Some days it just all comes together

I'm going to record a great homeschooling day so that during the rest of the year, when it's all crap, I can look back and say to myself "that's OK. There was that one day, one magical day, when we had flow*!"

And it was all due to the internet. I, like so many people, have this love/hate thing for the web. On one hand, as a homeschooling parent it has enriched our lives, helping us learn about various options and opportunities, and made researching things so incredibly fast. On the other hand, it can be a horrible time suck and it can also lead to feelings of inadequacy as you read all about these homeschooling families who are playing Bach concertos in the morning, doing differential calculus in the afternoon, and working on world peace in the evening - with six year old twins.

But last Thursday, something grand landed in my inbox - a link to some of UC Berkeley's lectures on YouTube. I checked it out quickly and saw Physics for Future Presidents - all the physics concepts, none of the math. I gather this is a first year course for arts majors (because scientists can't become presidents? And because presidents can't do math?**). I like physics and actually took some REAL physics - the kind for scientists! - at university and I thought this might be fun for the kids.

We watched two lectures the first day***. The professor has all sorts of gear to show various physical properties and while sometimes he's a bit too scattered and too inclined to run off on tangents, he's a fairly engaging prof. And I swear that lecture hall looked exactly like all my first year science halls.....

After the two episodes (the first episode has a distinct dissynchronization between audio and video which is quite amusing as he talks about the difference between speed of light and speed of sound) we took a break for lunch and hit our 'regular' schoolbooks. The conversation about what we had seen continued and Hugo mentioned something about the elements (also covered in those lectures).

I looked in our science folder and lo and behold, just where it's supposed to be, there was a periodic table - the kind you keep in your binder. This, in my home, is absolutely staggering. We generally can't even find pencils and erasers and our entire school day is punctuated by searches for something. Then when we find it, the other parts of the thing we need are missing. To look in the science box (hell, to find the science box) and actually find the periodic table when we want it, was a small miracle.

We went over some of the elements, talked about atomic weight, discussed why earth has no naturally occurring unbound hydrogen and then we all took a break and I went to quickly check my mail while having my tea.

And there, in my inbox again, a link to this great periodic table which gives pictures of the common uses for the elements. I quickly printed out two copies for the kids, and we spent ages going over the table again.

Then Roo came home from work and Hugo spent the entire evening telling him about all the interesting things in the lectures and showing him the periodic table.

Hugo finally went to bed but not without pleading (unsuccessfully) to watch 'some more physics lectures, please?!!!"

This is the kind of thing you can't really predict. Sometimes you gather materials - at an appropriate level and carefully selected to appeal to your child's learning style - and they bomb. No spark, no enthusiasm, no nothing. If you're lucky you escape with general boredom and avoid the moaning and sniping which goes along the lines of this is boring/why do I have to do this/you're doing this because I said so/it is NOT boring/now just do it/you'd be done by now if you weren't so busy whining about it, and so on, until you escape to the bathroom and wash your face while wondering why it was you thought homeschooling was going to be such a great experience.

And other times, you sneak time on the computer when you're supposed to be folding laundry and scrubbing the toilets, and some gems land in your inbox which turn out to be just the things to make your day sparkle.

*Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

**Can't resist this old a propos joke:

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

***lecture 3 is missing. I've already written them about it and they're looking into it. We skipped ahead to lecture 4 the next day and while there are things which are a bit unclear because of the missing lecture 3 info, it was OK to just jump ahead.