Adventures in Mama-Land

What do you think – am I overthinking this? Before I tell you what this post is about, let me first say that I believe “over” thinking isn’t always a bad thing.  Given how many people in the world under think things, including certain book publishers, it’s a good thing some of us are thinking more than others… I also want to admit that this wasn’t going to be a blog post.  There’s just too much at stake, I feel.  Too much emotionally riding on this.  Some of those near and dear to me has already heard my rant about this children’s book cover.  Some have agreed.  Some have just shrugged. But last night, working on an essay about images of male Jews and masculinity in Judaism, it all just came out on paper and I figured once it’s out, I may as well share it here, too. The book is called “ What was the Holocaust? ”.   Amazon says it’s published by Penguin Workshop and isn’t due out until June 2018, but that can’t be right because I first saw this a long time ago now.  I pointed it out to

You know that saying about how history is written by the victors? That usually doesn't include us Jews. You've heard of Wyatt Earp, right?  But probably not of Charles Strauss, the Jewish mayor of Tucson who was among the law-abiding citizens whom Earp and his brothers tried to terrorize in 1882. And you've probably never heard of Strauss's daughter Josephine, "Tucson Jo," either.  That's okay, though.  Because she's a fictional character in a recreated Tucson of 1882 written by Canadian children's writer Carol Matas. I'm proud to introduce you to Tucson Jo , the book (it’s pronounced TOO-son, like the city), as part of the book's blog tour.  The tour is going on all week long at various undisclosed locations around the internet. Although Tucson Jo is fictitious, Matas - who's written 45 books for kids and young adults - has researched her story meticulously and woven Jo's life around actual historical events of the perio

Remember that Paperclips movie a few years ago?  There’s a book out about it now , too.  The movie made me angry, and tonight I’m angry again, for almost the same reason.  Am I the only one? In case you missed it, h ere’s one description of the Paperclips movie: When the principal of Whitwell Middle School sought a program that would teach diversity to a predominantly white, Protestant student body, the notion of focusing on the Holocaust--specifically Hitler's extermination of six million Jews--seemed like an obvious way to go. Seriously???  If you’re trying to teach diversity to kids who have never met a Jew, you teach the Holocaust?  That makes as much sense as using slavery as the core of a curriculum about African pride, history and culture.  Or smallpox as a way of teaching about native Americans. See why my brain is steaming out my ears just thinking about this movie?  Do I really want the only thing kids in Mississippi to learn about my ancient faith is that six mi

(Or, how I secretly want to continue homeschooling once we arrive in Israel… but you knew that already, didn’t you?) I wasn’t sure where to post this, and actually began posting it to my aliyah blog , but decided it was more homeschooly, so now I’m switching it to here. Homeschooling is legal in Israel, but we have already decided we cannot do it – and, more importantly, that it’s in the kids’ best interests to go to school.  I posted about this before (apparently in July 2011, so we’re probably due for an update) but I will sum up the 3 main reasons: Socialization – not in general, because homeschooled kids DO socialize, but they will need to make friends fast and although there are chugim (extra-curricular activities), youth groups, shul, and homeschooler get-togethers,  school is the best way to do that. Language – I want them to learn Hebrew immediately.  School is perhaps a brutal way to do that, but it’s fast and everybody says they become fluent within months instead of dr

Nearly 3 years ago, with great trepidation, I released my first printable that wasn’t free:  a Book of Centuries.  More heavily influenced by Charlotte Mason then than I am now, I wanted my kids to do this instead of a timeline because a) our house is tiny, b) our walls are cluttered, and c) I knew it would take us a looooong time to work on. Have you ever seen what happens to a piece of paper after it’s been clinging to the walls for a matter of years???  In my house, at least, it would be in illegible tatters. Anyway, I found lots of versions around, some free, some paid, but most of them had some sort of religious orientation – which is great; frankly, I wanted a religious orientation.  They just weren’t MY religious orientation.  I wanted a book that would show what Jews were doing around the time that various periods of civilization – the Renaissance, say, or the Industrial Revolution – were taking place.  Oh, yeah, and I wanted, hmm, no, NEEDED to see Jewish dates alongside the

✡✡✡ As a Jewish homeschooler, I beg anyone who is studying the Holocaust today (Holocaust Remembrance Day) to not stop at the pictures and stories of horror, but also to talk about what Judaism is and continues to be. We mustn't forget the atrocities, but please emphasize that Jews lived and STILL live with an eternal Godly mission. Our covenant has never been broken or replaced. The Shoah is one of many terrible times in our very long history, but Am Yisrael Chai (the nation of Israel still lives). ✡✡✡ I don’t write much, here or anywhere else, about the Shoah (a term many Jews prefer for the Holocaust, in which more than 6000000 Jews and millions of others were killed by the Nazis). I got a lot of it as a kid – too much, too young.  In order that we should never forget, we were shown movies, photos, newsreels that would horrify fully-grown adults – only we were 7 and 8 and 10 and 11 and indeed, I will never forget, but I never wanted to remember, either. So I resolved not to d

Today, in Story of the World history , we finally came to a chapter I have been giving much thought since I first flipped through the book well over a year ago:  The Beginning of Christianity.  The whole narrative appears in 2 sections:  the birth of Jesus, and the teachings, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  Because it’s a short chapter, I decided to do it all in one pass, which is very unusual. It’s a busy week, but I wanted to share a few quick thoughts: This is a VERY short chapter, especially compared to earlier chapters about Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Julius Caesar, and heck, Anansi the mischief-making African spider.  There’s more about Christianity later on, but this is really it about Jesus.  I was kind of grateful it was so short – but if I was Christian, I might honestly have reason to feel offended that my entire belief system seemed to have been condensed into four short pages. I took a bit of time at the beginning to explain the vocabulary, and you should too.  C

