Culinary Halloween Horror Stories

Yesterday, I found a great example of how we are blending Charlotte Mason and Relationship Development Intervention. The most challenging book Pamela is reading right now is The Brendan Voyage. Helen Keller's story inspires me to include books that are at the outermost limits of comprehension but worth trying. John Wright, one of her teachers at the Wright-Humason School, once wrote,

Often I found her, when she had a little leisure, sitting in her favourite corner, in a chair whose arms supported the big volume prepared for the blind, and passing her finger slowly over the lines of Moliere's Le Medecin Malgré Lui, chuckling to herself at the comical situations and humorous lines. At that time her actual working vocabulary in French was very small, but by using her judgment, as we laughingly called the mental process, she could guess at the meanings of the words and put the sense together much as a child puzzles out a sliced object. The result was that in a few weeks she and I spent a most hilarious hour one evening while she poured out to me the whole story, dwelling with great gusto on its humour and sparkling wit. It was not a lesson, but only one of her recreations.

What I hope for Pamela is to strike a balance between books in which she feels competent and confident and books in which she spends time guessing at the meaning of words, putting the sense together, and mentally processing. With The Brendan Voyage, she first reads two or three pages and orally narrates each paragraph, one by one. Then, I film her narrating what she finds worth retelling from the entire passage. After that, we take turns talking about what the passage reminds us of and this is where she forms personal connections to what she is reading, shares experiences with me, and fortifies episodic memory. We have wandered down many exciting rabbit trails because of this important step in the process. I want to share with you an actual example of this process:

The Original Passage:

I cooked the breakfast. Then George, who freely admitted to being the worlds' worst cook but is amoung its champion dishwashers, offered to do the dishes on my turn if I did his cooking for him. So I cooked lunch. . . Rolfe persevered until the box of matches ran out, and tha as everyon else was getting hungry, I cooked supper.

What She Narrated Orally:
George was the worst cook. Rolf was sad because the bad food was the worst.

What She Narrated in Writing:
They cooked some bad foods. They ate some bad foods. They felt bad.

How She Connected:


What I love most about this clip is how much Pamela enjoys this conversation in which we both add novel ideas. Pamela reminded me of the day I burned the French fries, while I told her two new stories from my childhood. We are equal partners in sharing new information. I can tell she is thinking about what I said because she guessed that it was a story from Sand Point, she asked what year something happened, and she anticipated that my cake burned, etc. I also love the way Pamela clearly enjoys our conversation through her reactions and facial expressions. She also feels comfortable being blunt about my awful cooking skills (and she is being completely truthful).

Thinking Out Loud with Tenses

In a comment to an earlier post, my friend Jennifer asked me what is after past tense. That is a good question. From this point on, the plans in the manual are not a well-laid as before because you tailor some of it to the needs of the student. One reader of my blog privately asked about my emphasis on grammar because it sounds like I am teaching Pamela these abstract concepts. Focusing on grammar helps me frame and understand the next step in the process. All Pamela sees are the new forms of syntax modeled and practiced. In my mind, it will be a long time before we address formal grammar ala parts of speech if ever.

Today, I sat down and roughly outlined the next couple of months:

• Simple Past for one more week to let me determine what irregular verbs she has mastered
• "Did" Questions for syntax she has already mastered
• Simple Present (repeated actions such as hobbies, habits, routines, schedules, etc.) contrasted with Present Progressive (what is happening right now in the moment) => "I sew animals" versus "I am sewing a duck"
• Simple Present (facts and generalizations) contrasted with Present Progressive (what is happening right now in the moment) => "Dogs bark" versus "My dog is barking"
• Transition to stories in a paragraph format
• Infinitives versus prepositional phrases with to => "I wanted to buy some bananas" versus "I went to the store"
• Double prepositional phrases => "The dog is under the tree in the back yard"
• Uncountable nouns => "some cheese" or "a slice of cheese" not "a cheese"
• Past Tense stories
• Transition words in Past Tense Stories => First, Then, Next, After
• Past Tense stories based on a single picture (assumed information in past tense, action happening in the picture in the present tense)
• Past Tense stories based on a series of pictures

Abstract Thinking Cap

Both Pamela and David are concrete thinkers. That means they do much better with practical, specific things: what they can see or touch (or at least, imagine seeing or touching). When David was younger, I worried about how he would fare in high school, which requires more abstract thinking. I started breathing easier last year when the light bulb turned on, and David started getting easy A's on his Math-U-See Algebra I tests. He continues to do well in Geometry, even with the logical aspects of it. While his every day speaking and writing skills are fine, he struggled with grammar (parts of speech and their ilk) until this year! After a couple of choppy lessons to get his head into it, David is doing well with the exercises in Our Mother Tongue. But, that is not the most exciting thing!

Since David is highly random, I did not do much with outlining until this year. David is reading Part I of How to Read a Book this year and will finish it up by twelfth grade. Since this book requires slow reading and abstract thinking, I decided to slow him down by having him outline his readings, instead of doing a typical narration. We used the examples of both topical and sentence outlines described in Handbook of Grammar and Composition. I envisioned major conflicts over having to do a task requiring so much logical and sequential thinking. By week four, David started getting ahead of schedule. He outlines quite methodically, so I have complimented him on his work. This week, I told him to stop when he gets to the end of Part I and he said, "You mean we're not going to finish the book? I like outlining." Well, knock me over with a feather!

Pamela is making strides in sharing what she thinks. Last month, she told me how she broke her arm ten years ago (trying to "skate" on the wet bathroom floor). She also told me that David was the real cheese thief six years ago. Earlier today, she looked at me and said, "I'll be right back!" when she left the kitchen. She did not have to tell me that nor did she do it in stim mode.

Yesterday, while we were baking a dump cake for a BBQ party, Pamela was very natural in sharing her observations. "It's stuck" when she could not open cans with tabs and "It's ready" after the stove beeped to tell us that the temperature was right. At one point, she got giggly and I asked her, "What's so funny?" She said, "I'm thinking about You-Tube" (her favorite clips are about broken video tapes, VCRs, and DVD players). When she was retrieving melted butter in a hot measuring cup from the microwave, I offered to get it for her. She told me very firmly, "No, I'll do it!" (the same thing she said the other day when I offered to help her open a new bottle of catsup). The wonderful thing about all of these statements is that she is willingly sharing what she thinks, which is something she did not do much six months ago.

