On Books and Blogs

Sorry.  I haven't blogged in ages.  I've been spending time reading some nurturing homeschool books and praying for wisdom about how (or if!) we should change some things.  I've discovered I've been trying to fill my children's minds like buckets.  Instead, I think my job is to kindle a fire for learning.  I'm not completely sure how to carry that out yet, but I still have some reading to do.  (Upon re-reading that, I think that if I could do both things, we could make soup.)

One author, Dr. Raymond Moore, explains that homeschooling should be more like Rolls Royce craftsmanship rather than a Yugo being put together on an assembly line.  (I'm really glad I saw that episode of How It's Made now.)  He doesn't completely cut out curriculum though.  Here's a quote:

"True homeschooling is tutorial, handmade, customized to each child...a balance between systematic structure where needed and a great deal of freedom for youngsters to explore.  Your curriculum should be tailored to your child and provide him much more time to pursue his interests than your workbooks."

He also says there should be a balance between study, work, and service.  I like that.  Too often I think we're so busy getting the bookwork done that there isn't time to help out at the Humane Society.  All of my kids want to volunteer there again.  I need to make that happen, even though I loathe coming home with all that cat hair all over my clothes.  It's almost like I've got my own coat of fur.  Oh well.  "It's for the children."

I have been blogging, btw.  I simply haven't been blogging here.  We've got a blog (is there a synonym for blog?) for the families in our homeschool musical.  The kids all have demo CD's with which they can practice the songs, but if the song has parts (soprano-alto or soprano-alto-tenor), then it's really hard to hear the middle and lower parts.  So, I make videos of me playing each part on our keyboard at home and post them on the blog.

The next song we're working on is dog-gone difficult.  It's fast.  It's in three parts.  And it has a ton of accidentals.  I've spent most of this weekend working on these videos.  It's crazy.  I get to the point where I can play the part perfectly a few times in a row.  Then...I turn on the camera to record...and I keep messing up.  *sigh*  Here's a video of "Take 47" or so.

Oy.  It reminds me of this: