I'm either totally insane or creatively inspired.  After posting my classroom pictures and viewing many others I started to totally rethink my space. 

We have 2 spare bedrooms and a large dining room that has a sitting area in part of it.  I was so excited when we moved to have a formal dining room, but with an eat in kitchen and the living room we use it about once a week.  One of spare bedrooms was supposed to be a playroom, the other the classroom.  Well the dog took over the playroom and no kids want to go play in the dog room.  I can't blame them, you can't leave anything out she'll eat it.  Plus she sheds and it has to be sweeped every other day.  So here I am with two rooms that don't get used.

The classroom I love, I camp out in there most of the day doing things, but I really didn't like my son overtaking the living room as his playroom.  So after looking at how others do their classrooms my brain started spinning. 

So now we (that mean's me) are moving the classroom stuff into the dining room.  We're going to get 2 enclosed cabinets so none of the school stuff is visible after hours. The classroom will become a den/playroom  with the 2 comfy chairs from the dining room. The playroom will become arts/crafts room.  There is a big closet I can stuff all of the things a dog might eat and I'll end up with 2 desks in there so we have enough workspace.

Oh, and we are supposed to start school Monday.  I couldn't have thought of this last week when I was bored to tears, no it had to be this week!

I'll take pictures of the chaos, I'm on short break now.  My cat is loving it, my son is finishing up something before he starts helping and I'm already sweaty. 

The rocket ship Phoenix blasted off this week.  We officially start school next week.  It will reach Mars in May of 2008, about the same time we are ending 4th grade.  I remember my 4th grade year starting with watching a new movie in the theater, Star Wars.  At the end of my 4th grade year we returned to see Star Wars again, still showing at the same theater.  It is ironic that my son now the same age can watch a real journey into space. 

Remember when your children were little and your hopes and dreams that you had for them?  Well I told people I wanted to send my son to Mars.  He is fasinated with space and loves Star Wars and Star Trek.  I'm sure we will enjoy the journey that Phoenix is taking.  Who knows someday mankind really will "go boldly where no one was gone before"  to "a galaxy far, far away". Seems like 4th grade is a perfect time to start dreaming about the future.

What do you call a cat who likes to sit on the printer?

a Copycat!....

Okay, it's corny........

That's our cat, who comes to class everyday. His name is Speedy.

Yeah! I am so happy, I finally figured out how to download pictures from my camera onto my computer.  It only took 2 phone calls to my husband (the local tech dept) and a few silly frustrating errors. .... So here is our classroom.  ...... view from my son's desk

 view from the doorway

behind the magic curtain......  oodles of books and basic clutter.

my son's desk area.  He loves using the ball as his chair. We'll see how that works when we start back to school full time next week. It is fun to sit at and you can workout while you're online.

 This is our music department.  My son loves to goof around on the keyboard, he loves playing the sound effects.  There is a whole scale that sounds like someone gagging.  He's such a guy!

Our back to school is fast approaching.  We have been doing "lite" over the summer but without real discipline.  Today all it took was one please for my son to talk me out of it.  I guess that is why I'm making it a big deal when we start back for real. We are starting our 4th year. If I'm counting anymore it's technically 4th grade. 

This year we are doing an "Orientation Celebration".  We're having sort of an open house for my son and my husband.  I've felt like a mad scientist this summer, flinging lesson plans, stacking living books, printing oodles of stuff.  My hair has occasionally matched the mad scientist look, my eye's red from too much computer time, and  coffee mugs lining my desktop.  My son hasn't really seen what it store this year, my husband has no clue.  UPS & the USPS delivering boxes that I quickly grab and sneak off to my lab.  (umm, classroom), with a bit of a mad laugh.  An occasional "Eureka!" shouted at the top of my lungs has allowed my family to know I'm at a stopping point.  I showed off my history lesson plans as if I had just written something as valuable as the "Declaration of Independence".  My husband's "that's really nice" was a little disheartning. 

So the mad scientist has tamed her hair, cleared the dirty dishes, neatly snacked the books and in ten days the real experiment begins.  Our preview is next Friday.  In my excitement I'm going to try not to scare the child by getting everything out at once.  I plan on serving cookies and discussing with said son what is expected of him at "school" this year.  I also hope to show my husband that his investment was well spent, and when son tells him something about his day he'll know exactly what book he is talking about. 

Of course the mad scientist won't be gone for long, I'm already planning and buying for 5th grade.  Good thing we always have coffee in the house.

I finally broke down after a year of looking at Handwriting without tears and bought it! I almost cried when I started reading the teacher's manual.  I had thought cursive would come a little easier for my reluctant writer and last year I bought a more traditional type cursive book.  He did okay with it, but was frustrated. 

So when the teacher's manual described the same frustrations we had been having I knew this was going to work.  Once we got to the magic "C" my son very simply did the page without too much argument.  There was a little stubborness and some "it's not perfect" talk from him.  For the 400th time in our homeschooling journey I said, "No one is perfect the first time they try something."  In a way I feel for him.  He's just picked up those traits from us, his parents. Those are the kind of traits you see reflected in your child and then look in the mirror and know that you need to work on them as well. 

I was happy to see his creativity was not stifled through his pefection as he adorned the "magic bunny" with a mustache and an outfit.  He even did an impression of who he had made the bunny into.  The goofiness he gets from me. 

So if you are looking for a handwriting program I highly reccommend Handwriting without Tears.  It's inexpensive, it looks at handwriting through the eyes of a child. As with most homeschooling activities the teaching is not just reserved for the page.  I saw my stubborness, my bouts of perfection, and yes even my good creative side.  My son will learn cursive and I learn about myself through his eyes.  Should have ordered this last year!  I guess I was being stubborn

You children may not cry while doing this program, but there is nothing in the teacher's manual about you shedding a few tears of joy along the way.

We were discussing school photos today and I wanted to post ours from his 2006-2007.  Our lovely background is our dining room.  It got a little washed out in the  photos. You can kind of see the sly grin in his eyes, which probably meant take this quick please.

My hubby and I had to cancel our much needed vacation.  For once it was because of time, not money, Praise God! Anyway, we took some of the money and updated our technology department at home.  Okay we bought new laptops.  I've never had a "new" computer and never a laptop, so the ability to wander while surfing is totally new to me. 

It the midst of transferring information I was going through my favorite websites and I stumbled upon www.indieheaven.com.  It's an outlet for christian independent artists.  I found the "II guys from Petra" and just went wow.  Petra was the epitome of hard rock christian music and they did their final tour in 2005.  Since I have not been a practicing christian all of my life I was listening to more "worldly" hard rock in my youth and didn't know much about Petra until 2005.

  Our previous church had them brought in for a concert.  It was awesome.  I got to help out at their sales booth and it was fun to watch people of my generation, +35 rocking out with the youth.  I got to meet the band and they all autographed my pass, it was pretty cool.  So now that their retired Bob and John have formed a more aucostic version called II guys from Petra.  They have samples on indieheaven and it some of today's classic worship songs, done a la Petra unplugged.  It's pretty cool, I'll have to check out the full CD.  A great option for those of the "hair band" generation.

So anyway I've got the samples playing on the desktop.  My son is anxious to claim it as his own and has asked me several time when it will all his.  I told him today.  So I'm keeping my promises, but taking a few detours along the way.

Here is my own personal top 10, feel free to add your own in the comments.

1.  You stand waiting at Goodwill doors as they open for their .50 sale and instead of heading to the clothes like everyone else you head to the books.

2.  You guard your bids on e-bay like a mother lion, knowing you'll save a few buck on the homeschool material your bidding on.

