Two of my favorite things! Songs and friends. And two things of which I'm especially grateful for these days.
Jakeb and Anna are using this poem in their school work right now. I chose it because it's a beautiful poem and it applies to our lives right now.
The Arrow and the Song
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak,
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Homeschool Update
We're pushing through our school work pretty hard these days. The kids are not enjoying it much but come the first or second week of May when they are finished with everything early and get to go to the Rec Center or play Wii whenever, I think they will thank me. For the most part, we'll finish all but one or maybe two subjects by the end of April. and then the rest by the second week of May. Jakeb has already completed Algebra 2 and is taking Geometry. It might take him a bit longer to finish that. Tori will be finished with her college semester on May 5th!! Yippee!!! She, too, has done so well this semester, juggling 17 hours in her first semester and working at Kohl's. She's amazing!
Jakeb has already completed a few areas of his English and he takes his last Chemistry test today. WOW! Anna is only two weeks away from finishing History and Science and has also already finished a few areas of her Language course. We switched gears with Anna's Math in February starting over with a brand new curriculum and will finish a year's worth of Math by the first week of May. Double WOW!! There's light at the end of the tunnel.
I have absolutely no regrets about homeschooling this year but it has been a major undertaking with everything else we've had going on. It wouldn't have been easy anyway and anyone that thinks homeschooling is a breeze seriously needs to think again. Without having Tommy's support and help, I don't know if I could have survived. Tori also helped me a lot with Jakeb's curriculum planning and bouncing off ideas.
It's been worth it, though. My kids have learned well and we've had lots of time together. We have field tripped together, laughed together, cried together, thrown fits together, and then laughed some more, and just learned a lot about each other and ourselves together.
We wont' be homeschooling in Singapore. Homeschooling was definitely one of our options but we really felt like being a part of a school would give the kids the necessary social interaction and keep us from being so secluded. We wanted the kids to be able to make friends and being in a school will be a good outlet for me to use my gifts and talents in volunteering. They will be going to an International school and making friends from all over the world like I did when I was a kid in an International school in Brazil. I'm really pretty pumped about that. My best friend in Brazil was from Japan. Their world as they know it and the direction of their future is about to take a wonderfully drastic turn for the good.
So the next few weeks, we're busy with school. Finishing up. Catching up (lots of grading for me to do). Packing up. Closing up the Stunz School. All in all, it's bittersweet.
Jakeb has already completed a few areas of his English and he takes his last Chemistry test today. WOW! Anna is only two weeks away from finishing History and Science and has also already finished a few areas of her Language course. We switched gears with Anna's Math in February starting over with a brand new curriculum and will finish a year's worth of Math by the first week of May. Double WOW!! There's light at the end of the tunnel.
I have absolutely no regrets about homeschooling this year but it has been a major undertaking with everything else we've had going on. It wouldn't have been easy anyway and anyone that thinks homeschooling is a breeze seriously needs to think again. Without having Tommy's support and help, I don't know if I could have survived. Tori also helped me a lot with Jakeb's curriculum planning and bouncing off ideas.
It's been worth it, though. My kids have learned well and we've had lots of time together. We have field tripped together, laughed together, cried together, thrown fits together, and then laughed some more, and just learned a lot about each other and ourselves together.
We wont' be homeschooling in Singapore. Homeschooling was definitely one of our options but we really felt like being a part of a school would give the kids the necessary social interaction and keep us from being so secluded. We wanted the kids to be able to make friends and being in a school will be a good outlet for me to use my gifts and talents in volunteering. They will be going to an International school and making friends from all over the world like I did when I was a kid in an International school in Brazil. I'm really pretty pumped about that. My best friend in Brazil was from Japan. Their world as they know it and the direction of their future is about to take a wonderfully drastic turn for the good.
So the next few weeks, we're busy with school. Finishing up. Catching up (lots of grading for me to do). Packing up. Closing up the Stunz School. All in all, it's bittersweet.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Nifty 50!
Anna has been learning the 50 United States and their capitols. Tori and Jakeb keep going around the house singing this song from their elementary school days. They still remember it so I figured it must be a good one and that Anna should learn it so they could all three sing in unison or in a round or something. Yes, we're dorks.
You, of course, have to add "Texas" in the spot at the end. Of course!!
