The Delicious Apple at the Top of the Mountain AKA the Rabbits

I love Leslie Householder's books Jackrabbit Factor and Portal to Genius. Some people see Jackrabbit Factor as only having to do with money, but I see it as so much more. I see it as putting yourself into a positive frame of mind to be in harmony with what you truly want. If you are truly in harmony, you will also be in harmony with God's will for you because you are prayerful and grateful for His blessings. In my family, we call the visualization process "Jackrabbiting."

For example, I am a black belt in karate. I have been training for 5 years. The black belt test in my style is VERY intense and requires extensive conditioning training as well as mastering 10 different katas (a choreographed set of karate movements which symbolizes the battle between you and yourself as you are your own perfect enemy), all the bunkai (the extrapolation of what various movements from the kata would represent if someone really attacked you) for half of them and 1 each for the other half, application of half of the katas (a 2-person choreographed "fight" which goes back and forth and back and forth), a set of self defense drills, as well as a cardio sparring drill. The fail rate of the black belt test is high. Only about half the people I know passed on their first attempt. When I took my test, I applied the Jackrabbit principles. I trained hard and did the work I needed to physically- I wasn't just hoping a "rabbit" would hop by, but I also visualized and prayed with gratitude because I knew that God wanted me to have the desire of my heart to earn my belt. I was grateful that he allowed me to train despite my husband working out of town for half the time during the 5 months before my test. God put in my path a babysitter that was available twice a week for just a short time to allow me to keep training. I didn't walk around saying, "If I pass..." I set out to say, "I will pass..." Lo and behold, after a lot of hard work, I passed. This was only a gateway into more training because now I am training to confirm that I am worthy of holding the rank of a first degree blackbelt (I am un-certified). I spend a year training and continuing to work on my basics and techniques. Then I test again with a different set of kata, application, and bunkai.

So, what does this have to do with homeschooling?

As a homeschooler I have set out on a hard path. It has its rocks, blind corners, and blood, sweat, and tears. As long as I stay close to the Spirit, asking in faith that God will send me answers, I can be successful.

I want my children to learn this lesson too. I want them to know how to create a goal, visualize it, know what it will be like, pray for it, and work for it, and finally achieve it despite trials they may encounter. To help me, I just bought a book from Amazon that was recommended to me by Katie Vrajich from A Woman Who Lived. It is called Fox and the Mountain. It is a sweet book to help teach children to persevere and keep working towards their goals no matter how hard the climb and in spite of the nay-sayers.

I can't wait to read it to my children tomorrow.


Update March 1:
This book made an impact on my children. Tiger decided that he wanted to learn a kata for karate. It is a tough kata and he missed several days of class and was behind the class in it. He told dh that he wanted to use that kata for an upcoming tournament. Dh advised him against it since he still didn't know it. Ds said, "Dad, it is like the apple at the top of the mountain! I can do this." He spent the next several days really studying the kata and learned it well because he wanted that apple.

Keeping costs down

I try not so spend a whole lot on curriculum and materials. With 4 children, that gets expensive. I want to provide really high materials though, so here are a few things I do:

1. We use a lot of books in our schooling. I have rule though- I almost never buy something unless I check it out first and if I love it so much that I would continue to check it out over and over again from the library I will buy it. This helps me cut down on clutter and makes sure we only bring high quality in. Yes, stuff that doesn't make my quality cut does come in, but I try to send it packing as soon as possible. I think for me the most important free resource is the library. We belong to an amazing library system and because the town I live in straddles the county line, I have access to another library system too. Mostly I use the larger system as many of the books I want are available.

2. When we go on road trips, I am vehemently opposed to screens in the car. I have found that 1 movie in the car leads to antsy crabby children whereas audiobooks, workbooks, and a few small puzzle type toys leads to harmony and mostly happy children, even when I drive 1000 by myself with all four. I need lots of audiobooks though. For the last car trip I took, I purchased several inexpensive Sansa Clip mp3 players and loaded audiobooks for each child as well as loaded my ipod with books I thought everyone might like. I use the Overdrive downloads from my library as well as Librivox and Story Nory. Librivox has public domain books on audio. Story Nory has some classics and some proprietary stories. Both resources are free.

