Homeschooling Journey

Mar. 12, 2008

Cooking Our Way Across the US

Sorry, guys that I haven't posted in a while, but sure you understand!

I am currently working on getting recipes together so we can cook our way across the US! My son loves to cook, and thought this would be a great way for him to learn more about the geography of the US. He is really excited about it!

Also, with turkey hunting season fast approaching, I plan on doing a Forest Animal Habitat HOW study with him, then he and daddy are going to search out some of the great places he learns about! I will be pretty busy until then, as I have to make hunting clothes for them (found a great deal on camo fabric on ebay yesterday and got enough to make 2 complete outfits, or more!)

When I get everything together on the Cooking Our Way Across US, I am going to try to post the link on here for a PDF file that you can download to use if you want to.

Thanks guys for all your support!

• Comments (3) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Mar. 4, 2008

A Lot of Changes!

I know it has been quite a few days since I have posted on here, but there have been so many changes going on, I just can't hardly keep up!

I started trying to use assessment testing (just as a tool for me to see where he was), and I got myself so stressed about it, that I realized just a small part of how public school teachers must feel, those who would dearly love to teach their children something other than what is on the test, but knowing that they must teach that which is on the test for their children to pass.

Thankfully, I do not HAVE to do that!

We have started with just reading books out loud.....I found a booklist online and started at his grade level and working up from there, to find books that I hope might hold his interest level. I have learned that he can last about 2 days on a good book of us reading out loud, but no more than that...and the interest starts waning on the second day.

Also, I believe I am going to get science projects/subjects from HOW so we can learn to use graphic organizers to get things together better.

We are sticking with Math-U-See, because frankly, I like the idea of him learning all about one area of math before moving on to the next,so where I was stressing that he would be behind because he has not yet really covered division, and we have only touched on multiplication a little, I know realize that he is grade levels ahead in addition...almost up there with his 6th grade cousin!

For grammar, language arts, etc., I plan on getting him to write, and we will use that eventually for spelling correction, etc., when he has developed his confidence better as a writer. He can already use a dictionary.

Also, I have found quite a few games online that will really add zest to the studies! Things for social studies, geography, math, parts of speech, etc. Cool board games...really cool! So, I am gonna work my fingers off to get money in to get these things for both him and little one...so they are not stagnated!

One thing I am DEFINITELY cultivating is his woodworking! He likes to work with wood, and he wants to make toys for other kids who don't have toys....so I am DEFINITELY cultivating/nurturing that character trait! Anything that they do that comes from their heart, that is DEFINITELY what I plan on encouraging above everything else! I want Jesus to grow in them without limits!

And that, friends, is my current "plan"!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 23, 2008

The Big "S"(socialization) issue was presented to me last night!

Last night, I was at a friend's house, and we were discussing the fact that I am homeschooling.

They asked how long I plan to do this. I said. "Well, he wants me to homeschool him thru college...so"

They gasped and said "Oh, no dear, he MUST have that time in public school so he can have socialization!"

I said...He gets plenty of socialization! School socialization is a "fake" environment of what the real world is. When he is with me, he experiences real world socialization every day. I said, he also has this one up every other weekend, cousins come over often, he is down at church every weekend...so he is around kids. They said "Well,then you have that problem taken care of don't you?" "But still, they NEED that time in public school...because after all dear, we can't coddle them forever, they need that time to learn how to deal with peer pressure, etc."

Now, this is my thinking......My child is too young for me to cut apron strings like that. What I feel is at kindergarten, society expects us to kick birds from the nest who don't even have wings to fly yet, and say There you go dear! Out to the "real/fake world" of public school...where I will have no idea what goes on every day, only what you/teacher chooses to tell me about......and btw don't do drugs (even though they have NO idea what drugs are because their minds are not old enough yet to comprehend what drugs really are and what they can do to your body)

And then, I (according to society) am supposed to feel bad if my son is never subjected to schoolyard bullies? Heaven knows, he will NEVER experience it in the real world I live in! (yeah right)......And I, as his mother, am too socially inept to teach him how to just not care when things like that arise and just move on with his life, because life is too short to deal with those who want to stop you from being happy. GEEZ! What WAS I thinking??

