She would like some input on this issue.  Thanks!!

I am wondering if you would help me.  I have been working on my Girl Scout Silver Award and in the process, I have noticed that many of the elderly people I know are suffering in loneliness.  I want to help them. 

On the other hand, the young people that I have seen do not notice the sadness of the elderly because our culture portrays the elderly as unimportant.  The younger generations are missing out on the relationships with distant grandparents and could use the influence of the more experienced generation in their lives.

I would like to help them notice and appreciate each other so that both groups benefit.  I am thinking of starting a Secret Grandparent program, similar to a Secret Sister exchange or I would like to start an Adopt-a-Senior program at my church where kids like me would get together with an “adopted grandparent” and talk, bake, do crafts read and otherwise get to know each other better. 

I would appreciate any input and suggestions in dealing with this issue.  Thank you.

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Well, OK, not quiet exactly, but *shrug*

We are finishing up our first block of school.  I think it went pretty well, considering. 

Bug (15yos) is coming along in math a bit (dreaded long division!!) and is voraciously reading about WWI.  Occasionally, I see him go through his forensic study.  i need to prod a bit more there.  He started his bowling league this month and is doing well.  He also went on his first local mission trip.

Butterfly (13yod) is enjoying our AWOA study of Ancient Egypt and reading better than she thinks she is.  She finished a lapbook on the Titanic and one on Amelia Earhart and is working on one for our Egyptian study as well as a group lapbook on desert animals.  She has been volunteering a lot, as usual, and has earned the Presidential Volunteer Service Award - in gold!!

Bunny (11yod) is also working on Ancient Egypt with us and the same 2 lapbooks as her sis.  Playing soccer and reading lots, as usual.  Also doing the "dreaded long division".  Her sugar numbers are giving us fits and she is sick of this whole diabetes thing already.  *sigh*  Hurts my momma's heart to see her have to struggle with this.  OH!  And she has earned a bronze Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

Bee (9yod) is playing her first season of soccer (we bumped her up a level to keep her with Bunny) and is doing GREAT!  Really holding her own out there.  She is learning all about space in her free time, and doing AWOA along with the big girls. 

All three girls are enjoying Girl Scouts activities and patch requirements. 

Bear (6yos) is happily 'Rowing along with Five in a Row this year.  We've worked on 6 titles - The Story About Ping, Lentil, Madeline, A Pair of Red Clogs, The Rag Coat and Who Owns the Sun? and he has loved every one.  He's also doing a lot of Cub Scout activities (he's a Wolf Cub) and was the first in his pack to fill a popcorn order form!

Kitty (4yod), Lamb & Puppy (2.5yoTWINs) are doing lapbooking for Letter of the Week and Before Five in a Row.  They are just having a BLAST with the lapbooks and being kids.

PoohBear (8mos) is trying to crawl, learning to stand, drooling a lot, and is in general the most contented baby I've ever seen!  He's a PEACH!

We were going to put the brakes on the unit after our break next week and have everyone follow their own interests (with my guidance, of course).  But when the girls found out that Ancient Greece was next, and that Ancient Rome was after that, and that... well, anyway, we'll be sticking with AWOA for awhile! LOL  Not sure now how to fit in a lion lapbook and a Beyond FIAR study for Bunny, more space activities and an African animal lapbook for Bee, a study of woman's history with Butterfly...

Anyone got more extra hours in their day they want to lend me??

Loving Learning,

Katie

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Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of school.  But Butterfly (13yog) had a volunteer opp yesterday from 10:30-1.  Then the girls had a Girl Scout outing from 3-5pm.  And Bee (9yog) almost broke her nose tree climbing and had to spend 2 hrs in emergicare.  Uh, yeah.

So TODAY was the first day.  Sort of.  Because FRIDAY, the 3 oldest girls are all going out of town with my mom for the weekend.  And next week, they ALL dc are taking turns sleeping at my moms and doing fun field trips during her vacation.  So... well, life goes on.

Yes, I count all of the volunteering and FT as "school", but it was not on my lesson plan.  Guess it was on God's though.  So I don't sweat it.

Today was good.  All the dc sat in on the Bible, Social Studies & Science readings from Day 1 of A World of Adventure.  Bunny (11yog) worked on her LA for Day 1 and read for an hour, Butterfly did remedial reading (Starfall.com) and Bear (6yob)  will do The Story About Ping for the second day from Five in a Row in a few minutes.  Bug (15yob) did a lesson from Spelling Made Simple, read his history books & The Book of God, and will do math when I am off of here. 

Butterfly will do some "B" school with the littles after naptime, and Bunny will read The Big Green Pocketbook to them and work on Before Five in a Row lessons.

Off to do some more "school"!

Loving Learning,

Katie

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Sorry this took so long - we were camping!

Here we go...

SPELLING POWER - Kellie!

LIBERTY'S KIDS CD-ROM GAME - Diane and Rebecca! (I have 2 of these to give away)

DIANA WARING BOOK - E.M.

Ack!  I was going to add pics of my dc drawing names but my computer is giving me fits!!  Congratulations to the winners!  I will email you ASAP for your info.

Loving Learning,

Katie

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If you would like to join in on the Curriculum Clean-Out! and have fun giving away the excess on your shelves, now is the time!   Just go HERE to sign up!

I just found a gently used OLD copy of Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations and the Bible: Creation to Christ Activity Book for K-4! 

 (COVER IS DIFFERENT)

You can earn up to 2 entries by doing the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Be sure to leave adequate contact information.

2. Twitter or blog about this contest and then leave an additional comment.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009 AT 11:59 PM MOUNTAIN TIME!

Good Luck!

- Katie

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If you would like to join in on the Curriculum Clean-Out! and have fun giving away the excess on your shelves, now is the time!   Just go HERE to sign up!

I'm also giving away an unboxed Liberty's Kids CD-ROM.

You can earn up to 2 entries by doing the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Be sure to leave adequate contact information.

2. Twitter or blog about this contest and then leave an additional comment.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009 AT 11:59 PM MOUNTAIN TIME!

Good Luck!

- Katie

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If you would like to join in on the Curriculum Clean-Out! and have fun giving away the excess on your shelves, now is the time!   Just go HERE to sign up!

I'm giving away a complete-but-very-well-used (as in some pages are loose) copy of Spelling Power.

You can earn up to 2 entries by doing the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Be sure to leave adequate contact information.

2. Twitter or blog about this contest and then leave an additional comment.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009 AT 11:59 PM MOUNTAIN TIME!

Good Luck!

- Katie

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We never did get back to Creation Camp - though I still plan to.  Instead, we've gone off on a bit of a tangent using a wonderful resource from Teacher Book Bag!

We have thoroughly enjoyed the activities in the August Book Bag for 1st through 3rd grade!  I love the fact that all of the components tie in together, but each subject can also stand alone.  My kids had a terrific time learning about graphing with the worksheets included.  And when it was time to make an "object graph", we tied it in to our chores and sorted the laundry as we folded it!  Some of the questions on the worksheets were a bit beyond my new 1st grader, so we skipped those particular questions.  My "graduated" 3rd grader had fun working the problems though.  We graphed the ingredints in our trail mix snack and made a bar graph, plus compared our numbers on a line graph.

We also worked on the Language Arts portion.  Both children thought that making sentences out of the provided fragments was "cool".  They loved the file folder games and both now have a great grasp on simple punctuation.

The World Discoveries section ties in perfectly with our current study of animals from our Creation Camp.  I especially appreciated that the information provided was just enough to complete the project, but that websites were included for further study.  Each of my children did pick an animal to research and the websites were informative.

All in all, we completely enjoyed our August Book Bag and can't wait until September!

They have a lot of great resources, and they are very reasonable.  Check it out!

Loving Learning,

Katie

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We have been attending VBS this week.  The kids are having a great time, but our trip to the fair last Wednesday derailed our Creation Camp.  I'm planning to finish it this weekend.

The Bigs are back from camp (YEAY!) and all had a wonderful time!  Em had only one low blood sugar (55 at 3am!!) the night before she came home, and 2 highs (200's).  The rest of her numbers were PERFECT!  Of course now that she is home, she has been running in the 200's and even 300's all week.  Except 2 normals.  Have I said yet that I HATE the "honeymoon" period??  AHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! 

School planning continues.  We're planning to start up 8/17, although they have been reading voraciously, working on lapbooks, doing math workbook pages FOR FUN!! and studying various other things.  So far, it looks like this:

High Schooler (1)

Various Bible studies, Teaching Textbooks 6, Spelling Made Simple, lots of history reading, computer Forensics class, some free online highschool classes, teaching science experiments with the PreK and 1st grader, writing a report on SOMETHING each week, menu planning/meal prep once a week

Middle Schoolers (2)

Various Bible/Character studies, Learning Adventures - A World of Adventure (Ancient History), Teaching Textbooks 6, Timz Attack, Girl Scout badgework, teaching Before Five in a Row and Letter of the Week to the Littles, remedial reading for the one who needs it, lapbooks, weekly reports on SOMETHING, menu planning/meal prep once a week (each)

Upper Elementary (1)

Various Bible/Character studies, Learning Adventures - A World of Adventure (Ancient History), math workbooks, Timz Attack, Girl Scout badgework, remedial reading, lapbooks, weekly reports on SOMETHING, menu planning/meal prep once a week

Elementary (1)

Five in a Row, Starfall, Family Math, Cub scout badgework, lapbooks, daily writing, menu planning/meal prep once a week, science experiment with Bug (15yo) once a week

PreK (3)

Before Five in a Row, Letter of the Week, Starfall, LOTS of fun PreK activities (Play Doh, Bubbles, Lacing Cards, Puzzles, etc)

Baby (1)

Brightly Beaming Babies  and LOTS of cuddles

I think I'm going to be VERY busy! LOL

Loving Learning,

Katie 

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Still working on this one, but here are some highlights!

Making a raw egg float got a lot of keen attention:

Thankfully, the experiment WORKED!! (a lot of ours DON'T)

Crayon resist ocean scenes:

We went bird watching, listened to a tape of bird calls and made origami owls and paper gliders!

A REAL Fish Story!

I went to La Junta with my sister Bee and Nana and Granpa.  We slept at a hotel and went to breakfast.  I had pancakes and after that we went to the bank to put money in.  We went up the road to go fish. 

We had worms to fish with. I casted my line out into the water and it went sixty feet away. And then I felt something pulling my fish pole. I rolled up the string then I saw a big fish.  It was bluish-greenish and had a little white on his belly.  I had to put it back in the water. We were done with fishing and went back to the bank to get our money out.  Then we went the grocery store.

Loving Learning,

Katie

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Planet Earth krispie treats were a hit:

So were Pizza Planets!

They had fun making punched "tin" ornaments:

We're still a day behind from going to the fair.  Ah, well.  Good thing it's summer and we're relaxed hs-ers anyway!

Bear has been writing every day.  Here is his story for today:

I want to go up in outer space because I want to walk on the moon.  When I get there, I will pick up some rocks, put them in my rock bag and bring them home to show my family my souvenirs. 

While I am there, I will take video pictures and then I will moonwalk!

After leaving the moon, I will go to Mars.  I will scoop up some sand on the red planet.  I’ll put it in bags to go home and show my family.  Then I’ll walk on it for a little bit to see everything there, like rocks. 

Next I would go to Jupiter to look around, but not near the big tornado called the Great Red Spot.  I wouldn’t be able to land on Jupiter because it’s made out of air (not the kind of air we can breathe).  I would fly around and look down at the planet.  I will take a video picture and a picture.

When I get home to Earth, everyone will be very glad to see me and also all the video pictures, pictures and souvenirs. 

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As a departure from our regularly scheduled Creation Camp study (or more of a tie-in, if you will), we went to the fair yesterday!  We were so tired when we got home, we never did get around to our "scheduled" activities.  I think God's lessons are infinitely better anyway.

Riding the amusement rides was fun:

But interacting with the animals was the big WOW - as usual:

Somebody's getting sleepy...

And one just because he's cute -

I'm hoping today, we'll ba back on schedule!

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Another great day, despite cloudy skies!

Here we are making "dirt" from rocks:

Making trail mix (from things that grow on plants):

Nature Scavenger Hunt!

How flowers grow:

Playing Hot Potato - with a real potato!

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We had fun with this one, too!

We made windsocks (great day for it - there was a TORNADO up north!!):

AND we blew bubbles (can't do THAT without air and water!)

Even Baby had fun!

We also made Cloud Dessert, did 2 science experiments, discussed all kinds of things related to air & water, sang songs, recited our memory verse an Bear (6yo) wrote a story about living in the clouds:

If I Lived in the Clouds

If I lived in the clouds, I would have cloud toys to play with.  They wouldn’t fall down out of the sky because they are made out of clouds and clouds stay up there.

At night when it was time for bed, I would have a cloud pillow and cloud blankets.  They would be soft and very, very sqooshy, I think.  You couldn’t grab them because they are so big and floaty.

If I lived in the clouds, I would play with my cloud friends.  I would run around with them, and play hide and seek with them.  It would be easy to hide because we would be made out of clouds, too.  But we would have clothes on.

I think it would be fun to live in the clouds.

Loving Learning,

Katie

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Here are a couple of camp kiddoes creating "magic milk" to go with our snickerdoodles:

And a couple of kiddoes creating "Light in the darkness":

And one little guy who was not too sure about the whole fingerpainting thing:

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While the Big 4 are at resident camp, I'm doing Camp-at-Home with the 5 Littles!  This year, I happened to get the book Genesis for Kids: Science Experiments that show God's Power in Creation by Doug Lambier and Robert Stevenson from the library on Saturday.  GREAT book!!!  I was inspired!

So I used some of the ideas in the book for Science, Genesis 1 for Bible and added Language Arts, Field Trips, Art, Snacks, Songs, Handwriting and Social Studies.  We're having a BLAST!!

To make it less like "school" and more like "camp", we are sleeping out every night, cooking on the grill, having a campfire in the evenings, creating camp Tshirts for field trips & changing everything to "camp-ish" names.

I'll post some pics from Day 1 - Light later.

Off to blow bubbles on Day 2 (you need AIR for THAT, ya know!)!

- Katie

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So here I sit, plugging assigments in to my Homeschool Tracker for first semester.  Wondering if we'll get it all done.  That's the trouble with schedules - I never get it all completed and then I FEEL behind.  Even though I know there IS no "behind".  But what's a gal to do?  With 9 dc and 3 dogs, if I don't plan SOMETHING, we may never get around to doing ANYTHING.

I am an unschooling wannabe.

Anyway, as I'm sitting here growling at my computer after I had to input the same thing FOUR TIMES because I can never get HT to DO what I want it to DO - I'm wondering what you all use for your records?  Do you use HTPlus?  Or Edu-Track or something I haven't heard of yet??  I'd love to hear pros & cons of homeschool scheduling programs!

- Katie

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This week, we're asking the opinion of our kids!  Go to The Work of Childhood to see more!

1. What is your favorite thing about the workboxes?

Bug-14.5: There is a variety of stuff to do.

Butterfly-13: It's fun and there is a lot of cool stuff in them.

Bunny-11: They are easy to do.

Bee-9: You get to do a really lot of fun stuff with them.

Bear-6: It's really, really fun and every day I want to go there.  And I LOVE it!

2. What is your LEAST favorite thing about them?

Bug-14.5: Math

Butterfly-13: They have MATH in them!

Bunny-11: I don't have a least favorite thing - I like it all!

Bee-9: Doing the hard work, and I get stuck sometimes when Mom is busy.

Bear-6: There's nothing I don't like.

3. Do you think the workboxes are helping you become a better student?

Bug-14.5: Yes!

Butterfly-13: I don't know, ask Momma!

Bunny-11: Yes

Bee-9: Yes!  Because there are lots of math games and things that help me read better.

Bear-6: Yes.

4. If you could change one thing about the workboxes, what would it be?

Bug-14.5: Candy in the last box!

Butterfly-13: I can't think of anything.  They are all perfect!

Bunny-11: Nothing I can think of.

Bee-9: Mix up the order (she means go OUT of order, not by the numbers)

Bear-6: It would be - I love it!  (no changes)

5. What is your favorite activity that you didn’t really get to do much before you started the workboxes?

Bug-14.5: More history.

Butterfly-13: More arts and crafts, and it helps me to remember to do my Barton reading lesson.

Bunny-11: Science experiments!  And I get to interact more with my mom.

Bee-9: I don't know.

Bear-6: More lapbooks.

Anything else you want to add?

Bunny-11: They are a lot of fun, and everybody that homeschools should try them!!

Bear-6: It was really weird when we did it the first time, but now it is really fun.  Because there are boxes with stuff in them!  They help you be smart and help you read more.

And there you have it.  Right from the mouths of my older 5!

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Click on the "Thinking Outside the Box" button on the sidebar to see more wonderful blogs!  (Or just click HERE)

How many boxes do you fill?  6 per child

Do you expect your children to go in order? Yes, all of them.  I think it is good training.

Do you use the schedule strips? Yes, and the children love them!

How long does it take you to fill the boxes? TOO long! LOL  I need to get more organized so that it won't take me 60-90 minutes every night

Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items? Usually, but I swap between 2 sets (ie Geography MWF switches to Science TTh)

Do you have some boxes repeat each day so there is less filling/refilling?  Some, like prayer journals, knitting, lapbooks, etc

What do your kids do with the empty boxes?  Some stack them by their work area, some put them back on their shelves.  I left it up to the individual child.

Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids?  Here is our problem.  Usually, I leave things stacked up on my huge "staging area" table and the piles get higher and higher and HIGHER - until I get overwhelmed. :blush:

Anything else you want to add?  This system is FABULOUS if you keep up with it!!

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Hey there! 

Over at Cheeky Monkey PreSchool we are compiling a list of people who are using Sue Patrick's Workbox System.  Come on over!

(I'll write a real post soon.  Really.  I promise!)

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Well, our new little Muffin is 4wks old tomorrow and we're back at the books!

I've got Bug (14.5yob) doing Above & Beyond FIAR, his high school DVD math course, Spelling Made Simple and a high school forensics unit.  He's still bored. *sigh*

Butterfly (12.5yog), Bunny (10.5yog) & Bee (9yog) are doing Homer Price from Beyond FIAR.  We're almost done and will start Neil Armstrong in the next week or two.  They are also all working on various math books, and Butterfly & Bee are working on the Barton Reading System.  Bunny is doing Spelling Made Simple.  I admit we get BY done more than the basics though. *blushing*  I'm looking for a grammar program for Bunny.  Any suggestions on something self-directed?

Bear (6yob) sits in on most of the BY lessons, and is really "getting" a lot!!  We are doing FIAR - Another Celebrated Dancing Bear this week - and lapbooks.  Also working in some Family Math games.

Kitty (3.75yog) is working on various lapbooks, and some Before FIAR units.

Lambchop & Puppy (2yob) are wreaking havoc! LOL  But will sometimes sit for a B4 book.

And our newest addition - hereby known as PoohBear - is a PEACH!!!  Very good baby - but HUGE!!  He looks a few months old already. *giggle*

I'm going to try to blog more often.  I really miss it. 

Off to start the day!

- Katie

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what to do for school!  We need to start back up, but I'm not sure with WHAT.  Everything this past year has fallen flat.

Bug (14.5) is very bored and very unmotivated.  Butterfly (12.5) is dyslexic and frustrated.  Bunny (10.5) is very bright but easily bored.  Bee (almost 9) is probably also dyslexic and a bit of a tornado, but she loves workbooks!  Bear (almost 6) is FIARowing and lapbooking and LOVING it.  Kitty (3.75) loves lapbooking and we'll be doing B4FIAR.   Ape-Man & Monkey (2) are Twin Toddler Tornados!!!  And Puppy (1 wk) will hopefully be a sling-baby so I can get everything done!

Pretty sure we're going back to BYFIAR with the three oldest girls.  Definitely FIAR & B4 with my K & under set.  Lapbooks for all.  But I'm LOST on my oldest.  We've tried a few different curricula since we've moved out of Learning Adventures with him, but nothing holds his attention.  He has very deep interest in certain subjects (namely, American wars) and little to no interest in anything else.  He has a spelling program (which he hates) and a high school math DVD series (that he hates, and really doesn't understand very much).

