Science Centers and Community Support

Our family is proud to boast membership at Sci-Quest, Huntsville's most premiere science education center for children.

By "premiere" I mean the center is located in a large unused warehouse-like building at a satellite campus of the local community college, but this tin man has a heart. My children enjoy monthly homeschool science programs there as part of our homeschooling routine, summer camp sessions, and mostly functional exhibits.

Functional is key.

Our membership also grants us access to many other network science centers throughout the country. So far, we have taken advantage of this perk to visit two other centers that are essentially on opposite ends of the science center spectrum; the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Emerald Coast Science Center in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

McWane is the arguably the local granddaddy of science centers. Boasting four floors of exhibits ranging from aquarium-quality marine life exhibits to high-end robotics, this center has a lot to young kids to observe and experience. Anyone who frequents children's museums will quickly pick up on recurring themes, as exhibits repeat from one venue to the next, but McWane pretty much has it all.

On the other end of the spectrum, Emerald Coast Science Center is one of the sorriest excuses for a science center I've ever seen. The living organism exhibits consisted of what look liked my neighbor's pet turtle and a couple sad-looking fish, and many other exhibits were dirty, broken, or stuffed with trash.

Both McWane and Emerald Coast had many broken exhibits - both exceeding by far the number of broken exhibits at Sci-Quest. Emerald Coast was the worst perpetrator, though perhaps it could be forgiven due to being obviously underfunded, but McWane, while clean and well-kept, also included a number of broken exhibits. Sometimes, these fixes seem like they would be exceedingly simple. (An aside, our family once saw an exhibit at the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that illustrated "how much is a million". One of the larger numbers was missing a zero, basically making the entire exhibit erroneous due to a simple typesetting error!)

Sci-Quest has remained relatively liberated from this problem, which I can only attribute to the large amount of community support it receives. Each exhibit is sponsored by a corporation, family, or individual that commits to its maintenance and repair. I'm sure this is largely made possible by the disproportionate number of engineers in our city (1 out of every 13 adults), but here is an example of how much of a difference community support can make.

We have not done it yet, but it is our resolution to adopt an exhibit ourselves, and when we do so, I will be posting about it in this blog. In addition to supporting the center, what a fabulous project for homeschooled children!

Road Schooling

My family had the opportunity this week to take advantage of our freedom to travel in the middle of the school year - not an organized home school event such as our recent trip to Birmingham, but as a private family getaway. My husband's work took him to Eglin Air Force Base, including a paid for off-season condo on the beach in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. For a mere $10 additional fee per day, the family could join him, and with no attachment to a school schedule, we did just that.

I did bring on the trip a large box of our schooling materials, but aside from daily math and writing lessons, the bulk of this was ignored in favor of outings and beach trips. Over the course of the week, my children collected shells on the beach (later to be used for a science measurement exercise), learned first-hand about bio-luminescent plankton, saw dolphins swim in the wild, played in the surf and learned about tides, saw jellyfish in the wild, boarded an ocean-going vessel for the first time in their lives, visited a science center, touched a baby alligator, stopped in our state capital city, and visited the Air Force Armament Museum and learned about historical aircraft and weapons from their engineer father. Could the same have been accomplished during a week in a public school classroom, or even during a typical week of education at home?

When I first began writing this blog entry, the term "road schooling" came to mind, although a quick Google search revealed that I'm far from the first person to coin the term. The article "Road Schooling" for the Education of a Lifetime by Carol White shares more about the experience than I can in recounting our one week getaway, but our experience, especially so soon after our Birmingham trip, really afforded me the opportunity to expand my horizons in terms of what true freedom means when it comes to educating my own children. 

Travel is always an excellent way to learn. Even as an adult, I know lessons become etched into my mind through experience. What was once a vague awareness of Mediterranean culture and geography crystallized into reality once I spent two weeks in Turkey, Israel, Greece, and Cyprus. I could only logically conclude that this phenomenon is only magnified in children, who even more frequently than adults misperceive reality based upon what is gleaned from text or other media. 

Of course, long-term road schooling is not something that is practical or feasible for every family, but whether travel can be for a day, a week, a month, or a year, travel broadens the mind faster than any curriculum or method I can imagine.

