link to Rose's blog

http://theredrose.doodlekit.com/gallery

Beatlemania!

Rose is currently reading, listening to and watching everything Beatles-related that she can get her hands on. Luckily we have a vast collection of Beatles music and some beautiful videos Yoko Ono put with John Lennon's music after he died (I can't watch them without bawling). It all started with the movie Across the Universe, a work of historical fiction in which characters resembling John Lennon, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix walk through race riots, the draft, the Vietnam War, and war protests, all the while singing Beatles songs. Now Rose is reading lots of biographies and stories about John and the Beatles. She intends for it to be a very long-term project (aah, the beauty of homeschooling - creating your own timeline that does not depend on the arbitrary school-year schedule).

Khan Academy is another fixture of homeschooling these days. Everyone should check it out. The free videos cover math, science, finance and history, all taught because the teacher (Khan) is truly excited about how the world works and he loves passing his excitement on to others and explaining things in ways that create deep understanding. He started out making videos to tutor his cousins, and it grew from there. It is also great because Rose can be totally self-directed, which is the best way for things to work with both of our busy lives.

Rose also listens to Yale University Introduction to Psychology lectures on iTunes U. Again, the teacher is engaging and entertaining, and she has no problem with the subject matter. She eats it up.

Yesterday Rose decided that a way to overcome her resistance to writing is to start a blog. I will get her to help me post a link to it.

We got 20 new chicks that Rose is helping to care for. We lost one (she blogged about it) but the rest are doing well. It was a learning experience because the chick drowned in the waterer and we now have it set up higher and with rocks in the water to prevent future tragedies.

Rose has recently taken the initiative to plan a field trip to KUAF, our local public radio station. I have been 100% hands-off. She made the call to the radio station and discussed the logistics of a tour, and she is now collecting names of people who want to participate from our homeschool group. This type of real-world experience is priceless. Figuring out what you want to do and how to make it happen, communicating with adults, planning, time management, all are learned just because something sounds fun. Excitement for life drives learning. I have seen these same types of skills blossoming in the help Rose has given me in working on our local foods website. She contacted two different musicians whom we know peripherally and requested to use their music to go with our videos, as well as contacting the folds at The Perennial Plate to offer ideas of places to visit on their upcoming US tour. She communicates clearly and maturely, both by phone and via email, and she has gotten positive responses on all fronts.

For the current semester Rose has been tutoring on Monday afternoons at Lifesource International, a service organization that runs a food and clothing pantry, after school tutoring, summer camps, and other programs to help those in need. I am usually in the background helping out in the clothing closet and sometimes overhearing the work going on. Rose seems to get a great response from the kids - they laugh and have fun, but they also get real learning done. Last time we were there I heard the girls Rose was helping telling her they thought she was 15 (she is tall and mature) and calling her a "baby Einstein!" All the other tutors are college students. I think it is a great idea to run a tutoring program, although from a homeschool perspective I do see flaws in their approach and I am considering speaking with the board to address the issues I see. I am not sure what response I will get, but I might as well take Rose's example and give it a shot. The main flaws I see are that they are giving the kids more of what they get all day in school, i.e. sit still and do worksheets. I hear language that is based in shame (that is easy, you should be able to do that) and the reward-and-punishment system is in full force. I also think that snack and outside time should come first, not last, because the kids are probably experiencing low blood sugar and needing to run around after sitting all day. I would love to introduce some radical ideas like those found in Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn, and How to Talk so Kids can Learn by Faber and Mazlish.

Rose has chorus and hip hop performances coming up, and then our schedule will be freed up a bit for the summer.

Haas Hall Academy

Rose and I went to visit Haas Hall Academy yesterday. It is a charter school in Fayetteville that provides a college preparatory education FOR FREE! Check it out here: http://www.haashall.org/

Rose will be going in either the Fall of 2011 or Fall of 2012, depending on whether or not her number comes up in the lottery for 2011. The school starts in 8th grade, but based on meeting Rose and on her test scores, Dr. Schoppmeyer, the founder and superintendent, said she could definitely skip a grade and enter this Fall.

We are so excited to have found such an amazing educational opportunity here! Haas Hall is one of the top schools in the nation. Many former homeschoolers attend, and it has a very safe, family-like environment, as well as superior academics. All scholars (as they call them) take college level courses and AP courses. It will be great for Rose to be in a socially rich environment with academics that are worthy of her intellect and abilities! I will miss her, but I will be busy farming and I am sure I will be very involved with the school. They do a lot of fundraising because as a charter school, they receive the minimum state funding per student, without any millage dollars, and also because they do not take federal funding so they can have more educational freedom.