We've tried a few different unit study programs but he has retained a LOT from our years with FIAR and LA and frankly he knows all the info he really needs on most of the subjects covered.  I'm THINKING:

* Continuing his spelling & math ('cuz he HAS to), alternating days

* Teaching kitchen & backyard science to Bee & Bear a couple of days a week

* Reading LOADS of good history books (he does this anyway)

* Continuing to play his computer games since they do have SOME educational value and computer time is the only motivational tool we have

With the girls, I will:

* Revisit BYFIAR

* Keep doing workbooks for math with all three (every other day)

* Bunny will keep up with her spelling program (every other day)

* Butterfly & Bee will continue with the Barton Reading Program (for dyslexia) (every other day)

Hoping this works!

Be blessed,

Katie

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Last year, it seems I printed out the pages for 2-3 Christmas-y lapbooks that were circulating for free.  I know for SURE that one of them is the Grinch.  Problem IS, I printed only the minibooks and NOT the directions.  My computer crashed so now I no longer HAVE the directions.  

Does ANYONE remember/have these that could email me the directions?!??!

HELP!!

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We had our 3rd class dinner tonight.  It was (again) from Last Dinner On the Titanic.  I printed up dinner tickets in four languages (copied from the book).  We had Celtic music playing in the background and we got LOUD! LOL  The menu was:

Vegetable Soup

Pork Roast with Sage and Pearl Onions, Boiled Potatoes and Green Peas

(Mock) Plum Pudding with Hard Sauce, Oranges and Cabin Biscuits (hardtack) served with coffee

After dinner, we all danced reels & jigs & pure craziness!

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE homeschooling???

- Katie

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Bug (13.5b) had an assignment for Further Up & Further In to make a full afternoon tea.  Butterfly (12g)has been wanting to make meals from the Last Dinners on the Titanic book.  Since one of those is a Third Class Tea, we have combined and are having that for dinner at 4:30 (eating early since Bunny (10g)has a soccer game).

Here's the menu:
Ragout of Beef with Potatoes and Pickles
Currant (Raisin) Buns
Fresh Bread & Butter
Apricots
Tea

We are, of course, dressed appropriately and speaking with a variety of rather awful accents.

Gotta run - everything's coming together!

Peace,

Katie

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I love contests.  Can you tell?

Life in a Shoe is hosting a giveaway of Vision Forum's exciting new adventure series, Ballantyne books.

Just add that to your blog and go on over and leave a comment for Kim at her blog.  Ends Friday 9/28!

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Coming to Littleton on October 13^th

Homeschool Authors

Jane Lambert and Amanda Bennett

If ever the saying "been there and done that" had genuine meaning, these two women are living proof. From the "am I doing enough?" fears which nag every homeschool mother to the joyous benediction of "thank you mom for all you did," Amanda and Jane have walked where you walk!

Between them, Jane Lambert and Amanda Bennett have more than 35 years of homeschooling experience. Amanda has a daughter through college and Vet school, a son through college and well established in his own business and she continues to homeschool her youngest son through high school. Jane has two daughters through college, both happily married, and she plans to keep an active hand in homeschooling with her five grandchildren.

After meeting as homeschool curriculum authors nearly 15 years ago at a convention in Florida, these two women have become close friends, sharing their victories and their trials with one another in person, on the phone and by email on a weekly basis.

They know the ins and outs of learning styles, teaching techniques and student motivation. More importantly, they also know the power of prayer-- to complete the homeschooling marathon, to strengthen homeschool marriages (Jane has been married for 36 years and Amanda for 28), to persevere through both the terrible twos and the terrifying teens, to walk through health challenges and to live with the financial stresses of being a single-income family.

Today, they speak to 1000's of homeschoolers each year and really do live to help and encourage others through their books, their words, their prayers and their love. They look forward to blessing Colorado families at this gathering.

Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to sit and hear from these two remarkable women in a small, intimate gathering.

When:  October 13, 10 am to 2 pm

Where:  Grace Point Community Church, 90 E. Orchard Rd., Littleton, CO  80121

Registration Fee and RSVP:  Send $20 to Paula Anderson, by October 6.  Email her at mpskra{at}comcast{dot}net for her address. 

A pre-reserved, pre-paid lunch is available for $6 each from Chick-Fil-A.  Please send your luncheon fee to Paula with your registration fee.  You may bring your own sack lunch if you prefer.

Please contact Paula Anderson for further information at mpskra{at}comcast{dot}net.

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We went to a friend's house today and learned about goats & chickens.  The dc all had a BLAST feeding goats, milking the goat, finding eggs & chasing chickens.  Butterfly (11yodd) helped make cheese and butter.  We all got to try some on the delicious scones our hostess made, along with some yummy goat's milk.

We stayed much longer than I anticipated - I hope we didn't overstay our welcome!!  But it was so much fun.  Here's some pics!

In other news, we are still having fun studying Peru, Africa and wars.  Even though we're not "doing school"!  The dc are just soaking up a ton of info on their pet topics right now.  I think I'm just going to keep on with what we are doing and maybe add in some reading together from our Learning Adventures curriculum at the end of the month.  The dc are all still interested continuing in American History, so it should be fun.

I need to send in my NOI - I always do it around Bug's (13yods) birthday so I remember to do it.  But Bunny (9yodd) needs an eval this year so I must wait for that.  Our friend that does our evals just came back from a month in Peru so we need to let her get rested up first!

OK, out of time.  I'm missing my nap! LOL

Peace,

Katie

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We're wrapping up the second semester of ANWOA (Learning Adventures, Year2) this week, then taking a week off before tackling the American Revolution unit.  Since Easter is this weekend, we're saving our Taste of the Colonies celebration for next Sunday (since we're making a TON of food, we invited company!).  Here's the menu:

APPS: Garden Veggie Soup (NJ) & Pretzels (PA)

MAIN: Chicken Pilau (SC), Fried Sweet Potatoes (NC) & Hushpuppies (GA)

DESSERT: Apple Pandowdy (NH) & Colonial Jumbal Cookies (CT)

We broke this up since we didn't want to make TOO much food all at once.  It's HARD with the twinkies to make more than a quick fix meal - as I knew it would be.  So back in Sept when we finished our first semester and our study of five of the colonies, we had THIS menu:

APP: Maryland Crabcakes (MD), NE Clam Chowder (NH) & Maple Syrup Popcorn (all, in honor of Native Americans)

MAIN: Virginia Ham (VA), Boston Baked Beans & Pilgrim Bread (MA)

DESSERT: Cranberry-Nut Pudding (MA), Blueberry Slump & Coffee Milkshakes (RI)

We DID study all thirteen of the original colonies, but two of them have breakfast recipes in the curriculum.  The first reader to correctly name the two I didn't mention in these menus wins a prize! :o)

All of the recipes for the DELICIOUS foods are part of the Learning Adventures curricu-YUM.  We LOVE this program!  Second only to Five in a Row as my favorite curriculum (and we've tried a BUNCH!) I would recommend them BOTH to anyone interested in comprehensive unit studies. 

We are also in full swing with our FIAR studies.  Last week, Bee (7yog) rowed A New Coat for Anna.  We dyed old socks - pink (cranberries), purple (blueberries) & tan (tea)!  She also had fun weaving placemats for our Easter dinner.  This week is Mrs. Katz and Tush for Passover, then next will be Babar since we are studying Haydn and peanuts (Georgia) with the big dc and it fits so nicely.

Bear (4yob) had a blast with Jesse Bear.  We ate Teddy Grahams, I gave him a Moody Bear Puzzle, we had a "Jesse Lunch" and acted out Jesse's day.  Next week, it'll be The Red Carpet (to tie in with Bee's story of important people coming to town).  He's going to have a blast rolling out the red gift wrap I got on clearance for our Sunday company!

OK, go to skeedaddle.  Too much time on here and my 8 cuties toss stuff bombs all over the house!

Peace,

Katie

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Everything in life, really, depends on the correct motivation.

Bug (12.5b) detests spelling lessons.  We have the usual whining/complaining/tantruming almost every day - even though it is "not allowed" and he receives some form of punishment each time.  This is NOT helping him learn!

Today I had one of those hit-the-jackpot ideas.  From now on, every time he spells a word correctly, I do one push-up for each letter in the word.  For each incorrect spelling, he does one push-up per incorrect letter.

He studies harder, I get my exercise!  He learns spelling, it helps me to remember to keep the number of words managable for him. 

Win-win!

What win-win tips for homeschooling the rough spots have YOU come up with?

Peace,

Katie

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HSKubes is having a contest (ends tonight)!  The phrase "When it comes to school, there's no place like home!" - why is that true?

*Well, first off - it's OK to have a "Jammie Day!" 

*You can be yourself - crazy, zany, off-the-wall, learn to jumping jacks, quirky, ADHD/AS/G&T - it doesn't matter because you have the potential to be fully yourself and still be successful!

*Dad can teach life lessons and call it school!

*Mom can bake cookies with you, teach you to braid your sister's hair, show you how to change a messy diaper - and it's "school"!

*Relationships within the family are not fractured & splintered by everyone running off in different directions every morning.  Relational difficulties have to be dealt with - and everyone comes out a winner!

*You can take time off as needed for more important things - birth of a baby, helping the community in times of crisis, taking care of an ailing relative

*GOD is IN our school, baby!!  We learn about Him, talk about Him, worship Him - and our lives are not compartmentalized

OK, I'm rambling.  We LOVE homeschooling!!

Check out her site, even if it's too late for the contest.  Worth a look!

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She won the haiku contest over at Rainbows From Heaven!!  She is estatic.  Being one of my Aspie children that thinks she can't do ANYTHING well, this is a big boost for her.  Go on over and check out the other winners!

Many thanks to Connie for sponsoring the contest!

Peace,

Katie

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We are studying journalism & newspapers for ANWOA.  Today's topic is birth announcements, but ours are boring!  ("A b/g was born to name & name").  I remember the ones in our paper growing up had a lot more info.  Is anyone that has a paper with a smaller-town feel to it willing to send me a copy?  You could cut out the birth announcements, send that whole section OR send the whole paper if you'd like!  I'd reimburse shipping OR send you a copy of OUR paper if you send the whole thing.

Anyone game?  It'd be fun to have a few, even.  Thanks!

Also, Sandi over at Always a work in progress is working on a project and could use your help.  She compiling a list of dinner conversation started to use with her family.  Good stuff!

Peace,

Katie

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I decided that the best way to so this would be to give each child one hour to do whatever they wanted.

Bug (12.5yob) & I made oatmeal bread, made a comic strip online and played War (cards).

Butterfly (11yog) & I made cupcakes & a cake for my mom's b-day tea tomorrow, made an angel craft for my mom & read from our back issues of The Girlhood Home Companion.

Bunny (9yog) & I played 2 rounds of Thin Ice and one of Rummikub (board games)

Bee (7yog) wanted to cook so we made potato farls (her FIAR recipe for this week).  We also played a couple of rounds of an addition learning board game.

Bear (4yob) had me read to him and do some fun activities from his B4FIAR and we played Thin Ice.  He's also helping me make Pocket Pizzas for supper.

Kitty (2yog) is sick today (still fighting a cold) so we just read & cuddled.

Lamb & Puppy (4.5mo twins) take a lot of my time normally, but I made sure to sing, play and recite Scripture with them today.

I wish I could say it was a great day, but it wasn't.  When it wasn't their turn the dc were terrible to each other.  SIGH  Since we school year round I WAS going to make this our new schedule for Fridays, but not if it's going ot be THIS stressful!

Oh, well.  If I know kids & human nature, they'll only remember the good stuff and we DID make warm fuzzy memories today!

Peace,

Katie

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For school today, the oldest 3 had to write news articles based on a favorite story.  I thought they were great!  Here they are:

By Bug (12yob):

Man Swallowed by Whale:

Lives to tell tale

Jonah, a man of God, was swallowed by a whale last Saturday at 9:15am.  Witnesses on board a cruiser in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea saw sailors of the Mitsubishi throw a man overboard during a violent storm.  Why?  Sources say the man, identified as Jonah, disobeyed the Lord by refusing to preach in the city of Nineveh.  “He said to do it!” claimed the galley cook of the Mitsubishi.  No charges have been filed as yet.

Rescue workers searched the area for three days and nights to no avail.  Their efforts were not hampered by the weather as the storm ceased suddenly.  No explanation was made by the local weather crews.  See Whale Tale, page A8.

Whale Tale (continued from A1)

Four days after rescue workers gave up hope of finding the man, Jonah was sighted on shore by the returning crew of the Mitsubishi.  After being questioned by authorities, Jonah confirmed the incredible story.  He had just returned from Nineveh.  The first mate claimed he surly needed a bath!  Jonah told this reporter in an exclusive interview that he would obey the Lord always and would never return to sea.

By Butterfly(10yog):

Groundhog a Scardy-Cat

Winter Continues

Don’t put away those shovels yet, it looks like we’re in for some more snow.  Last February 2, Mr. Groundhog came out of his hole in the bank of the ditch in Colorado Springs, CO to see about the weather.  He sang a traditional little song, dating back generations which is said to be the funniest song ever.  However, because the sun was shining, he saw his shadow and, terrified, leaped back into his hole.  Sources say he is huddled under his covers and refuses to come out.

 Mr. Groundhog comes from a long line of weatherhogs known for this odd behavior.  Legend states that spring will not come until Mr. Groundhog comes out to stay.

By Bunny (8yog)

Awakened by Love’s First Kiss

Sleeping Beauty was awakened from a hundred year long nap by Prince Charming’s kiss this past Sunday morning, February 14, 1918.  She had been put under a spell at her home in the Castle of the Beautiful Princess by the Evil and Wicked Fairy.  Reportedly, the Evil Fairy had felt jealous because the King had forgotten to invite her to the Princess’s birthday celebration.  The spell also affected the entire household of the Castle.  The Evil Fairy could not be reached for comment.

 Prince Charming had battled a Fierce Dragon the very day he saved Sleeping Beauty. “It was nothing,” he later told reporters.  “All I had to do was trust in my heart that I must save my beloved Princess.”

 And so it happened.  As a reward, the yawning King gave the Prince the hand of his beloved daughter, Sleeping Beauty, in marriage.  The Royal Wedding will take place tomorrow at the Castle gardens.  

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4rHischild at Rainbows from Heaven is having a haiku (Japanese poetry) contest!  Details are HERE.  All ages welcome!

Mine:

WINTER MORNING

Frosted windowpane

Lacy print makes me shiver

Now I need cocoa!

SNOW by Butterfly age 10

The snow fell last night

Look at those trees - how sparkly!

Takes my breath away

SNOW by Butterfly age 10

Snow is falling fast

Will it ever stop snowing?

I hope it doesn't!

SNOW by Butterfly age 10

The snow is falling

it comes faster and faster

Watch it fall on ME!

I'll add some from the dc later!

Give it a try!

Peace,

Katie

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Kendra over at Preschoolers and Peace wrote an EXCELLENT entry, and said it all very well.  Check out the other posts at her blog and be blessed!

What Non-Homeschoolers May Not Know

We've been educating our children at home for ten years now.  In those ten years, I have observed that there are expectations that non-homeschoolers can place on homeschooling moms simply because they lack the practical knowledge of what it means to homeschool. If you are the mother, grandmother, sister, friend, father, or brother of a homeschooling mom, here are some things you should know: 1. Educating children at home is a full-time job. Don't get irritated if she consistently allows the answering machine to do its job.  If she were a teacher in an institutional classroom, you probably wouldn't think of calling her during school hours, so try to realize that while still at home, she is keeping regular school hours, too. 2. Unlike homes in which the children are gone for eight straight hours, her home is in a constant state of activity.  The children are not only home, they are home making messes.  All day long.  Their mother doesn't even have the opportunity to go into their rooms while they are at school and weed out the junk.  And if she is like me, you might find odd homeschooly things lying around- like the month we had a dead turtle in the garage fridge. 3. Housekeeping and homeschooling are mutually exclusive.  If she is doing her job educating her children academically, then her house is not being cleaned.  If she takes the day to clean the house, then school wil not be accomplished.  4. Place realistic expectations on her- she cannot simultaneously teach school, make three square meals, keep a house that looks like it has sprung out of the pages of Architectural Digest, have her nails done, drive children to extracurricular activities, and have all the clothing laundered and pressed.  Something's gotta give, and in my experience, it is usually her personal care.  So don't expect her to don the latest styles, have her roots meticulously dyed at just the right moment, and her aforementioned nails filed and polished to perfection.  And while most of us aren't slovenly, we just tend to put some superfluous aspects of personal care at the bottom of the to-do list. 5. For many of us, homeschooling isn't an option.  Many believe it is not only the best way for their family, it is the only way.  Many see homeschooling as a Scriptural directive.  When sharing a particular struggle unique to homeschooling, comments like, "Well, why don't you consider putting them in school?  Maybe homeschooling just isn't your thing" aren't helpful.  Instead, offer a listening ear and your fervent prayers on her behalf.  6.  If you are truly concerned about the state of her emotions, home, children, or marriage, offer practical help to ease her burden.  Personal time is at a premium for her, so consider offering to take her kids for the day so she can recuperate.  If you like to do laundry, offer to come over and get the loads going, fold, and/or iron.  If you like to cook, consider putting together some meals that she can store in the freezer for days when time is at a premium.  If she teaches a broad spectrum of ages and grades, consider offering to come in once a week or more to teach preschool to the little ones.  One grandma I know created "Nana U" for her preschool grandson (number five of seven) and not only did it ease her homeshooling daughter's burden, it created a special bond between grandma and the child. But there’s a caveat here: ASK her what would be most helpful to her.  Don’t presume to know what would help her.  Taking the oldest children for the day might be fun for you, but it’s quite possibly not at all helpful to her.  The living room might need to be vacuumed, but it’s not helpful if she’s trying to take a nap.  Someone once told me, “If it’s not wanted, it’s not helpful.” 7. Think about what a financial burden homeschooling may be placing on the family.  The loss of her possible income can be a real struggle nowadays, and you might be able to buoy her for another year by offering to purchase little things like simple school supplies.  Gifts for the children like books on subjects of interest to the child, field trip fees, museum memberships, and the money to pay for music lessons or other extracurricular activities are the best thing you could give a homeschooling family.  Not only does a homeschooling mom not need one more thing to manage or pick up, she would be thrilled to see you take an interest in the many academic items on her wish list. 8. Simple questions like, "How can I pray for you?" and "Is there any way I can help you?" are like a cool breeze in her life.  Don't assume you know her needs- ask.  You could just be the vessel God uses to carry her on through this very demanding and ultimately rewarding season of her life.

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OK, this is too easy.  Usually my dc balk SEVERELY at any drill but so far I've only gotten minor attitude from each!

For math today they all listened to a skip counting tape and for handwriting, the girls wrote small words in cursive with the letters they learned yesterday while Bug (12b) read them (I'm NOT pushing cursive writing with him - just cursive reading).

All three did Spelling Power games with their individual misspelled words from yesterday.  Bug & Bunny (8g) read silently for 20 mins while Butterfly (10g) tried the sample lessons at www.studydog.com .  She then wrote some (good!) poetry.  Her misspelled words will make it onto tomorrow's list.

Bee (6g) & Bear (3b) both spent 20mins on www.starfall.com .  She also did simple addition on the white board.

We had ample opportunity to talk science (traction & friction) when a truck got stuck on our icy, unplowed road.  They asked why the guy was shovelling dirt under the tires - I couldn't pass that up! LOL

Oh, and yesterday Bug & I had a long talk about "suspension of disbelief".  Since we are reading the same books (Gary Paulsen's "Brian" series) it was easy to work it into a conversation.  I read the same books he does because it really spikes his interest in reading to be able to discuss them when he is done.

So that leaves FIAR with the Littles this afternoon (the twinkies did NOT cooperate yesterday and we watched The Princess Bride instead! *grin*) and Mom playing around at www.studydog.com to see if I buy the CD-ROM or the interactive online version!

ETA:  We all played 2 rounds of an addition facts learning game!

Peace,

Katie

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Even taking into account the learning struggels of our two oldest, we've got some remedial work to do.  So we will NOT be starting our Learning Adventure study back up this month.  Instead, it's Readin', 'Ritin' & 'Rithmatic.  Oh, joy.  Happy New Year.

But I DO want to make it fun, or at least bearable.  So today, Bug (12) and I worked on multiplication drills.  He started with 5 minutes of Wrap-Ups, to see how far he could get in that time.  He'll be trying to beat his score every other day.

Then we played Toss with the numbers he got through on the Wrap-Ups  - I called out the problem, tossed him the ball and he had to answer when he caught it (Me: "7x4", toss; Bug: catch, "28!").  After 5 minutes, he got to call them to me using any numbers 0-12.  If he hesitated or got it wrong, we'd do the same set again to cement the correct answer.

