Language Treks has a special gift for budget-crunched middle school teachers. They are offering any public or private school 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th grade Spanish teacher a FREE school edition of their online Spanish curriculum, Discover Spanish (which normally costs $229.95/year). The curriculum consists of 36 interactive lessons, each with a cartoon-based everyday scenario that are spoken and written out in Spanish and/or English. Students can practice their pronunciation of the words and phrases for that lesson, then test their recall with a game.
You can check out the program with a sample lesson here, or request your free subscription here. If you aren't eligible for the free program, you can buy an individual 12-month subscription for only $54.95 here.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
What Are Your Five (or Six) Most Influential Books?
Today I stumbled upon a wonderful website sponsored by Scholastic books. Entitled You Are What You Read, it asks the best question I’ve been asked in quite a while--What Five Books Influenced You the Most? You enter that information into your profile, and it connects you with other readers with similar tastes. It also has the lists of all sorts of celebrities, authors, educators, and other famous people, along with other reading resources.
But what a question! My whole family and I are such readers that it is really hard to pick the top five books that have changed my life. I also found it much easier to focus on the ones that have really altered the course of my life more recently than the ones that most influenced me as a child.
So I gave myself a little leeway (not being a rules-driven person in general, as those who know me already know). I decided to make two lists: my favorites as a child (up through high school), and the most influential from college to today.
But even so, I cut and cut from my many contenders, and I debated and considered, and I couldn’t get below six categories (some had more than one book...another fudge factor). Then I realized that today was 6/6. So obviously it was meant to be that I had two lists with six items apiece!
So here are my two lists of my six most influential books. They are more in sequential order than order of impact, because, again, I just couldn’t decide on that.
CHILD
Winnie the Pooh/The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
Is there a better book for conveying that comforting world of friendships and relationships we had with our earliest toys?
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Before there was Harry Potter and the Lightening Thief, there was Narnia, covering many of the same fantasy world/good versus evil/family versus...whatever, not family themes. I think both of these were also influenced by the fact that I was born and raised through elementary school in London.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle/Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
So to most people these books probably seem really different (and, of course, on one hand they are), but they are bound in my mind as both having protagonists that were plucky young girls who do whatever it takes to take care of their families. Family was--and still is--a predominant value in my life.
Animal Farm by George Orwell/Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Maybe it was because I went to high school in the DC suburbs, but my teenage rebellion books dealt more with political and social power rather than personal liberation (which I would classify books like Catcher in the Rye, which is a popular book on the list). I have always been wary of following the masses and of the potential for the abuse of government, or increasingly in modern times, corporate power (which is why I still refuse to get on Facebook, despite the many pleas by my friends).
The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Paradoxically, perhaps, I also embraced the idea of the social contract--the fact that we will willingly give up some of our independence so that we can live together. But I see that as a mutual agreement between individuals, not something imposed upon me by the government or other structure.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White/Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
These two are combined in mind, not only as books, but as their corresponding musicals (Camelot and Man of La Mancha). I remember writing my college application essays on these books. The main message they left me was to do the right thing, even if no one appreciates it, no one understands it, and no one accepts it at the time. You do the right thing, and it makes a difference, even if you aren’t around to see it. You do the right thing, and you can live and die with peace, even if others might judge you as a fool or a failure. If I had to pick one, this is probably the idea that has influenced my entire life more than any other I have ever gotten from books.
ADULT
The Republic by Plato
So I went off to college to an outstanding liberal arts college, The College of William and Mary, and took a philosophy course largely because my roommate’s boyfriend’s roommate was a philosophy major. I took my first class, and then my first test, and left thinking this was the easiest class I had taken for my entire college experience and wondered why it wasn’t on the list of “gut” classes that had circulated among my freshman dorm. Then I found out that other people actually thought the test was hard! These things that I had been thinking about my entire life were brand new to most of my classmates. So, anyway, I think it was reading this book that made me decide to major in philosophy and concentrate in political philosophy, with a minor in government.
