11th Grade Reading Level

My son, I'm so proud of you for achieving an 11th grade reading level on your test at Cleaveland School today. Wow! I'm sure your classmates who called you, "Stupid!" were stunned. Considering they got 4th and 5th grade level. I'm glad our hard work is paying off. I love you. Mom

I, Too, Am America

Today for morning homeschooling, our family read Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Red Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle. Poems were Oh Captain! My Captain! and I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman. Also, I, Too by Lanston Hughes. I, too, sing America I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen. When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody will dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America. I am proud to be American, a country that can right its wrongs.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Morning. I was fearful that the children would be under dressed as we walked out the door. You never know what the weather would be from one day to the next in Ohio. We read excerpts from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and then, Maya Angelou's biography, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou described the difficulty near impossibility of getting ahead for a black person of her time. I love her grandmother's morning prayer, "Our Father, thank you for letting me see this new day. Thank you that you didn't allow the bed I lay on last night to be my cooling board. Guide my feet this day along the straight and narrow and help me put a bridle upon my tongue. Bless this house and everyone in it. Thank you. Amen.". Angelou said during her time in Stamps, she met and fell in love with William Shakespeare because he said, "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes..." which was a state she felt herself most familiar. Bryan and Breeanna humored me by attempting to follow along in my reading of the troubled lives of people long ago until I continued to ply them with Kennedy's Inaugural Address, at which point they rebelled with various interruptions. Their punishment was minutes of jumping up and down: 1 minute for interrupting my reading, another for whining about the justification for the interruption and another for talking back, 3 in all. The school bus arrived and saved them from the full execution of their punishment.

Ernest Just

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Everett_Just This morning's homeschooling was on Ernest Just, an African American pioneer in the field of biology. He was born in Charleston, North Carolina in 1883. His father died when he was four. His mother supported him and two younger siblings. He developed typhoid in his youth and had to relearn how to read. He eventually graduated from Dartmouth College at the top of his class, winning every prize and was not allowed to give the commencement speech because he was the only black student. He found less racism later in his research career in France and refused to leave when war broke out and Germans invaded France. He was taken as prisoner of war, was rescued and died on pancreatic cancer on his voyage back to the states.

Animal Farm

We explored Animal Farm this morning on our walk to the bus stop. Stories of animals are really stories of people. After coming across that concept I viewed the unfolding of Animal Farm in a different light. I loved how each animal settled themselves in their own way to get ready to listen to a presentation by the pig. I loved the logic of the pig as he denounced humans. Afterwards we got into The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. I read it with almost utter perfection which surprised me. My goal in reading always is to convey meaning. The materials that I present to the children are at times difficult to make sense of so I am proud of myself when I can convey it in a way that is understandable. Bryan listened so carefully as I read the Raven as if he is truly understanding the skill an artistry that went into the writing of it. When I am able to captivate in such a way, it is as if I am presenting something of beauty for him to appreciate...something about the world that he never knew existed before.

Swim Class

Tom Sawyer

This morning the alarm rang at 6am. I turned on the radio next to Breeanna's bed. By 7am Breeanna was dancing and drawing rainbows and hearts with her pastels. I think I've discovered a method of getting kids out of bed in the morning. We read a Native American story about coyote and an excerpt from Tom Sawyer. The children fought over their allotment of real estate on the beach towel that I brought to the bus stop for them to sit on. We finally decided that Breeanna could have the entire towel today and Bryan could have the entire towel tomorrow. The children on the bus are getting used to my cheerful waving at them as the bus pulls away and are actually smiling and waving back at me! It's a beautiful morning.