Valedictorian of Our First Graduating Class

Meet the valedictorian of our inaugural graduating class. Before our home boasted a whole riotous handful of noise makers and chaos creators, there was just this guy. Cute, isn't he? 

He always was.

The little boy who hated change so much he would cry when we bought him new sneakers ended his high school career by giving a final presentation and hopping on a plane the same day to go to his college orientation. I stayed in the terminal, watching him until he passed through the entire security line. He didn't look back.

I suspect this may be an indicator of things to come.

He graduates with many honors and national distinctions and scholarships, but if you ask me what makes me most proud, I will tell you two stories. Jack taught a boy in AWANA for several years. That kid noticed that Jack's Bible was beat: dog-eared, well-worn, underlined, used, and used up. The boy asked if he could have it when Jack bought a new one because the boy thought it was cool to see a Bible that the owner obviously read daily. Of course, Jack gave it to him.

That's a legacy that matters.

When I served the two-year-old Jack his dinner, he would usually ask me, "What is it? Where is its head? How did it die?" Teenager Jack will often move worms off the driveway after a rainstorm to keep the worms from drying out and dying on the asphalt.

If he's nice even to worms, I figure his future wife and children will be blessed indeed.

We've been blessed to be his parents. Happy Graduation, Jack!

Tweaking

If Mapping the World by Heart proved my sole home educating responsibility, I think we'd stand an excellent chance of completing the curriculum this year.  Many other areas require some tweaking.

DS17 got the mother of all viruses coinciding with the beginning of our new homeschool year.  Two weeks and one ER trip later, I think he may be on the mend.  I've been letting him sleep until 10 a.m. because he needs it.  Teenager morning mode puts him ready for school at close to lunch time.  Not ideal.  Fortunately, his math and science classes at the local college don't start for another few weeks.  Here at home, he's been doing our geography course while grousing that it is not challenging enough.  Granted, the introductory lessons are easy, but I think once I hit him with the research essay on disputed water rights next week, the grousing will cease.  Rather, that particular strain of grousing will cease.  New grousing may commence.  He's gotten a jump on his AWANA curriculum and finished the prologue and first chapter of Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.  He read Fahrenheit 451 in anticipation of his high school lit group beginning in  a couple of weeks.  He is plowing through the second training module--12 videos and a 50 page manual--for his Mathnasium job, hoping to get that out of the way prior to his college classes starting.  He continues to meet with his college professor to discuss their summer research topic.  All the boys wrote a creative essay which required incorporating Harry Potter, a mop and contour maps into their storyline.  I needed them to write something, anything and we don't do enough creative writing.  Interestingly, I could detect elements from last year's lit group in this son's story, as well as influences from his own reading of choice.

DS15 lost his Trig book.  We searched for a couple of weeks, and yesterday conceded defeat and ordered a new one.  This son started Apologia Biology with a live, online class via Virtual Homeschool Co-op.  He promptly complained it was far too easy.  I knew I should have trusted my anti-Apologia instinct.  This kid is Goldilocks; last year all I heard was how AP Chem was way too hard.  Now he recalls it fondly as a challenge.  This week, he switched to Saylor's Microbiology course.  It's college intro level, so that should fix the lack of challenge problem.  Not sure yet what new problems may arise from it.  He did all the same geography, AWANA, reading and writing as his brother.  This kid claims that he keeps reading the same book for lit club, "dark, depressing and weird" over and over again.  I point out to that they are really quite different dark, depressing and weird tales.  While he read me the required length essay from the creative writing assignment, he has gone on with his story and is now at 5000 words and not nearly done.  This provides good reminder to me about what feeds this one's soul.  He is artistic and creative.  I need to build in the freedom for him to explore that.  He got his permit yesterday (two teen boys with permits!  Lord have mercy) and sits for two hours every Sunday in a stupefyingly boring Driver's Ed class for which we paid an ungodly amount of money.

DS11 approaches his schooling in a surprisingly workmanlike manner.  Geography takes him a while, but he breaks down the task into manageable chunks.  He read Project Mulberry for his middle school boys' lit group that begins in September.  Life of Fred's Pre-algebra with Biology is too easy for him, but he likes the story line.  Teen hormones haven't kicked into gear for him yet, so he's usually up early, cheerfully and in full control of his faculties.  He started jogging because his older brothers do it.  He also attacks pogo-sticking with similar tenacity, setting a record of over 2000 jumps.  He's been on break from piano lessons for a couple of weeks, but demanded I print out Fur Elise for him after he couldn't find it by googling "Four Leaves."  He's mastered it and waits impatiently for lessons to start again so he can show-off to his teacher.  His soccer started yesterday and he loves it.  I am particularly glad I had this one read his creative essay to me, rather than handing it in for me to read.  He crafted a  story full of creative descriptors.  Had I merely read it, I might have missed his voice for the distraction of spelling and mechanics issues.  Throughout the year, I think I will continue to have him read his work aloud to me first and then we can follow up by correcting the grammar.