Can you name all of the US states? Their capitols? Bonus points if you can name the states in Singapore. Rhetorical question, btw. If you named all of the states in a comment to this post I'd totally accuse you of cheating.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Helpful Homeschool Links and Information
I've been needing to put this together for a long time to share with a couple of friends and also just to have all of these links documented somewhere. I got most of these from trusted homeschooling friends and we stumbled up on a few of them on our own.
If you're going to homeschool, whatever you decide to use, be okay with making adjustments to make it fit you and your child. You're probably not going to find anything that is perfect. However, Teaching Textbooks for math comes pretty darn close! That is my all-time favorite and I can't say enough good about it!
In most communities, you can find homeschool groups to join that enable you to network ideas and also participate in field trips, etc. There are also many co-op options in most areas. Just takes a little digging. The internet might just be your most valuable tool! We haven't participated in the groups or co-ops but they are always an option for something you might not feel comfortable teaching. For me, one of the downfalls of homeschooling is that I lack passion in teaching particular subjects. A trained and educated teacher might have been able to make Julius Caesar come alive for Jakeb or Alegbra 2 be fun or come up with a much better science or history project for a 4th grader. But since I'm not knowledgeable about those things (and other things) I almost feel like my kids are sometimes missing out. This is out-weighed, however, by many, many other benefits.
I'm sure this is not a comprehensive listing. When I think of or run across other helpful information or links, I'll post again. If anyone reading has anything to add, please feel free to comment.
My main pieces of advice for homeschool parents are:
1) If you're married, both husband and wife need to have a strong committment and dedication level. This has been a very challenging year for me (and fulfilling!) but without Tommy's support and help, I would definitely have gone bonkers! If you're single, make sure you have some type of support from grandparents or close family and friends or a homeschool group. It would be so hard to do this alone!
2) Be sure and physically look at your curriculum choices if at all possible. Either at a store or at a friends house. We were headed in one direction with Anna but when I physically saw it, it was absolute chaos on a page and would not have worked well for Anna's learning style at all! Saved us a ton of money!
3) Remain open minded to new ideas and techniques. If something is not working, be willing to try something new.
4) Be flexible but not so flexible that your kids think they are in control and can do whatever they want.
5) Relax every now and then, ditch the lessons and have fun being with your kids! Instead of reading about clouds in your science book, go outside and look at them. What a treasured time!!
Links we've actually used:
http://freetypinggame.net/ This site is tons of fun for the family to play with each other!
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm Anna struggled with her multiplication tables at the beginning of the year. She knows them well thanks to this and some other fun math games we found. We love the Jump Start software games and I also found a music cd with the multiplication tables put to classical tunes. She HATED it but it was incentive to learn them when I told her that when she learned them all she wouldn't have to listen to it anymore. :)
Snagfilms (You can find some documentaries here that are hard to find. This has been helpful to enhance history and science lessons.)
The Homeschool Store This is a great store in Houston and the only one I've been to. They have a lot of new and used stuff. It's stuffed from wall to wall so bring your Starbucks and plan on staying for a couple of hours and you might consider leaving your young kids with grandma or a friend. You'll need to be able to focus if you're going to research. They do have a video corner and they welcome kids, of course.
Homeschool Tracker (LOVE this! I could not stay organized without it. I make my lesson plans on this and enter grades. It tracks attendance and spits me out report cards. Wonderful tool! We used the free download since we only planned on homeschooling for one year. I'm sure the one you pay for is much better if you don't mind paying for it.)
A Beka We used this for most of Anna's curriculum. I have some major issues with how "King James" it is but we just made our own adjustments. It was our fall back since we used it when we homeschooled Tori in the 4th grade. I couldn't find anything else that I was happy with so we went with A Beka again. It's laid out well for non teachers such as me with handy lesson plans and answer keys and such. I particularly liked the core subjects in these - History, Science and Language. The reading program has been very helpful for her and she has improved considerably. Anna really enjoyed the science and we liked how it brings our history and creation back to the Creator. Math was okay but we ended up switching to Teaching Textbooks.
Teaching Textbooks (math) My FAVORITE math. We use for Jakeb, Algebra 2 and Geometry. We even switched Anna from A Beka to this mid year. It's awesome for the student and the teacher!! Only starts at 4th grade right now, though.
