Zach and Esther started back to school this week.  Kate and Josh aren't due back until the 15th.  Zach was ready to go yesterday, but Esther ...well... she did her work, but under some duress.  Today everything was fine though.

I was a bit amazed how much Zach retained after nearly 2 months off. He did great. We're still figuring out what works for him and what doesn't. He thinks and learns differently than the others; and his trouble with labels vs. his understanding of concepts causes us to continue to look for solutions. However, because I've found he responds so well to lapbooking, we are returning to them this year.

Last year we didn't do any lapbooks; and apparently they missed them. When I was workign with Esther and Zach today on the two lapbooks we started this week, Kate asked if she and Josh could do lapbooks again this year too. They just seem to really enjoy aspect of creating a tangible product from their schoolwork - combining the art with the activity.  Should be interesting to see how it all goes.

Well, Finally, after months and months of  dog-related research and waiting, my daughter Kate got her puppy - for her 12th birthday no less.   I posted more of the journey on how she got her dog on the Living Life at Home blog. But here are  a few pictures of Kate's new bundle of fur, Jazzy.

My friend Tonya travels with her family every year, and now she's blogging about it here.  What fun to see where they've visited and read about their adventures. But I absolutely adore the map she's posted of all the states they've visited.

 So I decided to do one of our own... I only included the states the kids have visited on our road trips (not the states I visited by myself). I didn't realize we had covered so much of the Western U.S. Just need to work on heading east.   Guess Tonya's family covered the east and we've got the west :)

Kate got her audio book privileges back on Monday. So at during today's library trip she loaded up, for the first time in six weeks. And Josh followed suit, bringing home his own stack of audio books to listen to.

After chore time tonight Kate immediately began her listening routine. then she comes in an hour later and says, "It's so nice to be at peace."

"What?" I asked.

She explained, "Audio books give me peace, a place to rest from the rest of the world."

Hmm. well maybe some tween drama, but, the point is that she LOVES her audio book time. Which of course was the reason Daddy chose to take away that privilege for the infraction six weeks ago. It got her attention.

Tonight Josh and Kate are huddled under blankets listening to a new series Kate picked up at the library and I'm loving it. My babes are immersed in literature and stories, and what can be better than that?

Imagination is a wonderful gift, preferably not to be extinguished. But somehow Essy got an extra dose of it.

A few years ago, when she was two, this became evident when she took a quarter, a nickel, and two dimes while we were at the Chiropractor and pretended they were a family.

Well today, she's in the bathroom with every toothbrush she could find (at least a dozen), pretending they are people.

Never mind that she has a room full of toys. Apparently toothbrushes are all she needs. :) Gotta love the creativity.

If you are like me and have a wish list of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine produced products, then today is the day.

For today only, they are having a special 50% off sale on items produced by The Old Schoolhouse. This includes the new What about Socialization? and Living and Learning on One Income ebooks. Also includes digital subscriptions, which is very tempting.

But I'm heading off to pick up The Schoolhouse Planner. It's been on my wish list since last year and this is the first time I've seen it on sale. 50% off is definitely within my buy price.

Back issues are Buy 1 Get 1 Free today as well. So I'll be picking a couple back issues I missed.

Anything on your wish list on sale?

Josh has some quality that is unique. I don't know what it is, but he does. Every time there is a bird that accidentally is stuck in the sun room, or even once in the house. He is the guy to get. There is something about him that quiets the bird in question.

Today a dove was banging against the sun room window, trying to get out. Kate and her new friend were there, but it was just banging more furiously. I called for Josh. Within moments, that bird was on his finger. It stayed there while Josh climbed down off the gardening table and walked out across the yard. Josh said when he got to the big oak tree, he had to gently push the bird off his finger to get it on the tree limb.

This isn't the first time this has happened, but it always amazes me. Another mom and her family were visiting this morning when this happened. She said she had never seen anything like it. I wonder what plans God has for this boy, to give him such a gift.

I'm so proud of my little guy! On Monday, the kids were involved in a 2 hour Miniature Horse camp. Everyone was excited, except Zach. Zach was angry and scared. He growled, crossed his arms, and glared - a LOT! 

When we arrived at the barn, he refused to go into the paddock. But when I told him that I needed his help with the camera, he decided that it was okay. He could help take pictures. And he did.  But what he didn't know is that I had had his brother get a bucket of grooming tools for him as well.

