Weekly Wrap-Up: Grateful, Authentic, Insight, Trust, and Relevant...Don't Forget Humble

Vinca Minor February 13, 2111

My daughter is a girl who loves words and digging into a good dictionary, often times she pulls out my big thick reference dictionary and "gives" us a word of the day. As I was preparing to write this post I thought of some words that might describe our week's studies and I will give them to you to think about today.

History: Grateful
It is a strange thing when your child's history lessons start to overlap your lifetime. Mr. A is reading and studying events during the 1960's at this point and I have found myself recounting memories that are relevant to his work. Although I don't remember this particular event (since I would have still been a toddler), I do remember President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr.

LBJ Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Mr. A, who was joined by Mr. B, watched this video as part of his research on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I realized that they do not understand the thinking that was so much a part of the world at that moment in time. The idea of segregation in society and schools is foreign to them. It makes me feel deeply grateful that this change in thinking could happen so drastically from my parents' generation to my children's generation.They live in a colorless world. Mr. B's friend is bi-racial and I truly believe he has never noticed it.

Chemistry: Authentic
The study of chemistry has become more than okay over the past few weeks. My struggles seem to have subsided at least for now. The change in focus from the academic side of chemistry to the delight-driven exploration of the elements gave the spark for the boys to turn around their attitude. Just that shift in focus has allowed me to slip in the Apologia modules that I think will complement their study and it has been accepted with very little grumbling. They have completed three modules and at last week's Friday meeting we had a rousing discussion about chemistry that I didn't think was going to ever happen this year. There was enthusiasm, debate, and *laughter* as we watched one of their periodic table videos together. Imagine that! It has become the authentic learning that I was chasing after.

Literature: Insight
I haven't talked much about literature lately. We are busy working on reading and discussing quite a number of books right now. I was reviewing an old post of mine that showed how we work with literary terms and realized that I have a few left in my box that need to be covered before the end of the year....guess I better pull them out to review with Mr. A. My favorite book that we are reading together is The Chosen. What a story about a world very different from our own. We are gaining insight into a different time period, culture, and point of view, partly through discussion but also due to digging deeper into themes, the conflicts between characters, and the underlying setting at the end of WW2 and the formation of Israel.

Planning: Trust
I have had a few inquiries about how I am going to shape some of our high school courses to be included on transcripts, how to count credits and define courses with titles. I will be honest and say that it is still a work in progress. Because neither one of my boys has huge aspirations to go to competitive universities, I have some freedom to let them explore perhaps more than a family that is pointing towards a more traditional college experience. Both boys have interests and desires that would take them down roads where their homeschool high school experience will be more accepted with transcripts that may be more creative or narrative. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a panic because their studies don't fit into neat little boxes and I wonder how it will all work out. I trust that it will.

New Tools: Relevant
Something that was introduced to me this week that has started to shape our homeschool in an ever evolving fashion, Khan Academy.  Using technology and YouTube in general has enriched the opportunities for my boys to dig deeper into their own interests and to find ways to connect to material. Khan Academy is just another piece of the puzzle.

These short videos are going to enhance our study and allow my sons (and myself) to have up-to-date information, in a format that is both convenient and relevant. Sal Kahn is really good at making things understandable and I whole-heartedly thank him for his vision and his initiative. Schools without walls via the internet makes sense and I am on board, allowing my boys to take an interest, run with it, and use these videos to help spark more learning and exploring.

I am constantly reminded of how much there is out there to inspire and bring wonder to our high school studies. We don't need to sit our children down at desks with stacks of texts in order to educate them. They have a boggling amount of opportunities to learn about things that our brains can't even imagine when we sit planning with pencil and paper. The fact that there are passionate people out there like Sal Khan to partner with in our journey is an incredible privilege.

Who isn't inspired to learn more about stars, galaxies, the Hubble telescope, and astro-photography after watching a four minute video like this one?

If you are planning high school for your children, you owe it to yourself to check Khan Academy out.

This will end sort of a different variety of Weekly Wrap-Up. I hope it has got you to thinking this February Friday. I sometimes feel as if I am blazing a trail for those behind me but then I am humbled by those that are going ahead of me. So my last word of the day is humble.  May we all end our day's journey feeling humbled by the gifts our loving Father has given us on this particular day.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom