Homeschooling 101

Closing this blog

2011-05-30T04:02:00.000-07:00

I have decided to switch to a new blog. I wanted a new name, a new feel, a new ... I dunno.

So I opened a new one.

http://buildingwingspan.blogspot.com/

I'm not taking this one down totally, I need to comb through for links and things I want to keep. So, till I close it consider this one

P:52 More catch up!

2011-03-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

Two more and then I'll be ready to unvail this weeks "Planning" pictures :)

Underneath was fun for me. I've taken a similar picture before so I kind of cheated but I just LOVE the way this looks. And when we went to a local nature center and we were walking the path the pine trees just called to me to snap em. They should be good for something at least (I hate the pines, the amount of needles they drop every year is ridiculous. and the pollen they spew is ridiculous). And they really give the picture the feeling of underneath to me. I think I may have overshot the vibrance for the blue sky. I will probably play with it some more later now that I'm seeing it again :P

I wasn't sure what to do for this because the two of them together was a difficult thing. Should I pose something? I wasn't sure about that. BUT then I walked out and saw my flower tree. See I don't know what kind of tree it is. It flowers as soon as there are 3 warm days in a row in February. Then in the first 2 weeks of March the flowers fall off and the leaves pop open. It's always so sad because the flowers are GORGEOUS these thick (almost magnolia thickness) purple and white flowers, so large and just beautiful and they just disappear. :( BUT it gives me autumn in spring :) Because I have the bright spring green of the new leaves and the brown withered petals that are so large they look like leaves on the ground.

I did minimal work on this picture. I cropped it a tiny bit and brightened it and saturated the green a little. :)

Make ups for my P:52 projects.

2011-03-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

I've been SO busy. Sigh. February and the beginning of March turned out to be one of the busiest times I can remember! But I've got all of the photos for the matching weeks processed now :)

So without any further ado:

First up was Romance. This fell right when my brother and now sister-in-law were getting married. :) How fortuitous that they had asked me to be their photographer!

This shot got it's background cleaned up a tiny bit and that's really it. Otherwise it's Straight out of the camera!

The following week was spirit and I saw some awesome pictures. One I really wanted to take was a prancing horse, but I didn't have the opportunity.
Instead I went with scary :) Spirt=ghost type thing :) Because we have these OLD birdhouses in the backyard that once were probably gorgeous and lovely
but now are just creepy. We rent for now but even if this was my house someone else would have to pull them down because I'm not touching them. Ever. Of course I had to black and white it for that Psycho Birdhouse feel and I upped the contrast to give the shadows more prominence. I think it screams "spirits in here" :)

Next up was Vegetables.
The Boy is checking out his produce. He does this often. He LOVES greens. Any kind, salad type, cooked, lettuce on sandwiches or broccoli for snack. Here he is eyeing the leafy stuff. In a previous picture he had his mouth all open going 'yum yum yum' lol :) I upped the vibrance to make that green pop and left it alone otherwise.

I think that's enough for one post, but I'll get the next two out and everything soon. :)

Moaning Monday: The Brain Fever of Curriculum Shopping.

2011-03-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

Since we've been plowing through our various material (the Girl is done with her Math, the boy has 3 weeks left, they both have 2 weeks left for LA, etc, etc) I've started to hesitiatingly think ahead to next year.

I say hesitatingly because I love curriculum.

I love all curriculum. Even that which I can never use because it doesn't match my beliefs. I love flipping through Christian Light, or Abeka, or Charlotte Mason stuff or Well-trained Mind, etc. etc. etc.

So when I start peeking just a little it's kind of a joke.

Because I can't just look at A Reason For Spelling. I have to look at that, and All About Spelling, and Spectrum, and about a dozen others include do-it yourself ones. And it just inflames me. I feel like my brain starts going 100 mph and I can't get a handle on it to stop it. There is no way to yell WOAH.

So if I start to ask 2000 questions or start posting tons of links to freebies, deals, or reviews you'll know what's happening.

In the meantime I'm going to start the rounds on science curriculum reviews :P

Sweet Shot Tuesday

2011-03-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

Straight out of the camera. :)
Lovely light, I adore this picture. And I adore spending time at the park with the kids.

Isn't the Baby getting so big?

The Girl and her dirt.

The little Boy telling me to take his picture.

want more Sweet Shots? Follow the linky :)

Monday with no moaning

2011-03-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

I just can't complain today.

I know scores of mommies are bemoaning Daylights Savings time right now. They have to wake up when it's still dark again, it's hard to adjust.

BUT since I stay home it's amazing.

Because the Boy is a rooster. An 8 year old rooster.

He wakes up between 6-6:30 almost all year.

EXCEPT for the 3-4 weeks after Spring Forward DST that it's still dark in the morning.

This morning it was 7:15. I will expect it to gradually shift. But for now I'm 'sleeping in' and it feels soooo nice.

And kind of sad. I used to 'sleep in' till noon in college. Now...not so much. I miss it sometimes. I do. :)

Wonderful Wednesday: The Sookie Stackhouse Novels

2011-03-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

So I don't multitask well. Or rather I don't when you throw in one singular activity: Reading.

Once I start reading I've been known to get so absorbed it's ridiculous. I sometimes have to be touched or shouted at to recognize that someone is trying to get my attention. And I LOVE reading. So it's hard not to do so during periods of time when I just can't afford to be that absorbed.

But I threw caution to the wind and fired up my ereader (LOVE IT. LOVE my Sony Ereader. Love. love.) and started rereading the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

If you haven't read them they are about vampires 'coming out' to the world and some of the repercussions for the world from that and in particular one lady (Sookie). The HBO show Trublood is loosely based on the novels (and are great in their own way as long as you realize they are LOOSELY based on them). And they are like...I dunno. What is the junkiest junk food you can think of?

There's no real thought to them, though they COULD HAVE been made into a social commentary on discrimination (think V. or Alien Nation). They COULD HAVE been made into a social commentary on religious doctrine.

But they aren't. They are just junk food for your brain. And oh so yummy to read. Rated R though, definitely not for sharing with your kids. Definitely Rated R. Which not everyone can handle or enjoy but I happen to do both :)

I love reading these books and I love that there are so many. Because one of the most heartbreaking things when you read is finding a good set of characters and then running out of books to read about them.

It's Not Because of the Teachers

2011-02-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

You hear a lot of things when you home school. You hear complaints and praises. You hear some facts, you hear some myths.

Some of them are pretty bearable and can be handled with dignity, snark, or just ignoring them.

But there is one that always drives me a little crazy, just because it's so far from the truth.

That is the one that goes Home schoolers are against/hate "The Teachers" and are somehow insulting them. Squeeze me? Baking powder?

You know...sigh. I DO happen to know a few people that have had particular issues with A teacher. Not 'teachers' in general, just 'A' teacher. Either the way they taught, the methods they used, an inability/lack of desire to bend caused them problems.

But the majority of us do NOT homeschool because of the Teachers. We don't even have a problem with teachers. Having taught 2-19 (hello Duggars) students of our own that we are biologically designed to love a lot of us have respect for the patience and tolerance that they exhibit. And the knowledge they have.

I have many teacher friends that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE talking to for help. (Lori and Melinda I am talking to you ladies!) They are fonts of wisdom just from years of having done this.

And so many of us are still babes in the woods since each year is a new place for us to be.

Home schoolers have problems with the testing. We have problems with the way teachers are made to teach (and tons of them will tell you they are sad with the way their hands are tied, the way curriculums are chosen, the way they are told to teach their curriculums, and the 'other' stuff they have to do). We have a problem with the school systems in general.

But on the whole we love the teachers, frequent teacher blogs, follow favorite ones on twitter for their links and their tips, and in general cherish the ones willing to help us in our quest to educate our children as best we can.

I just think maybe the record needed to be set straight.

A break in Moaning to bring you: The Snackadium

2011-02-07T04:48:00.000-08:00

We LOVE football and we LOVE hosting parties. So of COURSE we love hosting a superbowl party. LOVE it. We love having friends over, love sharing food, love talking and laughing, etc. So much fun.

We really enjoy all of it (well, maybe not the blitz cleaning that goes into it ... )

But we really enjoy feeding people too. We always buy too much. We always have so much left over. And we still always try to do more/better. This year I found websites showing their 'snackadiums' their snacks in the shape of a stadium. I wanted.

I wanted deeply.

It didn't look overly challenging. Very little actual cooking involved.

I needed. NEEDED.

So I made it.

I started with the 'stuff' of course the 'stuff' for the other things was included there too so that's not really all that is included in the snackadium :)

These are my rice crispy treats. Although I actually ended up with 3 batches (my husband actually made them, such a sweet guy).

Here is my dip dish, also known as the playing field. It's a 13x9 pan, I took some heavy duty tinfoil and folded it to fit folded it again to mold it into a dip tray to hold 3 dips. I made the ends smaller. :)

Those things were all done well in advance of the party, about an hour before I began my assembly.

First I made my stadium ring.

Here is my canvas for this piece of art. It's just a card table with a black very cheap table cloth. That's so I have a clean place to put the food on AND super easy clean up as well.

Here are my blocks of rice crispy treats. I generally cut then thinner than I normally would to have more and to make them easier to 'ring'

And I put the pan in the middle of the table to 'guide' me. :) And here are my stadium walls.

See, my dips!

Now see them as a field

Guac in the middle and two 'others' on the ends. :)

The stadium ring with just the dip

What is a stadium without the fans yes?

Just pick your dips and chips to match and you should be good.

This is what it looked like at halftime

I said we always have more food than needed. This is what it looked like at the end of the party

I think I could have made it smaller and used half bags instead of whole ones. BUT a snackadium filling a table was a lovely site :)

Other sites will show slim jim uprights and little vienna sausages with cheese pieces on em to be players but I didn't like that. Too many things people wouldn't be willing to eat or mess up. So I just left them out. I really love the way this turned out, leftovers and everything.

And it was really not that difficult or even expensive to make. :)

Oh. And to round it all out. A cute pic of the baby in her redskins gear, ashamed they aren't in the superbowl.

The Project 52 Pictures Week 5! Sleep

2011-02-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

First, let me say that at first I was a little put off that Sleep followed Tired. They are so similar! BUT they are NOT so similar that when I began to think through shots they were the same and it was not repetitive like I feared.

So here's what I've got :)

The 3 year old is going through another growth spurt cycle where he needs more sleep and is refusing naps :P SO he collapsed on the couch the other day. :) Lucky me because a couple pictures I took of some outside buds were not working out. :P I'm still working on that, but for now, I was TRYING to take the picture with the rule of 3rds in mind. I think I was moderately successful :) I know I still need work though. I'll get there ;) I desaturated a bit and cropped out his tush to help with the rule of thirds and because he was only wearing undies (he's a semi-nudist as a hobby I think).

Same time, same kid :) Also trying to keep the rule of thirds in mind when taking the picture. I know the hair is a distraction though. And while I thought at first that the cheek would be a nice expanse now I'm not as happy with it. All I did with this one was a touch of desaturation and a little contrast play.

There's no point in having a cat and not taking it's picture when "sleep" is the theme. I desaturated the bean bag because the stupid creature picked the orange one instead of the blue one EVERY SINGLE DAY (even now when she could irk me by picking the blue one as I post this she's on the orange one). I like her lines because of the way she's curled up even as I wonder at how it's possible to be comfortable like that :) And I played with my in house lighting for this one and put a lamp near her trying to give her a little 'glowy' look. Kinda worked? I really like this one :)

Okay so I kind of went overboard this week. But I wanted something 'creative' and well, sometimes you don't get sleep from normal places, sometimes you need help and that when your sleep looks like this! I used a bowl for a 'white box' :) worked pretty well though it was very hard to get the pills how I wanted (had to pull some out because there were too many to stay in shape). I had very little 'work' to do. The vibrance, color balance, etc. was all done for me. I did have some cropping to do because there was an awful lot of empty white space (as opposed to working white space that frames and gives shape ;) ) around it. I think the focus is in slightly the wrong place, not 100% where I wanted it, but my point and shoot wouldn't move it where I wanted it :P I love this one though. So crazy with the colors. I like the idea too :)

Next week: Body Parts!!

One answer to the day that starts off not so well

2011-02-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

Generally speaking I have no complaints in the sleep department. The oldest three wake up a might bit early, but they go to sleep painlessly all 3 at the same time between 8 and 9 every day. The youngest between 9 and 10 depending on when her nap ends and what we do during the day. She generally sleeps through the night too, very occasionally waking to nurse.

So I'm pretty blessed in that respect.

This week it has all fallen apart.

4 nights ago the baby was unable to settle for a while. She'd make noises, whimper, or sit up for a second before going to sleep for about 3 hours.

The following night she did the same, and then at the end of the 3 hours she woke to nurse and then stayed awake for 4 hours. :(

Next night was recovery and she slept well.

Then last night happened. First, the 3 year old fell asleep at like 6:30 after a day of fun outside and such. He's impossible to wake up when that happens. He missed dinner and eventually I just took him to bed praying the night would go alright.

Around 9 oclock the Girl walks out of her room. She's scared. Scientists say the world will come to an end in 2012 and blow up. Sigh. No more tv. we reassure her and it's back to bed. She comes out again at 9:30, close to tears, she's scared and doesn't know why but she can't sleep. This has NEVER happened before with her. She's 7 and it's NEVER happened. Not sure what's up with it, but we let her pull up a few bean bags and sleep on them with us in the living room. Around 10:30 the baby, who's been resistant this night, is asleep, we take her and the Girl to bed.

Around 11 the 3 year old is up. Every.30.minutes. He needs water. He needs to potty. He's scared. I knew this would happen. It doesn't help. Finally at about 1:30 he's back out for good.

Phew.

At 2:30 the Baby wakes up. She nurses and spends 30 minutes afterward threatening to stay awake.
After this week of poor sleep I'm kinda terrified.

And then she falls really asleep. And then the kids all wake at 6:30 (except for the Baby, she's out till 7:30.

And I am WIPED. Drained, kaput, fatigued, dragging. I need to make a to do list and I just can't.

Coffee is failing me (why coffee, why???)

So I needed something and I needed it fast. Something, I can't even remember what, reminds me of a song. (That happens a lot for me) so...I pulled up youtube and Ice Ice Baby and taught the kids the electric slide. (yes. yes I did.)

Then we danced to House of Pains Jump Around

That was the Boy's favorite. He loved jumping around. :)

And an Edited version of the Humpty Dance.

A good 15 minutes of stupid dancing has done wonders for my outlook. WONDERS.

Bonus, we then cooled down to the Mummer's Dance (I know, doesn't fit the other 3. But my aunt lives in Ireland and was talking about Irish music this morning and it made me think of Mummer's Dance)

:) Now I have a much brighter and more positive outlook on today.

Thank you Vanilla Ice, House of Pain, and Humpty. Thank you

The House, the messy, messy house!

2011-02-01T04:41:00.000-08:00

We've been working SO HARD at keeping up with lessons, doing our reading, our math, our crafts. Meeting with groups, fieldtrips, etc.

So much!!

er.

except cleaning the house. Right? Am I right? PLEASE tell me I'm not alone. :D

So now we are trying to work with books in stacks, toys strewn about, dishes calling our names, and laundry creating a new tourist attraction called Mt. Washmore.

It is so HARD to stay positive and upbeat in a house that is cluttered and suffocating.

At the same time attacking any one thing seems impossible. It seems endless and Where-do-I-start-ish.

So here are some tips I am using to not let my house burn me out, depress me, and steal my February.

1) Listen to the Flylady.
I cannot do the emails. They drive me crazy. BUT the tip to do some stopwatch cleaning is phenomenal. Take incriments of time. 10, 15, 20, whatever I have. Set a timer. Clean, JUST CLEAN, for those minutes. Pick one area to start in. A counter, a table, the floor. ONE SMALL AREA. Clean it for 10 minutes and then stop.

Voila!

You've made your house better, cleaned something, and probably made a visible impact without overwhelming yourself and making things so difficult on you. I do this in my kitchen and my living room now and it's making an impact.

A mountain (even mt. washmore) is a terrible burden to bear. A pebble seems like nothing. But a nice sized rock, we can move with pride AND relief!

2) Start a load of laundry before you start school. Throw it in the wash! When you break for lunch throw it in the dryer! When you finish your day fold it and put it away! Hooray for a whole load of clothes done. IF you take more breaks (we do one for recess in the morning and the afternoon) you can even do 2 loads this way without really breaking a sweat. Which, when you have 4 kiddos, is kinda necessary.

and our final tip of the day to keep the house from wrecking your flow. (this is for those with younger kids, under 10 I'd say. I can see some major Moooooommmm and eyerolling if you try this on a preteen or teenager. It works great on my kids but they are 3, 7, and 8!)

