Adventures in Home Learning: Episode 27

 

Learning a foreign language.

I’ve wanted to get my daughter involved in learning a second language and with her home, completing her school work in record time most days, this seemed like a good time.

“Research shows that learning a second language boosts problem-solving, critical-thinking, and listening skills, in addition to improving memory, concentration, and the ability to multitask. Children proficient in other languages also show signs of enhanced creativity and mental flexibility.”

WHY LEARN LANGUAGES: Early Childhood & Elementary

I think it’s a great way to interest children in the joy of learning as well.

My daughter loves anime so I got her started on Duolingo (https://www.duolingo.com/) for daily practice in learning Japanese. Duolingo has at least 30 languages and sends me reports on whether she logged in that day. I let her choose whether she wanted to do 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes a day. (I want her to enjoy this, not really look at it as a chore.)

She started with 5 minutes at a time, but then promptly did 3 of them.

I’m thinking about which language I would like to learn as well.

I have seen some negative reviews that you don’t really learn the language with Duolingo, just phrases and words. I think that’s sufficient to get started and have some fun with learning a language. Then, if she is still interested, she can move on to Mango languages.

Our library also makes available a program called Mango Languages that people can use for a more extensive, self-driven learning. There are over 70 languages, (including Pirate.) They even have Castilian Spanish along with Latin American Spanish.

I’m leaning toward Italian or brushing up on my Spanish.

 

Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

Since Banned Books Week is September 27 through October 3rd, our book club decided to read banned books this month. I started looking through lists, which are long and varied, and quickly found one I’ve been meaning to read for a while – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Warning: There are spoilers in the second half of this review, but I don’t believe they will take away from your enjoyment of the book. However, I will let you know when the spoilers are about to start.

I was under the mistaken belief that it was a biography, but quickly realized it was a novel. However, when I read the material at the end from the author, I found the book is largely based on his real experiences. Seems like it’s part-time fiction and part-time non-fiction.

As I was explaining to my husband the other night, just because something shows up in non-fiction, doesn’t mean it isn’t fictional literature. Good fiction also makes the reverse true as well, just because it is fiction doesn’t mean there isn’t a whole lot of truth in a book.

Arnold Spirit is the main character and he’s a goofy looking little guy, by his own statement, who was born with too much spinal fluid in his brain that had to be vacuumed out. He survived the surgery but did have some brain damage that created some anomalies in his body. Forty-two teeth is one anomaly that he claims was caused by this. One eye is near-sighted and one eye far-sighted, so he wears thick lop-sided glasses. He also had seizures regularly for the first few years of his life. Then there was the stutter and the lisp.

The author paints this picture in the first person with a huge dose of self-deprecating humor for Arnold. You can’t help but love this 14-year-old who is so funny right off the bat.

Then he sucker punches you with something sad, but often told in a matter-of-fact way. It’s an emotional roller coaster to be sure, but it’s Arnold’s life, and maybe was Sherman’s life? It gets a little confusing, so we’ll stick with Arnold.

Arnold draws cartoons which appear in the book. “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”

Arnold lives on the reservation in Spokane. This is definitely a 14-year-old boy so imagine everything that goes with that is in this book. I imagine that may be why the book was banned in some places, but it isn’t gratuitous or overly specific, just mentioned.

Arnold also imagines what his parents would be if they had the same opportunities people off the reservation have. “Given the chance, my father would have been a musician.” His father is an alcoholic who goes on benders and disappears on the family, but he’s also there for a lot of important things and totally supports Arnold. Arnold appreciates him for everything he is able to do and doesn’t seem to hold against him what he isn’t able to be. It’s quite a forgiving and amazing dynamic. For example, his father, while on a bender, saves a five-dollar bill for Christmas, and Arnold knows how hard that must have been.

Then one of Arnold’s teachers tells him that in order to succeed he needs to leave the reservation. “Jeez, it was a lot of pressure to put on a kid. I was carrying the burden of my race, you know? I was going to get a bad back from it.” But he makes up his mind to go to Reardan, the rich, white farm town school that “sits in the wheat fields exactly twenty-two miles away from the rez.”

***Spoilers Below***

It isn’t easy, transportation isn’t reliable, and the people on the rez feel like he has abandoned them, but Arnold is smart and he makes it work. Life goes on, and there are many lessons to be found from it.

