Draw What?

When I read the theme for this week's Virtual Curriculum Fair, "Seeking Beauty: The Arts and Everything that Brings Beauty to Our World, I wasn't terribly excited. Art has never been my thing. You see, when I was a youngster, oh those many years ago, I was told "Draw the apple." At my dumfounded look, whoever it was that was talking to me at the time, said "Just draw what you see." That made no sense to me. It still doesn't, not really. I do now know that part of drawing is breaking things down into lines and strokes, and if I look really hard, I can see some lines and strokes in and around an apple. But draw one, no thanks. However, art is definitely Rocket Boy's thing. So here I am, a non-artsty mom, posting about teaching art to someone who, it seems, lives & breathes the subject. Exactly how do you do that? Well, I'm not sure how one is supposed to teach art, but I can tell you what we did, so hang on, this ride might not make any sense at all! 

The Early Years  You see, even though I couldn't draw at all, I still admired some paintings and in general, and a warm fuzzy feeling about the topic. Art would be a fine addition to our home.  Over several years,  I did something many homeschoolers call "strewing."This simply means that I made art supplies, books about art and anything else related to art readily available to him. We had a three drawer rolling cabinet that we called our project center. I kept it stocked with construction paper, copy paper, crayons, pencils, glue, scissors, eyeballs, fuzzy things, old boxes, paper towel tubes, whatever. This was great fun for Rocket Boy. He would invent a lot of stuff and make a general mess. I think we started with the project center around the age of four and kept it up through the elementary years, the contents changing as he got older.  

As a voracious readers we visit the library often, and it was there that I found some great art books to strew around. You can find these books at stores and at libraries. Here are some of the favorites from the younger years:

Discovering Great Artists: Hands on Art for Children in the Style of the Great Masters by MaryAnn F. Kohl

Child's Book of Art by Lucy Micklethwait

Big Messy Art Book by MaryAnn F. Kohl
Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars by Joan Holub
The Yellow House: Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gaugin Side by Side by Susan Golman Rubin
Museum ABC by (The) NY Metropolitan Museum of Art

I Spy: An Alphabet in Art by Lucy Micklethwait

 I had read somewhere that to have a child really appreciate color, you need to provide good quality colored pencils for them to work with. Well, sometime around the fourth grade, I invested in a good quality set of Prismacolor pencils. Even my untrained eye could tell the difference with these pencils - they covered the area better, we smoother and deeper somehow. These pencils are ridiculously expensive if you compare them to Crayola, but the the 40% off coupons at national craft chain stores bring them down into the realm of tolerable. 

Middle & High School Years
Late in elementary school, or early in middle school, I can't really remember, we gave Rocket Boy an inexpensive, basic Kodak digital camera, which led to more fun. I had on old copy of Photoshop that I didn't use, so we loaded that on our school computer as well. A copy of Photoshop for Dummies got him started on fun effects, and then the following fall he took a beginning digital photography class in our homeschool co-op. By now, we realized that he had a real interest in the art of photography. 

The next artsy thing I remember is that in middle school, I decided to do a preplanned art curriculum and found Artistic Pursuits. The lessons each have a picture study and a lesson on technique with a few practice assignments. You can purchase a reasonably priced kit of supplies from the company, which will save you some time running around looking for that odd little thing.  Rocket Boy completed Artistic Pursuits Junior High Book One and dabbled in Book Two.

During middle school, he also picked up a couple of art classes through our co-op, but by the end of the last one, it was clear that he'd outgrown the basic technique classes. What to do next?

The summer before ninth grade, I found some art camps at the state art museum and enrolled Rocket Boy in a week long photography class. He thoroughly enjoyed his week and was encouraged by the instructor to apply for a position on the Teen Advisory Board at the museum. He did that and in 9th grade began volunteering in that position. Through our contact with the museum, we discovered that they hosted "Sketchbook Saturdays," which were 1 1/2 hour long art lessons, each based on a particular work of art at the museum, so he began taking those as well. He aged out of them during his freshman year, however.

