7-Quick Takes

 This content uses referral links. Read our disclosure policy for more info. This means if you make a purchase, I get a little change to keep up my Diet Coke habit. It’s a win/win. 

 This content uses referral links. Read our disclosure policy for more info. This means if you make a purchase, I get a little change to keep up my Diet Coke habit. It’s a win/win. 

1. I have three more weeks of homeschool co-op and I think I’m almost as excited for it to be over as the students are. I have been teaching Logic and General Science since September. I spend hours every week preparing these two classes and procuring the things I need for experiments. It’s impacting my time, my sleep, and even to a certain extent my money in that the time I spend on class prep is time I am not working to making money.

But what it has most impacted is my own homeschool. The time and effort I wanted to put into history and literature with Rosie have fallen by the wayside. She is basically self-studying her way through history (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and completing her literature assignments on her own. I miss having the time to read and discuss these things together. I don’t want that to continue next year.

So lesson learned. Co-ops can be a wonderful thing, but we can’t lose sight of the reason we are homeschooling in the first place, which is for the good and benefits of our own children. I think I got lost in that this year.

2. At the end of my role as a medical records supervisor, I was grinding my teeth while I slept. Mr. Pete told me about it and I could feel with my tongue the flattened area on my upper canine tooth. One day, before I turned in my resignation, I woke myself up and heard the squeaking sound that my teeth made as I ground them together! It was weird. I haven’t done that in over 30 years, until recently … Another sign to me that it’s time to find something less stressful to do in the co-op that doesn’t involve a lot of extra study.

3. I’ve noticed something recently in my discussions with millennials and even Gen Y’s. If you are discussing anything controversial (immigration, climate change, vaccinations, abortions) they will go to the extremes of any group (i.e. ectopics or cancer on the topic of saving the life of the mother in abortion, hearing loss and death for vaccinations – both sides vaxxed and unvaxed). This is the fallacy of extremes. It’s borderline strawman fallacy.

But what’s really annoying is that it’s so prevalent that even great writers have to go out of their way to give a nod to extremism while trying to make their point. Simcha Fisher wrote an amazing piece last week. Yet I noted she had to keep stating the obvious that she was speaking in generalities because she knew that someone was going to come at her with an outlier if she didn’t address it head-on. It’s like rational people can’t just assume the obvious for the sake of argument.

With that in mind, I just updated this essay from a few years back. I wrote it to counter a prevailing attitude in the media and the culture. But because I didn’t give a hat tip to that, I made some feel “stabby” … whatever that is.

So is that where we are today? You can’t disagree or present the other side of an argument without paying homage to the opposing view? Are we that tied up in our own feelings that we have forgotten how to think critically? Amazing.

4. Despite the stress of co-op prep, I managed to play with the parish choir twice last month and give my long-abandoned pre-cana talk at the end of February. I enjoyed doing both. Another reminder to me of focusing on the stuff I really want to do!

5. Noah is graduating next month with a double major in Philosophy and Government. He has been on the Dean’s list every single semester. But he was on spring break last week so I had him come in and teach the Logic Class. I think the class enjoyed a fresh face and I think he got to indulge his dream a little bit of being a philosophy prof someday.

I’ve got one kid in the class who really seems to have a knack for formal logic. I had a feeling that he did from his test results. But as Noah put up some logical proofs on the board, my student caught a couple of his mistakes. Noah and I were both stunned and impressed! It’s kind of thrilling to be there when someone discovers something that they are really gifted at!

6. Track practice has started for high schools in the state of Ohio. Rosie is running every day and I have to get her there right as the high school is getting out (which make me wonder if the people who designed the school and the parking and driving patterns ever considered what that would be like for hundreds of cars to get there all at the same time twice a day?

Anyway, I have been proactive in keeping my girl healthy. She ran all winter, so her cardiovascular fitness is great. She has brand new shoes (to prevent shin splints) and she’ll be getting her vitamin D level and iron checked in a couple of weeks. If I can keep her healthy, she can concentrate on her training. That’s the plan anyway.

7. Looking for something a little different for your students this spring? Maybe a graphic design class specifically for homeschoolers might do the trick! $24 for six weeks of instruction and go at your own pace! Sign up here.

Techie Homeschool Graphic Design Club

With spring approaching, homeschool moms with kids entering the high school years might be wondering what to cover during high school. Click the link and get your FREE ebook from Lee Binz. Find out what you should cover in Social Studies, Math, English, Science and more!

Also, don’t forget the 5 Biggest Mistakes seminar coming up this month! This is also a freebie from the Home Scholar!