A Self-Taught Couple Who Dabbles

Posted on December 28, 2011 by

This Charlotte Observer article caught my eye about this particular couple - Rollin and Mckenzie Hansen work together, play together and have been happily married for 36 years.

In 1976, the Hansens moved to Minneapolis. Rollin began working for FreemanWhite, an architectural firm.Mckenzie dove into motherhood, raising and homeschooling their son and daughter.

They started homeschooling when it wasn't quite so cool to homeschool.  When you read their experiences, it makes sense the natural flow was to homeschool.  They dived into travels to India and made opportunities out of unfortunate situations like being laid off:

Not one to sit around with idle hands, Rollin focused much of his time on the miniatures he had been working on as a hobby since 1980."Our daughter was 3,"Rollin said, "and I wanted to build a dollhouse for her. That's when my interest with miniatures began."Rollin and Mckenzie have a lot of the necessary equipment for creating and building in their home workshop.The couple focuses on being creative and authentic. Everything is built to scale.Self-taught, they have put in a lot of time researching information needed for whatever project they are working on.

This is an encouraging story during these economic times.  I remember my Grandma always telling me her sweet tale I loved to hear. In raising six children during the Depression they didn't know how poor they were.  She and Grandpa were in love, happy and conveyed that in their family.  It made a difference.  From the Observer article:

Rollin works on getting a job every day."I spend some amount of hours each day looking for a new job. With my experience and architectural training, I didn't think it would take this long," he said. "But I am happy to be spending quality time with my family."

When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.

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Carnival of Homeschooling – Passages

Posted on December 27, 2011 by

2011 will be our family's last full year of homeschooling. Our youngest have steadily moved into their own educational goals and motivations.  Their plan was always implanted with great fun such as zoo adventures, jamming with friends and traveling.  Definitely not the last our family will see of homeschooling, but our twin boys and their parents will be on a different path come this time next year.

The Ryans' Adams Family Pic

This is our New England no-teeth version taken by my parents' central Illinois pond.. We were married by this willow tree, which now offers much more shade and cover.

Henry – founder of the Carnival of Homeschooling - wonders in what ways homeschoolers vacation differently?  His thoughts on Homeschooling and vacation are at Why Homeschool.  I also wonder if other families throw in the history and other cultural nuggets along with visits.

Amy presented Our Winter Guest posted at Ambling. Amy – with Charlotte Mason's vision – said: "I believe our little House Finch has "come into view the more freely" in search of warmth. We have provided him with a little bonus of food as well, and in exchange he has offered us the pleasure of his company and the opportunity to learn more about his kind."  That is a lovely passing exchange over this winter season.
 
Socializing
 
 
The Parenting Squad posted an article with the emphasis on Teaching Children to Give Back This Holiday Season.
 

On Homeschool Online, Jamie offers Tips for Wrapping it Up! – Blogs – Parent Community and Forum. Some homeschooling families are finishing up a semester of school and practical tips are offered for success.

Moving along to next year, My Domestic Church posted Homeschool Connections – one way to add some zing to the next semester!

Dena also offered some thoughts about the future in Goal for it! posted at pjsallday.com.

Chris submitted a insightful article all families should consider when their children approach the young adult stage.  Is College Right for Your Home School Student can be read at Home School vs Public School.  Following Chris' family experiences, he recommends consideration to: "balancing if a college education is correct for your home school student. Looking at several different factors that may influence their decision. Is a college degree necessary for what they want to do with their life?"  Indeed, college is not for everyone.

Read Aloud Dad reviewed Dinosaur Cove: Attack of the Readaloudsaurus at Read Aloud Dad.  His children have jumped right into 'paleo mode' with the gift of books.

South African homeschooling mom Melanie Grant submitted some suggestions on How to Get your Children Reading and a Great Giveaway posted at Mel's Mouthful on Mothering.

Guiding Dad with the 3-wheeler construction..  Now he's driving a 4-wheeler.

 

Sabrina suggests homeschoolers take note in  Phys. Ed. Failure – Let's Get REAL, Homeschoolers! at the 7Sisters Innovative Homeschool Helps.  Our family also has some of each – competitive athletes and non-athletes – and the recommendation is to think "outside the gym class box" while teaching your kids to be healthy.  Common sense and fitness prevails. What more can you ask?

Granny nanny Kaye at the SandwichINK blog offers up Grandparent and Grandchildren Educational and Musical Fun – Teaching Multiplication Facts Through Songs.  This is a way to enjoy learning multiplication facts with songs, which is great for homeschool fun learning, errands with the grandkids, and more.  

Annie Kate is loving her blissful and refreshing week off.  Her post Ah, Holidays! at Tea Time with Annie Kate reflects the family time that is so precious to us.  

