Growing

Homeschooling provides some unique and fun opportunities. Like having your own fungus garden. Jon and I came downstairs one morning last week to find this warning on our counter:

Of course, what he really ended up growing after some time was fungi. But no need to mince words here. It was a successful experiment in more ways than one.

Driveway science

I let him loose in the driveway today.

Earlier in the day, in the car on our way home from nature camp, I asked him what he wanted to do with the afternoon.

"Math, spelling, and grammar," he said, "and then I want to experiment with water."

I asked him what kind of experiments he wanted to do.

"I want to find out what else fizzes like vinegar and baking soda."

Now, we've done the whole vinegar and baking soda thing a couple of times. We did it once when he was about four and totally obsessed with volcanoes so we did the obligatory conical explosion in the front yard. At the time it bothered me because vinegar and baking soda inside a plastic cone painted to look like a volcano have absolutely nothing to do with volcanoes, and volcanoes have no direct connection to the acid/base lesson that is the vinegar and baking soda reaction. So we followed the volcanic eruption in the front yard with a quick lesson on solutions and acids and bases a la The Young Scientist Club.

I'd like to say that I've relaxed a bit since that time when I was afraid to let him explode a volcano lest he mistake the kaboom of vinegar meeting baking soda for the nuts and bolts of a real, honest-to-goodness volcano. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Who was that mom anyhow? But actually, that kind of "science" still drives me nuts. The argument is moot, though. When I asked him if he knew why vinegar and baking soda reacted that way he remembered neither the volcano enactment nor the subsequent acids/bases exploration unit.

Not an entire loss, however, he did know that the reaction itself releases carbon dioxide gas, the culprit responsible for the fizzing. And, since everyone loves a good fizzy experiment, this afternoon he was off in search of more such explosive pairings.

And here's how I know—without a doubt—that I have relaxed in the past four years. When he asked for five glasses, five spoons, a measuring cup, water, vinegar, baking soda, salt, corn starch, and food coloring...I didn't bat an eye. I piled it all up on a tray, asked him to experiment in the driveway please, and delivered the goods. I watched for a while, and let him school me on his methods, but mostly I did laundry. And, when he used all the vinegar, salt, and corn starch in the house, I simply added those staples to the weekly shopping list.

It's a great big learning world out there.

Science Olympiad

There are a lot of people who think that homeschooling is a lonely undertaking. These are the very same people who throw around words like "socialization" and "cult" and "brain washing". I won't say that there aren't homeschoolers who have earned those badges that the rest of the homeschooling community has to wear along with them—I'm sure they exist—but that's not the majority of us, and no matter how often it happens, I will continue to be surprised every time I meet with suspicion.

Calvin participated in our county's Elementary Science Olympiad this weekend. This was a completely new event for him—for both of us—in many ways. Aside from never having taken part in a Science Olympiad before, this was our first experience in a public school event of any kind, and Calvin's first ever actual, written test. He spent the month before the Olympiad preparing with his four other team members. He and his partner built towers that could support tennis balls for the "Mystery Architecture" event, and practiced estimating various things for "Estimania". And the two of us went on many a hike, binoculars in tow, to prepare for the "Feathered Friends" bird identification test. He built with straws, he estimated grams of salt, he drilled bird songs and photos.

The Olympiad was great fun. Calvin loved it. He actually went skipping down the hallway to meet each event. He interacted with the public school kids, and his homeschool teammates, with great cheer and obvious social ability.

But there was one interaction that still has me chuckling. When we first arrived, being new to the event and all, we walked down a long hallway (the same hallway where I had a locker my senior year, walking right past my senior year physics classroom, by the way) to a table with the sign "academic check-in" to find out about, of all things, checking in. Just before we reached the table we were halted by a militant hall guard who demanded that we first check in with our school. I asked her politely if there was a table to check in as a school, but we were each confused by the other, and just as I was beginning to understand that the problem was that we didn't fit into their usual paradigm (I couldn't very well check in with non-existent school's non-existent head coach), a nice lady at the check-in table popped up with the clear answer to all our problems—

"Don't you see? They're homeschoolers! They don't have a school, and they're not used to all this!" (indicating the school with a flourish of her arms).

After that everyone was interested in holding our hands through the hallway, as though they were afraid that, being homeschoolers, we were bound to get lost. Or, being "not used to all this", we were in danger of getting spooked and running away. I was torn between being offended and touched. I decided on something between the two—amusement.

To Bill Nye, who has discounted homeschoolers (and others)

Most homeschoolers with half an eye toward science will have already seen the controversy over Bill Nye’s recent comment on homeschooling. The comment was made by Nye on his Facebook page during a public question and answer session. Asked if he had any plans to, or would consider, “creating a science curriculum for the ever-growing number of secular homeschoolers”, Nye replied:

“Use your judgement. The rest of us out here, want your kids to appreciate society and the importance of working together in school and in life. A person working alone will probably not build the future 797 airplane, for example. It takes people who can work with and around people. Carry on.”