Being and Nothingness/Nausea/No Exit by Paul Sartre
A little later in my philosophical career, I became an existentialist, mainly through reading Sartre. One of the things I loved about him was that he explored these ideas through more than just confounding philosophical treatises (Being and Nothingness), but also novels (Nausea) and plays (No Exit). Discovering existentialism provided the philosophical, and eventually the spiritual, foundation for my entire life.
Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe
I read this in college, and realized how my eating choices could contribute to world hunger--or not. I have so many allergies to alternative protein sources (allergic to eggs, nuts, and dairy at that time) that I couldn’t see being a vegetarian, but I did give up eating red meat for over 20 years after that book.
Guns, Germs, and Steel/Collapse by Jared Diamond
Both these books changed the way I viewed history. I had been raised in what I call the “Great Man” theory--that these extraordinary individuals created the course of history. Diamond makes a great argument that civilizations rise and fall based on environmental factors, not outstanding people. This only added fuel to my lifelong environmental activism. But perhaps more importantly, I am trying to incorporate this perspective into how I teach my son and my other students history and geography and world religion and such. I believe they need to see how decisions about natural resources have contributed to the success or failure of societies in the past, which I hope will help them make more intelligent decisions about our future.
Loving What Is by Byron Katie
This is probably the best book that describes my spiritual approach to life. As Katie says, “When you argue with reality, you lose 100% of the time.” It’s not an easy read, but it can be a life-altering book.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
This is such a fantastic book. This one, again, changed the way that my family and I eat (and influenced me to start eating red meat again). Pollan poses the question: Given that we humans can biologically eat anything, how do we know what to eat? He then looks at the economic, environmental, societal, and ethical costs of four types of meal: fast food; food from Whole Foods; food from local farms; growing, hunting, and gathering all your own food. He is a wonderful writer, and I, who thought she was relatively conscious about her food choices, was alternately horrified and inspired by the facts and stories about food production in this book. This is an incredibly important book that I recommend to everyone I know.
So there you have it. I’ve probably told you more than you wanted to know. But with so many wonderful, wonderful books left off my list, I felt I had to justify the ones that made it.
I would love to hear about some of your most influential books, even if you don’t want to do the whole “top five/six” or extraverted/here is my life thing. Please add your favorites to the comments below.
But what a question! My whole family and I are such readers that it is really hard to pick the top five books that have changed my life. I also found it much easier to focus on the ones that have really altered the course of my life more recently than the ones that most influenced me as a child.
So I gave myself a little leeway (not being a rules-driven person in general, as those who know me already know). I decided to make two lists: my favorites as a child (up through high school), and the most influential from college to today.
But even so, I cut and cut from my many contenders, and I debated and considered, and I couldn’t get below six categories (some had more than one book...another fudge factor). Then I realized that today was 6/6. So obviously it was meant to be that I had two lists with six items apiece!
So here are my two lists of my six most influential books. They are more in sequential order than order of impact, because, again, I just couldn’t decide on that.
CHILD
Winnie the Pooh/The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
Is there a better book for conveying that comforting world of friendships and relationships we had with our earliest toys?
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Before there was Harry Potter and the Lightening Thief, there was Narnia, covering many of the same fantasy world/good versus evil/family versus...whatever, not family themes. I think both of these were also influenced by the fact that I was born and raised through elementary school in London.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle/Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
So to most people these books probably seem really different (and, of course, on one hand they are), but they are bound in my mind as both having protagonists that were plucky young girls who do whatever it takes to take care of their families. Family was--and still is--a predominant value in my life.
Animal Farm by George Orwell/Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Maybe it was because I went to high school in the DC suburbs, but my teenage rebellion books dealt more with political and social power rather than personal liberation (which I would classify books like Catcher in the Rye, which is a popular book on the list). I have always been wary of following the masses and of the potential for the abuse of government, or increasingly in modern times, corporate power (which is why I still refuse to get on Facebook, despite the many pleas by my friends).