He goes up against Rowdy in basketball, which he is surprisingly good at. There’s a basketball game where he gets a concussion then one where he defeats his best friend Rowdy who is on the other team, and at the end of the game, when he should be celebrating, he looks at the defeated team from the rez and feels like shit because, that was all they had, and he had taken it from them with his rich white friends.

His sister runs away and gets married, then dies in a fire. His grandmother gets hit by a drunk and dies. His godfather Eugene is killed by his friend Bobby in a drunken fight over the last drink a bottle of wine. Then Bobby hangs himself with a bedsheet.

“I blamed myself for all of the deaths. I had cursed my family. I had left the tribe, and had broken something inside all of us, and I was now being punished for that. No, my family was being punished.”

Then he goes back to school and a teacher is incredibly rude to him, and the entire class gets up one by one and drops their book on the floor and walks out in protest.  “It all gave me hope. It gave me a little bit of joy.”

He starts making lists of things that give him joy.

Like I said, this is a roller coaster ride, and it was over way too fast. I highly recommend it.

This book is so sad, and so funny. Through it all, the teacher takes you inside the story and makes you feel it instead of just telling it to you which makes a great book.

“When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing.”

Adventures in Home Learning: Episode 26

 

One of the bright spots in the stress and confusion of having kids learning at home, or even full on home schooling, is the flexibility.

My daughter got up this morning and was in a foul mood. She came down, dressed, but with her pillow and blanket, and declared that she wanted to do her school work from the couch today.

You know what? That’s okay. Is it great for her posture? No, but for today, we’ll roll with it.

As I worked in the other room, I heard a bit of an argument between her and my husband. “I’m not doing it!” she declared. I could imagine my husband shaking his head but heard no more.

When I finished my task I went out and asked what was going on. Apparently, the kerfuffle was over the new Phys Ed. requirement.

“How about we save that for this afternoon?” I suggested. “Or it can wait until after dinner, and Mommy can do it with you?”

She grabbed my hand. “Yes!”

I may not be able to do everything she can, but I’m willing to try and if it makes it easier on her, why not?

There’s nothing that says at what time we have to do something during the day, just that the requirement should be met on certain days.

A friend posted that her son wanted to do one of his assignments out near his favorite goat. Awesome. (As long as the goat doesn’t eat the assignment. We all know goats eat anything.)

My biggest challenge right now is getting my daughter to write neatly. I’m reminding her, but she doesn’t seem to be taking that to heart. There may come a time when I require her to redo something because it isn’t legible.

Yesterday, I came home and checked over her work to make sure it had all been completed. Unfortunately, she had missed part of a question. It wasn’t due until this morning so I asked her to go back and finish it then I would resubmit it.

It was one question, but you would have thought I asked her to roll Sisyphus’s boulder uphill in the hot sun. There were some sniffles and tears, much angry writing and erasing, opening and closing of computer, and blowing of nose.

I asked her if she needed more explanation. No, she understood. It took at least 15 minutes to write one answer. To be honest, I wasn’t watching the clock, it could have been closer to 25 minutes.

My husband thinks it would have been faster and easier if he had caught it, and she didn’t have to go back in long after she thought she was done. Perhaps, I don’t know. It’s all part of the give and take.

I’m just remembering not to get drawn into the drama, it will get done one way or another.

On the other end of the spectrum, she had a great time washing tomatoes for me as I chopped over the weekend and we made a couple big batches of tomato sauce from the tomatoes my husband grew. Then she helped my husband destem high bush cranberries. “Good times!” she declared.

Kids are funny.

Book Review: Deadly Brew by Lynn Cahoon

 

I picked up this novella from our ebook catalog on one of my borrowing sprees – I go in and pick a book from several different genres so that I have something to read no matter what I’m feeling like. Since we are allowed 5 books at a time, it’s a great way to pick up books from the comfort of my own home without spending any money.

This looked like a fun little cozy mystery. I started it the other day, and it was perfect for the sudden downturn in temperatures, a fun Halloween mystery set in a haunted house, where several couples are going to spend the weekend. The main character, Jill Gardner, owns “Coffee, Books, and More, and her boyfriend is the sheriff. Her neighbor is a spiritualist/medium, perfect for a haunted house mystery.

We start out at the fun coffee shop, all decorated for Halloween, getting to know the main character and her surroundings then head to the “haunted house” where they meet their friends. The caretaker is a little taciturn but he isn’t staying so no big deal.

It seems like it’s all fun and games. They will be locked in with plenty of food, and they brought their own beer and wine. There are four couples – Jill and her sheriff boyfriend, Greg, their friends Matt and Darla, Jill’s friend Amy and her boyfriend Justin, Jill’s neighbor Esmeralda, and her friend Jake.

