Monday, May 10, 2010

“Kiddie sabbatical offers families a chance to find new approaches to learning” plus 2 more

“Kiddie sabbatical offers families a chance to find new approaches to learning” plus 2 more

Kiddie sabbatical offers families a chance to find new approaches to learning

Posted: 09 May 2010 09:00 PM PDT

Schools that demand so much don't work for some kids. Parents, including some Post colleagues, occasionally tell me about their bright children who see no point in many assignments and don't do them, leading to tension and heartburn for the adults.

When it gets too bad, a family may pull a child out of school to let everyone calm down and see whether another approach can be found. The pause in schooling doesn't usually last long. The student reads on his or her own for a while -- something he or she likes to do -- until the parents find a different school or a new year begins with new teachers better tuned to different rhythms.

You might call this a kiddie sabbatical, a break to recharge batteries and reassess values. It isn't the same thing as long-term home schooling. The strain on parents is short-term. In the Internet age, it is often possible to work at home for a few months. I have found no data on this, but we could be seeing a trend toward sabbaticals for the young and restless.

Just published is what could be considered a guidebook for such family adventures, Laura Brodie's "Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year."

Brodie is a novelist and adjunct English professor at Washington and Lee University. From the beginning of her fifth-grade daughter Julia's year at home, Brodie had no intention of abandoning the public schools of Lexington, Va. She just wanted a respite from battles over homework.

Within the home-schooling community, Brodie says, these breaks are no longer considered unusual. Home Education Magazine calls them "emergency homeschooling." Your kid is being bullied. A hurricane has wiped out your city. This year's classroom teacher is not a good fit. Your spouse gets a sudden transfer. So you teach the child for a while.

Brodie had an intriguing but dreamy daughter. Teachers would lose her on field trips because she lingered at some sight that was only supposed to take 10 minutes.

In the same sweet way, Julia resisted certain school assignments. When pushing her daughter to finish her worksheets ruined one too many evenings, and when Julia once hid in a closet to avoid the torture, Brodie figured that home-schooling her would provide at least a year when she didn't have to dread life between the time Julia got home and the time she went to bed. She would be the teacher, at least for a time, and could make sure her nights were free.

Julia was less entranced with the idea but accepted on these terms: no after-school academic work except reading an hour every day and writing one page in a journal, anything she wanted.

Freedom of choice in writing appealed to the independent-minded child, but Julia was initially relieved to return to regular school because the teachers did not demand nearly as many writing assignments as her mother did. Brodie made daily writing across the curriculum the centerpiece of their year.

Did Brodie fail to teach something important? That is hard to do. She learned a secret of elementary school known to most home-schoolers. Just keep the kid progressing in math and she will do fine. In the regular schools, all the other subjects are pretty much the same every year.

For more Jay, go to http://washingtonpost. com/class-struggle.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Kiddie sabbatical offers families a chance to find new approaches to learning

Posted: 09 May 2010 09:00 PM PDT

Schools that demand so much don't work for some kids. Parents, including some Post colleagues, occasionally tell me about their bright children who see no point in many assignments and don't do them, leading to tension and heartburn for the adults.

When it gets too bad, a family may pull a child out of school to let everyone calm down and see whether another approach can be found. The pause in schooling doesn't usually last long. The student reads on his or her own for a while -- something he or she likes to do -- until the parents find a different school or a new year begins with new teachers better tuned to different rhythms.

You might call this a kiddie sabbatical, a break to recharge batteries and reassess values. It isn't the same thing as long-term home schooling. The strain on parents is short-term. In the Internet age, it is often possible to work at home for a few months. I have found no data on this, but we could be seeing a trend toward sabbaticals for the young and restless.

Just published is what could be considered a guidebook for such family adventures, Laura Brodie's "Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year."

Brodie is a novelist and adjunct English professor at Washington and Lee University. From the beginning of her fifth-grade daughter Julia's year at home, Brodie had no intention of abandoning the public schools of Lexington, Va. She just wanted a respite from battles over homework.

Within the home-schooling community, Brodie says, these breaks are no longer considered unusual. Home Education Magazine calls them "emergency homeschooling." Your kid is being bullied. A hurricane has wiped out your city. This year's classroom teacher is not a good fit. Your spouse gets a sudden transfer. So you teach the child for a while.

Brodie had an intriguing but dreamy daughter. Teachers would lose her on field trips because she lingered at some sight that was only supposed to take 10 minutes.