And I am supposed to feel bad because he will never learn how to "JUST SAY NO" because he will never have the peer pressure to do drugs subjected to them...but instead be busy developing into a secure human being who has no need for such things in his life? Yes, he will/has learned about drugs and how bad they are for you...and guess what.....guess what he has here that he doesn't have at school??? A best friend that loves him dearly and will stand right beside him when he does say no...and the assurance that he knows that and that he still does have that friend, even if he does say no!

And i am supposed to feel bad that he won't be subjected at a tender age to teachers who have too many problems going on in their life that they choose to take it out on the kids they teach/or to busy with their own things that they allow school bullying,even though they say it is zero tolerance on that??

I am sorry, but young children, and even teens....this is a tender time in life, full of hopes, dreams, fears, sorrows...and emotions all sit out on the edge of their skin. And I am supposed to feel bad because I want to be as close to my childrren as I possibly can be in order to calm those emotions, put them into perspective, help them deal with them the most correct way I know how to teach them?

You know what? If I am SUPPOSED to feel bad about all this...then I am missing the boat somewhere, and I think that is a cruise I would rather not take!

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 22, 2008

More on Adding from Left to Right (Regrouping)

Hey guys! Yes, we are still in the "addition woes", where son wants to add from left to right, go down and erase answer when he finds out he has to carry, then go back and put down right answer. I tried showing him one method, whereby, instead of actually carrying to top, you and the column on the right below where you added the column on the left, then add both those together to get your answer. No go.

Last night, while I was digging around on the 'net, I came across this really cool site where the man on there explains "Speed Math" for addition, and he shows how to add from left to right. He even has a video on it on google videos. (He also has some other videos up, but I haven't had a chance to look at those yet).

In this video, he explains how to start on the left, look ahead one to see if those numbers are going to be more than 10 when added together. If not, go ahead and write down that answer, then move forward, all the way across the numbers being added. (The only thing I don't think he covered is if you look ahead one and see that that answer will be 9, you should look ahead one more to see if that answer will be more than 10. If it is, then go ahead and add 1 to your current numbers you are adding).

This sounds confusing right now, but if you go look at his video, then come back and read this, hopefully it will make more sense to you. It takes a little practice getting used to it, but once you have it downpat, you really do add faster!

He also has a blog, where you can practice this method. (It also has practice for multiplication). I haven't watched the video yet for multiplication, but plan on it when we really get into multiplication.

I hope this helps some! I will be adding more links here under a separate topic for Addition Links as I find them.

Here's the link to his video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9086188158658946929

Here's the link to his blog:

http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/speed_math.html

Both are free to use!

If you go try it, let me know what you think! Leave me a comment! I realize it might not be for everybody, but i thought it was pretty cool myself!

Thanks again for listening/reading my ramblings in my daily journey!

• Comments (2) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 21, 2008

The Continuing Saga of Addition

Yesterday, we sat down with addition problems, and I was all excited about showing him all the different ways he could do adding with carrying. I was so sure I would see a lightbulb go on in his head!

But, all I got was.......Eye roll, ok Mom, let's just do it and get it over with...so I can move on to something else! So I sat, showed him....asked him which way he would rather do. He went back to his same-old, same old, adding from left to right, finding out you need to carry, going back, carrying the one, erasing the first number he had written down, and writing the new number.

He did get all the problems right this way, but it seems like it would be so frustrating after a while to do it this way. I tried to show him another way I had found, but he wasn't interested.

So, it's back to the drawing board again, to see if another day will bring a spark out of him on this subject. I would like to cross this hurdle before we move on to borrowing (which I introduced to him yesterday). I don't know. I guess I'll keep digging until I come up with something that works good.