DD6 needs more academic attention.  She loves to read and is hooked on a variety of junk books that my inner Charlotte Mason conscience scolds me for.  Anything fairy-related is a huge hit with her.  There is no end to poorly-written fairy books at the public library, matched only by their seemingly endless supply of Mickey Mouse graphic comic books that the princess also loves.  Twaddle, all of it.  I need to, but haven't yet, gotten her Five in a Row curriculum rolling.  She has been reading aloud to me daily from her Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader, book 2.  Seems like we've been learning about crabs forever now.  I'm about ready to move on (or scream), but that may have something to do with the fact that it's my fourth time hearing an emerging reader tackle crabs.  She shows good oral narration skills, usually able to retell the highlights of what she just read.  We're just beginning to add in our Singapore math, completing the 1B book leftover from last year.  I purchased a sticker atlas book for her to do when the boys are working on geography, but haven't started it with her yet.  Writing will remain mostly copywork.  Typically, we use her AWANA verses for this.  Until AWANA starts, she has a few thank you notes to relatives that she can be writing.

DS 2 and 3/4...well, doesn't "2 and 3/4" about sum it up?  Mercurial, charming, demanding, curious, exhausting, adorable, maddening, inquisitive, whirling, running, exploring.  There is no underestimating the impact this one has on my ability to focus on the other four.

I'm glad for these warm up weeks to see how our actual schooling works.  We have no end of activities yet to start; I'm concerned how the days will flow once we are fully up to speed by mid-September.  Still to add in:  two different lit groups, one speech club, an art class, gym classes, piano lessons, another soccer schedule, youth group, AWANA nights, two Science Olympiad clubs, college classes with a lab, wood carving, karate and a request for fencing club.  Stay tuned, I expect more tweaking over the next month!

Dana

Some women launch a business using sharp tech skills and venture capital.  For Dana, starting a business meant taking anti-anxiety medication and selling an aging pick up truck for seed money. Creating an educational testing business had crossed her mind before, but more as fuzzy, distant venture she might try once her son hit his teens.  Home educating her two girls, then ages ten and eight, and chasing her toddler boy consumed her time as an at-home mom.  Suddenly, devastatingly, her husband walked out on their 13 year marriage.  Dana needed a way to earn a living and she wanted one that would allow her to continue to home educate.

The proceeds from the old Ford truck just covered the cost of materials for her to become a Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement administrator.  Statistics and testing courses taken during college provided the necessary skills.  Dana believed there was a need in her community for such a service; she couldn't find anyone to administer that particular test to her kids the previous year.  However, overwhelmed by the separation and impending divorce, she put off ordering the materials.

A friend recommended Dana to some home schoolers looking for year end evaluation.  "So I had to get the materials and start training like mad, " Dana recalls.  Necessity trumped terror; her business was born.  The local paper caught wind of her mompreneur venture and called for an interview.  Dana  mentioned her math education background to the reporter.  A reader soon contacted Dana for math enrichment for her son.  Before long, Dana settled into a groove of tutoring while her kids were spending time with their dad.  She jimmied in testing appointments when she could, but found that growing a business while raising kids required a creative, multi-prong approach.  She swapped child care with another mom, joined a formal babysitting co-op and readily took up playdate offers from church friends.  With her divorce final, she had a base of spousal and child support.  She moved her mom in to help and renegotiated her rent with her landlord.  "I made Abe scream," she laughs when discussing her frugal, money-stretching habits.

Two years later, Dana added homeschool portfolio assessments to her business offerings.  Such a move seemed guaranteed to grow her business.  Au contraire.  In order to offer the assessments, Dana needed to reinstate her teaching certificate.  That required four back-to-back sessions of cramming 3 credit hours into three week periods.  Doing so while continuing to home educate and single parent was not as easy as it sounds. (Oh wait, that doesn't sound easy at all, does it?)  Business stalled.  Dana pondered whether to seek the security of a traditional teaching job.  Wanting God's will, she prayed to be open to whatever might be best for her family.  Within a day or two of her prayer, home schoolers on a local list spontaneously began to write favorably about Dana, her approach to tutoring and testing, her encouragement and practical advice to them as home educators.  She got several calls from new folks wanting tutoring.  Dana had her confirmation.