Now, throughout out all of this, I continued to strew resources around the house. The bargain sections at the chain bookstores were a treasure trove, as was the annual library sale. By this time, the books were mostly technique books with an odd art history book thrown in here and there. Here are some titles we have:

The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Postmodern by Carol Strickland
An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers by Danny Gregory
DK Art School: An Introduction to Art Techniques by Ray Smith, Michael Wright and James Horton

The last book listed, DK Art School, was a fantastic find. It sat around the house for about a year before Rocket Boy got into it, then wow! The book has extensive sections on drawing, perspective, watercolor, pastels, oil painting, acrylics and mixed media. We significantly increased the number of trips we were making to the chain stores to lay in supplies. After more than a year, he is still learning from this book.

In addition to books, we have visited special museum exhibits. We've been to an exhibit of Norman Rockwell's work, where he learned about the use of art in politics and the impact of politics on art, as well as how Rockwell conceived of, modeled and executed his artwork. His favorite piece there was "Uneasy Christmas in the Birthplace of Christ." We've also been to a Monet exhibit and when we were in Europe this past fall, the Van Gogh Museum and Rembrandhuis, where we saw hundred of Rembrandt's works.

Currently, in addition to continuing to work through the DK book, he is taking lessons once a week from a local artist. He's also continuing to serve on the Teen Advisory Council at the museum.

What's Coming? 
Well, I don't really know, but I have some ideas!

I'm going to talk with the artist soon about adding a more rigorous art course or tutoring for next school year. I have the Alpha Omega Lifepacs for High School Art, which I picked up used at our local homeschool store, so that may come into play.  The AP Studio Art Exam for drawing has also caught my eye, that would take considerable work to pull off, so I'm not sure the art teacher would go for that, but it's an idea.

So, to recap, a non-artist teaches art by doing nothing other than making resources available. These resources include:

• books
• museum visits
• art supplies
• art classes
• volunteer opportunities
• outside classes
• freedom

This is the final week of the Virtual Curriculum Fair, so stop by Homeschooling Hearts & Minds and thank Susan for organizing it! 

As the stops on the Virtual Curriculum Fair become available this week, I'll add them below so that  you can browse. Don't forget to make yourself a cup of tea as you browse!

37 FREE Online Art and Music Resources by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds ~ Homeschool Without Traditional Art by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool ~Flower Pony Tail Holders - Beginning Sewing Projects by Julie @Highhill Education ~ Seeking Beauty- Virtual Curriculum Fair by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me ~ Creating an Artsy Homeschool, even if you're not by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness ~ Living with an Artsy Boy by Annette @ A Net In Time ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair Week 4- Seeking Beauty: The Arts and Everything That Brings Beauty to Our World by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road

Science is Cool

The theme this week for the Virtual Curriculum Fair is "Exploring the World: Social Studies and Science." I could write about the various science textbooks we've used over the years, but that would be boring. Instead, I'm going to show you some of our favorite science activities and labs. Here we go!

Engineering 1: Introduction to Mobile Robotics  is an excellent program developed by Carnegie Mellon University and distributed by LEGO Education. This semester long program requires a LEGO Mindstorm NXT robot, which is not included with the curriculum. We already had one of those, so we were good to go! This is a very hands on course, just right for my son. Everything is taught in context with immediate application to a robot project. Here's the official description from LEGO Education:

Each of the six projects begins with a robotics research prototype in which students are guided step-by-step through the building and programming of a new robot behavior. Afterwards, they follow up their prototype work with a robotics investigation in which the students experiment with the robot’s motors, sensors, and programming to learn how robots really work.

The curriculum includes the 18 lessons, each with a video tutorial, building & programming helps, worksheets for each lesson, some of which imitate lab reports in that the students are taught how to keep data over a series of attempts, each with failures and successes. There are also teacher notes, handouts, and quizzes (with answer keys). This is a high school level program, although a motivated 8th grader could do it. I don't recommend that you go any younger because of the  math that is used. If you follow the link above, you will be able to see a sample lesson.

DNA and Genetics - for this study, my son used a kit from Thames & Kosmos. It's a favorite. I blogged about it a few years ago, so instead of repeating myself, check out this post from January of 2010.