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 20, 2008

Playing Word Detective for Spelling/Dictionary Practice

My oldest is so far above grade level on spelling that he gets bored with the "regular" spelling routine, so I started searching the net and discovered a method that I am modifying to try for us.

We started this yesterday.

My plan is this:

On Mondays (which we got started late this week), I will read a new book/story to him, hopefully finding one in which he runs across new words. Then, we play Word Detective while we are reading the story. (We may have to read over twice, first time for entertainment, second time searching for new words). When he discovers a new word he does not know how to spell or the meaning of, we write it on our list.

Then, on Tuesday, I will put the words on individual cards, and let him place them in alphabetical order.

On Wednesday, we "plant" the cards on his word page and "grow" definitions from them.

On Thursday, we have a "test" to see if he can spell the words.

Then, keep those words for the next week and add them to the new words he will pick out and test those again on Thursday, to see if he can still spell.

We repeat this procedure until I am satisfied that those words are known, then we move forward.

I know the technique will have to be tweaked here and there, but I think it will be a better way of keeping him interested in spelling, when he is actually learning something!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 18, 2008

Adding from Left to Right

Last night, we were working on addition with regrouping (or carrying, the term I am more familiar with). My son consistently wants to add from left to right. I had read in a book, and was pretty well satisfied that it was true, that he must must must add from right to left, or he would get into big trouble. So I stressed this point, which led to him getting stressed, which led to a failed math lesson.

So, I got online and searched out adding from left to right. And I found out that yes, indeed, if he wants to add from left to right, why stop him? After all, when we add in our heads, most add from left to right (like adding 34+47....we think ok 30+40=70.....4+7=11, 70+11=81). So why would I take him backwards a step and insist that he FIRST learn adding right to left? Once we have mastered left to right addition, then we can go back and talk about right to left if we want. I know, right now he is supposed to show his carrying, and all that good stuff....but if he can skip that far ahead, to where he can look at the problem, add it mentally in his mind, then why in the world should I stop him?

I know we first will need to work more on place value, so I don't confuse him even further. Right now, I don't think he really sees that 20 is just 2 and 0 put together to make the "number" 20. Or if he does, he hasn't had enough practice at it for it to really sink in. I want to show him the pattern of how when numbers get to 100, they just repeat over and over in the thousands, millions, etc.

So, I believe that we will work on that first, then move to the regrouping addition....then off to subtraction.

He's already jumped over into multiplication and took off on it like a rocket, just from me explaining to him that multiplication is just a faster way of adding (which he is all up for.....faster the better!) I explained that when you see like 2 x 2 it means to skip count by 2's 2 times (2, 4), then you have it.

Now....what if he wants to multiply from left to right, when we get into bigger numbers there? Well, I am pretty well satisfied that can be done also

.

If you are interested in learning more about adding from left to right, here are some links I found on the subject:

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/pv/tens_ones_place_value.php

Brilliant mental math short cuts that will amaze everyone!

http://searchwarp.com/swa51677.htm

As we go more into this, I may stumble on other links, and if I do, I will post them here, in the blog.

Thanks for visiting with me today! If you have any other links on this subject, I would love to hear them, so feel free to post your comments/links here!

Thanks again!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 15, 2008

A New Approach!

Ok. It has been almost a year since I decided to start homeschooling my kids. Things are finally starting to settle down in life for us enough now (me especially as "teacher") for me to actually start putting together a plan that just might work for us!

Tonight, I decided that I would try things like this (after all, this is pretty much trial and error most of the time right now anyways! LOL) Monday-Thursday, we will do the "big" stuff homeschooling---math, spelling, etc. Friday will be my day to clean, run errands, etc. Then Saturday can be play day! Field trips, play dates, etc. can be planned for this day.

I have been chasing my tail so much here lately that I feel like every day mostly I go round and round in circles! Finally, I am getting calm enough to where I can actually piece together a partial plan of attack in my head.

