I got up this morning, got the bed made, bathrooms picked up, put a load of clothes in the dryer, fed All the pets, fed Hannibal, straightened the kitchen, got dressed, made sure Hannibal got dressed and got his teeth brushed...nothing unusual. Same things I do every morning. Only if I have nothing to do on Saturday or Sunday morning (rare) Bill will handle feeding the boy and the pets and everything else can wait a couple of hours while I lay in. Not sleep in, I just lay there resting and monitoring by ear to make sure everything is running smoothly. Wish I had known this could have been one of those rare mornings.

Anyway, we got to the bowling alley just before 9AM and the parking lot was Packed! When we got inside there were teenagers everywhere. Some man was mumbling into a microphone. We waited a few minutes, but we couldnt understand anything he was saying and All-U-Can-Bowl minutes were ticking away. So I got the attendants attention and asked what was going on. High school bowling tournament. I mentioned (still smiling) that it would have been nice if they had put up a sign indicating this last Sunday. She said, "I was telling people. I thought I told you." I assured her that had I known I would not be able to bowl this morning I would not have gotten up and driven all the way from Mooringsport (about 20 miles).

Ugh. So back home we went.

Well, Saturday was much better. Sherrie and Anthony met us at craft time (you would not believe all the Christmas stuff I got for 90% off at Michael's!!! I spent less than 10 bucks and have 3 bags full of foam kits and wire and bead kits of puppets and pins and ornaments and frames and other Cmas projects for kids. these will be great for us to have at the cabin next year plus for Mom and Kelly's S.S. class). We went out to lunch at Pancho's (Anthony won him and Hannibal each something from a crane game), then by Home Depot to say HI to Sean. We made a quick trip into Walmart and then out to our house. Anthony and Hannibal played Nintendo and also jumped on the trampoline while Sherrie and I visited. Bill got home shortly before we did, so he put on a pot of coffee for him and Sherrie.

It wasnt a long visit since Sherrie wanted to get to her parents lake camp before dark, but any visit with Sherrie is good.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Minnie, their old doggie that came with them. She was a sweety. Looked nothing like him, but still reminded me of Freckles, just being a spoiled loved old dog.

Oh yeah, Anthony brought Hannibal a karaoki machine and Hannibal and I played around with it after they left. We did Elvis impersonations which Hannibal always loves.

Anthony is 14 now so he is out-growing some of his old favorites which are perfect for entertaining Hannibal.

I forgot all about AWANAs this evening until about an hour after it was over. ooops. sorry, Hannibal. Bill and I were cooking. I made potato salad and ham, Bill and I jointly made baked beans and Bill also baked a chocolate cake. Just got busy and it slipped my mind.

Yep, I figured out how to make my pictures smaller so they would fit better on here. Now if I could just figure out how (or if it is possible) to go back and put the right picture with the right story, rather than post as a new entry.

This is Hannibal with his Outer Space Story Box.

He is also wearing one of his homeschool tee shirts. He has 3, but you will never know which is which since they are identical. His favorite color is blue. He was wearing out his first homeschool shirt, so I just ordered him 2 more exactly the same. I have 3, but mine are different colors- blue, pink and orange.

Vickie and I designed the homeschool tee shirts. We had looked at the ones available online, but they were not exactly what we wanted. Vickie wanted a house and an open book, I wanted the scripture Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. So we went to see K.C. at Studio Graphics and told him what we wanted and they designed our shirts. Since other homeschoolers have also ordered several dozen shirts with us, they cost us less than $10 each and we can afford to buy them in several colors. Plus, everyone always knows which one is my kid since we are dressed alike.

It is windy here today and supposed to get steadily colder after the storms we had during the night last night. I have a vegetable stew in the crock pot and am searing the steak with some seasoning blend on the stove top to add to it here shortly. I will make buttermilk cornbread when it is closer to time for Bill to get home.

We will start our lessons in about an hour. Right now we are watching a kids learn to bowl video that we borrowed from the library.

We plan to watch movies tonight, with popcorn and pizza, since we did all of our shopping yesterday.

I actually wrote this as an email to all of my friends and family back on October 14, 2005-- before I knew what blogging was. or is.

I imagine that the people who get my regular "short story long" emails are going to be so happy that I now post them on this site instead of to their inboxes.

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I Love Homeschool Moment-of-the-Day October 14, 2005

Of course I frequently have those moments where I am personally glad that I made the decision to homeschool for an astounding variety of reasons that seems to grow each time I watch the news.