The secular homeschooling community, of course, is offended by Nye’s misinformed, narrow judgement of a homeschooler’s social capabilities, but I think that’s only one ingredient in this falling soufflé of snark. In effect, with his Facebook wall polemic against homeschoolers, Bill Nye not only exposed himself as disrespectful and intolerant (ignoble traits for a scientist), he also insulted average, introverted school aged kids world wide, and I'd like to respond to that.

Dear Mr. Nye,

“Use your judgement” you say.
Before I judge, I’d like to see the data gathered showing that previously homeschooled adults underperform in the work place, particularly in research and development. To my knowledge that data has not been compiled, but data that has been shows homeschool students outperforming public and private school students in colleges and universities across the United States. Sure, that’s still an academic environment, but that’s where our researchers and developers get their start (see usnews, the hslda, and huffpost for more information).

When you reference “The rest of us out here”…
the rest of who, out where? Scientists (and everyone else) should beware the blanket statement; it makes them seem unsure of themselves, like they are seeking safety in numbers—imaginary, unnamed numbers. Two wrongs do not make a right, and a mob of misinformed people does not make a biased and unsupported statement any more or less true.

You say you want kids “working together in school and in life”,
but homeschooling isn’t synonymous with schooling in isolation. For some I’m sure it is, but many homeschoolers find meaningful ways to work and learn together through group classes, sports, theater, and music programs outside of the school system.

You're right, “A person working alone will probably not build the future 797 airplane”,
but that’s true in part because a future 797 airplane will be a collection of inventions made by people with very different skill sets. And yes, many people will be working together on such a large project (some of whom may have been homeschooled), but science isn’t only about building large scale new products. Science is also about researching, writing, observing, and deep contemplation. Plenty of discoveries are made by one lone person working late at night in a research lab. Of course this doesn’t mean they don’t consult peers, or collaborate across time and distance through journals, letters, studies, and abstracts. Working alone is not synonymous with working in isolation.

Yes, “It takes people who can work with and around people",
but again, there is no evidence that homeschoolers on average don’t work well with others. Additionally, there is no guarantee that school kids do. In fact, the recent rise in bullying incidents is pretty good evidence that there are plenty of children in schools everywhere who do not work or play well with others.

But the biggest problem here, Mr. Nye,
is the part where you imply that it’s not worth designing a curriculum for kids who won’t be designing the next biggest airplane. What you're essentially saying is that it’s not worth teaching kids who won’t become the next giants in the world of research and development. But "future great inventors" is a very small category of kids, and the kids who don't fit into it will be our future teachers, farmers, or congressmen instead, and more still will be future parents. All of these futures can benefit from a strong basic science education.

All of these futures are worth a good science curriculum.

Spring, obscure tv shows, and how to make a universe

Obviously I have had little to say for the past few weeks. Either that or we've been doing little to talk about, or maybe I've been taking fewer pictures. Part of the impromptu hiatus was due to a sudden influx in book review assignments. Having to spend my evenings reading? You got it. But at least some of those evenings were spent giving in to an obsession with a few obscure TV shows (both Psych and Mad Men returned a couple of weeks ago, plus we've discovered the prowess of BBC shows, mainly Sherlock and Dr. Who). Watching TV until the wee hours of the morning? Not our finest moments, but it's been fun nonetheless.

In the time that I've been basically gone, though, it's amazing how very little has happened. In fact, that's been the real story of the past month: more of the same all over again. Since the last three years have gifted us with warm, early springs, the lethargy of this year's season has been somewhat of a shock and disappointment. Looking back at pictures from this time last year we were in shorts and tees, while this year I was still running in long pants and a fleece until just this week.

Additionally, not much has happened on the home front, and right now I think that's really a good thing. Winter is busy, summer is busy, but spring and fall almost demand a dragging of feet from me. Forget the whole spring cleaning thing, there's plenty of time for that during the long winter months when we're cooped up inside. Spring is for daydreaming, for watching the birds return, for lazy afternoons with a good book. And apparently for late nights with obscure television shows, but that's an anomaly, I think.

For Calvin, on the other hand, spring is about being outside in as few clothes as is bearable, and for as long as possible, no matter the temperature. Or at least that's what it's been about since the first day that even suggested warmth, especially if chalk was involved. Thanks to the frequent night rains, the driveway has been much like an etch-a-sketch. It has accommodated a map of Africa, a slideshowesque how-to on creating a universe (don't forget the black holes), and a map of a unique solar system and planet from said other universe. Which obviates the current household interest: astrophysics. It's like an obsession for the kid right now. If it has anything to do with black holes, antimatter, subatomic particles, or the elements, he's all over it. In fact, he's planned out a rather elaborate project for the 4H fair in July. Which means that things are promising to be a little more engaging around here soon enough, since a few weeks of lethargy are about all we can stand.