Rocketry - If you've never been to the NASA website, it's worth your time. It is full of lesson plans for all ages, projects, photos, videos and much more. I seriously could spend a month there and not get to most of it! Using the Rockets Educator Guide, Rocket Boy completed a series of activities that helped him learn not only the history of modern rockets, but the science that makes them work. He had Newton Car races with a friend, made some balloon rockets, the rockets with antacid tablets and much more. This was a great way to cover some physics.

Fireworks - Rocket Boy and Renaissance Man did a great unit study on the science of fireworks last year (9th grade). There was a lot of reading: The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire and Phosphorous by John Emsley; Gunpowder Alchemy, Bombards and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World by Jack Kelly and Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny leCouteur. They also went to the American Chemical Society (ACS) for more information about fireworks. ACS has an entire section about the Chemistry of Fireworks, so they read through that and worked through lesson plans. They followed the instructions on the site to make a firework, but it didn't work out so well. They sure had fun trying though!

I hope you've enjoyed this brief summary of some of our favorite activities. Don't be afraid to get out of the box and approach science in a non-traditional manner. Your students just may be intrigued!

Stop by Homeschooling Hearts & Minds and thank Susan for organizing the Virtual Curriculum Fair! 

As the stops on the Virtual Curriculum Fair become available this week, I'll add them below so that  you can browse. Don't forget to make yourself a cup of tea as you read! 

Exploring Eastern Cultures with Sonlight by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds ~ Cell Unit Study - Mitochondria and Energy by Julie @ Highhill Education ~ Our Blended Social Studies by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool ~ 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road ~ Exploring Canada by Annette @ A Net In Time ~ Project Passport: The Middle Ages by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair- Exploring Our World by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me ~ Our Absolutely Positively Favorite History Curriculum Ever by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings ~ Science Our Way: learning to use wh at you are given by Piwi Mama @ Learning & Growing the Piwi Way ~ Historical Significance by Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy ~ How We Are Exploring Our World as Homechoolers by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World ~ VCF:  Week 3 The Social Sciences by Lisa @ Golden Grasses ~ A Trip Around the World:  Homeschool-Style by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Exploring Our World: Biology by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair: Learning about our World  by Joelle @Homeschooling for His Glory 

High School Math - Beyond the Textbook

Textbooks are a staple in high school math. They are a great format for providing information in an incremental manner, accompanied by examples and practice problems. Sometimes, though, math is just tough. Whether your student needs a different approach to mathematical concepts,additional practice or just a diversion, math games are a great addition to high school. Today, I'll show you some high school level games we've played in our home.
 
The folks at Muggins Math describe their games as "Aerobics for the mind" and say that they are appropriate for ages 4 through nuclear physicist. I think they're spot on! They have several games to choose from to help at all levels, but today I will highlight the games that we have used that apply to high school concepts. For the sake of economy, I purchased the write-on wipe off boards and used them with game markers (colored counting chips would work as well).

OPPS! - The Pre-Algebra Game of Opposites - Fractions can be frustrating, and practice can be tedious, but not with the game of OPPS! In this game, players add, subtract, multiply and divide negative numbers. There are directions for multiple levels of play, so this game can be used for a few years. I advise continuing to play it at least part way through your student's Algebra I year so that you can make sure they have those pesky fractions down cold!

DOWN and AROUND - This game also has multiple levels so that you can increase the level of difficultly as the players gain experience. As players take turns, they find the LCD and GCF of fractions derived from the roll of the dice! This game requires a lot of strategy as you work to advance and to block your opponent!

Another thing we've had some fun with is Patty Paper Geometry, published by Key Curriculum Press. Well, okay, what is patty paper? It's the thin parchment paper that butchers put between hamburger patties - and you can do amazing things with them to help your students understand geometric concepts. The book has twelve sets of "investigations," each having two sets of instructions. One set of instructions is a "guided investigation" where the students are given definitions and step by step instructions on how to create a particular construction and provides a fill in the blank theorem. The second set of instructions is an "open investigation." In this set, definitions and directions are provided and the student generates the theorem based upon the conclusions that they make observing their construction. You will find a total of 63 different investigations, each having both guided and open instructions, for a total of 126 investigations.

