two boys, storytelling & child-led learning
Unfortunately, the newspaper can’t use my column this week, so I thought I’d share some photos today instead. Some of you might be interested in knowing that the flower I use in my logo is a kind of Columbine. I discovered it in a wildflower seed mix, and I try to collect the seeds every year and replant them. Last year none of them bloomed, but this year I have a few, and they are so pretty.
Ahhh…I’m back!
I took a couple of weeks to stop writing, stop reading what’s new in the homeschooling world, and I did very little social media. I watched movies instead! My brain is thanking me for it. I highly recommend it too. Now I’m refreshed and I have more writing ideas, which I was lacking before I took the break.
I may be blogging less through the summer as I work on some other projects too, but I promise to post my weekly columns.
Sometimes you just gotta do something different.
What have you done differently lately?
I’ve been writing a weekly column for my newspaper for nearly four years now (wow!), and for the first time, I’ve decided to take a break. I’m going to extend that vacation to blogging and social media as well. Good-bye, Internet….for a week or two.
Meanwhile, if you’d like some reading material, here are some of my oldies but goodies.
Have a wonderful two weeks! I’m still available by e-mail if you’d like to chat: shellipabis (at) gmail (dot) com
THANK YOU
Recently this blog has acquired over 150 followers, and while I know that’s peanuts in the blogging world, and the blogging experts say that only about 5-10% of my following actually read my posts regularly anyway, I am still tickled pink that 150+ people have found Mama of Letters worthy enough to click “follow.” Even a few true followers makes me happy, and you know who you are.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You encourage me and keep me going.
Many years ago I started Mama of Letters, but it was only more recently when I switched to WordPress and decided to focus on homeschooling and daily life with children. I don’t make money with this blog, and I try to be as honest and straightforward as I can (while still protecting my family’s privacy). I also try to give information that will be helpful to you. I think about what I might like to know, if I were in your shoes. For me that has a lot to do with learning how to relax and do it our way… I hope I inspire you to do it your way.
I have met some wonderful people by writing this blog, and I want to thank those of you who have left comments and/or e-mailed me with your comments and questions. I love connecting with you. I really do.
MY APOLOGY
I apologize for something though. I have always felt that it’s nice for a blogger to try to reciprocate the online relationships by reading and leaving comments on others’ blogs. However, since I’ve started this homeschooling blog I find it impossible to do that while maintaining the lifestyle I purport to have on this blog — simple, creative, mindful, with time spent outdoors and ample time focused on my children — so I don’t do it. If you come here looking for another follower for your blog, you’ll probably be disappointed, but that’s all the more reason I want to thank you, if you read my blog anyway.
I am also not so active on social media. I spend a little time on Facebook, and no time on Google+. Pinterest not so much. I use Twitter more, but there are days that I’m silent there too. I know you can understand why I have to limit myself in these venues.
Having said that, this past year I discovered that Flipboard on my iPad makes reading blogs super easy for me, so I try to at least “flip” through some of my favorite blogs once a week or so. I rarely leave comments. Mostly because it’s hard to do on my iPad, and I usually can’t get passed those darn captcha phrases! (“I really am a REAL person!”) So I apologize for that too, but I do enjoy reading your inspiring blogs, and I wish I had more time for it.
If you have a blog that you’d like for me to read, please leave me a link my comments. I can’t promise anything, but I will add it to my feed!
WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?
How is your homeschooling going? Please leave me a comment. I love to chat.
Do you have concerns or questions about homeschooling you haven’t talked to anyone about yet? Please e-mail me.
Or is there another topic you’re interested in? Motherhood… writing… storytelling… photography… blogging… gardening…. those are all my favorite topics!
Part of the reason I write is because it’s who I am…it’s good for my mental health to write out my thoughts and organize my life this way. (I tried not writing once and it didn’t last very long.)
But I write for an audience because I want to connect with others who share similar interests, and I want to help others attain their goals just as I work toward mine. I really do, and I’m not just saying that. (If I didn’t want to I’d just keep a journal.) It’s more fun doing it together.
So, I would love to get to know you. Please leave me a comment. Tell me how I could help you. Or just say hello and tell me what your plans are for this weekend.
I will continue to respond directly to your comments, and if you don’t want to leave a comment, please e-mail me directly at shelli (at) gmail (dot) com. Of course, if you feel more comfortable lurking, I understand, and I appreciate your readership too.
THANK YOU.
How can I encourage you and keep you going?