The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Paradoxically, perhaps, I also embraced the idea of the social contract--the fact that we will willingly give up some of our independence so that we can live together. But I see that as a mutual agreement between individuals, not something imposed upon me by the government or other structure.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White/Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
These two are combined in mind, not only as books, but as their corresponding musicals (Camelot and Man of La Mancha). I remember writing my college application essays on these books. The main message they left me was to do the right thing, even if no one appreciates it, no one understands it, and no one accepts it at the time. You do the right thing, and it makes a difference, even if you aren’t around to see it. You do the right thing, and you can live and die with peace, even if others might judge you as a fool or a failure. If I had to pick one, this is probably the idea that has influenced my entire life more than any other I have ever gotten from books.
ADULT
The Republic by Plato
So I went off to college to an outstanding liberal arts college, The College of William and Mary, and took a philosophy course largely because my roommate’s boyfriend’s roommate was a philosophy major. I took my first class, and then my first test, and left thinking this was the easiest class I had taken for my entire college experience and wondered why it wasn’t on the list of “gut” classes that had circulated among my freshman dorm. Then I found out that other people actually thought the test was hard! These things that I had been thinking about my entire life were brand new to most of my classmates. So, anyway, I think it was reading this book that made me decide to major in philosophy and concentrate in political philosophy, with a minor in government.
Being and Nothingness/Nausea/No Exit by Paul Sartre
A little later in my philosophical career, I became an existentialist, mainly through reading Sartre. One of the things I loved about him was that he explored these ideas through more than just confounding philosophical treatises (Being and Nothingness), but also novels (Nausea) and plays (No Exit). Discovering existentialism provided the philosophical, and eventually the spiritual, foundation for my entire life.
Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe
I read this in college, and realized how my eating choices could contribute to world hunger--or not. I have so many allergies to alternative protein sources (allergic to eggs, nuts, and dairy at that time) that I couldn’t see being a vegetarian, but I did give up eating red meat for over 20 years after that book.
Guns, Germs, and Steel/Collapse by Jared Diamond
Both these books changed the way I viewed history. I had been raised in what I call the “Great Man” theory--that these extraordinary individuals created the course of history. Diamond makes a great argument that civilizations rise and fall based on environmental factors, not outstanding people. This only added fuel to my lifelong environmental activism. But perhaps more importantly, I am trying to incorporate this perspective into how I teach my son and my other students history and geography and world religion and such. I believe they need to see how decisions about natural resources have contributed to the success or failure of societies in the past, which I hope will help them make more intelligent decisions about our future.
Loving What Is by Byron Katie
This is probably the best book that describes my spiritual approach to life. As Katie says, “When you argue with reality, you lose 100% of the time.” It’s not an easy read, but it can be a life-altering book.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
This is such a fantastic book. This one, again, changed the way that my family and I eat (and influenced me to start eating red meat again). Pollan poses the question: Given that we humans can biologically eat anything, how do we know what to eat? He then looks at the economic, environmental, societal, and ethical costs of four types of meal: fast food; food from Whole Foods; food from local farms; growing, hunting, and gathering all your own food. He is a wonderful writer, and I, who thought she was relatively conscious about her food choices, was alternately horrified and inspired by the facts and stories about food production in this book. This is an incredibly important book that I recommend to everyone I know.
So there you have it. I’ve probably told you more than you wanted to know. But with so many wonderful, wonderful books left off my list, I felt I had to justify the ones that made it.
I would love to hear about some of your most influential books, even if you don’t want to do the whole “top five/six” or extraverted/here is my life thing. Please add your favorites to the comments below.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
An Artsy Weekend
We didn't do a lot of welcoming summer last weekend over Memorial Day, because we were so focused on finishing up our last projects, creating our electronic portfolio, and preparing for our Student Showcase. But by this weekend, we were ready to embrace summer with a passion. But instead of the typical pool and BBQ celebration, we greeted the new season by taking advantage of some of the many free arts activities offered in the Triangle region over the summer.
Friday night, we visited First Friday among the downtown Raleigh galleries again.
As usual, our focus was my friend Donna Belt's studio, SpiritWorks. This month, Donna has been inspired to create some wonderful paintings of angels and Mary Magdalene.