 
We all use our time in different ways and one of the joys of homeschooling is the amount of time we have.  The clock keeps ticking and when our chicks are ready to fly, we hope we've taught them what is needed to build up their own successful and independent lives.  Those are successful passages.
 
Carnival of Homeschooling
Thank you for reading this last Carnival of Homeschooling for 2011. 
 

Please pass along your Carnival of Homeschooling submissions for 2012 via the instructions.  

Happy and joyous wishes for all during this holiday season!  May you have many blessings besides the wonderful comforts and fruition of homeschooling. 
 
 
Sunset on our Farm
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Comfort Level

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

 

Interesting discovery from the Enertia Home Kit people concerning their clients who want a sustainable home:

A surprising number of homeowners were home schooling; all of these among our clients who were either contracting the home themselves, or actually building the package themselves with the help of friends, relatives, and their school age children.

Enertia® was first introduced to home schooling by our plant manager who choose to home school and a number of times, brought his son to work. That son later went on to graduate a 5 year engineering program in four years, with honors, and was offered a job on graduation day.

Not being able to stop myself (just in case our kids would like more information) I looked up more neutral sources regarding the Enertia theory.  A particular piece of the review made me smile comparing the Enertia homeowners with its homeschooling subset and its different path not as smooth and typical.  From Sustainablog and a BuildingGreen.com quote:

According to data published on the Enertia website, the Durham home has logged a 66% energy savings over a regional benchmark. However, Miller said that when he visited the house it was 80°F (27°C) and humid inside, whereas many people would be more comfortable with the thermostat at about 73°F (23°C) and with reduced humidity.Miller’s report echoes a pattern that EBN found with other Enertiahomeowners—they were willing to tolerate less comfortable conditions than the average homeowner. That kind of habit change is great for the environment, but it makes an apples-to-apples comparison with other homes harder, since any home can use less energy if the occupants are willing to compromise their comfort. Part of Enertia’s apparent virtue may simply be the virtue of its occupants.

I'm definitely not inferring homeschoolers have more virtue than other families choosing a more traditional educational path.  But most homeschoolers' comfort level being way outside the box can't be contested.  We all do it in a different way, but I have found homeschoolers tend to like homegrown, homemade, home spun and home educated.  That homey touch is moving into larger demands as we all learn quality does count.  But homeschoolers also like our families being home.  

Continuing from Sustainablog:

That's a long quote, I realize, but it details a problem that will ultimately keep this home from the mass market: most people would love the energy savings, but want to also remain comfortable. While 73 degrees seems a bit excessive, few people will want to live in a warm, humid house.

Sustainablog's author provided me a (possibly sketchy) analogy into the possibility homeschooling will likely not reach the "mass market".  Seems like it would not occur unless the public school industry successfully manipulates our name and presence into the public school purse. (They're trying)  But few families believe they can homeschool or want to homeschool enough to make the big move into the 80 degree environment.

I am hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling next week.  Please pass along your blog submissions.  I'm looking forward to reading them.  More information is provided at the Carnival of Homeschooling host's blog.

 

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A Few Similarities

Posted on December 11, 2011 by

This description below looks like an American family's homeschool story:

This House Believes in Homeschooling

 "My daughter didn't have many chances to participate in a large class," said Yao, adding that he noticed she had particular needs that weren't being addressed. Compared to her classmates, she excelled at math but required more time on handwriting.

Two years later, Yao says several of his friends also began to homeschool their children after seeing improvements in his daughter. Like many homeschool parents, Yao developed a curriculum based on popular school textbooks and online education materials. Working as a team with his wife, Yao says the method of study is guided primarily by his daughter's own interest in subjects.

Except this family lives in Jiangsu Province's Yangzhou City far across the world from us.

Homeschooling in China

The article's depiction of growth of homeschooling in China is fascinating.  The bureaucrats' response in the US and China makes for depressing comparisons.  

Renming University of China Education Institute Director Qin Huiming said parents are entitled to choose have their children educated at home or at school, but ultimately the government should create education standards for national curriculum.

"Homeschooled children often have difficulties in social development," said Zhongshan University Professor Gu Nanyong, adding that competition in the classroom is key to the development of social skills.

Xiong Bingqi, the vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Academy pointed out that as the personalized education becomes a growing trend, it will be necessary for the government to bring regulatory oversight on the issue of homeschooling.

Why should personalized education bring on regulatory oversight?  Big government is a factor in countries like China and I'm pleasantly surprised to see homeschooling growing there.  It's a bit troubling the United States – founded on limited government – has some of the same views pouring out of our educational 'leaders'.  Actually, I wonder if some of these Chinese anti-homeschooling professors got their talking points from the US education industry leaders.  Homeschoolers here have been hearing this silliness about socialization and continuation of education in the universities for decades.  

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