CherrickVille

The Many Names of Our Little Reagaroni

We felt that it was important to share all of the wonderful ways in which we refer to our Reagaroni.  We don't know how these nicknames come about, but they are fun, and we like things that are fun;-)  We'll let her decide which ones she wants to keep and which ones she wants us to forget altogether. 

Drumroll please:

For everyday use; Reagaroni.  She's "my Reagaroni" and "our Reagaroni." 
For fun times and playtimes; Reagaroo. 
Hey, Leg-O my Reag-O.
If we're being serious, and we like to be serious when talking about serious things; it's Miss Reagan, thank you very much.
If her friend Stephanie is around; it's the oh-so-dEElicious "Reagar-ooski" 
And, if she is not in the room, and we are talking about her, it's Reaggers.
The terms of endearment that have nothing to do with her name include: Peach, Snuggles, Wiggle Worm and "The Baby" - as in "Don't wake The Baby" or more pointedly, "You WOKE The Baby"

We have, in every instance, lengthened her name.  We will see what she thinks about all of this nonsense, but as it is, she will have to endure it until she is able to care or tell us otherwise.

Here's some fun pictures we took today at Reagan's friend Toby's second birthday at the train park.

 

 

Milestones:

1. No more swaddle

2. Fell asleep on tummy
   

It's Video Time: Reagan (more eating)

I said I'd do it, and now, here it is: video from Reagan doing her best impersonation of an eating baby:

Reagan Eating from Joy on Vimeo.

To Cry or Not To Cry

We've had some interesting discussions with our Pre-kid friends about our new life as parents and it got me thinking about the assumptions that Kevin and I had about parenting BR (before Reagan).

For instance, I like to imagine that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to interact with a child.  But, the trouble is, there is a wide range of things that are considered "right" depending on who you ask.  Which is what makes being a parent and getting to know this little person so much fun.

Take crying for example.  Do you let your child cry?  For how long?  How do you know?  Whether you let your child 'cry it out' or go to him or her immediately there are multiple assumptions that you are making about the way that child is communicating.  If you go to the child, you might think she's wet, hungry, hurt, scared etc.  If you don't go to the child you may assume she's cranky, well-fed, needs to work through it and will calm herself down on her own, is trying to manipulate, is sleep-crying (weird, but Reagan did this).  The variables are deep and wide: parental tolerance, the child's demeanor, recent changes in diet, growth spurts, teething, shots, new environment (or same environment) etc.all play into which decision you will make.

Perhaps you draw a hard line: i.e. I do not let my child cry or he or she needs to figure it out at some point and now is just as good a time as any.

We have tried to take the middle road.  If Reagan has woken up 30 minutes into what is usually an hour long nap, I will wait to go into her and see if she goes back to sleep.  Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't and I get her up.  There's no formula that works every time for her.  But, I'm not the same each day either.  Some nights I sleep great, other nights I wake up and read for HOURS not able to fall back to sleep.  Environment, food, activity, stimulus all have an effect on how I feel, so I assume that it will be the same for Reagan and that works for us.

Additionally, I am fascinated by an infant's instinct to cry at all.  How else would I know when she is hungry, tired or hurt?  That is the most effective way she has of communicating with me.  Pretty cool.

Finally, I believe that my job is to teach Reagan how to "return to joy."  Meaning that if she scrapes her knee and comes running to me, I will help her work through her fear or pain and show her the way to be okay again.  Eventually, she won't need me to show her the way.  She will have the tools to get there on her own. 

Okay, maybe it's idealistic.  And, I will certainly never say I'm NEVER going to implement 'cry it out' or embrace the 'no cry' philosophy.  We are going to take it one day (and one baby) at a time.

Think about your assumptions. 

 

Just Hold Still for One Moment

You may (or may not) have noticed the new addition to the right side of this page---------->

I have added a list of children's books that I love.  Reading is a big part of life in the Cherrick household.  I read nonfiction and fiction alike.  But, as of late, I have found myself enjoying and basking in the genre of Children's Literature.  I enjoy discovering these magical worlds with Reagan and hope that she will become entranced by the power of the written word at a younger age than I did.