3.  Lesson planning is what you do in your "spare" time.

4.  You overcome your fear of defacing a book.  After putting it in a binder you feel like a victorious warrior.

5.  Bookshelves become for books, not home accessories

6.  You know what the abbreviations all stand for, even if you never plan on using that curriculum.

7.  You join yahoo groups of books you don't use yet, but plan on in the future

8.  You give up dining rooms, spare bedrooms, and private spaces just to have a place to do school.

9.  Your birthday and Christmas lists come from places like rainbow resource, cbd, and amazon.

10.  Your child starts to behave when you remind them that if they were in regular school, they would have to be wearing shoes.

My copy of "Thomas Jefferson Education" arrived yesterday.  I'm already through chapter 6 with lots of highlights and notes.  What caught my attention about this book in the first place was that it's goal is to teach children "how" to think.  It is ironic that several of the things mentioned in the book we have been already doing on a small scale. 

I've been collecting classic works at thrift stores for months.  I had also decided that since I had never read most of them that I was going to devote some time to that.  That is after I get done pre-reading the rest of our books for the upcoming year.  Wow that's almost here.  It's not "next year" anymore, it's "next month"!

My son has not quite developed "A love of learning" as described in the book.  Well maybe if it relates to Star Wars, Star Trek, weapons, fighter jets, or poker. (Yes, my 9 year old has his own set of poker chips.  That decision came with lots of prayer and hesitation.[insert long story here, not!]  His skills in multiplication has greatly increased)  We did have an "A HA" moment this spring with learning.  He decided he wanted to write Star Wars 7,8, and 9.  He spent the better part of two days drawing story boards and has them cataloged in order.  It was one of those moments of sheer joy as a parent.  All other studies were set aside so he could draw and write. 

As I read this book, I realize that I still have some mindsets about what "school" should be.  I was a great student, but after high school I feel ill prepared for life. I realize I've been doing some of that with my son.  I've built a habit of teaching at him with one way discussion.  Kind of the "I'm right, I'm the mom, I know better."  Instead of a two way dialouge.  One of my greatest loves as a parent was when my son started being to converse with me on a real level, why am I trying to stifle that now?

 I've been wanting to create our home as more of a learning environment but was unsure how to go about it.  This book has given me some direction.  My husband, who is so exhausted at the end of the day, even offered to have more family reading time. 

I'm not sure what this is all going to look life for our family in the end.  One thing about homeschooling is that we are on this journey together.  We are all learning and growing.  Right now my future statesman is shooting his beloved poker chips with a dart gun.  He watched a show this morning about guns and is recreating their tips.  He's throwing the chips in the air and shooting them, hitting them too. 

For me, I'm gazing longinly at the copy of Aristotle's "Poetics and Rhetoric" that I picked up this week.  It may sit on the shelf a little longer.  I have a little fear of digging into a 500 page book.  Besides, I still need to pre-read a few more books, that's it, that's my excuse for today :).  Okay, "Black Beauty" here we come.

We only have one car.  Sometimes it is the thorn in my side, but it is a wise decision for our household right now.  My one true freedom is driving. I've always loved to just get in the car and explore. I love discovering back roads to familiar places. Being on a journey is an adventure for me.  My journey as of late has been discovering the future.  How, you ask?  Did you build a time machine?  Have you truly discovered Sliding?

None of the above.  I very carefully outlined the next 9 years of my son's education.  Before you freak you, it's all done in pencil, it's all chageable.  I just really wanted to know what kind of path we're on.  I picked some particular curriculum and some are just ideas of what I want to do.  Since we are only starting 4th grade I know there will be great curriculums created before the end of his homeschooling days.  Who knows, some of you may write them.  While I don't mind changing curriculum if something fits the bill, I don't want to just jump on "the newest next best thing"

In  my journey to the future I envision my son developing a true love of literature. I envision us having thoughtful, deep decisions about the classics.  Having conversation in languages I only know how to say "hello" currently.  Experimenting with chemicals and discovering the world through a microscope.  In my vision I see a well spoken young man with impeccable character.  One of the greatest moments for me as a parent was the time I could start having actual conversations in my son.  My husband is a talker, but he is more of realist.  He doesn't dig into the moment to gain greater understanding of events like I do. In other words, if we watch the same movie, he can summize it in two sentences.  My dissertation about the hidden meanings and greater life lesson of the move can take twenty minutes. Watch the movie "Stranger than Fiction" and then discuss with someone and you'll see what I mean.   I really crave being able to pick apart moments like that with my son. 

