Nov. 8, 2009 - New Adventures

I have always wanted to nurture talent as it appears in my kids, not just passing fancies that they have, but true desires that I see in them that are truly a part of who they are.  Emily has started private art lessons with a local artist and she loves it.  He is focusing on drawing with her and he is very impressed with her work and he should be because she has a talent for it!  Drawing is a passion of Em's and has been since she could hold a pencil properly, it is a part of who she is.

Tyler, has a love of the game chess.  He is just learning it, but the problem is only his dad knows how to play it and schedule-wise it doesnt always work out to play together.  So, Tyler is starting a homeschool Chess Club this Monday.  It meets once a month, unless the kids want to get together and play outside of club.  He is so excited.  The way it is set up is that older kids who are more experienced in chess, teach the younger ones.  Tyler is excited for 2 reasons-he gets to learn chess and he will make more friends.  Tyler's talent is applying methods.  I mean he actually likes to methodically plan strategies in different games such as checkers, battleship, even go-fish if that is possible.  So we will see how the chess club goes.  What is amazing is that a boy who at times can't sit still, can sit very still for a couple of hours playing this. So cool!!

~Lori

Nov. 7, 2009 - Stuart Little Unit Study

Remember reading this book as a kid?  Monday we are starting a 3 week unit study on this book.  It is our current "read-a-loud."  I found a free unit study for it here:   http://www.homeschoolshare.com/stuartlittle.php   My kids are really excited about this book.  Obviously we won't do everything the unit study offers, but it will give us some good ideas to really enrich the understanding of such a wonderful story!  My kids have not seen the movie so they have no previous ideas on which to base the story (except that it is about a mouse-why would Mom choose that book?...see the post below this one!)...ha hahaha.  No, I had this study planned long before that happened....God just has a sense of humor!  

~Lori  

Nov. 6, 2009 - "Tom" got "Jerry" this morning!!

Some mornings it doesnt pay to get up does it?  I got up at 5:30am this morning, which is pretty typical for me.  Hubby is usually just on his way out the door and I get an hour or so to myself and I love it.  Well, I went into the bathroom after I awoke to you know...go.  I did not turn the bathroom lights on cause my eyes were not quite focused yet and the lights from the kitchen do nicely.  I happened to glance over and look into the tub and saw something dark in there.  I thought it was one of the kids tub toys.  I got done, washed my hands, and thank GOD I turned the light on before I reached into the tub!  I turned on the light and there was a mouse in my tub!  Yeah, you laugh! Go ahead!  At first, I thought it was dead so I called Tom in to pick him up and dispose of his vermin, flea-carrying hide only to hear Tom say "Sweetie, its not dead."  UGH.  I HATE, and I mean HATE mice!  It wasn't dead folks! It was sitting at an angle and so I thought it was dead, well apparently one of our two cats must have injured him, lost him and the mouse scampered up a towel that was laying over the edge of the tub and slipped into it.  Well, "Jerry," which is the name I give to these creatures (because they are always getting killed by Tom) must have been listening cause he started running around the tub...eeeik!  Talk about the hibbijibbees!  {{Shivers!}}  My son came in at that point and wondered what was going on and I said "wanna take a bath Ty?" To which he replied after looking in the tub. "Nope."  Well, Tom did kill Jerry  (funny heh??)  I'm just glad he was still home to do it.   At any rate I was awake after that!

~Lori

Nov. 5, 2009 - I'm doing it!!

