October recap

Yeah, yeah, I have been less than impressive at updating this regularly. Sorry about that! October was a major mixed bag this year, but we're staying the course and after a full month, I'm relieved and happy to report that we're still not scared off by this whole homeschooling thing. We're refining as we go, the kids are thriving, and we're finding our own, weirdly unique routines.

This month, both kids wound up getting a nasty cold virus, and David even wound up in the ER with an allergic reaction to his very first antibiotic, while we were out of town, no less. No more sulfa drugs for him!

We've done lots of science this month, especially.


We grew our own crystals:

          

              We created approximately 975 baking soda and vinegar volcanic reactions:

The tall cylinder worked much better than the wide beaker. We learned about lava tubes, and this made total sense.

We also made bubble paint, and decided that we didn't start with the right kind of paint, but that it was still fun to paint with soapy paint:

                                                 

I got all crafty and made a homemade duct tape Indiana Jones whip for Anderson's Halloween costume:

This is really easy. 1. Stretch out your duct tape in three rows - across chairs works great. 2. Fold each piece in half lenghtwise, all the way down (don't worry too much about air bubbles or exact alignment). 3. Move strips together and braid tightly. 4. Attach a duct-taped wrap handle of your choice 5. (optional) Add a twine "popper" on the end. We didn't do that. 

There were plenty of other activities we did that went unphotographed (oops), but we did wrap things up with a well-documented trip through our neighborhood to gather just an obscene amount of candy:

Check out the cool whip!

Indy insisted on wearing his new snow boots. This made it easy to spot him in the dark, so he must have been thinking ahead.

I'll try very hard to be more diligent with my updates as we move into the Season of Indoor Activities. We do have a couple of fun field trips on the horizon still, though - we're going to visit the Dinsmore Homestead and the Trammel Fossil Park. 

Today we're studying Dia de los Muertos - a fascinating, colorful holiday that Anderson is especially excited about. 

Keep Moving Forward

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” -Walt Disney

I considered recounting our 9/11 story here. Everybody has one, and I'd venture to say most people could be moved to tears while recounting their own. But somehow, as time has passed, it feels more like something I'm loathe to share much anymore. It's not that I care less, or god forbid, that I've somehow forgotten about that day, but time has a way of shedding light into the dark corners, if we let it. I'll never be at peace with what happened, but I think I'm finally at peace that it did happen. The world in which my children live, grow, and will one day maybe raise their own families, will forever be touched by 9/11. I used to kind of rail against that, but it wasn't a particularly helpful frame of mind. The best we can do in this life is to simply live it.

Nobody can promise me, or you, or my beautiful children, that we'll get another tomorrow, but the unbridled human spirit wants to keep moving forward anyway. I choose to work on recognizing and embracing that sentiment, in this life, which I personally feel is the only life I'll be given. It's sometimes easier to dwell in the house of grief, to wring our hands with worry and too much anxiety over what the neighbors will think, but the only people we're shortchanging when we fall into that pit of despair are ourselves and the people we love, who aren't being allowed to rise to the occasion of trying to love us for all that we are. 'Cause they do, you know, warts and all.

So yesterday, on the 10th anniversary, we spent our day in the light. Both boys were finally past the point with their yucky colds where I didn't feel like it was detrimental to them or the general public to take them out into the world, so we ventured to the Cincinnati Nature Center's extremely awesome playscape. We told them to go explore, and explore they did. They floated twigs down the stream, climbed up slippery creek rocks on their bare feet and played an intricate game of hide-and-seek with a friend they made there. It warmed my heart when I heard Anderson ask her if she wanted to play with them, and I couldn't help but beam as I watched the three of them hide in the little caves pretending to be lions. She was 8, so a little older, and she watched over David (who will be THREE on Friday, eek), especially. We were so happy to encounter such a kind, peaceful family on our trip. The whole experience reminded me how valuable it is to relax into a moment under a gorgeous blue sky, out in the light of the world.

We finally coaxed our two exhausted, filthy, happy boys back into the van/Goldfish cracker habitat, and made our way back to the life that didn't exist 10 years ago, a little lighter despite all the mud.

By they way - the Disney quote is shown at the end of one of our favorite kids movies, "Meet the Robinsons." This is a great movie with a fantastic message. 