I need to get the house set up a little better for homeschooling, so we will attack that first. Right now, I am trying to make sure that I read something to them every day. (Today I failed......but I know each day I will fail at something...and it's a new routine to add into our crazy schedule anyways!) I had planned that today I would use to set up the house a little better for homeschool, but it is hard to get it all planned out with 2 running round, and seeming like you never get any time to yourself to just think things thru a little.

What about when they go to bed, or when hubby comes in, you ask? Well, hubby's new job means he doesn't get home until around 7:30 at night. I try to have little one in bed by that time, but have only suceeded in that once this week. (Guilty feelings kept me from it a lot, as well as scrambling around right at the last minute to get supper together for hubby when he comes in......Trying to cram supper for him, baths and bed all into the same 30 minutes is NOT a good idea!! LOL) But, we'll get there.

I try to get oldest in bed by 8:30, but that's a pretty much no go most of the time, as he seems to stay up quite a bit with me, unwilling to go to bed until I do. But, if he does go to sleep, then it seems like that's the time little one wakes up! So, finally I just give up and go to bed!

No more peaceful, quite time at night for Mama! I think that is one thing that affects me so much right now. That lack of quite peaceful time at night, where I get to look forward to planning the next day, crafting, relaxing, etc. It just doesn't come often enough right now! Bad thing is, seems like the only time I relax is when I go to in-laws....Then I set there yawning my head off, cause I am so tired!

But, I believe with the way things are going, planning a Monday-Thursday "school" week will work for us right now. It leaves me more breathing space it seems like, then trying to stick everything in together all in every day!

Right now, even when I do go to bed, my mind still races sometimes at all the things I left undone that day,that week, that month that STILL need to be gotten to, and I just don't see a way thru! But, from experience I know that that will settle down as little one gets older. It has already settled down quite a bit!

Settling down like this keeps me from continually ordering curriculum, books on top of books on top of books...which leaves me no time to teach! In our rural area, we have no bookstore (closest one is at least an hour away). We do have the library, and our local goodwill WAS a good place to get books...but they have dwindled down, and the lady there said that she wasn't sure that they were even ordering any more now. Oh well, on to something else!

I will keep you posted on how all this goes!

• Comments (2) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 13, 2008

Planning on Working On Setting Up House Today to Make Things Run Smoother

Well, after doing a lot of things backwards around here, and running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, I have decided that, while I am waiting on our new books to arrive, I will take this time to get the house cleaned, organized, and set up to where we can homeschool a little better around here!

I think that may possibly get my stress level down a bit! I am going to get my back room cleaned out and set up to where i can put our "stuff" that needs listing on 'net for trade/sell. Then, I will set u a mini shipping center in there as well. After that, I still have to get my sewing machine set up in there to sew as well! I would fix all the stuff that needed fixing around here more, if I could just run in there to the sewing machine, stitch it up real quick, and move on to something else!

Also,would like to get youngest's closet organizer set up, and have a little time to actually THINK of what to do WHEN, regarding everything around here!! LOL

I have a cabinet I need to get put together to store all our homeschool stuff and findings (i.e. boxes, paper towel rolls, etc. for crafting supplies)

I can't wait for the new books to get here! I hope that these books I got will actually give me better direction on where to go with his education. What I got was Making the Grade-2nd grade (hopefully this will provide a more list-style curriculum guide, instead of pages and pages on the same thing! LOL) and a 2nd Grade Workbook that has a bunch of worksheets for each subject of curriculum for the whole year. I plan on using it as just an example of what to be doing, then go from there with stuff.

What I have planned for right now is:
    Reading--we have the Beverly Cleary set of Ralph The Mouse and I am trying to find some extra things to do with it, to keep books interesting to him.

    Spelling--I am going to let him pick out his own spelling words (because he is such a whiz at spelling, that I have a hard time finding words he does NOT know how to spell!! LOL) Maybe we will start out with like 5 for the first week, then work with those 5 for a week, or 2-3 days, depending on how long it will take for him to lose interest in them. Then move on to more. We might write stories using them, or look up the definitions in the dictionary, if he does not know the meaning of the word.