Take the "Yuck" out of Nutritious Foods!

Do you avoid carrots, spinach and other nutritious veggies because the flavor turns you off? You may be missing a quick antidote... condiments and innovative food combos. Remember you are what you eat! Nutritious foods keep body and brain perking throughout life.

Why not...

Start with color: “We eat with our eyes, and choosing colorful condiments, Marjorie Fitch-Hilgenberg, University of Arkansas dietetics professor advises, "can enhance the nutritional value of a routine food.”

Condiments, or “enhancements” for food, include extras such as herbs and spices, sauces, garnishes and marinades. They add more adventure for our palates! Here's just a few recommendations to increase nutrition and cut down on calorie laden extras such as dressings, mayonnaise,

Change sandwich fillers What're you including? – Most folks put meat or cheese between slices of bread and slather it with mayo. "When you add dark leafy greens and tomatoes and replace the mayo," Fitch-Hilgenberg says, "you can create a quick lunch with a serving or more of vegetables and little excess fat."

Leafy greens can help prevent cognitive decline … due to their rich vitamin E antioxidants … that guard brain cells from oxidative damage and inflammation, processes … thought to increase mental decline. Makes me think twice about adding more greens daily... You?

Fitch-Hilgenberg’s research shows most folks don’t detect the difference when nutrient-rich spinach replaces lettuce on burgers and subs. The resulting sandwich provides greater quantities of key nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin A and folic acid. “You can spread some salsa, cranberry sauce, mango chutney or sauerkraut," Fitch-Hilgenberg recommends. "They all add great taste and some extra nutrients without adding fat."

Find alternatives to mayo Here are more healthy replacements for mayonnaise, beyond the low-fat and non-fat options on the grocery shelves. Give low-fat yogurt a try. You might enjoy, yogurt mixed with coarse mustard and dill, a tasty topping for grilled salmon steaks or salmon croquettes. Or, try a variety of mustards – Dijon, coarse-ground, spicy brown and wasabi – as low-calorie, high-flavor condiments.

Add fruit for taste treats! Fruit adds new appeal to foods when using it for flavor. For instance, adding orange slices to cooked carrots can make the carrots more delectable even more nutritious. Why not whip fresh or frozen fruit in the blender for lively ice cream toppings or stir it into plain yogurt.

I enjoy cutting up fresh fruits such as, apples, peaches, oranges, grapes, for a burst of fresh flavor in garden salads. Add a few pine nuts, slivered almonds or sunflower seeds for extra pizazz. Fruits, nuts and seeds make salads tasty -- no dressings needed!

Find adventure in new condiments: “Condiments give you a chance to be adventurous and to taste other cuisines without leaving home,” Fitch-Hilgenberg said. “Chicken can be marinated in tandoori sauce, barbeque sauce or spicy brown mustard to take your meal to India, Texas or Germany.”

Two condiments from south Asia can be found in most groceries – curries and chutneys. Curry, which some studies have shown to contribute to healthy aging, does not have to be hot. A mild curry can be an intriguing addition to cooked carrots or rice and broccoli. Chutneys come in many different varieties, and Fitch-Hilgenberg advised reading the label before buying. Some contain fruit, such as mango chutney; others contain high levels of sodium.

Go easy with sauces and salad dressings: Marinades bring new flavor to foods instead of spreading on sauces after cooking. Similarly, toss a salad in a large bowl with just a hint of dressing, to flavor of greens. You enhanced flavor without drenching in dressing that is high in fat and sodium. Best part is that it's cheaper to use a little sauce or dressing in the kitchen than to put the bottle on the table.

Condiments we choose are only limited by our imagination. Got any recommendations we'd enjoy to ante up nutritious choices?

Past Times

Pamela has been practicing past tense all week, and I am thrilled with how many irregular past tense verbs she knows without being explicitly taught! Today, I made a list of 131 irregular past tense verbs. During the next two weeks, I plan to type up sentences with the verb missing and instruct her to fill in the blank with the past tense form of the irregular verb given. Before we move to past tense questions, I want to know what irregular verbs trouble her so that I can work them into our daily association method efforts. If she were struggling, I would linger on past tense. She is not! She already knows so many irregular verbs that she is ready to move on once I catalog them.

Most readers have no idea how huge this is for Pamela. For the past three years, we have been working very hard on syntax and I was dreading past tense verbs because so many of them are irregular. I had worried that we would be doing them for months because children with aphasia are notoriously poor guessers when it comes to recalling the quirks of language. This tells me she has managed to pick up irregular verbs all on her own without any help!

YIPPEE!!! Major Snoopy Dancing here in Carolina!

Ever Dress Down on Friday?

A belly laugh's great for the brain since it'll bring on serotonin, a hormone of well-being, to start our Friday. I'd like to thank Dr. Ellen Weber for passing the cartoon on to me, and to Bradd Shorr, for "The Optimist" below.



Frank, I hope this gives you a second belly laugh and Anna, maybe this will help you have a belly laugh on your way to your Tai-Chi class so that you're well prepared.

Again, my challenge is out for the next time I share a round of belly laughs. If you submit something that'll make readers' bellies double over, please do submit it and I'll give you recognition.

Video Game Boosts Interpersonal Intelligence

If you lack self-confidence or feel edgy in crowds, a newly released video game may help change your perception of social threats. MindHabits Trainer, designed by McGill University researchers helps prepare people to change their perception of social threats. Here's how it works...

In playing the game the mind is trained to focus on friendly rather than threatening people, according to Mark Baldwin and Matthew Mather. The game's simple: choose the one smiling face in a crowd of frowns. In fact the suite of video games trains players in social situations to focus more on positive feedback rather than being distracted and deterred by perceived social slights or criticisms. By repeating this in many video scenarios, people will likely act similarly in crowds and social events. Wonder why?

"We found that stress is a social phenomenon programmed into our brains," Baldwin said. Hmmm... Do you find that interesting as I do? The researchers explain that babies are wired to be drawn to smiling faces and the absence of grins, especially among strangers, can make the world seem more hostile than it is.