First Day of School Bust

We were so ready. We were going to kick things off with a visit with friends to the Cincinnati Nature Center Playscape Tuesday morning, have a little brainstorming in the afternoon about rivers and so on and hit the riverbank this morning to gather up mud-covered gross things for neat art projects. Instead, I woke up to a small voice saying "Mommy, the back of my throat, well not really the BACK of my throat, hurts really bad and I want to sleep in your bed." Doh!

Here's poor Andy taking his first sick day from school, on the would-be first day of school.

At least I didn't have to call anybody! Yay for flexibility. Pushing things back a few days will really make little difference and I'm reminded of one of those cool intangibles - he's not missing anything and can take his time getting better without that added stress. Now, here's to hoping his germs aren't the extra-friendly kind. Little brother is just fine so far.

In the meantime, I have a ton of organizing to do after hitting up the Half Price Book's 20% off sale over the 3-day weekend. Wow. I managed to score a ton of great books, including several that are part of series we have started, and all in the clearance section. 20% off $1.00 or $.50 is an incredible deal, and for non-fiction kids books, HPB is a treasure trove. There were tons of DK Eyewitness books, beautiful almanacs and visual dictionaries, great science books with pull-outs and posters, workbooks, etc. Probably my favorite find was a stack of Cricket and Muse magazines at $.50 a pop before the discount. These magazines are $35 a year for 9 issues, ad-free, and really wonderful.

We also hit up the Cincinnati Friends of the Library annual warehouse sale with a 50% off everything coupon for being members. Let's just say we had to carry those out in a couple boxes. They actually had all kinds of art supplies, and lots of fiction with library binding and dust jackets, which means super durable books, super cheap. I picked up some DK books there, too.

So for less than $50, I could fill another bookshelf. I was really pretty picky about what I bought, but knowing how much they both click with book learning and how often picking up a random book around here leads to amazing, rich learning experiences, it was hard to resist the bargains. I'm positive once everything is on the shelf, there will be hours and hours spent in there just pouring over books and endless "Mommy! Look at this!" moments. $50 well spent.

Here's to hoping we'll have some Ohio River experiences to report on soon. Down with germs!

Rollin' on the River

Following a great deal of passionate discussion-bordering-on-debate, we have arrived at our first homeschool unit study topic: The Ohio River (not to be confused with The Ohio State University).

It's broad enough to serve as an umbrella for all sorts of activities, localized enough to make field trips accessible and on target, and conceptually basic enough to serve as a good starting point. I mean, really, you could go on for years with a topic this broad, but I've been working studiously to brainstorm all kinds of activities and projects that will help to make sure we hit all those Ohio guidelines for Kindergarten (and frankly, first grade) this year. 

That said, it's a friggin' art to figure out how to both meet those standards and not get bogged down with curriculum that isn't always particularly thoughtful or imaginative. In other words, this is the point at which we figure out if what we're doing here is "unschooling," "homeschooling with a curriculum" or "eclectic" (somewhere in the middle). I suspect we'll usually land in the latter category during these early years at least. 

Anyway, so far I've made an outline that I don't think is crazy ambitious, reserved some relevant library books, and I'm working on creating a really awesome laminated map for the classroom table, along with laminated river-related clipart that they can dink around with in the course of me casually throwing out vocab terms like confluence, rapids and tributary. Then I'll quiz Andy on these terms and demand that he recite the definitions and correct spellings on the spot. OK maybe not. We'll make a vocab list for the wall, which always works great with him. He can't help but stop and read what I post on the walls, again and again. I guess I should take down all those Playgirl spreads. Sigh. Kids really just cramp your style, don't they?

The map/clip art is partly to hopefully occupy David while Andy is working on other parts of this project, but again, this whole juggling act is going to be part of the learning process.