The twelve sets of investigations with their concepts are:

Investigation Set 1: Intersecting Lines (intersection of two lines; shortest distance between point & line; vertical & adjacent angles; linear pairs)
Investigation Set 2: Folding the Basic Geometric Constructions (angle bisector; perpendicular bisector, perpendicular from a given point to a given line; perpendicular through a point on a line; finding a line parallel to a given line through a given  point)
Investigation Set 3: Special Points of Intersection (perpendicular bisectors of the sides of a triangle; angle bisectors of a triangle; medians, altitudes, circumcenter, incenter and centroid of a triangle; Euler line)
Investigation Set 4: Three Big Ideas (polygon sum conjectures, isosceles triangle conjecture & it's converse; parallel lines conjecture & it's converse)
Investigation Set 5: Midsegment Conjectures (triangle and trapezoid midsegment conjunctures)
Investigation Set 6: Properties of Quadrilaterals (parallelogram; rhombus; rectangle; kite)
Investigations Set 7: Properties of Circles (Finding the center; tangents to a circle; tangent segments; central angles, arcs & chords; inscribed angles; angles inscribed in the same arc & in a semicircle; parallel lines through a circle; cyclic quadrilaterals)
Investigations Set 8: Congruent Triangles (side-side-side; angle-angle-angle; side-angle-side; angle-side-angle; side-angle-angle; side-side-angle)
Investigations Set 9: Transformations (translations; rotations; reflections; order of points after transformations; two reflections over parallel lines; two reflections over intersecting lines)
Investigations Set 10: Symmetry and Tessellations (reflectional symmetry of regular polygons; rotational symmetry of regular polygons; tessellations of regular polygons; tiling the plane with nonregular polygons; creating Escher-Style translation, rotation and glide reflection tessellations)
Investigations Set 11: Area (area formula for parallelograms, triangles, trapezoids, circles, parallelograms, triangles, trapezoids, circles)
Investigations Set 12: The Theorem of Pythagoras (the theorem & it's converse)

Now, I have to admit. I'm a curriculum junkie. I have some things on my shelf that I bought in case I might be able to use them one day. I also have quite a wish list going. Here's a list of the different games or activity books I either have or wish for, but haven't used yet:

Is Democracy Fair? The Mathematics of Voting and Apportionment - using mathematics to explore ballots, decision procedures, alternatives to the "winner take all" approach; investigate different methods for the apportionment of Congressmen to the House of Representatives; how voting apportionment methods are used in non political situations; includes outline for long term research paper on voting & apportionment in a country other than the U.S..

Squaring the Circle: Geometry in Art and Architecture - here's the description from Amazon: 

          includes all the topics necessary for a solid foundation in geometry and explores 

          the timeless influence of geometry on art and architecture. The text offers wide-ranging 

          exercise sets and related projects that allow students to practice and master the mathematics 

          presented. Each chapter introduces mathematical concepts geometrically and illustrates 

          their nontraditional applications in art and architecture throughout the centuries. 

         Appropriate for both basic mathematics courses and cross-discipline courses in mathematics 

         and art, Squaring the Circle requires no previous mathematics.

Building Kites: Flying High with Math - this book is designated for 5-8th grade, but I know some high school students who would love to build a kite! By building different polyhedral kites, students learn about scale, tangent function and estimation. 

Fantasy Baseball and Mathematics - students create fantasy teams by picking players, follow their statistics and use algebraic and non-algebraic methods to calculate their team's total points. Lesson plans and activities are included. There is an accompanying student workbook. Additionally, the publisher has fantasy sport and mathematics books for football, basketball and soccer.

Equate: The Equation Thinking Game - this is Scrabble for mathematics! Players connect tiles vertically and horizontally to make mathematically correct equations. There are tiles for numbers and symbols. This game is adaptable for all levels by purchasing additional tiles sets. The Advanced Tiles Set includes negative and positive integers, integer exponents, fractions, the four basic operations, and equal symbols. The Jr. Tile Set contains whole numbers with more 0's and 1's, fractions with denominator 2, the four basic operations with extra addition and subtraction tiles and equal symbols.