"So if you walk into a room and you only focus on the threatening faces it can cause stress." That in turn releases stress-related cortisol into your brain. Playing the game helps build new brain dendrites that work against the stressors, and in fact can reduce them by 17 percent.

"There are many possible applications for this kind of game," said Prof. Baldwin, "from helping people cope with the social anxiety of public speaking or meeting new people, to helping athletes concentrate more on their game rather than worrying about performing poorly."

Ready to give MindHabits a try before your next speaking engagement?

Liz Shines!

Liz Strauss shines across the blogosphere as a successful and outstanding blogger. During the days when I dipped into blogging as I dared to put my toes in a cold, vast lake, Liz crossed my path. She welcomed, she replied to comments and visited my new blog.

If you need thinking, writing or business ideas you're only a stranger once...

Liz jazzes -- here's why!

S - Successful - Liz ranks at the top!
U - Understanding - Liz understands and listens
C - Captivating - Liz captivates readers on many topics
C - Celebratory - Liz's star shines as she celebrates others!
E - Energizing - Liz energizes people to positive actions
S - Sharing - Liz gives her expertise willingly to new friends daily
S - SOB - Liz deserves the overall title!
F - Fun-loving - Liz makes fun happen
U - Uber - Liz posts more blogs than other bloggers... she's phenomenal because they're good!
L - Loving - Liz loves people and she strives to make a difference for others!

On the second birthday of Successful and Outstanding Blogger, you shine, Liz! And hey, your celebration's great because your goal is not to celebrate you and what you do, but to celebrate others! That's real jazz!

Have you met Liz yet? Go join her celebration party - it's open to all!

Dialogues with Children

Today, I will wrap up my thoughts about Chapter 1 of Awakening Children's Minds. Laura Berk concludes this introduction with an explanation of sociocultural theory, originated by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky who conducted his research in the 1920s and 1930s. Again, Charlotte Mason anticipated this theory, which Laura explains in the following quote from page 31:

According to sociocultural theory, cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of their society are necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture. These dialogues occur frequently and spontaneously as adults and children spend time together--in everyday situations such as household chores, mealtimes, play, storybook reading, outings in the community, and children's efforts to acquire all sorts of skills. Although interactions that arise between adults and children may seem mundane and inconsequential at first glance, sociocultural theory emphasizes that they are powerful sources of children's learning.

Here is what Charlotte wrote in explaining the atmosphere of education:

We all know the natural conditions under which a child should live; how he shares household ways with his mother, romps with his father, is teased by his brothers and petted by his sisters; is taught by his tumbles; learns self-denial by the baby's needs, the delightfulness of furniture by playing at battle and siege with sofa and table; learns veneration for the old by the visits of his great-grandmother; how to live with his equals by the chums he gathers round him; learns intimacy with animals from his dog and cat; delight in the fields where the buttercups grow and greater delight in the blackberry hedges (page 96).

The purpose of these dialogues is not to shape behavior but to guide the thinking behind the behavior. Laura explains, "The sociocultural vision is very different from behaviorism, which views development as directly imposed, or shaped, by external forces. Instead, children are active agents, contributing to the creation of their own thought processes by collaborating with more experienced cultural members in meaningful activities." My favorite series for illustrating the collaboration between children and parents in meaningful activities are the Little House and Little Britches series! Charlotte formed habits in non-behavioristic ways, too, "'Sow an act,' we are told, 'reap a habit.' 'Sow a habit, reap a character.' But we must go a step further back, we must sow the idea or notion which makes the act worth while (page 102)." Her way of sowing ideas were through living books, meaningful activities, and dialogues. Here is a short list of situations in which she illustrated this process:

She chided mothers for sending children outside when they should take them out (pages 43-44).

She illustrated seeing with a dialogue about daisies (page 46).

She illustrated habit formation with two different collaborations: lacing boots (page 120) and shutting doors (pages 122-123).

She recommended The Purple Jar for the habit of attention (page 148).

Her book The Formation of Character is full of collaboration!

The Past at Last!

I just have to share this raspberry dessert before I get to the meat of this post. One reason why I videotape some of our interactions is because of things I miss. I did not catch Pamela's raspberry until I reviewed the clip! Her expressiveness here is just wonderful!


I have not blogged about the association method much lately. Pamela continues to work through the steps nearly every school day. Today, she started past tense verbs, and I am so excited! She has already developed an ear for irregular past tense verbs, which means she will require less repetition. The big thing will be recognizing did in a question means past tense while do and does mean present tense. She gets the concept of past, present, and future thanks to Dicken's A Christmas Carol. The other good news is that Pamela no longer says "The dog is bark" or "the dog barking"--I decided to borrow one of Charlotte's recommendation to replace one habit with another. In this case, we dropped all efforts to correct present progressive and worked on practicing present tense ("the dog barks"). She is working through the blue books (Level 2) and is half-way through the third (of ten) primers at this level.

Nature versus Nurture Debate

I am still working my way through Chapter 1 of Awakening Children's Minds, comparing the known (Charlotte Mason's philosophy) to the unknown (Laura Berk's ideas). They both see the influence of heredity and environment upon one another. Laura sees the two as inseparable: "The roles of heredity and environment, of the child and important people in his or her life, so closely interconnected that, according to some experts, their influence is inseparable" (page 23). While Charlotte does not state this explicitly, I can see the seeds of it in her analogies for heredity, or nature:

'Habit is TEN natures!' If I could but make others see with my eyes how much this saying should mean to the educator! How habit, in the hands of the mother, is as his wheel to the potter, his knife to the carver––the instrument by means of which she turns out the design she has already conceived in her brain. Observe, the material is there to begin with; his wheel will not enable the potter to produce a porcelain cup out of coarse clay; but the instrument is as necessary as the material or the design (page 97).

Nature then, strong as she is, is not invincible; and, at her best, Nature is not to be permitted to ride rampant. Bit and bridle, hand and voice, will get the utmost of endeavour out of her if her training be taken in hand in time; but let Nature run wild, like the forest ponies, and not spur nor whip will break her in(page 104).