For instance, I discovered how marvelous it is to have someone like Anne of Green Gables around to make life "more interesting."  She talks a mile a minute and sucks the marrow out of the simplest pleasures in life.  I've enjoyed far off places and escaped reality through the Songs of the Lioness and fairy tales retold by Gail Carson Levine.  I gained a deeper understanding of the Bible through the Chronicles of Narnia.  Each book has its own magic.  And, I just want to share those tales in case you also wanted to escape.

 

 

Here's good perspective on just how big our little lady has gotten since we first met her back in August!

(On the Left, she's 10 days old.  On the Right, she's FIVE months old!)

 
  
So, they aren't the best pictures, but you get the point!

Tips From Reagan: Eating Properly

Could someone please put the slow motion effects on my life?  Reagan is already getting so big and doing things that are blowing my mind!  Not that she's "advanced," but simply that she is old enough to respond to me and the world around her.

When we go for walks, she keeps her eyes open wide as though all the trees, flowers, cars and people are jumping out at her one by one.  When she is around other kids, she studies them, watching how they run and play and startles if they get too rambunctious.  When she eats cereal, she watches the spoon intently and opens wide almost the instant she is done with a bite.  She is a gem.  How lucky are we?

Reagan wanted me to take a moment to provide tips for all of you first-time eaters out there:

Step 1: Anticipate incoming food...

Step 2: Close mouth and practice swallowing movements...

Step 3: Allow at least half the contents to fall out of mouth (it's really tastes better at the second attempt anyway)

Step 4: (part 1) Help the food handling device enter mouth properly (I don't know why we can't just use our hands)

 Step 4: (part 2) See, it's so much better when I can get a handle on that device...

Step 5: Lick, suck and slurp any extraneous food particles from the device or anything within licking distance to mouth.

Step 6: Enjoy.
   

 

 
 
 

Reagan Gets 'Solid'

Welp, Reagan has turned a corner and she has done so with flying colors.  I finally (after a month of internal debate) introduced her first 'solid' this week.  She is eating like an old pro - not EVEN spitting it out... I guess she was ready :-)

First 'solid' meal: Earth's Best Rice Cereal

I was thinking about going into why,  when and how to decide to introduce solids to baby, but I don't want to.  I just want to share the charming pictures from her evening meal today!  I wasn't able to capture her sucking on her hands/fingers, but don't you worry, I will try to get some scrumptious Reagan-cuteness at mealtime again (hopefully with video).

Enjoy her:

I wonder what she was thinking here.  She looks perplexed and a bit concerned. Hmph.

 

Reagan's latest Milestones:

1. First Solid Food
2. First Horse Show (we went to West World where she watched the horses go by:-)
3. She's very observant now - watching us eat, turning around when seated in a lap, loves smiling at strangers
4. Rolled over from belly to back (just once, by hey that's somethin')
5. Hair getting longer - no, I promise it really is longer (you can kinda tell in the first picture)

 

 

Kevin's take on education

Here's a guest post from Kevin on his education views.

I've been reading quite a bit about education for a number of years.  My influences include Rafe Esquith (video), John Taylor Gatto, John Holt, and Sir Ken Robinson (video), among others. 

Let's start with Gatto.

The number one thing that struck me from Gatto was the systemic limitations of school. 

Almost without exception, whether you choose public, private, or charter schools, each student will be faced with the structure of school which has a number of disadvantages:

1.  Students are grouped by age rather than ability.

In no other area except for school that I can think of are people segregated according to age.  I think this has a major impact on class discipline, behaviour, and most importantly, rate of learning.   When a teacher is faced with 25 9 year olds of varying ability, how do you teach?   Wouldn't it make more sense to work with 25 students who are working at a 5th grade level, regardless of age?   Of course, holding students back is politically impossible these days so teachers just move kids ahead to get rid of the problem. 

Given the differences of ability, a majority of teachers will teach to the middle.  What are the chances your child is in the middle? (None.  Your child, of course, is Gifted.  Capital G.)

2. Class structure

School is divided into periods of a set time length.  What this communicates is that the work being done is not important, the schedule is.  When you work at home or at the job, do you ever get into the flow and time passes so quickly you don't even notice?   How would you like it if 8 minutes in, a bell rang and you were forced to vacate your workspace and move to something else?  How effective would you be?  Bells and schedules do not allow for children to learn to value and enjoy their work.  No one else values it, the most important thing is the logistics of handling hundreds or thousands of students in a day.

