Editing::A Little Light Reading

I've had an unexpectedly synchronous lull in client work, which has allowed me to finish my marketing crash course, and send Sarah plenty of material to keep her busy building my website.

So, what am I doing with all my "free" time? In addition to polishing and perfecting the copy for my site, I've started reading a new book. Actually, studying is a bit more like it, as evidenced by the highlighter, notebook, and pen.

 

It's only about five hundred pages of text explaining in detail the editing process. 

 

File this one under the heading "Sharpening The Saw" aka "Never stop learning about your business." I'm hoping to get through the meat-and-potatoes of this volume just in time for Anna to send me the rewrite of her manuscript (estimated arrival date: November 14). Now that the development edit is done, it will be time to delve into the copyedit, and I want to be sure I'll be ready. 

Paper Bug

This morning as I sat down in my usual rocking chair on the deck, I got a little start. On the table to my left was this guy enjoying his breakfast of Seed Catalog. He was close to two inches long, nose to tail. No shrimp for a bug. The kids (and most of the adults) all trotted out to Ooooh and Aaaaaah over him, and he was much appreciated as a specimen. When he moved on to other objects on the table, he was gently removed to another part of the deck where he might have better success finding something tastier than a water bottle cap.

Seventeenth Century Dinner

Some time last year our family was introduced to an educational program that was an instant hit. "Tales From the Green Valley" is a BBC production that follows a group of historians and archeologists over the course of a year as they live on a restored Seventeenth Century farm in England. Similar to some shows that have been produced in the U.S. (though those were clearly more focused on entertainment than education), the inhabitants of this farm were restricted to using only foods, tools and technology that existed in the 1620's. Unlike their American "counterparts," these Brits are experts in their field and pretty much knew exactly what they were getting into. They stayed an entire year, and the program was was presented in twelve installments, each representing one month of the year.

If you are a history buff, you MUST watch this program (we streamed it from YouTube). If you are a homeschooler, you MUST watch this program. Even if you are only even mildly interested in things that are outside the realm of your everyday life, you MUST watch this program. Just sayin'. (End of commercial)

So, one of the things that most impressed me (not necessarily in a good way) was how much time and energy was expended in producing, processing, and preparing food. It wasn't just the cooking (although that took at least one person most of the day to feed everyone on the farm), it was also the cultivating, harvesting and storing. And in the case of foods they could not raise, gathering funds or goods to trade for foods.

But, to the point of this post. Michael is completely enthralled with this show. Not only did he watch it all the way through all twelve (one hour) episodes the first time, he went on to watch all of the "spin off" shows. Then he went back and re-watched Green Valley. Several times. And then he re-watched all of the spin-offs. Several times.

That was last year. And I thought we had finished this "block of learning" for Michael. But, nope, he recently dug up Green Valley again, and watched the entire series all the way through. Three times in one week. That's how this kid absorbs.

At the end of the third viewing, he announced that "we" needed to go to the store. "Why do we need to go to the store?" I innocently asked (not really innocently, since I know there is always a plan behind every trip to every store with this kid, sometimes involving world domination). He explained that he "needed" to cook a Seventeenth Century dinner for our family (I keep trying to explain the difference between "need" and "want", but, like most adults, Michael realizes that semantically when you want something really, really, really badly, it somehow magically transforms into a need). I insisted that he provide an actual recipe and list of ingredients, which he promptly did. So, off to the grocery we went (which was a much better alternative than growing and raising and trading for all of the ingredients ourselves, thank you very much).

I don't remember the actual name of the dish, but we managed to find all of the ingredients at Kroger, except the rosemary that Michael insisted we use from our garden (good boy). He cooked it himself, as specified in the program's recipe (which, if you know anything about Seventeenth Century recipes, is vague at best and baffling at worst). In true British style, everything was boiled.

 

Remarkably, it turned out to be really tasty. It looks really plain, and could be a little dry unless you put lots of the "broth" on it. But, you know what? It was good. Plain, simple food. Although a small salad on the side would not be remiss ... if you have that stuff in your garden ;)

(Full Disclosure) This particular recipe called for an accompanying "pudding". If you're an American, or haven't read much Brit literature, let me clarify that British "pudding" has nothing to do with The Jello Corporation. In this particular historic case, as far as I can tell, it is (leftover from slaughter) meat, and herbs, and oats, all stuffed into an animal's digestive organs and boiled in the same pot with your meat and potato/vegetable. Sort of like a sausage, except you actually know what's in it, because you cooked it. In the case of this family dinner, we skipped the pudding part.

