Recipe for the "Worth the Journey" Sugar Cookies

I made these cookies for a recent Homeschool Parent Social and Panel Discussion. I thought I would let the recipe live here so all can enjoy! I'm calling them "Worth the Journey" Sugar Cookies for two reasons. First, I made them for the panel discussion so anyone who showed up, regardless of what they got out of what was said, would feel the trip was worth it!

These cookies deliver the deliciousness of sugar cookies without the exhausting rolling, cutting, and baking and frosting of multiple batches traditional sugar cookies require. THAT is the other reason they are the "Worth the Journey" Sugar Cookies, and a bit like homeschooling! Like sugar cookies, we can mostly agree an education is a terrific thing. But the traditional way of going about getting an education (or a sugar cookie) is incredibly time and labor intensive. (I've discussed some of the "cost" of traditional public education here.) What if we could enjoy the same delicious fruits of our labor, without the hours and hours away from the people we love most? Homeschooling is the answer for education, and THESE cookies are the answer for sugar cookie lovers like myself. They may taste a little different, but they are as good or better, and all the time and labor they save makes the journey getting to that delicious bite SO MUCH MORE WORTH IT!

Without further ado, here's MY take on the recipe I got by standing up in a church meeting and announcing I needed to speak with the persons who brought the cookies in the pan because I needed the recipe in my life. Hey, "ask and ye shall receive," right? Enjoy!

Cream together:

1 C. butter (room temperature)

3/4 C. coconut oil (warmed slightly to pour - can use vegetable oil, I just don't have any)

1 1/4 C. sugar

3/4 C. powdered sugar

2 TBS water

2 eggs

Mix, then add to wet ingredients:

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

5 C. flour

Mix 'til dry ingredients incorporated fully in butter mixture. Then spread dough into large, greased-with-butter jelly roll pan, and bake at 350 degrees for maybe 16 minutes. (This time is really a guess. The dough doubles in size, and I count them done when the middle is rising, the sides are barely turning a golden color, when the dough loses it's shiny, "wet" appearance, and when I can begin to smell the cookies.... 

so whenever that is...)

As the cookies are cooling completely...

Cream together:

1/2 C room temperate butter

3/4 C. sour cream

dash of salt

Add:

powdered sugar until frosting reaches semi-stiff consistency

Add:

a splash of milk, mixing 'til frosting is a bit too runny

and finally add:

more sugar and a drop or two of almond extract and food coloring, bringing it to the perfect spread-ability and color. Then frost the cookies.

Decorate and DEVOUR!

Our 5 year Anniversary of Culture Club "Cookie Cake." The club placed toothpicks with all the places we'd learned about together before we sang Happy Birthday. (See in previous post, "For Worthy Friends.")

Reason #844: Cultivating Our Greatest Natural Resources

Deep vacation thoughts. :)

I learned many things on our recent trip to Disney World. (One being that I am a definite Disney humbug. Too late I remembered IT IS AN AMUSEMENT PARK. Why I go thinking I'm going to experience "the most magical place on earth" I don't know.) In fact, I think there is a TON to learn there, and if we lived close, I'd like to have season passes to go absorb instead of treating it like an amusement park and running from ride to ride. (Maybe I'm not a TOTAL humbug.)

BUT one thing I discovered there was a quote by Walt Disney that has me thinking. Apparently he said,

"Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children."

Great quote. I couldn't agree more.

So, America, what do we DO with this resource? Mine it? Extract it? Harvest it? None of those verbs conjure up very pleasant images when we are talking about the minds of children. I landed on the verb "cultivate," and the image of a farmer creating the circumstances under which a plant can thrive and be productive.

Now, America, reflect on what public education looks like. With the adoption of Common Core, now more than ever before, our greatest natural resource is being ripped from it's natural environment, plopped down in a row, and fed a steady stream of processed fertilizer and pesticide. It's very sterile. Very safe. We've been promised a cash crop of students "fully prepared to compete in the global economy." We've identified certain traits of the fruit of these tender plants, decided those traits - perhaps size and ripening time are the most ideal, most beneficial for the masses - and are pursuing a course to wipe out all other strains that may be smaller, or later, but perhaps sweeter or with a different texture.

