Melvin Volkman

It is quite possible that this story has been documented before but I am not sure when, where, or by whom.  So I will tell  it, even though it is second hand.  This is how my Mother related the story to me.

My Great-Great-Grandmother Flora Cole Woody (my mother's mother's mother's mother) was introduced to the Gospel and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1956 when she was 75 years old.  She then sent the missionaries to her children and grand children, but little came from that for about 5 years, shortly after she had passed away.

Melvin Raymond Volkman
My Grandpa

In 1960, my Grandparents were living in North Seattle (now Shoreline), Washington.  The missionaries had visited them, but they were turned away.  My Grandpa was out of work and feeling desperate.  One night, he went into the bathroom and locked the door (probably the only place he could be assured of privacy).  He knelt and prayed for help: he needed a job.  That night the missionaries knocked on the door.  Naturally they were not what was expected and Grandpa slammed the door.  A few weeks later, Grandpa was again feeling desperate.  He needed a job to provide for his young family.  Again he entered the bathroom and prayed for help.  Again the missionaries came to the door.  Again they were sent away.  A few more weeks passed.  He still had not found work and decided to pray again.  He locked the bathroom door and pleaded for help.  Once more the missionaries knocked on the door.  As he was about to slam the door once more, he heard "If you send them away this time, they will not come back."

Instead he invited them in.  He, my grandmother, mother, and her brother, listened to the discussions about the Restored Gospel.  They were baptized on April 1st, 1961.  Grandpa was always faithful.  My grandmother and my uncle stopped attending church for a few years, but Grandpa was stalwart.  He was the pillar of strength that my mother needed during her teen years as they attended church together.  Later, Grandma and Grandpa were sealed together.  Grandpa loved serving in the temple and did so weekly until Grandpa became ill.  He was her sole care-giver for 5 years until she died 10 years ago.  That is when my parents began living with him to help him - he was quite exhausted from his efforts.  Not long after that mom became ill.  Grandpa outlived her, he outlived his 4 siblings.  My father has been taking care of Grandpa for the last few years.  I learned this morning that he passed away Thanksgiving night, quite peacefully at the age of 97.

I love Grandpa, he is such a funny guy.  The typical old farmer type that simply doesn't know when to stop.  He could make anything grow.  Just stick a stick in the ground and it would grow for him.  Doesn't seem to feel pain.  When Grandpa's father was nearing his time to go, he called for Grandpa.  "Sonny, help me.  You can help me."  Grandpa didn't know what to do, but he father kept asking.  Grandpa offered to give him a priesthood blessing.  "Yes, that is it." Grandpa gave him a blessing and he passed away within a week.  Grandpa was able to give several blessings releasing people from life.  It became quite a joke.  "Don't let Grandpa Volkman give you a blessing, it could kill you." :-)  But he has wanted to go for a long time: rather jealous of anyone who beat him to it.  But being the man he was, he just kept on keeping on.

But now he is back with his parents, his siblings, his wife, my mother.  What a happy time they are having.  I think I am rather jealous myself.

So in honor of this fabulous man, I am going to have an evening of Chocolate Indulgence.  (He could never have enough chocolate)  This is an end to an era.

Home Connections

Well, It seems that Home Connections will be a bigger part of our life in the future so I thought I would take some time to explain it.  I am doing this because it is unlike anything else I have ever heard of or seen before.

Home Connections is our school district's parent partnership program.  The one wherein students enroll in public school yet most of their learning takes place at home and the school gets paid for it.  So of course it is not really homeschooling, it is actually under the alternative education part of state law.  We are 50% enrolled so we are 50% home schoolers and 50% public schoolers and the district gets 50% funding for that student. Complicated?, OH YES! and even more so cuz then you have do determine which part of the law you are paying attention to, but I will save you from that.

