Homeschooling - The Talk

Two days ago we had “The Talk” with our kids over dinner.  NO, not that talk, rather the talk about the kids leaving public school next year and being homeschooled.  If you read our previous blog post about this decision you already know we did not take the decision lightly.  (click here to read previous blog post).  This nationwide social trend of homeschooling and private schooling is becoming increasingly popular, and for obvious reasons.  Our current public education system is failing our children.  Nearly everyone agrees on this conclusion regardless of political affiliation.  The only thing people do disagree on is who to blame.  Rather than go on about politics, we’d rather share our kids’ responses and through those responses illustrate exactly why we believe that homeschool will be beneficial for our two kids.

Our daughter’s reaction was very positive and optimistic, on the verge of excitement.  She was as stoked as an adolescent could possibly be.  Immediately she recognized that she would have the one-on-one attention that she constantly craves but seldom has in the public school setting.  She did not say this in so many words, but she did mention the positives about how she learned better from us than from the school.  She also expressed excitement that her days would be more structured.  When we asked both kids whether they learned more at home or in school, and if they understood more when taught at home, both answered in the affirmative.  Our daughter was concerned about not having the school library, but when she was assured that weekly trips to the public library would be scheduled she was OK with it.  She loves to read!

Our son’s reaction was one of a little more concern and deep contemplation.  His concern centered around the possibility that he would have more work to do.  Maximum benefit for minimum effort seems to be his implied mantra.  Another question which he asked was whether we would be going on more than one field trip per year.  He was excited to find out that we will be planning many field trips.  When we asked him if he was ever truly challenged at school he replied that he wasn’t. Actually the conversation was more among the lines of,  “do you ever find anything really difficult to understand at school?”.  After a long pause his response was, “yes, swinging on the swing set.  I can’t get it to go.”.  We then asked if learning anything in the classroom was ever challenging.  After another pause his response was, “no.”.

The bottom line is that the system teaches each kid to reach a minimum standard.  The ones that can reach that minimum standard are ignored, and in our son’s case, expected to slow down and come back to the rest of the group.  In our daughter’s case, she gets the minimum amount of attention needed to reach that minimum goal.  As I have said before many times, public schooling teaches kids how to be mediocre. 

We also need to reiterate, that we do not blame the teachers for this educational epidemic.  We feel that teachers have their hands tied by the bureaucracy and the system for whom they work.  They can seldom be teachers and rather have been forced to become administers of tests and indoctrination.  Both of us are products of the public school system and find it unfortunate and appalling what the system has become.   

Cleveland H. Eggers

Part of my civil war ancestry:  3rd Cousin (4Xs removed)

Cleveland Eggers and Rocalette (2nd wife)

Cleveland H. Eggers was born 21 Aug 1849 in Laurel Bloomery, Johnson County Tennessee to Abner and Lucinda Jane Venable Eggers.  He enlisted in the 13^th Regiment Tennessee Calvary in 1863 at 14 years old. According to his enlistment card he was 18, so he no doubt lied about his age to enlist.  He was assigned to company G and later D and saw 2 and ½ years of combat (see below).  He married Elizabeth Jane Eller in 1866 and had up to 10 children.  Census records are a bit sketchy, but it appears he and Elizabeth had at least 3 sons that survived to adulthood and at least a couple of daughters that survived to adulthood as well.  Perhaps 4 children did not make it to their 10^th birthday as there are some personal records, but very little census data.  He and Elizabeth divorced before the 1900 census and presumable before 1899.  Elizabeth passed away in 1932.

Apparently Cleveland was also married to a woman by the name of Rocalette, whom he married in 1899. By all accounts she was a widow at the time of this marriage. 

Cleveland passed away on 2 July 1908 in Oregon where he had been living for approximately 10 years with Rocalette. 

The following is from the National Park Service webpage about the service of the 13^th Regiment, Tennessee Calvary  For a direct link click here.

