The Secret Garden

We live in the Secret Garden.

We are also reading the classic, The Secret Garden, by Burnette.  What a nice change from curriculum anthology readings.  We are incorporating the literature unit study for comprehension and activity options.
This feels right.

Painted Lady aka Vanessa Cardui

Caterpillar (larva) eating the Passion Vine

Newly emerged from Chrysalis

One of hundreds of Chrysalis attached to stone pillar.

 Interesting Facts:
Scientific name: Vanessa Cardui
They migrate long distances
Begin as eggs that hatch into larva
4 weeks eating as caterpillars before change into cocoon
7-10 as a chrysalis


We have hundreds of these butterflies in our backyard.  They are attracted to our Passion Vine and return every year.  The kids are very protective of them as they make their crysalis everywhere.  The gardener is not allowed to work in the area as he may disturb them.  We find their cocoons everywhere!

More Room for the Self to Emerge

A new stack of books await me, an exciting bundle of information ready to shape my thinking and I am excited!  So many books, so little time.  I will have to learn to read faster, skim and comprehend the pages so that I can extract the main ideas and understand the facts and move onto to another.  Ah, the joy of growing with my children!  I realize that though my college coursework laid a great foundation for the basis of my intellectual self, I know that I must learn more so that I have a current inventory of information to share with my children.  So I read.  No time for television.  I have to gain a solid perspective on what the future may look like.  Must keep abreast of the changes so that I can stay on a positive trajectory that will gracefully land us on our feet, ready to live independent lives in the 21st century.

One of the books I have in my possession is Hold on to Your Kids, by Neufeld, Ph.d & Mate', M.D.  I have not yet read this book, however, I randomly opened the book to read a page to see how it may or may not grab my interest.  It did catch my attention as I read, "In our urgency for our children to socialize, we leave little time for our kids to be with us or to engage in solitary, creative play I've called emergent play.  We fill up their free time with play dates-or with videos, television, electronic games.  We need to leave much more room for the self to emerge."  Well, this really hit home for me as I not only struggle to be sure my kids have enough 'social' time but also, I need to get a handle on the TV addiction.  I can't tell you how many times I threaten to cancel cable!  Yes, many mom-friends tell me, just don't allow TV during the week.  Seems easy enough, right?  Okay, I am working on this.  Somehow I feel that they deserve a break, time to be mindless, especially for B who is enrolled in public school 3rd grade- a very intense place to be, he comes home stressed out.  He enjoys TV but on the other hand, the quiet time would be healthy (despite the complaints and adversity), and the creativity that would emerge is a far greater good. 

I look forward to reading this book, it seems promising as it addresses 'peer orientation' issues which is especially important for those who have children in larger education institutions - like me. 

Niah's Name Poem

NIAH

It means Nice, Fun, and Creative.
It is 10,000. 
It is shimmery and light like the ocean.
It is hugging Taylor Swift.
It is the memories of YaYa painting,
Who teaches me manners and goodness,
When she has me over for the night.
My name is Niah.
It means believing in mermaids and being at my top of the class in College.

A New Beginning...

Today is the first today of school.  Off to public went the little brave boy and home with Mom is the little girl.  So far, so smooth, learning the new routine.

It feels strange to have him gone, peaceful, yes, but not settled in my heart.  He was such a big boy going off to a new school all alone with an adventurous spirit.  She keeps telling me to stop missing him so because I may change my mind and she likes it this way. 

She has been cooperative, diving into Singapore Math, Khan Academy, Wordly Wise, and creatively writing a name poem.  I think we will take a walk back in time with Story of the World and finish up with reading the Secret Garden.

Right now she is doing a photo session of her dogs using the Canon Rebel TIIi.

I will now add her as an author for this blog so that she may contribute her poem.

Book Ratings Site

Just discovered this great site for book discretion and ratings info, http://www.theliteratemother.org Checked it for Hunger Games after hearing all the hype and needless to say, we won't be reading it. 

Time to raise special people to work great jobs!

My husband works for one of the largest and oldest construction and engineering companies in the world and he sees first hand, the dwindling supply of employees with leadership, critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills.  It makes his job more difficult as he is challenged with putting together teams to tackle new projects with new technologies.  It takes teamwork to build these huge projects thus these companies are HUNGRY for thinking people! Time to raise some special people to fill those great jobs!  Give me about 10 years and I'll send you a couple! ;)

The Global Achievement Gap

The latest book I have glued to my sticky fingers is The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard Grad School of Education.  This is one of the best books of my independent study as it discusses the very real, global, 21st century challenges our children face.  From the technological explosion to global warming to political instability and the threats to our democracy, our kids need special skills to be successful problem solvers in this environment.  He lists the Seven Survival Skills:
1.) Critical thinking and Problem Solving
2.) Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
3.) Agility and Adaptability
4.) Initiative and Entreprenuerialism
5.) Effective Oral and Written Communication
6.) Accessing and Analyzing Information
7.) Curiosity and Imagination

 Unfortunately, the school system has been unable to evolve at a pace fast enough to teach our kids what they will need.  Back to the 'teaching to test' argument...so much effort is put into accountability for the sake of accountability that there is NO time to engage the students into real critical thinking, problem-solving activities.  Teachers are too overstressed and over-burdened to help prepare students for the extremely competitive job market of the future.

So the question becomes, how do we teach, and what do we teach our kids to get them ready? He discusses project based learning opportunities as key to engaging students into real world learning.  He references the High Tech High model.

to be continued....

notes:

Net Generation- multitasking, shallow social networking, balancing on the edge of over-stimulation and chaos with information overload... This is a revolution/evolution of humanity that cannot be ignored.  Change is upon us and moving at a pace never seen before, we must stay aware of these changes and help guide and shape these young people as they ride the info highway.  Must take a hard look at the system that isn't able to keep pace.  Rejection of archaic methodologies...

There are 3 reasons people want to learn. 
1.) push- need, risk, threat, or risk. (Government safety nets prevent this from being a motivation.)
2.) transfer of habits - social norms and tradition.  (Well, we know about the erosion of social values.)
3.) pull- interest, desire, passion. (It's our greatest hope!)