Do You Homeschool During the Holidays?

This Christmas brought two sneaky homeschool gifts to my son: one which he himself asked for and one which was given to him as not per see as a “gift”, but just because DH was going through a box of old things. Both though have caused DS to “do work”.

My F-I-L thought my son was insane when asked what he wanted to for Christmas, the answer was two three ring binders and plastic inserts. My F-I-L asked quizzically, “Are you sure?” and DS surely was. He was thrilled when he opened his box at our Christmas dinner and this was certainly one of the first gifts that he used (aside from his Nerf Gun).

DS’s plan with these books is to create a Cast Iron Cookbook and to start putting together his Eagle Scout Book. DS loves cast iron cooking, but is frustrated when pushed to think quickly and plan a menu for scouts. His plan is to begin compiling his favorite Cast Iron recipes so that he can just grab his cookbook for both planning meetings and for campouts. This has encouraged him to read carefully to choose the recipes; use the computer to cut, paste, and alter the recipes to the proper size; and to use his organizational skills to put the book together.

The other “gift” was my DH’s old palm pilot. DS has been addicted to it; putting in emergency phone numbers, writing to lists, and filling in the calendar. DS has been checking his spelling on every word he types in. This boy that I have to force to write a sentence has to have the stylus taken away in order to eat dinner. If I had known it would be this easy, I would have bought one of these machines for him. Now, I’m thinking, perhaps I’ll set him up on Facebook too. If it is technology that intrigues him, then I’ll find a way to use it.

So needless to say DS enjoyed his Christmas and mom is feeling a little better about the “time off”.

Getting Ready for Halloween

First of all a disclaimer: I am not a fan of Halloween myself. To me, it seems like a made up holiday that focuses on Pagan ideas. In a really great year with perfect weather and neighbors having outdoor parties, I can tolerate it, but when it is cold or damp, my interest is completely lost. I think my enthusiasm dissipated somewhere between trying to divvy out the 26 pounds of candy (on average) that the kids would bring home from trick or treating and the costume mania that consumes everyone during this period. Families are now actually spending an average of $98.00 between costumes and candy and I personally believe that this is a conservative estimate given some of the costumes that I see around. What happened to white sheeted ghosts? Robots made from cardboard boxes? Baseball players sporting their Little League Uniforms?

The first recorded reference to Halloween actually appears in 1911 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, but the term “trick or treat” did not appear for the first time in print in 1934. There are conflicting reports of how the idea of Halloween developed. Some relate it as far back as Celtic ritual of Samhain. Samhain was the Celtic New Year, a time to celebrate harvests. Samhain actually began at dusk on October 31st and signified the beginning of the dark period of the year. During this day, the break between life and death was shattered and spirits could roam the earth. When Celtic lands were Christianized, this holiday melded into All Saints Day. Others related it to the Roman celebrations of the dead, Feralia, Paternalia, and Lemuria. They may have blended with Samhain as the Roman Empire spread across Europe. However the celebrations of the dead developed, they were sternly squelched under the Puritan rule in the New World and do not seem to reappear until early in the 20th century. Treating seems to relate back to the medieval idea of souling; when poor people would go door to door requesting and receiving soul cakes in return for prayers for the giver’s dead family members.

One of the most interesting and one of my husband’s favorite family traditions is the jack o’ lantern. Legend has it that jack o’ lanterns relate back to the story of Jack. Jack was a troublemaker who tried to trick the devil into not taking his soul. There are conflicting stories of exactly how he accomplished this task, but the devil did agree not to take possession of his soul. So when Jack finally died, his soul was too sinful to rise to Heaven and had been barred from Hell. Left to roam the earth, he asked the devil to help him find his way. The devil sent a flame to light his way. Jack captured it in his favorite food, the turnip, and thus the Jack o’ Lantern was born. When this tradition came to America, pumpkins were larger and more plentiful and therefore become the preferred vegetable to be carved. However, in some parts of the world turnips and beets are still carved instead of pumpkins.

Certainly, no matter what its origins, Halloween is here to stay. I recommend you run to the store so that you can spend your portion of the between 5 and 6.9 billion dollars getting ready for for the holiday. We’ll keep our lights on for you.