3. Assignments

School is based on assignments.  Do this, due such and such, according to these guidelines.  It is color by numbers work.  Real work is not like this.  Parameters are vague if they exist at all.  Due dates are mostly just to have a deadline to turn something in, because tomorrow would be the ideal time of completion.  Usually, we have a goal and we have to determine how we are going to accomplish it.  Goal: Increase awareness of volleyball team's car wash fund raiser on Saturday.  Okay, how will we do that?

4.  Teaching

Perhaps my biggest problem with school is teaching.  Autocratic, top down teaching.  I cannot find the quote now, but one of the authors said that the worst part of teaching is it robs the student of the opportunity to learn.   Both Holt and Gatto believe that when a student wants to learn, learning occurs at a much faster pace than when it is being taught without any interest from the student.   This certainly parallels my own experience.  I feel that I've been a much more effective learner since graduating college, and that I learned more in college than in high school.  

I went to public school for 12 years.  How much of Biology do I use?  How much time spent memorizing facts from history that have no relevance and are at my fingertips on the internet?  And how efficient was my learning?  It has been reported that, for the motivated student, it takes 30 hours to learn to read.  One school week.  So how much time are we wasting 'teaching' topics and subjects that our students have no interest in, and no need to learn?

I think that humans are learning machines.  We learn to walk, talk, eat, without any instruction at all.  We see those around us do it, and we want to do those things as well.  It is the same with reading, writing, speaking, math, etc.  These skills are means to an end, whether it be to 'be an adult' or to learn to be a marine biologist. 

I think we need to expose our children to a wide range of activities, vocations, people, and cultures so that their inherent gifts and interests can lead them to learn what they want as deeply as they care to.  Certainly, there should be some guidance, and a person that flits from subject to subject will not develop any mastery at all, but how different is this from normal schooling anyway?   It's not as if high school can adequately prepare you for any vocation which requires technical expertise.  In fact, I have a difficult time thinking of what high school can prepare you for, other than the next step in the educational ladder, if that.

You want to blow your mind and expose your prejudices?  Read about the Sudbury valley school.

Read in front of your children.  Use mathematics.  Explain the world using adult vocabulary and themes.  Kids want to be big.  Don't dumb down the world, and they will rise to understand it and move independently through it. 

Next time we'll discuss Esquith and how his teaching is so different from what you are likely to encounter at your neighborhood school.

On Education Part 2 - Education Alternatives

So, if you don't think that public school is the greatest, what could you do?

Well, home schooling is picking up popularity, but naysayers still complain about the social-awkwardness of home schooled students.  What are realistic alternatives that doesn't include completely sheltering your children, never leaving your house and creating mini-me's?  Is homeschooling really the only other alternative?  What do we want our children to learn?  Here are some options that I have learned about that sound, well, fun:

1. Learn a foreign language - get a tutor, expose your child to bi-lingual friends, learn it yourself and have "Spanish Day" each Monday (or whatever)

2. Perform community service - on a weekly basis - a soup kitchen, retirement community, hospital, the child should choose and actively participate etc.

3. Volunteer as an apprentice/ intern - you don't have to be in college to start gaining valuable work experience.  In elementary school?  Work with a family member for a short period each week.  In middle school? news rooms could always use a runner.  High school? think of something - at this point your attention span is long enough to experiment with real experiences

4. Free time - what???  My children need ever minute scheduled!  Ha!  In the words of John Taylor Gatto, "if you are bored, it's your own fault and no one else's"  - left to our own devices we create, inspire and even destroy.   It might be interesting to see what kids come up with, without the help of well-meaning adults

5. Create a product and sell it - yes, even a lemonade stand counts, but who's to say your child can't make a CD and sell it to benefit orphans in Africa this kid did!