    Math--He likes his Math-U-See, but he says I am going too slow with it....which became pretty obvious to me the other day when he answered a multiplication question,and we haven't even really covered multiplication much! So we will stick with that for the basic math stuff.   For his learning more about time, I plan on taking an analog clock and setting it beside our digital clock on the microwave. Then, each day, let him show me what time it is on the analog clock, according to what the microwave says. For money, we are working with that now, by him earning his own money, then I take him on a shopping spree once a week. Plus, I am going to let him help me roll all this change around here which should help a lot!

    Social Studies--I am going to get 2 maps--one of US and one of world. Then, I think we will discover the world thru cooking! I also got 2 books coming...one is Garfield Discovers America and the other is Fabulous Facts about the 50 states. (I hope these work!! LOL)

    Science-I know we need to get into studying more about plants/animals and what it takes for them to live. Also, we need to do experiments on matter and force, energy, etc. I have a book coming on Science Internet Scavenger Hunts, so we will see what that does. I also saw a puzzle book for Science for Young Einsteins, or something like that, so I think if I can get it, I will get that for us.

    Music-Still planning on the piano....when we get back to it.

    Computer--Have a Spongebob Typing Tutor that I want to use for him to learn typing with. There is also some software that I want to get for him to learn about Excel and Word with.. We also have an old tv that we may take apart to learn about the insides of it. I also need to show him more about looking up things on the internet.

Everything else, we will have to get into later.

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 12, 2008

Our Journey is Getting Easier Now!

Last night, I laid in bed, trying to go over what I planned to do today, but I was so excited that my mind just raced!

I couldn't wait to get started with the new spelling technique!

And I think that son is getting more relaxed now, and so is Mama. All my old ways of teaching are coming back to me now, more and more. Now, when I start to worry about "Oh, gosh! I don't have anything planned for today" I tell myself to relax, it is ok, You have 11 more years, at least, to teach all this stuff!

And yesterday, in Math, he told me what 7x10 was, and we hadn't even studied it at all!

The only thing I had done with him regarding multiplication was on one day when he sat down at the computer to play a Garfield game, and it had multiplication on it. He asked what that was, and I explained to him that multiplication was just a faster way of adding, and writing addition. Like 2x2 means count by 2's 2 times, 3 x 3 means count by 3's 3 times. He went right thru and filled in the 1 times tables, and the 2 times tables. I was AMAZED!

People had cautioned me so much earlier on in this, to not be too hard on him or go too fast with him...They said things like "I know how you are. Don't be too hard on him". Well, I admit I was too hard on the spelling. I know that now. But that was before the old me came back into place. And the old me wasn't too hard on him. I just listened to him, and what he wanted to learn, I provided, along with new opportunities, introducing new stuff all the time.

So overall, we are doing better and better every day!

I ordered a couple of books which I think will really help lay things out more clearly for me. One was a general 2nd grade curriculum workbook that covers everything he is supposed to know by end of 2nd grade. (I am just planning on using it for reference for myself...not so much to pull worksheets from it for him. Just using those as examples to give me ideas of what we can do on that particular subject). The other one is called Making the Grade-2nd grader. I think it is something like the What Your Second Grader Needs to Know......Which I tried to use, but I think I am looking more for a "list" type book, instead of having to read page after page after page just to get the general scope of one idea that is to be taught.

I really look forward to today!

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 11, 2008

Trying a New Method of Spelling Practice for My Little Smartie!

Ok, guys. I have been in a quandry today, wondering how in the world to teach my 7-year-old spelling, when he can spell at almost 5th grade level, with the exception of the i e/e i rule...and probably more than that.

I had been using a spelling book designed to cover all grades of spelling in one book.

I spelled my poor son to DEATH, just trying to find a place where he needed help in spelling.

Finally, I found one rule that he was having trouble with.

