Our Homeschool!
UNO'S Field Trip
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I have not been inspired to post much recently...guess I'm in a bit of a blogging slump. I admit, I'm not a writer at heart and do not have a talent for it but I enjoy blogging because of all the people I 'meet"! And I am trying to keep up with your blogs even if I don't have anything new to write myself! You ladies impress me with all your great posts - encouraging, informative, entertaining.... I get it all! I love the way Homeschoolblogger connects so many of us like minded moms together and it's really great because we are experiencing many of the same struggles ( and blessings ) and can we relate to one another. I'm sure 10 or 15 years ago many home schoolers would have loved to be able to connect this way - so we are truly blessed. 
(Thank you, Lord)
Today I took DS11 and DS7 on a field trip with some families from our new co-op. We went to an "UNO'S Chicago Grill" restaurant and had a "behind the scenes" tour of the kitchen, etc... The boys thought the walk in freezer (actually more like a room) was kind of neat. They were allowed to go beside the bar and fill their cups with ice and use the "soda gun" to get their drinks. The children assembled and ate their own pizza's too -- all this in under an hour! I'm feeling bad that I didn't take the camera and have no pictures to show for it. My daughter would like me to mentioned that she sacrificially stayed home and watched DS2, so we could enjoy ourselves on the tour. (thanks Kay!) And, I'll admit, that was REALLY nice for me because while 3 other mom's were "restling" with their toddlers (been there, done that!!) I, instead, was able to visit with other mom's and enjoy my older boys. (and I did try and help out one poor mom whose 5 year old spilled his entire glass of water all over the floor while her 1 year old toddled away)!
A Field Trip for Mom!
Monday, June 11, 2007
It was over a week ago now that DH and I attended our state's homeschool convention. My generous Mom & Dad watched the kids overnight for us and we had a wonderful time. After checking in to our hotel Thursday evening, we headed over to the Exhibit/Vendor Hall. It is somewhat overwhelming to me to see all those books! So many choices, so little time! It was great to be able to hold some potential curriculum and see it first hand. I was able to rule out a few things I DID NOT want after looking through it. I also found a great deal on a Saxon Math 2 kit - $66.00 total! This included a brand new student workbook and meeting book but a gently used teachers edition. I wish I could find the same deal for Saxon Algebra 1.
On Friday morning we arrived back to the Convention in time to hear Mark Hamby speak about shepherding our children. His session called "Raise Them Up, Don't Crush Them Down" was about leading with love and by example rather than pushing them from behind. Great advice and Mark had some personal experiences to share with us to illustrate his point. Later, I planned to participate in a workshop entitled "A Girls High Calling" with Julie Hiramine but dear Julie had a baby instead of coming to the convention! Go Julie! I'm happy for her but dissapointed for me. It was part of God's plan however, because, still very confused as to what we would use for Language Arts next year, hubby and I rushed over and sat in on the tail end of a Total Language Plus workshop. The facilitator was very patient with me as I asked questions she has previously spoken about prior to us arriving! I have decided to try using one of the TLP book and guides this fall with DD14. She will be studying American History so I thought the "Johnny Tremain" guide would complement that nicely.
Later in the day I was pretty much drained and wondering what to do when the Lord directed me over to the (neatly organized, plain and simple) Christian Light Education booth. Chatting with one of the folks there and looking through their booklets convinced me this basic approach was what I needed for the older 2 children this coming school year. DS11 will use Christian Light Ed. Language Arts for Grade 6 and DD14 will use Grade 9 for half of the year and then switch to Literature studies/intensive writing the second half of the year. I was given a "free shipping" coupon so I didn't have to make my decision "on the spot". I did come home and continued praying and placed my order last Tuesday.
I enjoyed hearing Zan Tyler speak on the running the "Homeschool Marathon". She gave a lot of great info and enouragment to us homeschoolers, no matter where we are in our homeschool race. She emphasied basing our school on God's Word and gave several hints to avoid burnout - such as finding a mentor and choosing the right equipment. She spoke a lot about training our children in with a biblical worldview as well.
It was so Hot (and no A/C) that we were drained by mid-afternoon. I was dissapointed in myself that I had not pre-registered for Deb Dufek's Ladies Tea and it was full. We actually decided to leave a bit early and get back to the children. Of course they were dissapointed to see us home! They love it so much at Grandma's!
