Why Halloween?

In an attempt to capitalize on holidays as a "teachable moment" and also to somewhat de-commercialize certain american holidays for our children, I wanted to begin researching the historical roots of days we celebrate.   I want my children to learn the meaning of thoughful intention, beyond simply effort.  I want my family to have traditions with meaning not empty annual rituals.  Also, I think that if we encourage this type of questioning, perhaps they are more likely to recognize certain hiccups as opportunity not barriers.

I couldn't think of better event to begin with, then the most amorphous holiday to me: Halloween.  This historically honoring yet morbid festival is now associated in popular american culture with costumes, cobwebs and candy, lots of candy.  Why costumes, why cobwebs and why all the candy?  What I have gathered so far from minimal reading is that the history of modern Halloween is muddled and spans the globe: Italy, Sweden, Japan, Australia, Ireland, etc.  There are no shortage of theories and details mixed up in this cauldron of customs.  It seems to be a stew composed mainly of two types of celebrations: end of summer/harvest and 'day of the dead' type holidays.  I have listed those I find most noteworthy as follows:

1.  END OF SUMMER Festivals, the earliest being the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds.  Another of note is the Celtic/Gaelic festival of Samhain which translates approximately as "summer's end", during which they customarily bobbed for apples.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2.  Festivals DAYS HONORING THE DEAD are another obvious and necessary historical ingredient.  The earliest being Mayan.   The Roman festival called Parentalia to honor ancestors is usually noted (although it was a 9-day celebration in February). Another was the 16th century Scottish celebration of the day before Solemnity of All Saints ("All Saints Day" for all saints known and unknown - interesting), also called Hallows Day or Hallowmas, thus the day before was called All-Hallows-Even("eve"), which is thought to be the origin of the term "Halloween".

WHY PUMPKINS?  While I had assumed that pumpkins were associated with the harvest component of Halloween, it seems that it is the American default for the historical use of Turnips... which need I mention are not definately not orange.  I admit there would be a void for me if the warm orangeness hue was missing from Halloween.  The carving of jack-o'-lanterns developed from an earlier custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory (during one of the numerous culturally significant holidays honoring the dead).  American pumpkin carving was first (early 1800's) associated with harvest generally, not becoming specifically Halloween oriented until the late 19th century.

WHY THE COSTUMES?  Trick-or-treating is thought to orginate from medieval practice of souling, when the poor of Ireland and Britain would go door to door on Hallowmas, receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls' Day.  Similar traditions for dead souls have been noted as far south as Italy.  In more modern times, especially in Scotland and Ireland, it was called guising.  It was recorded in Scotland in the late 1800's where masqueraders in disguise visiting homes in hopes for fruit, cakes or money, while carrying lanterns made of hollowed turnips.  Guising expected more from the children than just a costume as they were normally expected to offer some kind of song, story or trick to earn their favor.  Such a practice was noted in North America nearly one hundred years later.

WHY SO SCARY?  Morbid imagery that we have come to adopt with Halloween certainly has historical roots in cultural festivals honoring the dead but creative imagination expressed in literature and film (think Frankenstein, Dracula) has added much to the excessive shock value of this morbid imagery and of course the honor part is missing entirely.
WHY THE BACK-LASH?  So, because I can't help myself, I offer my comment on negative connotations  of Halloween as I blame them for scaring parents into keeping children home on this harmless day of fun.  There are some who have latched onto this secular celebration as an opportunity, but there is really no basis for this and I don't feel it warrants further discussion.  I suggest people to look up.  I think the honoring of our ancestors is a message worth passing on.

Given all of this lovely dry information listed above, please don't misunderstand me!  I would never ever ever disallow my children to participate in Halloween events or make any judgement on doing what I have done on Halloween all my life... dressing them as a golden garden fairy, astronaut and a monster so we can ask neighbors for too much candy which I have no intention of actually letting them eat.  The children love the festivity and enjoy going door-to-door collecting compliments for their costumes most of all.
In summary, my intention is not to over-romanticize the past but hopefully integrate a little history on the children as they prepare to be over-sugared, laughing with friends and costumed in glittery fun while roaming the neighborhood (with supervision close behind =).

Merging of vapor. Water vapor

Our new unit focuses on weather.  We began by talking about what weather is and how we can measure to describe more accurately and of course, how weather affects our environments (bridge from last unit).  We discussed precipitation and the different types.  Of course, we are lacking in hands-on learning since Florida only gives us rain.  Lots of rain lately.  We stationed a thermometer on the porch and a rain gauge in the garden, which we visit each day and add their measurements to our calendar board.  I was planning to chart these readings but they have been too consistent to have any educational affect on a chart.  It was hot and rainy... Yep, still hot and rainy.

She was very interested about the catalyst of rain: what made it rain at a certain time and how it came out of the cloud when it did.  I thought we should address this question with an art project that you see here.  I did draw the cloud white and she corrected me.  I was informed politely that if it was to rain, the underside of the cloud would be gray.  The technicolor dots are water droplets, joining together until their weight makes them fall as rain drops. This will be her first entry into her bare book for this unit.