Rosetta Stone for Homeschool They have a great setup for tracking the kids lessons and grades for homeschool use. You can buy one and the whole family can learn. Can only be loaded onto one computer.
Apologia We used this for Jakeb's chemistry. A challenge but great curriculum. The chemistry home lab kit is even available.
BJU Press We used their World History for Jakeb. We love how it's built around the bible. Very intense, though, and covers a lot of material.
Rainbow Resource This is a one stop shop for homeschool curriculum. We ordered most of what we needed from here when we got started. Their prices are good. It's also a good place to go dig around and see what other curriculum options are out there that you may not be aware of.
Amazon They actually have a lot of homeschool stuff. We order Jakeb's history from Amazon to utilize the free shipping over $25 option.
Christian Book Distributors Same here. Good resource to price compare.
Progeny Press This is what we've used for Jakeb's literature. You can order age appropriate books and a study guide to go with it. I'm thinking of getting one of these for Anna to finish out her year and have something different to do than A Beka. They are very reasonably priced. We also used this for Jakeb's Poetry. He didn't like it but it was a good study.
Wordsmith (Creative Writing) We used this for Jakeb. The A Beka writing program, Penmanship and Language A, was fine for Anna.
Vocabulary from Classical Roots We used this for Jakeb to prepare him for SAT. It's laid out well but is a challenge to teach. He has learned a lot, though, that will be helpful for him when taking the SAT.
Analogies 2 We got this for Jakeb also to use to prepare for the SAT. Again, it's not fun but necessary.
Recommended links that we didn't use:
Kid Test I totally meant to use this and forgot about it until now when I was going through all of my emails to get these links. I may still go do this for Anna & Jakeb to see if they're on track. It's not free but I can't remember how much it is. Maybe $25 or something like that.
Dive Into Math
HEP Bookstore Homeschool Store in Houston. This store offers SAT prep courses and other helpful classes like how to make your student's transcript and such. Great resource but I haven't needed it. I did get some great info from their website when we began though from the FAQ's page. You should definitely check that out!
http://www.bravewriter.com/
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/
http://www.sonlight.com/
http://www.mathusee.com/
UPDATE
Here are two more links for some good science project ideas that I found. I actually pulled several easy ones to try this week for Anna's study of matter, air and weather but there are lots of others there for young and old kiddos.
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/acat_science-projects.html
http://home.howstuffworks.com/science-projects-for-kids-weather-and-seasons13.htm
UPDATE 2
This is a great resource for parents of children with learning disabilities or issues. They also have a resource for homeschool support. Check it out!
http://www.thewoodlandslearningcenter.com/
If you're going to homeschool, whatever you decide to use, be okay with making adjustments to make it fit you and your child. You're probably not going to find anything that is perfect. However, Teaching Textbooks for math comes pretty darn close! That is my all-time favorite and I can't say enough good about it!
In most communities, you can find homeschool groups to join that enable you to network ideas and also participate in field trips, etc. There are also many co-op options in most areas. Just takes a little digging. The internet might just be your most valuable tool! We haven't participated in the groups or co-ops but they are always an option for something you might not feel comfortable teaching. For me, one of the downfalls of homeschooling is that I lack passion in teaching particular subjects. A trained and educated teacher might have been able to make Julius Caesar come alive for Jakeb or Alegbra 2 be fun or come up with a much better science or history project for a 4th grader. But since I'm not knowledgeable about those things (and other things) I almost feel like my kids are sometimes missing out. This is out-weighed, however, by many, many other benefits.
I'm sure this is not a comprehensive listing. When I think of or run across other helpful information or links, I'll post again. If anyone reading has anything to add, please feel free to comment.
My main pieces of advice for homeschool parents are:
1) If you're married, both husband and wife need to have a strong committment and dedication level. This has been a very challenging year for me (and fulfilling!) but without Tommy's support and help, I would definitely have gone bonkers! If you're single, make sure you have some type of support from grandparents or close family and friends or a homeschool group. It would be so hard to do this alone!
2) Be sure and physically look at your curriculum choices if at all possible. Either at a store or at a friends house. We were headed in one direction with Anna but when I physically saw it, it was absolute chaos on a page and would not have worked well for Anna's learning style at all! Saved us a ton of money!