Dana's business continues to diversify.  The Old Schoolhouse asked her to kick off a live webinar to a national audience and she's listed as a part of their Speaker's Bureau.  She teaches Hands On math at a local co-op.  She will soon serve as an "umbrella" supervisor for other parents wanting to teach math as part of the credit flexibility plan offered by an online virtual academy in her state.  She wrote a business plan, but notes that the unexpected and seemingly serendipitous plays a major role in growth.  Dana eschews the possibility of chance and instead credits God.

What advice does Dana give to others trying to start a business and home school?  "Train the kids to be as self-reliant as possible," she quickly asserts.  "Even teaching them to make a PBJ frees up a little time for you when you need it."  While Dana typically works 10-25 hours weekly,  her kids' education comes first and the business second.  Weekdays reflect that, with schooling taking up her mornings and testing and tutoring appointments the afternoon and evening hours.

Dana's business growth mirrors her personal journey.  At the time of her divorce, her self esteem fell so low that she believed she couldn't do anything, that she couldn't be a professional.  This past month, a nervous first year home educating parent called her.  The parent questioned whether Dana knew much about home schooling or about the tests that fulfill state requirements for home educators.  "It felt really good to tell her that I am a homeschooler, that I've always been one, that my oldest is now 16 and that I've administered this test hundreds of times."  Not bad for a mom who admits, "I knew nothing about business and yet it grew."  While she understands that self-reliant kids help a busy mom, Dana knows knows self-reliance only goes so far.  "I didn't know how much God loves me.  He grew my business.   If He hadn't wanted for me to serve home schoolers, I would not be succeeding."


Dana is offering one lucky winner their choice of either a 30 minute free math curriculum consult by phone or a $10 per child Woodcock-Johnson III testing discount for new clients (testing done in her Plain City, OH home only).  To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment at the end of this post.  The contest will close at noon Central time on Friday, July 6, 2012.  Visit DanaGingrich.com for more information on Dana's tutoring and testing business.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read about other extraordinary ordinary women, please subscribe to my blog (see right side bar).  

Lion's Den

"OH!  Look at you! LOOK at you! You look fabulous--LOOK at that necklace!"  With a shriek and jumping up to hug me, my friend Emily, the very person who had picked out and forced me to buy that necklace, ensured that an entire lobby full of people stopped their own conversation, turned to me and stared, each performing individual fashion autopsies.  As they reached the "nothing unusual, just another middle aged woman" conclusion, conversations slowly bubbled back to life.

I decided to count this as desensitization training.  In just over an hour, I had to walk into a room filled with strangers and all eyes would be on me, performing a different type of autopsy.

Dead woman walking.  Those who easily speak in public really can't understand the anxiety I felt all week leading up to this presentation.  Or how I tried to wriggle out of it, contacting the gentleman who invited me, wondering if his agenda had filled and if he might prefer me to provide a written comment instead?  "Of course not!" came his quick reply.  "Come whenever you can, we will work the meeting around your availability."

Crud.

How bad could it be?  I mean, yes, it's a State Board.  But's it's a State Board of the Science Olympiad competition.  That must mean teachers, right?  Maybe 10?  Sitting around a table informally discussing what-ever-it-is that sciencey people discuss?  I could do that.

"How many folks should I prepare for?  Can you send me more particulars?"

About 30 came the reply.  Ok, more than I bargained for, but not an unmanageable number.

"...people from all over the state.  Associate Chancellors, deans of colleges and universities and some regular classroom teachers too."

Thud.

"You can't even spell chancellor," my (former) BFF who has known me for 26 years asserted.  "You have no business speaking to this group.  What are you talking about again?"

The homeschool rule.  I launched into my reasoning as to why the rule was unfair and the chilling effect it was already spreading to other organizations that included home schoolers.

"Oh, rules?  Homeschool?  You'll be fine.  You love to talk about that stuff.  Just don't be antagonistic and self-righteous."

Moi?

"Praise God!" shot back another friend when I wrote of how I wanted to throw up just thinking about talking to these highly credentialed people.  "Look who God is putting before you.  Step out in faith and see what He will do."  Maybe she had a point, but seeing as she directed training seminars and used to be in charge of a whole continent for a large corporation, speaking to groups probably didn't require quite the same leap of faith for her extroverted personality.

"Oh, and spend some time telling a bit about yourself to build rapport.  Don't just complain.  And stick to the point.  Don't veer off into controversial areas.  Remember, people get defensive over educational choices.  Be careful in what you say."