3) Set up a good 30 minutes in your school schedule where your kids play the cleaning game. Give them a number of toys to put away, a number of books, a number of pieces of paper (we have paper trash everywhere because my kiddos hate trees and love to draw, into recycling they go!) and have them clean up that way. They will have a definable goal. A reason to count. And will learn how to help around the house more effectively. This is a saving grace for me. My kids clean so well when they have goals as opposed to "clean up that room"

I will admit, they get chocolate chips (2) for completing the goal. The great thing is I can say "go clean 20 toys" a79nd they do it and will go back to do so again for another 2 chocolate chips! Small price pay. :)

4) A to do list!
OMG but they help. If I have something staring me in the face saying "do this" I am SO much more likely to remember and do it. I go small on it too. "Check work email" and "Check work email again" so that I remember to do so once in the morning and once in the evening so that I am on top of it. I will even write down who I would like to call that day. Once it's written I will do my best to do it all. It helps me with the "I wear 17 hats" of it all. Because otherwise my stuff for work gets pushed around by homeschool which gets shoved out for housework, which gets replaced by parenting, which then is knocked down a peg by the wife, the sister, the daughter, the helper, the nursery attendant, and it all gets overrun by everything else.
A list lets me see what all needs to be done for EVERYTHING so I can prioritize and tackle it!

I love my to do list!!

And I love all the tips I've listed hear. Each of them is helping me make my house a more livable and lovable home. Which makes me a more livable and lovable person :)

Moaning Monday: Technology.

2011-01-31T03:40:00.000-08:00

I've probably covered this before.

How could I not...it's such a 'thing'.

I LOVE Technology. LOVE it.

I love having a laptop. I love my smartphone. I love my husbands Ipad. I love my ereader. I love my digital cameras.

Until they break. :(

Or go wonky :(

Or get lost. :(

S'rsly people. S'RSLY. It is at those times that I determine that I am absolutely too dependent upon these idiot boxes. Like 100% too dependent.

I can't handle it when the router has a breakdown (like it's been doing lately) and so my wireless laptop is more paper weight than window to the rest of the world/research tool/shopping tool. It is so frustrating to have to reconnect to the internet every five minutes.

I can't handle it when my ereader gets frozen up so I can't read my book or do well...anything with it. :/ I am SO CLOSE to finishing a book I've been reading FO-EVAH and it won't let me do anything with it right now!

I can't handle it when I lose my camera and cannot take the many pictures I NEED to take. The Baby is being cute with a headband she's putting on and off! Argh where is it?? The 3 year old colored himself with markers within 3 minutes of his bath...COME ON PEOPLE!

Sigh.

It's not fair. If technology is going to be such an absolute part of our lives it has to be more reliable and less loseable. :P I'm just saying. They are so touchy. Like prissy little things giving you attitude about having to take out the trash. (I'm remembering my sister spending 30 minutes to take trash out to the dumpster...love you sis!)

Just get OVER IT and work damn you!

I want to finish that chapter/play on the internet/take pictures really badly.

Mmmmmkay?

The Project P:52 Week 4 Tired

2011-01-30T13:08:00.000-08:00

This weeks pictures :)

This was my first attempt. We had been out all day and she was exhausted. BUT...as soon as I pulled out the camera she was all sparkles in her eyes and smiles. :P I worked a little on the sharpness and contrast but she looks like she's playing to the camera and not sleepy/tired. Sigh. I don't think I am happy with the composition of it. She's too centered or something you know? Maybe if it had been head on or from an angle?

So I took a picture of my shoes because these are the ones I wear to work. And since I stand for 2-3 hours after I get home my feet and these shoes are TIRED. I actually took the picture in black and white, but not intentionally. The 3 year old had grabbed the camera at some point anad changed settings. But it really worked for the idea I had. I didn't have a lot to adjust for except for some flash glare. BUT I decided to slap a warming filter on there and I really like the way it turned out. :) I think I like almost everything about this picture. I kind of wish I'd have squished down the tops to make the shoes look more tired. But then again that would have been disingenuous. I like them 'real' too.

Next week is Sleep...much different than Tired or just a little? We'll just have to wait and see :D

A Lovely Thought for a Thursday

2011-01-27T04:02:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine posted this on her facebook status. I think sometimes you are just given messages you NEED to hear. And it's wonderful :)

The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922.

The Teacher

Leslie Pinckney Hill


LORD, who am I to teach the way
To little children day by day,
So prone myself to go astray?

I teach them KNOWLEDGE, but I know
How faint they flicker and how low
The candles of my knowledge glow.

I teach them POWER to will and do,
But only now to learn anew
My own great weakness through and through.

I teach them LOVE for all mankind
And all God’s creatures, but I find
My love comes lagging far behind.

Lord, if their guide I still must be,
Oh let the little children see
The teacher leaning hard on Thee.

Wonderful Wednesday: Being Thankful

2011-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm dragging today. Like "I don't wanna you can't make me wahhhhh" dragging. The weather is NASTY looking, gray, cold, and wet.

We are starting school an hour late. Which is not THAT big of a deal, the Hubby is going to be at work ALL DAY LONG till like 8. So we have a good amount of time till he's home.

But ughhhh. It's just one of those days. Which is STUPID since we are in our new homeschool room (pics after some stuff goes up on the walls :))

So instead of moaning about all of that I am going to be thankful and make a little list to pull me out of my funkadilly circus.

1) I am thankful for friends that drop unexpected encouragement that hits just right. On facebook status's, forum posts, phone calls, or emails. Sometimes they say things for themselves that really help me out too. I love that.

2) I am thankful for my children. How 'normal' and 'expected' but I am. EVER so thankful for these little monkey's.

3) I am thankful for the rain that will help us stay away from drought conditions again that seem to plague our state.

4) I am thankful for having multiple laptops so that I can have my computer while the 3 year old plays super why online :)

5) I am thankful for baby gates that keep my 1 year old in a safe place so I don't have to spend all day chasing her instead of schooling the kiddos.

6) I am thankful for coffee. Oh yeah baby. Coffee is my friend and my vice and I accept it with open arms. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. So pass the coffee and keep it flowing. Once I wean the Baby I will be drinking even more of it I'm sure. :)

7) I am thankful for my job. Teaching university students is a lovely change of pace and I do it JUST often enough to not get tired of it. Twice a week is PERFECT.

8) I am thankful for preboxed mixes of stuff. I think I might bake something from one of em later. :) Maybe some chocolate chip muffins for the kids.

9) I am thankful for my husband. He not only helps as much as he can, he makes the days more fun, loving, and bright.

10) And finally I am thankful for my Faith. Without it my days would be so much less in every way.

Phew. I feel a bit better. I feel more able to start the day (which is good, cause the kids are almost done with their reading. ) And I feel happier. :D Ta Da!

The Project 52 Pictures Week 3: Macro!!

2011-01-25T12:47:00.000-08:00

I've been sitting on my macro for a while.

I only have the point and shoot right now and it irritates me because I had a macro lens for my dslr :( but I finally took this, the idea I loved, the execution could use some work. First it was indoors, and p-n-s's (actually dslrs) just do better in natural lighting . :P

Second the warp was more complicated to adjust for than I thought it would be. There was a particular look I was going for and out of 12 pictures this was the closest.

And third I didn't realize until after that I'd been taking the pictures against a very garish yellow background (my sons desk) so I fixed that with the black and white. I also adjusted the contrast some to get a crisper letter.

I'm working on tired right now for next week, but I wanted to put this out now before I got any later. :)

Preventing Burnout.

2011-01-24T03:59:00.000-08:00

February is around the corner and with it the burnout.
See, here's the thing. Every year we all peter out in December and do less than we wanted. We hit it back hard with a resolve to 'do better' come the New Year. And we DO. For like 6 weeks we just go. Head long, head down, take no prisoners.

And then come mid to end of February we are TIRED. We are run down. We are burned out. To a crisp burned out! Which makes us collapse in on ourselves and set us up for months of catch up, self doubt and honestly leads to the failure of some homeschools every year.

It happens to so many homeschoolers every year. I see it on the forums, I see it amongst friends.
I see it happening to ME.
February is nobodies friend.

Maybe it's because of the sunlight factor. (We all lose vitamin d in the winter)
Maybe it's because it seems so far from May?
Maybe it's because it is soooo collllddddd and cabin fever doesn't help?

It doesn't matter.

It's not going to happen this year. Despite already having visions of a week long break with no plans (mostly cause I want to scrapbook and cannot when we have school or have other things going on, not yet the Baby gets her little paws into everything :P.)

I am going to fight this thing tooth and nail and I WILL force us outside for whatever sunshine we can find. I WILL do things to keep it fun and fresh for the kids and for me. And I WILL keep from taking short cuts and easy ways out just because I get a little drained and you know...I think I will be happier and feel better about myself if I don't give into that little devil on my shoulder.

I'm kickin her to the curb this year. :D

Wonderful Wednesday: My Little Learner

2011-01-19T03:39:00.000-08:00

No matter what you do your kid will just do what they want.

Sometimes it's playing with a toy they aren't supposed to do.

Sometimes it's saying words or phrases they aren't supposed to.

For my little homeschooly weirdo (said lovingly of course) it was THIS:

So with Monday being a holiday and with my husband home for most of the day we cut out most of school (just reading) and the rest was just a 'play day'.

And the Girl just HAD to go drawing the life cycle of a bird. What a funny little thing she is :)

She went from egg, to hatching, to baby bird, to growing up and pulling the grown bird to making the egg.

You cannot help but smile. :)

Moaning Monday: Traffic and driving behind a cop

2011-01-17T03:29:00.000-08:00

Not even driving behind a cop, they at least speed most of the time so as long as you don't keep pace with them you're good.

No...on the way to church I got stuck driving behind a cop that was driving behind another car.

And the person in that car decided that to keep with 'the law' they were going to go either the EXACT speed limit or below it.

Which means that the cop had to go that slow.

Which means that I had to go that slow.

Which means I couldn't shave 2 or 3 minutes off my drive. Which doesn't seem like a whole lot but it felt soooo

s
s
    l
     l
      o
o
o
            w
              w
And I was trying to get to church in time for fellowship (didn't make it :( )

So for 3 miles I was putt-putt-putting along!!

Unfair! Unreasonable! Irritating!!

I'm not a 'speeder' but I really can't take going at or below the limit...at or 5 above is more how I like to roll. :)

vroom!

The Project 52 Pictures Week 2: Breakfast!!

2011-01-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

This one was a challenge. Since most of the time I just drink coffee cause I'm not all that bright in the AM sometimes :)

And I'm just not happy with this picture. I think I overplayed with settings and just had a hard time with composition and lighting.

I upped the saturation and increased the contrast and notched down the flash washout but I'm not happy with it or with my spoon placement. luckily I took others.

This was my breakfast, fresh from the fridge. the question facing me was butter or applebutter, hubby was having toast with butter so I went with that. I like the framing, I think I over saturated now that I see it again but I this better than the coffee. I played with contrast too a little. And it's much darker than I wanted. Sigh.

The english muffins toasted. Yum. I brightened, contrasted, and sharpened this, love that I can count the grains on to, I'm not 100% happy with the yellow in the pic, it looks like I put a ton of butter instead of a light spread. I'm having such a hard time with this!

But!! A light at the end of the tunnel!!

I was on my way to get a second cup of coffee and what did I spy? The Girl's sweet Littlest Pet Shop bear (I swear it's supposed to be a bear) having it's breakfast. The pink leopard print blanket makes it just that much better. :) I tried to fix the flash washout by decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast (I hate taking indoor pictures) and then i bumped the vibrancy tad and used dodge on the walls cause they looked so dark. Now this says breakfast to me ;)

Weekly Wrap Up: The Storm, the Icy, Icy Storm

2011-01-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

I feel so evil this week.

My counties schools had three, count them, THREE snow days.

My poor kids...not even one. Not even a half day.

WHYYYY? You ask?

Because I told them, if they have trouble making it to the living room because of the snow and ice they can have a snow day.

Unfortunately for them the roof has held up over our heads well and all of them were able to make the journey from the bedrooms to the living room.

Poor, abused, horribly treated children ;)

MUAHAHAHAHA

So this week we finished up China, using worksheets from Galloping the Globe, literature (will be posted tomorrow or Sunday probably) and websites from other sources, and the kids really seemed to enjoy the books and the map work :) They also were given a list of 'facts' shown google and had the chance to navigate the interwebz to find their answers. They loved that!

We also went through another math chapter each, the Girl on measuring (she LOVED running around the house with a ruler) and the boy on Geometry (he also loved looking through the house for different polygons and learning about triangles, etc. I will admit, I had totally forgotten the term "scalene" triangle, like once I saw it I remembered, but I could not have named it before we got to that lesson!)

Something we did for handwriting this week...I wrote a 'story' each day about what they learned in math, with definitions of terms, etc. so that the Girl and the Boy would have to write the words and learn to spell them. :P

It seems to have helped a lot! And they are both slowly improving their handwriting, 3 out of 5 days the Boy's was legible!!

Something we slacked in was history. The books I needed were in the library, which was closed Monday-Wednesday. :( I was GOING to pick them up Monday morning but the snow and ice ruined that.

And much of our outside play was 'ruined' too. It's too cold for us southerners right now!

We are not used to it. Not at all!

ESPECIALLY the ice!!! (did you see the picture I posted Tuesday? BRRRRR)

This is from Wednesday

There are still slick spots all over the place.

Now I ask you...would you rather have your days off in THAT or during milder, balmy days of March and April??

That's what I thought!

Which is why in April we will have a break instead of wasting days staring outside, looking at the crunchy 'snow' and wondering how long we have to pretend we're having fun before we can dethaw our hands. :)

BUT, we did get to spend time playing Mother May I and Simon Says and the like. I even used them occasionally as clean up games. They do it so much faster when they can 'win' :)

Sigh.

We also had a big, big, HUGE day today since it was our 100th day of school!!

Laaahhhhhh Did you hear the heavens split and the Choir of Angels singing? Wasn't it Fabulous. :D

We made this craft I got from OTC for FREE in the beginning of the year when I ordered a ton of other stuff (I LOVEEEE free and even the 3 year old was able to help with this one, I didn't even need GLUE! AWESOME!!!!!!)

And to send our week out on a pretty rotten note our cities watermain burst and we had 'low pressure' water and now have our water 'back' but we have to boil it for use till Sunday. Yeahhhhh. :P I don't have a dishwasher, so I am washing dishes with cooled boiled water. That's 'fun'. :(

BUT to end this post on a brighter note, here's the Girl in all her silly glory. :D

or more weekly wrapups follow the link!

What a Neat Link about Famous Homeschoolers...

2011-01-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.famoushomeschoolers.net/index.html

Now, some of this is from times where self-educated was a positive thing, but I really think it's interesting to see who all has been able to get a good education and gone on to success after being educated at home.

One day my kids will be older and will be successful at 'something' and I will proud of them and proud of myself. I'm letting myself thing that time is in some infintely away future, but that's not the point. The point is one day our kids will move out in that great wide world and we don't have to be so worried that choosing to homeschool is going to impede that ability in any way. :)

Wonderful Wednesday: Rainbows and Hope

2011-01-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while a rainbow will paint it's way across your room and give you hope where you were flagging.

I love that.

I've had struggles with my oldest with math. Times when I've felt we were stuck forever.

BUT the last 3 chapters he's been SPEEDING through, 2 lessons a day!

And yesterday my Rainbow came. He was working on angles and lines and line segments, etc. And he did a whole lesson on his own.

I chose enVision because it has clear explanations on each page, so I shouldn't have been shocked, but there it was.

"Here's my other lesson mom"

Huh??

"Yeah I read the instructions and did all the problems myself"

um...okay, good job!

And I realized I've started feeling stupid checking his work. He might miss one problem a week, that's it. And most of the time that's just from him trying too hard to go faster. :)

I was so impressed and so excited!!

I know there are a lot of kids that do this on their own all the time, but the Boy has never cared to. So this is HUGE! :)

I love the rainbows :)

Now WHERE was this picture when I was doing 'cold'?

2011-01-11T13:59:00.000-08:00

Everything here in the south is covered in ICE.

So frickin cold and so crazy that everything is COVERED in ice. Even the truck was sheeted in ice.

Sigh.

Should have been there 4 days ago. That's all I'm sayin.

Moaning Monday: The Standards We Hold Ourselves To...

2011-01-10T03:26:00.000-08:00

I want this award. And you want this award (unless your a guy, then imagine Dad instead of Mom). We all (er...all parents) want this award.

We have standards of Good. "This" is how a Good parent responds, acts, functions.

And then we have our reality.

And it is HARD. Because the chasm between the two is so vast, so rocky, so steep, and so perilous. :(

But here is the thing. I will not begin to tell anyone that we shouldn't have these standards. That we shouldn't have things we think of as "Good" or that we shouldn't strive to achieve that ALL OF THE TIME. We absolutely should. This is one of those times when striving to obtain the unobtainable is what is right and what is Good.