13th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry

 Overview:Organized at Strawberry Plains, Nashville and Gallatin, Tenn., October, 1863. Attached to District of Columbus. Ky., 6th Division, 16th Army Corps, Dept. of the Tennessee, to November, 1863. District of North Central Kentucky, Dept. of the Ohio, to January, 1864. District of Nashville, Tenn., Dept. of the Cumberland, to April, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October, 1864. 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, Cavalry Corps, Military Division Mississippi, November, 1864. District of East Tennessee to March, 1865. 3rd Brigade, Cavalry Division, District of East Tennessee, Dept. of the Cumberland to July, 1865. Cavalry Brigade, District of East Tennessee, to September, 1865.

Service:Duty in District of Columbus, Ky., and at Camp Nelson, Ky., till January, 1864. Duty in District of Nashville and on Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, and at Bull's Gap, Tenn., till September, 1864. Rogersville August 21, 1864. Pursuit to Greenville August 21-23. Blue Springs August 23. Park's Gap, Greenville, September 4. Morgan killed. Gillem's Expedition from East Tennessee toward Southwest Virginia September 20-October 17. Rheatown September 28. Watauga River September 29. Carter's Station September 30-October 1. Operations in East Tennessee October 10-28. Greenville October 12. Bull's Gap October 16. Clinch Mountain October 18. Clinch Valley near Sneedsville October 21. Near Memphis October 25. Mossy Creek and Panther Gap October 27. Morristown and Russellville October 28. Operations against Breckenridge's advance into East Tennessee November 4-17. Russellville November 11. Bull's Gap November 11-13. Russellville November 14. Strawberry Plains November 16-17. Flat Creek November 17. Stoneman's Saltsville Raid December 10-29. Big Creek near Rogersville December 12. Kingsport December 13. Glade Springs December 15. Marion and capture of Wytheville December 16. Mt. Airy December 17. Engagement near Marion December 17-18. Capture and destruction of Saltsville, Va., December 20-21. Duty in East Tennessee till March, 1865. Stoneman's Expedition from East Tennessee into Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina March 21-April 25. Wytheville April 6. Shallow Ford and near Mocksville April 11. Salisbury April 12. Catawba River near Morgantown April 17. Swannanoa Gap, N. C., April 20. Near Hendersonville April 23. Duty in District of East Tennessee till September. Mustered out September 5, 1865.

Special thanks to Ancestry.com and National Park Service

Survival Bracelet: Update

Mackenson's 1st two sales

If you read our blog a few days ago you know that Mackenson has started a new endeavor making and selling 550 paracord survival bracelets.  If you have not read it yet click here.

So far he has sold three and has pending orders for four more.

Not only is he making and selling these bracelets all on his own accord, he is also increasing his dexterity, reinforcing his money counting skills, keeping a ledger book that also allows for addition and subtraction (with decimals), writing a note and a receipt that accompanies each bracelet, and lastly developing brainstorming strategies to sell more.  There are probably other lessons in this as well. 

We are proud of him for coming up with this himself, doing 95% of the work and financing himself (we only double check everything is OK such as postage etc.).  If you are interested, his current price is $5 plus actual shipping.  Send us a note.

MACK at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum

Last week during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C., our family took a trip to see the beautiful trees and to visit one of the Smithsonian Museums.  Click here to read about our visit to see the cherry blossoms. 

Mackenson's visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. provided him with the opportunity to study the timeline of Earth's history.  He saw fossils, models and reproductions from the Precambrian time period, Paleozoic Era, Mesozoic Era and Cenozoic Era.  For his project he was asked to make a one page presentation or mini poster for each of these major time periods.


The jellyfish in a diorama displaying the Precambrian time period caught Mackenson's eye.

Veering away from animal life, Mackenson chose to look closely at the sphenophyllum (spore producing plants) that grew in the Paleozoic Era.

Mackenson liked the Trilophosaurus, a lizard that lived in the Mesozoic Era. 