 We do that on a small scale now.  Like discussing how the music at the end of  Star Wars III makes me cry.  Because it means Anakin is becoming Darth Vader, I can't hardly watch, it's so sad.  We talk about how Anakin let his fear and anger take control of his life and that is one of the big reasons he made poor choices.

My vision of the future came to screeching halt last night at dinner.  We were all tired, but went out to eat.  My husband was reading the paper, we don't get it at home, he's only reads it on Sunday's and when we go out to eat.  My son was playing his new game system and I was having a lovely conversation with the waitress about her son who was turning three soon.  While that is not a complete picture of our family dinners it was a dose of reality.  No deep meaning conversation, no foreign language unless you count a little of the Louisiana slang I've picked up. 

 I know homeschooling will help me guide my son's education, and eventually he'll make choices for himself.  I do hope his interests will help define his education down the road.  So while I keep my vision intact, I build the foundation day upon day.  Today, Star Wars, tomorrow who knows. In the meantime I'll keep my vision, as long as it's written in pencil.

We have frogs, lots and lots of frogs.  In our backyard we had what were two elevated fish ponds.  In our part of the country they were more like mosiquto farms. 

We didn't build them, they were here when we moved, so we tore them down.  Like a good little wife I helped my hubby haul railroad ties to the trash pile. We did this earlier this summer.  My reward for helping was a two week infection of poison ivy.  But that is a whole  other story. 

After we tore out the ponds we still have the physical depression from where they were sitting.  It fills with water and the frogs love to live in there.  I've gotten used to their melody.  The deep, guttural bbbuuurrr is almost soothing.  When we first moved in it would keep me awake.  It is better than traffic or loud neighbors, it's God's orchestra.  If you have read "The Phantom Tollbooth" it is like the orchestra that conducts the sun.  Every evening at dusk they start.  When they don't sing it is almost too silent. 

I'm not sure why but a few frogs have started migrating to our garage at night.  Perhaps there is overpopulation at the pond.  Perhaps the bug buffet is better in the garage.  Who knows, but every night at least 3-4 frogs make their way inside the garage before my hubby shuts down the door  for the night.  One even has a bad leg.  He is a can-do frog however and we've seen him hopping around a lot lately. 

There are little places they like to hide,  behind the grill, under the shelving units.  This morning we found the best spot yet.  My hubby went to put on his work boots and a frog jumped out of one of them.  Funny enough, but two frogs jumped out of the other one.  I asked my honey if he had ever seen a frog house.  He said no, but would you buy some.  So now I am on the hunt for frog houses.  We had some when I was little so I know they're out there. 

Matthew 25:40 says "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Frogs may not be a brother in that sense, but if God cares about the sparrow, surely he cares about frogs.  So a little condo complex of frog houses sounds like a good investment.

My hubby and I both grew up in the Midwest.  Funny thing is, we can't stand cold, snow, or ice.  We prayed for years to move to a place where we wanted to be outside in February.  Finally, last year God released us, not to Florida as we had hoped, but to Louisiana.  We've been blessed to stand on many great beaches of the US and Costa Rica.  Even from the midwest we managed to get to a real beach, real ocean every couple of years.  If not, the withdrawl sets in.

I was excited moving to someplace where we would be less than an hour from the ocean.  Granted, the beaches were washed away in a hurricane, but the ocean would still be there.  Have I been in the last year? NO! With one car and crazy work hours for my honey, we've never made it. 

