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Sneaking in a photo
Thursday, September 17, 2009
DD12 really didn't want her picture taken the other day... but I "had to prove" that we're still homeschooling here, despite the fact that I rarely blog about it anymore!
Seeeeee... proof positive... math is getting done! (Among other things!)
Many of my weekends from September through January have been spent driving kiddo to and from play practices for the CMJ production of Oz with a Wicked Twist. I'm happy to say THAT show is now over. Here is a little slideshow of photos I put together for my family to see. I thought I'd share them with ya'll, too.
We got kiddo's costume from an area GoodWill store. With a good laundering and make-shift hemming/tacking smaller, it worked for the role. Blue jelly shoes were provided by the director.
Well, it was enjoyable to watch her in her role as "Mistress of Oz" as well as a Munchkin (albeit one of the tallest ones!LOL) and as an Ozian dancer. She really blossomed in this show, growing her confidence. So much so, that she opted to audition for the production company's next show of School House Rock, Jr.
Rehearsals for that show start tomorrow. Weekend rehearsals are a bit lighter than the Oz ones, just due to the nature of the casting (ensemble cast, broken into groups.) But come April, we'll be going full-tilt with on stage reheasals, dress-rehearsals and so on. Good times for her, lots of driving for me. LOL
Results of Our Ceramics Outing
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A couple weeks ago a few families from our field tripping homeschooling group met at an area ceramics shop. We glazed our chosen items as desired and left them for firing.
Here are the items DD and I created:
click to enlarge I made the coffee tea mug &
DD made the fairy (for her already huge fairy collection!)
Because we liked our finished items so much, I took a couple more photos of them. LOL
click to enlarge Here's our pieces in front of the flower
kiddo got from us on her opening night
(last Saturday) of the musical Oz with a Wicked Twist
Her fairy is already prominently displayed on one of her fairy shelves. Me, I used my mug today for the first time-- mug o' skim milk alongside a homemade granola bar. YUM! Oh, and in case anyone wonders, yes-- the glaze is food-safe, non-toxic.
Ceramic Painting in Progress
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Apparently I'd forgotten to share these photos after our ceramics outing, so here they are. (Better late than never, right?)
And, in case you're curious-- no, that isn't dyed hair! It's fake hair. Those that *know* me already knew that though. LOL
It is a colored clip-in from Claire's Boutique to be precise. DD has had a few different colors in the past, blue seems to be the color she can still find. LOL Hey, what can I say? Clipping in hair is far less of a concern of mine than those friends she has that use SHARPIE MARKERS to color their hair! YIKES!
I'm fairly certain that public school kids don't DO their first day of any grade while on a road trip, but here at our house, that's exactly what we did!
January 12, 2009-- official first day of 6th grade for kiddo. However, my son had an appointment with orthopedics at the Chicago Shriners Hospital so, with lessons in her purple backpack, we hit the road!
Turns out, my son (nearly 17.5 yo) wasn't suggested for another surgery at this time. Instead he's to return in July for another eval. Whether he gets a secondary surgery is, surprisingly, up to him the doctor said. I'd be totally shocked if my son opted to have the surgery. The doctor said the 1.5" difference in length in his legs is greater than that which would be considered "quite okay", but that if he isn't feeling a lot of discomfort well then that's okay, too. *sigh* Both me and my ex-husband agree that long range issues may develop if he chooses to not have a surgery, and said as much, but the doctor was very specific in saying it was my son's decision. So July it is.
In any case, first day lessons for my 6th grader consisted of Math, Grammar, History, Memory work, and Literature. Here she is working on math in the lobby of the Shriners Hospital--
She got all of her work done before we returned home and only had to work on assembling a President Card (for her President Card Deck) at home. She was glad to be back to school, even if it was mostly spent in the van and a lobby!
After leaving the Shriners Hospital we headed back to home, but went to an area library where she had two books on reserve. I treated us to icecream afterwards. (Wish I'd thought to have taken a photo!) A nice start to another year of homeschooling!
I spent most all of the day organizing, culling, and rearranging the schoolroom (and misc. boxes that go with it) and it is all set! We've only lived in this house for almost two months and yes, it's taken me that long. LOL
But that isn't the "cool mom" part. No.
After theatre practice and dinner I showed her that I'd installed the World Book Encyclopedia on her computer. (Full install/ no disk needed) And I showed her how to use it. SHE LOVED IT! LOL And deemed me "cool."
Funny, I've had it for a couple years (so yes, it won't have the MOST current encyclopedia dates in there but oh well, she doesn't care) but only today really dug into it myself. Heck, I learned it has a TIMELINE CREATOR in it! (in the homework helper section of the program.) This will make nice (and quick) notebook entries! She liked the "chart/graph maker" part and videos. LOL
Anyway, just had to boast on myself since she boasted on me too!LOL
***EDITED TO ADD--- Well, DD has spent the last 1+ hour playing investigating the World Book program. She asked (yes ASKED) if it was OKAY if she did a report. The Homework Helper section has a very nice "Report Wizard" that lets you schedule out all the steps in writing a report. She wants to do a report on penguins, set it up, and now I'll just wait and see. I'm not holding my breath, but certainly wasn't going to discourage her either. LOL She also used the Web Page Wizard to "make" a very (non-published) web page. I can see some future use of that, but tonight she just wanted to try it out. I'm not foolin' myself. I know the "newness" of this software has her all excited but just like anything else, "This too shall pass." LOL I just want her to get comfortable USING the software! So any time spent exploring at this point in time is a good thing!
For Windows:
click image
for Macintosh:
click image
Or, you can buy earlier editions World Book Encyclopedia CD-rom (or other brand of encyclopedia software) over at THIS AMAZON PAGE or THIS PAGE HERE. Sure beats having a shelf used up with a set of encyclopedia books!
New Notebooking Page Freebie--
Friday, October 17, 2008
As we gear up to study him next week I whipped up this super simple notebook page and figured I'd add it to my blog. You can download it from the History section of the Freebies page.
And, if you're interested in more on Audubon you can view these little movies from YouTube:
Seeeeee... proof positive... math is getting done! (Among other things!)
