4. Yellow allamanda

Potentially poisonous, but very attractive.  Bright yellow petals, shiny green leaves.  We also had these planted outside of our old home.

5. Plumbego

Lovely plant with purple-blue petals.

6. June plum

Not really a flower, but a fruit tree.  Given to us by Uncle Robbie.

7. Mango

Who cannot love the sweet fruit of this large fragrant tree.

8. Hibiscus

Beautiful colorful flowers that may be native to Jamaica, but will confirm.  These flowers come in pink, white, red and purple.

9. Banana herb

Well, what more can be said about this herb.  Bananas are yummy by themselves, but especially in smoothies.

10. Red ixora

A small petaled red flower that contains lots of sweet nectar.  The children love to drink this nectar during our time outside.

I need to learn the botanical name, but these tropical flowers are quite attractive.  On a recent nature walk, Farmer Boy, Hummingbird and I saw a large pile of recently cut flowers and stems (in of all places, next to the dumpster).  What a find!!!! We gathered up a bunch, brought them home, cut the stems, and promptly put them in a water-filled vase and set it front and center on the dining table.

These plants/flowers grow very easily and sometimes appear pink.

When my kiddos were younger and we were all too frequently questioned about our decision to homeschool, I would always reply, only half-jokingly, that it is was my job to teach the children to read and the rest was up to them.

Over the years I have modified this philosophy, but only slightly.  I now believe my primary teaching role is to teach reading (but later than I used to), and to think.  Again, with these two skills, along with a bit of diligence, curiosity, internal motivation, a value system, a love of God, and the love and support of family, there is not much that is not possible.  (hope that is not too many negatives).

Nevertheless, it may appear to some that these type of thinking skills can not be directly taught, but aside from the very popular Building Thinking Skills books by Critical Thinking Press, and others, I was not aware of what specifically needed to be taught.

A dear friend, neighbor, homeschooling parent, college professor, and one smart lady introduced me to the concept of Habits of Mind, by Art De Costa.  These Habits of Mind, while not a stand-alone curriculum (which we would probably not use fully even if it were), clearly define character traits and skills common to successful thinkers.

I will list them below, but De Costa has provided additional explanation and fleshing out of these.  There is quite a bit of additional information on integrating these skills at his site here, as well as a video here describing his work.  So here they are:

• Persisting
• Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision
• Managing impulsivity
• Gathering data through all senses
• Listening with understanding and empathy
• Creating, imagining, innovating
• Thinking flexibly
• Responding with wonderment and awe
• Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
• Taking responsible risks
• Striving for accuracy
• Finding humor
• Questioning and posing problems
• Thinking interdependently
• Applying past knowledge to new situations
• Remaining open to continuous learning

These are specific, concrete and doable.

Hummingbird has been my faithful assistant, of course.  She loves to bake cookies, but I think she loves to eat them even more.  So,  in the vein of the little red hen, “she mixed the flour, the measured the butter, she cracked the eggs, and she stirred the batter”, so I guess she will eat the cookies.  But there are plenty to go around for both the boys and the neighbors, for whom the cookies were intended.

While the guys were outside playing soccer and/or tag,  she and I got to eat the leftover batter.  Yum!!!!

She made numerous outlandish and unsupported statements throughout this paper.  It is unbelievable that such a poorly written article would be published in a policy document, by non other than a Stanford graduate.  Her original article is here.

This article was quite dismissive of the homeschooling movement, as well as being factually inaccurate.  Many more learned and articulate folks have submitted rebuttals, both to the general public, as well as to the author directly.

A particularly well-researched, thoughtful and comprehensive rebuttal was submitted by a homeschooling parent (here), and the follow-up response (here) as well as a comment by a homeschool legal scholar (here).

My thoughts are that, in spite of the authors claimed statement (in a response to her article) that she supports homeschooling, her strong feminist views cause her to believe that homeschooling is anti-feminist, and it colors her views.

One of the reasons we decided to move to Kgn was specifically because of this neighborhood.  Techpoetry, Hummingbird, Farmer Boy and Curious George all have made great friends here.  On any given afternoon (or morning or evening) three to five extra kids are in my house, in addition to my four.  This does not include the crowd outside riding the bikes or scooters or playing with the soccer balls.  It is a great community!!!

C is for Carambola

Carambola, also known as starfruit or jimbolina, is now one of Curious George’s favorite fruits.  When in season, we regularly walk over the the fruit park and gather as many as our shirts can hold.   Most do not make it home as they get eaten on the way.

Last week we went for a nice loooooog walk up and over the top of Jack’s Hill.  What a beautiful time.  The air is cleaner, the sky is brighter and the trees are greener or at least it seems so.  While walking, Farmer Boy announces “this is the most beautiful place I have even seen”, and he is only 6,  Wow!.  I surely agree.

This nearly 2 hour walk took us to what is called the “breakaway”, the top of what used to be a road, before it (the road) fell hundreds of feet during a land slide during Hurricane Dean (2007).  Assuming you don’t get too close to the edge, it is really an amazing sight to see.

This just makes NO SENSE.  Tax the BMWs that are prolific in these parts.  Collect tax from importers who ship jeans in and claim that they are worth $1 dollar (Jamaican), and then charge customers GCT on the full/real value, furthermore failing to even remit the collected GCT to the government.  Collect tax on my beloved books.  How are the poor supposed to eat???  It is not fair.