6. Read - a lot - read together - read alone - read out loud and silently and don't stop!

7. The arts - music, crafts, drawing, whatever

8. Computer science - ah, this one is getting easier to implement

9. Rhetoric - incorporate this into daily living (yikes!)

10. Work together in groups - can't do this one in isolation 

11. Science, math, history, language arts, writing - of course these things come into the picture, but overlap - just like in real life

12. The World Student - this is an interesting concept that Kevin and I read about one Sunday afternoon - take a year or a summer and travel to a foreign country.  It should be one location so as to develop a strong understanding of the culture.  One family journeyed to Mexico.  Their children enrolled in school without speaking a lick of Spanish!  It didn't take them long to catch on and became one of the most popular kids in school to boot.

Of course, all of this is taken from John Taylor Gatto, Rafe Esquith and John Holt. None of this is first-hand experience.  Just more to think about.  I think Kevin is more for unschooling, but that is another subject altogether.  I still don't know what my educational philosophy is, but it's certainly fun to explore the possibilities.

I hope that you have been challenged to revisit what you believe and that you come to ask yourself WHY without being afraid of the answer.

On Education Part 1 - Public Schooling

I'm breaking this down into 2 Parts so that it's easier to digest and I'll post it over the next 2 days.

Part 1 - Public Schooling

Part 2 - Education Alternatives?

I have been reading "Weapons of Mass Instruction" written by retired New York City public school teacher John Taylor Gatto.  It is a radical look at the history of compulsory education in the United States and has challenged me to take a different look at creating my own education philosophy.  It is also biased against public schooling.  But I like that because it makes me uncomfortable.  And it's good to become uncomfortable about something you think you've already mastered.

Gatto begins with a brief history of when/how compulsory schooling began in our country.  It reminds me of the current lobbying, canoodling and deal-making that is going on in Washington now regarding the Health care Reform Bill. This by well-meaning business men - you may have heard of Carnegie? Rockefeller?   Their motivation, Gatto sites, is to create a strong workforce that will "yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands." (This quote is actually taken from a document called Occasional Letter to Number One, 1906 presented by Rockefeller's General Education Board.)

Wait a minute!  I thought the point of school was to receive an education - to be "the best you can be."  According to Gatto the point of public school, according to its founders is to create workers who will be compliant drones who won't challenge the bureaucracy nor question authority.  Hmph.

I think that the above can give you the gist of the point Gatto is making. 

So, I wonder, is this still the goal of school?  People put a lot of weight in "getting a job" upon graduation.  That was certainly my goal. The only interest that I have ever had in owning my own business was in the horse industry, I was 10.  Other than that, I always expected that I would get a job and work for someone.  And that is what I did.  Could I have done more had it been expected of me to maximize my potential?  Sure.  But, I was happy to live in the sea of mediocrity.  Is that really so bad?  It sounds bad and even a little bit sad.

But, this is a country created on competition.  A capitalist society where the strong businesses thrive and the weak one's get help from Uncle Sam?  Whatever - it's supposed to be a free market.  But, all of those business owners need to have employees to run their empires, right?  Perhaps.

So, what skills do we, as Americans need to have to make us successful upon graduation?  Following a deadline?  Maybe if you are a contractor - oh, wait - When I was working for Uncle Sam there were plenty of construction projects that got extended, pushed, delayed and canceled.  When I worked for corporate America, I worked on a project that was supposed to end in October, but did not get completed until February!  And, it was only completed then because of negotiations, strong-arming and much pestering on my part.  Some of what I learned in school: Hard deadlines, Test Friday, paper due tomorrow, do it this way (only this way), walk in a line (okay good to know if you are buying something or visiting Disney), timed tests (medical and law students may be happy to have practiced this in primary school), social networking and on and on.  But how do these large lessons transfer into the "real world"?

One argument that I've heard against traditional schooling is that it creates mediocrity.  "Gifted" students are slowed down, "Slower" students are sped up and "Average" students remain just that.  Educating so many leave little room for focusing on the individual, thus, seemingly creating a nation of average thinkers who can't cure cancer or make a real impact in the lives of others.

My point is to get you thinking about WHY you would/do send your children to public school apart from "it's the law" or "that's what everyone does who wants their kid to turn out 'normal.'"  To me, it's important to know why you do things and then do them on purpose.  Who knows what we will choose, but whatever it is, you can be sure we will have done our homework:-)

Some questions: Are schools preparing students for real life in the most effective way?  Is there a better way to educate our children?  What are some of the great benefits to public education?