Now, I am reluctant to go that route again...as I have dug and dug and dug, trying after that discovery just to find a good book that lists out the rules, + plenty of good ways of practice for these, as he just devours anything a a phenominal rate!

So, today I was digging around on the 'net, and I found this idea, and thought Wow! This could just be for us!

They do not call it spelling class, but rather Word class, where gifted children are allowed to pick their own spelling words, then work with those words for a week, through brainstorming, paragraph writing, then putting the whole thing together as one story.

I thought...Man this is it!

My plan is that I will figure out topics of interest to him, then give him a topic on Monday. We will then "brainstorm" words that relate to that topic for like 5-10 minutes (however long it takes). Then, that's his spelling list for the week.

After that, from Tuesday - Thursday, we will play around with the words, like on Tuesday, maybe we can figure out what all the words have in common with each other rulewise, then on Wednesday, we take each of these words and use them in a sentence, referring back to our main topic. Then Thursday, we put the sentences all together to make a paragraph/story. Then Friday is the spelling test, and we also have a nice story to go along with it!

I just talked to him about it and he seemed really up to the idea.

I believe I will also steal an idea from Comic Strip Writing Prompts and use his current passion - Garfield, as a kickoff for writing. Then, once he gets comfortable with the writing, we will focus more on the capitalization/spelling/grammar rules.

I also got a cool book called Language Arts, that shows how to use arts and crafts to study the parts of grammar. It is so cool! Yesterday, we made a collage picture of our cat, then made up all the words that rhyme with his name. Then, we took those words and wrote a poem.

I am loving this!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 10, 2008

My Homeschooling Mistakes--Just Realized!

Being new to the whole homeschool thing, I read continually. Today, I was just about to pat myself on the back for a job well done on his schedule for this week, when I looked and panicked. "What if none of this works?!?" I still don't know everything that he knows yet. Two years of public school left me at a total loss as to where he was/is in his learning process.

Things are better now, since we have "de-schooled". or are still in that process!

I realize now that I fell into the trap that others had laid out for me, as well as what i had laid out for myself! I tried to jump in with both feet full force, full-blown curriculum-style homeschooling, and it just wasnt' for us. I fell under "peer pressure" from others in what we should be "doing/studying" right now in homeschool. While I appreciate advice, I must learn also to appreciate it just for what it is....advice and nothing more. Just because it is advised, does not mean it is what is best for us.

My son has had a hard time the last couple of years, which succeeded in turning him into an angry child for the most part...losing a lot of innocence that I love to see in him.....laughter just for laughter's sake....Thankfully, all that is returning now. That to me is a greater achievement for us right now than any form of book-learning that he might get. Our personal relationship was so shot, that he is just now letting me "back in" and trusting me again.

I must learn more and more to not succumb to the wishes of others, and start succumbing to the will of God. His will, His way, His path.....a WHOLE lot easier than what others would lay out before me. He has given me a great opportunity here...to get to reknow and rebuild my relationship with my oldest, and if I am not careful...I will miss out on that opportunity because I am too worried about how to teach him addition/subtraction/etc.

Going God's way, things come more naturally. The learning process is not a struggle...it is laid out in my heart, if I will just again learn to listen and go forward. When I do this, daily panic attacks stop and wonderful happiness just happens to sneak in!

I believe that right now, I will get more "reading" type books, and just enjoy curling up with good books with both my kids :) The mastery of addition and subtraction need not be learned so much by putting pencil to paper (which he HATES mostly right now...and just is not developmentally ready to write that much yet)...it can be learned via the internet, via great games, cooking in the kitchen, etc.

I may not exactly know how to teach him to write stories using word webs, etc. But I can point him to good books that teach that through play!

Learning again to assess what HE needs to do at this point in time, then providing those materials for him....this is my NEW goal in homeschooling! Then we will let the chips fall where they may!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 9, 2008

A New Week--A New Schedule!