Hey, I have selfish reasons too. By about half-way through kindergarten I dreaded the thought that I had 12 1/2 more years of getting up at the crack of dawn to drag a kid out of bed in the cold half light of early morning and warm up the van and take him to school in the rain or cold no matter what. I already did that and I have a diploma to prove it and I really didnt want to do it again. I thought that if I hate driving to this place in the cold and rain so much and leaving him there while at least I got to go back home how much must he dread it when he has to stay all day?

But sometimes God strikes with how right this decision is to educate my child in more than just reading and math, but also to educate Hannibal in Him.

So Hannibal has been making huge strides with his reading since we started using the A beka phonics handbook and also since I told him that phonics is the "science of sound". He loves science so that just put a whole new light on reading for him. Although he has been reading for 2 years now it was mostly from sight words that, while they gave him that first feeling of acomplishment (as in "I can read a whole book all by myself") it wasn't making a lot of progress with learning to sound out words that he did not have memorized.

Today I pulled out our Alpha Omega Bible worktext and I wanted to just see how much he could now sound out by himself. I had actually put away all of the AO worktexts except the math and the science because I was reading to him rather than him read them himself, so I decided to back track a little before we started those. Since we school year around, I decided to concentrate on the phonics and then try those again.

Today is our 16th "official" day of 2nd grade. This is what Hannibal read to me by using what he has learned during the past 4 weeks-- we started 2nd grade on September 12 but of course we have had days of field trips and vacation and doctor appts, so we have had 16 days of sitting at our desk (or sometimes on my bed with a lapboard) doing book-work:

"God made us. God loves me. That is why I am special. I am very, very special. God has a special plan for my life. I praise His name. Praise the Lord."

Okay, I am very happy that he read that so well and so smoothly.

But that was not my "I love homeschool" Moment of the Day. Part of it was what those words say and the fact that you will never see that in a book in a public school.

And then it was the fact that Hannibal paused after the third sentence and reminded me that "We are all special, just in different ways".

And then I was able to explain to him that Praise means more than Pray, it means to Celebrate the name of the Lord.

So we broke out in 2 very loud rounds of: "Oh Lord, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all of the earth. Oh Lord, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all of the earth. Oh Lord, we praise Your name. Oh Lord, we magnify Your name. Kings of kings, Lord of lords. Oh Lord God Almighty"

So anyway, that is my I LOVE HOMESCHOOL Moment-Of-The-Day

-jodiebodie

I was sitting here at the computer this morning when the front door flew open and Bill walked in early. Cool. I didn't even hear his van.

Hannibal was sitting on the floor building towers with oak blocks that Bill brought home last week -scraps left over from that 700 bottle wine rack (good grief) that he built. So Bill joined him to see how tall they could build towers until they fell over, basically homemade Jenga.

Bill wanted to go to what the boychild calls the big library in the weird place (aka the main library downtown) and to Home Depot. We decided to get the grocery shopping done while we were out, too.

While at Home Depot we found a washing machine in the clearance aisle. It is exactly the one I have been wanting, but also $90 off due to the 2 rubber feet on the back are missing. woop-dee-do. We bought it and Bill went back to pick it up in his van while I fixed dinner. Finally, a new washer! Finally I have all new appliances that came brand new from a retail store and I am the first person to own or use them. Of course all still bargains from clearance sales. Duh. I haven't lost my touch just because we have a little more money these last few years than we used to have. But I sure do love a clean oven with two wire racks!

www.shreve-lib.org

Today we went to Sci Port with our new homeschool friends, Peggy and her daughter Bailey. Bailey's brother Travis had sinus trouble so he stayed at home.

These are not new homeschoolers, just new to our area. We had met at craft time at Michael's a couple of times but Peggy did not know we were homeschoolers until last week when Hannibal and I wore our matching Homeschool Tee Shirts.

Sci Port is one of those hands-on kid's museums that many areas have now and we have a membership. We can get in 5-7 people with the membership. Usually it is just the boychild and me, so we take friends, family, tourists standing around out front when we are heading in...

Bailey hurt her arm and had a cut and some bleeding. So, "boyscout" that I am I ran to the van for my first aid kits. Yes, 2 of them. I carry one pre-packaged and another one that I put together with over-sized bandages, solarcaine, etc.

One of these days they are gonna bring back Let's Make a Deal and I am taking my whole mini-van on there. I have not been stumped yet. Sewing kit? Birthday candles? Bubbles? Sidewalk chalk? Hot glue gun? Stapler? You name it, it is in the Mom Van.