3) Remain open minded to new ideas and techniques. If something is not working, be willing to try something new.
4) Be flexible but not so flexible that your kids think they are in control and can do whatever they want.
5) Relax every now and then, ditch the lessons and have fun being with your kids! Instead of reading about clouds in your science book, go outside and look at them. What a treasured time!!
Links we've actually used:
http://freetypinggame.net/ This site is tons of fun for the family to play with each other!
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm Anna struggled with her multiplication tables at the beginning of the year. She knows them well thanks to this and some other fun math games we found. We love the Jump Start software games and I also found a music cd with the multiplication tables put to classical tunes. She HATED it but it was incentive to learn them when I told her that when she learned them all she wouldn't have to listen to it anymore. :)
Snagfilms (You can find some documentaries here that are hard to find. This has been helpful to enhance history and science lessons.)
The Homeschool Store This is a great store in Houston and the only one I've been to. They have a lot of new and used stuff. It's stuffed from wall to wall so bring your Starbucks and plan on staying for a couple of hours and you might consider leaving your young kids with grandma or a friend. You'll need to be able to focus if you're going to research. They do have a video corner and they welcome kids, of course.
Homeschool Tracker (LOVE this! I could not stay organized without it. I make my lesson plans on this and enter grades. It tracks attendance and spits me out report cards. Wonderful tool! We used the free download since we only planned on homeschooling for one year. I'm sure the one you pay for is much better if you don't mind paying for it.)
A Beka We used this for most of Anna's curriculum. I have some major issues with how "King James" it is but we just made our own adjustments. It was our fall back since we used it when we homeschooled Tori in the 4th grade. I couldn't find anything else that I was happy with so we went with A Beka again. It's laid out well for non teachers such as me with handy lesson plans and answer keys and such. I particularly liked the core subjects in these - History, Science and Language. The reading program has been very helpful for her and she has improved considerably. Anna really enjoyed the science and we liked how it brings our history and creation back to the Creator. Math was okay but we ended up switching to Teaching Textbooks.
Teaching Textbooks (math) My FAVORITE math. We use for Jakeb, Algebra 2 and Geometry. We even switched Anna from A Beka to this mid year. It's awesome for the student and the teacher!! Only starts at 4th grade right now, though.
Rosetta Stone for Homeschool They have a great setup for tracking the kids lessons and grades for homeschool use. You can buy one and the whole family can learn. Can only be loaded onto one computer.
Apologia We used this for Jakeb's chemistry. A challenge but great curriculum. The chemistry home lab kit is even available.
BJU Press We used their World History for Jakeb. We love how it's built around the bible. Very intense, though, and covers a lot of material.
Rainbow Resource This is a one stop shop for homeschool curriculum. We ordered most of what we needed from here when we got started. Their prices are good. It's also a good place to go dig around and see what other curriculum options are out there that you may not be aware of.
Amazon They actually have a lot of homeschool stuff. We order Jakeb's history from Amazon to utilize the free shipping over $25 option.
Christian Book Distributors Same here. Good resource to price compare.
Progeny Press This is what we've used for Jakeb's literature. You can order age appropriate books and a study guide to go with it. I'm thinking of getting one of these for Anna to finish out her year and have something different to do than A Beka. They are very reasonably priced. We also used this for Jakeb's Poetry. He didn't like it but it was a good study.
Wordsmith (Creative Writing) We used this for Jakeb. The A Beka writing program, Penmanship and Language A, was fine for Anna.
Vocabulary from Classical Roots We used this for Jakeb to prepare him for SAT. It's laid out well but is a challenge to teach. He has learned a lot, though, that will be helpful for him when taking the SAT.
Analogies 2 We got this for Jakeb also to use to prepare for the SAT. Again, it's not fun but necessary.
Recommended links that we didn't use:
Kid Test I totally meant to use this and forgot about it until now when I was going through all of my emails to get these links. I may still go do this for Anna & Jakeb to see if they're on track. It's not free but I can't remember how much it is. Maybe $25 or something like that.
Dive Into Math
HEP Bookstore Homeschool Store in Houston. This store offers SAT prep courses and other helpful classes like how to make your student's transcript and such. Great resource but I haven't needed it. I did get some great info from their website when we began though from the FAQ's page. You should definitely check that out!
http://www.bravewriter.com/
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/
http://www.sonlight.com/
http://www.mathusee.com/
UPDATE
Here are two more links for some good science project ideas that I found. I actually pulled several easy ones to try this week for Anna's study of matter, air and weather but there are lots of others there for young and old kiddos.