There is something we need to realize though. It IS an unobtainable goal.

We will NEVER be perfect, we can't be. God didn't make us that way (or we didn't evolve far enough if you don't believe in a God). We are imperfect beings that can only do what we can to improve and do Better.

And we need to accept that. All of our angst. All of our unhappiness with ourselves. All of our anger towards ourselves comes from denying it. We think we CAN be perfect. We think we CAN be Good.

Our jobs, if we homeschool, stay at home, work out of the home, step-parent, whatever are like Sisyphus

We are just people, without powers, without supernatural Patience, Ability, Agility, and without extra hands.

What a myth that SuperMom is. What a horrible joke on us. Because surely if there is someone out there perfect and amazing then we all have the ability to be perfect and amazing right?

RIGHT?

sighhhh

I see friends going crazy trying to be all things. I feel myself going crazy trying to be all things. And I think it needs to end. It needs to stop and it needs to be over.

I don't want to quit TRYING to be awesome. But when I slip up, and I do so ALL.THE.TIME. I want to be able to FORGIVE myself.

Because when I do NOT forgive myself I don't really move on to do better. I try to, I start to, but I've already lost ground so I start at a disadvantage.

I start hardened and still angry at myself for a time before. And I use that to fling myself down into anger faster the next time anything happens (kids not listening, shoes lost, dishes dirty, laundry needing to be washed, whining, baby not sleeping, the kids wanting to play, the kids being loud, people not laughing at my jokes, it being Tuesday, ANYTHING ) and each time it gets worse and worse because I haven't yet acknowledged to myself that while I should TRY to do Good and be Good that I have not the skills to achieve this.

I think we all need to forgive ourselves, not as a method to be 'bad' or to allow ourselves to stop trying, but rather as a method to reset ourselves and give ourselves the space to get back up and try again.

Like a boxer. If we never have that space of time in between the bouts we can never recover enough to get back in the ring and try again.

Eye of the Tiger people, Eye of the Tiger.

The Project 52 Pictures Begins! COLD

2011-01-08T15:28:00.000-08:00

So last year I attempted a P:365 and lasted about 2.5 months before it spiraled down. This year I've got a different, hopefully more manageable goal.

I am going to do a Project 52, a theme for each week and I will snap a shot, edit/process the photo, and post it here for one form of accountability. You can see other P:52's and P:365's on the side in my links! Feel free to follow the links and check out some very impressive photography!

SO This weeks theme as per this site is Cold.

This is what I photographed:

Here's my 'cold' it's actually snowing a bit today but so lightly it's not going to show up or stick, so I laid underneath a tree and got branches beneath the sky. It looked okay in original form but I wanted it to look even colder and less gray because gray makes me thing rain not cold. So I filtered it for 'cold' lowered the brightness, increased the contrast, smudged some places, and it turned out looking like a night picture! (taken at 1 pm!!) I like it though and really think it looks 'cold' :)

Next week is Breakfast. Which is a challenge for me since I foolishly skip breakfast for a third cup of coffee most days.

Weekly Wrap Up: Back to Grind!

2011-01-06T02:28:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas was a lovely break for us. Not very long, but nice. And I feel like I can do this Wrap Up Thang again. :D

We didn't 'ease' back into school this week, we just jumped feet first!!

We did EVERYTHING.

Math: The Boy worked on Patterns and the Girl did fractions (both of them did FANTASTIC). Each did a chapter this week, so happy to be zooming along in math.

Reading: So excited! The Boy is reading Dragonwings by Laurence Yep and the Girl is reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (2 chapters a day minimum!). She asked to read it! And so far seems to really understand what she's reading. The Boy has done a fantastic job at reading the longer chapters of this book (18-32 pages each!! No pictures!) He is reading it to go along with our study on China.

Geography! Again, so excited! I was SO disappointed in the way that Galloping the Globe was constructed. The suggested books were all just ... maybe good books but not the best way to learn other countries! They were mostly by outsiders, mostly written with Christian slants, and that just made me sad. SO I asked a friend of mine who is an AMAZING teacher if she had recommendations and WOWSERS I got a list about a foot long. So we are spending 2 weeks in China, using the Galloping the Globe Lapbook that I bought (the worksheets are awesome, it was the activities and literature that I questioned). The kids are getting a really good hold on China, it's land, and it's peoples.

Art: The girl got a Watercolor Art Kid, a really nice one, for Christmas, so we pulled it out for a few lessons :) Even the 3 year old got involved. ...I did most of the painting for him, but we learned a lot about REAL watercolors :D

Handwriting: I had the kids write The Lords Prayer each day. The have trouble remember it so I was hoping to do the whole 2 birds/1 stone thang. I think it helped some. We'll see on Sunday in Church.

Language Arts: We did this almost every day. And they did so well understanding the different concepts and applying them. I'm hoping to start progressing in our Spectrum books quickly since we slacked so much last 'semester'. They really seem to be getting the lessons too.

PE: Either at the playground or by taking a nature walk! And we had fun too :D

We didn't really do science this week because I'm waiting on some books from the library on Elephants.

AND I had my homeschool planning meeting. I love that group :) And planning meetings are so much fun, my husband even kept the kids! So 2.5 hours of just talking to grown ups...you can't beat that :D

So in all we had a great week :D I am hoping that it continues like this till our break in 9 more weeks :D 1 down right?

For other homeschool week wrap ups follow the link!

Wonderful Wednesday: 50's in January

2011-01-05T01:15:00.000-08:00

So far, this whole week has been a set of FABULOUS days outside. (tomorrow maybe rain maybe snow :/ meh)THIS is the mild winter we've all grown to love and complain about (in our bouts of insanity) down here in the south.

50's, brisk, sunny, PERFECT for playing outside. AND it SAPS the energy out of the kids once you get them back inside. (such a bonus!)

So Monday we took advantage of it and hit up the playground.

And of course...I took pictures :D
My action jackson :) I LOVE the way this kid hits the ground after a slide, I swear he has the physical impact of an elephant.

I always wish the Boy would stay still long enough for a GOOD picture of him...but he has so much fun playing with WHOMEVER shows up at the park. :)

She KNOWS how to pose. It's just natural for her. Too bad she'll never make it past 5'3" :) She'd be perfectly happy modeling.

Poor thing, her favorite swing broke, so she was stuck in her stroller for this shot (we were only at the park for about 20 minutes this day) she doesn't seem too upset though does she? I LOVE her teeth.

I hope everyone gets to head outside this week. It's so nice to get some sun and fresh air. :)

Moaning Monday: Kanye West is so good

2011-01-03T03:46:00.000-08:00

I love Kanye.

Love.

I am just obsessed with his latest "Power"

Monster is great too...just not so safe for work or kids :)

Why is this bad? Why am I moaning about this?

Cause he's an ass.

'Scuse my french.

I hate liking his music so much when he's so much of a braggy mcbraggerson.

But you hear the song? It's fantastic. All of his stuff is fantastic.

That's the problem, he's so good and he KNOWS it and so he does all sorts of stuff and gets away with it and no one calls him on anything (or if they do it never matters in the long run, it adds to his Cult of Personality.

too good for his own good i tell you.

off to youtube him some more. :P

A New Years Resolution for my Homeschool

2011-01-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

I thought about resolving to be more organized.

I thought about resolving to be more proactive.

I thought about resolving to clean the house more effectively and quickly.

But I know that none of these are the resolution for me. They just aren't. At least not this year. This year I need something more specific and clear cut.

This year I need something that I cannot fudge on definitions.

And I have other personal resolutions. And they are all clear cut as well. Specific goals for writing. Specific goals for health purposes. Specific goals for being a better me.

For Homeschooling though I have resolved to take the kids on a nature walk once a week. It's something I've kind of aspired to before but I've always let it go in favor of just about everything else.

So starting this week I will be taking these children of mine on a walk (at least around the block) once a week :) Ta Da!

Why I love homeschooling my Gifted children.

2010-12-29T04:29:00.000-08:00

I know it probably seems like I talk about it a lot lately, but I wanna start by saying I am not bragging.

My children are not better than anyone elses children.

BUT, my eldest 2 at least are Gifted.

It's a hard thing to call, which is why I wait till they are really older and past babyhood/toddlerhood. I am kind of hesitant to 'call it' for either of them. I haven't had them tested. I suppose that I might be mistaken. There is every possibility that my children are not Gifted according to scores.

BUT I'm going to call it for a number of reasons.

All of that is a sidenote to the real meat of this post.

Look, I know I've said that Homeschooling is not for Everybody. And I stand by that.

BUT if there were ever a group that homeschooling was made for it would be the Gifted. The single biggest problem with Gifted students is crafting their education for them.

How do you fit them in the classroom? How do you keep them interested and challenged but not ostracized? How do you let them go at their pace when their pace doesn't match the pace of their peers, sometimes by half a grade, sometimes by 6 or 7 grade levels?

My 8 year old reads um...anything. I think depending on the test he reads at college level or 10th grade (there was one that indicated that based on when he stopped recognizing words, some of which I didn't know and are crazy obscure, but even 10th grade at 8 years old is um...pretty good yeah?). He isn't just parroting word recognition either, his comprehension of what he reads is advanced and he can make independent connections to other reading and knowledge.

Where does he fit in a school? Especially when he works either at normal pace for his grade level in math or slightly accelerated? Those are kinda the biggest two things for placement...beyond maturity/social level.

Without the tailoring available by homeschooling I don't know where that kid would be.

Lost.

Like Stephanie Tolan's Cheetah, he would be a kept animal in a 8x10 cage. He would never learn how to run. There are no fantastic gifted programs around, the closest specializes in advancement, not differentiation, and he'd never be matched properly with his verbal gift vs. his 'typical math' skills/ability/comfort level.

He's not alone. Most Gifted children (and adults) aren't 'gifted' the same across the board. Even if they are gifted globally (in everything) they are going to have preferences that help advance them so much faster in one or two subjects than another.

Homeschooling can foster that and gently bring up other abilities with them at a pace that keeps the kid learning and challenged without the frustration and conflict that they would find in a classroom where they are not as well understood.

Does this mean that it's the only way for Gifted children?

No, how stupid is that? I know for a fact that there are educators out there working very hard to provide for the Asynchronous development of their students to maintain that challenge/love of learning balance that students (any students) NEED to do their best and most important work. (the balance that creates the spark of innovation and exploration).
I also know that there are homeschooling families that fail their children. It ain't all roses and candy. Sometimes it just doesn't work.

BUT for families that play to strengths while stretching and developing weaknesses and give their cheetahs the room to run, the game to chase, and a real reason to run as fast as they can, homeschooling can, and HAS, been a "god-send".

There are doubts about keeping pace, doubts about doing 'enough', these are normal and exist for parents ANYWHERE doing ANYTHING. They are, what I consider, a paradoxical worry. If you don't have them, you are NOT doing your best. If you have them, you probably are.

Moaning Monday: The Challenge of Keeping It Simple

2010-12-27T04:18:00.000-08:00

:P

Every year we stare at all the toys in our home. We note the overflowing toyboxes, the ground littered with legos, the enormous amount of transformers, and the preponderance of stuffed animals.

We note these things and say "You know hon, these kids have so much, we should really just keep it simple this year. One or two toys, but the rest books and clothes. What do you think?" The other parent invariably says "Sure, that sounds great."

And then the sales come up.

I and my spouse both love a good deal. We like spending money when it's less than it should be. :P

And then family aasks what they should get for the kids. And they all (justifiably) want to give the 'good' gifts (no socks or underwear lol) that make the kids 'oooh' and 'oooh thank you!' And they get the kids WONDERFUL things. It's not really hard to understand why they get these things for them!

BUT when I look around every year on the 26th I see so much all over the place.

The kids love it. They play with it all.

But ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Sigh. I really do love it. I do. I just...I dunno. I wish I did a better job weeding things out before hand, or keeping things neat in the chaos of the 25th. :)

One year we will do a fantastic job of 'keeping it simple' and I will be fantastically prepared to have everything put away by the 26th.

Maybe next year though, cause it certainly wasn't this one.

Wonderful Wednesday: Halfway Done!!

2010-12-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

Woohoo!!

So in my state we are required to do 180 days for school. We started out supa strong. SUPA STRONG.

We went 10 straight weeks without a single big break, a day delayed, light day here, etc. but no big delay, no big break.

And then we took one week off...and that turned into two weeks...and then that turned into three weeks!! YIKES!

So we came back and went on even through Thanksgiving week!! I was back on track to be finished for a good Christmas break...

And then my husband was off from work.

***Disclaimer***
I LOVE that my husband gets 4 weeks off in December-January and 12 in the summer, and a spring break, extra days at Thanksgiving and here and there...LOVE it. I am super thankful that we have the ability to make up for lost family time during the school year in those places.
***End Disclaimer***

When my husband is off from work it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to do school. He distracts me, the kids, etc. etc.

And I knew this, steeled myself for it, and let it happen again.

SO we 4 days behind where we needed to be...made one up on Saturday...Sunday was a wash because the kids went caroling to shut-ins from our church (which is a great thing, but not school :) )

And then we hit it hard Monday, Tuesday, and now today.

Today we are DONE!!!

Hooray!!!

And that makes today a wonderful day. SOOOOOO excited and so happy to be halfway done. 90 days down, 90 to go. Fantastic!! Absolutely fantastic.

And now we can enjoy our Christmas Break. :D

So Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Moaning Monday: Christmas Shopping with meanies

2010-12-20T03:33:00.000-08:00

I ADORE Christmas shopping, I even love being out in it with people and the hustle and the panic of finding what you want for the price you want.

I DO.

I don't despair at the consumerism of the season, I have seen enough of the good to not worry all that much. I really have.

I say all of this to set up a disclaimer: I am not in any way a hater of the Christmas Time. I love every piece of it. I DO.

BUT.

I have a story to impart that just...well...it just sucks.

So everyone knows the Pillow Pets. "It's a Pillow, It's a Pet, It's a Pillow Pet."

Well all four of my children are getting one for Christmas. One of them had to be ordered because the 3 year old "needed" the turtle. But the others could be found at the store.

I was a smart one, went shopping mid November. I grabbed a unicorn for the Girl (of course) and it was the last one! Woot! A woman stops me 4 steps from the display, asks me where I got the unicorn, I point, she sees that there are none left, she says "ooh my daughter really wants one for Christmas" I reply sympathetically "Yeah, mine too" I'm not too worried, it's one of 5 Wal-Marts in town, there are other places selling them, and its a MONTH and a HALF before Christmas.

I walk away finishing my shopping.

No joke. S'rsly see this woman stalking me 4 times (that I noticed) throughout the store, waiting and staring at the unicorn like she'll take it if I walk away from the cart.

Um...what?

That would be questionable on Dec. 24th 11 pm you know? Much less mid-November.

Just yikes!!

SO.

My Moaning Monday this time are the jerks out there that don't shop with respect for others!

Things I will NEVER say about homeschooling

2010-12-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

1) "You should home school, that's what I do." Let me be very clear, homeschooling is not for everyone.

I'm going to repeat that, bold it, and underline it for emphasis.

Homeschooling is NOT for everyone.

There are tons of reasons not to homeschool. Maybe you have fabulous schools available. Maybe you have a job thaqt you love dearly. Or a paycheck that you need. Maybe you would never enjoy homeschooling in any fashion. Maybe your kids do well in public school/private school. Sometimes there's a personality clash between parent and child that makes learning so complicated and battlefieldish that it's worse than any alternative.
There are maybe as many reasons NOT to home school as there are TO home school.

No one should EVER feel bad for not doing so or for having one or 20 reasons that they don't/won't home school.

2) "If your child isn't home schooled they won't do as well academically." Homeschooling is a fantastic way to help a child succeed academically. What can be better than a 1:1 (or 1:4 in my case) ratio for a learning environment? But I will argue with anyone that says that home schooling is the only way for your child to succeed.

In my opinion the single best thing for any parent to do to help their kid succeed is to be involved. Not accepting 'i don't know' or 'nothing' as answers to 'what did you learn in school today.' And checking homework, giving the kids enrichment stuff like family field trips, reading books to them, etc.

Homeschooling is fantastic, but it's not the only road to a fantastic education.

3) "Homeschooling is easy." I know a few people that like to make homeschooling seem like the easiest thing in the world. And you know, rocket science it ain't. But I would NEVER respresent it as easy. It takes work, it takes time, it takes a sense of humor, and it takes work (did I say that already...good). Anything worth doing in life takes those things. That's kinda sorta how you know you are doing something good. If it's supa easy it's probably not something you are really enjoying or benefitting from. (disclaimer: I'm sure there are exceptions, everything has exceptions.)