I really do like Home Connection's learning model.  It is unique from any other PPP I have seen.  They offer enrichment classes for grades k-10 (technically through grade 12, but there aren't many of those.  I'll explain in a moment.) These classes are taught by some amazing teachers, many are the parents of the students.  Because of the laws getting stricter, more and more certificated teachers are showing up.  In grades 6 through 10 there is an additional tract from which to choose.  The first is the enrichment course.  Students can continue to take enrichment courses at HC and complete the rest of their schooling at home.  OR students can enroll in Core Classes.  The students take their History, English, Math, and Science at HC and receive credit from the district.  This makes HC as close to a charter school as they can without being one. (I would say private, except that it is publicly funded under the school district).  The classes are small 13-16 students. And Parents are very much involved.

It is also a prep for running start.  They do not offer 11th and 12th grade classes because those students are encouraged to move to the community college and receive dual college/high school credit and degrees.  It really is a good program. Although, as an independent-homeschooler-at-heart, I resent the additional hoops I have to go through.  But I get that feeling every time I have the opportunity to deal with government agencies.

HC has plenty of hoops to jump through too, hoops aren't just for the families.  For example the parent/teachers used to be considered contracted teachers.  That rule changed last year.  They now have to be part time employees of the district.  However, with that comes a rule that part time employees cannot work more than so many hours a week.  There happened to be one teacher who taught at least 10 different classes- some fabulous ones: Spanish for kids, tumbling, ballet, local history classes and a lot more.  They were all really popular.  But she had to drop more than half of them because that put her over that limit. So, after about 10 years of teaching them, no more tumbling or ballet.  Fortunately, she has decided to open her own gymnastics/dance studio next fall.

I would love to take HC's program/model and recreate it outside of "Public Education."  There are some real strengths there.  (I just met someone who said the same thing.  I think I might have to join forces with her.)

Anyway I avoided HC for the longest time.  I have reservations against PPP's in general.  I do believe their existence and public support pose a threat to the continued existence of independent homeschooling.  I have done quite a bit of research in this area.  They do fill a need, and I don't think they should necessarily all go away.  But there is a danger simply from the fact that both PPP's and Home schoolers claim the title of Home Schooling.  If they were differentiated in some way, things would be better, but I digress.  So anyway, I kept away.  But I also realized I have to work with what I have (like politics).  I also am part of a marriage and have learned to trust my husband's council.

We enrolled last year as an experiment.  The main draw was guitar classes.  I wasn't sure if it would work at all because of student teaching in the middle of the year, but we made it work.  I stuck to it again this year reluctantly, again for guitar.  But something happened this year - ok, several little somethings, not the least of which has to do with that council of my husband thing.  Consequentially I think I am almost ready to become committed to being there.  It is such a good learning environment and the people there are great.

I am planning a couple of classes I want to teach and offer there.  So far we have only participated in the enrichment, but I think we will be taking advantage of the core track too.  We might just be in there a while.

New Beginnings New Opportunities

Spring

After being overwhelmed for so long, I have been very careful to not over commit myself.  We have made some good changes this school year and the kids have taken a lot more responsibility in becoming more independent learners.  This has freed my time considerably.  I have even seriously considered bringing Isaac back home again next year for school.  I have felt for some time that it was the right thing to do, but I have been hesitant to jump on it simply because I want to make sure it is the right thing for him and not just what I want.  But I feel I can devote the time he needs now more than I could have earlier.

I have also started to think about the possibility of working part time.  Steven starts College Plus in the Fall of 2015, and we are going to need some money to make that happen.  I decided to seriously consider teaching a class or two for our parent-partnership-program and maybe take on some tutoring.  Then out of the blue, I received an invitation to "like" a new friend's business.  (I met her a couple of weeks ago in a carpool to a GreenSmoothieGirl event.)  Her business? Tutoring.  I asked her if she might be in need of a K-8 teacher on her tutoring list.  Not only was she interested, she asked if I might want to do some summer reading workshops.  The more I thought about that, the more excited I became.

Well, after all my care in not becoming too overly committed, spring has begun, the sun has come out, the weather is warmer, and I suddenly feel as though I can handle it all.

Amazing what a little Vitamin D can do.  I am increasingly convinced of the inseparable connection between hormone balance, emotional well-being, and life perspectives.  But that is a topic for another day.

Well, in my excitement and planning, I am enjoying spring.  I am redoing my blogs in the optimistic notion that they will be read.  (Like I have said before, I should really just call both of you and save time. :-) ).