Medieval Living

Each Friday I am at the coffee shop at the Barnes and Noble bookstore on the west side of town (Cottonwood). We start around 11:00 am and go until . . . well, when ever we end. Last Friday, we didnt get out of there until 1:30. Two games seem to have the most interest . . . Byzantine Chess and Tablut (King’s Table). Both games are from Medieval times. Byzantine Chess, like I have discussed before, is very similar to modern chess, with a few differences in how some pieces move. And of course, Byzantine Chess is played on a round board. When people passing by see the round board, they all stop and ponder what they are looking at . . . which is an excellent opportunity to explain to them who we are and what we do. I also came upon a homeschool student who was there being tutored in math. . . I’ve invited him to join us next week . . as long as it doesn’t interfere with his math work. We have a few consistent people showing up . . . I would love for the number to grow so that we make a real statement about the homeschool community.

The other game, King’s Table, is really alot of fun for students of all ages. The rules are simple enough – I have two seven-year-olds who play the game with alot of energy and sophistication . . . yep, they are learning to think!

I’m also excited as one of my students (who also happens to be one of my grandsons) has come up with his own version of a board game, using a traditional chessboard and checker pieces. All of the checkers move like a knight moves in chess . . . but jumping as in checkers. The object is to get a piece to the opponents back rank. It’s actually a fun game. I think I will build a gameboard for him (he’s made up a few rules about unusable spaces) and some unique pieces. Maybe we can put something together and market a new board game! Cool! Nice to see some creativity being developed.

More later!

Scott

As the public schools gear up for a new year, so are homeschoolers throughout the state. We’re looking forward to the phone ringing off the hook as those families who are studying Medieval History begin planning their lessons and activities. As I’m also homeschooling my two grandsons this year, I’ll be wearing many hats!

We’d like to start out the year with some Medieval era board games. Many of these games can be played by all “school-aged” children, and include Nine Men Morris, King’s Table (Tablut), Shut-the-Box, and Byzantine Chess (circular board). We will be meeting at the coffee shop in the Cottonwood Barnes and Noble bookstore. There is no sign-up – just show up and play. We will meet between 9:00 and 11:00 am on Fridays – beginning August 19.

The difficulty of being a small non-profit is that almost everything rests on the shoulders of a very few. And if those very few have any personal events that take them away from “the business”, then “the business” suffers. Such is my case – after spending several weeks dealing with the death of my mother (which affected everyone here at Medieval Living), my daughter scheduled a wedding in Las Vegas for the Fourth of July weekend. Not a problem, other then it interfered with some of my planned activities. (Yes, we did stay at the Excaliber! Where else would a Medievalist stay in Las Vegas?!?!)

Plans for next week include being at the homeschool play day on the East side of Albuquerque. I will be bringing materials for teaching introductory classes on chainmail, weaving, spinning, and Nine Men Morris. As this week progresses, I will be more active here on the blog site, as well as scheduling new events, classes, etc.

On a semi-related note: I will be vending at the Idalia Road Marketplace in Rio Rancho – hoping to earn a few bucks to support myself so that I can continue providing free classes for homeschool students. Most of what I will be selling is related to what I teach – and so that also serves as a “springboard” for preaching the values of homeschooling.

I will also begin private tutoring – for both public school and homeschool students – as well as parent coaching. The biggest issue that I saw in our public schools was not the teachers and administrators, so much as it was the parents who just won’t get involved with their students education. I think our public school teachers would be able to do a much better job if they were supported by parents, rather then assailed. Oh well . . . time will tell. My truck is packed and I’m ready to go to market (just like in Medieval days).

Well, the past several weeks have been difficult. In the midst of my personal fundraising event, I received word that my mother had had a massive stroke and was in a coma. The prognosis was unknown. I hurriedly packed my things and made preparations for the trip to my mother’s home in Ohio. It was difficult to see Mom all wired up there in the intensive care unit of the hospital. A ventilator was helping her to breath; however, she had a living will in place that requested that there be no “heroic” efforts to save her. She had bleeding around the brain-stem, and the doctors’ prognosis was “poor” – which is the nice way of saying that she most likely will not survive. The family gathered and, with much sadness, agreed that the life support should be removed – it was what Mom had requested. She passed away about ten hours later.

Next came the daunting task of going through all of her personal possessions. Deciding what to keep, what to throw, who gets what . . . fortunately, our family is very agreeable with each other, so there was no bickering about who received what. It took longer then I could have imagined – I don’t think any of us realize how much “stuff” we have. Anyway, once things were reasonably organized and under control, I left my sister and brother to finish the process, and I returned to New Mexico.

I am back, and getting myself ready to organize some new classes and activities. A suggestion made by one mom, which I thought was insightful, was that I will come to the play-days in the various parks around town. I will bring a handful of different projects that students may work on if they are interested. Since they will already be there, it makes sense to offer activities for them to do in addition to their normal play-day offerings.