4) "Homeschooling is my favorite thing ever." Did you see the part about the work, the time, the 'it can be hard'. For the most part I enjoy homeschooling my children. They seem to enjoy it most of the time. I enjoy it the majority of the time. But I can think of a many things that I prefer doing over homeschooling. And if I were given my druthers for free time I would do those things. I look at homeschooling as a job. That is really what it is. I don't get paid for it-"I get paid in smiles, love, and hugs." is another thing I will never say. Many parents get paid that way...that's just an insipid sort of phrase.- But it's still a job. Not a pasttime, or a hobby, or a game. A job.

5) "Homeschoolers are the best people." I've seen this in many places. I have some fantastic friends that are homeschoolers. FANTASTIC. They are warm, loving, giving, and so dedicated. I also have some acquaintances that I could live without seeing ever.again. Or talking to in internet forums ever.again. Vain, selfish, stupid people that probably shouldn't be parents much less homeschooling. That's because people are all different. It's part of what makes us all unique. And homeschoolers can be jerks just like anyone else. You don't get special 'I'm a great person' powers with your homeschool card. And some of my best friends aren't homeschoolers. Some of my FAVORITE mommies don't homeschool. I respect them and think the world of them as people.

I know there are other sayings that Homeschoolers use. I see them on blogs, I see the self-congragulatory comments that really are out of place and not connected with homeschooling but rather with being involved parents.

Homeschooling is fantastic and a wonderful option. But it's not the only one, or the only good one. Not like breastfeeding or something...(I kid, I kid, PLEASE don't flame me formula mommies :) It was JUST a joke :D ) I think that's an important point to make.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus pt. 1

2010-12-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Win Rosetta Stone!

2010-12-13T05:06:00.000-08:00

Now is the perfect time to give your child the gift of possibilities for the holidays with Rosetta Stone Homeschool — and you can WIN a Level 1 Homeschool program, language of your choice (valued at $249)!

Right now Rosetta Stone is having a special Holiday promotion on our Homeschool Edition program and we’d like you to help spread the word! Everyone can save up to $150 on Rosetta Stone Homeschool by visiting our website at http://www.RosettaStone.com/hsw1110.

By helping us spread the word you can win a Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition Level 1 program, language of your choice, valued at $249.

This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever!

Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this program, copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR post about this contest on your facebook page. Then go to the original page at

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and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post, and good luck!!

The Problem with Entitlement and having a Gifted Kid

2010-12-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

See...here's the thing. (this is going to be long. my apologies...it seems that when I type anything anymore and do not have a baby in my arms it gets lengthy...)

People, not all, but some, are starting to see that we are truly a couple of generations of entitlement and all "I'm special so I get stuff right?" Kids get the amount of stuff they USED to get for Christmas for Easter, the amount of stuff an entire family used to get for Christmas all for themselves, and the amount of stuff they used to get for Easter for Thursdays.

Beyond that everyone is gifted. Not Gifted. gifted. Small g. All the little Johnnys and Suzies are gifted and NEEEED special treatment and consideration and if they act out or don't do well it's because the teacher or someone else besides the kid sucks.

Everyone is special in their own way and I could fill my shelves with books aimed at imparting that message to small children. There are not QUITE as many meant to make adults feel that extra special 'specialness' but there are plenty.

In fact, I would say a Plethora of literature is out there to make everyone feel their own special uniqueness. Yes, a plethora. (Don't get it? See This Movie.)

Why do we all need to feel all unique and stuff? I don't know.

My theory is that we have too much time on our hands. Life is too easy, we don't have to focus on hardworking tasks or use our energy with our actions. We have entirely too much time on our hands so our brains get to thinking, and that means we have time be discontent.
I have nothing to prove this. Just my own little brain saying that this is what makes the most sense. So take it for what it's worth. But it sounds logical to me.

I mean our brains are muscles right? Only they are kind of involuntary in ways, they work without us really making them, though certainly we can work them harder. And if we don't give them a direction to move in we leave that very strong muscle to it's own devices, and discontent, inattentiveness, and boredom are the general ways these brains move.

So in answer to this discontent we feel the need to respond by fixing everyone's self esteem. Everyone is unhappy with their lives and themselves, so lets make it all better by letting them know how very special and unique they are.
And you know...to an extent we are all special and unique. But um. That doesn't get us any prize or anything. The special retinal scan abilities and thumb print technologies aside being different doesn't get us the right to ANYTHING.

And people are starting to turn against the concept of 'because I'm unique and you are unique let's indulge the wishes of us both without dealing with the consequences.' We are TIRED of it. Really, truly tired of people excusing bad behavior, giving in to the 'toy per trip to the store, it's only a dollar for that hotwheels car right?' concept, the 'kids are just kids' thang. It's all kind of sick. Children may be sensitive little sponges but they are also intelligent and capable of many things. For goodness sakes...kids used to be brought up with TONS of chores from the time they could walk!!

You are hard pressed to find a teenager these days that has touched their own laundry to do more than put it away.

So our kids enter college and (I teach the occasional speech comm course in a local university) you get students that don't do the work, are late, don't follow directions and expect YOU to fix it. Because they NEEEED a C, B, or A. They NEED it so YOU have to give it to them. (where is the eye rolly smiley when I need it!)

You get the picture yeah?

Okay...but here's the thing. This whole attitude of not giving people what they want just cause they want it and consequences be damned so that they can have it is great. I do not think people should try to get their way and I don't really think each person needs their own special celebration of self going on all the time.

But it's put a real crimp in the style of a Gifted kids parent.

See...whenever you say your child (or children) are Gifted you get the eye rolling. "Sure...your little snowflake is supah special."

But here's the thing...nobody is saying that our Gifted children are 'special.' No one is looking for people to roll over, bend over backwards or bow down to the Great and Powerful Gifted Child. The Golden One(s).

What we are looking for is people believing us (look, I'm not saying all kids are genius, I'm saying that when a test has identified a kid, or when there is something OBVIOUS about a kid that 'labels' them Gifted we aren't making this up. My 8 year old reads ANYTHING-grade level essentially not withstanding (I'm withholding Kant for now though) and comprehends the majority of what he reads. He absorbs it all in lightning bursts of understanding. I could go into the whole being The Boyness of him, but maybe at a later date. This is getting quite long enough yeah?) -holy parenthetical usage batman!-believing us when we say "oh yeah, my son/daughter is Gifted" because it's not us saying "our kid is smarter than yours, nay nay ney nay nay". Especially since often a Gifted student comes with a secondary 'thing' that kinda takes away from the spark of their brain (Called Twice Exceptional, gifted with a learning challenge, like ADHD, ADD, Aspergers, Dyslexia, or a host of other issues, not all kids who are Gifted are 2E, but there are enough that there are support communities) or at least gives that spark a hurdle or two to jump over or through.

And we aren't asking for rose petals at the feet of our students/children. We are asking that you realize that they may need a different sort of help in learning. And not just extra work to do while the other students are catching up! Let's not punish the kids for being able to do their work quickly (like in my daughters case, she does 90% of her math mentally, showing the work is a painful chore for her that I make her do only 10% of the time to ensure that she can do so if ever needed). Gifted kids need a differentiated line of study, and honestly it can be as simple as a different book to read that maybe includes more descriptions, more words, bigger words, deeper exploration than the book the other students are reading and maybe a neat project to do at home (for schools on the budget maybe?).

I'm not 100% on all the lesson plans needed for a classroom that has integrated students...since we've always homeschooled I've been lucky to avoid a lot of the issues you get at schools. Which is why we've yet to test The Boy, since I'm not changing what I teach for a score, we roll with his needs/abilities/and interests anyway.

We still get the eye rolling. That's always lovely. Or the brag-for-brag. I cannot speak for everyone...but while I'm proud of my kids, and there are things of theirs I'm dying to share with everyone (The Girls Oskar Books...seriously, one day soon. OMGawd) I do not care to go back and forth, especially with an "escalator" naming bigger and bigger accomplishments. I get a kick out of curriculum, both boxed and created and lesson plans are hawt to me, I'd rather talk that than reading levels and grade levels that they are working at. (especially since I believe that bright kids-not gifted-are often well equipped to work and advance at a faster pace if given the chance in an environment like homeschooling or a school with an advancement program. I don't think that's a trade mark of the gifted, unless you are talking 3 or more years above their years...ESPECIALLY in the elementary years)

I know that we get a lot of people demanding very special and amazing treatment of their snowflakes for whatever reason. And I know that it's very irritating and frustrating that everyone needs their own pedestal. I mean...where are all these pedestals going...(and why are the pedestals doric in my head, what no frills in my imagination? shouldn't our uniques and specials have frills?)

But anyone who is advocating for Gifted Education is not asking for a pedestal. They are asking for a rethinking of how children who JUST DIFFERENT LEARNERS get educated. Not entirely, compromises HAVE to be made and a teeny tiny teacher to student ratio with all the trimmings and access to any material/lab imaginable is just ridiculous. But could we not just expect these learners to do it on their own? Cause they won't. Could we maybe challenge them a little and give them a reason and a way to use that muscle of theirs?

You know...so that they don't sit around with too much time on their hands, becoming bored, scattered, and gloomy with the discontent that mental disuse (according to me) causes?

Don't give them access advanced books with a richer exploration of the topic because the WANT it, or NEEEED it (the extra E's equal whiney, like how I sound when I say that I NEEEEED a new pair of fuzzy socks or a new camera), but because they actually do need it (lower case, no extra e's means ACTUALLY need) in order to reach their potential and leverage that muscle into something that could perhaps help this little ole world of ours.

Just sayin

Advent Calendar Day 1

2010-12-01T17:48:00.001-08:00

This is our first day of Advent. I am not sure what I expected from the kids, but they were not as in depth or insightful as I had hoped with the Question to 'spur' them. :) Sigh. Somehow they were still kids answering the question with kid concerns. Waiting for food, waiting to play video games, waiting for the park, etc. :)

As for what to do while they were waiting?

...

Such practical kids "do other things we need to do" "wash our hands" "play with our other toys"

...

guess we'll try again tomorrow morning and hope for a gradual change :)

Cheap and Lazy Christmas Post

2010-12-01T03:05:00.000-08:00

Not because I'm Cheap and Lazy, trust me, if I'm that lazy I'd just not write anything ( lol ) but because I am a sucker for anything Christmas. :D

All you ever wanted to know about how we celebrate Christmas*

** but didn't care enough to ask
:D

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Egg Nog. Yummy, delicious Egg Nog. Preferably Pet or Maola brand. The others are too thin or too waxy tasting. OH BUT my hot chocolate must be minty at this time of year.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Both :) We the parents only bring pjs, socks, and undies :) Santa gets all of the credit in our house.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White, always white. Part of me wants the house to look like a landing strip for Santa's sleigh with the big inflatables and everything, but I adore the way white lights look. :)

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I want to but I always forget to get some :P Ah well I just pretend and kiss the mister whenever I feel like it :D

5. When do you put your decorations up? It's a process. Put up some general 'holiday' stuff last week. Day after Thanksgiving more will get put up. First week in December the tree will go up and then all will be right in the world :D

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Tomato Soup Cake. OMG. I know you just turned up your nose. It sounds so weird but it's a spice cake like Carrot Cake and is SO DELICIOUS. Non dessert sweet potatos. Adore them.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Putting all the presents out on Christmas Eve and spending time staring at them before bed. I loved how they all looked in the glow of the lights. Loverly.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? The truth? There is a Santa, There is!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes. The PJ's. Every year. poor kids, I wonder if they've caught on to that yet :)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Carefully? lol Ornaments, mostly plain colors with some specials reds, golds, greens, sometimes we switch gold for silver. And sometimes ribbon sometimes not and a christmas tree skirt. And either Santa or a Star on top of the tree.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! But um...we only get it like one time a year and it shuts the place down. But I love looking at it.

12. Can you ice skate? No. No I cannot.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Hmmmm...I couldn't tell you. No wait. No...my first sony walkman way back in the day. I think I wore that thing constantly for the rest of the year.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? All the Holidays together? Family and friends and thanking God for the amazing Gift of His Son.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Tomato Soup Cake :)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Letting the kids pick out gifts for us...I love seeing what they come up with :)

17. What tops your tree? Already answered...but sometimes a star and sometimes a Santa

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Do I have to chose? Okay, we'll say giving, because that means I got to go shopping, and I love shopping.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Hands down Carol of the Bells. Best Christmas Song EVER.

20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Eh. Neither. I'm not a huge fan anymore but I'll take one.

21 Favorite Christmas Show? I don't know that I have one. I love all of them!

22. Saddest Christmas Song? I'll be Home For Christmas. It's killing me this year since my Dad cannot come home this year :P

:D Go ahead and copy and paste this if you wanna :D

Advent Calendar Pt 2

2010-11-29T11:51:00.001-08:00

I got to put the advent calendar up today. I had planned on hanging it on yarn/twine with clothespins, but looking around it was easier to put it on these random windows we have in our home from where the owners enclosed the patio to make a sunroom.

And glowing in the 'dark'

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Advent Craft

2010-11-28T08:46:00.001-08:00

I did not think of this craft on my own, it is from
HERE and she in turn got it from someone else. But it is a FANTABULOUS craft so I just had to do it and to share it.

It is always a struggle keeping the line between Santa and Christ's birthday clear and obvious. And I've finally found something that can not only help me keep both things in our life but do it with style.

These are the things I used, plain cardstock, christmas scrapbook paper, a star shape cutter and my double sided tape runner. The plain cardstock is cut in 4x4 inch squares, the christmas scrapbook paper in 3x3 squares and the stars are the 1 inch ones from Creative Memories. You can use whatever shape you want for that. I just liked the star (Star of Bethlehem, etc.). I made 25 of each. In various patterns :)

Taped it all together

Wrote numbers on the front.

And then I wrote (you can print, it's easier that way, but I'm outta ink and I didn't want to wait.) scripture on the back of each card.
I got them from this blog's advent scripture, the other blog has some but I liked these better, especially because they have 'discussion' questions that I can use with my kids!

I have yet to hang it but I have clothespins and yarn a waiting for the minute I have half a tick!

We will turn one card over a day in our wait for Jesus's birthday!!

Making the feast for our Thanksgiving Table

2010-11-24T13:37:00.001-08:00

Okay, so we FINALLY finished our tables that we started here. And they are not 'all that they could be' I think we might have been doing too many crafts lately :D We did 4 yesterday at the park (Oriental Trading) and so when I tried to get them to roll paper into table settings or make forks, etc. they just looked at me like I hated them...so I used the the circle punch I have to make big dishes and little dishes for the tables.

See!

And then I had them color the dishes they liked for thanksgiving. This is the Boy's table, he wanted more people and lots of food.

The Girl opted for an intimate feast of 4 friends. I'm hoping to get them to make people for their tables but I'm not that hopeful. I'm thinking the best I might get are some lego citizens. :)

A Thanksgiving Table

2010-11-22T13:26:00.001-08:00

So this one I thought of all on my lonesome! :) I needed something I could do with what I had that was not just a hand turkey. No offense to the hand turkey lovers but I've never NOT been a stay at home mommy, we've had 8 solid years of hand turkeys. And head dresses. Dear lord I needed something new this year. Some many something news.

SO Today we started our Thanksgiving Table.

I thought of making a Wigwam for the Wampanaug people but everything I looked at was either racist (no...no they weren't Indians and they did not all live in TeePees) or too difficult (like using chewed birch...do birch trees grow anywhere here? or woven matts...no, can't do it) And if I can figure out how to make something look like the matted pieces but not be too difficult I will probably still try to spin it out Wednesday.

But for today and tomorrow I decided that we should make a Thanksgiving Table.

Here is the stuff needed:

You see paper bags, egg cartons, scissors, glue, white paper, and drawing/coloring supplies.
Break the two parts to the egg carton apart (using the scissors) (top and bottom)

THEN slice up a paper bag down one seam to open it up

Glue inside the egg carton top, along the edge lengthwise. Put the paper bag meeting all of the glue.

Your kid will be a very big helper for this one :)

See the end under her chin? You need to cut up some of the paper not needed for the main 'wrap' and do those ends also.

That is a terrible picture of ribbon spools. We decided that the plain brown tops were kind of sad.

Okay...this needs some explaining yeah? See...it's like this. We glued on the ribbon but the ribbon wanted to slip from the paper bags. :P So I pulled out the clothes pins so the ribbons could dry...and once they were out the kids 'had' to help me clip them on and so what could have been like 6 clips turned into...well...you can see what it turned into :P

The finished product! These are our tables :) TOMORROW we will make some chairs and the dishes for the table. We are pretty excited about it. :)

Thankful leaves

2010-11-17T17:32:00.001-08:00

Making the Thankful Tree Leaves!

Easy peasy, construction paper, scissors, cut out some leaves. However big you want em, however purty you want em, I let my oldest kids make these. Pretty nice yes?

