Dropping Nate At College

I wrote a blog post over at Homeschooling In Real Life today. I shared a little of my experience dropping Nate off at college and the advice I gave to him as we parted ways. Are you wondering what we talked about?

Let me give you a hint. It's Fletch, all my conversations boil down to the same thing: The Gospel.

Click on the picture to read: What I Said To My Son When I Dropped Him Off At College.

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Reverse Engineering at the HSBA Post

I'm blogging today over at the HSBA Post on New Year's and how to reverse engineer your goals! 

2014 Strategic Planning For Dads

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Homeschooling In Real Life - The Website

I am very excited to announce that Homeschooling In Real Life has found a new home for itself on the web. HomeschoolingIRL.com was publicly launched this evening. 

The Podcast And More

After launching our podcast in September with great success, we decided to create an all-in-one location for everything HomeschoolingIRL. As part of the network, the HomeschoolingIRL podcast will continue to be hosted on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network, but this site will provide cohesion for this new venture.

Aside from the podcast, Kendra and I will begin blogging on this new site. We will focus on homeschooling, but you can expect this blog to mimic the podcast. We will be open, transparent, and witty as we blog through the topics most homeschoolers like to avoid. Expect to be encouraged in the gospel and pushed toward living in the freedom that Christ brings.

Pop on over and take a look. Let me know what you think.

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

HSBA Post: Intentional Holidays

I blogged today over at the HSBA Post on being intentional during the holidays. Click over and check it out: 

Homeschool Dads: Intentional Holidays

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network

Several weeks ago, Kenj was approached about doing a podcast for a new network of homeschool podcasts. The idea was to collect several experienced Christian homeschoolers and create a series of podcasts that discuss topics through the spectrum. Now, for those who struggle to make it to a local or state convention, they can tune into their computer or download a podcast to hear some great content by great speakers.

As she thought about partnering with the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network, she developed the idea of podcasting as a team. After a quick discussion we came up with what we think is a perfect blend of our strengths and skills to create the "Homeschooling in Real Life Podcast" or HomeschoolingIRL.

One more thing on our plate? Not really. Technically, I already knew how to record and edit a podcast. As for content, this just becomes another outlet for us to share what we have seen and experienced after 16 years of homeschooling.  You can expect us to be witty and transparent as we pull the veil back on Christian homeschooling and uncover a few sacred cows that are worshipped.

Our first episode/introduction is already up. Follow the link to our HomeschoolingIRL on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network site and you can hear us introduce ourselves. Beginning on October 11th, we will release our podcasts every other Friday night at 8PMPST. You will be able to download from our page or by using our iTunes feed. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.  

Please give us feedback. We'd love to know what you think about the HomeschoolingIRL podcast, both technically and creatively. Any topics you want to see opened and discussed.

Quietly making noise, 
Fletch

Classic Repost: Harry Potter meets Homeschooling

Leave it to a Harry Potter movie to point out some glaring weaknesses I have observed in the conservative Christian Homeschooling movement! This post originally appeared in theMangoTimes in December of 2010, but it deserves a 2013 Back to School Repost.

Click the picture of Dolores or follow the link below to the original article! 

Harry Potter, Homeschooling and a Pink Professor!
Missing the gospel in our homeschooling.

Enjoy it...again! 

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Blogging at the HSBA Post

I put together a blog post full of advice for new homeschool dads over at the HSBA Post. In this article, I did something fun and asked a few of my favorite homeschool dads to share some of their best advice for dads that are newer to homeschooling. 

Hop on over to the HSBA Post and check out what my friends had to say about being a successful homeschooling dad. 

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Guest Blogging for Father's Day

I was invited to write a guest blog for The Homeschool Potpourri Online about Father's Day. I share the ONE AND ONLY THING all homeschool dads need to remember.  Check it out here: Homeschooling Dads: Don't Miss The Big Lesson.

Earlier this week I gave a nod to Father's Day in a blogpost I wrote at my other regular homeschool writing gig at The Homeschool Post. It was a fun look at lessons that any dad can learn from famous television dads. Here: Father's Day: Top Ten Lessons From TV Dads. Take a look at my take on Howard Cunningham, Andy Taylor, Mike Brady and more.