I feel totally blessed to be able to have gone to the Convention! I'm also happy that my husband went with me. There are so many reasons to go that I would encourage any homeschooler (new or "old") to attend at least once. Maybe you need encouragement, or some "training", or refreshment or even just to see different curriculums first hand, whatever the reason, by attending your convention you will be supporting Homeschooling and you will come away blessed in some way. I find that it's a worthwhile investment of my time and dollars.
Art Gallery Field Trip
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Time for a little update about school. Since we live in NY, we are still buried in snow and cold and have at least a good, solid 6 weeks before Spring actually arrives. This is the time of year we all get a bit burned out and I try to keep "pushing forward" so we can get as much accomplished as possible before "spring fever" hits. We are in the middle of our Third Quarter and expect to finish the bulk of our work by Memorial Day even though our term officially ends June 15th.
I always enjoy field trips and we were able to take one to the Memorial Art Gallery last Friday. Once again, the Lord provided free admission to our whole family through my husbands employer.
They had a temporary Egyptian exhibit there which tied in nicely to our Ancient History studies. DS11 enjoyed using the interactive computer they had set up to explore the tomb where the coffins were found and DS6 traced his name in Egyptian writing.
The art gallery also had a temporary exhibit by Willie Cole - that was unusual to say the least! We were not allowed to take photographs of his work but it was made mostly of old shoes and hairdryers! See for yourself here:
Hairdryers and Shoes galore!
The kids were not too enthusiastic about the rest of the gallery, but I dragged them through it anyway! DD13 and DS6 shared the camera and took a few photos (no flash!!). Here's a Monet:
Afterward, my husband treated us all to dinner out at UNO's. I dined on steak tips and loaded mashed potatoes and felt really spoiled that I didn't have to rush home and cook! We couldn't resist a few photo's in the restaurant:
(no, he didn't have HAM for dinner!)
We also took the kids rollerskating last week! Our church rents out the skating rink once a year for Family Rollerskating Night. That was a fun night and a way to burn off some extra energy after being indoors so much the past week with below zero wind chills!
Visit to the George Eastman House
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Last week we took a trip into Rochester and toured the George Eastman House. George Eastman is the founder of Eastman Kodak Co. as well as the Eastman School of Music here in NY.
Once again, we were blessed in that my husbands employer provided free passes to the museum. What would have cost me $32.oo for admission - was free! The museum is quite extensive with numerous old cameras and wonderful photographs to see but his actual home (historic mansion) is also open to the public and is beautiful as well. A bonus for us was that they had just set up the annual Gingerbread House displays. Boy & Girl Scout troops, bakeries and various organizations are invited to display their gingerbread "houses" and you can tell by the photos in the slideshow above how creative and fun they were to see. There were probably at least 50, I'm able to share 10 with you (above)!
And here we are in the mansion and at some of the exhibits inside...
(Yep! that's me, with 4 of my favorite people.)
It was fun taking my mom along!...
And here's the little guy - less than thrilled...
Farm Market Field Trip
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Its a chilly fall day, the wind is blowing and the sky is dark. Out come the winter coats and hats and off we go to the Farm Market for a tour with our homeschool co-op. When we arrive we are instructed to wait by the huge corn husk tee-pee. You can fit a dozen kids inside and its a bit warmer out of the wind.
Our tour included visiting the farm rabbit named Flower and 2 lonely goats. Any goat owners out there...why do goats have horizontal pupils?
We also had a look at the cider press which was not operating so it wasn't too exciting and we caught an occasional whif of fermenting apples...
The guide quizzed the kids on all kids of produce they sell there including purple cauliflower and brussels sprouts - the kids knew all the answers, they are homeschoolers after all!
Part of the tour included choosing a free pumpkin. We were given a choice... do we want to walk aaaaalllll the way to the pumpkin patch (brrr...) and risk having a wee one get blown away OR do we want to just grab one out of the crates nearby. We chose option 2. Everyone was happy.
At the end of the tour we all enjoyed a home made fry cake which didn't look like much but were actually really yummy. The kids grabbed theirs and headed for the Hay Bale Maze. This was fun if you were 3.5 feet or less otherwise...
well, it wasn't much of a maze but they still had a blast running through over and over and over!
I enjoyed chatting with the other moms and catching up with the ones I hadn't seen in a while. Before we left the boys and I went back inside to pick up some produce, I bought some goards & mini pumpkins for decorating, a jug of cider and a spagetti squash. Guess what the kids wanted... jelly beans!
Overall, it wasn't a really educational field trip, but it gets high marks for fun and friendships!
