Well, Kriston, I totally agree with you. I taught at a university for fifteen years, and was always dismayed, to say the least, at the number (not small) of students who either agreed with everything their book said, or automatically dismissed everything their book said (and not just the book, either--for some kids I was the guru, and for others the goat--the first ones were more pleasant to deal with, certainly, but not really any more sophisticated, I'm afraid!). I quit working six years ago, but still think often of certain individual students, and worry and wonder about them a little bit--I hope their flexibility of mind increased after they left me. I did what I could while I had them.
I love looking for resources for the kids; we're not really school-at-homers (we're ECLECTIC! <smiles at Kriston>), but I do think there is much of value out there which I would like to use, while at the same time encouraging the boys to make some choices about how we use those resources, and how each individual day unfolds. I want them to learn to think for themselves, which to me means first giving them something to think about--firewood for the flame, or whatever it says on the Hoagies site. We use Life of Fred, for instance, among many other things (mostly story books and math histories, plus Don Cohen's calculus books) for Harpo's math, while Groucho uses Miquon; we love the Michael Clay Thompson language arts books, and are in the second year of those; the Ralph Fletcher books about writing are wonderful; we like Minimus, Learning Latin through Mythology, and Esopus Hodie for Latin; and we're just getting going on Pierre Berton's history for young Canadians series. Berton is a perfect example of an opportunity for discussion, I think--he was much pooh-poohed by academic historians, and his books are not generally used in the schools any more, but the man could really write, and he knew how to tell a ripping yarn--I think we'll have a good time with these, and there will also be spots for some of your "teachable moments" in there.
As to the people who think "all books are slanted, well, that might be a sign that the problem is NOT with the books..." (sorry, I haven't figured out the quote function yet)--some of these folks that I know here think also that children should not be subjected to bedtime, guidance about choosing nutritious food, be taught to share or speak and act courteously, but that they should be left to discover the value of all those things on their own, eventually--so I suppose those playdates might in the end be quite a bit more trouble than they're worth! But I do wish we could find a few more kids whose parents' political agendas allowed them to kick a ball around with my little funnies once in a while......Ah well, it will all come in time, I'm sure.
OK, I guess that horse really is dead now!
Thanks for the helpful words--and good luck with your novel! I'm really intrigued by this November project you've got going.
minnie