Today I was watching "Pirates of the Caribbean" and once I started looking at the scenery I knew I was in trouble.  The withdrawl kicked into high gear.  It's one thing when you live 1000 miles from the nearest ocean, but to be a hour away and not go, UGH!  It's was further aggravated knowing we have a short trip planned for later this summer to a Texas beach.  My impatience is kicking in.

It rained all day today and I had a river flowing through my front yard, at least that's sort of waterfront property.  I could go look at my coastal living magazine and get further frustrated.  Instead I pouted.  When honey got home I told him we needed to live closer to the beach if we were only going to have one car, he agreed.  But God has us here for now, "Bloom where you are planted", he's(that's God not my hubby)  told me before. 

Oh well, the vacation is coming up soon, I can sort of see the tiny palm trees in my backyard if I look through the brush.  And I do live somewhere that I can wear flip-flops in February without freezing.  Tomorrow I'll gaze at my sand collection and check out some oceanfront vacation homes online.  I'll probably play my "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack at least once.  At least I can go to bed tonight without sand in between my toes.

That is our theme for school this year.  We've done one since we started homeschooling.  Last year was "Bloom where you are planted".  That worked out great.  What I hadn't known when we picked that was that we would be moving 800 miles. We dug up our roots and are still in the midst of replanting them.  Of course, God knew that when he placed that thought in my head.

I thought I'd share some of what we will be using for school this upcoming year.  The most exciting part is the history lesson plans I just finished writing.  We are doing US history from ancient Indians to modern era all in one year, crazy I know.  I couldn't find anything I really wanted to use that was in my budget, so I was inspired to write my own.  Wow, now I see why people pay big money for instructors guide's. So 15 books  and 100+ notebooking pages later our theme for history is "Explorers, Inventors, Pioneers, & Patriots".  Okay almost half of the notebooking pages are of Presidents, so it's not so bad. 

Another big step I took was taking workbooks apart and putting them in binders.  Talk about getting out of the box, why didn't I do this before.  My son hates trying to write on the edge of a workbooks.  I think last time I thought about doing it we had no budget for binders so I rationalized not doing it.  When someone on a forum brought that up it got me thinking. There's always time to revisit old mindsets and this year our workbooks are free!! Free to lay flat, free to be written on properly. wow, the teacher learns a lesson and school hasn't even started yet.

We are changing providers in every subject except math.  I am hoping that my structured, wiggly, don't leave me while I'm working, son will love each subject.  One can dream, right? Anyway what we chose were:

Easy Grammar 4, Natural Speller

How to write a story, Just write 3, 10 Fabulous forms of poetry (used one at a time, poetry will take 2 yrs)

Abeka math 4

Apologia's Astronomy

US Geography

PE - written from a college textbook on how to teach pe to elementary kids

Music Theory (Alfred's essentials of music theory, book 1)

Drawing basics w/Thomas Kinkade

Spanish

Bible  ( Student discovery bible & Teaching kids authentic worship)

Abeka Health 4

many readers and read alouds

Our journey starts in the middle of August.  Like any trip that I am excited for, I want my bags packed way in advance.  So I'm in the final stages of that now. School supplies in hand, pencils sharpened, and a special place for extra patience and smiles.  I have to keep reminding myself the adventure is in the journey. 

Tomorrow officially end our 3rd year of homeschooling.  Yeah!  We are going to finish a few tests and then clean up the schoolroom.  It's hard to believe we've been doing this for 3 years.  It has been a busy year for us. 

We moved 800 miles south, we got rid of our 2nd car and have been car-less during the day since September. Our field trips have been in our own back yard.

  We've discovered the world of bugs and stuff in our new yard. Including snakes and spiders.  We've discovered there are such things as flying termites that "pass through" in the spring. Yuck!!

