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By julia, May 14, 2013

The Daily Iowan had an editorial in support of leaving the current homeschool law as is: here.

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By julia, May 12, 2013

Julia’s note: I have no other information on this event. Its impact on homeschooling is yet to be seen, and should remain on the radar for families who choose curricula from the companies that also supply the schools. Impact on standardized testing is not known. Several states have opted out of the Common Core, citing the Tenth Amendment and poor return on investment in federal financial incentive.

The contact for this event is homeschool mom Leslie.

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Please join me on May 23rd, 9:30 to 11:30 am at Lutheran Church of Hope in WDM for a forum on Common Core State Standards.  This forum was organized by a friend and me as part of an special event for MOMSnext which is a MOPS group for moms of school age children.  The forum speakers will be Shane Vander Hart who writes for Truth in American Education (also a former HEED member) and we will have someone from the Iowa Dept of Education (Isaiah McGee is the planned speaker however that has not been confirmed yet). This is not an official MOMSnext event nor a Hope event. It is just something that we felt was important enough to do on our own so we can learn more about education in Iowa. We are not publicly advertising the event however we have invited many moms groups and friends so please personally invite anyone you feel would like to attend

If you plan to attend, please send me an email so can make sure we have enough seating for everyone. I really want to fill the room for this event! If you have a friend that has concerns about common core or just doesn’t know about it, please let her know that she is welcome!!  I visited with Bill Gustoff about Common Core and he shared with me that Iowa is the only state that also will require private schools to align with Common Core also.  This means that Des Moines Christian, St. Francis, etc. will also need to align.  This means that if a private school needs to change books, etc. to align, the financial burden would be on them since they do not receive taxpayer funds.  This would be a huge financial burden on a private school, not to mention the disruption of changing curricula just to comply.  Many of the full Christian curricula are not aligning which leaves few choices for private schools.  Full implementation will be required by Fall 2014 unless legislation is passed next year to change this. I mention this because many of you may have friends with children in Christian schools who may not have any idea of the full impact of this.  Please invite them so they can learn more!  The curriculum director for Des Moines Christian does plan to attend as a guest (not a speaker).  Husbands are welcome too!

If you need childcare, please let me know.  If you would like to volunteer to provide childcare, please let me know that too. Childcare providers do need to do a simple background check to provide childcare in the church nursery so it might be easier for us to volunteer to watch each others’ kids at our own homes if you can make that work.  Otherwise, there is childcare available on a limited basis there.  We will work it all out.  I just need to know what the needs are to determine how to proceed.

The primary focus of the forum will not be on homeschool issues however Common Core affects every one of us because of the impact it has on the future of our country.   If you have homeschool related Common Core questions, between Bill, Shane or myself, we will do our best to answer.  If you have a homeschool question you would like me to ask the Iowa Dept of Education, let me know.

One last note… on the location.  The room is called “The Well” – it is downstairs.  You can enter from the southeast downstairs doors and then go all the way to the north as far as you can go.  You will think you’ve missed it but you just haven’t gone far enough. The room tends to be chilly so bring a sweater if you tend to get cold like me.  Childcare is upstairs – not sure which rooms they will be using.  I will try to give an update on that to those needing childcare at the church.

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By julia, May 11, 2013

some lovely handmade paper

I’ve got a video to edit, but for the impatient or bandwidth impaired, I have a tutorial on how to make paper at home with your kids. No special equipment needed.

You will need:

ready to make paper

• coat hanger
• knee panty hose
• paper. I raided my recycling bin. Little to no newsprint ink is best. Newsprint without ink is great. Packing paper, kraft paper, used tissue gift paper, leftover envelopes, etc.
• water
• blender
• tub to hold the water — wide and flat is better than deep
• Optional: dried grass, flower petals, pressed leaves, confetti, glitter, etc. If you choose an option, you’ll want a scoop or ladel and possible a second tub.

What you do:

you can see through many of the pieces of paper after a day

Three days before Paper Making Day, rip up your paper into pieces 1″ x 1″ or less. If you want to make two sheets of paper, rip up three. If you want to make ten sheets of paper, rip the equivalent of fifteen sheets. Pour water over the paper and let is soak and sit for three days.

On Paper Making Day….

…Make your deckle. This is the screen where the paper will lay. Bend your coat hanger into the shape you want the sheet of paper to have. You can always cut your paper to a different shape once it’s dry. Mine was rectangular.

Check to see if the hanger will fit into the tub.

Stretch the pantyhose over the hanger. This will be your screen.

although i used white, any color of hose will do

Knot the hose to make the screen tight.

make a knot as if you were tying a balloon

place the ripped paper in a blender and puree it to make pulp. The amount of blending depends on the desired look. If you like paper with chunks and flecks, blend accordingly.

aw. i got this blender for my wedding.

Now you have pulp. Pour the pulp into the tub and add water to fill halfway. Lay a towel near to the tub.

Slide your screen underneath the pulp. Agitate with your hands if you need to get the pulp off the bottom of the tub.

Once you get a nice layer of pulp on your screen, pull it up slowly to keep your layer of pulp even.

Keep it over the tub until water stops dripping.

I supported the screen with both hands

At this point, you can add decoration to the paper, which will be a second post. I have video of adding a pressed leaf; it’s just not ready yet.

Set the screen and pulp on your towel.

the texture of your paper will be determined by your towel

Lay a second towel on top. Pat dry.

you can make each side of your paper have its own texture

Remove the upper towel. The paper below should be quite dry.

Flip the screen over on the bottom towel. The paper should stick to the screen.

Loosen the edges by ‘peeling’ the rim of the screen. I’m laying my finger on the rim of the screen and wiping downward along the entire length of the hanger.

Repeat on as many sides as needed. The paper should fall off on its own. If it does not, pull the hose near the knot and the tightening action should pop the paper off.

Done! Let it dry. You can iron the paper flat for storage or display and use as desired.