The bemused Girl :) She was thankful for toys and family

The Preschooler...he was thankful for Church (awww) and Rory the Racing Car

The Boy. He was thankful for Video Games and Family. He wanted to cheap out and put 'everything' but I made him be specific :)

Their first leaves. :) I want to do more each day (not saying the same thing twice) and then make some more for our Thanksgiving Day Guests to place :) I am really quite in love with this craft.

Thanksgiving tree craft

2010-11-12T12:15:00.001-08:00

I started with some brown lunch bags. Nothing more, nothing less. You can use brown craft paper too :)

I chopped off the bottoms and we split them in half.

Here's the girl helping me measure out the right number of bags for the trunk. Make the tree however big you want it. I wanted a good size so used 5 bags for the trunk.

I had the kids color them brown so that they would have some tree barkish texture. If you want it Martha Stewart perfect you could either have your older artists do this with some watercolors or do it yourself! :)

The girl's job was to help me put up the trunk with some tape.

The boy helped me put up the limbs. I made these by folding the split bags in half. Some I doubled, some I used as a single, etc.

Here is the finished tree :)

We are going to make the Leaves with leaf rubbings next week and write what we are thankful for on the leaves. We will also make some extra ones to set out on Thanksgiving (since it will be at our house) and people can fill them out then :D

Time4Learning Disclosure

2010-10-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

:)

I'm excited to try this since my kids LOVE to play on the computer. So...we'll seeeee :)

Fifth craft...tree decorations!

2010-10-22T12:02:00.001-07:00

Today we decorated our tree from yesterday!

These were more 'bought crafts' BUT it was pom poms, foam pieces and googly eyes...you can make this yourself!!

The yarn is to hang them later, short pieces are best.

The pieces go together based on the kids ability...but I think they are kinda cute :)

The Girl enjoyed doing this very much!

The Boy takes his crafting seriously :D

Winking at us? Really hon? Sigh, silly Girl.

The finished tree. It's adorable...not so creepy though you could certainly adult it up for scariness. :D

4th Craft...a 'haunted tree'

2010-10-21T12:56:00.001-07:00

Okay, this one is a take off on a Martha Stewart craft a friend posted on facebook (sorry no link...I looked but dear Martha has tons of stuff out there and I'm chronically limited on time). You take a nice stick/twig with little branches and spray paint it black and then stick it in a sponge (green foamy thing) and some moss hang some stuff from it and "it's a good thing"

Well...I have pines and Dogwoods here. No good twig candidates. And I don't like working with the green foamy things or moss. And I wanted colors. So...

I got a pack of 25 black pipe cleaners. Hubby stole 6 of em or I'd have another branch or a thicker tree...jerk ;)

I used 9 for the tree trunk. I had the kids twist them together in sets of 3. Then I twisted the three sets of 3 together while they made branches with sets of 3 (and one set of 2)

We twisted the branches around the trunk and kinked em up, folded, twisted, cajoled, etc.

I got out a clear, glass, vase, cleaned it and dried it THOROUGHLY so that the next step doesn't get mussed.

I gave the kids different colors of construction paper, purple, orange, and black. They did 2 sheets of purple and orange and 3 of black.

I stuffed the tree trunk down the center after letting the kids stuff the vase.

Tada!!

TOMORROW we will be making the tree decorations! So stay tuned :D

The second and third crafts (There Be Owls Here!)

2010-10-20T09:15:00.001-07:00

We were going to do these yesterday but the Baby made that pretty much impossible :P So...today it was!

We started out the first one with these pieces from Oriental Trading BUT you could EASILY make your own tree and owl pieces if you or your kids can draw. I cannot and while my 6 year old is getting good she's not there yet :) Okay, so the flash is horrible in this one...it's kinda what you get inside with a Droid phone :)

All 3 of the kiddos were able and willing to do this super simple craft. Color owl, glue owl, glue the back of the tree on et voila!

And in the end we got a beautiful Owly forest!

Our next craft was more OTC stuff...Magic Scratch Cards! The kids love these!!

I let each kid do 3 (the pack comes with 24) and in the end we had 9 very different crazy halloween Owls for decoration.

We hung the trees too for those very special owls that were allowed a place to live :)

I think I should have pulled out the markers for the owls. The kids didn't color very hard. But They did have a lot of fun. :) And we did get up a great halloween decoration :D

OOPS! A quick explanation. :)

2010-10-19T05:00:00.001-07:00

We are off this week from school. No lessons, no math, not even reading. We are cleaning, organizing, and crafting for halloween. It might last one week or it might last 2 :) we'll see. We got the living room top to bottom clean yesterday. Today is the kitchen and the dining room. :)

We'll have at least one craft a day plus some quality park time.

Have a good week!

First Craft of the Week (fail)

2010-10-18T10:24:00.001-07:00

Okay...not TOTAL fail...but...those are my instructions...looks simple right?

Anytime a glue gun is involved it seems to get dicey.

Okay...here's the thing. The instructions for this craft SUCK. They don't tell you how much of the tube (on the back) to glue down with said glue gun, they don't tell you when to attach the head to the body so the first one (Mine) looks all weird. Its stupid. And those eyeballs are supposed to have bigger pupils and you are supposed to blow on the tube thing making the nose to make them 'float'

We tried this 3 times and still don't have floating eyeballs on the bat.

I mean...they still work as puppets and thats cool but 1) they required a glue gun...way too much work by the parent. I wanted these to be mostly kid made. They used the glue dots (best purchase EVER) but I still needed to do the glue gun.

I am pretty bummed that our first craft was not a rousing success. We will probably do one more after we finish the days cleaning but still...I really wanted all of these crafts to just rock the house :(

Its the most wonderful time of the year??

2010-10-13T17:37:00.001-07:00

I am not complaining TOO much cause I looovvveee eggnog...but this is about 3 weeks too early.

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Wonderful Wednesday: Hats!

2010-10-13T04:21:00.000-07:00

:) My friend at Hookaholic delivers again!

I 'needed' hats for the kids for the winter and she had several that I loved.

The owl hat especially was a necessary item for this fall! I'm so excited by how the baby looks in it!

even when she's not wearing it properly

The Girl says "Hey!" in her stunningly adorable newsgirl cap! This thing is awesome. And should fit for a few years!

I had a visor beanie made for the Boy in custom Redskin colors! GO SKINS!!

And le piece de resistance...
I saw a dinosaur hat somewhere on the interwebs and thought it would be adorable with ear flaps...I sent her the pic and a plea "Pllleeaasssseee, the Preschooler NEEDS it" and she MADE IT!

see the back?

Sigh. Lovely hats. And I would have been 'fine' with those.

But do you know what else I NEEDED, especially for the next 3 months of pumpkin pie loving time?

These.

Do you see the green stem?
Yeah. They are pumpkin hats. Awesome.
The flowers on the girls hats are detachable. So you can clip em where ever you think they look cute! How awesome is that???

So my Wonderful Wednesday is being spent staring at my hats and loving them and adoring The Knitting Fairy at Hookaholic.

Best hats EVER.

Moaning Monday: Unseasonably Warm Weather

2010-10-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

Um. Yeah. Last week I was out and about with 70, 65, 75 degree weather. There was even a breeze. Yeah...yesterday got up to 85!! What?

My kids wore shorts to church. It's sad that this is normal enough that I didn't even put up their summer clothes yet, I'll do that mid november and STILL leave out 2 pairs of shorts. Because you just don't know here.

Stupid The South. Stupid warm weather.

We don't have 4 seasons. We have 3.5 and only summer lasts any length of time.

Bah. Double Bah.

Weekly Wrap Up: The Playground, Enrichment Day, and Crocodiles.

2010-10-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Phew! What a lovely week :)

We have had such a great time this week. And I'm loving that.

We had a great week in math, the Boy is STILL doing fabulous with multiplication. He did 43 problems in 30 minutes! That's a world record for him. SO proud. Compared to last year this year is working out SO well for math. Just overjoyed with that.

We finished Hammurabi and started Gilgamesh for history...there are surprisingly few Gilgamesh movies out there, I was very disappointed :(

The Boy has been reading Where the Red Fern Grows this week...he's getting close to the end and I'm waiting for the fall out. We'll see how he takes it.
The girl FINALLY finished her Kakapo rescue book. :) She even wrote a book report on it for our home school newspaper that got sent out this week. :)

The Boy wrote HIS article about Hammurabi and his laws. I am constantly stunned by his comprehension of things. I asked him if he thought it would be a bad thing to live back then because of the rules...he said "Why? I wouldn't do any of the bad things so I would be fine."
Oh. Well then. :)

The little guy learned about Fall last week and this week and on Monday he made a tree for the homeschool newspaper. :) It was REALLY good for a 3 year old! So impressed with my guy.

He's only 3! :) What a great kid :)

We did end up getting some copy work and spelling done, but skipped the geography this week.

We covered the Crocodiles for science and our zoo. The kids will be making the habitat and installing it in our zoo soon. :)

Elephants are up next as picked by the Girl!

We also spent a good portion of Wednesday and Friday at a local playground we hadn't gone to before. It's perfect weather, perfect location, and the kids got to play with all sorts of new people they hadn't met before. Awesome!! I LOVE FALL!!!

Thursday was our homeschool groups enrichment day and we learned about Columbus Day and explorers and they got to try genoa salami and do tons of awesome crafts. :) They really love their enrichment days and their homeschool group. I love them too!

That's really it for this week!

I am looking forward to next week. We have an Italian Dinner night tomorrow, a huge pumpkin patch on Monday, a firestation field trip Tuesday, Thursday is a bat craft field trip at a local natural history museum so we'll have 'real' school Wednesday and Friday :) And I will probably try to get them to the playground both days (as long as the weather holds I would love to practically live outside.)

If you would like to see more weekly wrap ups check out:

Getting silly with it

2010-10-07T12:18:00.000-07:00

"A little nonsense never hurt and is relished by the wisest men."

Let me ask you this...what is the silliest thing you've ever done with your kids?

Not like bad parenting (that's a whole other post ain't it) and not like playing. Playing with your kids is ALSO a whole other post. And important.

No. I'm asking what do you do with your kids to interject that bit of nonsense in their lives that keeps their feet from staying plunked down on the ground for too long?

Do you have tickle fights? Do you show them how to make Orange Peel smiles?

I think about this a lot. I have a particularly serious young man for an oldest son. I have worked hard to make sure that he sees the world with at least a little bit of the funny.

I think perhaps kids don't see enough silly from their parents. I wonder sometimes that seeing grown ups be so serious all the time is one thing pushing kids to want to grow up faster, they try desperately to emulate the world according to their view of how it's supposed to be. They see their parents being so serious and they think that is supposed to be how they should be. And then they work on doing so.

I sing-talk to my kids. There, I said it. Fully admitted. I often will 'speak' to them in "Opera" for up to an hour sometimes. Most of the time just for a few minutes. But I do it frequently. They think it's hilarious.

Do I sound funny? YES Do I have an awesome voice? NO Do I really sing what I want to say? YES What do my kids do when I do this? DEPENDS...the 3 year old will sing back to me and sometimes the 6 year old will too. The 8 year old will grin at me. :)

I also make faces at them. It's true. If they are starting to look bored, or they look like they are getting tense I'll start pulling faces and making noises to go with them.

Yeah. I do that.

I also sing in the grocery store. The piped in music is almost always older music that I actually know so I sing it to them. They don't seem to know they should be embarrassed. Maybe when they are older :)

One fond wish I have is for these kiddos to get bigger and not feel bad for making fools of themselves in front of others. To appreciate the weird and unusual and take it all in stride.

One silly step at a time.

Wonderful Wednesday: Live in this world

2010-10-06T02:24:00.000-07:00

I love this comic. Such a common feeling.

Where do I fit in? Who am I? What does it all mean?

Such a simple answer...you were put on this earth to LIVE in it. So..LIVE in it.

That is all.

Are you different? Are you outside the box, special, not special, so far in the box that the concept of being outside makes you hyperventilate? You don't fit in. You are different, are you gifted? Are you a sober fellow? Are you a jokester? Are you always on the outside looking in?

It may be difficult. But you still need to live in this world. You have a place here. Everyone does. We are all here to live in this world and we are all important and we are all capable of living our lives in ways that may be rough, may be challenges but will be ultimately rewarding.

Such a wise little girl Lucy. Such a wise cartoonist Mr. Shultz.

Moaning Monday: More television blabber

2010-10-04T03:01:00.000-07:00

So I JUST had a lovely post promoting oh so many lovely Discover Kids TV Shows...

sighhhh.

And then I am watching said tv shows with my kids and advertised is the news that they will be going away!!! WHAT???

Apparently Discovery Kids isn't doing so well (not enough smart alec teens I guess) and so they are teaming up with Hasboro to reach the 6-11 year demographic (which is nice cause my older kids are there...but um...I LIKED the other shows.)
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135426

Why??? WHY???

TV hates me. I think that's the only answer. Maybe it's God's way of saying I should show my kids even LESS tv.

Sigh. Back to the drawing board.

The Call of the Open Road

2010-10-02T02:46:00.000-07:00

Not everyone has evolved out of the nomadic state we came from. Some will always feel the need to move on and keep on rollin. :)

And they can educate their children FANTASTICALLY. It's growing more common, like all types of homeschooling. And if you are wondering how its done here are two articles on the subject:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39328391/ns/today-parenting/

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33616972/ns/today-today_people

I actually know someone that just left on a 2-3 year journey around The America's to do just this! They sold everything and packed up and left!! I keep thinking that those kids are going to have some amazing memories for the rest of their lives.

Homeschooling is truly one of the most adaptable forms of education. You can't help but love it!

Weekly Wrap Up: Apple Enrichment and a Not So Hungry Caterpillar

2010-10-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster.

I'm extremely proud to report that the Boy FINISHED Journey to the Center of the Earth, has done a fantastic job narrating it, answering questions, etc. Is doing AMAZING at multiplication. And in general has had a good week of learning.

The girl is doing really well with mental math this week and slowly making her way through her book, I'm proud of her tenacity, it's a difficult book for her!

All of that is great, and we moved along with history through Abrahams story and the Jewish people to Hammurabi. Which is great!

But we had another Kryptonite Wednesday. I think maybe I need to plan on an activity Wednesday morning even if my homeschool group isn't doing anything. I really think we need a tiny break in the routine. Maybe switch our schedule around or something. I thought I was going to lose my cool and at one point everyone but the baby was in their room 'thinking about what they had done' for like 10 minutes. Not good for business. Not good. :P

Sigh. Our homeschool group went well though. We had an Apple Enrichment and it went so well. The 3-4 year olds had their room (so my little guy was apart from me). There was a nursery for the Baby. And I was doing crafts with two groups, the 5-7 and 7 and older groups. It went fantastic!! I was SO pleased. And the crafts went over very well. Happy about that. It was sort of a last minute assignment so I was kind of nervous.

Then this morning didn't go so well either. Which was my fault. Hubby was home later than normal and so I caved and allowed computer games and tv before school...I so knew better.

"Okay guys time for school"

"Awwwwww"
:
Yeah that's always an awesome attitude to start our day. We plowed through, Kylie aced her math test, and then after lunch we went outside for a while and had an impromptu lesson in feeding wild caterpillars.

Specifically...it's harder than it looks!

said caterpillar is the Spicebush Swallowtail a reliable source tells me.

It crawled over leaves, flowers, and berries. It was so not feeling it. The kids were trying very hard. :)

We're hoping it'll make a chrysalis somewhere we can find.

A really neat part of today is that Baby is 11 months today! I take pictures of her every new month. :) I'm looking forward to making a little collage for her birthday party at the end of the month. :D

I thought I'd be smart and bring a blanket for her to sit on

that didn't work so well :)

I had to catch her where she went :)

I finally got my books for everything so next week: Crocodiles and finishing Gilgamesh and Learning about China.

Phew!!

For more homeschooling weekly wrap ups check out

Wonderful Wednesday: Fall is on the way!

2010-09-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so technically it's fall already. But down here in the south ya'll it starts a little later than a lot of places in the country. Our heat likes to lay over the country like a blanket keeping us sweltering well into September and often into October.

This whole month has been one sweaty time outdoors. We've had highs in the 90s and high 80s most of the time. My grandparents live in Miami and their 'cold' consists of it getting cool enough to need a blanket at night. :P

FINALLY we are 'dipping' to a mere 75 today! Can I can get an Amen??

I am so ready for cooler weather. Our summers get so hot that a near by military instillation issues 'heat advisories' where their soldiers can't go outside unless necessary after early morning and before the evening.

Which means we don't spend a lot of time outside in the summers :P Which means we wait for the fall to run outside and have our fun. I'm looking forward to school outside and playing during the day.

Such good times.

So come on fall. Get here fast, I'm getting antsy!

Sweet Shot Tuesday: The Star Circus and the lovely Celeste

2010-09-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

When we went to the Fair we had the Star Family Circus. And the Lovely Celeste was the helper.