Uiuntatheres was an early mammal in the Cenozoic that Mackenson was interested in.

 Click here to see Marie's National History Museum project posters.

MARIE at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum

Last week during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C., our family took a trip to see the beautiful trees and to visit one of the Smithsonian Museums.  Click here to read about our visit to see the cherry blossoms. 

Marie's visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. provided her with the opportunity to study the timeline of Earth's history.  She saw fossils, models and reproductions from the Precambrian time period, Paleozoic Era, Mesozoic Era and Cenozoic Era.  For her project she was asked to make a one page presentation or mini poster for each of these major time periods.

From the Precambrian time she identified a spindle-shaped life form.

From the Paleozoic Era she found an early amphibian, Ichthyostega.

Marie liked the dinosaur Diplodocus (the long-neck) from the Mesozoic Era.

The early dog Hesperocyon gregarius was Marie's favorite Cenozoic Era organism.

Click here to see Mackenson's Natural History Museum project posters.

Natural History Museum Assignment

This past weekend we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC.  While there we managed to check out part of the Natural History Museum.  What possible better place is there to learn about Earth's history?  Naturally we used this as an opportunity to teach some basics.  We decided to focus on the the 4 Major eras of Earth's living history Precambrian (not a real era), Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic.  For each era each child picked one animal to write about.  Each Era and animal served as a separate creative assignment during the week.  We kept the projects pretty simple with the goal to see how life has evolved over the hundreds of millions of years.

On the way home (about a 3 hour drive with traffic) we had each child reiterate the eras in order as well as spell them.  We also talked about how long humans have been on the planet in comparison to the age of the Earth, how long reptiles and dinosaurs roamed, mass extinctions and some basic animal anatomy/physiology.  For this trip we focused mostly on how teeth are different among carnivores versus herbivores and how those teeth are used respectively.

It was a very good trip, and for anyone visiting DC, make sure your kids get the full effect.  DC can be a science lesson, History lesson, government/civics and almost anything else.  It is truly a wonderful place.

Link to Mackenson's Project

Link To Marie's Project

 

EASTER EGGS VIA STRING AND SUGAR

There was an early art project I remember doing in about 3rd grade around Easter time.  Thanks to my excellent memory (but mostly google) we were able to recreate this project for our kids just in time for Easter.  Also, we try to make everything we do into a learning activity, so there are some science as well as art aspects to the project.

EASTER EGG MADE FROM STRING:

Materials needed:

Party balloons (in the shape of an egg)
String or yarn - a thinner yarn works better, but any should work.
Table sugar
Water

Directions:

1.  Inflate the balloons to the desired size and tie them off.  This will be the size of your future Easter egg.

2.  Wrap sting/yarn around the balloon, trying to keep the string as tight as possible.  To make it easier to get started you may want to tie the end of the string to the mouth of the balloon.  How much string you wrap around the balloon is up to you.  My daughter went a little overboard, but the result is still nice.

Note:  it is best to leave a little extra string tied off at the top of the balloon to serve as a way to hang it up while drying and eventual display.

3.  In a large mixing bowl mix 2 parts sugar to 1 part warm/hot water.  We used 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water (heated in the tea kettle).  This amount was nearly perfect for our three (3) eggs.

4.  Soak each wrapped balloon in the sugar solution making sure all of the string/yarn is moist to wet.

5.  Hang to let dry.  Remember that this will drip the sugary solution on whatever is below, so you may want to pre-place some newspaper or a towel or whatever below...THIS IS HOW WE GET ANTS.

 6.  Once dry, decorate however your child's mind wishes.  We plan on cutting a hole in the side and putting some Easter type flotsam inside the egg.   


LESSONS:

Science - chemistry:
Discuss how a solution is formed and what it is.
 -discuss how 2 cups of sugar can go into 1 cup of water and the result is not 3 cups of solution.  Right now we are keeping this concept very elementary.

Art: 
Creativity at it's best.