A few highlights of my outline include:

- Examining our fossil collection, review of Ice Age deposits etc. (mostly a review since he's really into fossils but we'll get into more depth here)

- Looking at gross river stuff under the scope

- Visiting the Cincinnati History museum

- Compare/Contrast different Ohio river cities and towns (we'll visit a handful)

- Identifying Cincinnati's Ohio River bridges

- Learning about landscapes, sketching our own by the river

- A brief intro to Mark Twain and creating our own river stories (comic, written, puppetry, however it happens)

- Taking a trip on the Anderson Ferry

- B&B riverboat trip

- Creating a high level outline of Ohio River history (American Indian tribes, pertinent European explorers, very brief overview of Cincy history)

- Walking the Ohio River history trail at Sawyer Point

- River-related manipulatives for our math stuff

- Found art from stuff we drag home from the riverbank

- Other stuff we may or may not hit

So it's lots of stuff, and we'll play it by ear and then evaluate what worked and didn't. I have a feeling this will be the post I look back on in a year and laugh and laugh about. "I thought I was going to do WHAT? Ahahahaaha. Stupid Sarah." But really, I've tried to be reasonable, and many activities are really just more pointed than things we'd be doing anyway. Andy is an extremely active reader, so I'll be introducing related books into that mix, etc. He will also be doing Kendo for the first time, a Super Saturday science class, and they will both be participating once a week in a 1/2 day music/art enrichment program at a place we love near here. 

When there's no sense to make sense from

Life is beautiful.

It's also sometimes painful, nonsensical, and now and again, filled with thundering sorrow. Today, the thunder is loud. A family has lost the central light in their lives - a mother of two growing, beautiful children, a sweet wife, a dedicated daughter, sister... Ashley was one of those people with very long arms. Even before Cancer came to call, she was one of those magnetic personas. 100 watt smile, sharp as a whip, clearly in love with her sweet son and daughter. While some of my friends were quite close to Ashley, I only met her briefly in person twice and talked to her a few times online, though I followed each of her blog entries. Even from this distance, it was impossible not to root for Ashley, and it was something beyond the shameful lure of the tragedy of a young mother dealing with cancer. She was so candid about her fight, so endlessly brave, so earnest in her desire to inform and educate. Now she's gone and the world seems a little less bright.

And still, life is beautiful.

Because of Ashley, an immeasurable number of people are more educated about inflammatory breast cancer and the realities of one of the cruelest forms of cancer out there. Because she was so honest about the treatments and symptoms she went through and because she so often shone a spotlight on resources available to people like her, other patients won't have to feel so alone when they read her blog. Because she spoke up, even those of us fortunate enough to not be dealing with something like cancer are reminded to not take any of this for granted. Someday, we will all face our own mortality. Because of Ashley, we are reminded that we all have our own journey to navigate and the power to take ownership of the choices in our lives, even at the end of our lives. Even as our hearts break, we are reminded that life is worth living because of love in all its glorious forms. Each day, each smile, embrace, petty argument, macaroni-and-cheese dinner, is a gift, even those days touched by sorrow.

Please send a peaceful thought out into the universe today for Ashley, her family and friends, and to all those touched by this frustrating, infuriating disease. We don't know enough about breast cancer in 2011 and that needs to change. 

Local Homeschooling Blog Directory

I'm trying to compile a list of local* blogs related to homeschooling, unschooling, etc. I'll update this list when I come across more, and I'm happy to include any you may know about, too.

Unschooling Snapshots features picture essays from a local unschooling family - a great way to get a peek at lots of local activities.

St. Francis Academy details the adventures of a very active local homeschooling family with kids from 3 to 17.

Ramblings of an Unschooling Family follows the Riesenbergs, an unschooling family with TEN kids. Lots of great pictures and ideas for off-the-beaten-track activities your family can try.

WeHaveEscaped focuses on a local unschooling family who pulled their kids out of parochial education to embark on a home education path.

Our Eclectic Homeschool Journey details another unschooling family in our local area. Love the Top Ten lists and I've already discovered umpteen things I want to look into for the coming school year.


I know there must be more out there, but this is all I'm finding. Please share in the comments.

*Cincinnati, Northern KY, SE Indiana, SW Ohio...

Not Dead Yet

Gotta love Monty P.

I'm not, though! Still alive and kicking. I've been busy with all sorts of stuff, but namely we've been gearing up for our first year of homeschooling. Anderson, who insists he'd like to be called Andy now, is 5 and while we aren't required to report to the district until he's 6, we're moving ahead with Kindergarten this year. It's been an education just preparing everything for our first few months.