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/acat_science-projects.html
http://home.howstuffworks.com/science-projects-for-kids-weather-and-seasons13.htm
UPDATE 2
This is a great resource for parents of children with learning disabilities or issues. They also have a resource for homeschool support. Check it out!
http://www.thewoodlandslearningcenter.com/
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Homeschool Remodel
We've done alot of home remodeling over the past few months and now it is time for a homeschool remodel.
We started homeschooling Jakeb and Anna this school year, 10th and 4th grade respectively, and can I just say that the last semester was quite a challenge for me. Not only do I not know how to teach Chemistry or Algebra 2, we had to deal with a few personality differences 24/7 and a very busy routine for me, especially over the holidays. I knew it would be challenging but didn't expect it to be as challenging as it was. Not knowing what the heck I was doing didn't help any either. Tommy has helped a lot and is extremely supportive. He helps Jakeb with the Chemistry and Algebra and has great discussions with Jakeb over certain History lessons. He also will sit and do spelling words and read to Anna at night. Afterall, this was our decision, not mine, so we're "all in this together". Are you singing? (High School Musical for those of you who don't have a 9 yr old daughter)
When we started, we got a free download of a lesson plan and grade tracking software which is wonderful and did the best we could with ordering the curriculum we thought would work best for each kid. We talked to a few trusted homeschooling parents/friends and they gave us tons of advice and information and then we jumped in.
The daily lesson plans and trying to "go by the rules" was seriously stressing me out but I didn't know how to fix it. Overall, it's been good and I have no regrets but over the holidays, knowing our lives are about to go into warp speed with a pending overseas move and our oldest daughter graduating from high school, I needed to come up with a better system. I can't tell you how much thought I've given to their education because it is such a huge responsiblity. With all of the frustrations and challenges, we've thought and thought and discussed and discussed and even shed a tear or two. We've tried many different things and some things worked and some things didn't. Maybe by the end of this year, I'll have it figured out but somehow I doubt it. I think it will continue to need updating. Remodeling your home is a never ending process, right? So is parenting and everything that comes along with it. You can't keep doing things the same way all of the time. You have to be flexible. For someone who likes consistency, this is difficult.
But, I'm ditching lesson plans and ditching going "by the book" for the most part. Some of my close friends and family reading this are gasping aloud, I'm sure! I followed the rules to a tea and it drove me crazy. We used the same curriculum to teach Tori when we homeschooled her in the 4th grade and since we didn't know any better, we didn't purchase all the lesson plan books. We just went through her books and learned the stuff page by page. She's graduating a semester early and is close to the top 10% of her class and pulling a 4.0 in her college classes simultaneously, so it didn't screw her up any.
We've ordered some new curriculum for Anna's math from the same place that Jakeb's Algebra 2 and Geometry came from. I LOVE IT!!!!! Teaching Textbooks is a wonderful math program for a non-math oriented teacher mom. It was a crazy idea to switch mid-year but again, all the lesson planning was driving me bonkersand I wasn't confident that I was teaching her what she needed to learn. Anna was doing Abeka and it's okay and she did well. So well, in fact, that I gave her placement tests and figured out that she was ready to move on to 5th grade math! This is the kid who didn't know her multiplication tables when we started in August. I guess I'm not that bad of a teacher, huh? Since we're starting a new curriculum, she'll probably go into the summer to finish but she loved it so much yesterday she did two lessons and wanted to do more! Jakeb is finishing up Algebra 2 in a little over one semester and will go into Geometry and finish that up early summer.
I've also restructured the daily lesson plans to weekly so I don't have to get up at 5am every day or stay up late to get ready for the next day. It's ready for the week and it will make the kids have to be more disciplined in working on their own. I'm still up at 5am but I'm not doing lesson plans.
I have a refreshed outlook on our homeschool adventure. I'm sure there will still be challenges but I'm not stressing over lesson plans - today.... They'll still learn the material, and I'm pretty sure they're actually learning more than what they would in public school. Besides that, Anna has gained an enormous amount of confidence in her reading and testing issues and that give us much joy.