Finally, we played Number Stomp.  I used 12 pieces of 8.5x11" paper and wrote the numbers 1-12 on each.  He got to place them on the rug in any order.  Then I called out a number and he had to jump, stomp or step on the two numbers that were factors of that product.

We worked on cursive handwriting on the white board in his fav colors for 10 minutes.  Then we spent 20 minutes reviewing words from Spelling Power, using Finger Cues on the toughies.  Finger Cues goes like this - I hold up fingers for the number of letters in the word.  As he calls out the letters in order, I put down the corresponding finger (R-L for me since I am facing him).  If he skips a letter I wiggle the correct finger so that he can immediately see he missed one and try again.  I put my fingers together for blends.  Example: seventh, I would hold up all the fingers on my right hand and my pointer & middle stuck together on my left.  As he spells it out, S (right pinky goes down) E (right ring goes down) V (right middle goes down)... get it?  This works GREAT for reluctant spellers!

He's been reading silently for most of the rest of the morning.

Butterfly (10) drilled with addition Wrap-ups for 20 mins, spent 20 mins on white board cursive, then read to me for 20mins.

Bunny (8) spent 20mins on her Horizons 3 math, 20 mins on white board cursive, then did silent reading for 20mins.

Bee (6) worked on writing numbers 1-20 for 10 mins, then did simple addition problems (1-20) for 10mins on the white board.  I let her go to www.starfall.com for 20 minutes to work on her reading.  Bear (3) sat and watched her, asking questions all the time so he soaked in some info, I'm sure!

Still to do today - Butterfly & Bunny need to revieew Spelling Power and I'd like to do FIAR with Bee & Bear if the twins let me!

Oh!  And we all got some history & poli-sci in this morning watching President Ford's funeral!

Any other fun ideas to cover the basics??

Peace,

Katie

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OK, 3 weeks off is more than enough for my crew - they're gettin' squirrely!

We're going to do just the readings for the next week in A World of Adventure because we're all chomping to find out what happens next in our chapter book (Calico Captive)!  But I really don't want to dive back into the full curriculum only to break for the holidays (we usually take a light approach in Nov/Dec anyway).

Then we're off to have fun with Amanda Bennett's Thanksgiving & Christmas Unit Studies!!  We use these every couple of years and have a ball.  I can't say enough good things about her unit studies!  They are so well organized, inspiring, relationship building, thought provoking... and just plain FUN!

We'll also be reading and lightly 'Rowing the holiday themed FIAR books - we've done these every year for 6-7 years now and never tire of the excellent stories OR the timeless lessons!  I'm thinking of getting out ALL of our holiday books and picking an activity for each.  We did this one year and made many wonderful memories. 

I don't want to get TOO ambitious though!  So I may keep it all quiet from the dc - and we get done what we get done. *nods knowingly*  I KNEW there was a reason I like schooling through the summer! LOL

Peace to you,

Katie 

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Since this is our "off" week for Learning Adventures with the bigs, Bee(6yo) and I have been having a lot of fun 'Rowing The Salamander Room.  She has REALLY blossomed in the past few months and her answers to our discussion questions are so much more insightful! 

HER ideal room would be - The Alligator Room!  We played along like in the book, me asking questions about how she would provide for them based on her previous answers.  As far as what to do when they got too big??  "I'll just move Bunny (sister) out and they can have HER bed!" LOL

We're going to make our own Sculpey salamanders today - or maybe Bee will make an alligator instead.  You never know what you're going to get with this kid!  Then we'll spend a couple of days on science.  She DID see a lizard with her Nana  this year (on a field trip) and was quick enough to get a picture, so we'll look at that.  In all our years of 'Rowing, we've yet to see a salamander.

OK, off to more adventures!!

OH!  Our neice Tayler (7 next week) was just diagnosed with Mercer's infection - very dangerous strep infection, lifelong, highly contagious.  Please pray for her safety  - and FULL RECOVERY!!

Peace,

Katie

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Antoinette from Daughter of a King asked about what to do with youngers while using the Learning Adventures curriculum.  We are using the second year of this unit study (A New World of Adventure, or ANWOA) after a VERY successful school year with the first manual (A World of Adventure, or AWOA).  Most days ALL the dc (12yob, 10yog, 8yog, 6yog, 3yob, 1.5yog) listen in to the Bible & lit studies and all but the baby do the easier crafts.

The three oldest children are doing 75-90% of the curriculum as is.  Our two oldest have learning disabilities and are not ready for the spelling or some of the language arts lessons.  The 8yo is extremely advenced in reading and pretty average right now in everything else.  After that background info, here's how it works at our house:

We start with Bible or the literature selection each day, as per the manual.  The three youngest are generally playing quietly on the floor or coloring/play-doh-ing/crafting at the DR table, but they love to hear the stories.  They have picked up quite a few snippets of the Scripture memory from hearing us repeat the longer verses.

We'll then move on to the language arts, which (because of the learning issues) is generally done orally as a group with the three "target students".  Clean up time for the littles!

After a snack break, the baby goes down for a nap and I put in a movie for the 3yo & 6yo - OR they play outside.  I then finish up the group lessons with the older 3.  If there is anything the 8yo can't handle because of her age, I assign her x number of library books to read on related topics while I do the assigned material with the older two.  Each of the three then gets a rotating "recess" of playing with the youngers while I work one-on-one with them in math, spelling & language arts.

After lunch, I 'row FIAR & do math & reading lessons with the 6yo and if there is time, I add B4FIAR with the 3yo.

This is what works for us with the ages & abilities of the dc.  I let the youngers in on as much as they can do/want to do and try to keep them constructively busy for the rest.

Hope this helps!  My only other advice about homeschooling?  RELAX and HAVE FUN!!

Peace,

Katie

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Don't be too shocked, now! ;o)

We are working on early American history this year and having fun.  Native crafts & games, Pilgrim food & clothing, plus insects & weather for science.  We've got 8 days left in this unit, then a week off.

After that, we'll pick right up again with "Life in the Colonies" and go until the twins arrive.  BUT - I'm going to save the hands-on science (simple machines) and cooking for when Daddy gets home (usually 4-4:30).  I can sit/lounge on the sofa and read just fine, but standing & sitting is getting difficult.  I'll have 5.5 wks until the c-section so we'll try to get all 6wks worth of the unit in before then.  Unless the boys make an early appearance...

Math is going well for 2/3 of my bigs but the OTHER nameless child will start doing math with Daddy when he gets home from work.  I'm tired of the fit-throwing every day (the stress is giving me contractions).  I do NOT think said child will like this arrangement.  We're hoping it is an effective attitude adjuster.

Bee(6) & Bear(3) are keeping themselves pretty occupied during school time with learning to write their letters, using manipulatives to play math games (Bee is also working in her Horizons K1), play doh, painting, etc.  I'd like to get back to FIAR & B4 with them, but I am 'bout done in by lunchtime. *sigh*  It's a season, I know.

The dc all have pleanty of unschool-ish type projects they are working on in their spare time.  Digging pits, acting out our studies, bike riding, Bug  is taking PHENOMINAL flower pictures, they are all making Sculpey projects, etc.  Bug & Bunny are reading voraciously - usually something not too twaddly.  I'm just thrilled Bug  is reading so much!!

Well, I need to run - it's time for school!

Peace to you,

Katie

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My three oldest are working on a project for social studies this semester (actually, throughout the school year but this time around we're concentrating on YOUR states!).

We would love some volunteers for:

A) an email interview about living in your state

B) a postcard exchange

C) a brochure/info exchange

The same family does not have to do all items for its state.  Please let me know if you are interested, and which choice(s) you'd like. 

And if you're NOT from one of these four states - feel free to pass the word to YOUR readers!  And stay tuned - if we keep with this curric, we will hit your state eventually! :o)

Thanks so much!!

Katie

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We're working on our library summer reading program, but I'm looking for others since I have dc VVERY interested in reading this year.  WHOOHOO!!

I can't download the forms for Barnes & Noble - can someone e-mail it to me?

Any others you know of??

Thanks!

Katie

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Can I just say I'm SOOOOO thankful that we invested the time, mental energy and (gramma's) money into the therapy??  Bug (almost 12) went from (functionally) a 1st grade reader to well into fourth in 10 weeks.  NOW he LOVES to read and usually has 2-3 CHAPTER books going at once!  And not the "baby" ones either.  Stuart Little, Call of the Wild (abridged, but still!), Black Beauty (abridged), Treasure Island (abridged)...  AND he's reading his Bible consistantly!!

We did a Learning Rx type program but with a Christian lady at her home.  The therapy is similar, but more individualized and also included some simple OT for SMI issues.  And *I* did most of the training.  We only saw the instructor once/week.  (We've got Butterfly doing it now, too)

I'm guessing he's now 5 - 5.5 grade level.  And his spelling is improving as well.  He's made cognitive LEAPS in Math and even his behavior is sooooooo different!  It also REALLY helped his baseball game!

Thank You, Lord, for opening doors!

Peace,

Katie

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Sorry, 'tis true.  I want to post regularly but often there is very little to post!  Guess I could talk about school - yeah, that would work.  This IS a homeschooling blog after all!

We are enjoying the new unit from Learning Adventures - except for the insect science.  Eeewwww!  Though in truth, the dc LOVED the day we studied insect mouthparts and got to eat & drink in different ways!  But I really didn't think God needed that extra touch of having us find a scorpion-like-thing scuttling across our basement floor right outside the bedrooms, do you???  *shudder*

Bug did an excellent job on his Jamestown diorama.  It just boggles the mind how he can do an assignment that's supposed to take DAYS and finish it in about 20 minutes.  And it's good, not sloppy!  He's a lot like his dad that way.  Most efficient man I ever met - he can do more than I can in 1/3 of the time!

I have to embarassingly admit that we skipped one of the writing assignments again for last week.  *sigh*  It is sooooo much work for me to type it for all 3 of them.  The downside of having brilliant but learning challenged dc.  I know it doesn't sound like much - to type out three reports - but I really need to have a LOT of energy and patience to coax it out of the girls.  And then there is this old computer.  The fan is shot, so it shuts down every few minutes.  And I'm tired, and hot and pg... wah, wah, wah.  Maybe I'll do it this week if we're light on writing assignments.  Or maybe I'll just let go of the pseudo-guilt and be happy we finished the other writing assignment!

