The Invisible Woman

Music at Midday

Each month the Boise Tuesday Musicale, the music teachers association in the valley, sponsors a wonderful, free, musical performance that is open to the public. It is held on the second Tuesday of each month at 12:00 noon and lasts for about 45 minutes.

The December program on Tuesday, December 8, is “Cathedral Bells and Pipes for Christmas” and features Sam Porter on the organ at the Cathedral of the Rockies at 12th and Franklin Street in Boise. These performances would be appropriate for any age that can sit quietly through a 30-45 minute program as they are geared to the general public, not just students.

Last month I met several homeschool families that attend each month from Mountain Home. The January program is Tuesday, January 12 at the Simplot Performing Arts Academy and features a trio of flute, clarinet, and piano called the Table Rock Trio. If you need any additional information, you can email Jill at jillcall@idahoidea.org.

Thank you Sarah for Thanksgiving!

Sarah Hale (October 24, 1788 - April 30, 1879) is credited as the individual most responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States; it had previously been celebrated only in New England. Each state scheduled its own holiday, some as early as October and others as late as January; it was largely unknown in the American South.
Her advocacy for the national holiday began in 1846 and lasted 17 years before it was successful. In support of the proposed national holiday, she wrote letters to five Presidents of the United States -- Zachary Taylor, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. Her initial letters failed to persuade, but the letter she wrote to Lincoln did convince him to support legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863.
The power of the pen is amazing! Thank you Sarah for your legacy!
The new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of the American Civil War. Prior to the addition of Thanksgiving, the only national holidays celebrated in the United States were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day.

Ordinary Generals

Leaders are not what people think - people with huge crowds following them. Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see whether anyone is following them. "Leadership qualities" are not the qualities that enable people to attract followers, but those that enable them to do without them. They include, at the very least, courage, endurance, patience, humor, flexibility, resourcefulness,determination, a keen sense of reality and the ability to keep a cool and clear head even when things are going badly.

True leaders do not make people into followers, but into new leaders. The homeschooling movement is full of such people, "ordinary" people doing things that they never would have thought they could do - learning the law, questioning the experts, holding their ground against arrogant and threatening authorities, defending themselves and their convictions in the press, on TV, even in court. Seeing them, other ordinary people think they can do the same, and they do.

This is why it may be a little misleading to speak of the homeschooling "movement." Most people think of a movement as something like an army, a few generals and a great many buck privates. In the movement for home schooling, everyone is a general.

John Holt
Teach Your Own
pg (68-69)
1981

Jump Rope

I had a professor in college once tell me that I was struggling with my tests because I have a "hyper-active" mind. I believed her because I had a tendecy to get very distracted when I was in a classroom, listening to a teacher. Even when I am interested in the subject. So I solved this by doodling the same flowers over and over, up and down the margins of my paper that I was taking notes on. This did wonders for me. I was able to focus my mind on what was being discussed, to the point of almost perfect recall.

My 6-year-old son tends to have the same problem. He has found a way to solve his distracted mind by jump roping instead of doodling. That's right, today he listened to a book on CD (3-4 grade level) while jump roping the whole time. This repetitive action is just what he needs to focus his mind on what he is listening to. I am shocked that he has the ability to do it for 2 hours straight at age 6! He also almost memorizes what he is listening too. He gets very upset if I or one of his sisters opens the door to the room where he is.

I am so grateful that we are able to Home Educate my son. I just can't picture him in a classroom with 30 other 6-years-old being told to stop jump roping, sit down, sit still and do this work sheet!