Electronic Portfolios and Keeping Promises

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on "How Do You Know When You Are Done?"  It is a larger philosophical question (you all do know that I was a philosophy major for my undergraduate degree, don't you?), but for our homeschool, the practical answer is "The Cary Homeschoolers Student Showcase," which occurs on the first Saturday in June.  So this week--the week before the Student Showcase--is always kind of a crunch week for us.  Not only are we preparing our display for the Showcase, but I actually coordinate the whole event, so there are all those last-minute administrative details to take care of.  Plus, we try to get our annual required testing done before then (which we actually completed a couple of weeks ago, thank goodness) and any last minute curricula that aren't totally complete (for example, being the total grammar Nazi that I am, I am trying to get him to do over any grammar unit that he didn't score at least 90% on the online test for that competency).

Our big project this week, however, is producing an electronic portfolio of the past 12 months of his work. I really think that is a better way of capturing his growth over the past year than grades or test scores can ever do.  But like many things, it is something that I LOVE to have once it is done, but struggle through in actually doing.

This year, however, I'm doing something different.  Whereas for his elementary school years, I produced the entire portfolio (that is, I recorded a soundtrack of him talking about his favorite things in math, science, history, art, literature, and the like, then edited it, then found graphics to go along with the soundtrack),  this year I am sharing the load with my first-year-of-middle-schooler.  So we are recording the soundtrack together, then I am editing it, but he is the one adding the pictures to the soundtrack (with some fine-tuning from Mama, of course).  My goal is for him to be doing this on his own by high school

So today was a really heavy portfolio day.  We worked on our two heaviest curricular areas this year--History/Social Studies and Language Arts.  We finished the History part his morning, then worked away this afternoon and evening on Language Arts.  I had edited that soundtrack, then spent at least an hour getting it fixed after the computer suddenly didn't recognize the file type (don't you love computers?), then turned it over to him for graphics while I cooked dinner.

So for the entire time I was cooking dinner, there were literally screams coming from upstairs at the computer.  The language arts portfolio can be challenging, because it is about reading and writing, which aren't really very photographic activities.  But I kept sauteing my onions and boiling my pasta and calling up to my son, "You can figure it out."

And you know what?  He did.  He downloaded some screen capture software, installed it, learned how to use it, and captured screen shots of my blog and his, all while I was making the sauce.

But after dinner, it still wasn't finished, and he didn't know what to do about this part and that part, etc.  So you know what I did?  I went and took a bath.  If you were reading my blog at the beginning of the year, you will know I wrote a post about how taking more baths would make me a better mom, person, teacher, whatever.   It's when things are stressful and time is tight that you really need to take some self-care measures, which for me is taking a bath.  Plus, it removes me from the temptation of swooping in and taking over for my son, who I know that, no matter how much he complains, can get this thing done.

So I took a bath and read some fluffy chic lit book, and lo and behold, the thing got done while I was relaxing.

What a great lesson and accomplishment for both of us!

Witnessing History, Witnessing Life

The two items for today's blog post both came from my son, who complains that I don't mention him often enough in my writing (so here you go, Honey Babe.....).

One came via one of his pithy emails (he does not share his mother's tendency to wax on and on in writing).  This was the entire email:

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/index.html

 Blog About it!

So I checked it out, and it was a GREAT SITE!  It is called Eye Witness to History.com, and its tag line is: History through the eyes of those who lived it.  It has first person accounts of events in history ranging from the Ancient World to 20th Century America.  Some of them are by famous people who were writing about pivotal political events, while others are ordinary people describing different aspects of life.  I'm a great advocate of personal accounts of other times and other cultures, because I think it can really personalize history and make it more real to students of any age.  Most sources are text, but it also has some  photographs, audio recordings, and videos.  It's a good educational resources when you are working on history with your middle schooler.

The second came this afternoon when we were driving in the car after I had rushed him through history so I could rush him through math so I could rush him through lunch so we could get to art class on time.  While he wasn't resisting any of this (he's pretty used to it after twelve years of it), he simply remarked as we were driving that "I think the secret to happiness is not caring about time."

I realized that, while my son may be a little TOO unconcerned about time, I probably have been overscheduling us lately.  So after art class and some errands, we came home and I scrapped some of my plans for the rest of the day.  Instead, I took a walk to the library to return some books and to pick up some new ones, noticing that not only were the flowering apricots and Bartlett pears and cherry blossoms out in full force (well over a month before the predicted peak week of their more famous peers in my old hometown of Washington DC), but the dogwoods were starting to bloom as well.  I had just assumed those white trees we were zooming by in the car were Bartlett pears, but they weren't.