I am so thrilled about something that I am doing.  I am attempting to read through the bible!  I just recently treated myself to a new bible on the Walmart clearance rack last month. Woah! YES! I treated MYSELF! (Did your mouth hit the floor?)    It is the NLT version (New Living Translation).  It reads like a wonderful story!  I know there are debates out there about which versions are the best, but that is up to each individual person to decide. I have already read through Genesis and now I'm starting the book of Exodus-I have learned so much that I never "caught" before!  I have many versions here in my home (KJV, NKJV, NIV)...but to read through them as a "story" is difficult.  I always get a little concerned about versions and so I checked this one out thoroughly against my other ones and it holds water as the rest of them do so off I go on a wonderful reading adventure!  I actually look forward to reading it everyday and sometimes twice a day!!!  AND GET THIS!  I read it to my kids and they actually like to sit and listen to it!!  That has never happened before because of the language of the other versions.  I've always loved the bible since I became a Christian 16 years ago, but it always eluded me when people would say "its the most wonderful storybook cover to cover...."  I'd be like HUH?  How is that possible with all the...okay...I'm gonna say it..... archaic language?"  So anyways I am just thrilled at my new bible and what God is showing me, in the words of my kids  "IT IS SOOOOO SWEEEEEET!"

Happy Reading!!

~Lori

Nov. 4, 2009 - Sickness....

Two of my three children are sick. At least we are on break this week, thank you God for that favor (He is always so good to us!!)   Em is on the mend, praise the Lord and hopefully today Ty will turn the corner too!  They started with these complaints of headache/sore throat...then a few days later low grade fevers of 99-100.  Then they each have had a day or two of fevers that wen up to 102.8!  I know that according to doctor standards that is not HIGH, but to a mother's heart .... it is. Tyler even had the chills, you know the kind where they shake and shiver and even have chattering teeth?? Their little cheeks and lips get soooo red!   Woah.   Is it H1N1? Who knows. Its viral whatever it is. I had just stocked up on ibuprofen and tylenol too (good planning Lori!!)...   What seems to linger after the fever finally breaks is a cough, not a continuous one, but one of those annoying ones that attack you like when you laugh too much?? Then it sounds like they are smokers or something.  Amazingly enough Claire has not come down with it....yet.  She seems to have a great immune system and I praise God for that.   Em's temp stayed normal all day yesterday!! WooHoo!  I think Ty's fever broke last night.  I checked on him around 12:30am and he was drenched in sweat! I mean his hair was sopping wet and he was sleeping so peacefully. He is still sound asleep this morning at 8:30am...unusual for him, but I am letting him rest, his little body needs it.

I love this painting of this mom tucking her kids in.  Its called Mother's Little Angels, by Normal Rockwell.  I love his paintings, they are so true to life, not that I dress like the mom in that painting (nope), but you can see the love in that painting that she has for her "little angels."  Love it.   Hope all of you and yours are staying healthy!!

~Lori

Nov. 3, 2009 - Year-Round School

Someone noticed on my left side bar that we have a year round school schedule. Yep, we are doing school all year-round.  Why?? They asked.  Actually I think it will make the learning easier and there will be less time to forget what was learned.  Doing 6 weeks of school knowing that you soon will have 2 whole weeks off is appealing I think and my kids are geeked about it too!  Plus, we don't have to spend the first month of every school year reviewing all the stuff they "lost" over the summer.  We are trying it this year to see how it goes. Plus if we choose to do a 6 week unit study on something, it will fit nicely. Plus it will bring more consistency which my children thrive on! 

Will it work??  I don't know, but we are going to try it and see. The kids like the idea and that is important.  So far, we have done one marking period and are currently on our break. I can sit back and assess the last six weeks easily and see the areas that are lacking, it has allowed me to do some of those things that we put off (deep cleaning the house, re-organizing stuff, etc...) It allows me to dig deeper into things the kids WANT to study more of and then get prepared to do it. Yeah, I think this is going to work fine.  I'll try to post more on this as we experience it. It may need some tweaking here and there, but that's okay-that's the flexibility of homeschooling!  

~Lori   

Nov. 1, 2009 - Night and Day

Well, here is a result of a sugar HIGH and a sugar L O W.   Claire ate a lot of candy last night and she had a horrible fit of giggles before bed and I caught these pics of her:

Here is where she started with the hiccups!

But all sugar highs have to have their lows right?  Hers did, she crawled in my bed in the middle of the night and after I got up this morning, our fat cat Mooch joined her in her sugarless slumber....

Its precious heh?

Awwwww....yes, this fat ol' cat loves to sleep like this, he is a major cuddler.

The joys of childhood!!