Jill is apparently pretty nosy. “Everyone has secrets. Maybe this David’s were interesting.”

The last woman to live in the house is the real mystery though. She disappeared some years ago and it was recently auctioned off to be torn down. Condos will be put up in its place. Before that happens, they auctioned off a night in the house for charity.

There are some odd little incongruities. Jill and Greg simply spread their sleeping bag on a bed that still has bedding on it, though no one has been doing the housekeeping for years. I’d be checking for anything living in the bed first, and at least removing a layer to remove dust.

That night, the spiritualist sets them up for a little Ouija board séance which suddenly becomes rather interesting. They also find out the woman who lived in the house was a witch of some kind. Then there’s the books that just move across the room and the dream Jill has. It’s shaping up to be a good, super natural mystery.

It’s just a little novella, but it took a leap between the séance and them going to bed that bothered me. I would have liked the author to include something about the stories the characters told each other in between and the marshmallows toasted in the fireplace. She lost a chance for some good setting and color in the story there.

What really bothered me most came much later in the story. This goes from being a cozy little mystery to a very disturbing explanation for why the woman who lived there was murdered. To my mind, it leapt form a cozy mystery to a modern mystery, and it could have at least been glossed over.

I felt a bit like it was bait and switch. I enjoyed most of the story to a reasonable degree but that really put a bad end on it for me. I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from reading it, but neither would I recommend it. A bit disappointing.

Adventures in Home Learning: Episode 25

 

We’ve had a soft start to the school year in our house.

Friday was our first official day of instruction. My daughter logged in and had only two very simple assignments. It was a good thing because we’ve already run into a little dissension.

The school asked that the worksheets be done in ink then a picture be taken to upload. With my daughter, that is a recipe for disaster. A mistake that couldn’t be erased would send her into a tizzy, so I told her to do them in pencil then go over them in pen. My husband didn’t see the necessity of going over them in pen. My thinking is that one, the school asked for it to be in pen, and two, it may be legible in pencil but if the teacher has to look at multiples in pencil, and less than exemplary hand writing, that could be eye straining.

The limited assignments on the first day were helpful for getting us familiar with the process of taking pictures and uploading the assignments. I also had her do some reading and she did some coloring.

It’s a bit of a tradition in our house to go out to my daughter’s favorite Chinese buffet on the first day of school. This year, I picked up dessert at a local bakery for the first time, and then picked up takeout Chinese. It was a lovely way to end the evening and my daughter gave it a big thumbs up.

I am enjoying the fuller use of the Google Classroom this year. The app on my phone is particularly useful in tracking what assignments she has due and what might be missing. Unfortunately, it cannot intuit whether she turned in the correct assignment.

I got home Monday afternoon and she told me, “I got all my work done by noon!”

That’s great, I thought. We’ll go with that for now. I’ll be adding in some more work to keep her busy, such as free reading, learning a foreign language, and maybe recorder or piano practice.

This morning, however, while I was home, when it came to Science she told me, “But I did this assignment yesterday!”

I looked it over and found she had done the vocabulary word definition she was supposed to, but on a separate piece of paper instead of the worksheet. Then she had forged ahead with the paragraph she was supposed to write today. I told her it was fine, she was ahead of the curve, but now I’m concerned because I didn’t take the time to read the actual response before I left, as the school asked us to do. If she hadn’t watched the right video yet, could she have answered the question correctly? I will have to check it tonight.

Then, she was having trouble figuring out which worksheet she should do for Math because they were on lesson 2, but she never did lesson 1’s worksheet. “We found the worksheet in her math book,” my husband told me. No, they found a review sheet and assumed it was the worksheet, even though all the worksheets are paper clipped together, and labeled.

“It’s okay,” I told her, “just do it now, and put it in.” Hopefully the teacher will still accept it. It’s early days.

There’s definitely a learning curve here, but I have full confidence we’ll get there. I’m sure there will also be tougher assignments, and easier ones. I think the important thing is to take it one day at a time.

I think it’s also important to keep encouraging her that she can do this work. On Friday she told me, “I don’t know what to do, I need help!” I went over and stood next to her while she read it again and figured it out herself. No help from Mom was actually needed, just a little more patience on her part.

I am reminded of a quote I’ve seen in memes, ascribed to Kimberly Jones Pothier – “Don’t let them pull you into their storm, pull them into your peace.”