I have often heard my friends with children in public school lament that they are bound to a school schedule, and strict attendance requirements make traveling on their own time difficult. Pressure from the schools drops heavy because attendance equates to funding in the world of public education. While I certainly do not advocate any decisions that diminish a child's education, the bottom line to me, as is always my theme; liberty! It goes without saying that if you homeschool, you have the liberty to take your child, where you want, when you want. 

But I affirm that if your child is in public school, you have that liberty as well. Your family is your own, and your family's time is a precious commodity. As a parent you decide what is in the best interest of your child. Do not make excuses, the choice is, ultimately, yours. I beseech all parents out there, homeschooling or not, to take the opportunities you can to expose your child the greatest of classrooms that has no bounds. If you must deal with consequences, deal with them, but do not deprive your children of unique and rare experiences that come along because you fear school administrators and social workers. This is not to suggest that truancy should be trivialized - do the responsible thing, but do not let life pass your family by because government schools try to shackle your time in their never-ending quest for maximum funding. Your time, your freedom, is yours.

Creation Science at DeSoto Caverns

Today I share with you our visit to DeSoto Caverns in Childersburg, Alabama. This visit was the first stop on our three-day homeschool group adventure in the Birmingham area.

At the caverns we participated in an educational program. Apparently we were the first group they had ever presented with this program. School groups rarely go there for reasons I will make clear in a moment.

The kids got to be "junior paleontologists" unearthing a faux mastodon (complete with a "bone" trunk. Yeah.) They also unearthed bits of "planted" real fossils that the kids got to dig up. This was all actually in the cave. The kids had a blast doing this - digging, then sifting, then categorizing and identifying the findings. The kids even found a couple real (non-planted) fossils, being the first group there I'm sure helped. 

About 15 minutes into our "dig" we are stopped because a tour was coming through to see the "light show". So we are invited to sit down and watch the "light show".

The cave went dark and we were informed that it was time for their "Easter light show". It's seasonal. Apparently they do Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day and "Creation" when there is no holiday. 

In normal civilization a warning would have been issued to those who suffer from light-induced seizure disorders, because what followed was a headache-inducing flash of light and color and spewing-water-from-stalagmites. The flashing kept tempo (sort of) with a muffled recorded voice telling the story of Easter with echo-y crappy music in the background. At some point, there was an LED cross that lit up.

Now dear readers, I would like to state here that I have only respect for my friends of the Christian faith, and I am not mocking specifically the cave-tribute to Jesus but.... it was a REALLY TACKY cave-tribute to Jesus. All I could see in my head was this insanity being on an episode of "The Simpsons" with Ned Flanders taking his family on a really hyper-religious road trip.

After the "light show" I'm thinking about the faux mastodon with its bone "trunk" and I'm thinking "These guys are TOTALLY gonna be young-Earth creationists". So I start reading their laminated "educational" cards about mastodons going extinct "a couple centuries ago". The guy leading the "educational event" later made comments about stalagtites growing at ridiculously fast rates (but only when no one's looking, mind you. Apparently once the caves are "exposed to air" they stop the crazy growth which is why no one has observed it.) There was also a comment about a T-Rex fighting a woolly mammoth in a battle to the death.

Thank goodness my kids were too young to notice any of this. They still did get something out of the sifting and the identification and the categorizing of objects. Good for them. I was relieved that all the other families in the homeschool group were also rolling their eyes at the light show and the fictional information about prehistoric creatures and other erroneous "education".

After this the kids panned for gems (planted gems, very fun), and went through a fence maze. Even though it was wet and freezing, everyone really enjoyed themselves.

I have to say, it was a good time, and in spite of my theological differences with the proprietors, all the employees there were very friendly and helpful. Something I will never forget but, I can't say I'll be going back there anytime soon.

For those of you out there that are young-earth creationist parents that live in or will be visiting north-central Alabama, you now have a must-see educational destination to add to your list.