Laura Berk illustrates the intertwined roles of nature and nurture with studies on temperament, which encompasses activity level, attentiveness, and regulation of emotions in a dynamic setting. Research shows that forty percent of babies enjoy new experiences, while twenty percent show fear and physiological responses to novelty. Shy babies show more interest in new toys when parents encourage them with excitement, warmth, encouragement, and guidance. When parents behave in the same way for outgoing babies, they discourage exploration of new toys. Thus, parents must base the way they nurture upon the nature of the child, which is why understanding learning styles taught me how to bring out the best on my two polar opposite kids. She concludes, "The substantial malleability of temperament in infancy and early childhood is explained, in a large measure, by the fact that many parents and other adults are sucessful in guiding children with maladaptive tendencies toward more effective functioning" (page 29).

Charlotte Mason also understood the need to tailor one's approach to the temperament of the child. She did not recommend throwing too heavy a burden on easily distracted Kitty, while Guy's father gave explosive Guy the responsibility of chasing away his anger by racing Mr. Cross-man. She recommended showing the sullen young ladies, Agnes and Dorothy, the hatefulness of her sullen moods in a direct, but gentle manner, while confronting Kitty with her faults was a heavy, weary weight. She saw how the older, more resilient forgetful Fred could face his faults head-on with some pointers from his parents, but the younger, more timid fibbing Fanny needed her parents to help her love the truth rather than see her fault.

On one thing, both Laura and Charlotte agree--parents can make a tremendous difference in guiding children. Laura concluded, "Downplaying the role of parents--suggesting that they are relatively unimportant in socialization--does both families and society a disservice" (page 30). While Charlotte disagreed with the educational philosophy of Rousseau, she credits him for awakening parents to the most important job of their life:

He was one of the few educationalists who made his appeal to the parental instincts. He did not say, 'We have no hope of the parents, let us work for the children!' Such are the faint-hearted and pessimistic things we say today. What he said was, in effect, "Fathers and mothers, this is your work, and you only can do it. It rests with you, parents of young children, to be the saviours of society unto a thousand generations. Nothing else matters. The avocations about which people weary themselves are as foolish child's play compared with this one serious business of bringing up our children in advance of ourselves (pages 2 and 3).

Unifying Principle of Education

You may be wondering why I am bent on comparing a modern book on child development (Awakening Children's Minds) with books written by Charlotte Mason around hundred years ago. The reason why is that I am trying to transfer this new knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory by blogging. At the Second Annual Charlotte Mason Conference in June 2006, Dr. Carroll Smith discussed how the brain stores memory. His actual words are available in an audio recording called "What is Good Instruction" and what I remember follows. Learning must occur in context, must have meaning, and must tie to previous information. Trying to tie this new material into ideas that are already stored in my memory will help me learn it. The mind also requires two steps in the learning cycle: taking information and reproducing it in a unique way. Blogging is my way of reproducing what I am learning.

I am finding the parallels between the two books fascinating. Both Awakening Children's Minds and Home Education focus on about the same time of life: birth to nine years of age. Both Laura Berk and Charlotte Mason realize the deficiencies of two extremes in child training and education: adult supremacy versus child supremacy. Both present an extensive review of the history of childhood education (Charlotte outlines this in Towards a Philosophy of Education). Both seek a unified vision and scientific research to back it up!

In a section bearing the subtitle, "Absence of a Unified Vision," Laura writes, "Parents trying to make their way through these opposing theories, and their attendant advice about child-rearing and educational practice, are likely to find themselves in a dim forest, without a discernible trail blazed before them" (page 15). Compare that to Charlotte's words,

The educational outlook is rather misty and depressing both at home and abroad. That science should be a staple of education, that the teaching of Latin, of modern languages, of mathematics, must be reformed, that nature and handicrafts should be pressed into service for the training of the eye and hand, that boys and girls must learn to write English and therefore must know something of history and literature; and, on the other hand, that education must be made more technical and utilitarian--these, and such as these, are the cries of expedience with which we take the field. But we have no unifying principle, no definite aim; in fact, no philosophy of education (page 1).

Laura based her unified vision in her book upon current scientific research, "Today, sound theories and educational strategies exist that are neither adult- nor child-centered but, instead, portray both as participating actively, jointly, and inseparably in the process of development" (page 18). Charlotte yearned for this kind of research and did the best she could with the experience she had in teaching young children,

Those of us, who have spent many years in pursuing the benign and elusive vision of Education, perceive her approaches are regulated by a law, and that this law has yet to be evoked. We can discern its outlines, but no more. We know that it is pervasive; there is no part of a child's home life or school work which the law does not penetrate. It is illuminating, too, showing the value, or lack of value, of a thousand systems and expedients. It is not only a light, but a measure, providing a standard whereby all things, small and great, belonging to educational work must be tested. (pages 1 and 2)

I will close with another point upon which everyone agrees: the early years are important, the question is how best to direct them.

Laura: "On only one point is the popular parenting literature unanimous: the vital importance of getting development off to a good start during the preschool years" (page 18).

Charlotte: "It is upon the mothers of the present that the future of the world depends, in even a greater degree than upon the fathers, because it is the mothers who have the sole direction of the children's early, most impressible years "(page 2).

A "New" View of Child Development

I just finished the first chapter of Awakening Children's Minds by Laura E. Berk, a book on RDI's hot list. The author starts off the chapter called "A New View of Child Development" by pointing out how changes in society and information overload have baffled and bewildered parents. One major problem is conflicting advice hashed out in the glut of books on the market to guide parents, alternating between adult supremacy and child supremacy. My favorite part of the chapter is when she juxtaposes the two polar opposite camps against one another so like Charlotte Mason, who wrote of eighteenth century parents, "They had clear oracles in their Locke and their Rousseau" (page 44).

In the section on adult supremacy, Laura Berk points out how John Locke's concept of tabular rasa (the child's mind as an empty slate) led to behaviorism, the belief that external stimuli shapes behavior and trumps other factors. She concludes that "regimented tutoring not adjusted to the child's interests and capabilities undermines rather than enhances learning, motivation, and self-control" (page 11) and "the behaviorist presumption that development can be mechanically engineered by social input, guaranteeing brighter, socially more mature children, is not born out by the evidence" (page 12). Charlotte Mason did not believe in using prizes, places, rewards, punishments, praise, blame, or other inducements to secure attention, which she found to be voluntary, immediate and surprisingly perfect (page 7).