3. I recently bought a Kindle and have discovered the joys of Project Gutenberg. I have loaded my own books to read, but also some for the children. Various fairy tales have been quite intriguing for my children. The best part, is that the kindle packs easily so I can read to my children or myself in many places.You don't have to have a kindle to enjoy Project Gutenberg though. You can use it for many different ereaders as well as on the computer. Some Charlotte Mason homeschoolers I know will print the reading assignments for their children off of Project Gutenberg and just give the required pages each day.

4. I don't allow much computer time for my children because I believe that computers are adult tools and shouldn't be used as toys. I do allow occasional educational games though during free time on a very limited basis and love some of the games I have found for math fact drilling. I found Timez Attack to be a fun game. At the time when we used it, they only had the multiplication version but apparently there is a division and addition/subtraction one now too. There is a free version available. I also really like Multiplication.com as well as a similar site that use other operations called Fun 4 the Brain.

For other ideas of inexpensive or free resources, check out the blog cruise from The TOS Homeschool Crew. Please note that the link below won't go live until Tuesday 21st.

Changing Homeschool Paradigms

As I mentioned before, I am revamping my homeschooling. I am leaning more towards a Leadership Education model of progression through phases and opening my home to more child-led learning with some direction from me. It has been a long time coming. I started out researching homeschooling when I was still pregnant with Tiger. I read about all methods of homeschooling I could find from Charlotte Mason to Montessori, to Unschooling, to The Well-Trained Mind, to Thomas Jefferson Education. I read and studied many methods and eventually, while reading scriptures, turned to D&C 88:118. It reads "And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith." This really hit home to me. I took that to mean I needed to follow a classical model as that is where most of the great books are utilized. I immersed myself in The Well-Trained Mind. It was right for a time but slowly it became more about checking off the boxes of subjects done and lessons taught than lessons learned and absorbed by the student. It became no fun and a bit too dry for all of us.

This year the Lord began prepping me to make some big changes. It all began when my daughters were invited to join a Heroine book club. It was to be mentored by a mom who is passionate about Leadership/Thomas Jefferson Education. In joining her book club, our family was also invited into the TJed organization she has been working on building in the area. At first, I was a bit resistant to the idea of agreeing to the participation agreement for the umbrella organization based on TJed because of my prior exposures and concerns about TJed.

Backing up 6.5 years, I attended a TJed forum and listened to many TJed lectures at a homeschool convention. There were many parts I loved but there were many parts I was vehemently opposed to because I didn't understand the base from which the presenter was making their assertions. And I really did not understand the concept of "You not Them." Seriously, was I suppose to focus on my education and expect my children to magically educate themselves? Hmmm. (BTW I am still wrestling a little with You Not Them but I am beginning to see in so many areas of my life that if I focus on a skill or something in me to improve, I am better able to encourage my children in the same direction. I realize now that "You Not Them" is not a statement saying, "Focus on you and ignore them." which runs completely contrary to my beliefs that I have a moral responsibility to teach my children. I am now wrestling with how does that look rather than fighting the principle.)

Back to the present day. As I pondered and prayed, the whisperings of the Spirit came to me. I was instructed to experiment upon the word. Ok. I can do that. I can give it a shot. The adults were having a book club discussing the TJed books available and although it was on a night where I finish up one activity at the time that the meeting started, I was encouraged to come late anyway. As I got there, the women were so kind to listen to my concerns, answer them, share their stories and experiences and truly allowed me to ponder and filter and come to my own conclusions. I kept going back. I really liked these ladies and their passion and their open arms! I began to realize that TJed was NOT a method but rather a philosophy. This had been totally lost on me before. I was not ready until now.

So how does this fit with the promptings of the Spirit ten years ago? TJed is still a classical model as it follows the phases of development as well as emphasizes classics not textbooks. We are still focusing on the best books. Great learning comes from great books. We read classical literature, biographies with pictures, picture books with amazing illustrations, and other books which inspire us to explore.