We had to move where we do school because I kept getting distracted by the birds in the feeder my husband made for us. 

My son discovered that occasionally mom can make school fun, even if by accident. 

We found Star Trek Voyager and have been shipping off to the Delta Quadrant in the afternoons.  I discovered that my son's desire to explore space is good motivation to focus at school, "Honey, you can't be one of the first men on Mars if you don't learn your multiplication tables."

We discovered the "Jedi Apprentice" books.  They are when Obi-Wan Kenobi was a child.  I had forgotten how much fun an adventure novel can be.  I love changing my voice for each character's dialog

Next fall we will be studying US History.  I'm already brainstorming how I can come to school dressed like the people we will be studying. I'm envisioning the bag of Army guys spread all over a map laid out on the ground as we work on world war history.  I found a bugle at a garage sale for Civil War studies.  How about dumping tea bags into the baby pool as we read "Johnny Tremain"? 

My son retains more information when I am just being my goofy self.  Who knows, by the end of the summer maybe I'll figure out a way to make Grammar fun as well.

You know how you have those projects that you will get to someday?  Well yesterday was our someday, at least partially.  My hubby is a contractor so my honey do list reflects that and well, the list could be laminated as long as some projects take. 

Our house is a fixer upper. It's set on a wooded lot and the layout is great.  The decor is mostly 30 years old plus.  We've slowly been working on it and my hubby's words, "It's all cosmetic" just ring in my ears. 

As a contractor my honey is sometimes gifted with items that are totally reusable.  A couple of years ago a friend of our was redoing her kitchen and he came home with a beautiful swanstone double kitchen sink and a tall long handled faucet attached.  It was supposed to go in my previous home.  It never made it there and after having the kitchen sink laying around for almost 2 years, it's finally in my house working.  That "someday we'll put that in" finally happened.  I'm truly leary of using it, it so wonderful.  It's so deep I had to reach down to wash the dishes.

I've also been without a car for several months.  We've been waiting for the right deal.  While waiting my honey's fairly new truck blew a motor. Right now it is an extrememly expensive lawn ornament.  He borrowed a truck for a while, but gave up and finally purchased a "new" SUV.  It's GMC Jimmy that was top of the line brand new.  Technically, it's my car.  But of course he has to drive it to work.  It's so nice to drive.  Normally for me, we buy cars cheap and they never have had less than 100k miles.  This one isn't even there yet.  It has a CD player that cranks really loud.  That is so nice. It really is the nicest car that  I've almost owned.  He has kept telling me "someday I'll get you a nice car", he never did say I would get to drive it right away LOL.

Part of our cosmetic redo in our home include redoing a harvest gold bathroom and an avacado green one.  Tub, toilet, sink all in the classic colors.  Finally that someday came.  My parents had sent a gift card for my birthday and what did I buy with it? A toilet.  We almost got it in, at least it's in the garage.  The harvest gold is gone and the new floor is halfway down.

I almost didn't recognize my "someday".  It was plauged with distractions.  First my son accidently had the new SUV hatch bonk him on the head in the Lowe's parking lot.  My hubby felt awful but said son was okay after some tlc.  Then while removing carpet tacks (my project for the day) I smashed my hand with the hammer.  The ensuing blood blister only hurt until the pain went away.  Finally, while cutting vinyl tile my hubby sliced his thumb with a new razor knife.  years of experience have taught him to be careful, but....As he was laying on the floor with a washcloth trying to stop the blood, I was wiping blood off the new tile.  We dug out the first aid kit and consulted our nurse neighbor who said it could use stitches.  We'll see today. 

In all of those distractions I almost missed that things are getting done.  I almost missed the beauty of long held promises being fufilled. I know God has been working on my patience lately, perhaps this is just one little glimpse into the rewards of it.  I used to think life was like a roller coaster, ups then downs, totally seperated.  As I get older I realize that the good is sometimes mixed in with the bad. You just have to decide which one to truly taste.