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

The "Get To" Parent

I wrote a post over at the HSB Post about balancing the roles of parenting when you homeschool. Check it out: The "Get To" Parent.​

Quietly making noise,
​Fletch

Blogging at The Post - Homeschool Tax Day

I just put up a new blog post over at the HSB Post. In my article I ponder what we would discover if we had a "Homeschool Tax Day" or what I describe as an annual accounting of our homeschool efforts.

What would your "Homeschool Accounting" indicate? Would you owe? Would you be getting a return? I take a fun look at evaluating your child's education. Check it out and leave me a comment! 

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

The Homeschool Post

​Follow this button to read what I have to say over at The Homeschool Post.

​I am excited to announce that I will be blogging as a monthly contributor over at The Homeschool Post.

I am the first homeschool dad to write for The HSBA Post and look forward to representing the often under spoken voice of homeschool dads. By "under spoken," I don't mean that homeschool dads are not given a platform to express our thoughts, views, or beliefs. I mean that even when given the opportunity (blogging, conferences, etc...) most dads do not take the chance to speak up about homeschooling, choosing instead to push their wives into the arena of discussion and debate. 

With a wife who is extremely involved in the world of homeschooling and blogging, I have been immersed in the homeschooling world for nearly 15 years. I've seen a lot of versions of homeschooling. The good, the bad and the ugly. It is my hope to bring everything I have to the table: experience, stimulating thoughts, gobs of humor, occasional frustration, regular encouragement, and my typical "stick-poking" to the broad topic of homeschooling.

Each month, I will let my readers here at theMangoTimes know what I am writing about over there and hopefully you will visit me at both locations. 
​Today's post is a basic introduction to who I am: Meet Fletch!
​For those who have been around theMangoTimes, there's nothing much new about me to say, but I would still love it if you would drop by and leave me a comment at The HSBA Post. Thanks!

Quietly making noise,
​Fletch

Thanks for voting!

It looks like I share one thing in common with President Obama. We have both been reelected.

That's right...theMangoTimes has been voted once again as the Best Homeschool Dad Blog! That's awesome and I thank all of my readers for voting.

I realize it's not a popular category. There aren't that many homeschool dads who write blogs (reminds me of the new Disney show: Dog With A Blog. there are only a few of us out there). However, as small as the category may be, I like to think that theMT represents a different slice of the conservative Christian homeschool community.

You know what I mean? In public, Christian homeschoolers are the butt of many jokes. Last year, one of my favorite Halloween costumes was a couple that dressed as homeschoolers (essentially they dressed as nerds, only they wore more denim). Christian homeschoolers are often viewed as uber-conservatives who dress their kids off the Garanimal rack. They button shirts to the chin and hem skirts to the ankles and pile their giant families into fifteen-passenger vans on their way to and from church sanctioned educational events. This microcosm of homeschooling tend to run in their own circles. They play instruments, not sports! (Well, except for Tim Tebow, because he is the poster child for Christian Homeschool normalization).

Relax. I will stop. I know I am exaggerating. I hope by now you would know that I like to push the example to the edge.

Only this time, my example is pretty close to reality (for years we did pile our kids into a fifteen passenger van and shuttle them to and from educational events, music lessons, and Christian homeschool gatherings, but our kids never wore Garanimals).

Yikesy, we can be an odd bunch. That is one of the reasons I like to write about homeschooling in theMangoTimes. I like to demonstrate that you can desire all the positive things about homeschooling as a Christian family, without losing your voice in the world or living up to the wacky stereotype that comes with it. I also like to think that theMT is one of the only homeschool dad blogs that will write about Church Music like this and I think I am one of the only who has a wife who is in fact a super hero. 

Thanks for voting for theMangoTimes!

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Homeschool Heartbea

This week on Homeschool Heartbeat...theMangoTimes!

I was recently interviewed by Mike Smith for five short snippets that begin airing this week on HSLDA's Homeschool Heartbeat. During the interview, I answered questions about homeschooling from my perspective as a dad.  