So, I find myself finding more and more excitement in changing my methods and switching my paradigm of education but it is so hard! There are many parts of our routine that are being refined, smoothed, and polished. Sometimes I find there are many sharp edges to smooth. I still have many things to do to clarify how this works for my family, but for now my family is reaping the blessings of following the Lord's promptings for our family. The children are once again looking forward to learning time. We are keeping our home more organized. We are having more time to read great books out loud and discuss them. We are having more time for free play. We are having more time for exploring the world God made. We are having more time for family. And I am making more time for my own education so that I can have the tools I need to share with my children. I may have a Bachelors in Liberal Arts with an emphasis on Child Development specific to education, and I may have a Masters of Herbology, and I may be the mother of 4 children, but there is so much out there I have not mastered or even learned about that I can expose my children to if I know it is there... so here goes my quest to continue my own education so I can inspire my children to greatness. And while we are working on our family learning time, personal learning time, gospel studies, and family relationships, the little ones are watching. They are learning what it means to be grown up from those of us who are older just as this picture below depicts.



I am a cub scout den leader. My daughters attend the cub scout meetings and see us salute the flag while in uniform.This was the morning after cub scouts when I called the children to the flag, Strawberry prepared to salute...

Flower Power Science...

While exploring a science book on my shelf, probably the Usborne Book of Science Experiments, Tiger discovered an experiment involving paper flowers and water. What could be more fun than a sink full of water for science! Tiger cut out a flower shape, drew a drawing in the middle, folded the petals in and placed the flower on the surface of the water. Slowly the flower opens to reveal the center. When it was Pumpkin Pie's turn, she drew a bug in the inside. Even Strawberry put a flower in the sink.  In her case, there was water splashed on top of two petals. One had a large drop and the other was half wet on top including the edge. The petal with a drop took longer than all the other petals and the one with water on the side never opened. It was interesting to see how the paper absorbed the water drawing the petals open.

Some of our day

I am not raising children, I am raising people who will one day be adults. In order for them to function as adults, they need to learn academically, spiritually, and domestically. They need to learn life skills like vacuuming, cleaning, etc. They need to learn to work together so they can collaborate with co-workers or employees. They need to know how to do a job well done and how to do it efficiently. As a mother of 4 wearing many hats, I can't possibly effectively school the children AND keep house AND cook nutritious meals all by myself. There are just too many bodies in this house for 1 mom to do it all... In comes life schooling!

We are working on our morning routine to include devotional, family work time, mom's lessons, and learning time. So here are some pictures of our day:

While Pumpkin Pie and Strawberry waited for others to finish eating breakfast, they read together in the rocking chair.

I know the shot isn't pretty but I thought it was pretty cute that Strawberry was trying to help Butterfly with her jobs.

These first pictures are of family work time. The last couple days I have had at least 1 child under the weather which meant that I wasn't keeping up with family work time. As a result, the floors were covered in toys, the bathrooms needed some tidying, and the laundry needed to be put away. I made a list of all the jobs that needed to be done and then had the older 3 kids rotate picking which jobs they did today. I had to help Pumpkin Pie with most of her jobs as she is still learning how to do the sweeping and can't reach where all the dishes go. I also had my own list to do. Strawberry joined in as she rotated through all of us and helped us with our jobs. What would have taken me days to finish a couple of months ago trying to do it by myself or trying to get the kids to help with them whining or otherwise not participating took 45 minutes! AMAZING. A HUGE part of that success I attribute to discipline and teaching techniques I have learnedfrom Nicholeen Peck at Teaching Self Government.

 After family work time it was time for our read aloud. I have fallen behind since we have had some busy evenings so we popped a bowl of popcorn, got out a large blanket, and gathered with individual piles of books for reading time. I read for about 45 minutes out of Carry on Mr. Bowditch. What an amazing story of a man who learns despite all the obstacles in his way and then goes about teaching others. What a difference in behavior and attitude those men have once they learn really useful things and have skills. Not to mention the inspiration regarding math and the importance of it! I definitely need to add this book to our permanent shelf to read again in a few years! While I popped the popcorn, Tiger practiced piano.

