Colleges That Change Lives fair

Yesterday was a full day. We started with Mobile Meals. Mid-afternoon, we traveled 15 miles to The No Jane Austen Literary Society's monthly meeting. This is the peer-led book club Yakov started last fall. There are 4 regular members and one new one yesterday. They discussed The Old Man and the Sea.

Finally, Yakov, Shoshie and I traveled 90 miles to a Colleges That Change Lives fair. Yakov has been stuck on UNC Chapel Hill, certainly not a bad choice, but unimaginative. I took him to a large college fair locally last fall and it was a waste of my time. He just stood around. Questions? He didn't have any questions.

We had a specific school to check out last night, St. John's. This Great Books program sounds like the perfect fit for Yakov, a boy who reads Machiavelli for fun, whose biggest difficulty in homeschooling has been to find peers to discuss books. As the introduction to the fair ended, the director mentioned, "We hope the St. John's rep has arrived. He has been held up in Atlanta because of tornado warnings." Oh, no. I dragged these two, one complaining he had work to do, across the state in the rain and now we aren't going to accomplish our primary goal.

So Shosh and Yakov went into the big room with all the school tables and promptly saw another Young Judaea t-shirt. It was worn by their friend, Too Short. I don't know his real name and I don't know if that is his usual nickname or a YJ specific one but lots of hugging ensued. It reminded me that their activity with this worldwide organization will often result in recognizing friends and acquaintances wherever they go, or at least wherever they and other Jews go.

Finally they started looking around at the schools. The energetic rep from Rhodes College caught their attention. "Is there a Jewish presence on campus?" "Yes and there is a large Jewish population in the city." Like Grandma. "Mom, did you know about Rhodes?" "Uh, yeah. My first house was about 3 blocks away. Big E's babysitter during my medical school was a Rhodes student. She lived with us. She even moved to Connecticut with us." I had shown them Rhodes when we were in Memphis but last night they "saw" it for the first time. And believe me, the campus is even more beautiful in person.

They wandered around for awhile, talking to different reps. The Goucher College rep was very enthusiastic. Since I waited in the hallway most of the time, watching for the St. John's rep, I'm not sure which school tables they visited.

After an hour and a half, we were giving up. The fair director answered many of our specific St. John's questions, what do graduates do, differences between the Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses, etc. Before we began our long drive home, Shosh took a potty break. Fortunately! Because here he came, harried and no doubt tired, faced with several students like Yakov, who had been waiting, hoping to talk with him.

I'm sure Yakov hogged the man's time at first. And unlike many of the other reps, he was understated. But I think Yakov got a feel for the program and it appeals to him. And Shosh, currently thinking about being a park ranger, thought the Santa Fe campus's well-regarded Search and Rescue team sounded cool.

This year sounds like a challenging one as we prepare our first homeschooler to graduate and get into college. Then we'll do it again the next year. PRM

A mother worries

Yakov will be spending 7 weeks in Israel this summer with his Jewish camp program. As you can imagine, the news yesterday has made me uneasy. I know that extraordinary efforts will be made to keep him safe but a mother worries. PRM

Not practicing self-regulation skills too well today

So I'm having my coffee and reading too many blogs when I hear in the background on NPR,

So before Emmy and Zee even think about picking up a toy, they sit down with their teacher at a small classroom table and fill out some paperwork.

and I think, What?

On a small blank form, they spell out their intentions. "I want to play bookstore," each girl writes with assistance from her teacher.

Then she draws a picture of herself playing bookstore.

These are 4 year olds. They do paperwork before they can play?

Now, the reason that the Tools of the Mind curriculum asks kids like Zee and Emmy to fill out paperwork before they pick up the Play-Doh lies in the fact that today's play is very different from the play of past eras.

Now here I disagree. I think the play hasn't changed so much as the ADULT'S need to be involved and make sure it's done RIGHT. (Calm down. I'm yelling.)

This story is bs. My mother did not watch me play and make sure I developed "executive function" and self-regulation skills. She let me play in the mud and then she yelled at me for making a mess. And I learned to play paperdolls with my friend, DW, so she would play in the mud with me later.

I agree with the idea expressed that video games are not good for developing skills a kid needs and I think pretend play is excellent but I just don't get this.

And play needs to be facilitated by adults who are trained in observing children and in understanding how play contributes to children's mastery of concepts and skills.

I just wanted to invite those little kids over to make gingerbread at my house and the only paperwork will be a recipe which we might or might not follow! PRM

It's a miracle

This is a child who, until a week or so ago, had never read a whole book for his own pleasure and, until last night, had never really played with any toys. He preferred video games and TV to both. What has changed? No doubt less access to TV/video has helped some but he could have been on the computer instead of doing this as he was last night. I think his reading and perhaps the K'nex are related to some brain maturation and possibly visual maturity. He is not wearing his glasses here. He should.

This picture is from last night. It is MUCH larger now, after hours of work on it today. I am a happy momma. PRM