Charlotte wrote about the tabula rasa dovetails nicely with Laura Berk stated:

We have perhaps got over the educational misconception of the tabula rasa. No one now looks on the child's white soul as a tablet prepared for the exercise of the educator's supreme art. But the conception which has succeeded this time-honoured heresy rests on the same false bases of the august office and the infallible wisdom of the educator (page 29).

In the section on child supremacy, Laura Berk shows how the ideas of Jean Jacque Rousseau surfaced in the work of Jean Piaget, who outlined four developmental stages and whose ideas "stressed the supremacy of children's engagement with their surroundings over adult teaching, parents' and teachers' contributions to development are severely reduced relative to the child's" (page 14).

Charlotte predates Piaget, and she held a dim view of Rousseau, too:

Jean Jacques Rousseau had not enough sterling character to warrant him to pose as an authority on any subject, least of all on that of education. He sets himself down a poor thing, and we see no cause to reject the evidence of his Confessions. We are not carried away by the charm of his style; his 'forcible feebleness' does not dazzle us. No man can say beyond that which he is, and there is a want of grit in his philosophic theories that removes most of them from the category of available thought (page 1).

Charlotte found herself in the same dilemma, stuck between two opposite theories, and quoted a Dr. Rein,

Shall the educator follow Rousseau and educate a man of nature in the midst of civilised men? In so doing, as Herbart has shown, we should simply repeat from the beginning the entire series of evils that have already been surmounted. Or shall we turn to Locke and prepare the pupil for the world which is customarily in league with worldlings?(page 97).

Reading this book reminds me of how far ahead of her time Charlotte Mason was—-so far ahead, typical educators of today do not know her work. I checked the index of this book and saw no hint of Charlotte Mason even though their ideas run along parallel lines, separated by a century.

Learning Styles Pages

Just a quick note! I finally updated my original learning styles page and added a new one! The new page is a literary look at learning styles, based upon a presentation I gave at the 2006 Charlotte Mason Conference. My next goal is to convert my notes on narration into a web page, so stay tuned.

Speaking of learning styles. . . Pamela is visual, like many people with autism. For her, a picture speaks a thousand words. In this case, Pamela did not want to believe me when I told her in my most declarative voice, "Your sweater is dirty" with a scrunched-up face. Pamela could not see the stain from her angle, so she proceeded to argue and throw a fit. I had the camera nearby, took a picture, and showed it to her. End of argument. She whipped off her sweater immediately without another huff or puff.

Ram Shrivastava, CEO, Walks the Talk of Sustainability!

Meet Ram Shrivastava, CEO of Larsen Engineering, a leader who walks the talk in sustaining our environment. Ram leads Larsen Engineering which focuses on sustainability of our resources. The firm has grown under his amazing leadership over many years. His interest in the environment is not new, but is part and parcel of his lifeblood. He described Larsen's recent commitment to sustainable energy...

"For over 50 years the Larsen mission has been to assist in the creation of Sustainable Communities. Larsen's past work with the public and private sector in the service areas of water and wastewater treatment, storm water management and high performance buildings reflects this commitment. Today, we recognize the value of ‘walking the talk.’ Energy is a key element of sustainability. Buying ‘green power’ is one way to support the development of renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar power. Larsen's purchase of ‘green power’ encourages investment in wind and solar power at suitable locations. Each KWH of ‘go green power’ produced and connected to the power grid removes a KWH of conventional power production. We are happy that this commitment to serve 100% of our annual need at Larsen through 2010 will benefit not only today's society, but our children and grandchildren."

Is your firm willing to make a similar step?...Here's the impact on the environment...

• An annual avoidance of the emissions of 104.400 pounds of carbon dioxide - the equivalent of 10 passenger cars NOT driven for one year. US EPA data shows the average US passenger car is driven approximately 12,000 miles per year and emits 10,185 pounds of carbon.


• The equivalent of
  * 16 tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled
  * 39 acres of pine or fir forests storing carbon for one year
  * 6 households electricity use for one year

Shrivastava leads the pack in implementing sustainable green design to meet "Green and Clean" requirements under LEED Certifications. At one point Ram's path crossed with Dr. Ellen Weber's, CEO of the MITA International Brain-based Center, and mine. Ram is keenly interested in the brain and how it functions. Ram once mused, "You can create the Taj Mahal around a person ... but it's not much help if he's bored to death inside." Ram recognizes the quality of the building's not only important to keep brains functioning at top level, but learning takes on new life through brain-based approaches that tap student's curiosity and problem solving.

For instance, at one high school renovation project Ram's envisioned capturing rainwater to replace some of the city's water supply. Ram named several ideas for MITA learning projects that tap science teachers and students' intelligences. The hands-on sustainable projects inspire teacher/student collaborative research.

Here's what Larsen Engineering currently has on tap...

Black Diamond Trail Master Plan - a proposed 15-mile, multiple-use trail through Ithaca to Ulysses in Tompkins County, NY. The trail will connect four state park facilities, including Robert H. Treman, Buttermilk Falls, Allan H. Treman and Taughannock Falls Parks.

Larsen's scope of work included gathering background data; preparation of a detailed work plan; developing goals and objectives; public coordination and outreach; preparation of schematic plans for trail route, surface, and infrastructure; preparation of cost estimates; proposing management, operations, and implementation recommendations; evaluating the environmental impacts of the project; and preparing a combined Master Plan / Environmental Impact Statement document.

Ram Shrivastava's a long standing member of Rotary International, where he shares his vision to reduce water pollution in New York State. Rotary currently has many worldwide projects to help bring fresh drinking water to small villages in third world countries.

We can all make a difference today on Blog Action Day and every day following. If you sit at the feet of Ram Shrivistava and learn, you will soon help bring a rich legacy for your grandchildren and future generations. Thanks Ram, for holding your torch high and for walking your talk!

What's your business doing?

Thoughts?

Secret Window

Pamela and I have thoroughly enjoyed the free toys at The Toymaker. First, we made a fairy wand. Now, Pamela is one horse short of a menagerie. She recently received a postcard in the mail from her Oma (across the street) and little gifts from one of Steve's co-workers (Michelle). I thought making a secret window might be a great way to make a thank-you card, work on cutting skills, and cover episodic memory. We spent the week cutting out the secret window, decorating it with memorable pictures, and gluing the box. Her drawings all reflect gifts given to her by Oma and Michelle.