She had SUCH the perfect demeanor, look, etc. that I just had to get her. I normally focus on my kids but the family circus was so perfect.

I played with a very light Sepia/Bronzing tool here to really create the feeling that they were giving off :) Their yellows on their trailer were just too clashing with the vibe they were making.

and I did an even lighter treatment to the sign, I wanted the colors just not so eye bleeding.

lLook with caution, this is the original of the lovely Celeste, you see why I had to adjust the volume on that yellow?

it's a circus but eyes can only take so much. :)

for more lovely Sweet Shots (and this is the last Sweet Shot Tuesday till November!) follow this link!

Moaning Monday: Planning

2010-09-27T05:23:00.000-07:00

I am so tired of having to preplan everything. :( Parties, homeschool stuff, family time, etc. I don't have anything happening spontaneously. sigh.

It's stupid because we don't do all that many activities. Home school group and Sunday school and sometimes playdates.

And yet here we are with tons of things going on all the time and adding things in daily. Fun stuff, good stuff, for sure. All things I want to do but still...my calendar is covered in post it notes and I'm thinking that I might just go crazy from it all.

Not to mention the planning for homeschooling. Getting books, crafts, papers together. Its ridiculous.

Sigh and whine right?

I could have so much else really wrong but still...stress is stress and realizing that we're starting another week tomorrow, but I don't have the books for science, history, OR geography and I'm waiting on the library.

Well...lets just say that this week will take a whole lot of thinking outside the box.

Although...I'm teaching the Boy multiplication and he resists new things in math...so maybe the extra time will be a good thing!

Television and Homeschooling. Some recommendations.

2010-09-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

So I'm a fan of a lot of tv. I will admit, I'm pretty hooked on the idiot box, the boob tube, the stupid-maker.

We watch a ton of shows...although I have to say during school its on the satellite radio channels with the various music out there. 80's is a favorite of mine along with choral music!

We let our kids watch tv and of course you can find a ton on shows like Dora, Backyardigans, The Imagination Movers, etc.

But as my kids get older I actually find it HARDER to find good shows. Instead of forbidding Caillou (*shudder* that kids voice makes me hate children.) or Curious George (character issues, he does bad and gets away with it all the time) Max & Ruby (same character issues...plus...where the heck are their parents?) and Olivia (worst big sister EVER to her 'little BOTHER') I have to forbid just about EVERYTHING.

I do NOT want my kids watching shows with smart alec teens/preteens doing bad things and being rude to their parents and teachers who are portrayed as goofy and stupid. Not good. Not good at all. Kids learn a LOT through modeling and if I'm providing them those examples in my home it's like I'm saying "hey, why don't you guys do that, mommy thinks its a cool thing."

BUT I found a few shows that my older kids can and have watched that I just LOVE.

Mystery Hunters-the kids are respectful, the adult is well informed, and they go about exploring cultural myths. Super Neat.

Time Blazers-The kids go through history to explore what really happened in Archaeology. It's interesting, informative, and the scenes are really well done!

Serious-this is a British serial for kids to compete to go on adventures. What great role models for preteens! The competing children are 12-15 and its just great to see them doing this. And the adventures are for a purpose, like the Jungle is to save baby orangutans. And the kids are interesting. :)

So it's not a ton of shows, but they don't NEED a ton of shows. What they need is a few really good shows mixed with playing, books, etc. :) And thanks to those (and yes, a few for my 3 year old. Love the Backyardigans. :) and a couple of 'not good Saturday morning cartoons like our old beloved Turtles ) shows that's what they get! My 6 year old does ask for Olivia and iCarly and Hannah Montana but I tell her the problems and explain why and she unhappily accepts. :)

Those shows are ALL on Discovery Kid by the way. So super props to them!

Weekly Wrap Up! County Fair #2

2010-09-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Let's try a new format for this :)

First on Monday:
We did NOTHING. Well...not exactly "Nothing". But after a long couple of weeks of not much cleaning time my house and my laundry NEEDED a day of tlc. We didn't finish everything I wanted to...but we got a lot done that needed care and attention. Enough that I can breathe again :) We'll see how long that lasts.

Tuesday:

For Reading the Boy is still working on Journey to the Center of the Earth. I have to reiterate that this is his 'required' reading. He also has reads ALL THE TIME without prompting. His first sentence before a meal is 'can I bring a book to the table' He is a reading fiend. I love it. Journey to the Center of the Earth is an attempt to challenge him and to increase his patience for chapter books :)
The Girl did double duty with Over in the Grasslanders by Anna Wilson and Alison Bartlett and The Punctuation Station by Brian Cleary

We covered Chapter 6 in history (story of the world) although all we did was read the chapter and then some of the supplemental literature. Fun stuff. :)

We also watched TimeBlazers, it was a general "what is archaeology" show. Very good. Highly recommended.

We did Step 6 in our All About Spelling. Which went VERY well. The kids are doing very easy things in spelling because I'm hoping that the building blocks will be formed to help them later, I don't want to skip to a harder level and then have them miss some piece of the puzzle for great spelling.

The girl continued her Money Math and the boy took his chapter 2 test (finally! his work is SO much more intensive than hers. silly 3rd grade 'real' math :) ) He did really well. He missed one just because he wasn't paying attention. But all the others were right.

We also built the bear habitat for our zoo. They installed the goose and bear habitats in our zoo as well since we now had a good box. They began by having a 'meeting' where they created a list (sans mom) about what a bear habitat should have. Then they colored the floor of it, made the cave, and voila! And then I figured out that the 'tube of zoo animals' we got from AC Moore didn't have a regular bear, just a polar and a panda :P A grizzly or a black bear would have worked! Sigh. Back to AC Moore we go.

Wednesday: Field Trip Day!!!!!
We did not do anything else today because it was our Fair Trip field trip! Once again we took in the fair exhibits and walked around and checked things out. We've done this twice before but it's always fun. This year we got to pet a baby zebra (seriously need one) and saw The Star Family Circus and it was SO neat, there was a motorcyclist inside a metal sphere. I wanna do that when I grow up!!

he was assisted by the 'lovely Celeste' :)
The kids had a fantastic time checking out all of the stuff...although when we tried to get some group poses (we were with our homeschool group) it got a trifle difficult.

Seriously? In the middle of huge fair, she's in front of a HUGE cow (note the leg in the background) and she's doing the tired stretch? REALLY?

I didn't get many good pictures...sometimes thats just difficult to do with so many little ones. I REALLY wish I'd gotten the baby zebra.

I did get one of a shaggy sheep!

how does it see??

at least the baby was really well behaved!

she stayed in her stroller the whole time, didn't get irritated even once!

Thursday:

Back to the books...sort of

The girl was out of library books so selected a few out of the house bookshelf. I need to make a library run!
The boy read 3 more chapters for Journey to the Center of the Earth, he's ALMOST DONE!

The girl finished her chapter on money math, except for the test.
The boy jumped straight to the test of the new subtraction chapter and passed it easily! So we'll be skipping that chapter and moving on. :) (phew...that helps push us forward a lot faster)

We spent the rest of the day cleaning because they had WRECKED the sunroom. WRECKED it I say. So they got reading and math done but other than that it was spent cleaning toys, drawings, and books off the ground so that I could vacuum. :P "fun"

We DID watch a documentary on castles.

Friday: another semiday!

Well this day started odd cause Hubby was home and that ALWAYS throws us off. So we didn't start till AFTER lunch. But we got reading done. The girl is reading a chapter book on Kakapo Rescue because she wanted a cool chapter book. It might be a little above her but I'm okay with that, the boy got to chapter 40 in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Movie night is just around the bend!!

The girl did her test and only got ONE wrong. Thats awesome!

And the boy did his second subtraction test and passed! He fought it a little. Even though he KNEW what he was doing. I'm thinking it was mostly with it being later in the day. It really, really affects how he reacts to math. So 6 weeks to finish 2 chapters and 2 days to finish 2 others! Next up is *gulp* multiplication. I'm sensing another slow down :)

We also got in the rest of our reading and activities for Story of the World. Including coloring in a comic of the story of Joseph and making the Amazing Coat of Many Colors. :) Very nice and good practice for cutting and pasting and designing with colors.

We did some copywork as well. Not crazy fun but needed.

That was REALLY all we had time for without taking school into the evening. Sigh. The good news...is that we're doing OTHER school tomorrow (namely Spelling and Art) . Dun dun dunnnnn. Hubby has class sooooo school! It helps me maintain those Monday's or Friday's off as I need them (like this past Monday) and gives US something to do on those Saturdays we don't have anything planned. We're such home bodies :)

I have SO got to get things together for the next few weeks. I'm behind in getting library books and papers together. :P So it looks like I have some 'homework'.

Next week should be crocodile week and Asia week 1 for Galloping the Globe...if I can do the leg work...gotta get t'gettin!

For more weekly wrap ups check out:

Wonderful Wednesday: An Epiphany of Massive Proportions (for me)

2010-09-22T03:09:00.000-07:00

So I've worried for 2 years about the length of time it takes the Boy to do his math. Oh it takes him forever. Oh he drags on and on. Ohhhh I'm doing something wrong. I don't get it. blah blah blah.

It JUST occured to me yesterday. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I was waiting for him to finish. Thinking that we had tons of stuff to get done for our Fair Booth to be finished. Thinking that this was ridiculous and when would it get better. I thought "What would happen if he were in public school and he did this?"

And then it hit me. Like a pile of bricks.

He'd bring it home for homework!

Kids ROUTINELY don't finish their math or language arts or whatever in neat 30 minute blocks! Kids ROUTINELY take their time in doing their work.

That is why public/private school parents complain about homework all the time!

It was like a burden was lifted. Like a vast ocean of water gently came around me when I was most thirsty. I'm not messing up! And if it takes longer than you think it should for YOUR kid to do something you are probably not messing up either!!

Do I still want him to get faster? Sure! But I think, now, that its much more normal and not 'my fault' or the Boy's 'fault' that it takes him longer.

PHEW! S'rsly PHEW!

Sweet Spot Tuesday: Old Buildings and More from the Apple Orchard

2010-09-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

I am not entirely sure what the draw is for old, broken buildings. But it never fails to surprise me. Every time I see one I want to take its picture.

At the Apple Orchard we took a hayride that pulled us past several old barns and buildings. I got a couple of great shots of these!

All I did was a little auto correct and then on photobucket I found some cute 'vignettes' to play with. Adorable!

And then of course some more of the kiddos at the apple orchard

(he was holding hands with my brother, Uncle Jesse)

Follow the link for more Sweet Shots!

Moaning Monday: The Sands of Times

2010-09-20T03:53:00.000-07:00

What Mother doesn't occasionally growl at the speed that time flows by? And tell me that as you get older each year doesn't seem faster than the last?

I just went shoe shopping for the kiddos with my Mom. I knew they needed em, the oldest 2 were not just fitting their sandals but ONLY able to wear them because they weren't enclosed. I KNEW they'd be in bigger sizes..

BUT. My 8 year old wore a size 3 in April. Now in September, 5 months later, he's in a 5.5. He grew 2.5 sizes over the summer. He's wearing BOATS on his feet!

The 6 year old went up a mere 2 sizes, going from 11 to 13.

And the 3 year old went up 1.5 sizes from 7.5 to 9.

The baby is still shoeless though I'm thinking since she's not a walker yet that for her birthday in 6 weeks we'll get her some Robeez. ***SSSCCCREEEEECCHHHHHHHH*** What? Her BIRTHDAY? 6 WEEKS?

WHAT???

When did that happen? WHY did that happen? I'm shocked, and appalled, and flabbergasted. It's not enough that I can feed her chopped up spagetti now. But now I'm considering convertible carseats to get her out of the bucket seat she's in, shoes, and waiting for first steps.

Time isn't your friend, its just not. It's the enemy, an unstoppable, unreasonable, mean enemy. :(

Homeschool News, we're growing

2010-09-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

With funding cuts, NCLB, a growing gap between haves and have nots, and so many other reasons is it surprising that homeschooling is growing?

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/9320014765.html

Seriously. This is really a no-brainer.

Parents of special needs, artistic, or academically gifted kids know that there's a problem and know that there's a lack of funds for THEIR children. So we do it ourselves.

And until/unless this country pulls its nose out of its tail about education it's going to stay that way.

Again.

DUH.

Weekly Wrap Up: Apple Orchard and A Fair Booth

2010-09-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

What a crazy week AGAIN. I think that's the only kind I have! Or at least lately it is :P

To start we covered the Mesopotamian Kingdom of the Akkadia's in history. We built a lego version of a building from Ur and read a TON about that region :)

We also did map work in history AND geography :) Good stuff.

The kids are just moving along with math and reading of course. Those are coming easier and easier for us. Which I'm very happy about. Reading has never been a challenge for us, but the Girl is getting more fluent. And Math is still lengthy but so much less of a struggle.

I have been enjoying our art lessons lately. We've been doing classical 'types': Self portraits, landscapes, still life, etc. :) lovely designs have come forth from it. They did some fantastic work with the still life fruit basket (how classic yeah?) last week. Loved it. :)

This week had two brilliant highlights. One was on Tuesday when we met with other members of our homeschool group to construct our County Fair Booth. We didn't win this year but it was a ton of fun and the kids learned SO MUCH about tractors, plows, the cotton gin, etc.

I think the booth turned out great too!

See!
We will spend a day next week checking out all of the exhibits but I think at least one of them is fabulous. :D

We also spent YESTERDAY at the Apple Orchard. So much fun. I'm a city gal...well, actually more of a suburbanite gal. So I'd never been. Too neat!

We swung on tire swings

Made Apple Cider

Drank Apple Cider

Picked Apples (twist and pull!)

And now have many apples at our house for the eating. Yum!

AND I figured out that my favorite apple in the entire world is the Red Winesap. Brought several home to enjoy. YUMMMMMM.

Today has been mostly a 'recover from the week' day BUT we did watch a fabulous show about the American Short Nose Bear (a prehistoric bear of amazing proportions...thankfully extinct, this sucker was 6 feet while on all four paws!) to go along with our Bear Week and next week we should be making the bear display and installing that and the goose/bird one into the zoo box that I've got now thanks the good people at oriental trading company shipping things in fabulously shaped boxes!

:) Pictures will of course be posted.

What's that? Where's my desk...well, I kinda got bored with that being weekly. I'm thinking it's a better random shot rather than constant thing. Don't worry...it looks about the same as last week with the exception of a toy robot randomly sitting on it. Not sure where that came from :P

For more fabulous homeschooler weeks in review check out:

Wonderful Wednesday: Science Breakthroughs!

2010-09-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

Neat, Cool, and Crazy!!!

On the 'neat' front:

Haley's Comet has been back dated even further!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20016110-501465.html

Better diagnostics for checking a child's brain development!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11218232

Cool:

Dino's are ALWAYS cool, and its a Camel Dino with missing link feather features!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11221459

Okay, this is Science FICTION (and fantasy) instead of Science...but still cool
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2010/09/sunday-sweets-dreaming-of-dragoncon.htmlI wish I had cake skills like that!

And Crazy:
Robot Skin! I can Terminator Movies comin true ;) lol

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100912/ts_afp/sciencebiotechrobotshealthskin

Black Holes Creep Me OUT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11237507

I love Science. It does and finds out such wonderful things!

Fan-flippin-tastic Newspaper Template!

2010-09-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

My home school group is starting a newspaper for the group and I have been researching the best ways to do this. There are many things out there but I found this one site and it's WONDERFUL.

http://mtn.e2bn.net/rostra/news.php?r=1&t=2&id=141

1) It's free
2) It has multiple templates
3) It is just cut and paste! So I can write or someone can send me what their kids wrote and I can just copy and paste!
4) You can save it online! So I just put in the first story ever (about building our county fair booth by 'the girl') as a tester and it worked out just perfectly
5) It come's in 'printer friendly' versions. Since I plan to print out copies for the kids to read this is important!
6) Did I mention that it was free?

Definitely a new favorite of mine.

Sweet Shot Tuesday: A Man and his Musket

2010-09-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

We went to a local History Museum's Yesteryear festival this past Saturday. They were firing muskets! It was so neat. And one of the gentlemen was kind enough to pose for us.

This is just a simple contrast and brightness adjustment but I love the way it looks.

For more Sweet Shots follow the link!

Moaning Monday: Stubbing you toe

2010-09-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

OW.

This will be short. But sufficed to say that I did this earlier this morning, like AS I WALKED OUT TO THE LIVINGROOM straight from waking up...BEFORE COFFEE!!!

And BANG.

Oooh there are very little feelings so jarring and so nerve wracking. Stubbing your toe HURTS and it just radiates from the toe all the way out into the air.

So boo. Booo on stubbing your toe. I hate it when this happens :(

owie.

this is exactly how it felt!