I'm excited about this homeschool remodel and it's not near as messy as our bathroom remodel was.
When we started, we got a free download of a lesson plan and grade tracking software which is wonderful and did the best we could with ordering the curriculum we thought would work best for each kid. We talked to a few trusted homeschooling parents/friends and they gave us tons of advice and information and then we jumped in.
The daily lesson plans and trying to "go by the rules" was seriously stressing me out but I didn't know how to fix it. Overall, it's been good and I have no regrets but over the holidays, knowing our lives are about to go into warp speed with a pending overseas move and our oldest daughter graduating from high school, I needed to come up with a better system. I can't tell you how much thought I've given to their education because it is such a huge responsiblity. With all of the frustrations and challenges, we've thought and thought and discussed and discussed and even shed a tear or two. We've tried many different things and some things worked and some things didn't. Maybe by the end of this year, I'll have it figured out but somehow I doubt it. I think it will continue to need updating. Remodeling your home is a never ending process, right? So is parenting and everything that comes along with it. You can't keep doing things the same way all of the time. You have to be flexible. For someone who likes consistency, this is difficult.
But, I'm ditching lesson plans and ditching going "by the book" for the most part. Some of my close friends and family reading this are gasping aloud, I'm sure! I followed the rules to a tea and it drove me crazy. We used the same curriculum to teach Tori when we homeschooled her in the 4th grade and since we didn't know any better, we didn't purchase all the lesson plan books. We just went through her books and learned the stuff page by page. She's graduating a semester early and is close to the top 10% of her class and pulling a 4.0 in her college classes simultaneously, so it didn't screw her up any.
We've ordered some new curriculum for Anna's math from the same place that Jakeb's Algebra 2 and Geometry came from. I LOVE IT!!!!! Teaching Textbooks is a wonderful math program for a non-math oriented teacher mom. It was a crazy idea to switch mid-year but again, all the lesson planning was driving me bonkersand I wasn't confident that I was teaching her what she needed to learn. Anna was doing Abeka and it's okay and she did well. So well, in fact, that I gave her placement tests and figured out that she was ready to move on to 5th grade math! This is the kid who didn't know her multiplication tables when we started in August. I guess I'm not that bad of a teacher, huh? Since we're starting a new curriculum, she'll probably go into the summer to finish but she loved it so much yesterday she did two lessons and wanted to do more! Jakeb is finishing up Algebra 2 in a little over one semester and will go into Geometry and finish that up early summer.
I've also restructured the daily lesson plans to weekly so I don't have to get up at 5am every day or stay up late to get ready for the next day. It's ready for the week and it will make the kids have to be more disciplined in working on their own. I'm still up at 5am but I'm not doing lesson plans.
I have a refreshed outlook on our homeschool adventure. I'm sure there will still be challenges but I'm not stressing over lesson plans - today.... They'll still learn the material, and I'm pretty sure they're actually learning more than what they would in public school. Besides that, Anna has gained an enormous amount of confidence in her reading and testing issues and that give us much joy.
I'm excited about this homeschool remodel and it's not near as messy as our bathroom remodel was.
Friday, December 19, 2008
I don't have to...
teach school for 2 weeks!!!!!
I've never been the mom that is dreading the kids being out of school or is ready for them to go back. I'm their mom and I had them because I wanted them. Things get messier and definitely more chaotic around here when they're all home but I love having them home - as long as I get some "me" time every now and then and everyone knows when it's time for that ......
Two of our kids have been with me day in and day out this year since we are homeschooling so them being out of school isn't going to change things around here. And our other one, Tori is about to graduate so she'll be in an out of the house for work and college and starting to live her own life.
I do have alot of papers to grade and entries to make in our free homeschool software (which is great btw) to catch up on but I don't have to plan assignments or think about curriculum and ...
... I DON'T HAVE TO TEACH SCHOOL FOR 2 WEEKS!!!!!
I've never been the mom that is dreading the kids being out of school or is ready for them to go back. I'm their mom and I had them because I wanted them. Things get messier and definitely more chaotic around here when they're all home but I love having them home - as long as I get some "me" time every now and then and everyone knows when it's time for that ......