One of my goals is to talk less (pausing to give Pamela greater opportunity to speak), talk more declaratively, and spotlight my emotions and her emotions. I can see lots of improvement on this front from the video clips from earlier in the month.


Positives: Pamela references me during the conversation and speaks up more than she usually does without me having to prod her. In fact, our exchanges were even in quantity, and we did maintain an 80-20 declarative to imperative ratio. She talked about the attributes of her boxes and gifts, predicted how Oma and Michelle would react, responded to my comments, etc. She expressed joy by clapping!

Challenges: A siren went off about halfway through, but Pamela continued her focus.

Tips: I need to gasp even less when she shows interest. I need to replace the raised voice prompting with declarative sentences.

Pamela's Poem Marathon

I thought I was too tired to blog today, but then Pamela goes and ruins it for me by doing something wonderful. She was upstairs and I called her to come down, so we could finish reading. She sneaked off to the porch very mysteriously while I got out the books. I walked over to her, sitting in a rocking chair, writing intently. Without my asking a thing, Pamela looks up and announces, "I'm doing a poem marathon." I had no idea what a poem marathon was. After she finished, I learned that a poem marathon is copying all the poems you learned last year on one sheet of paper. She had gone through the trouble of going through her language art's folder from 2006-2007 to find all of her copywork sheets! She wrote the following ten poems for her celebration:

"Growing Up" by A. A. Milne
"Daffodowndilly" by A. A. Milne
"The End" by A. A. Milne
"Cradle Song" by Alfred Lord Tennyson
"Pirate Story" by Robert Louis Stevenson
City by Langston Hughes
"Big" by Dorothy Aldis
"Two Friends" by Nikki Giovanni
Acclamation
Psalm 117

By the way, we started The Story of the Trapp Family Singers today, and Pamela is thrilled for she adores The Sound of Music. We came across an interesting word combination that reminds me of how the brain learns. At the 2006 ChildLightUSA Conference, Dr. Carroll Smith said something that has stuck with me. For knowledge to be stored into long-term memory, the child must connect it to previously learned knowledge. Clearly, Pamela will be connecting new knowledge about Maria von Trapp to what she knows from the musical. While whistling and running up the stairs were familiar troublesome behaviors, Pamela narrated that Maria slid down the stairs [bannister] and jumped over chimneys on the roof! Near the end of the passage, Maria talked about carrying a guitar and leather satchel. Up until a month ago, the words leather and satchel meant very little to Pamela. We have learned a great deal about the making and uses of leather from The Brendan Voyage and the meaning of satchel because of a chapter by that name in The Winged Watchman. To take the whole thing full circle back to the poem marathon, we came across the word afloat when Tim got his leather boat, The Brendan, afloat for the first time and both of our minds leaped to "The Pirate Story." This is why we have not done formal vocabulary lessons.

For a better view of the poem marathon, click the pictures.

How Can Smell Change Your Decisions?

Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived... Helen Keller

The sense of smells enters into your decision making far more than you might think. For instance, it can influence your choice of a mate, home or other purchases or even decisions to hire.

Interestingly, the sense of smell played a big role in the lives of our earliest ancestors since it impacted their existence. In fact, people's emotional, physical, and even sexual lives are intensely shaped by both their responses to and interpretations of different scents.

Here're findings from Rachel Herz's newly published book, The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell, that show how much the sense of smell influences our lives...

1. Connects to memory and can be used as a memory aid
2. Vital to sexual attraction
3. Crucial for survival of our species
4. Loss of this sense drives some folks to suicide
5. Newborns and mothers recognize each other by scent
6. Influences people's choices
7. Affects sales and marketing strategies

Here's why... The sense of smell's hard-wired deep into the brain's sensitive areas, that process emotion [amygdala], and, motivation and memory [hippocampus].

Smell Affects Sales and Marketing... ''People judge a product based on the way it smells,'' said Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. ''If it smells good, we perceive it as good.''

For instance, "most people like the aroma of a new car for a variety of reasons, including smell-induced nostalgia." Tim Moran notes in today's New York Times.

Some realtors advise folks selling a home to bake an apple pie in the oven when they bring a potential buyer because the "homey scent" can evoke pleasant memories in the heart of a customer. And other methods such as vanilla candles, or even carpet cleaning can make the difference.

Be sure to keep calm in an interview because if you sweat too much, the odor can turn off the manager and others involved. People get aggressive and move quickly from offensive odors. Can you imagine too sweet perfume... a whiff of bad breath... a car showroom that's not fresh?

Your homework ahead really counts!

OK, take it from here.... Thoughts?

First Book Report in Her Own Words and Syntax!

For all of you Charlotte Mason kindred spirits, ChildLightUSA just posted the Fall 2007 journal. Click here and click journal to retrieve it.

This week we finished reading The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum, a book with a wonderful message about forgiveness and self-sacrificial love. Because Amazon does not have text statistics for this book, my second trick to determine grade level is to go to the official Frustrated Reader site. While Renaissance Learning does not offer official quizzes for this book, I searched online to see at what grade level most schools place the book--half-way through the sixth grade in terms of reading comprehension. I majored in statistics for my master's degree and I just cannot help but pore over statistics!

And, here is Pamela's first book report in her own words and syntax! I followed the process we always do for guided written narrations. First, I recorded her oral narration of the entire book. Then, I made the sentence strips and worked them. We broke up the book report into four writing blocks, which she did one after another: Title/Author/Character/Setting, Beginning, Middle, End. Except for the title and author, she wrote the rest of the report without assistance. A major praise report follows the pictures of her first book report, so read on!





I am very excited for Pamela for the following reasons:

Positive Trend - I posted the first four narrations Pamela did at her page. Using Word, I did a spell check, which reported these narrations to be at a grade level of 2.7. I typed up Pamela's book report, which was measured at a grade level 4.0. Obviously, I will have a better handle on trends by the end of the year, but she increased the grade level of her writing.

Independent Writing - I left Pamela alone while she was working. She wrote everything, with no access to other material, from her memory! This illustrates the importance of narration: We Narrate and Then We Know.

Cursive - I did not tell Pamela how to write the report; I just said that it was a very important report and she could type it if she wanted. She opted to write it on the porch. Based upon that information, she chose cursive.