Strawberry helping to make the popcorn

Pumpkin Pie doing her reading lesson with me in the McGuffy readers.

Tiger could be found sneaking in some Pre-Algebra.

Later in the day we did some mom's teaching time. Today we were studying flowers. We dissected tulips.
Of course Strawberry needed a flower to tear apart too...

Butterfly really enjoyed this activity.

Nap time was essential. Strawberry slept while I studied my own materials, Pumpkin Pie and Butterfly made valentines for a friend, and Tiger read a book.

While dinner was being made, Tiger and I engaged in a game of Upwords. Although the rules forbid the use of a dictionary, during your choosing of the word, I allow one because it certainly helps with vocabulary. Words learned today by Tiger included quips, citron, and slubs, nog, etc. 

Science on the Fly....

During our open learning time, Tiger opened the Usborne Book of Science Experiments. Quickly he assembled the materials and the children had an impromptu physics lesson.

In case you would like to recreate this, materials are a balloon, tape (we used Blue tape), straw, and string. Place a straw on the string (make sure there is no bendy part on the string. It can be cut off if necessary). String the string tightly between two objects across the room (my son used chairs). Then blow up the balloon  and tape the side of it to the straw. Release the end and let the air blow out. Remove the balloon and blow it up again and try again. (This is why Blue Tape was great. We could keep reusing it)

 How fast will it go? Why does it fly? What is happening? Does the size of the balloon effect the speed? Does the placement of the straw on the balloon change the way the balloon moves? Have fun!

Measuring Success

When the TOS Crew Blog Cruise posed the question of how to measure success, I initially thought there is no way I am answering that. This topic is too big and too broad and I am not sure I even know. But then I realized that I needed to write so I could clarify in my mind. In the past I have sometimes gotten to the end of the school year and felt personally unsuccessful, even though my children made great forward progress, because we did not finish a given book or maybe we are still using the same book for the 3rd year... Sometimes I feel like I fell short because my own personal type A personality of checking off all the done items didn't get satisfied. When I take a step back I begin to see a different picture though. I hope this post will help me clarify for myself  what success is and how it is measured.

What is success? Does that mean I can check off every box of accomplishments that the state says that a child of a given age will learn? Does that mean my child has finished a book and moved on to the next? Does that mean a test score is high? Does that mean someone else notices that my child is "on track" or "ahead" of  his or her peers? I am not so sure any of those are a good measure of success.

According to those measures, I was successful in school growing up. I was a straight A student even in a prep school which required HOURS of homework and effort. I was accepted into every secondary school and college I ever applied to. I did decent on my ACT exams. I graduated Magna Cum Laude (in the top 3 in my major) from an excellent school. I took AP classes in high school and was a quintessential overachiever.Now, several years out of school I don't know that I can say that was success. I learned some things, but much of what I put in during those years was put in, remembered long enough to put it back on the test, and dumped in the trash on my way out. It was only the things I found most interesting that were retained. Either that or they were drilled to the point that no one would ever forget!

Following graduation, I had my first child and then my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I started school again after Tiger was born. This time it was for a Masters of Herbology- something I became passionate about. I worked hard and used what I learned. I enjoyed almost all of the coursework and even if I don't remember every detail of every plant, I do know where to look to remember. It took me years to finish and still I continue to study it even though I graduated. Is that success? I think it is much closer.

Measuring success is so difficult in the world of homeschooling because every child is different and every family situation is different. I suppose it is kind of like a child learning to talk. If we "measure success" with a 1-2 year old talking then we will record every word they say, each and every change they make in their pronunciation and each and every attempt at a new word. How exhausting! I have had a couple of really late talkers. Twice I have had a child who didn't speak a single word until after 21 months.  By many measurements this would be classified as a speech disorder. One of those children is now 28 months and still learning, although she has complexity in her speech and word choices, she is still not fully talking.  My other daughter is now 5 1/2. It is this 5 1/2 yr old I am referring to in the following story.