If you are someone who has “liked” my Facebook page — Thank you! — you may not be receiving all my updates in your news feed. That’s because the beloved Facebook wants me to pay to promote my page. For reasons I’m sure you can guess, I’m not going to do that. I’ve known about this for a while, but I wasn’t sure how to get around it until I learned (thanks to Simple Homeschool) that you can make sure you receive the notifications by going to my page and hovering over the “liked” button and then making sure there’s a check mark next to “Get Notifications.” That is, if you want notifications. And if you do, thank you so much. It humbles me that so many people are following my page and blog. (I was happy when I got to “10!”)
You guys are keeping me going. Thanks.
taken on our recent visit to the Chicago Botanical Garden
It’s been a busy summer, and Worthy Reads is long overdue. I’m sure I’ve missed a few worthy reads too, so if you have any interesting articles about homeschooling, education, parenting, storytelling, or something else you know I should read, please leave them in the comments! Below are my Worthy Reads. (Keep in mind that I don’t always agree with the commentary in these articles, but I consider them worthy to consider or be aware of.) I also have a little bit of Blog Business to share with you.
Homeschooling
The Benefits of Unschooling: Report I from a Large Survey - Psychology Today
What Leads Families to “Unschool” Their Children? Report II - Psychology Today
The Challenges of Unschooling: Report III from a Large Survey – Psychology Today
Some Fascinating Facts About Homeschool vs. Public School - Homeschool World
How Homeschooling Helped a Young Engineer/Entrepreneur - StateImpact.npr.org
With technology, face of homeschooling changes – SFGate
My View: Homeschooling: Marching to the beat of a different drummer – CNN Schools of Thought
Why More Black Families Are Leaving Public Schools – NewsOne
Home schooling: Why more black US families are trying it – BBC News
The questions, the answers – Avant Parenting
Homeschooled Students Well-Prepared for College, Study Finds - Huffington Post
Home-school Happenings: Making it work for all families – Citizen-Times.com
Some negative media on homeschooling:
Barely Literate? How Christian Fundamentalist Homeschooling Hurts Kids - AlterNet
Homeschooling needs either tighter regulation or to be banned - Denialism BLOG
Homeschooling Ideas
Nature Journaling with Kids – Simple Homemade
how do kids REALLY learn to write, 2.0 – Wonder Farm
Education
My View: Let preschoolers, kindergarteners play to learn – CNN Schools of Thought
Are introverted children hurt by classroom focus on participation and group activities - AJC Blogs
Bright students ‘cannot write essays’ say Cambridge dons – The Telegraph
Freedom Within Limits: Montessori education thriving at Newnan’s Carolyn Barron School – Times-Herald.com
Highly educated, deeply in dept – Philly.com
Living near good schools will cost an extra $200K – CNN Schools of Thought
Report: Test cheating may be widespread - CNN Schools of Thought
The high stakes of standardized tests – CNN Schools of Thought
Parenting
Mom’s love good for child’s brain – PsyPost
Miscellaneous
Jonah Lehrer on How to Be Creative – WSJ.com
Why Bilinguals Are Smarter - The New York Times Sunday Review
Blog Business
I have a few pieces of blog business to announce, but I’m sure you are most interested in knowing the winner of the e-book “Nuturing Creativity: A Guide for Busy Moms” by Renee Tougas. If you didn’t win or didn’t notice the drawing, I highly recommend that you buy the e-book from Renee. It’s only $3.00, and Renee offers a lot of practical advice for busy moms on how they can work creative pursuits into their everyday lives while rearing children. She gave me a lot of food for thought, and I plan to go back through her book at some point because it’s very inspiring, and I don’t want to forget her advice. (Click here to purchase the e-book.)
I’m also going to write a little more on exactly how I organize and make time for my writing and other projects in a future blog post, and if you scroll down, I’m listing some other “blog post goals” too!
Without further ado:
Thanks to everyone who have subscribed to my blog. You really inspire me to keep going, and I hope you find some of the information I post here helpful.
Just a quick note to give y’all a heads-up! Later this week I’ll be offering a free give-away for creative moms who need a little inspiration and practical advice on how to make time for creative pursuits. I’m able to offer this because one of my favorite bloggers is giving me something special to share with you. So please come back and participate! I’ll post it sometime Thursday….I can’t promise an exact time because, well, you know how it is with little kids.
I’d love for you to sign up for my RSS feed or sign up to receive my posts by e-mail in the left margin…..>
Thank you for your support.
Just a bit of blog business:
And here are my Worthy Reads in no particular order…
Education
Confessions of a ‘Bad’ Teacher by William Johnson in The New York Times Sunday Review.