I enjoy bringing the out of the ordinary into the ordinary homeschool day - it's often a much needed reprieve. Let me know if you try any of these games or activities and how they worked out for your high schoolers!  

Stop by Homeschooling Hearts & Minds and thank Susan for organizing the Virtual Curriculum Fair! 

As the stops on the Virtual Curriculum Fair become available this week, I'll add them below so that  you can browse. Don't forget to make yourself a cup of tea as you read!

Delight Directed Middle School Science?  by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds ~ The Hardest Part of Math by Kristi @ The Potter's Hand Academy ~ A Tour Through Our Math and Science Life by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool ~ What Works for Us…Math by Piwi Mum @ Learning & Growing the Piwi Way ~ Math Art – Geometry by Julie @ Highhill Education ~ It's Math-magical by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair: Fun and Games with Math by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch ~ Discovering Patterns by Lisa @ The Golden Grasses ~
Math for the Natural by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair~ Discovering Patterns by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me ~ Too Many Math Programs or Not by Linda B @ Homeschooling6 ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair:  Math and More!  by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs,
and Curriculum ~ The post where I admit I was wrong by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset ~ Discovering a World of Logic and Order by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory ~ 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair- Discovering Patterns: Mathematics,Logic, and Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road ~ The Plans of Mice and Math (My Math in Focus review) by Chelli @ The
Planted Trees ~ Rightstart Math is right for us! by Leann  @ Montessori Tidbits ~ Our Favorite Homeschool Math Curriculums by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings

A Custom Designed High School English Credit

 It's not uncommon for people to design their own unit studies or their own electives, especially at the elementary level. At the high school level, when the pressure is on for college prep students, many home educators choose to forgo their custom created courses in favor of using text books. I have a habit of looking at a curriculum or program and thinking of all the different ways that I would modify it for my student. For ninth grade, I custom designed a non-traditional English credit for our homeschool. Today I'll talk about how I went about doing that.

During the summer before ninth grade, I took a fair assessment of my son's mastery of the English language. I was pleased to confirm that he was doing quite well in most areas, but there were a few areas that I wanted to shore up his skills. I wanted him to read more in depth - to look for details that would help him infer facts about the story, to identify the causes and effects found in stories and to begin to think about literary elements.  I also wanted him to continue reading, but I wanted to get his reflections on his reading, and I wanted to expand his vocabulary skills as a way of beginning to prepare for the SAT.  I knew he wasn't ready for in depth literary analysis yet, however. Writing, he was doing well at & I wanted to stay the course, but felt that the materials needed a bit of a change. With these things in mind, I decided what it was I wanted him to learn during the course of the year.

The course objectives that I settled on were:

• Identify and explore the various literary genres, including the drama, the tragedy and the comedy. Identify and use literary devices and figures of speech such as: similes, metaphors, allegories, fables, parables, etc.
• Understand theme, plot and characterization
• Further develop writing skills by learning and applying such topics as: descriptive writing; narratives; factual writing; point of view; literary skills (such as personification and alliteration); various types of essays. 
• Build vocabulary through reading and through studying vocabulary specific resources.
• Enhance critical thinking, verbal reasoning, reading and writing skills.

Once I knew what I wanted to accomplish, I set out to find resources that would help me do that.  Our local homeschool store carries both new and used materials and it was a great place for me to browse. Time flies when I'm looking at curriculum - I wonder if I'm the only homeschooler who has that problem? Anyway, after several trips and a few hours, I pulled together a set of resources that would work for my son. I selected:

Movies as Literature, by Kathryn Stout and Richard Stout (both the book and the student workbook)
Write Shop I & II by Kim Kautzer and Debra Oldar

Reading Detective B1: Using Higher Order Thinking to Improve Reading Comprehension by C. Block, et. al.
Building Thinking Skills, Level 3 Verbal by Sandra Parks and Howard Black
Building Thinking Skills, Level 3 Figurative by Sandra Parks and Howard Black
Word Roots A1 & A2 by Cherie A. Plant

