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Progressive Homeschool
Welcome! We practice science-intensive evidence-based education.

Anatomy - Skeleton

Saturday, January 21, 2006
Q gets to do her Anatomy coloring as a break from other more demanding things (like multi-digit subtraction and fraction multiplication). She gets to choose which page she wants to work on and today it was the skeleton.

bones


She has worked on the eyeball, the brain, the integumentary system, and other features of the human body.

This is always fun to do and fun for me to watch because she is relaxed about learning things which she might not have been exposed to until sometime in high school.

Your brain on homeschool

Integumentary system - Skin

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Archaic calligraphy - Colonial America

Friday, January 20, 2006
In our History Pockets, Q is learning about colonial schooling. Kids were homeschooled and also sent off to local "Dame" schools. Girls of wealthy parents were then sent off to Europe to finishing schools (foreign languages, wine and cheese appreciation, various arts) and boys were send off to schools like Harvard and Yale.

She learned how to make a horn book.



She also got to practice some of the cursive kids had to learn then.

caligraphy in colonial america

ink


Its not easy and her quill pen (which we got at Old Sturbridge Village) isn't the easiest to control!

practice


Here are some links to learn more:

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Q's first blog entry - On Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Monday, January 16, 2006
Q wrote the following, by herself, after today's homeschooling which included reading Chapter 17 of Howard Zinn's "A People's History", watching and reading the "I have a dream" speech, and after reading the entire Wikipedia entry on MLK.

"My mom let me make my first blog. Call me Q. (My mommy doesn't want my full name on the internet.) I am going to tell you about Martin Luther King Jr. I listened to the "I have a Dream" speech. I was inspired by this quote:

"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds"." And this: "It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges."

I loved that part of the speech but you can read the whole thing here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/Ihaveadream.htm . MLK Jr. protested harder than anyone else. He led dozens of protests. He was very persistent and even kept doing it after someone bombed his house. He went homeless but still did it.

He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at 6:01.

He was assassinated by James Earl Ray. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty because if he didn't he would have the death sentence. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He tried all of his life to withdraw the plea and get a trial, without success. He died in prison. He said that his brother and 10 million dollars were involved. The court didn't believe him and ignored him.

They had a memorial erected for MLK Jr. It is a large memorial. MLK won a Nobel peace prize. He is very famous. He is in the 20 most famous people. MLK was a good man and he made extremely long speeches just to convince people it's not okay. I like MLK because he was a brave and a very much needed man in history."

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Step beyond the platitudes and propaganda


List of resources


Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-1968 - Democracy NOW
Wikipedia - MLK Jr. Day
Wiki - About the Man Martin Luther King Jr.
"Real Audio" online version of the "I Have a Dream" speech at the HistoryChannel's site
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
The King Center
Martin Luther King Jr.'s FBI file
"The MLK you don't see on TV" from FAIR
Listen Live to MLK Jr. sermons (today only) - select a player and listen to web stream
Democracy NOW's radio chat with Howard Zinn "Bush Represents Everything That Martin Luther King Opposed" (transcript on this page and also links to listen)


As you might well imagine, awareness of who Martin Luther King Jr. was, what he did, what he was fighting for, and how it was that he was murdered are all poorly understood and taught in our schools and society.

I have provided the links above for you to check out for yourself and to help you teach your children (homeschooled or not).

As a grad student at Emory, I would listen to radio broadcasts of the King sermon archives. He was electrifying and he must have been terrifying to those who were not interested in the change he sought.

Dont believe the hype, much of what he sought has yet to pass.

Its up to each of us to value his vision and to do what we can to nuture that vision in our children.

Truly, hope for a better society lies in the questioning and trusting eyes of a child who has not learned to hate, yet.

Our job as parents is to make sure that hate is not passed on, that love is shared, and that hope is invested.

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