Friday night, we visited First Friday among the downtown Raleigh galleries again.
As usual, our focus was my friend Donna Belt's studio, SpiritWorks. This month, Donna has been inspired to create some wonderful paintings of angels and Mary Magdalene.
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| Angel painting by Donna Belt |
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| Mary Magdalene painting by Donna Belt |
We made several other wonderful discoveries at the Carter Building, home to about 80 different artists. We were inspired by the uplifting collage cards by Debbie Crawford of Art&Soul. And we found some beautiful drawings of one of my son's obscure favorites--cephalopods--by a terrific artist named Edward Richards....who we found out was homeschooled as a child!
This time, however, we even got really adventurous and took the FREE R line bus loop in downtown Raleigh to Artspace, another epicenter for Raleigh artists. It was a beautiful night, and it just great for both the children and the adults to see and discuss contemporary art, not only among ourselves, but with the artists themselves.
Tonight we got to experience a different artistic format, namely music. There is a local band called Milagro Saints that includes fathers from two of our homeschooling friends. So tonight we went with the family of the bass player, Steve Samosky, to a FREE outdoor concert at Fletcher Park in Raleigh as part of the Raleigh Parks & Rec's 2011 Sunday in the Park concert series. The band is FANTASTIC, the venue is lovely and not very crowded, with lots of places for the tweens or teens to hang out or play around in a safe area but away from their not-so-cool parental units. We (but mostly my friend Sara) brought lots of delicious food to share and the cool front that came in with a threatened 50% chance of thunderstorms brought cooler weather and light breezes, but no rain. So, really, we couldn't have had a nicer night.
If you live in the Triangle area, there are so many opportunities to see our local artists over the summer, many times for free. It may be a little warm, and it may take a little effort, but we have so many talented artists that it is really worth your while to take advantage of these sorts of summer showcases.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Curriculum Resource: The Islam Project
We are beginning our study of the religion of Islam, and I ran across what looks like a wonderful educational resource for middle school and high school students. There are lesson plans and discussion guides for educating tweens and teens about Islam developed by The Islam Project.
The goal of The Islam Project is to produce multimedia materials and associated lessons to help American youth explore the great diversity among the vast numbers of Muslims around the world (currently estimated to comprise almost a quarter of the Earth's population). In the wake of the attacks on 9/11, they produced two PBS series: Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet and Muslims, which displays the variety in the way that Muslims around the world practice their faith.
Their latest project is a video program called American Muslim Teens Talk. In this half hour video, nine American Muslim teenagers discuss the issues common to all teenagers--fitting in, dating, having fun, dealing with parents--and the impact that practicing Islam has for them in these areas. They also discuss negative stereotypes around being Muslim, as well as demonstrating the difference between teenagers raised under Islam.
I haven't seen it yet, but it looks like a terrific resource to help this age group understand more about their Muslim peers and to consider the impact of religious stereotypes in general.
The goal of The Islam Project is to produce multimedia materials and associated lessons to help American youth explore the great diversity among the vast numbers of Muslims around the world (currently estimated to comprise almost a quarter of the Earth's population). In the wake of the attacks on 9/11, they produced two PBS series: Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet and Muslims, which displays the variety in the way that Muslims around the world practice their faith.
Their latest project is a video program called American Muslim Teens Talk. In this half hour video, nine American Muslim teenagers discuss the issues common to all teenagers--fitting in, dating, having fun, dealing with parents--and the impact that practicing Islam has for them in these areas. They also discuss negative stereotypes around being Muslim, as well as demonstrating the difference between teenagers raised under Islam.
I haven't seen it yet, but it looks like a terrific resource to help this age group understand more about their Muslim peers and to consider the impact of religious stereotypes in general.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Second Saturdays in North Carolina
For the FIRST Saturday of the Summer, I hope everyone will be coming to see our Student Showcase of our local homeschool group's year of accomplishments! But for the second Saturday of each month (June 11, July 9, and August 13), you can take advantage of educational and cultural events across the state of North Carolina, courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources program Second Saturdays.