I really had a great time sharing how I have practically been involved homeschooling our eight kids. Like a lot of dads, I work outside of our home full time, which for me means leaving the house before anyone wakes up and not getting home until dinner is being placed on the table. Let's face it, I'm not there for any of the schooling.

I was able to share a few ways that I have been able to encourage my wife and practically help her with school. I also shared why I believe my main responsibility is to keep us focused on the gospel and how I try to encourage all of us not to shift our hope in Christ onto homeschooling, curriculum or the best educational philosophies.

First time visitors to theMangoTimes? Here are a few recommended posts:

More information on the FourOneOne teen study that was mentioned : Four One One
More on family traditions: The Longest Day
A 3-Part series on Homeschooling Dads at my wife's blog: Part One, Part Two, Part Three

A snapshot at our dinner conversation/laughs: Dad's Death and Cannibals
Just in time for Christmas: The SkyMall Catalog
A Brilliant Invention: The Hands Free Coffee Cup

You can also check out any of the categories on the sidebar on the right. Also, If you missed the interviews you can link to the Homeschool Heartbeat Interviews directly by following the links below:

11/5/12 - Homeschooling Dad, Apologist
11/6/12 - Dad's Job Starts with Mom
11/7/12 - Making Memories
11/8/12 - Enter 4OneOne
11/9/12 - Mentoring Young Men

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

Know Your Audience

Kenj and I travelled to the 2:1 Conference in Virginia this past weekend. It was a conference for Christian homeschool bloggers. Certainly a narrow sampling in the blogging world (yes, there were more than three people at the conference), but it was a really cool opportunity to meet and network throughout this small world that I share my words with as a homeschooling dad.

All weekend I was asked two basic questions: "Why do you blog?" and "Who is your audience?" The first question is simple: we live in a funny world with crazy people, I think someone should write some of this stuff down. I have a standard answer for the second question: I blog for three people and I truly have them in mind as I think through what I am writing. (I know, you are wondering...am I one of them?).

But what about the rest of you? I was encouraged to remember my audience. With the advent of microblogging through social network sites like Facebook and Twitter, commenting on blogs has declined dramatically, but I am constantly shocked to discover who is reading, lurking, skimming my words.

This isn't a plea to let me know you are here. I assume I have folks that laugh along with me at the funny things I write about. I know there are thinkers who join me in pondering faith and questioning life. I know I have my critics who look for the latest piece of evidence that Fletch has jumped ship and departed their version of orthodoxy. I know there are lurkers (I met some of you this weekend) who just read in the background. Cool! You are all welcome to hang out here.

Wondering if theMangoTimes is a blog you should share with others? I have put together a new page to help you decide: Should you read theMangoTimes? Yes. I fully expect my readership numbers to drop dramatically! :)

Quietly making noise,
Fletch 

Harry Potter, Homeschooling, and a Pink Professor

!!!WARNING!!!

THIS POST IS ABOUT HARRY POTTER!

If you haven't seen Harry Potter 5, navigate away now!  Spoilers abound in the following paragraphs!

Also...If you don't like Harry Potter or if you think that by reading this you may be turned into a newt, then please stick around!  I promise this isn't a pro/anti Harry Potter rant.  I also promise not to "geek-out" on you and I promise, promise, promise that you won't be indoctrinated into witchcraft and wizardry just by reading this post!

Actually, this post is really more about one character than it is about the book/film in general.

Okay, the warning is over...now onto the post.  I just finished Harry Potter 5: The Order of the Phoenix (and by "finished" I mean the movie). Yes, I'm watching HP from start to finish with one of the Mangoboys (and for the fun of it, let's call him "Jack"). It is our goal to catch Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 on the big screen.  Overall, I've enjoyed the stories as they follow the classic storyline of good versus evil, redemption, hero/villain, with some enjoyable twists.

Dolores Umbridge
Professor/Special Asst. to the Minister of Magic
Hogwarts School

In book/film five of the story, they have introduced a fantastic new character: Dolores Umbridge (pictured here). I won't overwhelm you with the whole HP story, but Professor Umbridge has been appointed to Hogwarts School by the Ministry of Magic as an agent of change at the school.  As I watched her character develop in this movie, I couldn't help but laugh at some similarities she shares with a few characters whom I've met in real life.