~Lori

Nov. 1, 2009 - History Update

Well we've plugged through Mystery of History and I'll tell you, its not good.   No one is enjoying it. I truly think the material is just over their heads so I'm putting it away for a few years...but now, what to do???   I dug through a box of books (my stash), to see what I had left for history and I came across two gems from Abeka Book Publications that a dear friend had given me that I had completely forgotten about!  They are entitled "Of America, Vol's 1 and  2. " It is a US History study / reading program and it covers famous American citizens, and what it means for us to be citizens of the greatest country ever!   They are all "stories" so I can sit and read them to the kids, there are famous poems in there too, like Paul Revere's Ride.  What I will have them do is draw a picture of every story and compile a notebook of sorts. Also, Emily and Tyler will copy the vocabulary words as well.  I'll keep ya posted on how it all goes.  I'm so excited!

~Lori

Oct. 31, 2009 - Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the "Terror-rific" Trio!!

Hope your Halloween was Spooktacular!

~The "Mummy"

Oct. 31, 2009 - FALL BREAK!

We were on fall break this week and we did absolutely NO SCHOOL! We were busy doing other things though...like rearranging rooms in our home!  We live in a very small home and the rooms are oddly shaped and so getting things to fit can be tricky.  The biggest thing was putting up some beds for the kids.  The girls beds went up easily enough, but Tyler had inherited this loft bed from Tom's brother and so we put it up last...oh boy-what a project, but here it is all finished and ready for Ty.

 This bottom part is a table and yes it is sturdy enough to sit on, but we will use it to hold the kids video player and some books/toys. Lately though the loft bed is a "ship."

Tyler, under the table of the loft!

Tyler loves his new bed!

It was hard to let him sleep up HIGH! Especially with his tourettes. My fear was that he would tic really bad and fall out, but Tom put up a good secure rail and he will be fine.  I've always told Tyler that we cannot let TS stop what he wants to do in life and that we can always find a way to make something work....now I had to live up to that, didn't I?  He is very happy with this new bed and has loved sleeping in it most of the week! 

~LORI

Oct. 31, 2009 - Claire turned 6 !!

Well, ClaireBear turned 6 on 10/18.  Here are some pics.

The present she got from us....she is getting into "Barbies" now..

Claire at McDonald's after church, this was so much fun! She is looking so grown up.

Dad and his girls.

The Terrific Trio.....(see the rabbit ears??) She can be a stinker!

Me and Claire

After McD's we went to Tom's folks home and had cake and ice cream.  Claire was so excited when she got socks, a few different kinds - she loves clothes!

She also got a Connect Four game-she loves to play this at Grandma Joy's house so much so now she can play it at our house too.

MORE SOCKS!! 

Time for cake!  Oh, and she also got some pretty barrettes which she just HAD to wear right away as well.   It was a great birthday!

The following weekend we celebrated Claire's birthday with my dad's! More presents!

a princess ring...

cool new shoes from gramma and poppa-and that's a big deal cause when you are the youngest in the family, most of your shoes are hand-me-downs! So this was a big deal for Claire!!

She got a "Rapunzel Barbie", chapsticks and nail polish from Aunt Cher!

A "Super Why Super Reader" computer from Aunt K!

Blowing out the candles with my dad.  It was so wonderful that they could celebrate their birthdays together this year....what a blessing after a rough year!

It was a great birthday!

~LORI

Oct. 13, 2009 - Reading right along.....

Claire is really loving "reading."  We are using Hooked on Phonics and LLATL Blue.  I am not impressed with LLATL at all, but I do like the readers and some of the exercises so I use it to supplement her language arts.  Anyways, she has completed the first set of readers in the LLATL blue program!!  They are all short vowel readers and she has read them all!

The first row there are the books she has read!  In this program, they cut out a picture of that book and glue it on the chart.  She is so pleased with her accomplishment!

Here she is holding up the next readers, called Bridge Readers.  They start now with blends such as CH/SH/SN/SM...which coordinates really really well with where she is at with Hooked on Phonics also.  Good Job ClaireBear!