When it was time to practice grooming, he and I paired up on a mini-horse. Essy was one horse over, and needed my help, so I left Z with the job of brushing the horse. He wasn't happy but he did it.

Next we learned about walking/leading the horse. We did that together too.

Then we learned the different elements of the obstacle/show course. At first he was really nervous, because he had to do it with everyone watching. When in line for his turn, he said "Mom will you help me remember to do 3 rails, not four." It was then that I clued in on what was happening. My poor guy was afraid of messing up, of what others would think, of not being perfect. Oh man. That I could handle. So I assured that I would walk him through it. And I did. He handled the horse by himself, with me walking next to him, coaching him through each element.

Next they did a little competition. That he handled on his own, a little nervous but not needing me there. By the end, he was my little horseman. When we started out that morning there was no way he was going to go near that little horse, much less show it and then ride it. But look how we ended the session:

I'm so proud! He overcame his fear and bloomed.

After two months of reading about dogs, researching dogs, consuming every dog related website and book available to her, Kate was positive she wanted a Beagle. Tonight she announed that maybe she needed to rethink that.  WHAT! Apparently after reading repeatedly about how stubborn a beagle can be, she decided to reinvestigate. So now she's reading about the Bichon Frise. I'm floored.

Don't get me wrong she still wants a dog, and is still researching her heart out. Right now, at 12:45 am, she's in the other room reading another book on Dog care, from the adult section at the library. She's read everything on the topic in the children's section.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I guess the right opportunity will present itself, when the time is right. But boy...I was blind-sided by this one. 

The kids want a dog. They've wanted a dog for several years.  We've had a dog for three months 4 years ago, but it was hit by a car and that was the end of our dog days. We have cats - 6 of them. And fish. But we have told the kids over the last few years that when they were old enough to take care of it, train it, and be completely responsible for it, they could have a dog. 

Well Kate decided two months ago that that time had come. Afterall she's working on her babysitting skills and her first (very) part-time job. So, her daddy and I discussed it and decided that she really needed to think this through, so we gave her a list of questions that she needed to answer, considerations to think about, and some research tasks to do.

She was to come back to us with the info and then we would talk about it some more. I fully expected this to take a while; afterall she says she hates to do research.

That was six weeks ago. I think she has at least 80 hours of research into this. In fact yesterday I was telling her that she had so much knowledge, had visited so many websites, and knew where to find the information she needed, that she needed to write a unit study or an ebook for other kids. She's actually considering it.

Her research skills have flourished. She can use Google with the best of us now. But not only has she read everything she can read online, she's read all the puppy books at the library too and is now working on the dog training books written for adults.

After going through the research and comparing breeds and ou family criteria, she's decided upon a beagle puppy. So now we wait for the right opportunity and the funds. Every couple days she goes out and finds the newest listings online and emails them to me. Such cute little faces.

Please pray for Kate and her little Beagle puppy that she wants to adopt. The right dog, the right timing, and the right opportunity hasn't come yet. But please pray for them, that they may find each other and in the meantime my not-so-little girl will have patience and understanding until that day comes. 

It's officially Thanksgiving and many people will be sharing their holiday with their families and friends. We, being away from our extended family, will be enjoying a feast here at home. The kids are excited about helping to cook and prepare the meal...and of course eating their favorite dishes.

For some, though, family get-togethers bring up some of the difficult question about homeschooling. Particularly the biggest one - What about Socialization?  Personally I consider this a non-issue, and basically tell that to whomever asks it. But for those of you who have to deal with the question, there's a couple resources I recommend:

First, the new ebook from TOS entitled What about Socialization? Dispelling the Myths is worth a read. Here vetern homeschoolers and a homeschool graduate share their perspective on the socialization question and on the doubts we sometimes face as homeschoolers.

And secondly, I encourage you to check out this article I wrote on what the research really says about Socilaization and homeschoolers. I wrote this a couple years ago for a college project, doing the research to see if my feeling of non-issue was really valid against the research.  It is, but I'll let you read it for yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, it's the week of Thanksgiving and the deals are rolling into my email box. Lots of different companies trying to convince me to come visit them this holiday season and to plunk down my money. Several years ago, the Lord taught me that I really needed to be careful about getting caught up in the hype and to really pray about my purchases. I still am disobedient and often tempted, but when I am careful, things always pay off. 