Well, I am getting a little more in gear here and there. I have gotten to sit down and write out a "goal" for next week of sorts. I decided, instead of trying to dive into this thing a year at a time....I would take it a week at a time, or even a day at a time!

Here is my schedule for this week with him:

Oh, scratch that schedule!!! We've moved on to something new!

Granted...I plan on starting on Monday.....get to what we can...what we can't will just fall off to the next day.....Just keep trekking along one day at a time! I am enjoying this more and more every day!

I found a complete set of Childcraft books at my local goodwill for $10!! I was so excited! Can't wait to dig into them and see what we can get into there!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Feb. 7, 2008

Getting More Organized!

Well, not a lot has been going on in the schooling department. It is basically on "auto-pilot" right now....especially this week, as this has been a very busy week thus far for us.

Public school was out yesterday, and family kids came over to play. There is going to be a sleepover tomorrow night...so Mama is busy busy busy today trying to get everything cleaned up from yesterday and the first of this week! LOL

I did find a great calendar software online (Kalendra) which I think maybe I can use to get everything a little more planned/organized. I have been putting entries in, but have not even begun to get it completed yet!

We have been doing a lot of cooking the last few days, which will fall under the categories of math/science/lifeskills.

Money is better now, so I can concentrate a little more on getting this place organized so we can actually have a place for school supplies!

Mentioning again about the calendar, I do not condone some of its downloadable templates, but thank goodness you can customize the pictures in it to whatever you want! So that is great!

It is free software, but to get the additional templates suggested, you must pay for those. Fortunately, you can create your own templates from pics you have on your own computer, so that's great!

Will give out more later, once this craziness calms down here!

Thanks for looking today!

Come visit me on Ebay or Etsy!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 30, 2008

Diving into the World of Unit Studies

I have been reading a lot about unit studies, and I think this would be a great thing for my oldest!

Currently, we have started a Birds Unit Study (which, when finished, I plan on listing all my sources, internet links, etc. on here free for your use). I tried to incorporate all aspects of his schooling into this unit study, but I am learning more and more, that while I may "plan" that this or that will happen, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, and that's ok!

This unit study is slow-going, as we must wait on a lot of things I want to use until finances become available. However, after doing more research, I have decided that I will try to be one ahead from now on of the one we are currently on.

He is right now in the kitchen doing a science experiment with pepper and glue. I am not exactly sure what the results are supposed to be, but, as long as he is happy, so am I! People who come to our house are often dismayed when a toy filled with glue falls out of the freezer on them and wonder what in the world it is doing in there. I just smile and say "It's one of Ty's science experiments" and move on.

Who cares if they would never allow such a thing in their freezer? It's not their freezer, but mine, that he is doing it in, and it does not bother me in the least!

Who knows, he could grow up to be the next great scientist of our time. Then, my family will brag about all the times his experiments fell out of the freezer on them!

Come visit me on Ebay or Etsy!

• Comments (0) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 29, 2008

The Water Cycle---With a Slightly Different Interpretation

Ok. We were supposed to be studying on the water cycle (according to a book I was trying to use (but failing miserably at). I kept reading this stuff over and over again in the book, wondering how in the world I would get this stuff across to him that they were showing because he is just not that much in to Earth Science.

I tried this way and that way, showed pictures from the book, thought of making a "different bodies of water" setup in a box....still I could come up with nothing.

Then, one day, it magically just happened. We were in the kitchen and I was boiling water for something.
Son was standing looking out the window. Our conversation went something like this:

Son: I wonder how it rains?

Me: Well, you know water in ponds, and the creek behind our house?

Son: Yes....

Me: Well, pretend this pot of water boiling on the stove is that creek. Now, the sun is the heat from the stove. See how the water gets turned into steam when it starts getting real hot?

Son: Yes

Me: Well, that's what the sun does. Except on a smaller level. It boils little beads of water, to small for us to really see, and causes them to evaporate up into the sky. Then the clouds catch the evaporation.

After a while, the clouds get so full of water....