Weekly Wrapup: Where I didn't have 'normal' school but we still learned!

2010-09-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

First...lets get the picture of my desk done:

Lets start with the obvious...I'm backsliding. I admit it. I do.

*At the top, that calendar has new post-its marking days we have things to do. :P Because we need more things to do.
*The wicker basket is mussed because I was searching for some laminating envelopes. The clear box is mussed too...same reason.
*I've got my cutter out because I was chopping pictures for the fair booth we are doing. The construction paper is out for the same reason. Waiting for use.
*Both computers together because we've yet to set up the kids computer area :P (Procrastinators R Us)
*A glass of water because I got it at the same time I was taking the picture. Lots of water. Good stuff.
*Stacks of paper and cds out of place completely...and those cd cases actually HAVE a home :P
*And that bag of books from the flea market have YET to be gone through and put up. Seriously. Sigh.

But then this whole week was off and out of the norm.

FIRST: I'm done with the mold. It's been HOW LONG? And I've yet to see one dot of mold. Even with a magnifying glass. Sad. The plus...if you need bread with a long shelf life go with Nature's Own White/Wheat.

We were working on reports this week for our homeschool Fair Booth. The boys was on the Reaper and the girl did the Plow. They both researched using bunches of websites and then dictated their reports to me. They did fantastic! Absorbed what they needed too and were able to narrate it all very well to me. That took Tuesday and Wednesday (we had Monday off for Labor Day). Thursday we had our home school group meeting. TONS of work, but very helpful. Friday was the only day of 'regular' school. :P

BUT Friday we also FINALLY did Galloping the Globe!!! WOOT! The kids got to read a TON of books about explorers and tomorrow we will do some exercises for it. So happy to finally have gotten that one out of the gate.

We had a field trip yesterday to a local Museum putting on a "Yesteryear" shin dig. The kids played in apprentice ally, checked out muskets, made dolls, and played with horses.

The Preschoolers Three Corner Hat he made.

Trying to climb a tree

Checking out the man with a musket

Dressing up like little girls used to

Checking out quill skills!

Next week we are going to be scattered a bit too because we're setting up the homeschool booth on Tuesday and going to an Apple Orchard on Thursday. BUT that gives us 3.5 days to hit it hard on the book work front :) We WILL get it done!! :)

For more homeschoolin weekly wrap ups check out

What a 4 year old should know

2010-09-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

http://magicalchildhood.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/what-should-a-4-year-old-know/

I know this is a huge issue, I have many friends wrestling with the preschool/no preschool issue right now. They want what's best for their kid academically, socially, etc. I know that. I really do.

But our kids...they absorb so much just with their daily interactions. Talk to them, read to them, play with them, show them how to clean up their room, show them how to look for treasures. Heck, let them sit on your lap while you type up an email or a blog post ;) They learn and absorb EVERYTHING. I promise if you just let them free-play their day away it will be just fine!

Wonderful Wednesday: More on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

2010-09-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

They aren't gone forever!

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/08/20/iron-man-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/

Apparently the good people at Nickelodeon have realized what a foolish mistake was being made in letting them go and so they purchased the rights LAST YEAR and are working on a new tv show, new merchandise, and a new movie.

SWEET DAY IN THE MORNING!

My youngest may be able to grow up with those Turtle Teens after all!!!

That makes this a VERY Wonderful Wednesday indeed!!

Sweet Spot Tuesday: How did you spend YOUR Labor Day Weekend?

2010-09-07T04:34:00.000-07:00

We were super lucky and got to spend it outside a good bit of the time, at my moms on Sunday, at my mom-in-laws on Monday.

Super fun times and I got my Sweet Shot from then. These are straight out of the camera though because I need to put photoshop on my computer again after a horrible virus made me have to wipe it :P

I just love her profile when she smiles. One day I'll get it from behind, I have to so I can remember that I can tell when she smiles from behind, her whole face changes. Its just too sweet.

And because I can't post just one kid :)

My silly posing girl.

Hes not angry, the sun's just bright

This is the big foot pose. It just reminds me of that famous shot of bigfoot :) Or maybe 'is reminiscent' would be more accurate

Follow THIS link for more SWEET SHOTS!

Moaning Monday: The demise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2010-09-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

We have fostered a love of the turtles in all of our children so far.

Little did we KNOW that they were going away. Forever!

We KNEW that there were different versions of the show and that they had come a far way from the lovely and cute show we knew as children. But we didn't think anything about how long they'd been on or how many different ways that they had been advertised. We just assumed that they would be with us for all time.

NOW the Turtles have been cancelled...much to our dismay in 2008! The various channels had been showing them in reruns (we didn't even realize it) and now, as of last Saturday (er...the 27th) they showed the last Turtles Cartoon Movie and that was it.

They were taken off of the forkids.com site that my kiddos like to play on. You can't find Turtle toys in the stores anymore (although we got some for our 3 year old at the flea market! whew!!)

It's a travesty I tell ya! Our 3 year old LOVES his teenagemutantninjaturtlesfastforwards (he says it all in one breath :) )

How could they get rid of the Turtles? They are the TURTLES. Everyone loves them don't they? What will we do when our baby is old enough to adore the turtles. Will we have to find something else to share with her?

It is absolutely wrong. WRONG I tell ya.

Hmph. When they figure out who to market for they certainly were not taking MY FAMILY into account.

We'll miss you Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo, and Michelangelo. And especially Splinter, the most zen Rat EVER.

COWABUNGA DUDES!

*****
just a note, Moaning Monday is something that I tried to do most of the time on my other blog, after all we all have silly things that irritate us, or even really big things that we just have to get out again. I follow it up (again...most weeks) with Wonderful Wednesday where I find something good to praise in my life to balance the whining from Monday :D

Weekly Wrap Up: Shopping and Planning and Art and Fighting and a new Computer oh my!

2010-09-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well. We finished up learning about Egyptian Mummies and the Pyramid. So that was good for History. I meant to continue on to Sumeria but we've run out of time. :) Next week. We'll do it next week. I'm waiting on a few books for it from the library anyway.

We are continuing math. The boy is working on rounding and adding while rounding, which is neat. Its coming fairly easy to him too! The girl is working on greater than and less than and I was surprised by how well she did with not mixing them up since I have to think about the way they face first myself! AND the toddler worked on his shapes :) he loves circles for some reason. They are his favorite shape :D He's also enjoying counting things, he's good at that but we are working on writing numbers too and thats more of a challenge. Way too early to sweat it though, he's 3, it'll come. I only give him 'stuff' because he asks anyway :)

We actually did some spelling and I 'think' we are at a point that next week we can spell actual words and stuff. I am not sure why it took me so long to get around to doing these lessons, but it did :P

We STILL have not done Galloping the Globe, BUT I think I've figured out the schedule and system enough that we can start next week. :P phew. That said...I think I said something similar last week.

We STILL don't have mold. I'm beginning to think it is never going to show. I'm giving it one more week and then we are going to make our own to mold up purty. (Can mold be purty?) The good news is that if there are any other bad hurricanes this year (yeah for Earl missing us!) then we'll feel safer about our bread lasting :P

The boy is still on Journey to the Center of the Earth, but its very dense so I'm only making him read 2 chapters a day. He's enjoying it at this pace and I don't want to push it and take it into burden-land. The girl read a chapter book too this week (a Pokemon book :P BUT it had 6 chapters so I was proud of her). The toddler is really enjoying having Carte Blanche on 'make mommy read to me' :)

We have really kind of let everything fall this week because I had two days of consignment sale shopping...(have you tried consignment sale shopping? Us homeschoolers tend to be 'breeders' I got an entire fall and winter wardrobe ...minus shoes, socks, and undies...for 160.00 for 4 kids! Its the BEST way in the WORLD (besides hand me downs) to get your kids nicely clothed without paying a fortune)

AND I got a new computer! A nice little 14 incher. My 17 inch laptop (such a mistake. The point of lappy is that its portable. 17 inchers are NOT) Its not the hot little number my 17 incher is, graphics wise and such, but I don't play games anymore like I used to. Its perfect and the battery life is soooo nice.

AND the kids have been fighting more this week. The weather was so wishy washy, we only got out for a bit. So I think we are all just stir crazy. :( Hopefully things cool down and dry out and we can spend some great time outside this weekend and start fresh on Tuesday.

AND we had a planning meeting for our homeschool group. We are going to make an educational booth for our county fair and we were planning it this week so we can work on ethe pieces this week and next enrichment day. I'm nervous and excited about this. It's going to be a lot of creative thinking with a larger group. Something that as a Comm person I know can go wrong. BUT we are willing and where there is a will there is a way...right?

The kids have also been going crazy making art for the fair. They can submit 15 pieces and they'll get a dollar for each piece! They are trying to make them as nicely as they can. :) I'm working on having them do different mediums :) It's been a bit of a struggle...but whatever kids...I'm the mama.

Between those disrupting days (3 of em) we've really been crunched for time. Luckily we still got reading and math in daily, it was just the rest of the stuff that fell to the wayside.

But as Scarlet O'Hara says...tomorrow is another day!

AND This weeks Picture of My Desk:

Lets break this one down. See the bag underneath? Books from the fleamarket waiting to be 'processed' (aka tags removed and placed on the book shelf) that poor picture frame still sittin there. One day. ONE DAY. My old 17 inch lappy. Waiting to be moved to a place the kids can use it. Copy paper...quickly running out. That basket is refilling, and its hard to see but there are crayons festooning my desk for some reason. AND some brightly colored sheets sitting on top of my printer waiting for lamination by hubby or myself ONE DAY because they are for his college debaters. Its not TOO bad a week...but it could be tons better. Maybe next week :) Do you see the calendar though? Switched out for the month in the first week!!! I'm so proud!!

Pictures of the Kids At Work:
Do you see? No teeth! How is she eating??
The boy being handsome

another super candid shot. See the clothes sitting on the jumper? From this morning consignment sale (half off day! 2 jackets, 5 pants, 20 shirts, 2 sweaters, and like 4 sleepers for the baby for 42 bucks! ) They are waiting for me to take off the tags and safety pins. The book from the library from someone rereading during recess. My box o supplies and those two black baggy like shapes? The math bags that my enVision stuff came in. Waiting for their books to be replaced while the kids do their math. OH and a random Bakugan card on the ground...when did that get there?
The boy doing said math.

Pictures of the Baby:
(she turned 10 months on the 1st!)

Want more weekly wrap ups? Follow this link for other moms weeks in review!

Combining my blogs

2010-09-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Speaking of juggling and adjusting schedules, etc. :)

I just can't do 2 blogs and it no longer makes sense. I'm not just using this one to do my link holding for me. SO I'm 'leaving' that one and using only this one.

http://susannewith3.blogspot.com

:)

Problems with Homeschooling: Adjusting the Schedule

2010-09-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

This is a crazy common issue with Homeschooling. Let me be very clear about this. EVERYONE has this problem. If they say they don't they are LYING.

You have a dream, an idea, of what you will do. You become invested in it. "These are the pieces I'm using/the curriculum we're following, isn't it WONDERFUL."

And they ARE wonderful. Totally, fantastically wonderful.

And sometimes we spend a tremendous amount of money on them. Or not. Maybe its just a decent percentage of the cash we had for school stuff.

Or maybe we've RAVED to so many people about all that we will do. "Oh yes, we will be doing these things" Or we've *gulp* written it all down in a public blog to 'brag' about our coming school year.

Which is why it is so HARD to adjust our schedules. We get INVESTED in these things.

And then we get harried with an overpacked schedule.

And then we get burned out with the things we are doing.

Or we do things in halves. Or not at all and feel guilty and terrible.

We end up feeling like terrible jugglers that have monkeys pulling at our sleeves and we keep dropping the bowling balls that we foolishly used on our feet!

Or is that just me? :)

The truth, the absolute truth, is that nothing goes exactly according to plan. It just can't. We're human.

I have some huge adjustments to make, some thing has to switch because we aren't doing well on days we have other things going on, we aren't adjusting in with Galloping the Globe or our Spelling Curriculum, and my desk is yet again becoming burdened. And let me say...when you see the mess my desk is in on most Fridays transfer that to the rest of my house.

I DO have built in weeks off along the way for deep cleaning and such, but I don't want my house clean once every 2 months. :(

So ignore the money you've spent, ignore the time you've invested, ignore the stigma of curriculum hopper (just made it up...its how I feel sometimes) and do what needs to be done to make your home a livable and healthy and happy place. Stress kills the learning environment faster than dropping a piece of curriculum.

Yeah. This is something I have to tell myself every year.

The best laid plans and all that jazz :)

Weekly Wrap Up: No mold, cleaner desk, good stuff

2010-08-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

What a good week :)

First...still no mold. We may have to redo it with organic or home made. :P The kids have ceased to get upset and now are just bored with it. Grow mold grow!

We covered heiroglyphics and cuniform and mummies in history. Good stuff! The kid loved making their scrolls and mummies and I found 2 specials on mummies on tv!

The Girl is zooming through math and finished chapter 3 this week. The Boy is going at a slower, but a steady, pace. I wish he would focus more, but he's not actively resisting it s for now I will leave it alone. I am having him go through the addition and subtraction chapters of his book even though they are mostly too easy for him because I'm hoping some easier chapters will be confidence boosters later on. I REALLY want him to wind up liking or at least not hating math at the end of the year.

The Boy is still reading Journey to the Center of the Earth and really enjoying it, he has requested another Jules Verne book next :)

We AGAIN skipped spelling for various reasons. Next week its GOING to happen. :(

We had our planning meeting for our homeschool group :) Crazy fun and much decisions were made. I'm excited for our school year with. We are going to make a booth for our local county fair this year and I'm pretty pumped about that! :)

We have had a great bird week. We are making the bird house today actually and I'll post pictures of it. Our zoo is starting construction today also! I'm thrilled and just so excited to FINALLY get both of those started. NEXT week will be Bear week. Time to go check some more books out from my library!

AND I PROMISED I would get my desk under control...or at least make it better here is the before! this is what I got done Wednesday:

baby steps right?

And finally, its Friday, here is what it looks like right now!

MUCH better. There are now visible boxes and baskets, I can see contents, access some of it. I even straightened the learning board! I NEED to clear up my big basket. But I don't think I have a place for most of that stuff. And you can see the goose waiting for its zoo and an upside down remote being kept safe from the three year old :P So there is stays for now. I am trying not to think about the rest of my house. Once again it has devolved into a big bundle of toys and books and empty boxes that are supposed to make it to the recycling can. :(

Tune in next Friday to see what my desk looks like!

One day I will be a better housekeeper. I just know it :P

And just because he made me take it while I was taking pics of my desk: The 3 year old! (pretending rather badly to be asleep)

Want more Homeschool Weekly Wrap-Ups? Check out: WeirdUnsocializedHomeschoolers

My (not so) secret Shame and a promise to make it better

2010-08-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

sigh. this is what 3 weeks of homeschooling has done to my desk. It started relatively neat. There was a box (in the picture but not visible) the standing scrapbook paper holders, the computer (which is hiding a printer) and a basket. (also not visible in the picture)

Now I have library books, a huge folder of scholastic magazine samples, MY books, coloring books, folders, copy paper, notebooks, a box of stuff to make a bird house this week, yarn, an empty tape dispenser, about 17 crayons that lost their way to their box, some littlest pet shops, pencils that lost THEIR boxes, mail, pencil boxes (missing those oh so far away pencils) some scrapbooking tools that were taken out of the supply closet next to the desk (which is open...) and didn't find their way back. Not to mention my learning board for the 3 year old is skewed for some reason. And my lovely calendar is taking pity on the rest by having one the post its on it sit all weird too so that even the neatness of that calendar is challenged :(

I don't even want to think about UNDER the desk. I see books stacked on one side, a poor picture frame that's been waiting for pictures for 6 months! Actually...er...I think 18 months :(

And work books, I know they aren't identifiable for those not in the know but I see 3 different 'workbooks' (coloring/activity books for the 3 year old).

I am going to nip this in the bud. I don't know HOW this happens SO quickly but it cannot last. I can.not. do this monthly.

So here is my promise to me.

By Friday I will post an updated picture of this desk. Same scene. And I'll do that weekly to keep track and be accountable for how I use my desk and organizational center for my life :P

Wish me luck!!

Making a Zoo: Goose Week

2010-08-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

So one of the uberprojects the kids have asked to do is 'make a zoo'

I've kind of wanted to for 4 years now so I OFCOURSE said yes. :)

Then I had to figure out HOW. :P

I 'think' what we are going to do is take some cardboard boxes (we have 3 large ones that some super duper reading area bean bags came in the week before last) and cut em open and line the edges with some toilet paper rolls that I've been saving (you ALWAYS need some of those on hand...I'm TELLING you) and each week we are going to make a new 'exhibit' that will have to be appropriate for the animal and that will probably be most of our science lesson for that week (with some random Scientific Method experiments throughout the year like our bread mold (grow penicillin grow!)