Well, I have to say that my desire to re-subscribe to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has been tempting, but this week...they are offering a 1 year magazine subscription for the incredible price of $7.95!!  And, that includes a free subscription to Teacher's Toolbox, with it's monthly freebies!  So...thank you Lord for the patience and willpower to resist.  This is the best deal we're going to see for the magazine, so I'll be taking that deal.

Also, an email came through today, saying that CurrClick is offering 28 freebies on Friday. So after 10am Friday I'll be heading over there to see if there's anything I want. I love CurrClick's freebies and have picked up some great things from them in the past. So we'll see what's up this Friday. If I like anything I'll post it here.

Now I'm off to grocery shop for Thanksgiving. Looks like we're staying in town, so time to get groceies. Have a good holiday!

This has been a crazy week here, but only for me. The kids are having a great time during their first week of break.  Monday was officially the beginning of their winter holiday. No more “school” until January.

With all that unstructured time, this week the kids have rediscovered the game of chess, playing games everywhere, including attempting a game in the car. (well, that only lasted until I turned the corner and the game pieces when flying… a lesson in why we wear a seat belt).

The tubes of watercolors have also come out and my art wall is now fresh with all new pictures.

But most importantly, my yard has been speckled with forts.  All the yard chairs are clustered and over-turned with linens draped over them. I had to finally put my foot down and say no more blankets, only sheets.  It’s such a pain to wash all those blankets, but sheets are much more manageable.

So for hours for the last few days, the kids have built forts, negotiated new territory, combined forts, moved forts, and just plain hung out in them.  Josh (9) even fell asleep out in his a couple times.

Can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

It’s been two years since I first set up this blog and as I read back through the original posts I’m amused to find that while the kids are now two years older (11, 9, nearly 7, and nearly 5) our homeschooling has not hugely changed. We’re not doing as many lapbooks anymore, mostly due to my own lack of prep time and the fact that we really miss having another family to lapbook with.

Right now our focus is on the 3Rs – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. Our science and history is incorporated into daily life and into our reading. This last summer we did our “Summer of Science” and had a lot of fun with it. We may do it again. Not sure yet.

This is the first year I’ve had four students, and that’s been an interesting adjustment. Thankfully Kate (11) is mostly self-teaching and Esther (nearly 5) and Zachary (nearly 7) are very close in cognitive development, so we are able to co-teach them together.  Generally speaking Josh (9) and Kate are able to work together while Esther and Zachary work together. But mostly I prefer we get to do activities all together and just have fun with them. What a joy.

Anyway, after a two year break, we’re back to blogging!

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The last five days have been a flurry!  I started back at school (University of Phoenix Online) after a two month break. We started working on our Polar Habitats lapbooks using the resources the HOAC online co-op pulled together (WOW!). And, we’ve been arranging the inspections and such for the house we’re buying here.

Lapbooking has been interesting this time, because Essy (3) has insisted that she must also do a lapbook at the same time.  She colors when the others write and glues when the olders glue.  I’m not sure I bought enough glue sticks though – she’s uses an entire glue stick every day! Sticky Girl!

Last night we watched Antarctica:IMAX and The Endurance. The IMAX movie showed amazing photography of the landscape, animal and ocean life, and to scientific activity that goes on in Antarctica. The Endurance was about Shackleton’s expedition in 1914 to cross the continent of Antarctica.  Twenty-seven men set out, but their boat was trapped when the ocean around Antarctica froze. The movie used original photographs and journal entries to take us through the experience. All twenty-seven men returned from the trip, but not before withstanding amazing feats for perseverance, faith, and survival.

About half way through The Endurance, Kate (9) says “We’re learning more about people in this one, instead of conditions.”  

I just looked at her, amazed.  Then asked, “So they are wearing parkas – why?”

“It’s cold”

“Okay, that’s a condition. What happened to their boat?”

“It was trapped when the water froze.”

“Okay, that’s a condition…”

She rolled her eyes at me, but got the point.  Even in movies that are about people and their journey and even in historical fictionalized movies, we can learn a lot about what’s happening around them as well as what happens to them. Something else I’ll have to work with her.