It reminded me of those classic lines from that great life lesson movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when Ferris says "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

So tonight I'm turning off the computer and putting away the to do list, and I'm going to enjoy time with my family and read a book.  Sometimes you need those reminders from the mouth of babes (Honey Babe, in this case, which is one of my pet names for my son) that all too quickly our days turn into history, and we shouldn't be so busy studying the lives of others that we miss our own.

The Cycle of Giving and Receiving

I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions; I tend to make more short-term resolutions or intention statements all along the year.  However, I do have one for this year:  Take More Baths!  However, this isn't really a statement about my personal hygiene....

I'm thrilled to say that in the four months that I've been doing this blog, I've had 3,153 page views, including visitors from dozens of countries from every continent in the world except Antarctica.  I don't know who all my readers are, but I'm assuming that most of you all are parents and/or teachers.  And parents and teachers are some of the biggest givers in the world.  That's not to say that they don't get a lot out of parenting and teaching; I'm sure those activities are up there in the top five list of the most important and significant and rewarding aspects of their lives.  But both teaching and parenting involve putting your heart, body, and soul into serving others so that their children and/or students can have full, enriching lives.

The thing about big givers is that they often need to be reminded to allow others to give to them as well.  It's not that it is OK for givers to receive sometimes--actually, it is a necessity that they do.  If they don't, if they never recharge their own batteries or refill their own stores of energy and spiritual nourishment, they can't keep on giving.  And if they never allow those around them, particularly their children and students, to give to them, they are depriving those other people of the opportunity to learn to become givers as well.

For me, this lesson came this week from taking a bath.   Usually, I never take baths, even though I enjoy them.  Why not?  Why, they take too much time, of course.  Why spend 20 or 30 minutes in the bathtub when I can get the job done in 5 minutes by showering?

But this year, the people around me were sending me a message.  One friend gave me a special candle for taking a bath.  Another gave me a lovely bottle of wine, and yet another some rich dark chocolate.  Best of all, however, were some friends who worked with my son to give me a handmade gift--which turned out to be some peppermint bath salts and an organic oatmeal facial mask.

So I was rushing around earlier this week, trying to get ready for our trip up to Washington DC, when I realized I needed to wash my hair that night instead of taking time in the morning for a shower.  But I was also cleaning up, and happened to pick up the jar of bath salts from my son.  I realized that a nice bath would help relax me and my body before having to drive for many hours tomorrow on roads that would be packed with both other cars and with snow (on the sides).  Could I actually spend the time on a bath with so many pre-trip chores to get done?  When I first mentioned that I was thinking about taking a bath, my son looked surprised, and then said "Thank you."  I realized that he didn't really think I would ever use his bath salts, and that it made him feel good for me to actually take advantage of his gift.

My husband offered to wash the dishes and clean up from dinner, and my son said he would pack his own clothes.  So I thought, Why not?  I gathered all my gifts, ran a bath, poured in the bath salts, mixed up the oatmeal facial and applied it to my skin, and slid into the warm water.  I lit my candle, sipped a little wine, ate a little chocolate, and enjoyed both my muscles relaxing in the warm water and my soul reveling in a few minutes of peace after the exhilaration of the holiday season.

When I emerged from the bathroom maybe 45 minutes later, I was clean and rested and much better prepared to face the stress of a day of driving in heavy highway traffic.  And my skin!  I couldn't believe it!  I've always had really dry skin, but my face felt smooth and moisturized like it hasn't felt in a very long time.  (And it turned out that it stayed moisturized all through my trip to DC.)

So I realized that it was crazy of me to think that I could spend the time to have a bath at least every week or so.  It's something that is cheap, relatively quick, and good for both my body and my soul.  And if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anyone else either.

So for all you other givers out there--I hope you find something that allows others to give to you (even if it is just leaving you alone for a short while) and make that part of your routine this year.  For me, that was the "other thing" I mentioned in yesterday's post--I spent a portion of my New Year's Eve in the bathtub, so I expect to be doing a lot of bathing in the coming year.

And speaking of giving... it is time to give away the curriculum package from Hands of a Child.

I used a Random Number Generator application from Random.org to pick the winner, and it came up with entrant #10.  And the lucky person #10 was Amy!  Congratulations, Amy--let us know what you end up getting.

I'm sorry that I don't have something for everyone who entered, but I enjoyed this, so maybe I'll do some other contests this year. And you might want to sign up for the HOAC newsletter, because when they do get to their 400th curriculum package (which is supposed to be soon), they will be doing some great giveaways, including a free Super Membership (2 free ebooks each month PLUS 15% off every purchase--a $65 value), a free Custom Unit (you tell them the subject and the grade level, and they will produce a curriculum on exactly the topic you want--a $75 value), and a free LIFETIME Super Membership (a $275 value).  Somebody is going to win....so maybe it will be you!