Homeschool Field Trips and Travel

Last week, my family and I attended our first trip with a homeschooling group. We found out about this trip through Everest Academy, a cover school based out of Birmingham, Alabama. The trip itself was organized by Nancy Melkerson, an absolutely fabulous veteran homeschooling mom and fellow Girl Scout leader from Auburn. Nancy took it upon herself to not only reserve the Girl Scouts' Kanawahala Program Center for our use as an economical accommodation, but also made field trip arrangements at several educational sites local to Birmingham at little or no cost. Thanks to Nancy's expert planning, for under $200 my entire family of four enjoyed three days and two nights in Birmingham and visited De Soto Caverns, the Birmingham Botanical Garden, the Birmingham Zoo, the Birmingham Museum of Art and the McWane Science Center, including special educational programming at many of the sites. You can't beat that!

I'll be posting separate entries summarizing our experience at some of the sites, but I wanted to first post some initial thoughts about homeschool group educational experiences in the form of field trips and overnight travel.

With the number of homeschooling families growing, there are increased opportunities for homeschooled children to take advantage of fabulous educational programming and opportunities offered all over the country alongside other families. Museums, state and national parks, research centers, and more, often have excellent daytime programs at great rates for schools, and these opportunities are equally available to homeschool groups if people take the effort to pool resources and plan. Even some more corporate entities such as cruise lines and other destinations welcome homeschoolers as an opportunity to tap into a demographic that can provide revenue during their off season. Disney World has even started marketing "Home School Days" during their slowest months of October and January, attempting to entice homeschoolers to the parks with drastically reduced rates and educational program offerings at EPCOT. By traveling as a group, often families can enjoy even greater savings.

But finances aside, travelling with other homeschoolers is a great opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people and make new friends. I, for one, really enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with some new people, and loved watching my children learn and play with children from outside Huntsville. Nancy even arranged for us to have archery lessons at the Girl Scout camp followed up by a marshmallow roast, and I know Everest Academy is planning a a "School at Sea" group trip this summer to Mexico at an amazing price, which will include not only the typical cruise offerings but some on-ship educational opportunities for the children. We may not make it this summer, but it's definitely on our "to do" list!

We're still newcomers to the world of homeschooling, and these unusual experiences for our family is one of the benefits I'm enjoying the most.

Teachable Moments

One thing I have come to cherish about educating my own child are the little unplanned "teachable moments".

Today I had such a moment during my 7-year-old daughter's science lesson. The science lesson was a basic exercise in observation and measurement, and included the assignment of weighing five small objects on a kitchen scale and recording their weights in a notebook.

One of the objects my daughter selected was a small box of orange Jell-O. The box weighed exactly 95 grams, which in and of itself caused my daughter to gasp in amazement. It weighed so much more, after all, than the quarter or the pencil. Glancing over her shoulder, I pointed out to her the small numbers on the corner of the Jell-O box that indicated a net weight of 85 grams.

"Why do you think the box says it weighs less than the scale does?" I asked my daughter.

She bit her lip. "The box might be wrong?" I have already trained her to have a healthy skepticism of packages and advertising.

"That's a possibility." I said. "It could be wrong. But usually packages are pretty accurate when they tell you how much the stuff inside the box weighs."

Picking up my emphasis on the word inside, she perked up. "The box probably weighs extra!"

"Maybe!" I said. "How much extra, do you think? If the Jell-O plus the box weighs 95 grams, but the Jell-O itself only weighs 85 grams, how much do you think the box weighs?" We had just practiced "completing the ten" in math, along with word problems, so I was really hoping she'd get this.

"10 grams!" she said.

"Let's find out if you're right!"  I tore open the box and dumped the Jell-O powder into a bowl. Anything in the name of education. Besides, if anything deserved a fruity gelatinous dessert reward, this certainly qualified.

I gave the empty box to my daughter to place on the scale and held my breath, hoping I wouldn't be forced to explain margins of error.

Fortunately, as if on cue, the number 10 appeared on the scale. I let out a sigh of relief.

"I was RIGHT!" My daughter squealed triumphantly, her face beaming with pride.

I'm not sure which of us was more excited.

I know all parents can experience moments like these no matter how their children are educated, but home education certainly affords more opportunities.

Aside from increased opportunity, there is also a fundamental shift in mindset that comes with the decision to take responsibility for the education of one's own children. I considered myself a relatively engaged and involved parent when my child attended public school, but I do have to admit there was a large part of me that considered her education somebody else's job. Adding to that the burnt-out exhaustion that comes 6:30 am alarms, buses to catch, arbitrary projects to keep up on, permission slips to sign, homework to do, I can't honestly say I was actively engaging my daughter in critical thinking exercises as much as I would have liked.