Bee started her Horizon's K book yesterday - and did 6 lessons!!!  She is very excited to have the "same" book as the big kids.  We'll start Henry the Castaway for FIAR today.  We were supposed to start yesterday but Bunny needed a tooth filled and it kind of shot the morning schedule, you know?

Well, I need to run.  All the dc are finally up and I've had to save this to draft 4 times for fear of losing it to my dying computer!!

REMEMBER to cherish your dc today!!!

Peace,

Katie

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Short entry today since we are getting ready for Bug & Butterfly's homeschool evaluations this afternoon.

One of my FAVORITE extra-curricular resources is the monthly kit from The Young Scientists Club.  For just under $16 a month, themed science kits are sent to your home with everything you need (except common household items) to perform simple, effective experiments.  The instructions are clear and written on 2 levels, one for the parent and one for the child(ren).  My crew LOVES these!!  We are usually experiment dummies, but 90% of these have worked properly!

They have 36 kits and we just received our last one.  I can't WAIT until the younger set of dc is older and we can order them again!  They are consumable, but a lot of the supplies can be reused in your homeschool (magnets, funnels, litmus paper, etc).

These have REALLY enhanced our science studies.  They are meant to build on one another, but I opted to use them in conjunction with our ongoing curriculum studies so we skipped around and had no problem.

Check them out!

Peace,

Katie

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Well, we start back up tomorrow as per the dc's request!!!  Now you KNOW you have the right curriculum when the dc only want 2.5 wks of less for "summer" break!  LOL

Bug (12), Butterfly (10) & Bunny (8) will be diving into A New World of Adventure together.  The first 6 wk unit is on early English settlements in the New World, primarily Jamestown.  The science unit is on insects (eeeWWWWEE!) and our read alouds are Call it Courage, Island of the Blue Dolphins and Misty of Chincoteague. 

This week will be full of cool bug snacks & crafts, super tropical fruit treats, the music of the Scarlatti's, building a model of the Jamestown settlement, memorizing Joshua 1:6-9 to go with our Bible study on courage, and much more!

Bee (6) is rarin' to get back into Five in a Row.  We'll probably start with Henry the Castaway after we finish up the science from Miss Rumphius.  Looking forward to lots of play-acting fun and fantastic food from the FIAR Cookbook!

Bear (3) & Kitty (1) will be read to lots in the morning, especially Before FIAR titles.  It's that time of year for We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Blueberries for Sal & I Am an Artist.  It'll be fun to go through these again with my little guys!

We're going to try to rearrange the schedule for the hot summer months.  It was already 95° yesterday!!  We're going to start with chores, then I'll let them go out to play before lunch.  After lunch (11-11:30ish - we get up EARLY!) we'll do school downstairs in the cooler basement.  The littles will nap for part of this time and so solve THAT distraction problem.  Also, the neighborhood dc are not usually up & out as early as we are so it will cut down on their interaction with my dc - that's a good thing.

The only snag is that my dc do not like change in their routine and they do not perform as well in the afternoons.  BUT, I've been talking this up for a couple of months now and I think it will work.  Any input?

Peace to you!

Katie

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Wowwee wow WOW!  We did our last day of A World of Adventure today and finished out our school year!  I'll finish with Bee on Miss Rumphius this week for FIAR and then we'll take a 2-3 week "summer" break (the dc want 1-2, I want 2-3! LOL).  We school year round, obviously. :o)

We found the last 2 units of AWOA dragged a bit, so we'll try the first unit of A New World of Adventure (also from Learning Adventures) and see how it goes.  If we like it, we'll be continuing on with that series for our 12, 10 & 8 yo for the 2006-2007 school year.  If it drags, we'll go back to Beyond FIAR for the year.  We're all torn on which we'd like to do!  They are both fantastic unit study programs.

I think the reason the end of AWOA seemed to drag was the lack of hands-on projects compared to the other units.  We are DEFINITELY a hands-on family - lots of kinesthetic learners here!  Usually I find activities to compensate, but with 1st trimester ickies I just didn't have the energy.  Talking to the dc, their fav unit was unanimously Ancient Egypt.  We think it's because we did SO MANY activities for that one.

ANWOA looks like it has a TON of activities.  I'm thinking we'll probably like it (besides, it has units on Williamsburg - Butterfly's fav topic, and the Revolutionary War - Bug's fav).  Bee is looking forward to doing more FIAR, and we'll probably bring Bear in on some of the simpler lessons.  We'll stay with Horizons for math, though it's not the best fit for everyone.  It works, though.

The plan is to school June - October with  2 - 2 week breaks.  Then take off through the end of the year for new baby/holidays.  We usually don't take that much time all at once but we've never had a year-end baby before either!  What do you think?

Peace to you all!

Katie

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My 11.5yo poetry hater LOVED this assignment today!  He's the only one who managed to hit ALL the letters.

CRAZY WORLD

Kangaroo

Lunch-

Mushrooms,

Not

Onions.

Porcupines and

Quiet

Roosters

Sit

Tall

Under

Violins.

Whistling

Xylephone,

Yodeling

Zebras

Ate

Big

Crunchy

Dog

Ears

For

Good Friday.

However,

Indians

Jump!

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Every summer, we read a chapter book series (or 2!) during the hottest part of the day.  Usually in the cooler basement.  With popsicles.  Anyway, I digress.

I'm looking for a quality series to read this year!  Our dc that listen in are 12, 10 & 8 (mixed gender).  We've already done:

Little House

Little Britches

Narnia

Lord of the Rings

Cricket in Times Square

The Saturdays

Sarah, Plain & Tall

We've tried Little Women & Anne of Green Gables but the listening audience wasn't quite ready yet, though we may try Little Women again (my fav!).

There are plenty of great chapter books out there, but we really like to sink our teeth into a series and keep it going.  I'm thinking maybe Redwall but I've never seen the books, only the cartoon so I'm not sure?

HELP!!  What are YOUR favorites?

Peace,

Katie

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Nice, steady heartbeat - 160!  Whew!  I can get a bit more excited & relaxed now.  Great appointment - my OB & I are on the same page regarding a VBAC (is that TMI for a homeschooling blog?!??).

Still feeling oogy, but functioning better.  Hopefully, I'll be back in full swing soon. 

Finished Moonjellies with Bee today.  She soooo loves having Mom to herself for FIAR time! :-)  Not sure which we'll do next week - but it will be an ocean book.  Hmmm... Wild Horses of Sweetbriar?  Maybe Gramma's Walk?  Still thinking, and we may just pick it by using the cookbook, since the big 3 are supposed to be trying lots of different kinds of seafood for their LA unit.  That would leave GW out, but maybe Very Last First Time.

BTW - even if you don't use FIAR (though I think everyone should! LOL) you really should read the books on the booklist to your dc.  They are FANTASTIC!!  Truly heartwarming stories with supurb illustrations, and LOADS of great conversation starters!

Peace to you,

Katie

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We've been 'rowing since Jan of '99 when my oldest was just preK. It's been a part of our homeschooling life for so long, I sometimes take it for granted!

The oldests have been all the way through B4 - BY. But I started FIAR with my K girlie this semester. We are having such a blast!! It is so wonderful watching her blossom, questioning the world around her, incorporating new concepts learned...

We're 'rowing Night of the Moonjellies this week and made our Moonjellies Diner today for lunch for her brothers & sisters. I hope to NEVER forget the look on her face as she took orders & served up her trays of lobster rolls, burgers & other delicacies. Pride, accomplishment, fun and an overflowing feeling of pure JOY all mixed together. What an amazing priviledge to teach our little ones.

Thank you, Jane Claire Lambert!!

Peace to you,

Katie (who is s-l-o-w-l-y coming out from under the morning sickness rock!) 

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Whew!  HArtS Fair is over!  It's always a big to-do to get everyone's projects ready.  The kids did OK.  The Art category has gotten tougher over the past 2 years and they didn't take any ribbons for their entries there.  Butterfly got a 1st and 2 3rd place ribbons for her Craft entries.  Bug  got 2 3rd place ribbons for his Crafts and a 1st place for his History report!  Bunny & Bee got a lesson in how to lose gracefully. 

This week's free time focus has been on PIRATES!  Bug finished reading Treasure Island and took Muppet's Treasure Island out from the library.  Now he is the captain of our Pirate crew (consisting of Captian Two-Eyes See-Far, First Mate AARRRGGGHHH, Angel Marie, Mate, One-eyed Beat-up, & Spoon Face).  We've burried treasure in the back yard, written & burned treasure maps, walked the plank - for FUN - looked up the Oak Island Treasure on the 'Net (fascinating!!) and made plans for how WE would find it!

In not so unschool-y news, we're continuing our study of countries during the Renaissance.  Last week was Italy & Germany (so we did Papa Piccolo for FIAR) and this week is Switzerland & France!  BOY are we having some great food, thanks to the recipes in the AWOA curriculum guide and the FIAR Cookbook!!  Bee chose to do The Glorious Flight for her French Fiar book (over Madeline or Mirette).  You can tell she's my tomboy!

Butterfly has started brain training now and is being a trooper about it!  Her sessions are very short right now as her frustration threshhold is so low.  It'll come.

Off to start my day!

Peace to you,

Katie

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Continuing on with our Learning Adventures Ren. & Ref. study.  We've had some Italian culinary delights this past week (Spaghetti Bolognese, Antipasto, Biscotti) and we'll continue on through the Italian renassaince and into Germany.

On deck this week:

AWOA

* Continue to memorize Psalm 96

* Continue hymn study

* cook Italian & German

* Planets & Stars kits

* Potato printing

* Continue Luther bio & reports

FIAR/B4:

* Start Papa Picolo with Bee

* Make the cookbook meal

* work on Goodnight Moon with Bear

HArtS:

* finish shields

* attach Bible verses to projects

* Bear paint "Horsey"

* Dust off castle

Life life, love lots & get on my knees more.