Educated (5/29/09)

Without coming right out and asking, the doctor asked me if I was educated. I think I said something about “not formally, but I consider myself educated.” I suppose I could just have said “yes” and left it at that. Or, I could have said “self educated”, which is pretty much what I am. But regardless of my answer, I wasn’t put off by the inquiry because I understand that kids with chronic conditions that require on-going care have a better chance of making out well if their parents are college educated. Right or wrong, it’s just one of those indicators that seem to consistently spell “a better chance” for some kids. Out of concern for his young patient who would be dependent on mom and dad for care, the doctor was feeling out what kind of chance T-Bear had of remaining healthy in spite of his diabetes.

In his book In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan winds things up with a list of things to do if you want to eat better, and thus live better. One of those items is to “be like people who take vitamins”. Pollan cites a study which indicates that taking vitamins does not provide any demonstrable nutritional or health benefit, but demographically people who take vitamins are healthier than those who don’t, probably because they live a healthier lifestyle overall. That’s me with education. I think I live and behave “like people who are educated.” I hang out with college-educated homeschooling moms, I keep piles of books around, read voraciously, read aloud to my kids daily, and when any subject of interest or need arises I dive in and do the research. Just as a healthy lifestyle is an attitude and set of habits that may or may not include taking vitamins, being educated is an attitude and set of habits which may or may not include graduating from college or university. It is a pursuit of knowledge that does not end after you stop attending classes or get a diploma.

When our lovely neighbor, M, came over to check on us the day after we arrived home from Orlando, I told her I was dealing with T-Bear’s diagnosis by diving into learning everything I can about type 1 diabetes and effective management and care. There’s a lot to learn in a pretty short period of time, and some of the detail and subtlety may be out of many people’s mental reach, and definitely out of many people’s comfort zone, but I’m pretty good at stretching myself. I told M I’ve got the type of mind that gets off on gobbling up new data and information. Even when the subject is heartbreaking and living in our home, my mind is happy to be doing its thing. And, it helps soothe my heart by making me feel I have some control over the outcome. If I didn’t feel like I could understand this and make good decisions, I think I would rapidly sink into helplessness and hopelessness. That, for me, is the value of an “educated” mind.

If TJEd has taught me anything, it’s taught me that education is not about sitting in classes and writing papers and making grades and getting a diploma. It’s about feeding your mind, challenging your assumptions, being curious, and beefing up your intelligence. It’s about having a mind that contributes toward making the rest of your life work, and about helping to make the world work. It’s about learning every day of your life, and loving it. It’s about living a rich, deep, full, liberating life, inside and out. And, everyone can have it. It just takes some effort and commitment, and cultivating a joy of learning. And, the best part is, once you have it, you can pass it on to your kids.

Education a la Ben

When Benjamin Franklin was young, his father took him around town to observe various tradesmen at their work, to learn about the various trades and see if any of them appealed to Ben. We often end up getting the same kinds of “lessons” here at home when we call in tradesmen. Kids (boys especially) seem to like watching people do their work, especially when they are working with their hands. This morning, two guys came to repair our garage door, and they had two “helpers” (Brother Bear and Angel Bear) observing, questioning, and chatting the entire time. They were surprised when Brother Bear said “Is this how it works…” and proceeded to describe the mechanics of the opener correctly, with no previous explanation from the pros.

I always appreciate adults who don’t mind sharing what they’re doing with our kids. I try to convey to the boys the importance of not interfering with people when they’re working, but they seem to just NEED to be involved in whatever is going on, whether it’s a garage door repair or the local tree guys delivering and stacking fire wood or the power company coming out to replace a blown transformer after a lightening strike (that was really cool). It’s kind of a shame there aren’t more opportunities for kids to observe adults in their daily work, because it gives them a sense of how the world, or at least our local society, works and continues to roll along even when we’re not aware of the work going into it. It gives them an opportunity to figure out how things work by talking directly to the people who do it every day. And, it gives them the opportunity to engage with adults. Real adults in the real world.

This, for me, is one of the many hearts of homeschooling. Having the kids engaged and fluent in the Real World from day one. Being part of what’s going on every day, rather than waiting until they graduate before they start the process of being a member of society. Seeing first hand, and possibly even lending a hand, in the stuff of keeping things on track and working, rather than reading about it in a textbook, or not learning about it at all. Garnering the confidence to reach out to adults on an equal footing, offering assistance and conversation in exchange for transfer of knowledge, and never being shy about approaching an “expert” to learn from and exchange ideas with on any subject which may peak their interest. Thank you, Education Goddess, for allowing us the privilege of home schooling.

Now, here comes my shameless plug. I was so pleased with the service we received, with the manners and willingness of the technicians to include the boys in their work, that I have to give full marks to Advance Overhead Door Company (phone 770-962-5600). And a special, great, big “thank you” to brothers Mack and Joe (who work for dad). Our boys adore you, and especially Joe’s very cool, glow-in-the-dark Batman tattoo. You guys are the best!

Ain’t life rich? And, sometimes you don’t even have to leave home to partake.