I won't launch into all the reasons we're embarking on this journey today, but I tend to think of us as weirdos among weirdos - a family homeschooling not for religious reasons in an area where the vast majority of homeschooling that does exist, is deeply tied to Christian values. On the other hand, we share some basic commonality with those folks and have been happy to find nothing but support from other families out there. Somehow, we have more in common than not, even if we won't be sharing certain science materials. :)

I will clear up a couple of really basic misconceptions right here at the outset, though, if for no other reason than being able to refer people here when we're asked about these things:

1. Yes, this is legal, and yes, there is oversight, just in case you are worried we'll let them watch TV all day.

2. No, we are not worried about so-called socialization. Not only is there plenty of research-based evidence out there that homeschooled kids do just fine, socially, but we strongly believe regular school provides a pretty unrealistic simulation of real life when it comes to interacting with other people. Homeschooling actually provides kids with more opportunities to interact with not only groups of similar-aged peers, but people of all ages in various parts of the community and farther afield. I suppose we could just lock them in the TV room, but the real dilemma we face is narrowing down the myriad activities available to us to a few manageable choices.

3. No, we do not think we are better than you. We were both traditionally schooled and think we "came out just fine," just like most people we know. We simply feel we can offer much more at home, that standardized testing is too big a focus and too big a waste of time in public schools, and that modern ideas about schooling don't seem to be keeping up with the modern realities of the world. It is difficult for schools to concentrate on cultivating creative, big thinkers when they are forced to worry so much about flawed, often meaningless testing. Perhaps even more extreme to some people is that we firmly believe children can, and should be able to, have a much bigger say in their own learning experiences. Learning, to us, is best when it happens organically. One discovery naturally leading to another discovery and so on. At home, these experiences aren't interrupted by bells, or 30 other students who also need attention. We will likely use some structured materials as well as allowing plenty of room for self-discovery.

4. No, despite all that, we aren't anti-school or anti-teacher. It is important to us to support our local school district and to encourage real change and improvements in the public school system because we'd like to live in a world where everyone has equal access to knowledge and the tools to succeed (i.e. the ability to make true choices as adults). Right now this isn't happening. At all. The disparities among schools in the same district are shameful and many children are certainly being "left behind." This doesn't spell good things for our future. On the other hand, plenty of kids come out of traditional school and go on to do great things. Why on Earth would we have a problem with that? Good teachers, and attentive parents, affect kids profoundly, and our kids will certainly have educational experiences led by some of them throughout their school years. Besides, you never know - if this whole at-home thing doesn't work out, we'd like to have a decent place to send them!

5. Yes, I do feel qualified to teach my own children. Even if I hadn't completed most of a master's in teaching before it dawned on me that I had major issues with the system in general, I would still feel qualified to guide this process. We aren't sure, yet, exactly what "homeschool" will look like to us as things progress, but we are sure it won't look like school-at-home most of the time.

6. No, we won't be sitting around a big oak table every day doing exactly what they'd be doing in school anyway. Our classroom, as cheesy as it sounds, is the world. There will be traveling, local exploring, hands-on research, digging around in muddy creek beds, and lots of community interaction. We will meet artists, writers, musicians and scientists. We'll volunteer as a family more, cultivate our own garden (one where everything doesn't die by July, hopefully), create a portfolio of all the trails we hike, create art, music and film, get some pen pals from across the world... and yeah, we'll do some reading, writing and arithmetic along the way, too.

7. Yes, they will be able to go to college. In fact, many homeschoolers complete their first two years of college requirements by attaining associate's degrees at community colleges or taking CLEP and AP exams during their high school years. Many colleges, including Ivy League colleges, recruit homeschoolers because they are often some of the brightest thinkers and most well-rounded students that enter their doors. We also feel the concept of college will evolve dramatically over the next few years as the value of a college degree becomes more and more questionable. It's hard to say what "college" will look like in 13 years, but we feel hopeful that they will rise to whatever challenge awaits, and that they will be open to a host of options.

OK, so that was 7 pretty big ideas. Sorry! It's hard not to rant. I have tried to maintain a reasonable tone here and hope I haven't come off as too defensive or critical. The bottom line is that we deeply respect individual choice when it comes to educating our children. We are positive our friends and loved ones make decisions about their children's education just as carefully, even when they reach different conclusions, and for the most part, we've been pleased to feel that sentiment in return. We are also happy to be in America, where this choice is respected and supported by the law of the land.