Workforce Preparedness: Is Your Grad Ready for the Real World? – Houston Chronicle Blog – A little dense and specific to Houston, but I thought it posed a good question. Students need to think in terms of getting the skills they need to be prepared to compete in the workforce.
Myth Busting: How Reading is Taught in a Waldorf School – I love learning about different educational philosophies, so I was happy to come across this post on Moon Child.
UN Produced Atlas shows Girls Still Falling behind Boys in Education - SOS Children’s Villages: Canada – I talk a lot about boys and homeschooling, but this is a reminder that all children around the world are still struggling to get a decent education.
Afraid of Your Child’s Math Textbook? You Should Be. – by Annie Keeghan on her blog, Chronic Sense.
Educating and Raising Boys (I will add the following to my page Worthy Reads About Raising and Educating Boys.)
A Huge Gender Gap Persists In College Degrees, Do We Need A White House Council On Boys And Men? by Mark Perry
Boys falling behind girls in education, experts look for solutions by Bruce Lindsay for KSL.com-Utah
All-boys’ classes grow confidence, leadership by Tamara Shephard on InsideToronto.com
Who says raising boys is easier? by LZ Granderson, CNN Contributor
Learning to live with ‘boy energy’ by Stephen Bede Scharper
Homeschooling
The Moral Status of Homeschooling and Public Schooling Motivations by Pamela J. Stubbart, Huffington Post – another response to Dana Goldstein’s article in Slate.
In ‘Class’ – at Home – Ted Landphair’s AMERICA
The Best Homeschooling Resources Online – By Jamie Martin for Parents.com
Why I Could Never Have Homeschooled My Children – A Response - by Sharon Greethal for BlogHer.com – Scroll down to see a comment I left here. I don’t believe homeschoolers should ever question a non-homeschooler’s parenting skills or commitment to their children.
I am too negative about homeschooling - From the blog, Skipping School, which is written by Kate Fridkis. She was homeschooled Pre-K through 12th grade and then went on to college at Rutgers and Columbia. Now she’s a freelance writer. And obviously, I recommend her blog as well.
Should Home-schoolers Play for High School Teams? in Room for Debate on the The New York Times.
I’m taking a break from my series about Homeschool Priorities to bring you an installment of Worthy Reads. This is because my reader has been filling up with interesting articles, and I need to clean it out.
But first, I have to thank Simple Homeschool for including me on their Weekends Links. What an honor! I’m especially humbled because I’m so busy with my boys that I don’t get a chance to read other blogs as much as I like, so I really appreciate the shout out. And for anyone who is a new subscriber, thanks so much for following me. You really encourage me to keep going.
Here are some Worthy Reads I’ve come across in the last few weeks. A few of them were passed on to me by my awesome Twitter friends. Thanks, guys!
Homeschooling
In Praise of Homeschools - Excellent argument FOR homeschooling.
Why an innovative educator cares about homeschooling / unschooling and why you might too and
The Innovative Educator’s Guide to Getting Started with Unschooling - This whole blog looks like it’s worth following!
What the U.S. Census says about homeschool families - “A disportionate percentage of homeschooled students are boys — 58 percent, even though boys are a slight minority in the U.S. school population.”
Regarding Boys (These will also be added to my post Worthy Reads for Raising and Educating Boys, which is my attempt to compile information on this subject.)
Teaching boys to be men – Interesting article about a boy’s school in Kenyan newspaper. The quote I found most provocative in the article: “Why boys? Though she knows she might sound unpopular, Purity believes that the girl child has been empowered at the expense of the boy.”
Teacher and dad Michael Reist urges retooled approach to raising boys in new book
Anything Boys Can Do…Biology may play only a minor role in the math gender gap: Scientific American
Education
What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland’s School Success - “Finland’s success is especially intriguing because Finnish schools assign less homework and engage children in more creative play.”
Why Schools Don’t Value Spatial Reasoning - Very interesting, and I agree with this. My 2-year-old seems to excel in spatial reasoning, so this topic is of interest to me.
Why Don’t We Value Spatial Intelligence - After reading the article above, I had to go to the article he cited – another good read.
Your Storytelling Brain – a bit of neuroscience related to my favorite topic, storytelling. My favorite quote: “What stories give us, in the end, is reassurance.”
Parenting
Why A Teen Who Talks Back May Have a Bright Future – “Effective arguing acted as something of an inoculation against negative peer pressure. Kids who felt confident to express themselves to their parents also felt confident being honest with their friends.”
If you’ve found any worthy reads lately, please leave a link in the comments!
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.mamaofletters.com" title="Mama of Letters"><img src="http://mamaofletters.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/mol-small.jpeg" alt="Mama of Letters" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