With this many resources, I knew that the "finish the book, finish the course" approach would not be the right thing to do, so I sat down and read through all of the resources. This helped me get a feel for the breadth and depth of the material covered in each book and to determine the level of mastery my son had over each area covered. I then chose carefully what sections would be completed and what could safely be skipped over without compromising his education. At this point, I also decided to have him select books from a reading list and complete book projects. Through research on the internet, I came up with a list of nearly 70 fiction and non-fiction books to choose from as well as a list of 25 book project ideas. I decided I would let him choose four books for both reading and a project and then use the rest of the books as a reading list to pull from to widen his horizons. After this research, I came up with the course requirements: 

• Complete Reading Detective B1
• Complete teacher selected assignments in Building Thinking Skills, Level 3 Verbal
• Complete teacher selected assignments in Building Thinking Skills, Level 3 Figurative
• Complete Word Roots, A1 and Word Roots, A2.
• Complete teacher selected assignments in Write Shop I & II
• Read four selections from the reading list.
• Complete four book projects, one for each of the reading list books
• Satisfactorily complete assignments for ten movies in Movies As Literature: Student Workbook. Your teacher will choose five and you will choose five. In the choice of movie, consideration must be given to covering as many different concepts as possible. 
• Actively participate in a weekly meeting with your teacher. The meeting is for the purpose of direct instruction of course content as well as discussion of materials and assignments covered in this course. 

In order to facilitate the record keeping that would be required to complete a high school transcript, I wrote a full course description. I then combined the course description, course objectives, resource list, course requirements, book list and project list into a course contract. I also stated what the minimum passing grade would be.  So, you may be wondering, did she really pull all of this off?

I am pleased to say we had a great English I course for the ninth grade year. I enjoyed watching the movies (Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant View were great resources for that) and discussing them. The questions provided in Movies As Literature were very thorough and encouraged careful watching and analysis as well. The workbooks helped to shore up the weaker skills and the reading was a pleasure, as were the projects he selected to go along with them. He completed all of the requirements and successfully earned his English I credit!


If you want to try your hand at creating your own courses for your students, here are some helpful steps:

1. Assess the students strengths & weaknesses in the area to be studied
2. Determine the course objectives - these are the skills and knowledge that the student can expect to gain from the course you are designing
3. Research and choose resources that will aid in meeting the course objectives
4. Become familiar with all of the resources you selected and determine which assignments or parts of each resource would need to be completed
5. Write the course requirements - this tells both the student and the teacher what needs to be done in order to complete the course
6. Determine the minimum passing grade for the course
7. Write a course description 
8. Write a course contract - for middle and high school students

Happy planning!

Stop by Homeschooling Hearts & Minds and thank Susan for organizing the Virtual Curriculum Fair! 

As the stops on the Virtual Curriculum Fair become available this week, I'll add them to the bottom of this post so that you can browse. Don't forget to make yourself a cup of tea as you read!

Nurturing Novelists = Building Strong Writers  by Susan Anadale @ Homeschooling Hearts and Minds  ~ Building Blocks of Education--Learning to Read by Kristi Kerr @ The Potter's Hand Academy ~ Finding Our Way Through Language Arts by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool ~ How Does a Unit Study Teach Language Arts? by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun ~ Our Language Arts Adventure by Linda @ Homeschooling6 ~ 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words: The Language Arts by Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road ~Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Language Arts by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool ~ Writing Help in a Critical Thinking book? by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair: Foreign Language Immersion in the Homeschool by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch ~ Formula for Reading by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness ~ Words and Learning by Annette @ A Net In Time ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair 2013: Still Loving Language Arts by Pam @ Everyday Snapshots ~ Word Play by Lisa @ Golden Grasses ~ Loving Language Arts by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset ~ Learning Language Arts ~ 2012-2013 School Year by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World ~ Virtual Curriculum Fair - The Language Arts Department by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory ~ Playing with Words: The Language Arts by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy: The Story of Our Life ~ Playing with Words: Language Arts by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs and Curriculum ~ What Language Arts looks like in our house - Are we doing it right? by Hillary M @ Our Homeschool Studio