(At which point, my son was crossing his legs and doing a little happy dance)He said..Oh man, I gotta go to the bathroom!

I said That's it! When the clouds get too full of water, they have to go pee! And that's what makes it rain!

He said "I get it now! Hey, I'm a cloud, I gotta go rain!"

Then he ran to the bathroom.

When he came back he went to the sink and started drinking water left and right....when he said "Now I'm the sun!"

Then in a few minutes he was the rain again.

We played this game for quite a few minutes then he went off to his room to play something else.

Later on that same day, he said "You know, I've been thinking, and I didn't realize that I was drinking water from the ocean sometimes! I am, right?" I said, Well, yes I guess you are.
He said "Ewww.....doesn't the sewer run into the ocean??? Yuk!""

Voila! Water cycle explained!

(Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did being part of it) And I hope no offense was taken at the slightly "off-color" language used!

Come visit me on Ebay or Etsy!

• Comments (2) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 28, 2008

Progress Report--Relieved A Lot of My Stress!

Being that this is my first year homeschooling, I have been putting myself under a lot of stress (even though I try not to), as to his schoolwork. Even though I say, It's ok, we are not like the public school, we don't have sit-down type learning, we learn as we go. He leads me. Still, I felt like I was failing because I couldn't see where we were actually "learning" anything at!

Then, one day this week, the Lord shone a light thru to me, and I realized I could just make up a Daily Progress report for myself, so I could see what we had actually accomplished for that day! A lot of the time, we don't have actual paperwork to show, as son suffered from "writer's burnout" while in public school last year, so we are laying off the writing as practice for a while, until he feels comfortable doing it again.

I put this Progress Report in my OneNote (my brain!), keep a template in the front that I just copy and paste to a new notebook page for each day we do school, and it's great! The other day, in about 2 hours time, we had covered about 5 subjects, and I was amazed!

It's just a simple little sheet, but I will share the pic with you, in case you want to use it (or something like it) for yourself:

Of course, in OneNote, the Notes section will expand, let me write multiple lines in it, whatever I need it to do! If you have OneNote, and would like me to email you a copy of this, just contact me with your email address, and I will send it to you. Of course, you may have to change the "Subjects" section to suit your homeschooling needs.

Have a blessed day!

Great source for homeschool books and more, just for cost of shipping! Tell them busymomof2 sent you!

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Come visit me on Ebay or Etsy!

***1/2 Sale on all my Valentine Doilies on Etsy!! Tonite Only!! Check it out!!***

• Comments (2) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

Jan. 27, 2008

Hi to Everybody!--Let me introduce myself!

I thought I would start out this blog by introducing myself.

I am a Stay-At-Home Mom of 2 young boys (ages 7 and 20 months).

I also work part-time from home as an accountant/programmer for an oil and gas company (please don't shoot me for that! We don't set the gas prices! If we did...I'd make 'em a lot cheaper!!)

In addition to that, I love to craft and have started back in the venture of selling my crafts online. I love to crochet, knit, sew, cross-stitch, embroider, work with plastic canvas, quilt.....if it's crafty, I'm up for it!

I am a Southern Baptist Minister's wife.

Overall, I am deeply grateful for the honorable job that God has given me in life. It makes me feel so humble to think that He would believe me worthy enough to hold such high honors and be Mom to 2 such smart, wonderful, well-behaved children! Truly, I cannot count my blessings enough!

I would like to use this blog as a help of sorts. Hopefully, something I write on here can help others out, (and possibly myself as well, when I go back and read from time to time!)

I do hope I meet a lot of new friends thru this effort.

Thanks and have a great time reading!

Great source for homeschool books and more, just for cost of shipping! Tell them busymomof2 sent you!

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Come visit me on Ebay or Etsy!

***1/2 Sale on all my Valentine Doilies on Etsy!! Tonite Only!! Check it out!!***

Free counters provided by Andale.

• Comments (3) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

About Me

Ideas, concerns, general topics, internet links to unit studies