A few weeks ago, the Canadian Museum of Civilization (in Ottawa) announced that it was going back to BC (before Christ) and AD (anno domini, “the year of our Lord”) for dates on anything “intended for the public,” while continuing its policy of many years to use BCE and CE on documents intended for a more academic readership.  You can read all about it in the National Post here . Rabbi Reuven Bulka, a prominent rabbi in Ottawa, came out with a response that sounds pretty much like something my teenagers usually say:  “no-one cares.”  In fairness, the article says, he “prefers BCE because it is more inclusive, but… can live with the change.”  I can live with it, too, but I’d rather not, and I’m not going to just sit by quietly.  And if you live in Canada, neither should you. I was dismayed to read in the National Post that you're going back to using BC and AD for dates on museum displays and other materials "intended for the public". http://life.nationalpost.com/2013/02/

My annual, non-comprehensive but hopefully fun and well-rounded, roundup of What There Is For You Online.  Enjoy! From Chinuch.org So!  With 40+ pages of Chanukah stuff on Chinuch.org, how do you know what’s good?  I have no idea, but here’s some of what appealed to me as I waded through those 40+ pages tonight (true confession:  I stopped after page 36):   Dreidel Tally Graphing Sheet Chanukah Matching Game (very simple memory game – I just wasted the last of my printer ink printing these ones out…) “My Menorah” Hebrew Song – cute and simple original song to the tune of LaKova Sheli  (but you have to know Hebrew) Simple preschool crafts: Six Interactive Chanukah Crafts A cute Chanukah Scavenger Hunt which would be good for a party, co-op, or anywhere you want a bunch of kids running around (not here, please!) Very sweet present-passing group game where kids sit in a circle, learn right from left, hear the Chanukah story AND get to keep their presents at the end!  The Left-

Yup, you heard me right.  I don’t hate Chanukah.  I don’t hate Christmas.  I don’t hate Los Posadas, or Kwanzaa, or Diwali, or anything else that people celebrate at this time of year. But I can’t stand the “genericization” of this whole bloody month, as you’ll know if you’ve been reading here for more than about ten minutes (sorry to any long-term readers who’ve heard it all before!). Look, it’s Chanukah right now.  I know that, and I guess – reluctantly – I like it.  And next week, it will be over, and I would ask that you pretty please not continue to acknowledge it or celebrate it in any way until next year at this time.  But no… and it’s particularly poignant in years like this one, where, because of the way the calendars line up, schools and the community around us will continue to “celebrate” Chanukah on our behalf at least until December 25th, if not right on through the entire month. And here’s how they do it: Yay!  A funny animated wintertime snowman, holding a wreath, p

Yet another homeschool field trip, our last for a while, because I’m off to Baltimore next week.  This was FUN, despite several last-minute cancellations bringing our group size down to 13 kids (though this meant we could sneak along a friend’s kid for free!) and horrible weather so we couldn’t enjoy the usual outdoor recess with period games and toys.  Most of the kids didn’t know how to spell; with the unschooly bent of most homeschoolers here, the spelling bee the schoolteacher organized was a bit of a joke.  Even after practicing the “list words” for fifteen minutes (writing them, reading them, saying them aloud), most of the children were still guessing letters somewhat randomly, like a G in the word “rain.”  Naomi Rivka did fine; her word was “ring,” which she spelled on the first try.  Despite this, I respected the fact that the parents did not jump in at all to “rescue” their kids from potentially embarrassing situations.  Perhaps that’s part of the philosophy – if they feel

This is a biggie, a heavy-duty topic, too.  For a while now, I have been wanting to do a lapbook of tzaddikim (great Torah scholars), but there are a few reasons why I’ve been stuck.  First, it’s a HUGE subject – over 6000 years of history, you’re bound to accumulate more than a few righteous people.  Indeed, the number seems to be potentially infinite, once you start scratching the surface.  Second, humility.  That’s right – a characteristic I rarely demonstrate, but very much applicable here:  who am I to say this person is a tzaddik worth remembering and this person  isn’t??? Third, terminology.  I think of all these folks, the Rambam, Rashi, the Chofetz Chaim, as Gedolim, but there is a tendency to refer to modern Torah scholars as Gedolim.  The term Tzaddikim is often used only for Chassidic leaders, though to me, it means all major leaders, throughout history.  Complicating this fact is that folks in the frum world also tend to use the word “gedolim” to refer to just about ANY

Wow!  If you are using Story of the World Volume 1 for Ancient History, or are planning to use it at any point in the future, head on over here and download the FREE lapbook this mama put together over the year that she and her kids studied Volume 1.  It’s on her blog, but in my experience, you shouldn’t wait until you’re ready to use it, because resources come and go in the blog world.  This one is worth the not-much space it will take up on your hard drive. As this is an all-year project, we use the lapbook intermittently.  There is one small, very easy mini-book for each chapter.  They are very professional and fun pieces that the children can put together at least partly on their own.  I do a lot of the cutting and pasting, though, leaving the creative stuff for Naomi, and some backup cutting and pasting by Gavriel Zev.  By “intermittently,” I mean “every once in a while, when we remember.”  So it could be a month, or 6 weeks, or whatever.  When the mood strikes me, I print out