Where Are The Normal People?

It is a reasonable question to ask.  These days, it seems like everyone has something - autism, ADHD, lactose intolerance, peanut allergies, gluten allergies, or shellfish allergies. 

Did these always exist?  Maybe. 

I was sure that my guy was "normal" - with the exception of the peanut allergy.  But the truth is that he has a hard time making eye contact with strangers, has a VERY hard time warming up to other kids, and he has a nervous tic.  Has he been screened for autism?  Yes.  Many times.  He doesn't have it, but he might have something.  They say that another mark for autism might be exceptional intelligence in one area; my son is brilliant in math, but he is also brilliant in English, Geography, languages, and science too.  He is not an across the board genius, as he is at his grade level for certain things, but he is clever.

But might something be going on with him?  Maybe.  A dear friend of mine who has an a borderline autistic son (who is also brilliant, polite, and oh-so sweet) mentioned that he might have a little something.  I believe her.  But what can I do if he doesn't fit the hallmarks of autism?  I guess that what I will have to do is help him strengthen the areas where he is weak, which is socialization.  The nervous tics might take some time to go away on their own, though. 

But back to my original thought - where are the "normal" people?  The truth is that I don't know if I am related to one or not. 

Take me for instance.  I was so shy growing up (and lactose intolerant).  I had the hardest time meeting new people and did awfully in new situations (I was not homeschooled, had an older sister, a younger brother and lots of family members around).  In first grade, I would walk home every single day before the end of class because I could not handle the pressures of school.  How did I do in class?  Very well, actually.  It came very easy to me.  The administrators at my school caught on to my game during second grade, though, and made me stay all day.  I made maybe two friends that year. 

My shyness continued through my childhood (I talked to myself a lot), through adolescence and into adulthood as well.  I did well enough in school, though, and left home at the age of 17 (for the Navy) and never went back.  As an adult, I've learned to work around my shyness and my introversion (though I develop a stutter if I am in uncomfortable situations).  Nothing makes me happier than being at home alone (and with my husband and son), though. 

My husband was also shy growing up, but did not speak to nothing as I did.  He is actually a pretty straight arrow. 

My mother, however, is another story.  She has a viciously bad temper.  She gets downright petulant and hard to tolerate when she gets angry.  However, she is a social butterfly.  Never have I met someone as gregarious as she.  I've often wondered if she's had a touch of something. 

My father is a hard core introvert.  Leave him alone with his TV and he is good.  I get a lot of my nature from him.  However, he does not share my shyness issues.  He was very popular at school and highly athletic. 

So, where are they?  Where are the "normal" people?  Do they exist?  Did they ever exist?  Do they wrestle with issues that have nothing to do with their physiology?  Or is our world simply building different people?

I know; I'm going off on an adaptation/anthropology tangent here. 

Still, I think that the "non normal" people might soon outnumber the "normal" people.  But maybe that is okay.  Maybe the world will change to accommodate us - the non normal people.  

What Is Common Core and How Does It Affect Me?

The truth is that I am not completely sure what Common Core Standards are.  I should know, as my son's homeschool counselor (a school teacher) has been trying to explain it to me for the past year or so. 

My rough translation (or interpretation) is that children will be tested on what they know, and will be asked to explain how they came to their answers.  I think that is entirely reasonable.  

There are opponents to Common Core, of course.  A lot of them are worried about Big Brother, Bill Gates, President Obama, etc.  I think that they should just shut up about that, and here is why:

No one can depend on schools to educate their children.  It is our job to educate our children.  If there is something that your kid needs work on that they are not getting in school, teach them that at home - or find a tutor.  If you don't like what is being taught at school, tell your kids to disregard that and teach them something else.  We get mixed signals and mixed messages throughout our lifetime; a lesson in accepting that there are differences between us and other people is one that we can all take, and retake. 

Religious Education vs. Secular Education

Lots of people homeschool because of religious reasons.  Public schools have largely pushed Christianity out of their doors, unfortunately.  

As I mentioned in a previous post, our reasons for homeschooling were academic and health-wise ones. 

However, we are religious.  Actually, we are practicing Catholics.  Here are some of the reading materials we have on hand to prove that:

But (here is the but), I love secular education.  I love Anthropology and Sociology.  I love science. Here are the books that show that: 

How does that jive with a religious education?  It doesn't - not exactly.  We simply teach both things - Christianity and secular based education. 

The truth is that I think that God made everything, but that he didn't explain how he did it, which is okay by me. 

So what should others teach?  I think that they should also teach their children EVERYTHING, so that their children can understand how others think.  The best way to argue for or against something is to be educated on all of the facts. 

Hidden Homeschooling Tools

Hi Folks!