THIS week we are doing the "Goose" because this week is Bird week.

I got a little goose figurine from AC Moore (it even has a baby gosling)

We are reading quite a few 'bird books' (including Make Way for Duckling and Ping!)

We are going to use http://animal.discovery.com/birds/goose/ for our goose facts (which will probably turn into copy work)

We are also going to use these 2 sites for a few printables: http://www.edupics.com/coloring-picture-canadian-goose-i8540.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/birds/printouts/Canadagooseprintout.shtml

So hooray for Geese!

HOOONNNNNKKKKK

Weekly Wrap Up: Mold Anxiety

2010-08-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

My poor kids. They want their bread mold to grow so badly. I tried to explain to them that it could take 2 weeks or even 3. They don't care. Every morning we check and every morning I hear "awwwww."

So our science lessons have been short this week and rather sad :)

We learned about Ancient Egypt this week...and I learned that I cannot make hats into cones :( Our pharaoh hats were massive fail. Booo fail...booo. Sigh. I have to get some more books from the library for Chapter 3 but we are zooming along nicely.

Math...well...I LIKE enVision. I do. I love the way its laid out and I love the way it looks. But its just too easy for the Girl. She's gone through the first 2 chapters in 2 weeks. Its SUPPOSED to take 2 weeks for EACH lesson :P I'm sure it will get more challenging. But come on. On the OTHER side...the Boy ran into a stumbling block. He was having trouble making change. :P We've done it before but I guess either he wasn't as strong with money as I thought or he just 'thought' it would be hard so it was. I think we are going to take a little diversion next week and work on money at slower pace.

POSITIVE news is that the Boy finished Lemony Snicket and his Encyclopedia Brown book this week. I am working on his patience with chapter books, his ability and comprehension are in the stratosphere...but he's still only an 8 year old. :)

The Girl has had us playing a special game this week, she was reading a book about Christmas Crafts and ideas. In it there was a suggestion for a few Christmas Games. One being "Jingle Bell" where someone hides a jingle bell and other people find it. Well...we don't have a jingle bell so I took just whatever was on hand (a cup one day, an empty jewel case for a cd on another) and they LOVED it. It was so neat and a good way to get them actually looking for things properly instead of the way they normally do (it wasn't handed to me so I must not be able to find it). I'm optimistic that next time they have to get their shoes that it will be easier for them (optimistic/delusional...same thing!)

I am still struggling with All About Spelling. Its not the curriculum...its rather easy, I just think I'm not reading thoroughly enough and er...expecting it to jump in my hands? :P So I have to get to work on that because they HAVE to get better about spelling.

We had an awesome playdate on Tuesday and next week we have ANOTHER playdate AND our homeschool group is meeting for the first time. I cannot wait. I miss our friends, we just don't see them much during the summer.

Something big I have to work on is my temper when tired. The baby sleeps decent but once a week it seems she divebombs into badsleeperville. And so today I am still staring out into space and not so much functioning as I am taking up space because I'm just so tired. Last Friday it really impacted how calm and positive I was for the kids. I am determined to resist that today (she was awake for 2 hours between 2 and 4 this morning and didn't get to sleep till 10:30 :P ) we will see how that works out :)

OH and there are no pictures on this post...mostly because we got some crazy Trojan virus that had to be taken care of by wiping our computers. I saved the pictures but getting everything together is going to take a while :P Sigh.

So I have five minutes before starting our last day and I'm going to try to stay awake. Wish me luck!! And pray for mold :)

*********************************
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Marks of Grace. A Great chance for charity!

2010-08-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here is the explanation for what these bookmarks can do:

Marks for Grace!

We are selling these bookmarks to raise money for 3 missionaries headed to Kosovo. They are on a mission to bring God's light to this war-torn country. Your prayer is the biggest support you can give, but if you are interested in purchasing a bookmark to aid financially, please contact me at ahall27@gmail.com.

You can read more in this card that comes with the marker!

These are an awesome way to support youth that give lie to the stereotypes of disenfranchised/do nothing teens and young adult that are out there.

Wednesday is my Kryptonite I think.

2010-08-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Oh man, seriously.

For those who think homeschoolers always portray what they do as super easy...yeah.

It can be hard. Really hard. We don't do it because its easy. We do it for any number of reasons but NOT because it's easy.

There ARE easy things about it that make it fun/enjoyable/beneficial in ways other than academic/character/etc.

BUT this post is not about those things.

This post is about the hard parts.

The struggles/wars/battles we have.

And the fact that Wednesday is my Kryptonite.

Without fail I get bad sleep on Tuesday nights. I don't know why...every Tuesday night though is hard on me.

That starts me out baaaaaddd.

And then the kids ALWAYS pick Wednesdays to fight about something. And not listen. And ignore me.

Today it was math. 6 other days. 6 OTHER DAYS and not one fight over math with the Boy like we used to have. And today it was like a car wreck. He was INTENTIONALLY not listening, would play with other things, think about other things, do other things. It took him entirely too long to do his math. 2.5 hours. 2 and a half hours.

I tried to put it up and he had a fit "I'm DOING it Mom...just give me a chance" fine. do it. half hour later "You can get to it later in play time" "NO MOM I AM JUST THINKING" fine. He missed the Art Lesson because I wasn't slowing the roll of the Girl.

The 3 year old decided AGAIN to get naked. I'm so tired of him getting naked. Because inevitably, 5 minutes later, he's cold and wants NEW clothes. I'm not doing an extra load of laundry a day just for him. Nuh uh...ain't happening.

The silver lining is that the baby and the 3 year old are both now napping at the same time. I am eating and typing without a baby in my arms and after I'm done we will continue our homeschool day.

SIGH.

Ever wanted to go on a field trip and just couldn't?

2010-08-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/letsnet/noframes/bigideas/b1/

Virtual Field Trips!!!

It has tons of ideas and lesson plans for 'going on field trips' including suggest links for tours of tons of things. Too neat!!

A lovely, lovely, LOVELY poem I found in one of my childrens books

2010-08-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Its from Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahral-Jahiz, known as Al-Jahiz, one of the most influential thinkers of his age...which was in 7-800's :)

A book is a garden you can hold in your hand,
An Orchard you can take on your lap.

A book is a companion who sleeps
Only when you are asleep,
And speaks only when
you wish him to.

A book is a tree that lives long
And bears delicious and abundant fruit
That is easy to pick and perfectly ripe
At all times of the year

A book obeys you by night and by day
Abroad and at home,
It has no need of sleep
And does not grow weary from sitting up.

I have never found anything that spoke so eloquently about how I felt about books and reading.

The book I found it in was a lovely children's book called Clever Ali written by Nancy Farmer and set in the middle east in ancient times. Its a delightful tale and the illustrations by Gail de Marcken are just fabulous and so expressive and captivating! I recommend it highly.

New Week Starting...waiting for the mold to grow!

2010-08-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

No literally, we are waiting for mold to grow.

During our first week we started learning about the scientific method. And we are doing one of the most quintessential experiments...we are growing bread mold.

We have 7 slices, rubbed on dirt, driveway, living room, kitchen, sunroom, carpet, and a control to see if different dirt grows mold more quickly.

We are going to watch it for 2 weeks and see what happens :)

The kids are disappointed so far since the mold hasn't grown yet (its been 3 days...its comin guys, promise!)

We also have playdates going on this week and we are preparing to use Galloping the Globe too. I think by mid week we'll be ready.

The girl zoomed through a chapter of math that should have taken 2 weeks in a week so I'm interested to see how she does this week.

AND to make sure that I can get some housework done I'm going to try to make the kids follow me around the house while they do classwork because last week my home was HORRIBLE come friday. HORRIBLE!

Anyway, I'm going to try to fix that, I HAVE to I hate having my home so so soooo messy.

SO here we go! Week #2...

Highs and Lows Baby, Highs and Lows (week 1)

2010-08-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well...the good news is that this school week has gone mostly well. If I had to grade it I would give it a B-.

Yep, a solid, solid week of work.
Monday was awesome. The kids were excited and cooperative. We didn't cover all the subjects but we did get right into math and history and they did some art and things like that.

We started a few traditions...
like:
First day of School Pictures
The Boy:

The Girl:

The Preschooler:

The whole pack:

I also made them Schultuete this year...Its going to be an everything year I think, I'm going to try harder to make them 'better' next year :)

(note how the girl instinctively holds them like a bouquet of flowers...such a girl)

I made them a cake!
(I'm not much of a decorator)

AND we spent that mornings 'pe' outside playing with an obstacle course. This is something we'll do a lot more of later when its not hot enough to fry an egg :P

So Day 1 was pretty awesome.

Tuesday went swimmingly as well and the kids really paid attention, etc.

Day 3...well it was a kind of downhill type thing. I think the momentum of 'hooray school' wore out and we hit the wall of 'wait we actually have to do this all the time? Which is a pretty hard wall to hit. The house was also slowly disintegrating under a mound of laundry, dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, etc. etc. etc. that I was just struggling to find the time to do. Normal I know, but still...frustrating. But we still finished things, got er done, and learning was done by all.

Day 4 was a rally day. We sallied forth and conquered that wall and the kids were much better behaved and cooperative. I was losing steam though because the Baby was/is teething, not sleeping well, and into mommy holding her.

Day 5 was SUPPOSED to be great. Last day of the week, FRIDAY. I expected great things. But I got MAYBE 5 hours of sleep and that was broken into pieces. :(

Friday was our first official meltdown from just about everyone. The Boy was upset we'd have to work hard all the time now, The Girl was frustrated that everything was easy for her, and The Preschooler was frustrated that he couldn't play with his brothers and sisters all the time. The baby, despite being exhausted in the early morning, was pleasant though. And she went to sleep for 4 hours around 10 am! AND after lunch things got much better and the week ended up on pleasant notes from everyone but the Preschooler...but he's three and thats a HARD age (in my opinion)

I am happy with our curriculum choices. And so far I'm content with our schedule. I think we need a little tweaking to get it ALL in...Spelling fell by the wayside after one day of attempt as did the 'formal' art lessons I was so planning on doing.

BUT next week will be better and I hope to improve our 'grade' from a B- to at LEAST a B+.

First Day on the horizon!

2010-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

2 days to go and then 2010-2011 is ON Suckas!

I'm so excited for this new year. I think I've got it better planned than I ever have before (in 4 years I'm going to laugh at that I think) and I think the kids are good and ready for a daily routine.

I KNOW I am ready for a daily routine. Daily 'nothin much planned' has been nice...but now I'm just over it.

I need an agenda, I need something new to do, and I need it NOW.

I have so many things planned for the first day. I'm making 'cones', a cake, having an obstacle course, and taking school pictures! Its on like donkey kong my friends.

ITS ON!

Neat history resource!

2010-07-27T04:20:00.001-07:00

http://historyforkids.org/

Cute Article on what Homeschoolers get to do since they aren't in Public School/Private School

2010-07-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.helium.com/items/790891-things-homeschooled-children-and-parents-do-while-others-go-to-school

Not that I would ever tell anyone that their choices aren't the best, but I know we all like to count our blessings and these are some blessings that come with homeschooling.

This Years Curriculum Round Up

2010-07-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

Ah the end of summer vacation approaches and with it the sound of shipments being delivered can be hear all over the place. I have had several shipments made and am awaiting still more. Sigh. Loves it. Loves it so so much.

So, here is what my mailman has been bringing to me (for my soon to be second and third grader):

--All About Spelling, Level 1. I probably could have gotten 2 also because I think we'll plow through it quickly, but for now I just got Level 1 for both kids because I think they both need a stronger foundation than what I gave them last year for spelling. Its supposed to be amazing for giving kids a really strong grounding on spelling rules and what I've seen of it seems very, very helpful with hands on components and everything.

--enVision Math, 2nd and 3rd grades. Goodness I did so much research on math. I wanted something much more complete than Spectrum (which is great as a go along but doesn't do well alone) and the spiral system enVision uses sounds like it will work well for my oldest. We'll see, but what I've previewed of them both has been great and I got them both at great prices on ebay! For the 2 of them I paid 50 bucks total instead of 120 bucks I was looking at for Christian Light or even more for Saxon or Singapore math.

--Story of the World Vol. 1...er again. I realized I deeply wanted to start over with the activity guides in hand to help me out and am I EVER glad. Not only is the activity guide AWESOME but I also purchased the audio cds so that I can let my older two listen alone in another room without my 3 year old disturbing them. I got the test bank also so that I can see how they do with listening. :)

--Spectrum Language Arts 2nd and 3rd grade. There are tons of great language arts programs out there but I find myself feeling like they are too much at this age and really all I need is something to help remind me of a few issues that should be raised. We read so much and explore books so much that I think they will absorb most of their language arts THAT way instead of through worksheets. So the Spectrum stuff is really just to kind of fill in and give them something to make them think in a different way.

--Obstacle course stuff from Orientaltrading company for Physical Education. Last year our "pe" was very informal. My kids play everyday and occasionally I'd do a 'game' with them. I think we need something more for them and something fun to break up our day. So I got a bunch of things from orientaltrading.com including a parachute small enough for all of us to use, a tug of war rope, obstacle course rings, little traffic cones, and bean bags so that we can do all sorts of fun games without feeling like we are doing the same thing every day.

--Unit studies for science. I haven't made the list yet but I use this one from World Book which describes the things each grade should learn. I will combine them between my 2nd grader and 3rd grader and each week of school will be a different topic. That normally works quite well and some weeks will be huge endeavors and other weeks will be kind of relaxed. I also got some microscopes, measuring cups, and other things like that to make a science station with and we are going to start studying the scientific method together. There are some great books out on the subject so I'm pretty excited about that. (this, this, and this to start with)

--Neither of them needs anything for reading anymore, they are both reading to learn instead of learning to read (which is AWESOME) so its about challenging them instead of helping the learn. So our Reading time will be checking out fabulous chapter books and picture books to enrich and enthrall them. Or thats how I see it in my head :) I have to research some great lists out there to get some good ideas.

--I'm still considering continuing with Five in a Row in a part time fashion. Its not always the most interesting thing for us anymore. But we still like if its not the only thing we are doing. The great thing about it is that it always has a lesson in 'something' that I wouldn't have thought of to touch on. That makes it invaluable in helping me to keep things well-rounded.

--Unit Studies for Social Studies. That World Book list also has things listed for Social Studies that I will combine and do weekly studies of. I have a sort of project in my head of creating a huge town out of a cardboard box cut open to lay flat and each week studying someone in a towns role and building and then at the end of the year having a visual representation of everything we learned. I think that will be really fun for the kids and for me.

--Art...I'm not sure of everything for this yet. I have a book called Drawing with Children that I like very much and has some great concepts and lessons. I just don't know if its enough for the whole year. I'm thinking some of the crafts for other subjects (like History and Science and Social Studies) will cover some of it. So hopefully between that and the book I'll have it covered.

--Handwriting...it sucks that I still have to do this but I am going 'to the mattress' on this for this year because my kids have GOT to get better at this. So I don't have a particular curriculum in hand but I do have copy work ala Charlotte Mason for them already set aside to do. I am hoping that it will be enough. They know HOW to write, they just don't do it very readably. That HAS to improve some.

--I am ALSO considering Galluping the Globe for social studies. I'm going to work on my schedule before ordering it though. Its lovely and thorough but there are only so many hours in a day after all. I am actually pretty sure I want it...my main issue is not knowing if I want just the book and cd or the book and cd AND the lapbook...decisions decisions.

--no seriously...isn't that enough? :P

I know it sounds like a lot...but some things we go through so quickly. And other things aren't daily. The social studies will be once a week, five in a row will not be every week, science will probably be 3 days a week and history will probably be 2 days a week or something like that. Scheduling will have to come later. Math and Spelling will be four days a week. Once I schedule it all and get into a groove it will all seem much more reasonable than it seems writing it all out :D

For those who love Charlotte Mason

2010-07-19T07:55:00.001-07:00

http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/manucopywork/

copywork!!!

A freverent wish

2010-07-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

I know this is not unique, not unusual, and totally within my power.

But I seriously am praying to God for organizational skills. I NEED them. I CRAVE them. And I am the only one stopping me from gaining them.

Sigh.

I need to be able to organize 'mini school' for my 3 year old, 2nd grade for my 6 year old, 3rd grade for my 8 year old, and entertaining the baby as well.

I need to be able to keep up with church, with home school group, teaching a class at a university, and dealing with my hubby and HIS horrible, horrible, horribly busy schedule.

I need to be able to do this all and still teach my kids properly, still maintain a semblance of order in the home, and somehow not go crazy doing all of that.

So this is my written wish, some people say that helps. Fingers crossed on that! And truly, truly praying for guidance. Cause this show goes live in about 2.5 weeks.