If I had measured Pumpkin Pie's success like many feel we should measure academic success, I would have been panicked that they were not succeeding and growing fast enough. As the mother, I looked to my child. I noticed that she was communicating very effectively with signs, body language, and responding effectively to my language. She didn't have any hearing problems and I knew that she would one day talk. Sure enough she did. A year later, she was talking so well that no one believed  she was not even 3 and furthermore they didn't believe she had only been talking for less than a year. Surely one so adept at language was an early talker. Nope. This child was observing before speaking. I expect that Strawberry will do the same.

To me, success is measured by looking at my child and evaluating how he or she is doing based on where he or she has been. Are these children moving forward in their skills? Are they striving to try new things? Are they stretching ever so slightly as they learn new things? For some children, that will mean huge success measured by the public school standards. For example, Tiger, who won't be 10 until March is chronologically a 4th grader. He is working on pre-Algebra though. By many standards, this is huge success. This has not been due to me pushing him along but rather it is due to his love of all things numeric. As long as he is still enjoying numbers and moving forward he is successful for him. He has a mission in life to fulfill and I imagine that numbers might play into that mission, but in the meantime, I keep providing him with the next step and encouraging him to climb. I also have to be aware that this child, although advanced is emotionally his age. This means that I have to be prepared for emotional walls that have and do occasionally fly up and halt progress in something. I have to remind myself that it is ok and that when he is ready, that wall will crumble and he will rush through again. I have seen it happen before when he was 7 and got towards the end of 4th grade math. He sort of understood fractions and decimals but all the tricky rules with fractions were too much for him emotionally. He spent nearly 2 years stuck and then one day it clicked and he flew through the rest of elementary math in a few short months.

Butterfly asked me to teach her to read but then wanted NOTHING to do with reading. Try as I might, she wouldn't let me teach her to read. She let me teach her the letter sounds but that was all. She wouldn't read out loud and she was not going to sit for a reading lesson! She found a Dick and Jane book and spent 2 hours a day on her bed with that book. Every once in a while she would ask me what a word said, but that was all. I think after a month or so she came to me and said she had finished the book! A month or so later she brought me Swimmy and proclaimed she could read it. And sure enough, she read it without any hesitation!

Pumpkin Pie is chronologically in K. She is the third of 4 and has realized that she has lots of people to read to her. On the one hand, she wants to read, but on the other hand, she doesn't because she is scared if she learns to read, no one will read to her. She is very slowly making progress, but each new word she learns is a victory and progress. She will learn to read in her own time. I am confident in this. In the mean time, I will keep reading excellent literature, fascinating stories, and helping her read the words in the scriptures, just as I have done with my other children. Who knows, she might surprise me like Butterfly did and one day proclaim she can read.

I suppose that in my home success will have to be measured by watching the children. Are they engaged? Are they excited about the new things they have discovered? Are they making progress in their own way?Are they contributing to the family and helping build an eternal family with love and healthy relationships? These are evaluated daily.

If I can help guide my children to always remember the Lord, love the Gospel, love one another and be best friends with each other, create lasting positive family memories, teach them to read and write and do arithmetic, think for themselves, and guide them to follow the path that the Lord has in store for them, then I suppose I would consider that success. Unfortunately, I can take steps towards that success today but the measurement won't be until much further down the road.

For today I can only measure each day. Rather than looking at the whole year after the fact, which often leads to forgetting all the successes and triumphs, I will need to look at each day. Did we do our devotional? Were the kids engaged during our group school time? Did they get excited about something? How engaged were they in their free learning time? Did we get our chores done? Did our day have a good routine and rhythm? Do they look forward to tomorrow's learning time? If I can answer yes to most of these questions, then I think I will have had success for the day. If not, there is always tomorrow and I can succeed tomorrow.

So in the end I suppose success is the incremental evaluations that we make on our road to the eventual. If we are always striving for improvement, and we regularly see it, then we are seeing success. 

 Check out what other members of the TOS Crew have to say about measuring success!