What do felt leaves have to do with bullying? Visit A Family Runs Through It to read “Reason to Homeschool #72” to find out.

Bullying seems to be a huge problem, no matter where kids go to school. One of the things I’ve heard from parents near & far is that schools are less than cooperative when it comes to helping children who are being bullied. Either they make excuses for the child doing the bullying or they try to downplay the seriousness of what is going on. On the other hand, they’ve all implemented these zero tolerance policies that can see a kid getting expelled for rough housing with a friend or throwing a snowball within sight of the school. And don’t think to defend yourself if some other kid hits you - both of you will get suspended!

The system is set up to the disadvantage of the kids who are generally well-behaved and who don’t particularly want to get sent to the principal’s office or be suspended. The recidivists don’t much care if they are punished, because they know the school will keep bringing them back and making excuses for them. If they’re suspended they get a holiday from school. They get all sorts of attention from teachers and psychologists, and they get out of class to go for counselling sessions. Meanwhile, any kid who dares to fight back in an encounter with the bully is talked down to, punished and told the school expected better of him.

After reading through the post at A Family Runs Through It, and looking at some of the comments, I recalled an incident from my own primary school years. I must have been in grade two - maybe three - and I believe my parents called the school because I had been pushed by an older child at recess when we were all sliding down the snowy hill in the schoolyard. The principal drew me aside during recess the next day, and he said he knew I’d had a bit of a run-in with one of the other students. He gave me permission to stay indoors for recess the next few days (we had an indoor recess program and spent one day on two inside anyway,) and told me that if I ever felt uncomfortable I should come straight to his office.

Now I was pushed from behind and never saw who did it, so it wasn’t possible for him to discipline the person who did it. But I do know that for the next few days none of the older kids were allowed to slide on the hill, and they were warned that this would be a permanent situation if any of the younger kids was pushed again. Sliding on the hill was a privilege, and privileges were very easily withdrawn if there was any misbehaviour. When we all got back to the hill days later, there was no repeat of the pushing incident.

Even thirty-something years ago, our school had a policy that we weren’t to fight back if we were bullied. There was very much a “sticks or stones” attitude when it came to petty playground squabbles. But when there was an incidence of real bullying, it was addressed quickly, and in a manner that made the bullied child feel safe (thank you, Mr. Crocker!) They didn’t go to great lengths to psychoanalyze the child doing the bullying, they just reacted with consequences. From the general lack of bullying in the school, I’d have to say it seems pretty effective. I wish I could say the same for the myriad anti-bullying programs in place in North American schools today

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My father-in-law has long been of the opinion that all elected officials should be stripped of their worldly goods, dropped off on a street corner with a bus pass and a month’s welfare, and left to fend for themselves until the month is over. The same way that Dr. Edward Rosenbaum (played by William Hurt in The Doctor) learned to be a better doctor by having to suffer the indignities of being a patient, he thinks that perhaps one or two politicians might have it in them to become sensitive to the needs of the public who elected them if they have to live the life of society’s most financially challenged people. Maybe he’s right. After all, when schools are training future health and social services workers to deal with the elderly or the disabled, it’s common to see a simplified version of just such an exercise.

Christine of Welcome to My Brain recently lived several days with no hot water, due to a broken water heater. In her entry “Real-life Lessons” she discusses how she turned this into a learning opportunity for her kids (some things we just don’t absorb as well from living books!) Having benefitted from the experience, she plans to pick a moment to randomly shut off some other “necessity” in the future. And she challenges the rest of us to try it too!

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Socialization is often trotted out as a reason not to homeschool, especially when it’s obvious that a child’s parents are intelligent and well-equipped, and have done their homework. Unfortunately, socialization is often a worry for homeschooling parents as well. Most of us make the choices we do because we want our kids to have the very best they can. Even though most parents feel the public schools need a good deal of improvement when it comes to their social environment, it’s so easy to feel guilty or think we have to make up for the fact that our kids are not sitting at desks with 30 other same age kids five days a week. It’s hard to shake the common belief that what is average must by default be good or right….

Dana of Principled Discovery has written a very thoughtful response to an argument against homeschooling based on another author’s personal observation that homeschooled children are socially inept. Please wander on over and read “Those ’socially inept’ homeschoolers,” and take time to look through the comments as well. There are some very intelligent remarks made - and a reply from the author of the original article too!

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Just a quick word to say our Tomatosphere seeds have arrived! As promised they came in two packets: one labelled “A” and the other “B”. The girls are absolutely thrilled to be starting the project. It’s certainly a ray of hope, what with our yet another fresh infusion of snow falling overnight and more coming towards the weekend. We’re all getting a bit of cabin fever - and I can’t wait to be wearing shoes when I go outside again!