So that's that for that. Watch this space for the latest on our homeschooling adventures. I have a feeling this first year will be one of major discovery for all of us. Our first unit study will begin after Labor Day and I can't wait to share the experience with you.

Love? Yeah, I'll have some of that.

I went to a country wedding this weekend. My best friend's son got married, which seems completely implausible since the first time I met him, he was sweet, short and 4. Younger than my oldest son. It makes me feel alternately approaching-death-too-rapidly old and just so lucky to be alive and experiencing moments like this, especially at times like these.

It was impossible not to juxtapose this beautiful, poignant occasion with the horrors happening across the Atlantic in Norway. Even as my friend cried into my shoulder as we watched her son dance that first dance (Unchained Melody) with his new wife - the pain of letting go so sharp and heavy, I couldn't help but imagine all the mothers in Oslo who were looking out over the world with new eyes. My friend's tears were mixed with happiness. The letting go was more of a transition, not a finality.

And then, during the reception, came news of Amy Winehouse. Love her, hate her, pity her... it hit me in the gut because she's not the only junkie in this world who hasn't been able to scrape it together. Most junkies aren't followed around by paparazzi documenting them at their most vulnerable and sickest. Aside from the lamentable waste of talent (I really loved her first album) it was the first time one of these "young tragic" deaths hit me in that Mommy way. She was somebody's freshly scrubbed baby one day 27 years ago, all pink and pissed off and ready to take on the world. I can imagine clearly how her parents felt when that voice first came out of that child. So much promise.

Addiction is a beast some people just can't seem to beat down well enough. I witness it among various people I love on an ongoing basis. It is harrowing to watch. To be honest, I have a feeling I wouldn't fare so well myself if I wound up in that situation. I think some of us are more prone to that kind of slippery slope. So I feel for her struggle, not that she wasn't responsible for her own bad decisions, and most of all, for her loved ones. I really like what Russell Brand had to say about his friend. I'm also glad the coverage online at least, hasn't seemed to overshadow the news out of Oslo, where the true tragedy lies.

By the time Saturday wrapped up, I was mentally exhausted, but somehow, still feeling hopeful. To witness two "kids" so devoted, so in love, despite of and because of all the utter shit in the world, pledge to anybody who cared to listen, that they were ready to take it all on, together, was a reminder to savor this. So much about this modern life is pure, petty bullshit. It's the people that matter, cliche or not. I don't think anyone out on that island or in that building in Oslo were thinking about anything except wanting desperately to spend another moment in this screwed up, angry world with the people they loved, just like my friend's son and his new wife.

Love is powerful. It can't compete with a madman with a scary gun when it comes to survival, but it drives us, for better or worse, richer and poorer, and even in the face of loss. When you read the last writings of people who know their time is coming to a close, it's never about how much shit they accumulated or being so glad they finally got that promotion. It's all about love making all the bad parts worth the trouble.

Today I'm feeling a little less worried about the drawer full of bills and the dead tree in my backyard and the heat index, and a lot more focused on the love I'm so lucky to share, and my little family. I know it's sappy, and obvious, and predictable in the wake of an event like Oslo, but I wanted to get it down on paper anyway. I also know it's really not possible to live vicariously through the dying. We see a tragedy like this play out, or we witness someone facing their mortality in a very real way and we are triggered to reflect on the blessings in our lives, but it's too often fleeting. But I will try, once again, to remember. It's a worthy goal to live life with your love on your sleeve, Hallmark moment or not.

It's really not a bad story to leave behind. I was here. I was loved. I loved some people, a whole lot. The end.

My favorite Cincinnati blog

Today I started a series that will feature local blogs. I started with my all-time favorite, City Kin. This guy is a one-man Cincinnati Magazine without the snooty ads. He's a dad living in or near Over the Rhine and a tireless advocate for the city. Here's an excerpt from my profile. Please click over and read the whole thing. It was a labor of love this morning. :)

The City Kin family’s experience is detailed intimately, with pictures of festivals and daily walks around the downtown neighborhood where they reside. All the usual family ups and downs are portrayed here, but against a backdrop of a neighborhood that has undergone major upheaval and renovation in an effort to revitalize a part of the city many have written off as unsalvageable.