I haven't had must to put into her book so far this unit.  I'm thinking a story would be nice.  Not sure if I mentioned it before but she made up two stories about animal habitats which I transcribed into her keepsake book.  We both enjoyed reading her voice on paper.  Maybe she could come up with a story about a day in the snow.  Since she has never actually experienced snow, but she wants to so very badly, it will be a perfect way for us to capture her expectations of snow.


When I look at this project now, it jumps out as a symbol of our collaborative ability to find what I think is our rhythm for homeschooling.  All my fragmented ideas and scribbles seem to be finally taking shape more naturally.  I am also becoming more familiar with my resources which affords me increasing flexibility (and lower anxiety) as unplanned things occur.  Of course, this warm and fuzzy feeling pushes me ever forward in the search for best resources.  I have a long list of websites, apps and books I haven't gotten to try yet.  There are so many incredible material online but most of the cutie websites aren't too inspiring.  Lots of sifting, skimming and trying to do.  I will report back.

Khan Academy is the ultimate resource!

playdough math!

This Monday I thought we would mix it up and get more creative with our math.  We began with our morning calendar ritual.   I ask her what is the date today and she should answer with the day, month, date and year... that is our goal anyway and we are getting there.  We have pieces for each answer that I let her choose from a basket and add to the calendar so that she is always identifying the numbers and words that apply.  I never did find a calendar that was clean enough and still had what we were looking for so I ended up picking up some laminated cut outs from Michaels and Target and gluing them to an old magnetic white board we had.  I then glued some magnets to the backs of the numbers, etc.  You get the idea.  She loves the calendar.  In fact, the calendar, including weather, was the only component of school she was concerned about loosing.

On Mondays, we usually work from her mathematical reasoning book with addition using object groups, even/odd numbers, ordinal numbers, etc.  She came upon a number line in one of the exercises and perked up at it's logical method.  She likes it tidy.  So, I thought it was my perfect opportunity to pull out KHAN ACADEMY!  If you don't know about Khan Academy, please stop right now and go to www.KhanAcademy.com.  When I first found it, I had goosebumps.  Really.  It's amazing in its simplicity, philosophy, technology and the fact that it is completely free and not infested with adds and pop-ups makes it irresistible!  Trust me on this, you need it.  There is a beautiful story of its founding to read on the website but I'll try and sum it up.   The founder believes that knowledge should be available to everyone.  The Gates Foundation has invested in the idea, no nonsense.  This isn't a websites for the kiddies either.  The content begins with basic addition and goes through calculus, high level economic concepts, you name it.  In compliment to the extensive, and very organized, lists of topic videos, there is an adaptive software module with questions to practice the skill discussed in the video.  You set-up a free account or use one you already have, I think you can go through facebook, but I used a google account and it will track your progress.  I think you can also access all the tools without having an account, as a guest, really cool for those who don't want to commit. 

We watched the first addition powerpoint presentation together on the TV.  Then I got playdough, number playdough stamps and asked the girls to make three mathematical statements that were true.  Granted, they had previous exposure to the topic but the video showed them some alternative ways to think it out.  I went to the kitchen to make lunch and returned to a wonderful surprise!  They had worked together and ended up with great equations!  Yay!  More importantly, they were practicing without realizing it and having fun all the while.  The difficulty came in when I asked them to squish up their work and pack it up... they wanted to save it forever.  Secretly, of course, so did I.

We will definately do that again!

Don't ever do a bus tour!

We boldly took three small children to the Space Center, where we had never been before.  We arrived around 10am and had tickets to a bus tour at 11:30.  In that time before the tour began, we realized how extensive the property was and looked forward to parking the stroller for a bit and having the bus take us around.  They should have warned us!  Don't ever get on that bus with children, trust me on this!  Our poor guide was a real enthusiast but nobody caught the jokes and we were stuck on that bus for nearly three hours; no standing, no eating, no talking.  Yes!  Medieval torture.

When we finally escaped from the bus, I was headed straight to the car but my husband convinced me to try a couple more exhibits.  I am so glad that I did.  When I block out the nightmare of the bus, it was really great.  In fact, there was so many things we didn't get a chance to do, I will definitely take the children back next year.  Alexandra got to meet an astronaut, ride on a space shuttle simulator, experience many hands-on exhibits, sample two of the three IMAX theater shows (my favorite was one dedicated to the Hubble telescope!), take a break at the playground, and walk in a field full of rockets that towered over us like redwood trees.  I stopped in the gift shop on a mission to find some good materials.  They did give me a discount for being a home school parent =)  I was able to find what I call "factual storybooks":  "The Big Dipper" by Franklin M. Branley, "What's out there?" By Lynn Wilson, and "Meet the Planets" by John McGranaghan.  I think these are highly appropriate for the Kindergarden level because they convey the nuts and bolts, themes and facts using a story that she will love to hear over and over again.

I am also excited to announce that these books each use weather as a way to connect the child this ominous topics.  They can see the seasons changing and the sun moving in the sky.  I predict that connection will help this material seem relevant.   In summary, THE SPACE CENTER IS A MUST DO for whoever can get there.  I am a Floridian and I feel guilty that I haven't explored it before.