I thought I'd share a few pictures of "hidden" homeschooling objects in our home.  Maybe you have them lurking in your closets, drawers, or corners, too.

 

Scrabble.  Learning new vocabulary words AND keeping score for arithmetic lessons.

 

Tablet PCs are awesome.  Crosswords are a great way to learn about synonyms and thesaurus.  (This app is actually from the UK, which triggered an interesting lesson regarding the English language and how it differs from country to country.

 

Calendars.  The boy asked about leap year, moon phases, holidays, how many days are in a month...

 

Telling time on an analog clock.  So crucial!

 

Telling time on a digital clock.  Important, too.

 

Temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius.  Thermometers and thermostats.  Lots to learn here.

 

Liquid units of measure!

 

More temperature teachings (food safety, too). 

 

 

 

So, take a good look at your place.  You'd be surprised at how many educational opportunities are waiting to be discovered. 

Why We Homeschool...

Very early on, my husband and I realized that we had a pretty clever kid on our hands.  Granted, we started reading to him when he was about 6 weeks old, but began to show signs of being smart pretty quickly.  By the age of two, he was reading some words on his own.  By the time he was three, he was reading and writing.  By the time he was four, he was doing simple math, and had the US map and capitals memorized too.  It snowballed from there. 

I had not considered homeschool yet, but did research on Montessori schools, and all of the rest of the "really good" schools out there.  But then one day, everything changed. 

My husband shared a bit of his Butterfinger candy bar with our son.  I will never forget the way he cringed after he swallowed it.  Massive red welts then covered his back, face, neck and head.  We were sure that he was allergic to peanuts.  We woke him up every few minutes that night, just to make sure he was okay.  Two days later, all of the red welts were gone.  We took him to get tested for a peanut allergy; he was allergic. 

So, I did what any other person would do.  I Googled peanut allergies and found some disturbing facts.  Many of the poor children who had passed due to peanut allergies could have survived had their caregivers understood the seriousness of the allergic reactions. 

Not my kid.

So, homeschool it was.  He was still young at the time - not even three yet.  But I still bought him Kindergarten and First Grade activity books for him to complete at home.  He completed them.  I moved on to harder things, and he did fine with those too. 

Finally, he had reached the age where he was eligible for Early Admission Kindergarten.  A counselor at his charter homeschool confirmed what we suspected - our son was very clever and would probably not do well in Kindergarten. 

So, we homeschooled our son.  His charter homeschool helped me identify the areas in his education that I had inadvertently skipped; we backtracked and covered all of those. 

Today, we are still happily homeschooling.  I love the fact that I know what will enter my son's mouth and mind.  I love, love, love having him with me all of the time, too. 

So that is our story.  What is yours?

Cindy

Homeschooling - Lessons Learned

Good Morning, folks!  Well, it is technically morning here in sunny San Diego, California.

So.  My name is Cindy, and I am a homeschooling parent of one child. 

Before I get into my background and why we homeschool, I thought that I would first talk about things that I've learned about homeschooling that I did not find in a book. 

• Homeschooling is a job, and you have to treat it as such.  It will be something extra you have to do on top of housekeeping, child-minding, and cooking (or writing, if you write fiction like I do).  It can be taxing, even when it is rewarding.  Be sure to give yourself a break when you need to. 
• There are A LOT of opponents of homeschooling out there.  That might include your spouse, your parents, you friends, your aunt Melba who didn't care about your own education when you went to school, and even strangers.  Make sure you have a good "home team," meaning your spouse and your children. 
• You will constantly need to defend your homeschooling, even when your child is soaring academically speaking. 
• The big "S" - socialization.  You will have to get your kid outside of the house and around other kids, so that they don't forget that there are other kids out there.  But don't forget about the whole nature versus nurture thing, either.  If your child is outgoing, they will talk to anyone be it in school, or at the grocery store.  If they are shy by nature, they will be shy at school, or at a playgroup too. 
• Co-op groups are wonderful things to be a part of.  Not only will your child socialize with other kids, you will get the opportunity to talk to other parents about homeschooling.  Other local parents are great sources of information of what kind of activities can be done in your city.
• Homeschooling laws differ from state to state.  If you are part of a family that frequently moves, you might want to review the homeschooling laws for the states you're considering moving to. 
• It might be hard to manage school-aged children with babies and toddlers, so you'll want to get a good schedule down for that.  But do not be discouraged; hundreds of other parents do it, too. 
• If you've been teaching your toddlers about shapes, colors, numbers and other things, you've been homeschooling already. 

So, this is all I have (for now) as far as the unknowns I've discovered in my two plus years of homeschooling. 

Cindy