That’s my goal this year, to remain calm, assure her she can do the work, and let her figure it out, only stepping in when necessary.

Maybe also to help her get a little more organized. I helped her find her folders, but the papers have not yet made it into them. I’m also thinking it might benefit her to write down what her assignments are first thing in the morning on a little chalk board, or dry erase board, so she can wipe them out when she has turned them in.

Over all, I’m pretty happy with the way things are going.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Badger to the Bone

 

Badger to the Bone

by Shelly Laurenston

Laurenston is a fairly prolific author of shifter paranormal fiction and romance. I read The Unleashing, part of her Call of Crows series, which incorporated Norse mythology and thoroughly enjoyed that.

The thing you have to understand going in is that these are shifters, people who are not human, and they are very much in tune with the animal side of their nature. Then you have to realize that the three main characters – Max, Charlie, and Stevie – are honey badgers. They are tenacious, aggressive, and fearless. The three girls personify those traits.

They are also deeply loyal to their family and those they consider part of their family, whether or not they were born to that. The three girls have the same good-for-nothing father and have stuck by one another through thick and thin. That’s Max’s family by blood.

Then there’s Max’s teammates, who are family by nature and choice. They are all honey badgers, grew up together, and play on the same basketball team.

Laurentson does a tremendous job of giving back story on the characters to explain, from a human psychological point of view, why they are the way they are. That is, even if they weren’t honey badger shifters.

And there’s usually a romantic couple at the heart of Laurenston’s stories. This book focuses on Max, and a “stray kitty” she brings home in the form of Zeze Vargas. Ze is a cat shifter but he doesn’t know it until Max acquaints him with the shifter world.

Of course, there are complications galore and feuds abound as different factions of different families come into conflict over the shifter tendency to consider themselves above the law and human society.

As I read, I wondered if I was just a little more sensitive to it right now, or if this book really was a lot more savage then the other series I read? I looked back at my review for The Unleashing. Yeah, I mentioned how bloody it was. For some reason, that wasn’t the aspect that stayed with me though.

I think, perhaps, because the story telling is so strong – the characters are well developed and really interesting, plus the plot is faced-paced and intriguing – the bloody parts of the story are able to be skimmed over and generally forgotten if you don’t find them interesting.

If you really don’t like fighting or killing is a stop word for you, then give this one a pass. However, if you’re a fan of urban fantasy or paranormal, then you’re probably able to maintain the distance necessary to enjoy this book.

It’s a jungle out there, a concrete jungle, and these shifters may have human emotions and goals, but they have their own animalistic way of going about getting there. It’s a very interesting read.

Adventures in Home Learning: Episode 24

 

It’s that time of year – back to school for many all over the United States. This year, though, the start of school is looking very different for a lot of kids, in a multitude of ways.

Different places have always started classes at different times, some in August and some in September. Home schooling has also become much more popular over the past twenty years for a variety of reasons. My own daughter will be starting fifth grade this year in a sort of hybrid format.

Last year, with the advent of Covid-19, we spent the second half of the school year working from home together. Her classes were largely online, with a packet of papers, and some meetings with her whole class in Zoom.

This year, we are starting the year that way, though I am working from home only part of the time. Her school IS offering classes in person, so her teacher is not going to do any face to face meetings online. Instead there were will be instructional videos that are pre-corded. She will have a packet we are required to pick up weekly, and assignments online, daily.

I’m waiting to see what the packet contains, but my husband was told there would be no music, art, or gym guidance. Those areas will be entirely up to us. That means it’s time for me to start planning how to fill those parts of her education.

We have a lovely old piano in the house and I bought a recorder kit form US Borne Books when a friend was having a party. I may look for some actual assignments having to do with music as well. I seem to recall learning to read music at her age. She’s already started a bit with the recorder and the piano both.

When it comes to art, I figure coloring is okay some of the time, but I’ll be looking to Pinterest for some projects I can do with her and some home schooling assignments online having to do with art at the fifth grade level. I figure I should not try to reinvent the wheel in a subject that is not my forte.

Dad will take her for some hikes and we have an exercise bike, but I will also look for some assignments there as well. I want her to move more, but I’d also like her to learn about some different sports. I really don’t remember what we were doing when I was in fifth grade other than running laps around the field, and playing dodge ball.

Honestly, I’m anticipating the biggest challenge will be her lack of interest. I intend to plan with her, hoping to build some buy-in for this type of education. I’d like to have her develop some self-direction. I’d also like to have a similar schedule to last year, with free-reading time and a chore or two in the afternoon.