So, next week, I hope to back in the “swing of things”. If you are interested in having a class or two at your coop or family group, please let me know.

Scott@medieval-living.com

Now that the homeschool convention is behind us, it’s time to get moving with a full schedule of activities. I’ve updated the calendar here on the blog page. The previous plugin just wasn’t working right, so I loaded a “better” one and loaded the upcoming events into the database. Seems to be working correctly.

We currently have two locations to meet – First Christian Church on the east side of Albuquerque is letting us use some of their facilities on Fridays in May, and we will meet at Haynes park in Rio Rancho on Tuesdays, starting the last week in April. Still trying to work a meeting place in Los Lunas – will keep everyone posted.

I’m sending out an official newsletter – hopefully today. It is written, but need to have some other eyes proof read and double check my information. I now have a contact list of around 80 people; and I have nearly all four corners of the state represented: Clayton, Bloomfield, Las Cruces, and Portales are the furtherst points each direction. Alot of people at the convention were very interested in having us come to their community to teach some classes. So the newsletter will give them some information to work with for planning classes. I will create a “newsletter” page here and on the website where I will start posting the newsletters. I don’t have a set schedule for when I will send the newsletters . . . once a month at the most, unless something great develops – I don’t want to be spamming people with alot of email stuff.

So . . . that’s where we’re at. Some other things are in the development stages, and I will make announcements about those as they are finalized.

Well, it doesn’t look like we will be able to open the Homeschool Activity Center as hoped . . . we just don’t have the finances to make it happen. All is not lost – we have arranged with a church in Albuquerque to hold classes in one of their rooms once a week. We are also planning to hold classes every week at Haynes Park in Rio Rancho. I am working another possible meeting place in the Los Lunas area, but haven’t finalized the arrangements – will let everyone know as soon as I know for sure.

I will be at the CAPE Homeschool Convention from the 14th through the 16th of April – I will have calendars available for everyone as well as a sign-up sheet for email and newsletter contacts. If you’re at the convention, please come by and say “hello”!

The news is full of discussions on why America is falling behind in educating our children. Most of the blame is placed on the teachers – that they are either incompetent, don’t put forth enough effort, or need additional training. Administrators are also on the “hot seat”, being blamed for their teachers’ short-comings and for not addressing poor test scores. There’s a lot more going on . . . I think most of us have heard enough to understand the gist of the debate.

I was reading one of the many homeschool forums that I subscribe to, and came upon a response by a homeschool mom. Her comment was directed toward another mom who was new to homeschooling and admittedly terrified about failing at providing an education for her children. I will quote the response in its entirety:

“It always helps me to remember that schooling isn’t a race to be won. It is an adventure to be enjoyed. The most important skill to have in life (in my opinion) is to how to look up information and learn new things as you need to. Jam packing a childs brain with information so they can answer test questions and then for get it does not really help them later in life. I would suggest taking some time to read some books on homeschooling and let your kids get some books on topics they enjoy and you all just take some time decompressing from school and thinking about what you want next school year at home to look like. You will do great and so will the kids.” ~ outofrange

The mom also had a quote from Elenore Roosevelt that I felt was worth repeating:

“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt (The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt)

I don’t know what else to add to ms. Outofrange’s comment, other then that I believe students need to learn problem solving as a basic skill. If they can look things up, research, and solve problems, then there’s not much they can’t do.

So what’s the difference between public education and homeschool education . . . I think the answer is simply “attitude”. Public schools are racing to meet a certain mark, while homeschoolers are accepting and meeting challenges.

I am very excited about the upcoming months. Here in the end of February I will be attending the annual convention of the Association of Living History, Farm, and Agriculture Museums in Little Rock, Arkansas. It will be a wonderful opportunity to visit with those who have extensive experience in the business of living history museums.

Then in April, I will be an exhibitor at the CAPE Homeschool Convention and Curriculum Fair here in Albuquerque. Last year’s convention had a reported attendance of 1,600 homeschool parents and supporters. This year’s is expected to be the same. Medieval Living will have the chance to present our plans for our homeschool activity center and to begin enrolling students for the coming year. I consider this to be the greatest opportunity this year to promote our programs. I am very greatful to CAPE for the invitation to their convention!

I’ve been asked to describe what the Medieval Living Homeschool Activity Center look like. Honestly, I don’t know. That’s not to say that I don’t have ideas . . . but is really depends on the facility we get. There is one location in particular that will be perfect – great location, newer structure, classroom, office, reception area, studio/multi-purpose room, and ample parking. A second location isn’t as well defined, so it would require more construction and preparation – parking is the real issue, as any large gathering would require on-street parking (not so great for kids). Neither location looks anything like a Medieval building – oh well. I think some creative painting on the interior walls will provide the right effect . . . ambiance is the word I’m looking for.