Just as many are going back to our roots when it comes to food production, valuing the organic and environmentally sustainable, perhaps it is time as a country to return in education to a more wholesome, even old fashioned idea of what this natural resource, the minds of our children, is and how we go about cultivating it. While we homeschoolers have already enjoyed the joys and the fruits of doing so and it is certainly a GREAT reason to homeschool, do take the time to try to affect education policy that will restore this resource to it's greatness for the public at large. The good of the country is, in very fact, at stake.

Oooh. PS. :) I discovered while jumping around on my blog, that this image of cultivating minds, again, is not my own, nor am I the first to call for a massive shift to a more natural approach. Go here to view a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson and hear his thoughts on the subject.

Do I Believe Homeschooling is Right for Everyone?

When we announced 7 years ago to my very large and opinionated family that we intended to homeschool our son and future children, our decision was NOT well received. My siblings, many of them in the student government of their schools, were convinced our children would be socially damaged. Of course, they knew homeschoolers who had entered the public high schools and they were weird! No one was able to listen, in that discussion, to the benefits I believed our kids would receive at home, convinced any educational advantages would be outweighed by social shortcomings.

Seven years later, most of my siblings (I'm the oldest of 9), have begun considering homeschooling for their own kids and future kids. I have a sister-in-law who was homeschooled and graduated from college at 20. My new brother-in-law told my little sister when they were dating that he wanted to homeschool their kids.

In fact, he asked me last night if "all homeschooling moms were like me." When I asked him what that meant, he specified a belief he perceived I had that homeschooling was THE best choice for everyone.

Well, my blog IS titled "2000 Reasons to Homeschool." So that IS my belief, isn't it?

No. Not especially.

I'm not exactly sure who my audience is. (In fact, if you want to chime in below and tell me how you got here, I'd love to know.) I DO know who I write for. The audience in my mind are the parents who want to homeschool, or have already begun the journey, who have found certain aspects challenging, who worry about it "working," or who know it's right, but haven't found peace about the how.

As you have noticed if you've read other posts, my writings aren't especially instructive on the hows. And my "reasons to homeschool" aren't compelling test score differences between homeschooled kids and their public schooled peers, studies about the social advantages homeschooled kids enjoy, or even reminders of the real threats faced by children sent out into a world of strangers before they have mastered themselves or developed the courage and wisdom to cope with the dangers found in all schools.

Those sorts of reasons may compel some to homeschool. They reflect other blessings I feel we enjoy from our choice to homeschool, but they aren't OUR reasons.

As a total aside, may I just say about test score differences that I don't think they are a reliable indicator of homeschooling's educational superiority. First, those who self-identify as being homeschooled are those for whom it is working. What do families do when homeschooling is failing to educate their kids? Put them back in public school.  So there will be far fewer poor test scores among homeschooling families simply because if kids aren't learning, parents don't generally continue doing it. Furthermore, many homeschooling families chose NOT to test their children. Once you begin the journey of learning WITH your kids and make learning a part of life, you realize standardized tests are a very poor measuring tool for knowledge. Of course, it can be argued that taking tests is it's own skill set, but not all families care to spend their time practicing it. And finally, parents more likely to homeschool children are also more likely to be engaged in the lives of their children and CARE about education. Who they are - the values they demonstrate to their kids in life together - likely have a greater impact on their children than WHERE their children attend school.

So if you have happened onto this blog and have felt insulted that I would suggest your children will have an inferior education because YOU aren't teaching them, let me be the first to reassure, I am making no such suggestion.

In fact, I have a great deal of admiration for involved, mindful parents who chose to send their children to public school. Let me tell you why. Participating in public school is to be told when to get up the next day no matter when you went to sleep the night before. It is to be told when you will take vacations. It is to be told where to be, no matter the educational opportunities that may arise OUTSIDE of school. It is to be told what you will learn and at what pace. It is to be told if that schedule doesn't work for you, that you are inferior. It is to be told when to play and when to focus, and if your focus lacks or your play time is inadequate, YOU have the problem.

Attending public school is to confine a parent's influence to the morning time of getting ready for school, the after-school exhaustion, hectic dinner times, and a few hours before bed NOT absorbed in drilling exercises called homework. It is to take from the family time left over, the opportunities for additional knowledge like sports, dance, or music lessons.

Attending public school is to accept that no matter YOUR instruction or beliefs on the subject, your children will be surrounded by messages that their value is determined by their backpack brand, shoe brand, jean brand, learning group, friends, or neighborhood.

Can children and families succeed despite all these obstacles? Yes! And there is a whole other list of challenges faced by homeschooling families. I  chose homeschooling for my family because I truly believe it's challenges are easier, or at least more suited to my own gifts, values, and parenting style.

Whatever you discover works best for the success and happiness of your children, DO IT! Children are our precious jewels and they each have only one childhood to bless and inform ALL of their lives. Make it a great one by making good choices TODAY.

Taste of School

Way back when, when school vouchers were being debated in Utah, one common objection to them was that the taxpayers would be subsidizing private educations, which didn't "seem fair." I thought it was an amusing objective, since the parents using the voucher money were taxpayers themselves. "Well, if you want a private education, use your own money!" It may have been the argument that killed vouchers. And all the people worrying about "fairness" went happily on to spend everyone else's money on their kids' public educations. (Current education figures in Utah put a k-12 education coming in at more than $100,000.)

Homeschooling ranks on the inexpensive side when it comes to alternatives to traditional public school. And yet, sometimes it feels a bit hard to know I'm paying into the public system I'm not using. Like having membership in a club or gym you never hit.

So we have been successfully tempted into schools that promise either their learning supplies/curriculum for free, OR reimbursement for tools/technologies/and curriculum providers of our choosing.

This relates to my confession about being child-led. I need to get to that. But before I do, briefly I confess that both my school-age kids are enrolled in public online schools. For the goodies. I LIKE the laptop, the field trips, the class offerings like Lego Robotics and Digital photography. And I like having access to MY tax money for MY kids.

BUT there are drawbacks, and we ran into one yesterday. My son and I spent a full 2 hours yesterday trying to figure out how to submit 3 simple assignments to his school. Now I understand all technology has glitches, and as a confirmed technologically challenged adult, I should expect more than my fair share. So in the grand scheme of things, perhaps 2 hours should feel small. But that is 2 hours that could have been used in other endeavors.

FINALLY, having completed all the school was requiring of us, I sat back and did my cost/benefit analysis and concluded for all that time, we gained not one shred of knowledge usable in the outside world. (My husband argued we gained software/website savvy. I argue we didn't. The website we were interacting with was unique to the school. All the training pertaining how to use it will be worth nothing once we don't use it.) But before I let my cost/benefit really get me down, I reflected on school as I knew it.

How long did I spend in school for how much knowledge and skill I could use on the outside? Of the 8 hours kids attend school, how much info enhances their being? Really grows their minds and capacities? Maybe no one measures that way. Maybe they don't because the answers would be too painful. So after a frustrating 2 hours, I had to conclude that it was just a taste of school as most know it.

So, SO grateful that MOST 2 hours spent homeschooling yield greater, more meaningful fruit.

Child-led Learning - WHY

One of THE BEST reasons to homeschool:
Why would you outsource one of the most fun and rewarding parts of life: learning?

Now, if you haven't ever thought of learning as fun, chances are you went to public school. And not all public school is boring. In fact, my guess is many kids going like it a lot. But some like the social aspects, and some like recess, and some like seeing their friends, and some like field trips, and some like the praise that comes with good grades, and some like all of that AND learning. But is it any wonder in a room of 20 same-age peers and a teacher, that learning may not be the most fun thing.

Much of the FUN in learning comes with discovery. Whether it's something we've wondered about, or something we never considered, the world is FULL (so full I'll say it again) FULL of wonders, and what could be more delightful than discovering some of them? Some wonders are just fun to know. They might strike us as funny. They might be some factoids that no one else knows, including grandpa, who likes to do the pop-quizzes. Some knowledge gives context and enriches other knowledge - makes the knowing more meaningful. And some enhances our person.

THAT is the other fun part of learning: growing as a person. We grow by increasing understanding of the world - how it works, what makes people tick - and increasing our skill to live in it.

Both the knowledge and skill that are the most FUN to master are unique to the individual. My mom "grooved on" sewing as a child. She is now making my sister's wedding dress. She almost demanded the job - insisting though it might be stressful, that it is what she prepared her whole life to do. My dad, in his youth, spent hours practicing baseball. Now, a month away from 60 years old, he's joined a baseball league and reported pitching for a recent game was the most fun he'd had in years. Not surprisingly, I liked spending time by myself, writing poetry and short stories. Is it any wonder that I feel completely content at the moment, blogging about life and learning?