I figure the best thing to do is to start with asking her what she would like to learn about in these three key areas – art, music, and physical education. Knowing my child, I’m betting she won’t have a clue and I’ll have to offer her options. That’s when I move to three options for each area. Hopefully as she goes along, she will develop some ideas about what she would like to learn about.

Then I will look at what interests her. She likes anime, so I’m hoping we can get her interested in learning the Japanese language this year with our library’s Mango languages database, or for free through Duolingo.

I figure when all else fails, I’ll resort to bribery, but I’m not sure what with.

 

Book Review: Witchmark by C.L. Polk

 

Witchmark

by C.L. Polk

This book caught my attention as I was selecting reading material for a patron. The simple design of the blue cover is lovely, and has a certain 1920's charm, with the bicycle rider in a bowler hat and the reflected image of a man in a top hat and woman in a skirt.

The tag line on the back definitely caught my attention as I turned it over – “A stunning, addictive fantasy that combines intrigue, magic, betrayal, and romance.” Who doesn’t love a book with all those things?

But did it live up to the promise of that cover and tag line? Mostly. It was certainly a page turner; I didn’t want to put it down.

The story is set in a world that’s very similar to England just after World War I, where men are returning home, shell-shocked. Miles is a psychiatrist at a veteran’s hospital.

Miles has been treating returning veterans who feel like they have a killer living inside of them, someone separate from themselves. He manages to heal one man using his magical talent but he isn’t completely sure how or if it will come back. He needs to figure this out and heal the other men, because these men sometimes kill their families.

One night, just as Miles is leaving, a well-to-do man pulls up in a carriage with a dying man. The dying man manages to gasp out that he was poisoned, then transfers his power to a shocked Miles.

Miles is afraid someone will realize he is a witch, a dangerous thing to be in these days, where witches are sent to asylums because they all eventually go crazy. Or do they?

Miles himself is from a rich family, and they consider themselves mages. They don’t go insane. So why do the witches? Are they just weak?

The posh man who brought the poisoned man to the hospital is not who he seems, and he has seen everything – including the dying witch giving his magic to Miles. Is he a friend or a foe? Of course, Miles isn’t quite who he seems either.

The setting is deceptively simple. It’s Edwardian England with just enough Steampunk style touches to make it foreign. They have "aether" instead of electricity. The dialogue and stage direction are well crafted. You can fade right into the story.

The only criticism I have is a couple of important scenes that are rushed, just a shade too fast, lacking mental and emotional reaction from the characters. I suspect the original manuscript was a bit longer than the publisher liked.

The story builds logically with solid detective work and revelations building on revelations. I did not see where this was going, which is always one of my highest notes of praise. I like to be surprised.

And yet, the journey is the best part.

“I understand what it’s like.”

“You don’t. You imagine. You sympathize. But you can’t understand.”

Isn’t that true of us all in a number of circumstances? Definitely a very strong debut novel.

Adventures in Home Learning: Episode 23

 

Personal note - we’ve finally heard from the school district and been given an appointment for my daughter to go in and get a laptop computer loaded with everything they will be using, and be shown how to use it. I figure it will be good for her to get a chance to meet her teacher before the online teaching begins as well.

Grading in Homeschooling

A friend who is homeschooling posted a question about grading rubrics. She seemed to be feeling a little bit lost as to how to grade her kids. I think she also wants to make sure that she is doing it by the book so the state doesn’t give her any problems at the end of the school year. That’s a very understandable feeling.

When I was taking my teaching degree years ago, the emphasis was on a portfolio assessment, which illustrated the growth of the student in grasping concepts and applying them. Whole language and writers workshop were applied to help students improve their writing and spelling by actually doing a piece of writing, then improving it through editing. They could write about what they loved and therefore were more invested in it. Then came national testing and that seemed to go out the window. Everything had to be quantifiable and a numerical grade assigned. That was most easily done by multiple choice question standardized tests, but teaching by rote memorization does not really help with mastery of information.

Lots of people wrote back to my friend with great advice on how to assess the learning and growth of her children. Here are a few different web sites with good advice and different approaches, in case anyone is trying to grasp this necessary but slippery concept of grading home schooled work.

To Grade or Not to Grade: Assigning Grades to Your Homeshooler – Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

How Do I Evaluate My Student’s Progress? – HLSDA

5 Tips for Grading in Homeschool – Steppingblocks