In the same sweet way, Julia resisted certain school assignments. When pushing her daughter to finish her worksheets ruined one too many evenings, and when Julia once hid in a closet to avoid the torture, Brodie figured that home-schooling her would provide at least a year when she didn't have to dread life between the time Julia got home and the time she went to bed. She would be the teacher, at least for a time, and could make sure her nights were free.

Julia was less entranced with the idea but accepted on these terms: no after-school academic work except reading an hour every day and writing one page in a journal, anything she wanted.

Freedom of choice in writing appealed to the independent-minded child, but Julia was initially relieved to return to regular school because the teachers did not demand nearly as many writing assignments as her mother did. Brodie made daily writing across the curriculum the centerpiece of their year.

Did Brodie fail to teach something important? That is hard to do. She learned a secret of elementary school known to most home-schoolers. Just keep the kid progressing in math and she will do fine. In the regular schools, all the other subjects are pretty much the same every year.

For more Jay, go to http://washingtonpost. com/class-struggle.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Football's Top Moms: A Salute to Mothers Day

Posted: 09 May 2010 10:04 AM PDT

In celebration of Mother's Day. I looked for the most inspirational mother stories. Looking throughout football, the list is astronomical.

Nearly every time a player makes a speech, he thanks his mother first. Every time a camera zooms in on a player, he usually says "Hi mom!"

So in all fairness, there were plenty of good stories for "Top Mom," but the hands down winner by far comes from the small town of Preston Hollow, Texas.

The John McClamrock story:

McClamrock was a talented and promising football player in the small Dallas suburb of Preston Hollow. On Sept. 13, 1973, it all came to a screeching halt on a single play that left him paralyzed for the rest of his life.

McClamrock's fourth and fifth vertebrae in his neck were fractured. His mother Ann was called from work at the local bank to come to the hospital immediately because he only had two hours to live.

Ann rushed to the hospital to be by her son's side. Two hours turned into overnight; over night turned into a few days; a few days turned into a month, then a season, and Ann never once doubted that he would make it. She was right. She got to take him home a few months later.

She then began the tough task of caring for her paralyzed son all on her own. Ann was no stranger to heartache. She had lost not one, but two of her husbands before the age of 40. Cancer and liver failure made her a two-time widow.

If that wasn't enough, Ann lost her son Cliff to lung cancer. Everyone looked for her to crack. How could one person endear so much hardship? The answer became clear: very graciously!

She was described by those around her as upbeat, optimistic, delightful, and strong-willed. When she had every right to be bitter, she was not.

She took on the monumental task of taking care of John and heading her household, and by all accounts, she did a fantastic job.

She cut his hair, brushed his teeth, cleaned him, fed him, and read to him daily. More importantly, she made sure that he graduated by tutoring and homeschooling him. And she made certain that he would never once feel unimportant or sorry for himself.

Her toughest battle was making sure he never got a single bed sore. She set her alarm clock to go off every four hours to turn him. She didn't miss a turn.

At first Ann received a fair amount of limelight. Local businesses helped her out. The community was in full support. Even a couple of Dallas Cowboys flew in to see John.
After all of it faded off, the only light that never flickered was Ann's!

John's injury led to more and more medical problems, and Ann got slower with age. She prayed daily; a prayer that most mothers would view as a nightmare.

She prayed that her son would die before she would. Her biggest fear was what would happen to John if she were to pass away. It was inevitably what kept her alive, as she viewed it as her life's work.

On March 18, 2008, John passed away due to respiratory complications. At the wake of John's funeral, Ann was quoted as saying, "My work is done!"

After 34 years of caring for her son, she was done. Just 43 days after John passed away, Ann joined him. She was 89 years old.

Football players risk their lives and injuries every time they take the field to bring entertainment to the fans. I fully understand why they try to get as much money as they can, due to the short shelf life.

McClamrock never signed a lucrative contract. In fact, he never made a single penny playing the game of football. But in the end, he was far richer than most. He had a mother's love that could not be measured. And that you could not put a price tag on.

Many small articles have been written in Texas about McClamrock. I must give big credit to the five-page article written by Skip Hollandsworth, who documented the family. It's truly inspirational, and I highly recommend it as a good read.

My small article does it little justice. My only hope is to spotlight the story , and Ann McClamrock. By far the most inspirational mother Iv'e ever read about. Happy Mother's Day everybody!

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
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