Here are some of the places in the Triangle that will be hosting special events:
There are sorts of different activities going on--historical re-enactments, craft demonstrations, art classes, musical performances, games for children, and, of course, FOOD!
This is a fun reason to visit some of the artistic or historical venues around the state that you've never seen before, or brings a new dimension to your favorite places to tour.
Here are some of the places in the Triangle that will be hosting special events:
- Alamance Battleground
- Bennett Place
- Bentonville Battlefield
- Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum
- Duke Homestead
- Fort Dobbs
- Historic Stagville
- House in the Horseshoe
- North Carolina Museum of Art
- North Carolina Museum of History
- North Carolina Transportation Museum
- President James K. Polk Historic Site
- Reed Gold Mine
- Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art
- State Capitol
- Town Creek Indian Mound
There are sorts of different activities going on--historical re-enactments, craft demonstrations, art classes, musical performances, games for children, and, of course, FOOD!
This is a fun reason to visit some of the artistic or historical venues around the state that you've never seen before, or brings a new dimension to your favorite places to tour.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Zoo Club "Fun in the Not-TOO-Much Sun" Day
Today was the final event of our year-long Zoo Club, an educational program for homeschoolers offered by the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, NC. Because the Zoo has a strong mission of educating the school children of North Carolina, and they want to give homeschoolers equal opportunities to the schools, the Zoo Club offers homeschool groups a package of four classes--two at the Zoo, and two in the local community--along with an "end of the year" Fun Day at the Zoo. At Fun Day, the Zoo has some games and activities distributed throughout the Zoo, and all the Zoo Club participants from all the Zoo Clubs in North Carolina are invited and come play, learn, and even win some prizes.
This activity is always, as advertised, FUN, as well as educational, but we were having kind of a hard time selling it this year. The Zoo is about an hour and a half drive from the Cary area, so that is a consideration, although it is a beautiful and easy drive, and we always encourage carpooling (which makes it more fun as well). It was scheduled a little later this year, so it ended up being just a couple of days before our Student Showcase, when many of our families are trying to tie up the loose ends of their homeschool year.
But mostly, I think, people were discouraged by the fact that it has been in the upper 90's all this week. Several people told me they didn't want to drive all that way and then sweat all day. The North Carolina Zoo is one of those with animals in natural habitats, and it is big! There are 500 acres in the park, which means that you do a lot of walking. It is usually pretty tiring after a day at such a large zoo, so people weren't too excited with the extra heat on top of the usual exhaustion (remembering that, as moms do, we were not only bringing our children, but 10-20 pounds of snacks, water, sun screen, allergy medicine, bug spray, yada yada yada...)
So we ended up with seven of our local homeschool families going. But those who came were really glad they did. As always with the Zoo's educational staff, they put together a high quality program. The focus of the initial games were prey and predators and the food web, which is always an important concept. Plus, because it is the week before the end of traditional public schools, there were very few school groups there. And it was during the day, so not a lot of regular folks were visiting. It really felt almost like we had the park to ourselves, even though there were probably hundreds of people there (a large, spread-out zoo like that can feel that way under the right conditions). Finally, even though the thermometer on our car said it was 96 degrees, it really didn't feel that bad. The entire park was built out of a forest in the foothills of the Uwharrie Mountains, and they left most of the trees in between all the different exhibits. So there was tons of shade everywhere we went. There are also mist sprayers around, and air-conditioned buildings to stop in here and there. It was hot, but we were never miserable. And given the lack of other people, and thus the ability to walk peacefully and see all the animals without any crowds or lines or anything, it was really one of the most pleasant trips I've ever had to the zoo.
They did announce that the Zoo will be offering Zoo Club again next year, and have hired a permanent staff person to run the program. If you are a homeschooler in North Carolina, I really recommend you take advantage of this excellent educational opportunity when enrollment rolls around again next fall.