Cycling 101

This past September our family spent a week in Amsterdam, North Holland, NL. It was a great trip, one I enjoyed as it gave me a glimpse into the area where my grandfather was born. It's a beautiful, unique city. Although I knew going over that Amsterdam was a "bicycle friendly" city and that it was a popular mode of transportation, the full impact of this didn't sink in until I saw it in action. What we in the U.S. define as "bicycle friendly" and what occurs in Amsterdam are two very different things. Amsterdam has intentionally developed an infrastructure to support commuter cycling and to discourage automobile (car) use. There are many roads that are closed to cars, causing cars to have to take "the long way around" between many destinations. Those on bicycles can make use of those roads, cutting both their commuting distance and time. Bike lanes are much wider than in the states and are on all roads that allow cars (at least as far as I could tell). Not only that, the majority of the lanes I saw were "protected" lanes, meaning that they were separated from automobile traffic by some type of barrier or median. Public tram and trains allow bicycles on, although they do charge. There is nothing special you have to do, just roll it on. The city provides public bicycle parking at no cost and there are multiple story parking decks near Central Station for the bicycles. Here's a video that explains a bit about the history of cycling in The Netherlands and shows the bicycle paths that I describe above:

Here in the U.S., commuter cyclists typically ride bikes similar in style to those that are used for sport riding, although the tires are sometimes different. In Amsterdam, I observed a very different scenario. The bikes used prevalently there are similar in style to those sold as "cruiser," "town," or "beach" bikes here in the U.S.. In my area of the country, the bikes are seen at the beach (available from rental companies) and are sometimes ridden in neighborhoods by children.  The bikes in Amsterdam are styled differently. Here's a great video from Dottie at Let's Go Ride a Bike, a blog I have enjoyed reading over the past several days. The video shows the features of the bikes that I saw most often during my trip:

Isn't Dottie stylish in her beautiful dress? That is another thing that is different in Amsterdam and, I think, in other European cities. People wear their regular street clothes for their commute, not the spandex outfits we see here. As Dottie demonstrated, you can see how the style of the bike facilitates this. It was fun to watch the ladies in their heels and the men in their suits going to work, along with those who were dressed more casually. I didn't see a single person in spandex - yay! Spandex is definitely not for everyone! Another thing you might have noticed is that she has made provisions to carry cargo without using a backpack, unlike most here in the states. When I read a bit about this, it was so obvious! Long term backpack wear can cause back pain, as can a stooped position on a bike (that I already knew). The panniers, baskets and the upright position of these bikes help mitigate these issues. So smart!

When we were in Amsterdam and then later, in Zurich, we did not rent a car. Instead, we walked everywhere or rode the trams. I was a bit intimidated by cycling - there seemed to be some type of unspoken cycling language or culture that I wasn't quite privy to, so I felt safer sticking to my feet. I think had I taken to wheels, I might have caused an accident or two, as I haven't ridden regularly since childhood. When we returned home, I started wondering what it would be like to be able to bike to the park, the swimming pool, grocery store, etc. - all places I usually drive, even though they are close to my home (especially the pool). After searching around on the internet and checking with a few local bike shops, I decided to ask my husband for a bike for Christmas. He was happy to oblige and my new bike found it's way into our home this past week. Here it is:

Sorry about the fuzziness, I took it in a hurry before I rolled it out the door! It's a Linus Dutchi 3, purchased from a somewhat local bike shop. The big trick was fitting it onto our bike rack to get it home from the shop - it sits awkwardly due to the position of the top bar. Car racks are definitely made for sport bikes! I've taken it for two rides around my neighborhood so far. I'm not in the best of shape and so I need to work my way up to the grocery store runs. We have a lot of hills around here, so both my leg strength and my endurance will need to build up. I'm hoping that with some consistent effort on my part I'll be able to make it to the grocery store and back sometime this spring. I'm already planning what to add - I'll need some panniers for the back and a basket for the front, and I think maybe a really cool bike bell. My husband wants to get some bungee cords and a milk carton for it, but I'm trying to steer him clear of that. I do think that it would be practical in some scenarios, though, so I'll keep it in the back of my mind! Right now my goal is to ride our neighborhood loop daily, then after 7-10 days, add in some of the side streets. When I can ride easily for about 30 minutes, I'll start working my way up to the grocery store. I'll try to keep everyone updated on my progress. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun! So - when was the last time you rode a bike?