the community: treats and board games at a local coffee shop, hikes in a nearby park, or time at the library doing research and checking out books on specific topics of interest. In addition to project work, which truly overflows into every day of the week, we have reserved Monday and Wednesday afternoons for special activities: Makers Monday — a child-led forest camp where kids of all ages meet to explore new tools, to build and dismantle on 10 acres of land — and a community garden at a local school. The boys are great buddies and their imaginative play can go on for hours, so afternoons are often left open for this purpose.

They also have access to a wide variety of quality making materials that they routinely incorporate into their play.

Nature is our outdoor classroom and we spend a lot of time in and around the river that flows through our city.

COuRTESY Of THE SEARS fAMilY

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| What do you love best about homeschooling?

I know they won’t be little forever so I am grateful that homeschooling offers us this unique opportunity to play, explore, and work together every day. I also love that Roscoe is so content; he is in his element and learning so much about who he is and the world around him.

ers.com. There is also a PBH forum on Facebook that has been tremendously helpful in navigating the very specific questions I’ve had about implementing PBH. Then there are the more organic connections that I’ve made through current and former families from our preschool, and friends of

friends, etc. Ideally I would love to find a few close-knit families to make community and share the journey with, so I’m working on that! Each of these channels serves me in different ways that contribute equally to my sense of belonging. I know where to go for information, support, and encouragement when I need it.

Do you take advantage of community

Is there anything you don’t like about

resources, such as parks and recreation classes, libraries, a local school, college, or a local nature center?

There are more resources available than we will ever have time to pursue.

It is reassuring, and I know that as Roscoe gets older and as his educational and academic needs change we will have access to any and everything we can think up. But for this year, we’re supplementing projects at home with a few carefully chosen weekly activities as mentioned above, in addition to some park days with a local homeschool group. We do have membership at three local museums and a botanical garden, and we access the library and local parks and nature centers throughout the month in our regular outings.

homeschooling?

I’ve had to work through a range of feelings about what homeschooling means for me, as the mother and primary mentor. Our decision to homeschool has changed the trajectory of my professional work, as I’ve taken this year off to feel everything out. I had always imagined that when my kids went off to school my world would open up a bit, and I would have more time to ramp up my paid work or to pursue personal interests and projects. We’re a few months in now, and I do appreciate all the good ways in which my world has expanded, even though it’s maybe not what I had envisioned. The kids are continuing to grow more independent and I’m happily finding these predictable little pockets of time that I can call my own.

As for my work, I’ve wanted to devote more time to my writing craft and this year seems like the year to make that happen. In a way it’s all a bit of synchronicity.

Do you have a community that you belong to? are you happy with it?

Can you share how you found this community?

While I had worried that choosing to homeschool would further isolate my mothering experience, I have found that Richmond, and Virginia in general, is very homeschool friendly, and that a rich network exists to nurture and support the wide range of homeschooling families that live here.

Locally, I have been pleasantly surprised by the depth and breadth of activities and events offered by a few secular homeschool groups that I found online through VaHomeschool-

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What advice would you give to new

homeschoolers?

Be encouraged that homeschool, like parenting, is a learn-as-you-go process. Try not to think too rigidly about what schooling is or should be, and remain open to possibility—there isn’t one right way to educate your kids or structure your homeschool.

Let your kids be your guide: If things are working — great! — if not, change it up. Seek out mentors and keep selfcare at the top of your to-do list.

JaCqueline’s adViCe:

“Let your kids be your guide: If things are working — great! — if not, then change it up.”

What are the last three purchases you made for your homeschool?

A variety of modeling and sculpting clays, and an assortment of clay tools.

What’s on your homeschool dream list?

A new home with a properly designed project space that will grow with us.

—as told to s.B.P.

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THE Guide

THE Guide

How do I know when it’s time to stop?

Is it a bad month or a bad idea? Sometimes you may wonder if homeschooling is really the right thing for your family.

Homeschool burnout can be hard to talk about, but it happens to almost every homeschooling parent at one time or another. It often strikes in midwinter, when post-holiday blahs and cabin fever collide with the January blues to make homeschooling a chore rather than a pleasure. These are the days when you feel like homeschooling was a massive mistake, you are a terrible teacher, and your children are going to grow up to be unhappy, uneducated adults because you have failed them utterly—which would bother you more if they weren’t grating on your last nerve.

Homeschooling is hard work — and smart homeschoolers pause occasionally to make sure that home-based education is still a good fit for their families.

If you’re questioning whether your homeschool funk is a temporary setback or a sign that it’s time to make a change, ask yourself these questions: What would make homeschooling happy again? If the answer is something straightforward — like trimming your schedule so you do less running around, making more time for field trips, or saying goodbye to a not-agreat-fit curriculum — just making the change might be enough to put things back on the right track. More complicated answers may also have easy solutions: If chaotic mornings make you feel like a nag, consider pushing back your daily start time, or if you’re butting heads with your child over a difficult subject, outsourcing that class to a tutor or co-op could put the fun back in your homeschool. Still not sure? Pretend you

have an infinite budget and infinite time for homeschooling. What would you do with those resources? If time and money aren’t the problem, you may have deeper issues.

How is your homeschooling making a difference for your child? Homeschooling without a strong sense of purpose is like cleaning the bathroom: you know you have to do it every day, but it’s never going to be something you get excited about. Working hard without feeling like you’re making an impact is demoralizing, but a little perspective can help you give yourself the credit you deserve.

Not convinced? Think about the other benefits of homeschool life — stronger family ties, a more relaxed schedule, lifetime learning — and try to see your homeschooling as a means of achieving those goals. If you genuinely feel that your homeschool efforts aren’t making the least bit of difference, it may be time to make a change.

What are you learning? Of all the problems you can run into as a homeschooling parent, feeling like you’re mentally stagnating can be one of the most insidious. Lots of homeschooling parents appreciate the heady thrill of learning new stuff right along with their kids, but what happens when you’re not learning anything new? Being bored is, well, boring. It could be that all you need is a perspective shift — if you view learning as a mutual endeavor rather than as a project that you have to facilitate, you may be surprised by how much you can learn. But if you’re genuinely at a men-

tal impasse, you definitely need a homeschooling break.

How would life be different if you stopped homeschooling? Think about the prospect of letting go of your homeschool days for a while. Does the prospect inspire you with possibility — maybe there’s a project of your own you’ve been yearning to pursue or you can see your daughter blooming in an environment where she gets to spend time with her friends every day. If the thought of letting go of homeschool for a while lights you up inside, you may want to seriously consider taking a break. If, on the other hand, the idea of not homeschooling feels like a mistake or a great loss, it’s worth seriously considering ways to improve your everyday homeschool experience.

If these questions don’t point you in a clear direction, take two weeks off. Your feeling when those two weeks are up — quiet dread or recharged enthusiasm — will reveal your attitude toward homeschooling. The truth is, there is no absolute right answer to the question of whether you should stop homeschooling your child. Only you can find the answer, and it may be an answer that changes from year to year. If you do decide quitting homeschooling is the right step for your family right now, don’t let that decision make you feel like a failure. Homeschool works so well because you can tailor it to your child’s specific needs — and sometimes those specific needs may warrant being educated outside the home.

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