Through all the speculation and debate about Over the Rhine, City Kin’s commitment to Cincinnati and its people has remained intact. He isn’t afraid to call out Findlay Market for raising rental fees, a move which has seemingly led to several farmers leaving. He occasionally rails against the school system, especially mandatory testing. He shines the spotlight on local demolition sites and shows readers what things used to look like, before the steady decline in his neighborhood ate up the landscape and the architecture. He laments the kind of growth that seems unhelpful to the bigger picture – the one where gentrification and too-much-too-quick change is a must to avoid if it means displacing the families who have called this part of the city home for generations.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Cincinnati blogging scene: City Kin

My writing for Examiner.com

When I update over at Examiner, I'll post a link and maybe an excerpt here, too. If you're so inclined, I've written a handful of articles there so far. Insider tip: I often include really interesting or humorous links in the body of my articles. If you look hard enough you'll find links to some of the best time-wasting sites on the planet as well as quiet shout outs (is that possible?) to local bloggers. I'm planning to include a lot more focus on the local blogging scene in the coming weeks.

Here is where to find me on Examiner.

Are you also feeling a lot of unhealthy angst toward our unrelenting sun gods? Check here for some indoor activities around town. Good ones. None of this lame "go sit in a puddle" crap from me.

Maybe you're one of those squirrely, anti-social kind of parents who sit around at the playground diddling their Kindle (at least I didn't say Nook) pretending not to know who those kids with the mismatched socks belong to. Thanks to this list of the least-busy parks in the city, now you don't have to deal with all that pressure to "appear interested" or engage in surprisingly lengthy discussions about Tricia Macke with those athletic looking moms with the extremely severe ponytails.

Love grilled cheese? No? Get off my blog immediately. Otherwise, read this review and hightail it to your nearest Tom + Chee location.

Have you taken all your daycation days this year? Yes, I went there. I jumped right on that just-make-up-a-goofy-word-to-shamelessly-attract-readers bandwagon. If it's good enough for Sarah Palin... Anyway, check here when you are ready to blow this Popsicle stand for the day. And only the day. If you stay longer than a day, you make me a liar, and a good friend wouldn't do that to another friend.

There are restaurants where it's not such a great idea to bring along little Johnny. The ones with the naked waitresses come to mind. We're lucky to have a whole slew of great places to take the kids out for a meal, and that's just an awesome thing. Nothing sucks more than ponying up 40 bucks for a dinner you have to box up 10 minutes into the meal because little Johnny decided this was the opportune time to get an early start on that streaking career.

If you are cheap and not busy this weekend (or any weekend), you just hit the jackpot, buddy. Here's a list of 10 (count them) ideas for things to do, for free, right here in the Queeniest City of them all.

Naming this blog

Sarah in the City? Sarah near the city? Suburban Sarah, Who Lives Just Outside the City? Sarah, who will surely move back to the city at some point? Cincinnati Sarah? Southwest Ohio...

The choices were varied, compelling, and ultimately thrown into a virtual hat and picked through by my cat. He liked that people wouldn't have to remember how to spell Cincinnatti. Cincinati. Cincinnaty. CincinCATty?

By now, the smarter among you have likely discerned that my name is Rhonda and I live in Pasadena. Mostly I'll be discussing our annual Rose Parade and my contributions of unusual hybrid show roses to the more, shall we say, lucrative floats, or wheelie-bobs, as we in the Parade community say.

Alright, probably not. I'm just one of those people who annoys relatives with commentary on how half their medicine cabinet came into being thanks to Cincinnati, and didn't you know Cincinnati has some of the best views anywhere? Your hills suck, Indiana. I alternately love and worry about the future of this place, which could also sum up my feelings for my dog on any given afternoon when she comes in covered in my garden. I need an outlet.

I'm also the "Cincinnati Family Recreation Examiner" over at Examiner.com, which is, depending on who you ask, a hyper-local news and information provider or a content mill posing as a news outlet. In either case, I'm enjoying writing and sharing there, so it seemed only natural to expand my ranting space exponentially via blog. I am always open to article ideas for Examiner. I have found that more than anything, it's a decent vehicle for developing local relationships and shedding a little light on interesting local places and people that might otherwise be overlooked. To that end, I'm happy to profile a place or person in Cincinnati (or thereabouts) who needs some Internet love. Not that kind of Internet love. Sheesh. You may be thinking of the OTHER Cincy Sarah.