So every school teacher has two great challenges when it comes to teaching and making learning all the fun it can be. First, it's hard to work a spirit of discovery into a set curriculum. Of course, very skilled teachers are able to get the students to wonder about the subject or material to be covered. So the learning process might feel a bit more like discovery and less like being told something on a schedule. However, the illusion might not last very long. All it takes is one good question from any student who, while fully engaged, might not direct his curiosity down the line of the lesson development. And then the teacher's challenge is getting him to let go of his curiosity, OR spending time on what WON'T be on the test. What a choice to make!

And it's quite probable that our individual curiosities are driven by an inner sense of what will bring us joy. Which gets back to how does one teach the same material to students who may become all sorts of different things when they grow up? Some might become number crunchers, some may work with their hands, some work with people - all of these talents driving the individual's sense of what skills he'd like to master. Creating an education to meet these incredibly varied needs is the second great challenge. But mostly our schools simply pick some skills to encourage, discourage others, and IF any student gets to a point of mastery in the time allowed, it may be nothing short of a miracle!

For these reasons - for keeping learning a process of discovery that serves the needs of individuals - I think it's very foolish for homeschooling parents to try and duplicate school at home. How sad for any student of a home education to never have experienced that learning IS fun! Child-led learning is the best way to keep learning the fulfilling adventure it should be.

Click here to read my post about how to begin Child-led Learning.

The Economics of Homeschooling

This isn't a post about how much homeschooling costs. I don't imagine anyone knows. Well, most homeschoolers know, but the answers would be so varied they could not come under the title, "The Economics of Homeschooling."

But I do want to delve into some costs of education because a friend of mine whom I admire very much recently said that it seemed to her that sending her kids to school was the easiest, cheapest way to get them their educations.

That is certainly one point of view. I commented a year or more ago about the cost of education in the editorial section of a local newspaper. Judging by the comments made in response to mine, many hold the opinion that for what it provides, a public education is a great value.

Interestingly, as of 2010, Utah (where I live), ranking dead last in the nation, spends $6,500 per pupil per school year. (Go here to check it out.) That figure includes costs like administration, but doesn't include things like busing, or the buildings and maintenance of the schools. So a student entering kindergarten this year may expect the state to pay $84,500 for his or her high school diploma. (And of course, that is a low ball park, because per pupil spending increases by several hundred dollars every few years.)

When one considers the knowledge a high school graduate has, the skills he or she has mastered, and the preparation for life it might be said he or she has "completed," I would argue that we are getting very little for the price. It is interesting to do the math and consider what the state is spending on families. When I think that my family costs $338,000 to be state-educated, I can't help but feel that if I were given more say about how that money should be spent, that firstly, my children might have a lot more to show for it, and secondly, that they might show a great deal more for a great deal less. Certainly families who feel they can't homeschool because both parents need to work to keep the family afloat, might have a different experience entirely if THEY got more say over how that figure is spent. (And remember, this figure doesn't represent the physical costs of building and maintaining a school.)

I am not trying to start a movement by sharing this information. But I do wish the public at large would be educated themselves about the costs of our "free" public educational system before they comment on it's value.

I actually am posting because there is a far dearer price being paid in the name of receiving a public education.

When my friend mentioned that to her it seemed the cheapest way to come by an education, I wondered to myself how her children would vote. In fact, I do know this friend has discussed homeschooling with her kids and they largely have voted to stay put in their public school. That is fine. But there is a price. It is this: 2,340 days, or 16,380 hours spent on obtaining the knowledge and skill one derives from a public education.

Lest that seem reasonable, let me further explain that if the average school aged students sleep 8 hours a day, watch TV for the current average of 3 hrs/day, spend 9 hours in school, getting ready for school, and getting there and back, an hour for breakfast and dinner and just an hour on homework, they are left with only 2 hours (assuming they have no lessons or sports or extra-curricular activities) - not solid, not back to back, not uninterrupted, but 2 hours total a day with which to find their paths, their voices, their souls, and their reasons for being on this earth.

THAT is the price of public education.

What are the economics of homeschooling? Spending a childhood on adventure, discovery, and the sort of soul fashioning that will serve our children throughout their lives.