Peace to you,

Katie

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Some of my favorite sites:

www.starfall.com Learn to read/early reader interactive books

www.letteroftheweek.com Fantastic series of free curriculum for babies through pre-K/K.  We're not rigid curriculum users for the early years, but the ideas are super!!

www.fiveinarow.com I can't say enough about what this curriculum has done for our family.  From B4 (ages 2-4) up through Above & Beyond (12-14?  I don't remember - we haven't done this last one yet!) it has enriched our homeschooling experience and our lives.

www.bookadventure.com Earn points for prizes by reading from their book list (they have a lot of FIAR titles) - or being read to, in the case of my non-readers.  Good quality prizes - or assign your own!

www.funbrain.com I haven't looked at this yet, but I'm told it's almost as good as the Starfall site, but for math!

Please add your favorites in the comments!

Peace to you!!

Katie 

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Olympic events at our house this week:

*Skeleton (on couch cushions down the stairs) - event called by the Officials for safety reasons

*Speed Skating - in-line skating around the block.  Bunny got 2 gold medals!

*Broom Hockey - US Boys vs. US Girls.  No clear winner, but nothing broken!!

*Downhill Skiing - Bug & Butterfly went with Daddy and practiced their Olympic form!

In other areas:

Finishing up HArtS Fair projects has caused a spate of painting, crafting and other creativity. 

Latch hooking has become a favorite passtime.

Elaborate Mother/Child games have been played for hours with various participants moving in and out of the game.  I never know WHAT part I'm going to be asked to play (store keeper, lunch lady, employer, widowed mother, orphanage matron...)

The Siege! (Bug's game) is getting more elaborate as we change rules, add info, design more bridges... I'm losing pathetically.  The players have been sending messengers with terms of surrender.  So far, no takers.

Lots of cooking lessons this week.  Bunny (almost 8) has made 1 b-fast, 1 lunch and 1 cake BY HERSELF! (Mom supervising, of course).  Bug (11.5) made an edible cake with no recipe.

The older dc have been experimenting with making swings in the back yard.  Rope swings, pole swings, lawn chairs (nixed by Mom!)... great feats of engineering are happenin' here!

Off to see if the offer of free pancakes at IHOP is a real deal today.  Oh, boy - will they hate to see US coming!

ETA: The dc just became a successful team of archaeologists and dug up Queen Shops-a-Lot (aka Barbie)!  We buried her last August? September? in the back yard after going through the mummification process.  We forgot all about her, so the dc decided to find and excavate her tomb!  Oh, they are toooo funny! 

They're also out there rebuilding the tree fort.  I'd better go nonchalantly supervise!!

Peace to you,

Katie

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We start our new Learning Adventures unit this week!  Whoo-hoo!

AWOA:  Renaissance & Reformation (Bug, Butterfly, Bunny)

* start bio of Martin Luther

* start astromony unit

* take solar system walk

* make pizza

* start memorizing Ps 96

FIAR

* start Duchess Bakes a Cake (Bee)

* start Good Night Moon (Bear)

HArtS

* turn in art & history!!

* handles for shields

* dust off castle

* Bear's painting

Other

* Bee's Rod & Staff

* Bug grad. from brain training

* start Butterfly on brain training

* work on "R", "S" & "T" with Bee (LOTW)

I feel like I'm forgetting something... hmmmmm...

Peace to you!

Katie

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Well, here's Hedgy!! (aka Mrs. Tiggy Winkle)

Poor Bunny didn't have any grass grow on hers, so Bug cut some off HIS hedgehog and pasted it on the back of the bald one!

Butterfly & Bunny spent a good while playing Pet Show this week.  All the toy horses, puppies & kitties were commadeered as well as the vet set to take care of them!  They used the doll bathing station to get them all prettied up, too.

Bee & Bear spent hours in safe sword-fighting.  The big snafu is deciding who has to be the "bad guy"!  It's hilarious to hear a 3yo exclaim, "My name is Indigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die!" (OK, name that movie! LOL)

Bug has taken it upon himself to remove EVERYTHING from the boys' room, clean, organize & put it all away.  One week & five trash bags (not all trash - some for give away) later, it looks fabulous!!

All four big dc are latch hooking.  Some are quicker than others, but it's going well!

A dear friend at church gave us a HUGE set of Little House videos.  The dc have been watching those a lot this week - more that I'd normally allow, but, well I guess I'm a softie for a 3yo who asks to watch "Yiddle House an' da Berries" (his version of "Little House on the Prairie"!)

Compiling stats of Olympic medals has taken up considerable time as well as watching the games.

Lots of projects were continued from last week as well, of course.  It's such an ebb & flow of learning in their free time.  They get latched on to things for a good stretch, find something new to obsess over, then occassionally go back to s few games.

Peace to you,

Katie

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Well, this is our "catch-up" week, so it'll be pretty motley for school!  HArtS fair (History, Art, Science) entries are due 2/27, so a lot of focus will be on that.

* Bug: 

Add strap to shield

Mat photo

Finish History paper

Type it out - 3 copies

COSTUMES FOR FEAST

* Butterfly:

Dust castle

Draw 1 pic

Mat 3 pics

Finish shield w/ cutouts & handle

COSTUMES FOR FEAST

* Bunny:

 Finish 2 pics

Mat 3 pics

COSTUMES FOR FEAST

* Bee:

Mat 2 pics

COSTUMES FOR FEAST

* Bear:

Paint & mat pic

COSTUMES FOR FEAST

* MOM:

Help with all projects

Type & print out Middle Ages writing assignments

Assemble M.A. notebook

Scrap M.A. photos

PLAN Ren & Ref unit!!

The hedgehogs (3 of 4 anyway) are growing great!  2 herbs have made it, 3 need to be replanted.  M.A. feast has been put off indefinitely due to inclement weather, then birthday season is upon us so I'm not sure WHEN we'll fit it in!

Peace to you!

Katie

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To teach Bee her alphabet & letter sounds, we've used the free online Letter of the Week curriculum.  Ooh, we've had so much fun with this!!  But hte best part is adding in a letter appropriate field trip.  Now, I admit, it has taken us 2 YEARS to finish this, but it was soooo worth it - everyone LOVED the field trips (and I took lots of pictures so Bee can look back & remember).

Some of these may not be available in your neck of the woods.  That's OK - use your imagination and substitute!

A - Alligator Farm

B - Bear Factory

C - Candy Factory tour

D - Dentist

E - Easter bunny!

F - Firestation

G - Glassblower

H - Horseback Riding

I - Indian Village

J - Juice Bar

K - Kite Flying

L - Library

M - Mountains

N - North Pole (amusement park)

O - Office (Daddy's)

P - Post Office

Q - Quilt Store

R - Railroad Station

S - Supermarket

T - Tea Shop

U - Underwater Diving Store

V -

W -

X -

Y - Yarn Store

Z - Zoo

OK, so I still need ideas for V, W, X.  Anyone?  Anyone??

Peace to you,

Katie

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Valentine's was lovely.  I bought dh some of his fav foods as a surprise... he bought me some of MY fav foods as a surprise and we couldn't even BEGIN to eat it all!!  The dc we rushing around in secrecy before he got home, CLEARLY up to something.  Turns out, they we setting up our bedroom as Chez Mom&Dad so they could serve us a romantic Valentine's dinner!  Too cute!

We will finish up the Middle Ages unit today, tie up some loose ends and take most of next week OFF.  It will motivate them to work hard the rest of this week, I think.

I had to put a stop to the family Olympics yesterday.  Seems they thought the shed window looked a bit like the starting gate the skiers used, so they set up a ramp to it to practice "Ski Jumping"!!  Some of you may recall that these are the very same dc that 4 years ago held a "Luge" competition (sledding down the backyard slide) as well as a "Bobsled" run (toddler ride-on toy in the driveway) for the 2002 Salt Lake games.  I LOVE it when they're creative, but not sure my heart can take much more "creativity"!

We are still so pleased with Bug's brain training.  He is now calling himself SMART, CREATIVE, SPECIAL - words we haven't heard in a L-O-N-G time.  He will be done this month, and Butterfly is eager to start in March.  She's already reading more - and surprising herself! - just with the few games we've been squeezing in!

Well, I need to get in gear here.  I wanted to thank all of you who posted on Friday's Homemaking thread.  God is helping me to see that my expectations are out of line, and reminding me that this is a marathon and not a sprint.  THIS blog from Lilacs is wonderful.  Long, but worth it!

Peace to you,

Katie

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Wow, once again my oldest just amazes me with his creativity this week!

Bug spent several days playing "Minstrel" with Butterfly & Bunny.  Sometimes the game lasted 12+ hours!!  I love seeing them stay together on something for that long.  My fav was the night he told the story of "Barnes the Noble" - guess mom orders too many books, eh?

He also revamped the game he created last summer and spent hours playing it with Butterfly.  It's called The Seige! and it's played outside in the dirt with chess pieces & dice.  The first part involves building the terrain (bridges, blockades, prisons) and then you set up attacks & counter-attacks.  The pieces move the same as in Chess, but on a bigger grid.  The fate of the combatants is determined by the die (roll 1-3, captured!  4-6, killed).  You can trade prisoners, etc.  It's a very complex, but easy to understand, game. 

Butterfly & Bunny played "Princess" most of yesterday.  The costumes were great - they even maid a train for the princess' gown out of a lace table runner (not a "for best" one)!  They traded off the princess/lady-in-waiting roles nicely.

We all watched "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and enjoyed checking out the gothic architecture & costumes.  We also enjoyed a LOT of different recipes last week with herbs (part of our Middle Ages study) - complete with a "taste tester" & "cup bearer" for the King & Queen!

Oh, and we're learning tons of sign language so we can talk to a teen girl that sits behind us at church.  She was born with no ears (among other things), but just had surgery and got some.  Very cool!  And there is a boy at church with CP whose mom talked with the dc in children's church this weekend.  Now they know better how to play with him, etc and they were very excited!  We spent a lot of time on Sunday afternoon talking about disabilities, quirks & differences.

Well, I need to run here.  This just scratches the surface of the GOOD that my dc do in their spare time.  I'm going to TRY not to dwell on the squabbles & downright fights, the laziness & complaining that also goes on - but let me assure you, it's there.  Wouldn't want anyone to think that we're a hs-ing "poster" family - it's all here:  the good, the bad & the ugly.  "But thanks be to God, He's given us V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!! in Christ Jesus."

Please remember to pray for Candace.

Peace to you!

Katie

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This is our last week with the Middle Ages unit - at least on the structured side.  Then we'll spend 2 weeks finishing crafts, costumes & menu plans for our Feast!

Our Olympic studies continue as well.

* Finish up writing assignments

* ditto artwork

* replant some of the herbs that were in the lousy backyard dirt & didn't grow

* Girls:  work on latch hook kits

* Bug:  work on Tools badge with Daddy

* Thursday night Keepers night - 1st PINNING CEREMONY!!

* Make a dessert to celebrate their HUGE achievements from last semester

* Review memorey verses (Ps 24, Ps 23, Ps 139, Is 53, Heb 4:12, 1Tim 3:16, Eph 6:10-18) - Is 53 is the one we keep having trouble with

* Research a couple of different countries (Olympic study) and make some traditional food

* Study a couple of different sports - maybe make a trip to one of the local related museums if the weather holds!

* Have Hannah pick a book for FIAR - we're STILL stuck on Peter Rabbit (*rolleyes*)

OK - I need to cut this a bit short and get breakfast started if we're going to make it to church today.

Peace to you!

Katie

PS:  JUST READ at Janne's Blog that Candace is still critical, but they are using the right meds for the type of infection she has and the doctors are more hopeful!!

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This is one of my FAVORITE preschool activities!!  A tiny bit messy, but oh, so worth it!  Even the big guys love it.

WHITE MUD

Step 1: Ask your child to help you unravel about 1 1/2 rolls of two-ply toilet paper, then tear it into 2- to 3-square pieces. Put all of the pieces in a plastic tub.

Step 2: Grate half of a 3.1-ounce bar of Ivory soap into the tub.

Step 3: Slowly add about 6 cups of warm water, 1 cup at a time, while you and your child blend the mixture together by hand. It'll take about 15 minutes to mix it all up -- hang in there, it's worth the wait! Stop adding water when your mixture feels creamy and saturated. (You can always add more TP if yours gets too runny.)

Step 4: Help your child mold the mud into mountains, towers, and other shapes. To make the castle shown here, we just packed the concoction into disposable plastic containers (poke a hole in the bottom first so you're not fighting a vacuum effect), then dumped it back out.

Step 5: Store the mud at room temperature in a covered container; it'll last for several weeks. (Dispose of it in the trash.)

**********

This was an awesome part of our solids/liquids study, since it's so hard to tell which it is!  We couldn't stop messing with it!

MAGIC GOO

To Make the Mix
Pour 1 cup of cornstarch into a shallow bowl or pan. Add 3/4 cup of water a little at a time, stirring as you go.

To Play
Show your toddler how to scoop some of the mixture into her hands and then roll it into a ball, much as you would roll a handful of cookie dough. The consistency is key here, so if your magic goo doesn't firm up when you roll it, add a little more cornstarch. Likewise, if it doesn't melt back out of your hands when you release the pressure, add some water, about 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

To Store It
When your child is done playing, leave the mixture sitting out for several hours. Once it's dry, crumble it into a sealed container. Just add water to play again another day.

**********

Both of these recipes are from Family Fun Magazine - one of my favorite resources.

Don't be afraid to let your little ones get MESSY!  They love it - and it's good for them to explore (AND learn how to clean up!).

Peace to you!

Katie

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OK, so I don't have a theme for Wednesdays yet!

Last night, the dc "unschooled" us again after dinner.  They pretended the dining room was an inn and all had to perform for their room & board!  Bug told amazing stories about knights, dragons, the Crusades... I can tell HE'S retaining info!

Butterfly played her toy violin and sang about princesses.

Bunny & Bee gave a puppet show.

Even Bear got into the act - playing on sister's guitar and singing the blues!! (Must have been the blues - he started with "I lost m'dog...".)

In other news, HArTS fair is coming up (History, Art & Science).  I swore last year that we would NOT be doing this again!  The dc tend to "freak out" about getting projects ready and the last couple of weeks before the fair are nuts here.  BUT they always do so well, it pleases the g'parents and gives the dc (us??!?) loads of life lessons - commitments, deadlines, scheduling, sportsmanship... Bug even has to be interviewed on his History report.  So this year, the stipulation was that at least half of their projects had to be close to finished before I registered them.  We STILL ended up with 16 entries!!

PRAYER REQUEST:  My mom's friend Mona has breast cancer & needs chemo.  She has a severely handicapped 18yo son named Luke (can't remember - MD?  CF?  He is wheelchair bound, uses a feeding tube... mentally a preschooler and cannot communicate except with Mom.  SWEET boy, though)

Bear has entered the "preschool stuttering stage".  All I can say is... AAAAAHHHGHGHGHGGGGGHHHHHH!!!  This too shall pass...this to shall pass...  But he *IS* officially POTTY TRAINED! {happy dance}

I apologize for any typos in my blog.  I'm a fairly decent speller & typist, but usually I have a squirmy child on my lap and don't catch a lot of the mistakes!

You know, I kind of like having a day set aside for rambles... So I'm thinking the schedule is:

Sunday - Lesson Plans

Monday - Devotional

Tuesday - Unschooling

Wednesday - Catch-all

Thursday - Romance

Friday - Household

Saturday... maybe I'll focus on Preschool items.  I've not focused on that enough lately (blog OR home, unfortunately!)

Any thoughts??  I'm not trying to get "rigid", but I like having a framework to go by.  It makes it easier to compose entries in my head so I can take less time to type them.

Peace to you,

Katie

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I've decided to create some theme days on my blog to make it easier & quicker to keep up.  I'm still not sure what all the days will be, but if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!  I'll not stick to it like glue if something else comes up - that's the beauty of routines; they're flexible!

Tuesday is a place for me to log in all the things my dc are doing in their spare time - all the "unschooling" opportunities that I LOVE to see them engaged in - especially when it dovetails with our current study.  To me, that shows I've caught their interest and I can gauge just what has gone in - and what hasn't!

Bug constructed a gallows out in the back yard.  Gruesome, I know, but we HAVE been studying the Middle Ages and read a Robin Hood book as a go-along.  He strung up the offending patio chairs (stealing the King's deer, they were!) and then made arrows from fallen tree branches for his bow (yes, he has a bow - we have a big backyard!  He's very good at archery but is out of arrows at the moment).  He raided the duplicates in our feather collection and is trying to figure out how to attach them to the whittled shafts properly.  When he gets one that flies, he pretends to be Robin, rescuing his Merry Men from the gallows in the nick of time!

In other matters, he is digging a hole to China.  He'd like to travel the route of Marco Polo, but hasn't got the airfare so he thought he'd get there on his own!  (Yes, he knows it's impossible.  He has a big imagination!)  It is a useful pursuit.  His hole is directly under the 6' tall tree stump, you see, so he can try to dig/chop the tree down.

His current read-for-pleasure is Christmas in Camelot.

Lots of games of Stratego happening as well - usually it's William of Normandy invading Hastings in 1066!

Butterfly is packing baskets of food to take on trips around the block.  It seems she is a peasant maiden off to sell her wares in town.  Occasionally she takes the "baby" with her (NOT the real one) in the sling. 

She has spent hours this week creating "castles" from couch cushions and concocting costumes for our feast night.  (sorry, alliteration was one of our LA lessons this week!)

Bunny has, of course, been playing endlessly with her princess dolls.  Any empty box and bit of string becomes a carriage when attached to her extensive horse collection. 

Current read-for-pleasure books are anything 5th grade & under from the library box, and all of her princess books.

Bee & Bear are along for the ride, of course.  Both are helping me plan their upcoming Spiderman/Bob the Builder birthday party.  Yeah, I know.  I know.

Kitten is cruising, drooling, babbling & cutting tooth #6!

OK, that's a sampling of our past week.  And the adventure continues...

Peace to you!

Katie

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This week, we are continuing on with our Middle Ages/Gardening Unit.  On deck for Lesson Plans:

* Make those grass/sock hedgehogs we didn't get to last week

* Continue monitoring our windowsill herbs (some grew, some didn't), sprouting beans (not to be compared with bean SPROUTS - blech!) & rye sprout-in-a-straw (only one sprouted)

* Finish Coats-of-Arms

* Watercolor painting (FIAR set)

* Continuing to listen to "Earthy Tunes" by Mary Miche - fantastically fun CD!!!  Tunes include "Dirt Made My Lunch", "Banana Slug" & more

* Gear up for the Olympics - GO USA!

* Plan Middle Ages Feast (shooting for mid March)

* Memorize Ephesians 6:10-18

* Keep reading Middle Ages books & curriculum lessons

* Start new FIAR book

* NAIL DOWN HArtS FAIR ENTRIES!!! - need to mail reg. Monday

     - Bug: Shield (craft), Greek Mask (craft), "What if...?" (History report)

     - Butterfly: Shield (craft), 2 pictures (art), Greek Mask (craft)

     - Bunny: Shield (craft), 2 pictures (art)

     - Bee: Spiderman Picture (art - display only!), another art pic??

     - Bear: 1-2 pics (Art - display only)

Phew - I'd better skeedaddle!

Peace,

Katie

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We started our Olympic unit study this week with Amanda Bennett's awesome study.  We covered Greece & Rome quite extensively last semester, so I was looking for something a little different to pique their interest.  We got off on a rabbit trail after discussing the Shroud of Turin and found a couple of great sites!  It's FASCINATING stuff!

http://www.shroud.com/examine.htm

http://www.shroudforum.com/

The first one has great pictures & a good FAQ, and the second has a TON of (mostly) understandable scientific info!

Our studies led to a LOT of great questions/discussion around the dinner table when Daddy got home!

Peace,

Katie

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Utterly amazing. 

With Bug's brain therapy, he's gained a 3 YEAR improvement in his reading level in just 10 WEEKS!!

He's just slightly below grade level now, and may have picked up that much in the past week's training.  But you cannot imagine the impact this has had on his whole outlook!  He is more self-confident, has a more sophisticated view of his future (considering becomming a DOCTOR instead of a stuntman!), he's nicer to his sisters, more respectful to his parents, quicker to answer questions during school, more insightful in his answers... I could keep going, but I won't.

I cannot stress enough - if you have s struggling learner in CO, please contact me for info if you're considering any type of training program.  There are seminars coming up in the next 2 months.

If you are outside the state and can get your support group to sponsor them for a talk, they MAY be interested in coming to YOU.

I'm NOT trying to be a commercial here.   I just am amazed at the difference in my boy and would LOVE if those with struggling learners could experience the same thing.

Peace to you!

Katie

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