So we’ve got to run out and get a few more peat pellets, as I’ve discovered we’re a bit short. And we’re going to have to find a safe place in the house to put the trays until the weather is warm enough for the plants to go outside. I’m just praying the Bug and the my little Commandant don’t knock over the trays or start digging in them.

Anyway, taking care of the logistics will give Mama some time to go read the teacher’s guide for the project - which she has glanced at, but not really seriously begun to read…. I rifled through the Tomatosphere printables, though, and saw some goodies I’ll be wanting to grab for the girls. There was a stencil on photosynthesis that I know Dojogirl will appreciate, having recently watched a Magic School Bus episode recently that introduced this (among other plant-related topics.) I also want to print out something that will help the girls learn more about scientific experimentation, double-blind research especially.

If the project goes well there are a number of other ones that work in a similar fashion (lay people keeping counts of birds or frogs, observing the patterns of ice on a body of water, etc.) that look pretty interesting. Maybe we’ll try one of them. I like the fact that the girls can feel connected & know they’re contributing to scientific research in a meaningful way. It’s also a good way to add some more practical nature study to our school days.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

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I came upon an old recording this morning of Johnny Cash singing a childhood favourite of mine. Perhaps this is a song you sang as a child too:

The part I always liked the best was the “tick tock, tick tock” in the refrain. Today I am much more struck by the song’s emphasis on the reliability of the clock, and on its special place in the life of the man. That clock was what we might call a “fixture” in the life of the old man. Like the grandfather clock my father brought home when I was in my teens, it stood witness to the events of his household and it was a reminder of those things in life that don’t change. I read somewhere that a grandfather clock is an “anchor” to a room. For those who have lived even a portion of their lives in the presence of these majestic keepers of time, time moves forward but there is always a strong connection to the past.

Clocks, and watches especially, seem to be less important in our technologically oriented age. Not long ago I saw a news report on how most of the younger generation don’t even own a watch: they have clocks built into their cell phones, their BlackBerries and their MP3 players. Why bother strapping an “antiquated” device to their wrists?

Interestingly enough, I think there is a sort of counter-trend towards the old style time telling devices. Parents often express a desire for their children to learn how to tell time on an analog clock or watch, in addition to digital. It seems to me this makes good sense from a teaching point of view as analog time is more visual, and introduced to a child who is learning to skip count or identify fractions, it makes use of already established skills.

Of course, there is an element of tradition involved as well. Sometimes as parents we feel that our children are losing out as the curriculum leans too far in the direction of technology and standardized testing. There is a visible effort to balance the new methods and concerns with customs once perhaps in danger of being lost. Spelling bees are experiencing renewed interest; we are now seeing literature-based curricula, introduction of classic literature at a young age, the use of read-alouds in both classrooms and homeschools even for older students quite capable of reading on their own, math curricula that emphasize mental calculation and drill. Parents and teachers obviously see the value of modelling our contemporary instruction at least in part on the traditional, tried and true methods of the past.

Young people have an interest in the past as well, both in their education and in their day to day lives. So many of the young people I have met have taken up a traditional hobby of some sort, or count an author from the 19th century or earlier among their favourite writers. A young man I know proudly sports a pocket watch he received as a high school graduation present. He once spoke to me about it at length, discussing the type of clothing a gentleman would have worn in the time when this style of watch was popular, and how the watch would be secured to the waistcoat by means of the fob. He had actually read up on different types of pocket watches, and was quite pleased to find I was keen to hear what he had learned. Technology is definitely here to stay, but tradition has not faded away.

Did you know that the pendulum movement commonly used in grandfather clocks was invented in the mid-1600’s? I was able to find a delightful article discussing the history of the pendulum in timekeeping. A second article explained how these tall pendulum driven clocks were originally called Long Case Clocks (or sometimes Tall Case Clocks) before that very song I so loved as a child caused them to be known as the “grandfather clock” we know today.

With this year being a leap year, and “leap day” this very week, I would like to invite my readers to spend some time discussing time in their homes and schools in the coming days. There are so many wonderful traditions to discuss, from Cronus/Father Time to the history of grandfather clocks and other time pieces as discussed at the Grandfather Clocks Blog, to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity for the really keen science students among you!

A discussion of tradition would be interesting too. And what about comparing the throw-away devices so prevalent today with the craftsmanship of grandfather clocks made following ages old tradition? There’s a lesson on being a responsible consumer in there - and you might even manage to get around to talking about the work ethic:

If only more of us were as reliable and as devoted to the accomplishment of our own tasks!

Have fun with your exploration of “Grandfather” (Clock) Time. Let me know what you did with your kids to celebrate the grandfather clock and to explore the theme of time in your homeschool!

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