Hooray for Summer Break!

Dog, cat and bird masks made from boxes and construction paper.

I listened to a very interesting program on the radio yesterday. Local teachers were discussing year-round schooling versus the traditional school calendar. The guests seemed to agree that students learn more and forget less when they attend year-round. One guest also suggested an increase in the usual 180 days spent in school each academic year.

Reading, reading, reading!

These teachers weren't unreasonable: they had observed how much kids forget during the summer and how much time is wasted reviewing skills that had already been mastered the previous year. Since teacher's livelihoods and reputations are judged on test scores these days, of course they would want to spend their time moving forward instead of reviewing last year's material.

The message seemed to be this: teachers enjoy the long summer break as much as anyone, and they know that kids look forward to their summers. BUT, the majority of kids don't do anything worthwhile over the summer. They just watch TV and play video games.

Tank battles on the street.

According to the teachers on the show, most kids don't travel, don't visit museums or libraries, and don't even read during summer break. And since their families are either unable or unwilling to make summer break into something beneficial for their kids, it's time to take a critical look at long summer breaks.

This made me so sad. Could I really be hearing this correctly? It seemed to me that the gist of the teachers' argument was that American families are so overwhelmed or so complacent that kids are actually better off spending most of their time at school.

German vocabulary labels.

Clearly, there are children out there who live in crisis situations and who might actually be better off at school. But these teachers weren't necessarily referring to the families who live on the brink of homelessness (or who may even be homeless) or the families who live in dangerous neighborhoods and who struggle to provide even the basics. No, they were talking about American families in general, from every rung of the socio-economic ladder. And they still felt that kids were better off at school.

Old MacDonald had a farm...

Ironically, I was listening to this radio show while cleaning and organizing our homeschool classroom. I looked around at all the books, art supplies, math manipulatives and science materials and I felt so grateful that we are able to provide these things to our kids. But of course, we haven't touched any of these supplies since the end of May. We haven't spent one minute doing "formal" schooling this summer.

Play? Did someone say play?

But we've still managed to learn every single day! Just off the top of my head, here are some activities we've enjoyed. I would count every one of these as a learning experience. As you can see, some were expensive and/or time-consuming. But many of them were free and easy!

Traditional German rhabarberkuchen.

1. Two road trips to visit relatives.

2. Practicing our German while entertaining our German friends. This has to be my favorite German word so far! (A friend said it sounds like what happens when you lose part of your swimsuit! Hee! Hee!)


3. Preparing and sampling traditional German food. You would not believe how good this pastry dough smelled...vanilla and sugar...mmm...


4. Picking up our CSA shares and learning about the farm that grew our vegetables. I made this quiche from CSA spinach, onions, and eggs!


5. Having a picnic in the mountains. I can't believe we had this spot all to ourselves on such a gorgeous day.

6. Taking care of our many pets. Here is Pumpkin, the newest member of the family. (And no, we didn't let him have the whole apple!)


7. Going to a Vietnamese restaurant and then exploring the nearby Asian supermarket. These coffee candies come from Thailand and they are sooooooo wonderful!


8. Messing around on the piano, letting the kids play whatever they want. Which is usually Axel F.

9. Taking our sick pug to the vet and looking at his chest x-ray. The FANTASTIC doctor could see that Super was interested, so he offered very detailed explanations and walked her through the entire x-ray.

11. Going to a cool museum exhibit and an IMAX movie.

12. Watching our garden grow and looking forward to our first harvest.


13. Making beautiful chalk art on the driveway.

14. Having a water pistol fight with friends: Dads against kids!

15. Making homemade lemonade. Experimenting with the recipe and trying to figure out which version would sell best at a future lemonade stand.

16. Karate lessons and practice.

17. Household chores like putting away laundry and doing dishes.

18. Sitting in the back yard watching the fluffy clouds turn into a storm front (and then getting the heck inside when the lightning started!)

19. Listening to rain, birds, and music.

20. Reading, reading, reading!

My kids are having very valuable experiences this summer. They would have to be doing some pretty amazing things at school to be better off spending their days in a classroom instead of at home.

I'm not sure what my point is here, except that it saddens me to think that so many kids don't get to experience the learning lifestyle, and instead see learning as a chore they have to do from September to May. Then they have earned the right to shut down their brains for three months!

And I feel bad for teachers, too. The teachers on the radio show were truly invested in helping their students learn better and retain more. I'm just not sure that more days in a classroom is really what kids need.

A Star is Born

Texas, our Texas! All hail the mighty state!

Texas, our Texas! So wonderful, so great!

Boldest and grandest! Withstanding every test!

O empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest!

Do Texas school kids still start the day with that song? I'm guessing probably not, but it was the second thing we did every day, right after the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'm pretty sure every Texas student within driving distance still visits the San Jacinto Monument at least once. I remember being really impressed back then, and it's still impressive today.

It stands over 567 feet high. The star on top weighs 220 tons!