Because - I have not officially taught Pamela how to use the word because. But, whenever I make sentence strips, I add because to a few sentences. She used that word appropriately in several instances.

Thinking - I originally snapped the following picture of the report's first page. Notice that, after writing the middle and the end, Pamela had thought about what she had already written and added more names to her character list.



She has plenty of room for improvement in her style, which comes across as stilted. Keep in mind we reached present tense verbs in June. We have not done past or future tense yet, much less helping verbs. She used several syntax units I have not formally taught.

Reduce Stressors, Boost Mind-body Performance

Are you feeling tightness across your shoulders and neck as you work? Stressors can tighten their grip daily and don't go away. Stress actually takes away your ability to focus and pay attention. The hormone cortisol floods your brain and body when you worry, panic, fear, feel anxious or pressured, or run the fast track too long. Here's how stress affects your brain...

Older adults who experience high levels of cortisol, perform poorly on memory tests and their hippocampus, the seat of learning and memory, literally shrinks. For younger adults and teens, an acute increase in cortisol can lead to reversible memory impairments.

"This explains why some older adults show poor brain function while others perform very well," Dr. Sonia Lupien, of the McGill research team conjectures. "Perhaps, through early interventions, we can modify the cortisol levels and enhance brain function of the at-risk individuals."

Good news is that recent research reveals that Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) works effectively against stress. So how does IBMT work?

The technique avoids struggles to control thought, relying instead on a state of restful alertness, allowing for a high degree of body-mind awareness while receiving instructions from a coach, who provides breath-adjustment guidance and mental imagery while soothing music plays in the background. Thought control is achieved gradually through posture, relaxation, body-mind harmony and balanced breathing. The authors noted in the study that IBMT may be effective during short-term application because of its integrative use of these components.

Interestingly these techniques help shift your brain's focus by using musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial and intrapersonal intelligences. Since it takes very sharp concentration to fix your mind in four areas to do the IBMT exercises, you can use the same technique to change focus immediately when a stressor hits or keeps nagging. Here's how...

Musical... play an uplifting song on your iPod
Bodily-kinesthetic... Get out of your seat and walk down the hall, breathing deeply and concentrating on deep breaths
Spatial... Picture in your mind your very favorite vacation spot
Intrapersonal... Ask a question of yourself... "What can I do during lunch or even the next break to be good to me?"

Choose any one of these strategies to cut down your stress.

What strategy do you use to quickly move out of stress's tight grip?

Dynamic Puzzle Building and Another Praise Report

Every Tuesday morning, we attend our youth group's prayer breakfast at Hardee's. This morning, Pamela did something completely new! Usually, she just has a meaty breakfast and, if she wants carbs or fruit, she will eat them at home. Today, she heated some pancakes we made last Saturday and packed a Styrofoam plate, fork, pancakes, maple syrup, and gf/cf margarine in a plastic shopping bag. My brain can barely make it to the car before seven in the morning!

Pamela does not usually interact much in a large group. When it was time to go, Pamela turned away from the table, getting ready to leave, too. The pastor leaned over and said, "Bye, Pamela!" Pamela turned to her, waved to her, and said, "Good-bye!" This was a striking enough difference that the paster looked at me and said, "Wow!"

My parent goal for myself is to try to be more clear in my signals that we are finished so that Pamela does not bolt. The other one is to foster more declarative comments, especially ones focused on emotion, but keep them short with plenty of pauses for Pamela to add her comment.

I have been thinking our puzzle-building has gotten a little static, and today we had a great time. My role is to hold the box and lift it up so that she picks a random piece (simply because it affords more opportunity for productive uncertainty and for her to read my face for information). The puzzle-making was more lively because we were making declarative comments while building the puzzle. At one point, she tried peeking in the box, so I began to shake it, saying "Earthquake!" She laughed and thought it was hilarious (unknown to me, we have been working on flexible thinking for years and she likes unexpected things most of the time). Then I had a tidal wave, bumper cars, and bunny hop with the puzzle box. I tried to only spill out a couple of pieces at a time. She laughed and thought it was funny. I did not do this all the time because it would get stale. But, I did it enough that there was some anticipation of fun every time she had to pick a piece.

My father is really helpful, too, because he is so random (which he passed onto David). My dad is working on our front porch and heads to the back yard from time to time for wood or some other supplies. He knows that Pamela loves watching people with broken VCRs and DVD players on You-Tube. She stims on one in particular in which a teen-aged boy breaks a video tape by slamming into his head. Juvenile, but Pamela thinks it is funny. She is too smart to do it herself, except for the time she drew a picture of a videotape, cut it out, and imitated the clip.

My dad has picked up on that, so today he walks to the sidewalk, picks up a flower pot, and says, "Hey, Pamela, I'm going to break this flower pot on my head." She yells out, "No! Don't do that! You're joking!" She was smiling, so I could tell that she knew Opa was playing a joke on her.

A Luxury Tent opens my Window to the World!

Two-Footed Questions stir adventures in the mind. When Joanna Young asked, "Have you ever thought of your life as a building?" I hadn't. But her question helped me dream a little. Since the question opened a full range of possibilities , my thoughts soared, as if on a magic carpet. I wanted a structure that let me be a nomad, but provided luxury at the same time... So here's my building...

Exquisitely furnished luxury tents are designed for solitude and serenity. You easily fall asleep under the canopy of your tent [protected from insects and the like] and wake to your own private view of the sun rising over a breathtaking vista. A luxury tent best represents my architecture. Here's why...

A luxury tent opens flexibility I require in life. Since I'm a global citizen, a tent provides opportunities to both wander and wonder. Luxury takes the front seat because I don't like to "rough it." A luxury tent opens unmatched lifelong learning opportunities since I would be closer to the land and nature I love so much.

The framework of my tent's inspired by Rosa Say's principles of Joyful, Jubilant Learning:

Listen, Laugh, Learn, Link, Love, Live, and Leap to Wonder

Listen — welcome new ideas..., listening fully opened
Laugh — with positive and uplifting joy
Learn — with childlike curiosity
Link — use lessons learned as springboards, sharing knowledge freely
Love — tap into deep passion for learning from nature and others
Live — be a shining example of the Lifelong Learner; “Be the learner you want to see in the world”
Leap — to new experiences, stretching past the familiar, accepting leaps of higher intuition.

