If you haven't read the background to this series please do so now.

Two posts got me thinking about this subject:

1. Creation vs. Chance
2. American's knowledge about creationism and evolution

Looking at these two posts--coming from opposite sides of the ring--it became clear to me that "Evolution" is rather unclear. Sadly, my own ignorance is all too evident the more I learn. But, I'd like to share what little I think I currently understand in the interest of better science...

I soaked up the rebuttals to evolution early in life. I really enjoyed the "Frog in a Blender" and "toss parts of an airplane into the air" thought experiments. Sadly, it wasn't until last year that I even heard that these two staples of my grasp of evolutionary theory are wrong.

Part of my ignorance is understandable. "Evolution" is a vague term that is rarely defined consistently enough to talk about it. Here are a few areas of "evolution":

• Descent with modification. Mix this with genetic mutation and heredity, and we've got something everyone can agree on. ...mostly. The fact is: Living organisms change with reproduction. One main protested sticking point is...
• Common descent. Can all living things trace back to some original source via speciation? And, if so, where did that life come from? That is the question considered from a naturalistic perspective in the study of...
• Abiogenesis. An element connected with abiogenesis is the Big Bang, or the potential starting point that flung everything in the universe out there.
• Notice, however, that none of these areas of study even begin to touch the question of "how did it all get here in the first place?"

If we are to get anywhere in a discussion about evolution, we must be aware of which aspect of evolution we are talking about. Modification is a fact. Common descent is a theory. Abiogenesis is a naturalistic necessity. And the origin of matter is an ignored reality. ...all for very good reasons.

Or so I'm told.

I have yet to learn what most those reasons are. They weren't covered in my Honors Biology class in high school. They aren't covered in any of the Usborne books Sonlight carries in our homeschool Science programs. In fact, much of what I know about evidence for evolution comes from Young Earth Creationists' materials. Which is problematic because those are the same resources which contain the frog-blender/airplane-toss examples...

Why is it wrong to compare evolution to a blended frog zapped with electricity?

Because the "random chance" of evolution is not nearly that random or chance-ish. Here's the best analogy I've come up with thus far:

Evolutionary speciation is not like tossing pieces in the air an expecting a plane. It's more like replacing a piece of your Lego set with another piece--grabbed without looking from your bucket--each time you build a plane. If you like the new look, you keep that design for next time.

This aspect of evolution requires life to already exist. In fact...

Something I've only just started to glance at is the idea of engineered evolution. Basically, if common descent is a part of how we all got here, life was designed to evolve us forward. That is a fascinating twist!

I've still got a lot to learn about this subject. But that's the joy (and frustration) of life-long learning <smile>.

Have you heard any evidence for evolution that didn't come from someone who opposes it? And if so, what?

What do you think of the random mutation generator? Pretty fun, eh?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

P.S. If I've misrepresented something here, please leave a comment so we can learn together!

The first My Passport to India video is up. Check it out! But first, a word from me...

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 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

"The fog of sleep evaporated quickly as the sunlight hit his eyes. He tried to focus on the thing in front of him. Whatever it was, it was smiling."

That is still one of my favorite openings to a story I never really started. My files are filled with these incomplete works. I get an idea and start in, only to run out of time, imagination, or get sidetracked by another great idea.

There's absolutely something to be said for learning to finish projects. It is essential that we develop follow-through and tenacity in our work. We must learn how to get to the end of things and be willing to stop when it's "good enough." Those are important skills. But, in many ways, I don't think we should push ourselves--or our students--to finish creative works, our essays--our attempts.

A silent shard, a sliver,
A ...

I started typing that over two years ago, my mind flooded with words which fit together beautifully, only to reach the second line and go completely blank.

I quietly mourned the loss of a beautiful verse, and then moved on.

The wonderful mastery approach to learning should not be applied to creative writing, artistic works, or technological tinkering. The point is to discover the joy of playing with the medium--be it words, wood, or wingbats. There will be time to hone your skill; to get the punctuation correct, to trace the line without wobbling, to know the theory behind the circuitry. But for now, these attempts open the world of possibility.

What does this mean practically for your homeschool?

Don't detract points for coloring outside the lines.
Don't feel the need to correct spelling in creative works. And if your student is done with the assignment, even if it is incomplete, it may be time to move on to something else.

If you find it hard not to just let things be, make sure your children have plenty of opportunity to do things on their own. I don't think my parents have seen more than a few pages of what I wrote while at home. Most of my practice with writing came from doing it on my own time; time afforded me because I was homeschooled.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

"And remember," I add with all the gravity I can convey, "this is complicated by the fact that he likes you."

I don't recall what the situation was when I gave out this tidbit of advice. I can't remember why it mattered. But it did. For whatever the details, it was important that my little brother liked the girl I was talking to. That was a big part of the issue.

"Don't talk about stuff you don't know everything about, Luke." I don't know how he found out. But he did. And he was mad.

I can still feel the way my heart pounded when I realized that I was wrong. I didn't know everything about the situation. In fact, I knew very little about what was going on. Worse yet, I was faced with the probability that I had confused the issue. I was confident my observations were correct, but not complete. And that incomplete picture had led me to the wrong conclusion. I'm sure my little brother was attracted to her. But I'm unsure, today, if that mattered at all in that situation.

This all floods back as I consider these comments: Do we really use things "out of the box" our early years of homeschooling because we lack the confidence?

Well, yes. Absolutely.

And yet I think this idea--which I see again and again--that we're insecure when we start out, confuses the issue. We're insecure, not because that is part of who we are, but because we don't know what we're doing. Our insecurities are based in our lack of knowledge. And that lack of knowledge is the real issue. Put another way: We rightly lack self-confidence when we have yet to have learned how to do something.

The great news is that you can learn. In fact, you can likely attest to how much you've grown in your abilities to homeschool. And as you've learned how to educate your children at home, you've grown in confidence in your ability to do so. Why? Because you've succeeded again and again.

You can homeschool. But if you're feeling intimidated because you don't know how to do it with your preschooler (or your high schooler, for that matter), we'd be thrilled if you took advantage of the resources you have in homeschool curriculum. Sonlight, as someone once said, teaches you how to homeschool.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester

P.S. Already know what you're doing but don't know about something within Sonlight? Not sure which package or product would be right for your students? Chat with a Sonlight Advisor and gain confidence from someone who is here to share with you what she has learned.

"Sweet!"

I'm giddy. My wife, who has uncomfortably hovered nearby for the last half-hour, sighs in relief. "You finally figure it out?"

I proudly show her the product of my labor: My computer's login screen now matches my desktop wallpaper.

Brittany's distrust of my abilities was well founded. I was following unclear instructions on the internet in my attempts to manually tweak my computer's permissions and registry keys. For those who do that kind of thing all the time, no sweat. For someone, like me, who knows only enough to get myself into trouble, it causes my wife more than a little concern. But there's something about renaming the hard drives, tweaking the desktop, and organizing my folders that makes the computer mine.

As homeschoolers, we often do the same with curriculum. We'll tweak and adjust to meet our family's needs. This ability to find--and use--what works is one of the many strengths of homeschooling: We can customize our curriculum so it reflects what our students need. We aren't required to use our educational materials "as is"... in fact, it's important to remember that your curriculum is a tool, not a taskmaster.

As you continue in your school year, remember that even a completely packaged curriculum can be adjusted to meet your needs. Perhaps it's something big, like rearranging the daily schedule to fit your timetable. Or, perhaps, it's something as simple as adding a label to your binder so it matches your pencils...

How about you? What do you enjoy tweaking so it feels more like it's yours? What do you use "as is"?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester