This is generally the time of year most people are winding their school years down. And normally we would be too. But this year we will be doing stuff through the summer since we are making a switch to AO.

This last Monday we had our last Co-op class so things might go somehwat smoother without rushing around.

Course I'm going fairly slow in the AO stuff as I need some other books so we are just using library books, reading some then I have him draw a photo or 2 about what we read then write a few sentences about the photo. Its not a lot but its better then nothing, and going slower instead of jumping in will be better since this is different for CJ

Yesterday I had an appointment and afterwards CJ and I stopped by McD's to grab something to eat. Then headed out to the park where we were duck/swan watching last month. Now there isn't many out there, a couple Canadian Geese, maybe a couple ducks but that's it, compared to the many from before.

But as we were sitting there looking at the river there was a pair of birds coming, I just figured it was a pair of geese, and it ended up being a pair of Loons. CJ's first time seeing Loons. And mine that close. Wished I had taken my camera but of course I didn't have it with me. Would have been hard to get their photo anyway as they were diving and swimming under the water more then up where you can see them easier.

So I decided we'd stop at the library and check out any books on Loons to learn about them a bit. Well we ended up coming home with a pile of books...LOL.

We brought home

The Common Loon

Loon Magic

Eagles of North America

Birds of Prey

Wildlife and Plants of the World

Storms and Hurricanes

Storms! Tales of Extreme Weather Events in Minnesota

The Sun The Center of The Solar System

Mercury The First Planet

Vibrating Colcanoes

Experiment with Weather

And of course many others we will be picking up over time. I'm hoping to get CJ started on notebooking on several of these books in the next few weeks. Today won't be one of them as hubby is off work today so it kinda messes things up but its all good.

Today we will be getting our box from rainbow resources of stuff for our Ambleside Online switchover. I have a few others to buy from amazon.com but that will wait for a week or so. But I'm excited to be getting my box today.

I bought the Charlotte Mason Companion book mainly because the one at  the library had 1 hold on it before me so I figured just buy it so I don't have to worry about getting it back in time. I'm really excited about this change over and taking it slow to help CJ decompress from stuff we've used will be great. And if it doesn't work out the way I hope, I at least already have the stuff we intended to use. But I'm hoping the reading books and notebooking will be something he enjoys.

Well Saturday I went to Curves to work out in the morning, then came home and started on the school/computer room. There were a few things I wanted to remove and move something else to set up CJ's computer to make it easier for him to use. Well that just started a WHOLE redo of the room. All except my desk that is since mine is attatched to the wall.....LOL.

But it feels so nice and clean in here. I took out a tall kitchen garbage bag of not needed papers. Put some stuff in the closet(which so needs a cleaning itself but that will be this summer sometime)  and eventually moved the desk and it makes the room *feel* larger even though its not....LOL.  The room itself isn't really that large. Something like 8feet x 10 feet or somewhere around there I can't remember.

But here are the after photos, I hadn't taken any before, but if you check out the post on the timeline it gives you a general idea of where some stuff was before.

This is the view from the hallway/doorway

To the left

My desk area

Large wall to the right of the doorway. With out timeline on it

I had an online friend suggest making a timeline for History so that CJ might remember the people better. So that's what we've been doing today.  I have never done this before, and we started out with this small strip of papers. Then I realized that was not going to work. So now its a rather large one. And probably larger then we really need. But I had decided to use a different color of paper for things, so the 1400's are in a light blue, the 1500's are in a red etc. This might also help CJ remember things by having it color coded so to speak. Plus its large enough to add things along the way it its needed.

I certanitly don't recommend making one as big as ours especially if you don't have room...LOL. And I only decided to make it this large to fill in any things along the way that needed to be done, that weren't on the timeline we were looking at in the History book. Since we are going to try Ambleside Online there will be other things to add in.

CJ wanted me to take a pic of the green one, which happens to be the1800's and the longest one. We have the 1900's & 2000's to finish then I can take a photo of it all up on the wall. I told CJ there are others that we don't have anything on that we might have to add in later like the 1200's etc.

There you have it a few photos of the start of our History timeline!

Chapter 3 & 4

Stuart was stretching his stomach muscles in the morning after he woke up.

Then he pulled the long string to turn the light on in the bathroom, then climbed up the rope ladder to the sink. He used his little hammer to turn the water on, by hitting the handle three times. Just enough so he could brush his teeth and get his washcloth damp.

Stuart saw Snowbell, the cat, one early morning. They talked about exercise and whose stomach muscles were firmer.  Stuart ran and jumped up on the string for the window shade, to prove that his stomach muscles were stronger then Snowbells. Up went the shade and Stuart went up and got rolled up in it. Stuart hollered for help, but no one could hear him. Snowbell picked up Stuarts hat and cane and put them in the pantry by the mousehole.

Mrs. Little come downstairs and found Stuarts stuff down by the mousehole then she screamed. Everyone came running downstairs and asked what happened. Mrs. Little said that Stuart went down the mousehole.

This is something I've looked at a few times and it so interests me, but I really don't have a clue where to start. After looking things over I'm not sure if starting with Year One would be too easy. Obviously the phonics isn't really needed much on this end since I have an 11.5 yr old. But I'm not sure if starting with like Year Three or Year Four would be too much.

I assume it really doesn't matter to get so technical. I was just really curious to maybe give it a try this summer and see if we really do like it. I just think that CJ and I both need something different more book related for a bit of time. As it will strengthen much for him. And he does enjoy the reading alouds, not as much reading on his own....LOL. But still, he does also like the Abeka textbook stuff as well. So its not like we have to toss that out, we could figure something out if he'd still want to continue them.

I'm just at a loss, I just know that we need to mix stuff up for a bit of time, seeing if that will help both of us enjoy things much more. I'm trying to find out what books I can get from our library, sometimes that's tough because out library doesn't always have books you want. Which does happen, even when its in surrounding areas we get them from.

I know that when I come across blogs where they use this it just looks like so much that CJ would enjoy. So if anyone has any advice please feel free to pass it on to me. I won't rule this out completly but I do need to most likely find as much as I can from our library just so I don't have to spend much right now. Since I should have considered this when I bought other stuff already. Oh well life moves on.

  Chapter 1 ~ In the drain

      They made him a bed out of 4 clothespins & a cigarette box. He was about 2 inches tall. Mrs. Little called the Dr. because Stuart didn’t gain much weight. The Dr. told her to feed him.

Mrs. Little’s ring fell down the bathtub drain. George said to use a hairpin and piece of string and bend the pin like a fish hook so they could fish the ring out. But that did not work. Mr. Little said to send Stuart down the drain to get the ring.

      Stuart had to change into his old pants before going down the drain, because it was damp. Three tugs on the string was the way they knew to pull him back up. He had the ring around his neck.

      Chapter 2 ~ Home Problems

      Ping-pong balls kept going under the chairs or radiators, Stuart finally learned to fetch the balls from under the hot radiator, pushing it with all his might.

      The piano key was sticking for four years. Every time Mrs. Little played the piano. George had the idea of putting Stuart inside the piano to pick up the key right after it went down. It was a hard job, because he had to dodge the hammers.

‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house.

Not even a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

Was one saying they wanted to change the word mouse to louse or grouse or souse. They picked louse to use in use of mouse.

‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house.

Not a creature was stirring not even a louse.

Is how Stuart thought the story was. They didn’t want to upset Stuart with the word mouse or mice.

      Mr. Little worried that Stuart would venture down the mousehole that was in the pantry.

CJ has never done any narration before so he was a bit worried about it. But after some help from me prompting him with questions he remembered plenty of stuff. So it should get easier for him along the way.

Has anyone used these books? I was considering getting these for my son to have some drawing. I know he likes to draw but being the literal child that he is, as I talked about in a previous post he struggles. So I wanted to get some book or curriculum for drawing. I think if we did some he'd get the hang of it and really take off. I've looked around but just don't know what to pick up.....lol.

I know its not as realistic as I'd like to try for him but it would be a start. I'd really love to get stuff for teaching like perspective drawing and such, where you draw a cityscape on a corner type thing. I really don't know what its called. I just know we always had a blast in school with that kind of stuff. Basically I just need some drawing stuff. I"m sure there's stuff online but its harder for us to get things down or printed. So a book is a bit easier. So if anyone has used the Draw Write Now books or anything else for that matter please share your opinions with me. Not sure what book to use for my 11 year old either.