Does this tease your brain just a bit to choose a building to represent you? If so, please do consider yourself tagged for this meme. Robert Hruzek started the action so be sure to link to him and me and Bob'll compile all the contributions...

I'm tagging:

Jackie Cameron at awareness, choices, change

Anne at Brandsizzle

Anna at My Only Photo

Jim Walton at Black in Business

Steli Efti The Supercool Principal

Tags so far include:

Joanna Young at Confident Writing
Troy Worman at Orbit Now!
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
Dawud Miracle at Healthy Web Design
Pete Aldin at Great Circle
Brad Shorr at WordSell Inc
Emma Bird at HowToItaly
Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business
Laura at Writing Thoughts
Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz

OK, you now have the baton. Mull over the two-footed question.... What building best represents you? Dream a bit....

And Now, for Something Completely Different!

I love the Jane Austen novels, which I did NOT read until six years ago, well into my marriage. Don't you think Steve and I are well-matched? Although, I do take issue with the calm life! Can life be calm with a teen with autism and another teen with a concrete-random kinesthetic learning style? I think not!

Take the Quiz here!

You scored as Edward Ferrars, Your husband is like Edward Ferrars of Sense & Sensibility. He is quietly impulsive, with an understated hint of romance. But once you get to know him, he's very affectionate, caring, and faithful. The two of you enjoy a calm, joyful life. Who is Your Jane Austen Husband? created with QuizFarm.com

More on the Video and a Praise Report!

The praise is first! Our church has a pad that we pass around and sign to help them figure out attendance. Pamela signed her name in cursive very neatly. The lady sitting next to her is a schoolteacher, and she marveled at how beautiful Pamela's handwriting looked. Her mouth dropped when I told her that, when Pamela was seven, she screamed when I handed her a pencil! The teacher smiled and said, "You would never know by the way she writes now!"

I have been getting some helpful feedback from friends, so I thought I would share for those of you lone rangers like me! First, I need to think about balance in terms of the amount, length, and pace of my speech. When I make one comment, I need to give Pamela plenty of time to make one comment. By doing so I allow her to be competent in the conversation and hold up her end of the conversation at a pace that makes her comfortable. Nonverbal statements like a head shake or nod count as a comment. That may mean that I have to pause and wait patiently.

Second, I need to make sure to say how I was feeling when I am sharing my perspective to foster episodic memory. The emotional aspect of episodic memory is the area of greatest challenge for many people with autism.

Follow-Up on Videos

I have been more careful to focus mainly on one objective and set up situations to film it. The issue is to be more clear about my signals that I am finished talking so that Pamela does not bolt too soon. I brainstormed this with the help of friends and realized that, when we are seated, Pamela usually does not bolt. If it is almost time for something scheduled or the activity is over, she will suddenly bold.

The plan is to spotlight the end of conversation. For example, I could make a big done gesture and give a breathy sigh. If that is not obvious, I could give a verbal hint paired with the gesture and/or sign. I can learn to watch for her signals of getting ready to bolt and be ready to block her by gently holding her hands. This reminds me of being in musicals in college: I need to practice in front of a mirror and block my part!

On Thursday, David filmed five different segments of Pamela and I talking what a chapter from a book reminds us of. She did extremely well: she referenced me beautifully, made comments, and repeated some of my words as if to help them register better. Sometimes, she reacted with emotion or changed the topic to something related. She tried to bolt a few times, but I let her know I was not finished with me and she stayed with me. I was not as clear as I could have been, so I have objectives for myself, too. I found that asking her a question about the next event worked well, but I need to be less obvious as she improves.


Here is the review I wrote about how these five segments went.

Segment One:
Activity: Talking about The Brendan Voyage Objective: Attention, S1A

Pluses: Pamela makes a reasonable connection between sewing leather and her candlewicking animals. She stayed in control when she was upset.

Issues: Pamela thought I was pressuring her for more communication when I was only telling her more about my memory. She regulated by saying, “Cut it out!”

Tips: I need to introduce the topic with different phrasing when we talk about books. I need to wait a little longer to let her process.

Segment Two:
Activity: Talking about The Winged Watchman Objective: Attention, S1A

Pluses: Pamela makes a reasonable connection between the flood in the story and boats in Sand Point. She smiled, responded with emotion, and showed a strong interest in my narration of the May 1995 flood in Destrehan.

Issues: Pamela stayed focused in spite of the barking dogs and my distracting response to them.

Tips: I need to introduce the topic with different phrasing when we talk about books. I need to wait a little longer to let her process.

Segment Three:
Activity: Talking about The Cones Objectives: Attention, S1A

Pluses: Pamela has an excellent memory. She remembers a Hawaiian ice shaver my sister gave to us when we lived in West Newton. We did make snow cones a couple of times and I am surprised at how much she remembered. She stayed focused on my face even while rocking in the rocking chair. Then we talked about stores that carried gf/cf diet sorbet and soy ice cream. She was ready to end the conversation and stayed with me when I transitioned to another story in her primer book.

Segment Four:
Activity: Talking about The Endless Steppe Objectives: Attention, S1A

Pluses: Pamela makes a reasonable connection between Esther’s days in school and her school and co-op days. Then she went from the bug class in Minnesota to a dead butterfly we found in a parking lot. She was ready to stop, but I continued talking to her about movies because the story mentioned a movie. I told her my favorite movie Chronicles of Narnia and, after much processing time, she told me hers, Amazing Grace. That bowled me over because I thought that movie was stunning and fantastic, but over her head.

Issues: She tried to stim on “Airhawks” but was able to get back on track.

Segment Five:
Activity: Talking about a chapter on Alexander Objective: Attention, S1A

Pluses: Pamela maintains her focus in spite of the hyper-active dog. She makes a reasonable connection between Alexander’s horse Bucephalus and her horse in hippotherapy back in 1995. Then we both thought of Peter Pan after talking about the horse being afraid of its shadow. Pamela remembers reading Peter Pan in Sand Point. Then we transitioned to Wendy and a girl named Wendy, who was a guest at Pamela’s fourteenth birthday party. We talked about her birthday party, too, and the “no puffin” sticker at the Harbor Café.

Issues: The cameraman was bored and rotated the camera at an awkward angle.