On first glance, you know Dolores is different. Instead of the typical black robe worn by students and teachers, Dolores shows up in a tailored pink wool suit complete with a flowery pink pill box hat and matching handbag.  She looks like a spokeswoman for Pepto-Bismol.  Visibly, she is the antithesis of what wizardry and witchcraft look like.  Her first words to the student body give you a hint as to why she has been brought to Hogwarts.

After the Headmaster's brief introduction, Professor Umbridge interrupts to say:

"Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged...let us preserve what must be preserved...let us perfect what can be perfected...and let us prune practices that ought to be prohibited."

Spoken with a tight smile and a syrupy sweet British accent, you know she is going to be at odds with at least the students and most likely the administration.  I'll get back to her "pruning practices" in a moment, but I want to begin with her first day in the classroom.

"There Is Nothing Out There, Dear!"

On the first day of class, Professor Umbridge introduces herself and her subject matter:

Dolores Umbridge:"Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you will be pleased to know from now on, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic. Yes?"

Hermione Granger:"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells..."

Dolores Umbridge: "...You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way."

Harry Potter: "Well, what use is that? If we're gonna be attacked it won't be risk-free."

Dolores Umbridge:"It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all, is what school is all about."

Harry Potter: "And how is theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?"

Dolores Umbridge:"There is nothing out there, dear!"

Please tell me you caught what I caught here?  Maybe it's just my experience with uber-conservative Christianity, but there are several aspects to this character that I found to be humorously analogous to some branches in the Christian Homeschooling Tree.  Here is what I caught: Theory versus reality.  Risk-free environments. Professor Umbridge focuses on teaching these Hogwart's students the theoretical knowledge of dealing with evil, but refuses to provide them any real skills or experience for engagement or defense.

The comparison I found is simple. Christian homeschoolers (and I'm one of them) have plucked their kids from the public school system.  Theory of engagement with the world is and should be taught, yet for some families that is where they stop (and this is where I swing down a few branches on the tree).  Here's what I've personally witnessed:  These families never use their training in the real world.  In an "us vs. them" mentality they continue to sterilize their children by raising them to avoid any engagement with the world.  They disengage from anything to do with popular culture instead of entering the culture equipped with a Christian worldview and practicing the skills of defense (read: Gospel living).  After pulling away from the philosophies of the world, they never return to engage the world with sound Biblical philosophy.  Even after equipping their families with the tools to engage, their energies are spent avoiding the world and living in a "secure risk-free way."  Like this example from Professor Umbridge at Hogwarts School, these parents never intend on letting their students leave the classroom.

High Inquisitor

After only a short time at Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic expands the Pink Professor's role at the school: "Having already revolutionized the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Dolores Jane Umbridge will, as High Inquisitor, have powers to address the seriously falling standards at Hogwarts School."

Here is another place where I found that art intersects reality.

Measuring Up

Dolores becomes both a teacher and a clipboard carrying inquisitor.  She is often seen interrupting classes in session and challenging what and how other instructors are teaching the students.  One of my favorite scenes shows Dolores using a tape measure against the choirmaster to literally see if he "measures up."

Hello? Can we find similarities with this clipboard carrying inquisitor within our own experience?  How often have I picked up the clipboard and tape measure?  Too often.  We don't need to look too far into the Christian homeschool community or even some of our churches or some of our own lives (there I said it...) to find the behavior we see displayed in Dolores.  

On the outside, she projects perfection.  Tailor-fitted clothing and a matching pink office with walls covered with photos of cats (yes, she is the ultimate "cat lady").  Visitors are escorted into her office and served a hot cup of tea.  Dolores appears kind and hospitable (afterall, she's doing things right!), yet without skipping a beat, she politely shows where her guest has not met the standard and all the time smiling and sipping tea.

Comparisons. Pride. Inquisitions.  This doesn't just happen at Hogwarts people!  This happens around our kitchen tables (and sometimes around our communion tables...ouch!).  We are reminded in Proverbs that God hates a proud look and one who has haughty eyes, yet this behavior comes so easily to us as Christian homeschoolers.  With little effort we can all become like Dolores.  We pick up our measuring tapes and evaluate one another according to a standard that we have created and others simply cannot keep.  How easy it is for us to become pink-washed tombs? Ha!