Beginning to sense an unflattering theme as to how my usual talk strikes those who know me best, I became even less sure I was the woman for the job.

The rapture didn't happen on my drive to the meeting, despite my fervent prayers.  I neither fainted nor puked during my presentation.  I didn't speak nearly as well as I had wanted to nor nearly as poorly as I expected I might.  The sciencey folks were for the most part warm and polite and moved to ask Science Olympiad to reconsider their national rule vis a vis Illinois.

Most importantly, God saw fit--wouldn't you know that friend of mine was right!--to place in the audience not just State Board folks, but a Science Olympiad National representative.  Not just a representative, but the man who will be in charge of all of Science Olympiad next year.  Whatever I said, God pricked that man's ears.  The grand poobah followed me into the hall, gave me his card, said he wanted to speak to me more about this and it was definitely something that needed attention.  He thought perhaps we should get together for lunch.

Food?  One on one?  Talking about homeschooling?  This I know how to do!

Yet, when I think I know how to do something, that's usually when the trouble starts.  Perhaps you should pray that God continues to keep me a bit off-kilter.  He seems to do his best work in those circumstances.

Blessings,
Holly

Math

The marathon runners in Champaign weren't the only folks sweating and persevering this past weekend.  3000 mathletes, including 10 from the South Naperville Homeschool Math Team, descended on the University of Illinois campus for the annual Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics State Competition.  Student competing at the ICTM state finals must place or meet minimum qualifying scores at regional events held throughout the state in March in order to advance to the state finals.

Adair L's minivan squealed into the Illini Garage Mahal after an almost all night drive from a family vacation in Texas.  Adair, S. Nap's only freshman, contributed to the team's highest finish of the day, a third place in the Calculator Team contest.  The five person team included soph Jack R, juniors Julia N and  Ryan M, and senior Andy F.  After barely squeaking into the state competition on a minimum qualifying score, Jack R rebounded and bested 110 other competitors to finish a strong fourth place individually in the Geometry contest.  Charles S and Landon T concluded their high school math competitive careers by teaming together for a hard fought 5th place finish in the Junior/Senior Two Person Team Event.  Julia N and Ryan M led a capable junior class that included Jenny Y and Nathan D in the Algebra 2 competition.  Their four score combined total landed them in 8th place as a team.  South Naperville formed this year with the blessing, encouragement and support of Cornerstone Homeschool Math Team.  Cornerstone, out of Carol Stream, captured the Division 1A State Overall Championship for the fifth year in a row.

South Naperville's Middle School team proved equally stellar in their inaugural season.  The six person team faced down teams twice their size at the March Junior High Math Contest hosted by IMSA.  Rowan M, Joseph L, Hannah W and Zachary L took top honors in the 7th grade team contest while Rowan M captured second place individually.  Nathan R finished third in the 8th grade individual competition.  All half dozen kids finished in the top 50% nationally in the MOEMS (www.moems.org) math contest.  Nathan R also received a silver pin for being in the top 10% nationwide.  MOEMS is a once monthly contest held over five months.  Last year, 150,000 kids from 6000 clubs participated in MOEMS.

The middle school kids performed similarly well in MathCounts competition.  Last year, MathCounts banned homeschool teams from the team portion of competition.  After huge national outcry, they amended that decision and banned only new homeschool teams pending a full review of the policy for next year's competition.  The team competed at the Joliet chapter regionals held at Heritage Grove school in Plainfield, where chair Richard Sinnott graciously agreed to score S. Naperville's team results on an "unofficial" basis.  The four person team of Nathan R, Rowan M, Joseph L and Hannah W "unofficially" won that portion of the competition and finished the day overall in "unofficial" second place.  Homeschoolers are allowed to compete and advance as individuals and the Joliet chapter sent the two highest scoring individuals who are not a part of the winning team on to state competition.  Nathan R, finishing third individually and second in the Countdown round, earned the top individual slot to advance to state competition held in Matteson, IL on March 12.  He had a great time there.

Emily Sault, veteran homeschool mom and fixture in the Naperville home educating community, coached the middle school club this year.  Judi Newman (http://mathtutorjudi.com/) assisted in providing individual support and coaching where needed.  Regina Macwan led the high school club and was assisted by Marla Sheldon.  The team takes a well-deserved break until mid-September when they will resume practicing on Tuesdays 2-4p at Book Rd. Baptist Church, just south of 104th St on Book Rd in Naperville.  All are welcome to participate and inquiries can be sent to Holly Ramsey at ohiohol@hotmail.com for the middle school team and Regina Macwan for the high school team.