This activity is always, as advertised, FUN, as well as educational, but we were having kind of a hard time selling it this year. The Zoo is about an hour and a half drive from the Cary area, so that is a consideration, although it is a beautiful and easy drive, and we always encourage carpooling (which makes it more fun as well). It was scheduled a little later this year, so it ended up being just a couple of days before our Student Showcase, when many of our families are trying to tie up the loose ends of their homeschool year.
But mostly, I think, people were discouraged by the fact that it has been in the upper 90's all this week. Several people told me they didn't want to drive all that way and then sweat all day. The North Carolina Zoo is one of those with animals in natural habitats, and it is big! There are 500 acres in the park, which means that you do a lot of walking. It is usually pretty tiring after a day at such a large zoo, so people weren't too excited with the extra heat on top of the usual exhaustion (remembering that, as moms do, we were not only bringing our children, but 10-20 pounds of snacks, water, sun screen, allergy medicine, bug spray, yada yada yada...)
So we ended up with seven of our local homeschool families going. But those who came were really glad they did. As always with the Zoo's educational staff, they put together a high quality program. The focus of the initial games were prey and predators and the food web, which is always an important concept. Plus, because it is the week before the end of traditional public schools, there were very few school groups there. And it was during the day, so not a lot of regular folks were visiting. It really felt almost like we had the park to ourselves, even though there were probably hundreds of people there (a large, spread-out zoo like that can feel that way under the right conditions). Finally, even though the thermometer on our car said it was 96 degrees, it really didn't feel that bad. The entire park was built out of a forest in the foothills of the Uwharrie Mountains, and they left most of the trees in between all the different exhibits. So there was tons of shade everywhere we went. There are also mist sprayers around, and air-conditioned buildings to stop in here and there. It was hot, but we were never miserable. And given the lack of other people, and thus the ability to walk peacefully and see all the animals without any crowds or lines or anything, it was really one of the most pleasant trips I've ever had to the zoo.
They did announce that the Zoo will be offering Zoo Club again next year, and have hired a permanent staff person to run the program. If you are a homeschooler in North Carolina, I really recommend you take advantage of this excellent educational opportunity when enrollment rolls around again next fall.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Educational Documentary: American Teacher
This is another documentary about education that should be coming out this year. This one, American Teacher, does not focus on the next "revolution" that is supposed to save American education. Rather, this one looks at the everyday, average teachers--the impact they have can on our children, and how relatively little they are compensated for it.
American Teacher is an outgrowth of The Teacher Salary Project, which is itself an outgrowth of the book, Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers, by Dave Eggers, Ninive Clements Calegari, and Daniel Moulthrop. The book and the movie both tell the tales of how much good teachers have to give of themselves to do what should be one of the most important jobs in our society--educating our children.
Here are some eye-opening statistics from the website:
American Teacher is an outgrowth of The Teacher Salary Project, which is itself an outgrowth of the book, Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers, by Dave Eggers, Ninive Clements Calegari, and Daniel Moulthrop. The book and the movie both tell the tales of how much good teachers have to give of themselves to do what should be one of the most important jobs in our society--educating our children.
Here are some eye-opening statistics from the website:
- 92.4% of teachers spent there own money to buy educational supplies (2007-2008)
- 62% of teachers work at second jobs outside the classroom, EVEN THOUGH
- The average workday for teachers is 10 hour per day
- Only 4.7 percent of college juniors say they would considering teaching as a profession at the current salary level
- In 1970, the average difference in starting salaries in New York City between lawyers and teachers was $2,000. In 201, the difference between the two professions averages out to first-year lawyers making about $115,000 more than first-year teachers.
- 46% of public school teachers quit teaching within five years
I haven't seen the movie, but it sounds like a breath of fresh air after so many documentaries, policies, and high-profile educators who act like teachers are the enemy. On the contrary, of the teachers I know personally, they are some of the most committed, overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated people I know.
The movie has been previewed in Washington DC and New York City, but there is no news about the date of its release or the places that will hold screenings. However, you can sign up for their mailing list to receive notice if it is coming to a place near you.
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