Pruning Prohibited Practices

After her instatement as High Inquisitor, Dolores also focuses her attention on student behavior at Hogwarts.  With a down-turned eye, she instates a series of new decrees to the Hogwarts student body.  Clothing standards, relationship standards, how to talk, how to think, how to live...nothing is outside of her reach.

With each declaration, she frames the edict and her lackey assistant nails it to the school wall.  As her laws multiply so does the difficulty to police student behavior.  Dolores solves this by recruiting several Hogwarts students to serve on her Inquisatorial Squad and rat out classmates whose behavior is out of line.  Within time, there is a new law for every behavior and the school wall is covered with framed decrees.  Students are driven to misery until the inevitable finally happens. In the movie, a comical student revolt is led and Umbridge is driven from her post at the school.  As the lawmaker flees the auditorium, the framed laws shatter away from the wall (see photo below).

Exploding Degrees at Hogwarts

Legalism is tricky that way.  You can't stop with just one law (like Pringles potato chips).  Laws have a funny way of multiplying and soon they are hard to keep track of, let alone keep.  Yet there are families trying to manage behavior every day with external systems and rules.  It's impossible.  I've tried.  I've witnessed it in church and in the homeschool community with my own two eyes.  I've seen kids that were seemingly well controlled for years finally revolt. 

I remember reading an article a few years ago about kids who "jump ship" and reject a system based on meaningless rules.  I've seen it and when they jump, they jump far away and land running!  Lists of right and wrong behaviors will serve to frustrate children, not encourage them.  Dolores Umbridge had rules, plenty of them.  What she lacked was a relationship with her students and a desire for them to grow and learn and apply their learning in real world situations.  They never were allowed to take their education and use it outside of the classroom.

Oh how I loved and hated the character of Dolores Umbridge.  What an example of how not to run a school of witchcraft and wizardy!

Quietly making noise,

Fletch

PS...see, you didn't turn into a newt!

Winner!

Thanks for voting! I cannot believe it, but I was voted the Best Homeschool Dad Blog for 2010. I was truly surprised by this year's results and I am thankful anyone even cares what I write.
I was unable to make it to the ceremony when the awards were presented, but here are a few random quotes I picked up from those that were in attendance:

The Award Committee: "Best Homeschool Dad Blog goes to...(pause)...What? Are you sure? This guy? Again?...(pause)...Yes, sorry...and this year's best homeschool dad blog goes to The Mango Times...(whispers)...shhh...I don't know how he won, we took his name out of the envelope on purpose."

President Barack Obama: "Mr. Fletcher or Fletch as he has asked me to call him is truly deserving of this award and he embodies the "can-do" American spirit that I have been talking about throughout my presidency. His commitment to blogging and "quietly making noise" sets him apart in the blogosphere. Personally, Michelle and I would like to thank him for his behind the scenes work on this year's Beer Summit and those crazy rides he gave us and the secret service in his VW bus."

Russ N. Peace, American Roadside Memorial Association: "Yes, we are here to protest this award, because of his ongoing remarks against road side memorials..."

Jimmy Buffett (video): "Congratulations from Key West, FL to the Mango Man for another fabulous showing at the Homeschool Blog Awards! Fins to the left! Your pal Jimmy!"

John Warren, Retired USAF: "Deserving? Hardly...Fletch doesn't even write this stuff...theMangoTimes has been ghost written by his son Christian for years..."

Cookie Fletcher, mother: "As I like to say, it's all in the way you raise your children...which reminds me of a story about this time in Baltimore when Andy was born..."

Joe Fletcher, father: "My son won an award! Attaboy Scott! Good job!"

Kendra Fletcher: "Oh brother, another year of him wearing that stupid shirt that says "Bow down to the Homeschool Dad Blog Champion" around the house!"

Like I said...just a sampling of things that were said at the awards banquet. Friends in Mangoland, thanks for voting. From the very first issue of theMangoTimes, I have always written for a select group of readers. For the rest of you who like my words, thanks for hanging around!

Quietly making noise,
Fletch