You may remember the oldies song that goes..."What the world needs now is love, sweet love."  Ok, we still need a lot more love and less hate out there, but I'm talking about what the world needs now in respect to the education of children.  

In the book I am reading right now entitled "Your Child's Growing Mind" by Jane M. Healy, the author says in Chapter 8, "Fortunately, things are changing (in schools).  While we still wan.... more >>

The Homeschoolers EastRoots & Shoots team recently helped support the 8th Birthday of the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas (GALT).  Although the weather tried to storm on us, our conviction to have this event must have staved it off because it never rained a drop once we got to the park where the party was being held.

Since January, approximately 12 kids in our Roots & Shoots group le.... more >>

We have started a very exciting program in our homeschool co-op called Roots & Shoots.  This worldwide program, initiated by Jane Goodall, has three aspects: service to animals, humanity and the environment.  The three projects we have planned for this semester are for The Greyhound Adoption League of Texas or GALT (animals), more >>

Wow!  What a night!  What a performance!  On Saturday night the children of Homeschoolers East (HSE) performed A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Dallas Baha'i Center (DBC) where we meet weekly for our homeschool co-op.  There were 19 children in the performance, ages 2-12.  Now this was not the kind of performance where you clo.... more >>

Today, my youngest son came into the kitchen while I was cooking and wanted to share a thought that came to him.  It turned out to be a great analogy and I asked him to say it again so I could type his words.  I only added one word for flow and the punctuation, but the words are all his.  Nice!

World Peace Poem by Garrett Atwood (age 7)

The wall is like the world,
And there are cracks in the wall.
Some leaders try to open the crack,
And make it more into a hole,
to destroy the wall.
People who go against it,.... more >>

So what did the boys think about the Rethinking Education Conference?  The pictures tell it all!  This was their first year to attend and they had a blast!  Garrett spent most of his time doing his favorite thing; building.  Building friendships and building with boxes in Box City, with junk in Junkyard Golf, making sock puppets and, of course, Legos.  Stewart enjoyed his favorite things; video games and Pokemon.  The boys loved having the freedom to go back and forth between activities while we attended various sessions.

There .... more >>

At the Rethinking Education Conference, Dayna Martin led an open discussion on Nurturing Passions.  She recommended parents find resources and opportunities related to their child's passions and interests.  She expressed the value of embracing a child's passion and even learning about or participating in the topic of interest too.  She explained that When a parent shows the same interest level in their child'.... more >>

We learn language because we are constantly surrounded by it and immersed in it every day.  Math is around us every day too, but we tend to think of it as hidden mainly due to the way we have been taught math.  Where is math around us in the world?  Everywhere.

In this session with Rachel Gathercole at the Rethinking Education Conference, we began with listing as many places we could think of that math exists.  .... more >>

It was a priviledge and unique opportunity to be able to see and hear Joseph Chilton Pearce at the Rethinking Education Conference.  His work with many scientists and psychologists in the study of the brain spans more than 30 years.

In this session, he explained the difference between the functions of the forebrain and hindbrain.  The hindbrain, designed for survival, serves fundamental purposes involvin.... more >>

In this session at the RE Conference, Krenie Stowe led an open discussion about the question "Do kids need adults and, if so, why?".  She mentioned that the title was "tonge in cheek" and that obviously there ARE things kids need from us, but that often they don't.  We discussed the many situations where kids really need to be left alone to figure out and discover without the interference of adults.  The constant interference of adults has created a culture of restriction and the abili.... more >>

In this session at the RE Conference, Maria Whitworth talked about the power of saying "Yes!" to your kids.  Choosing to say "yes" is a concious choice and for some takes a bit of work, especially if you came from a family of naysayers.  What constitutes a "no"?  Interrupting, forcing, guilting, bribing, expecting and ignoring is saying "no".  I liked Maria's suggestion for replacing "no" with words like "danger" or "caution" instead.  It was brought to our attention that "no.... more >>

This was my first session at the RE Conference and was attended by a variety of families who were either brand new to home/unschooling or making the transition into unschooling.  It began with participants collectively listing their concerns and questions and then moved on to discussion of those topics.  Rachel Gathercole shared her personal family discoveries regarding unschooling as well as a few accounts of unschooling families she h.... more >>

The excitement and anticipation is building as families prepare to attend the Rethinking Education Conference in Dallas that begins tomorrow.  My kids are really excited and can't wait!  They did not attend last year and don't really know what to expect, but I've told them about all the fun opportunities open to them and they are most excited about the activities that involve building things and the chance to play and trade Pokemon.

My interests are in the Inspired Immers.... more >>

Our family will be attending the Rethinking Education (RE) Conference in Dallas this September ‘08.  (www.rethinkingeducation.com)  It’s an unschooling conference, but don't let the word "unschooling" scare you like it did me.  Last year I began my journey to learn about and understand unschooling and I was finally able to figure out why I had always been intrigued by it, yet put off at the same time.  But I’ll explain that shortly.

First, I'd like .... more >>

The Private Eye program is all about looking and thinking by analogy.  Metaphors and smilies are compressed analogies, allegories and parables are extended analogies.  An analogy is a comparison that involves four parts:

First you make a comparison between two things or actions.  The book uses the example of seeing a crowded subway and making the comparison of bees in a hive.  You then have the comparison between "crowds" and "bees".  That's the first two parts of the analogy.  Then you ask yourself in what way those two thi.... more >>

My mind is buzzing with analogies right now.  I'm preparing my lesson plan for a class I will be teaching for our homeschool co-op.  If you haven't heard of The Private Eye program (www.theprivateeye.com), you've GOT to check it out!  What a cool concept and approach! 

There are so many subjects you can cover with this program and really encourage kids to think in analogies which tap them into their higher level thinking skills.  The most interesting thing I'.... more >>

The poppies on my site are a reminder to me that my children's lives are a creative adventure I should not disrupt.  Years ago, before I had children and when I was performing with KIDPROV, I saw a very inspiring PBS TV series entitled "The Creative Spirit".  It highlighted a school in Italy called Reggio Emilia.  WOW!  If you get a chance to see this video or to read the companio.... more >>