Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

I am sharing this week and in posts to follow, a few influences--videos, books, people, places, stories--that have helped me notice my blindspots with regard to racial justice. The story is ever growing. In fact, sometimes the more I learn, the harder it is to write. So I'll just start here, hoping that if I tell one or two stories, it could be a way forward to you reading or telling one or two more stories, and that could be a way forward for all of us.  I remember sitting on the couch with my seven-year old daughter and reading to her The Story of Ruby Bridges . Ruby, a brave black girl whose parents were perhaps even braver, to agree to let her integrate the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in 1960. My daughter studied the watercolor illustrations of the angry white parents yelling at Ruby as she walked into the school protected by federal marshals.  I remember uncomfortable shock at the teacher who criticized Ruby for talking back to the mob, when in fact Ru...

A foundation of our early homeschooling journey was reading on the couch and talking about books. The length of the books grew with the children's attention spans, but there was usually a good mix of picture books and chapter books. My kids are three and a half years apart, so if Henry at age 18 months wasn't sitting next to us on the couch and along for the ride, he was on the floor playing or up in his room napping. Lessons had to be in short snatches because we did have a little interrupter. Reading and writing are the gateway to the world! Use this time to establish or strengthen their reading and writing foundation with a few simple things that can apply to all subjects-- 1. Read! Read good books, books that have intriguing words and deep characters. Read aloud to your kids and when you finish the chapter, ask them to retell, or narrate, the story back to you.  2. Narration-- Write down the narration word for word that your child tells you then read it back to the...

I asked my children for some homeschool highlights to share with friends and family who are looking for ideas. Pretty much simultaneously a picture popped up on my computer of my kids doing cave paintings way back when. So here's a little bit about that--a quick post and a few ideas. This idea is from Susan Wise Bauer in her book and activity guide, Story of the World, volume 1. I loved these books--a great way to introduce history to first through fourth graders and beyond. You can find them on Amazon or at  https://welltrainedmind.com/ So if you can get a hold of those books, I recommend them.  I'll share in another post how you can use that book for a whole morning's worth of reading, writing, history, and maybe even science if you can get into it . . . For now, cave paintings. Humans have painted in caves over thousands of years and there are many different examples you can see online.  Google cave paintings, or check out this awesome link to learn ...

There was a bit of worry about the cold weather here in The Woodlands.  Talk of freezing rain that dissipated into nothing.  Friday is Park Day for our homeschooling group, and thankfully, this group is a "whatever the weather" kind of group.  If they can do 95 degrees at noon in July, they can do drizzle and 40 degrees in January.  Because, you know, 40 degrees and drizzle in Texas is, um, very cold.    There was hot chocolate, there were blankets, and hats, but I think my children, lately come from Michigan and before that, Germany, were the best dressed.  Layers, hats, an extra pair of gloves.  Henry even had extra warm knee high socks that John brought him from Hannover. I'm tickled about two things: Henry found that the person he most wanted to play with an 11 year-old boy.  And Elisabeth and a few other kids are planning a club to raise money for a water well through World Vision.  I'm trying really hard, really hard to just sit ...

We’ve reached a new stage of homeschooling, one in which I am seeing my little self growing up all over again.  Maybe this time I’ll get it right. What I mean is this: I remember getting angry and frustrated in math.  What I mostly remember is in high school, but somehow I don’t doubt that I got frustrated in elementary school as well.  I remember sitting on the sofa with my dad, him looking at the book and trying to help me with a problem.  But by that point I was already so closed to the process that I could not open up again to get help.  I would sit there and stew and think, “This is so stupid.  Who cares about this.  I hate this . . .”  Now if only Elisabeth could know that about me, as I sit at the kitchen table and try to help her with long division.  On the one hand, I’m quite excited that she’s gotten to this point.  We are finally to something that is so different from what she’s done.  Related, yes, but new....