Would I have had her weigh a box of Jell-O if she were still in public school? If she for some reason had, would I have extended the experience by reading box weights, asking questions, and stopping to make an unplanned bowl of Jell-O just to prove the answer?

I don't think I would have, and I am so very grateful that today, I did.

Curriculum Selection and the Free Exchange of Ideas

My seven-year-old daughter recently completed her phonics program, conveniently coinciding with her self-realization that she is capable of true, independent reading.

This, of course, opens up a wealth of opportunities for learning. No longer is her learning limited by her five physical senses, but the awakening of a sixth mental sense enables her to independently absorb and process information in a whole new way.

The past week I have simply allowed her to revel in her newfound superpower by giving her ample time to read simple chapter books and other library selections at her reading level. Absent our usual phonics lessons, however, and armed with her ability to read, I realized we would be best served if I devised a concrete plan as to where her education should progress from here. We have both been satisfied with her math curriculum, but everything else had thus far taken a back seat to phonics.

The whole process of curriculum selection has been something I have found daunting from the start. While I am not a firm believer in the absolute necessity of a firm curriculum for homeschooling, I do find some structure helpful. Selecting one, however, proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. Up until now, it has been natural to procrastinate in order to allow my daughter to focus on learning to read, supplemented by a solid mathematics curriculum and the random exploration of social studies and science.

While shopping curricula, I encountered two major obstacles to making a choice. The first, with all due respect to my Christian friends, is the incredible abundance of Christian-based curricula available. Some of these curricula are by all accounts excellent. We are Jewish, and even though many non-Christian homeschoolers modify these materials for their use, I did not really wish to take it upon myself to determine which curricula might be adaptable to my beliefs and which might not.

The second obstacle is that many secular curricula replicate public school at home. The same flawed educational philosophy that is burdensome in a classroom is even less relevant in the home environment, where time-management and testing strategies intended to address issues of classroom management are completely unnecessary.

Additionally, many of these curricula, whether of the secular or religious variety, are in my opinion unnecessarily commercial. They are packaged with piles of expensive books that could be just as easily borrowed from the library, binders of materials that could just as easily be digitized, and consumable materials that can in many cases be obtained more economically by simply looking around one's home. On the other side, many of the more economical curricula lack quality and substance.

Sorting through it all can be a nightmare, and the free access of information on the internet is a double-edged sword. Anyone can publish on the internet, which results in piles of garbage, but also a few independently produced jewels that would have been virtually inaccessible prior to the advent of the world wide web. Not only can an independent educator produce a quality curriculum without access to publishing resources, but he has the capacity to make his case for his curriculum, and a potential buyer has an opportunity to preview content and discuss it with other homeschoolers online. Independents in this and many other media fields are no longer relegated to obscure catalogs, but can now present themselves to the world for scrutiny. They sink or swim on their own merits rather than remaining at the mercy of publishing or media industries.

The math curriculum I have been using thus far is created and sold digitally by such an independent educator, and after much searching, I finally have made my choice as to which general curriculum we will use. First Step appears to be similarly excellent, and though it lacks professional typesetting and editing, its values and approach to education appear match my own.

I can only surmise that this freedom also plays into the dramatic increase in popularity of homeschooling over the past decade. With so much information so freely available, the pedestal of the establishment comes crashing down. We do not have to accept the educational philosophy of the state, or even listen solely to the music that the recording industry arbitrarily chooses to publish. Ideas are now on a more even playing field, empowering us to make freer and more informed choices, not only related to education, but to virtually every aspect of our lives.

SpellQuizzer Giveaway

Liberated Education is hosting a SpellQuizzer giveaway!

SpellQuizzer (reviewed here) is a spelling utility that can be used with any homeschool spelling curriculum or teacher-assigned spelling list from school.

If you are interested in a chance to win a free SpellQuizzer license (retails for $29.95), post a comment below. The deadline is Monday, March 15th, 2010 after which a winner will be selected at random and contacted via e-mail.