Other than Bailey's injury, which happened shortly before we were planning to leave, we had a great time getting to know each other.

Hannibal handed out clementine oranges to everyone, of course. 

He is a walking advert for those oranges that are "small, sweet, seedless, easy-to-peel and kids love them".

Can't wait to plan some other activities with these new friends.

That was about all we did today, other than a quick run by the library and the post office.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. The new bowling shoes arrived late yesterday via UPS and they sent Bill a women's size 8.5 instead of a men's. Ugh! So had to go mail those back. Bill said it is looking like it would have been easier to drive over to their warehouse (www.bowling.com is just over in Nacadoches, TX) 

Somehow I got off of dinner duty tonight. Bill came in and put away his usual type of afternoon snack, which is more what I would consider to be a meal anyway. Then when I gave him 2 dinner options (meatloaf, his favorite-gross- or meatballs and brown gravy) he said he would just eat something from the freezer and the left over cornbread from yesterday. Wow.

The boychild ate his usual grill cheese and chocolate milk and an orange and I ate tuna.

It was so strange to sit in the living room this evening and finish my book rather than hide in the bathroom and read a few pages before I get caught :)

http://http://www.sciport.org/

Bill and I thought that we were homebodies. Then we had the boychild. I don't really know how long he could go without leaving the confines of our yard. His record is a coupla weeks. He didn't go further than the mailbox the last 10 days or so before we left for the cabin on Christmas Eve.

Of course some of that is because we only had one vehicle until he was 5 and a half. So most of the time we only went out once per week to Wally World. There were those infrequent occasions when we went somewhere with Grandmother or AA or they took us to a doctor's appt.

So Hannibal asks this morning, "Are we having a stay at home day today?".

You betcha.

The temperature dropped considerably during the night with the rain and thunderstorms (Now those leaves will stay put!).

Yeah, you folks up north can laugh. The high was in the lower 50's and Hannibal wore gloves and a ski mask to jump on the trampoline. I baked cookies just so I could huddle in front of the oven.

Hannibal pulled out his crafting bucket and some art paper and made a Pin the Trunk on the Elephant game, complete with blindfold. I now have a knot over my left eye from bumping into the graven image in my living room (a.k.a. big screen HDTV. with 2 men in the house I was out-voted on that lovely addition. To think I survived my entire childhood without any TVs and now I am married with 4.).

We did our usual afternoon lessons-- A Beka cursive handwriting, AO math, Bible and History/Geo, A Beka phonics. We did science with the Kid's Book of Questions & Answers and the Guiness Book of World Records.

My future "half scientist, half bungie jumper" is always asking me a milllion and one questions about the Hubble telescope and what is the largest mountain/star/burp... hence the strange science lesson, which was mostly just answering questions that I have no idea what the answer is.

oh, this is nice: LONGEST EAR HAIR
Radhakant Bajpai of Naya Ganj, Uttar Pradesh, India, has hair sprouting from the centre of his outer ears that measures an incredible 5.19 in at its longest point.

www.guinnessworldrecords.com

Hannibal is reading Scranimals-- again. He checks that book out every time we go to the library. He knows right where it is on the shelf.

I am reading Peter Pan to Hannibal. And to Bill. Family reading time is in the evenings right before bedtime. Everyone piles up on our bed while I read. I try to stop at 2 chapters, but sometimes they talk me into 3 chapters if I have a cough drop.

For myself, I am reading The Preacher's Daughter by Beverly Lewis. It is the first book in her series Annie's People. The description on the back says,"Annie Zook, the only daughter of an Old Order Amish preacher, wants to please her parents and her Plain community, but a hidden passion stands in the way."

One crazy thing I keep thinking about when I am not reading is this: These people live with no electricity or indoor plumbing. They cook on a woodstove, take once-weekly baths in a shared tub of water in the kitchen, have an outhouse and travel by horse and buggy. But, they use paper cups and paper towels. Strange what they pick for their modern conviences. I am pretty sure I would choose a flushing toilet over Bounty and Dixie cups.

P.S. They take turns using the tub, they just share the water. hehe

www.beverlylewis.com

I actually like Mondays. Always have. I would spend the weekend decorating an old pair of hand-me-down pants with patches or crafting a new necklace or trying a new hairstyle. I would always think that this would be the Monday that I would show up at school and suddenly be cool and people would like me, instead of being odd and picked on. I was and am the eternal optimist. Tuesdays suck.

