This year Rebecca decided to do math club.  She is in high school now and so the math is TRICKY.  She, being the perfectionist that she is, came out of class today in a rather foul mood.  Methinks it has something to do with the review they had of a recent contest the team competed in.  She was not happy on that day either.  I'm just sayin' there may be a connection somewhere...

We have long since outgrown Trick or Treating and Halloween has become somewhat of an awkward holiday.  It was never really a favorite of mine (although the loads of candy was cool) and now that my kids are all teens it's almost an annoying "holiday". 

 

This year was a bit different, however, because the girls got to go to a dance!  Rather than doing the costume thing and having a plethora of "thou shalt not's", the organizers decided to employ black lights and have a "who is the brightest" contest.  It was soooo much fun!

 

 

The kids have recently become card game aficionados and the idea of dressing with a deck of cards theme was enthusiastically embraced.  They spent a couple of hours creating their assigned/chosen card and this was the result. 

 

Josh was supposed to be the jack of clubs, but he decided to hang out with some buddies instead. 

Has been a long time posting.
I am reorganizing here :) Have a new header and such.

I plan to devote this blog to teaching and homeschooling ideas.

Speaking of which . . . two resources you are going to love!!

Autumn Treasures - we still have beautiful foliage here--so still a great time to do this unit study/lapbook!

Sometimes I start to write on this blog and my mind draws a total blank and I can't think of a single thing to write about.  Today I have so much on my mind that I can't figure out what to write about and whether any of it is noteworthy anyway.  I think I'll make some random "headlines" then go back and fill in my thoughts below them.

 

Online friends

For some reason I've grown distant from my online friends for the most part.  I have one that I've knows for several years now and she introduced me to two others, now I never seem to get to connect with any of them.  Perhaps they are busy and distracted, I hope so, but I do really miss them.  We used to get together online and do "15 minute missions."  That is basically doing focused cleaning or organizing in our own homes then checking back with each other to talk about what we accomplished.  We would do that several times in row and it was a lot of fun and we each were able to get so much done.  I've joined the Flylady forums and there is a group that is doing something similar, maybe I'll give that a try again.  It's not as much fun, but maybe it will keep me inspired.

 

New homeschool co-op

My two youngest children and I have joined a fairly new homeschool co-op in a nearby town and so far things are going pretty well.  There was one woman there that I'd met at a previous homeschool function and we have hit it off pretty well.  There are several little girls around my daughters age, so she is making some friends also.  There are several boys around my sons age also but I think he's determined to not make friends, as the one boy he enjoyed spending time with at our old homeschool group isn't in this one.  He's starting to come out of his shell a little, it's just that my kids are as shy as I was at that age.  I still am quite a bit, but it's not as crippling as it was at that age.  Along with making friends they are really enjoying their classes.  They are taking Art, Science, Home Ec. and Gym.  I'm trying to consider if I want to instruct a class next semester, but I'm not sure of what to offer.  I'm sure it will be some sort of artsy type of class, just not sure what yet.

 

Crafts

I'm still doing crafts and other art projects both on my own and with the kids, just haven't been taking any pics of the process.  I did alter a sweatshirt today and made myself stop and take pics while I was doing it, so once I'm satisfied with the end product, I'll probably post it on here.  I plan on making some of the Christmas gifts we'll be giving to our extended family, and I'll try to remember to photograph them along the way also.

 

Friends found again on Facebook

While I've lost contact with some online friends, I've been able to reconnect with several of my old high school friends with Facebook.  Right now I'm advising two on how to begin homeschooling.  Which reminds me, I need to send them links that I promised I'd send them.  Both with be homeschooling their only child, and it makes me wonder what it would have been like to homeschool only one.  When we started six years ago, my oldest was going into 5th grade, middle was in 1st grade and the youngest was only three but determined to do school right along with the older ones.  Homeschooling more than one can be frustrating, but it is also very rewarding.

 

Ebay and Christmas

I've been listing some items on ebay and so far they've done pretty well.  I've gotten paid quickly and recieved positive feedback, can't beat that!!  It would be nicer if the items went for more money, but I did make a little profit so that works too.  I used the profits from my first round of sales to purchase my dad's Christmas gift, the full year of 1964 Hot Rod magazines.  My husband has already poured over them and has even taken them into work to let those guys look at them.  They are all safely and neatly in my closet awaiting the holiday season.  I have some ideas for other gifts, and hopefully starting sooner will not put such a financial strain on us at the end of the year.

 

I had two other categories listed on here to write about but I've got housework screaming for attention so I'd better be getting off of here.  I'll try to post more later. 

 

We joined a rather new homeschool co-op in my area and are really enjoying it.  Really the only thing I'd like to see run a little differently is the gym class.  Right now the kids are led to the gym for about half an hour and they are to find something active to do during that time.  It's generally something with balls but nothing structured.  I'm going to make a suggestion that planned activities be done during that time.

 

There are some shy kids in the group that don't just jump in where the action and usually stay on the fringes watching everyone else.  Yes, I'm mostly talking about my two that I take.  I don't take my oldest one as there are no other kids their his age and he'd be annoying beyond belief if I forced it on him, so I let him stay home. 

 

I was doing some searches online yesterday for some ideas that I could implement into a gym class if they are interested in letting me help with it.  I worry, though, since many of the kids seem to enjoy themselves as it is now, will they rebell if I try to add structure?  The kids in this class range in age from 9 through 14.  I'd like to stay away from competitive games and have the kids do things just because it's fun.  Kind of hard to go totally non-competitive, but that's my goal eventually.

 

Here's a list of a few ideas I found or thought up, I wonder how they'd be received by the kids.

 

• Table tennis ball spoon race - balance a ball on a spoon, walk to the other end of the gym and around one or more obstacles and back to the next person in line.  If dropped, pick it up and continue from where it dropped.
• Paddle ball balance - balance a table tennis ball on a table tennis paddle and continue as above.
• Frisbee toss - take three plastic flying discs and toss them one at a time either through a hula hoop or into a large trash can. 
• Javelin throw - use pool noodles to throw through a hoop, into a large can or past a certain point on the floor.
• Chop Stick Relay - Using chopsticks, lift a stuffed chicken out of a bowl and transport to the other end of the gym and deposit into a frying pan, come back and give the chopsticks to the next person.  The next person retrieves the chicken and brings back to the bowl.  Continue until everyone has a turn.  Chopsticks cannot be used to poke or stab the chicken, but must be used properly.
• Obstacle course - take whatever I can find in the gym area and create an obstacle course.  For example, weave around cones in a line, bounce a ball around a chair, crawl under a table, etc.
• Wacky Walk - The kids would be spread out around the perimeter of the gym and would start walking in the same direction.  Every 30 seconds or so a new way will be called out.  They will continue with that for 30 seconds then return to walking for 30 seconds.  Some ideas:  crab-walk, reverse direction, backwards, jog, skip, jump, big steps, tiny steps, sideways, sideways jumping.
• Jump rope - teach some jump rope rhymes and teach how to jump in the middle of other people twirling the rope. 

I hoping to find more ideas.  I'm not sure if the co-op is interested in changing the way the gym class is run but if so, I'd like to be ready.  The class is around 30 minutes and we have another  6 or 7 classes left in this semester.  So if they'd be interested in holding off on it until the spring semester, then I'll be ready for that too.