The second, and probably more important question, is what we will teach? This is also the easier question to answer, as this is what I’ve been planning for months now. So here’s the list of classes – with more to follow:

Weaving:
1. Weaving Introduction
2. Tape/Inkle Loom
3. Tablet Loom
4. Tapestry Loom
5. Warp-Weighted Loom
6. Spinning
Clothing
1. Tunics
2. Hats/Hoods
Ceramics
1. Encaustic Tiles
Armor
1. Armor Introduction
2. Chainmail – European
3. Chainmail – Japanese
4. Leather – Gorget
5. Leather – Bracers
6. Leather – Lamellar
7. Leather – Archery Accesssories
Combat
1. Fencing Introduction
2. Epee
3. Rapier
4. Rapier w/offhand weapons
5. Archer Introduction
6. Fletching
Games/Music/Dance
1. Chess
2. Nine Men Morris
3. Tafl
4. Toys
5. Introduction toPenny Whistle
6. Intermediate Penny Whistle
7. Court Dances
Projects
1. Introduction to Timber-Frame Construction
2. Timber –Frame Models
3. Timber-Frame Full Scale
4. Waddle and Daub
5. Introduction to Siege Weapons
6. Catapaults
7. Trebuchets

All I can say is, We’re going to be busy!!!!!

I came upon an interesting post the other day at the Spunky Home School blog regarding some recent comments from national politicians who suggested a possible tax credit for homeschool families. Within the post was a letter from Homeschool Legal Advantage regarding the pitfalls of such offers. I contacted attorney Christine Field requesting permission to copy that letter here as well. I think the content of the letter provides additional justification to Medieval Living’s goal of supporting homeschooling here in New Mexico.

Ms. Field writes:

“Homeschoolers are abuzz with discussion over the suggestion that Republicans may be introducing legislation to give a federal tax credit to homeschoolers. While nothing has been proposed to date (do a search at http://thomas.loc.gov/), it is worthwhile to examine the pros and cons.

In this economy, who wouldn’t favor a tax break from a government that seeks to support and control virtually every aspect of modern life? Besides, the argument goes, we all pay taxes and we should be in line to be the beneficiaries of the unfunded largess of the lawmakers. Everyone else is doing it ….

From a larger perspective, it is a common ploy of the Federal government to dangle a carrot in front of states for funding. The states that comply, such as the recent Race to the Top campaign, receive huge sums of money from the government. But, the funds, as always, are tied to an expectation. In the Race to the Top, participating states had to agree to adopt Common Core Standards, an effort to have a common curriculum across the states.

But, you say, this isn’t really funding – it’s a return on taxes we have already paid.

True, just like every other deduction you take on your Income Taxes, such expenditures would have to be documented. In our view, this leaves the door open for inspection and approval. It is a foothold that we cannot allow the Federal government to establish.

For comparison, three states allow parents to take a deduction on their State income taxes for homeschool expenses. In my state (Illinois) I have taken the deduction and have been subject to questioning and requests for extra documentation each year I have sought it.

What the state allows, it can also regulate. Let’s examine another state benefit available to some homeschoolers. In a highly touted program, parents in Minnesota can seek a small textbook reimbursement for their homeschool expenses. The amount is paltry compared to the amounts most parents actually expend. Look at how the regulation is worded:

“Textbook” means any book or book substitute which a pupil uses as a text or text substitute in a particular class or program in the school regularly attended and a copy of which is expected to be available for the individual use of each pupil in this class or program. The term shall be limited to books, workbooks, or manuals, whether bound or in loose-leaf form, intended for use as a principal source of study material for a given class or a group of students. The term includes only such secular, neutral and nonideological textbooks as are available, used by, or of benefit to Minnesota public school pupils.

By statute and by definition, they only offer textbook assistance for secular, neutral and nonideological textbooks as are available, used by, or of benefit to Minnesota public school pupils. Some homeschoolers could qualify, but many would not.

We oppose Federal tax credits for homeschoolers based on our experience with all such programs. In sum:

1. Education has been and should remain a matter for the states, not the Federal government.

2. Funding (whether outright or in the form of tax credits) comes with expectations. Is it too far to imagine the accountability that might be required for such a tax credit? Common standards and standardized testing are two burdens which come directly to mind.

3. A tax credit would require documentation.

4. Documentation leads to scrutiny and the authority to deny or dismiss unless certain conditions are met, such as requiring only secular materials.

While we are all looking for a break in this economy, this break is too costly to the freedoms and individuality of homeschoolers. Thanks, but no thanks.

Christine Field
Attorney at Law
Homeschool Legal Advantage ”