So, we were up early today for speech for Hannibal. He goes to our local public elementary school for speech class. They are very kind to both of us and invite us to their carnival and field day. I find that to be quite gracious considering that I feel like I am (sorta) telling them that they are not good enough for me to leave my kid with them but I will use them once each month for 30 minutes of free speech class. 

They are very nice folks, but I tell you what: You sit in the office of a public elementary school for just 30 minutes once per month and it will remind you of why you homeschool! The things I hear. And I have never witnessed so many kids with headlice in all my life.

After speech we always go over to the Blachard walking park. It is a half mile wandering little paved path around a field and a garden. It has woods on 3 sides and on the fourth is a street with a church, church daycare and a school. There are usually other people walking and I feel very safe. We go around 2x and then we sit on one of the benches or swings in the very nice little garden and do our devotions. We use Karen Henley's "Day by Day Devotions" .

Hannibal just got the Day by Day Kid's Bible for Christmas from AA, my Aunt Ava. 

Sometimes we take other lessons or games or books to read and other times we just head on home after our walk and devotions. None of this is far from home. The school is about 8-10 minutes from the house, same for the walking park in Blanchard.

Today after we got home I raked leaves while Hannibal rode around through the leaves in his jeep and then jumped on the trampoline. We have so many trees not only in our yard but behind us in the woods. I now have 3 piles of leaves about as big around and as tall as the trampoline--and that is just inside the fence.

Also worked in the garden a little today. Still getting some radishes and greens and bell peppers. Mostly just trying to take care of the strawberry plants and the compost to prepare for spring planting. Whatever little things we get from the garden now are an unexpected treat for the stew pot.

Hannibal is doing his phonics and handwriting now. He is so excited to finally be in his cursive handwriting workbook. He had done some on his practice board but we didn't officially start cursive until we were done with our last manuscript workbook, which coincided with the new year. We are already done with math and calendar for today. We also watched a video of "The Teacher From the Black Lagoon" and read "The Librarian From the Black Lagoon".

www.cool2read.com  and www.karenhenley.com

Hannibal said,"Get it? Get it? Father and Sun (son) day? 'Cuz Dad is going bowling with us on Sunday?" Bill and I used to bowl 2x every week. Then we became parents. Hannibal is now old enough to enjoy bowling and we can enjoy it with him since they have automatic gutter guards. Hannibal and I have gone a few times on a weekday. Sundays from 9-noon are $15 for a lane. Bill and I own our own shoes and Hannibal's size is free rental. So we Each bowled 6 games this morning for a grand total of 15 bucks. My best game was 143. That same game Bill turkeyed but lost with 137. He won 2 games at 114 and 135. I bowled 109,99, 128, 96,143 and 125. He beat me the 2nd game and last game. But hey, he has not bowled in several years and our old shoes are falling apart. We both have got to get new bowling shoes. Hannibal's high score was 99. He got one strike and even picked up a few spares. We show him how we walk, hold the ball, etc. But we just let him hold it and roll it however he wants. We want for him to keep his joy of bowling and in a couple of years will worry about him playing "right". The only thing we make him follow is lane courtesy and other bowling etiquette that is just good manners in bowling.

I have chicken breast strips baking in the oven with butter and some seasonings. Also making brocolli with cheese sauce, french breach and herbed stuffing. Hannibal is in the bedroom watching a movie and eating grill cheese while Bill takes the dogs for a walk in the woods behind the house. I am outta here to soak up a brief spell of peace and quiet.

www.bowlholidaylanes.com

This morning was craft time at Michael's. Hannibal loves to make something every Saturday. Today was a snowman painted on a small, round papier-mâché box. We were wearing our homeschool tee shirts today which helped us discover that another family we have seen at craft time before is also a homeschool family-- new to Louisiana from Oregon. We both use Alpha Omega curriculum. We are going to Sci Port together on Wednesday. I have pictures from craft time this morning and also a picture of him with his story box. Now, I just have to figure out how to put pictures on here! Well, my sis is here giving the boychild his first violin lesson. So I am outta here for now.

http://http://www.michaels.com/art/online/static?page=kids

We have spent a good deal of today making a Story Box. It is probably what I would have called a diarama. But today on Reading Rainbow they showed a guy who made one out of an old dresser drawer and called it a Story Box. His was a cowboy theme. Ours is about outer space and is made inside a cardboard box. As soon as Bill gets home with his digital camera I am going to take a picture of it. For some reason the flash is not working right on my digital camera. I cant imagine why. Just because I have had it 4 or 5 years and it was remanufactured then is no reason to start giving me trouble.

http://http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/