Two of our kids have been with me day in and day out this year since we are homeschooling so them being out of school isn't going to change things around here. And our other one, Tori is about to graduate so she'll be in an out of the house for work and college and starting to live her own life.
I do have alot of papers to grade and entries to make in our free homeschool software (which is great btw) to catch up on but I don't have to plan assignments or think about curriculum and ...
... I DON'T HAVE TO TEACH SCHOOL FOR 2 WEEKS!!!!!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bella-Full Dog Treats - Official Launch Day
This is Anna, Bella and Karat. (Karat passed away a couple of months ago. Anna likes the vegetarian treats because they have carrots in them.)To catch up on what this is all about, you'll probably need to read this post.
Market testing is complete!! Bella likes them and is still alive. Even Jenny tried one of the vegetarian treats and said they weren't bad. She kind of started acting a little funny after but I'm not sure it was related to the dog treat. :)
So.........
Anna is ready to begin helping you make your dog sit, stay, speak, roll over or just love you with her homemade and healthy dog treats. She is only going to make the vegetarian treats and the peanut butter treats at this point. The meaty ones were sort of gross and they have to be refrigerated because of the meat in them so that would make them a pain. Bella did like them but as Jenny put it, "A dog would eat a shoe!".
The treats are made with whole wheat flour, non-fat milk and other real stuff. She will sell them for $8/container. She will be giving the money she makes to help Tori and Jakeb go on their mission trip to Kenya this summer. If you want some for your dog for Christmas, please order SOON!
(quarter shown for size - supposed to be funny...)
I'm sure this is the beginning of something really cool.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Anna's Harvest Feast Project Was A Success!
Anna hosted her first harvest feast last Saturday for her school project. She worked so hard on this and it went over quite well. She easily made a 100!
She chose several people who came over on the Mayflower and settled in Plymouth and also a few Indians who were at that first harvest feast hosted by the Pilgrims. She researched and wrote up a bio of each person and everyone that came on Saturday read about who they were. We learned alot, ate alot and had a great time. She planned games like hopscotch, marbles and hide & seek but there were very few children and the adults ate too much so no one really felt like playing. I'm pretty sure that's how it would have been in 1621 too.
Tommy's parents came with cornbread. My parents and sister and neices came with their version of Indian head pieces with turkey feathers and had made up names for themselves. Names like "Woman Hollering", "Runs With Idiots", "Forgets Name" (she's almost 50!) and "Poke A Hole In Head" (she just had her wisdom teeth removed). Another sister came later, the one who is directionally challenged, her name was "Sakaga Which We'". I have such a weirdly creative family, eh?
Anna chose for my dad to "play" the part of Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe that joined the Pilgrims at the feast. The Wampanoag brought 5 or 6 deer to share at the original feast so my dad brought deer jerky that he made from his own deer meat.
Great job, Anna!!!
When you play the slideshow, you can click on any picture to zoom in. Also, the pics are repeated so I could fill up the album. Haven't quite mastered Smilebox yet. It sure beats posting individuals in blogger, though!
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| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
In case you're interested, here is a website that we found a ton of helpful and interesting information about the Wampanoag, the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and Plymouth.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The History of Holidays
Anna and I are busy planning a Pilgrim's feast for her history project that compares the similarities and differences in how the Pilgrim's celebrated their first harvest feast and how we celebrate today. We'll have Captain Myles Standish, Elder Brewster, Samoset, Squanto, Chief Massosoit, Governor William Bradford and several others in attendance. It's been a very interesting project and should be alot of fun for our family.
I came across this on the The History Channel. I'm posting it, mostly so I can keep track of it but I thought I'd share it with you as well.
Go check it out for some interesting and fun historical facts that you and your kids can read, watch and listen to about your favorite holiday.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Real Teachers Have Big Sonic Drinks
Today we had a few interuptions so Anna was finishing up a Science paper at about 5pm while a friend patiently waited and curiously looked around our school room/office. She was pretty impressed that Anna was getting to do school with her skates on and a pixie stix shoved in her mouth. How's that for a couple of homeschool perks?
Anna's friend told me that I should have a big Sonic cup. It puzzled me. She meant that I needed one because that's what all the teachers at her school have on their desks.
Definitely tomorrow! Cause I'm a real teacher too.... the large drink on my desk will finally make it official. It's like I've found the missing link, the last piece to the puzzle!
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