~Lori

Oct. 12, 2009 - Mom...this is boring.

Yep, those are the words Emily said about the LLATL Orange program.  It is too easy for her I admit.  So she is going to start with the book Paths to Follow:

So she will do this for reading, as it has good comprehension questions in it, but they are not overwhelming and lots of it we can do orally.  We have gone back to Rod and Staff English for the rest of Language Arts, it is by far the best I believe.  It just covers more things about sentence structure, diagramming sentences and all that.  LLATL doesnt cover that.  It does have 3 units in it that I do want her to do though: Research, Journaling and Newspaper.  So we will do those.  For quiet reading time she loves to read about animals and so she picked this one out of the bookcase:

This is the fourth reader.  I have all of them, but the other 2 are not interested in them yet.  This would be the reader for fourth grade.  Emily said, "Mom, can I read it, answer the questions and then draw a picture of the animal??"  You Betcha Em!  She loves these books.  I think that is the blessing about homeschooling isn't it??  If something isn't working well for a child, we CAN change it so that learning is enjoyable AND successful!  

~Lori

Oct. 12, 2009 - Henry and Mudge

Tyler is starting a new series of books, the Henry and Mudge series.  He read the first book today and he loved it.  They are about a boy and his dog (a 180 lb dog!) 

I got Tyler the first four books from the library so he could read them this week.  He then wanted a picture of himself with the book and Dillon (his dog) who weighs about 100 lbs less than Mudge-thank goodness! 

He thinks tomorrow he will read book #2 to Dillon.  Aww. Dillon would love that!

~Lori

Oct. 9, 2009 - Island Festival Field Trip!

Well, today was our first field trip of the year!  We went to a nearby town that was having a fall festival, it was semi-arranged through our homeschool group-because then we all get in really really cheap!  They have people re-inacting times from the 1600's-1800's which was awesome and they had some 4 H stuff there as well. So, despite the chilly temps (47 degrees F), which made the air so fresh and crisp,  and rain (which never stopped) we actually had a great time.   Here are some pics:

This dear lady was talking to the kids about cooking back in the Civil War times. Yes, she was standing in the rain.

This couple were traders waiting for the Indians to come trade.  This guy was totally into his part and asked my kids what they had to trade today...they were like uh...what?? It was great!  This booth was really cool.....

He had antlers and things made out of antlers, French playing cards, pieces of flint too.  See that small gray rectangle there..that is a small block of lead that they would put into that spoon you see in the picture by the antlers, they would melt the lead in that spoon over a hot fire and poor it into the molder-thingy (for lack of a better term), then it would mold into those little balls..aka: bullets!  He also discussed animal pelts and trapping which was fascinating (but I love History!!)

This guy was a blacksmith and he was forging steel.  He had a really hot fire and he kept putting air into the fire with that contraption that looks like a fishing reel.  At this time he was going to fashion a fire stick and needed to put a curve into the end of the steel so it could hang on a hook till needed.....

He would then take the steel out of the fire and set it on the anvil and pound it till the red-hot section became gray.  He then would put it back into the fire and then pound it some more till he got it too look like......

this!

We also got to see how sauerkraut was made back in the "old days."  It was their way of preserving cabbage-we all got to help "pound" the sauerkraut and taste it...well, I am the only one who tasted it, the kids were like "NO WAY!"  It was delicious though!

The kids helped in a science experiment that 4 H put on to make ethane gas-that was very cool!

And of course there were all sorts of animals to love.

This lady was showing us this "toy" that little girls would play with to prepare them for sewing.

Ty didn't care if it was a girl toy-he thought it was fun too!

There was this beautiful paddle boat doing color tours, it was too pricey for my budget though.  We did enjoy watching it and listening to that olde tyme music it was playing.

The scenery was just gorgeous!

After 2 fun filled hours the Terrifc Trio and mom were ready to leave.  There were a few exhibits we did not get to participate in such as rope-making and cider making, since the people at those booths were not there at the time, but it was fun none-the-less. 

I love Fall in Michigan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Lori