I liked running my fingers over this beautiful Texas limestone when I was a kid. Is there any doubt that Texas was once covered in water?

The interior is cool and echo-y. There are dioramas of early life in old Tejas.

The wonderful Charles Shaw paintings were new to me. This one depicts Sam Houston's men destroying a bridge over the Brazos, so Santa Ana's reinforcements couldn't cross.



Here is Stephen F. Austin, who actually changed his first name to Estevan and learned fluent Spanish. (Wonder what the modern English-only movement thinks of that?)

And Sam Houston, who is known for his wise and measured leadership. His men wanted to attack too soon, but he chose his moment well.

The Mexican soldiers were resting, their backs to the water. And when Houston's men attacked, the afternoon sun was in the their opponents' eyes.

Some say that Houston should have dealt with Santa Ana in a different way. After all, here is the man who massacred Fannin's army...

But Houston kept his eye on loftier goals, and didn't get distracted by revenge.

As we left the monument and looked at the peaceful fields around us, I tried to envision the men camped in the trees next to the Brazos. The Mexican soldiers, exhausted after an all-night journey. And the ragtag band of settlers, nervously waiting to attack or be attacked.

God bless you, Texas, and keep you brave and strong!
That you may grow in power and worth
Throughout the ages long!

Cheesy Space

Dad and I have such wonderful memories of visiting the Johnson Space Center as kids, so we couldn't wait to take our kids there.

However. It is not the same. And our first impression was Not Good.

The first things we saw were this...

...and this.

Noooooo! The Space Center has been Chuck E. Cheesified!

The entrance to Space Center Houston looks like any suburban movie theater. Inside, it feels kind of like a Dave and Buster's.

The noise and glare were truly unsettling. It was like being inside a pinball machine. There were are few, meager attempts at science exhibits scattered around the room, but no one was looking at them. Most of the kids we saw were playing in the ball pit or chasing each other around and screaming.

I felt like screaming, too.

Then we found out that the Space Center we knew as kids, the real Space Center, still exists, but it's only accessible by tram now.

So we stood in a loooong line, had our bags searched, walked through a metal detector, and got on the tram. (Weeeell, helloooo, theeeeere, folks! How's everybody doin' today? My name is Jonah and I'll be taking you on your exciting tour...)

Thankfully, we were allowed to get off the tram and go in the building where the International Space Station and shuttle mock-ups are housed. You can look through a giant window into the entire warehouse and watch people working down there. To our relief, this part was awesome!

These are exact replicas of Space Station "rooms." Real live astronauts use these pods for training.

I thought the banners of all the different space programs were cool.

Here is the training shuttle. Someone was in it while we were touring, but they never came out so we don't know who it was. You can see space suits on a rack in the center of the photo--they weigh over 200 pounds!

The shuttle's cargo bay can hold a school bus! (Mrs. Frizzle, maybe?)

We liked the patches from the various shuttle missions--they reminded us of Scout badges.

Check out those engines!

There were DO NOT TOUCH signs on most of the equipment. It kind of struck me as funny: can astronauts not be trusted with this stuff? :)

Dude is totally into robotics these days, and he thought this one was really cool.

These look fun, too.

We were surprised by how, um, classic, these computers were.

And I don't know why, but this totally cracked me up. I'm pretty sure this is the same phone that was on my Dad's desk in 1982.

After we left this building, we boarded the tram and toured the rest of the NASA campus. The only other building you can enter houses the Saturn V. I'm pretty sure this rocket was outside back when Dad and I were kids, so I'm glad it has its own gigantic garage now.

It is impossible to take a picture of something so massive. Here is one end...

...some middle...

...and the other end.

After we had been walking around the rocket for a while, Super came up to me and said, totally wide-eyed: "Mom! I am standing under a rocket!"

Back at the arcade, I mean, main building, we watched a great movie about America's space program, saw some interesting artifacts from various missions, and went inside a "shuttle."

Only a hard-core history buff like Dad could get so excited about the podium where Kennedy announced the space program.

The kids got to touch a real moon rock!

And they brought the shuttle in for a safe landing.

In spite of our initial disappointment, we all had a good time and learned something about space. Dude's favorite part was seeing the Saturn V. Super loved going inside the shuttle replica. In other words, they loved the real science, not the loud, flashing neon playground in the main building.

I have to agree. In my opinion, that place doesn't do the space program justice. I'm all for getting kids jazzed up about science, and I know today's kids are used to flashing lights and loud noises.

But that's exactly why Space Center Houston shouldn't have flashing lights and loud noises. If you want to make an impression on modern kids, don't give them the same old junk that they get every day.

Exploring the universe shouldn't feel just like visiting a McDonald's playplace.

Space is special. It's mysterious. It's awe-inspiring.

Only a handful of humans have actually been there.

I just hate to think that generations of kids will come to Space Center Houston and remember this:

...instead of this.