Here are the rules... my list starts after the rules.

The 100-Species Challenge

1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge.

2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant's home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.

3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears.

4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts.

5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.

6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two--"camillia" if not).

7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge.

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Sounds fun, yes?  I think there's just one thing around here.  Sagebrush.  Fortunately, the reality isn't so bad.

1. Sagebrush  :-P  Okay, I lied.  It's not sage, but it is tumbleweed, which is commonly associated with sagebrush.  We do have sagebrush, too, but I'll save that for another post.  This particular tumbleweed is Kochia, thanks to this website.
2. Flowering Cherry- I'm not certain beyond this.  They don't produce fruit, mostly white, and as yet are not drooping.
3. Aspen- populus tremuloides, one would assume
4. Sunflower- ours are voluntaries, and prolific.  This is a good case of a weed being only what you don't want to grow.  We let our weeds go wild, and we're enjoying every bit of it!
5. Lilac- we have several lilac bushes, but I have no idea what variety.  Not one I like very much.  Mostly purple, but I believe one is white.
6. Snapdragon- also voluntary weeds.  Mostly red.
7. Clematis- We chose these!  :)  Ours are a purple variety.
8. Maple tree
9. Snowball tree, aka swamp elder

There are two types of cactus in the field I would like to identify.  It will have to wait for a cooler day and better health.  I also saw a rose of sharon recently, but I'm not sure how close it was to our house.

Today, Danielle made her first unpromted unguided letters.  H and a little i.  And Os, but she's had practice making circles.  :-P

Well, I had this nice post all prepared, but found that Melissa Wiley has said it better.

Recently, I've had a couple of conversations with friends about our homeschooling journey.

The common thread has been that homeschool parents must be highly educated because it's just not possible to homeschool effectively without it.

In one particular conversation, my friend mentioned that my husband and I are both certified teachers, so it's okay.

We're not certified.  :-P  I started my certification, my husband taught as a grad school TA, but no, neither of us have that oh-so-important piece of paper.

But, you know?  This friend knows us quite well, and he knows that we'll do a good job teaching our children.  So maybe, just maybe, we made a difference in one person's perspective of  homeschooling.  I can only hope it will ripple to even more people.  Homeschooling is not something to be afraid of celebrating.

Danielle has received a preliminary diagnosis of JRA.  She has also seen an eye doctor, who diagnosed her with uveitis.  She needs eye drops every four hours, and her mobility is slightly impaired.

I thank God that he's lead us down this path, because we have the ability to meet her needs, give her meds, and miss school for doctor appointments without an IEP or a doctor's note or any other red tape.

How much school is she doing, anyway?  Well... she's showing those pre-reading skills- pretending to read, recognizing letters, learning sight words.  How exciting!

Back in the fall, I printed out music from G Major music theory for Rachel.  Hmm, it must have been around Christmas, because I remember going there looking for Jingle Bells.  She has since subjected treated us to plinking out the music by ear, not by reading the music!  It has been SO frustrating for me, but I let it go.
She did practice, a bit, now and then, but she always preferred to play by ear.
This week, she's been pestering me for more music.  I told her she couldn't have more until I heard her play the ones she had using the right fingerings, etc.

She did it!  She struggled just a little on things in the last two songs that would have been easy to correct, if I had known she was practicing the music.  So, she has six more songs to practice, this time with two hands.

My daughter told the grocery clerk last week she wanted to be "just a mommy."
"Don't you want to do something else, too? A teacher, or..."
"No.  Just a mommy.  I want to buy food, and make dinner... "
*heart swells*
She does emulate my worst moments, too, I promise, but that moment was so wonderful.

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Shameless Promotion

As a kid, I had several tapes (that would be cassette tapes!) of Agapeland Music.
I HAD to buy these for the girls.  The price made me hesitate, but I kept coming back to them.  I finally found them discounted a bit, and purchased them.
They are as wonderful as I remember.  Music Machine and Bullfrogs and Butterflies are very good.  My all-time favorite is "The Story of Little Tree."  It's an adaptation, historical fiction if you will, of the Easter story.  It still makes me cry.
Check them out.  I don't think you'll be disappointed when your children are singing phrases like "Sonshine, sonshine, I've got a different kind of Son!" and "I love you Lord Jesus..."

My mother-in-law recently emptied a pickle jar.  A TWO QUART pickle jar!  I don't know how she got it, or how she used them up, but I have it.  I almost shudder with excitement about this.  What can we do with it?

We could make an activity jar.

Or, maybe a good deeds jar.

We could just collect coins.

Or, nature materials, like rocks and such.

We could make one of these.

We could put scripture slips into it.

We could put slips of boredom-killers.

Above all, I think it should be something that will engage the kids, make them think and have fun at the same time.

How much is too much?  How do you know when you're stretched too thin, and you need to cut back?

I'm not feeling that way, most of the time.  This week was a very, very hectic week.  Rachel has two scheduled activities now, and that's plenty.  This week, she had three, I had two, the car had one, Carol had a doctor appointment (well child visit, and doing great), and by the end, we were just ragged.  I suppose it's appropriate we visited the library and checked out a collection of Raggedy Ann stories!

So, it's making me look forward, and wonder about the balance of things.  Is it a purely individual line?  My husband is sure I'm an extrovert, but I really don't feel like it, most days.  It's so hard to find the motivation to keep going out, when I'm comfortable at home.

What works for you?

My poor, unsocialized homeschooler has a party this afternoon with 100 other kids, from 4-18 years old.  It should be fun!
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The party was *wonderful* and a great time to get to know names and faces.  I feel more connected, now.  I helped all of the elementary kids decorate sugar cookies.  That translated to interacting with each and every one of them.  There are some really sweet kids out there.  Well, they all were sweet, and well behaved.  Some tug at your heart strings a little more.  :)

... did you know that it *belongs* to someone?

There's a list circulating the homeschooling world that's been swiped from the author.  I feel just horrible for her.  I know I've seen the list in several places, and if I can track them down, I'll be posting the following link to them, too.

http://www.madeditor.com/2008/02/id-rather-be-hated-than-used.html

Please, PLEASE, think before you share.  The footprints poem was swiped from someone, too.

An extra helping of love and sleep is getting Danielle on the right track, I think.  We'll have to give it a few days to be sure.  I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that was all she needed.  I'm usually in tune with that kind of thing.
But, in the meantime, she's been paying attention to her sister's schooling.  Our grocery store's address is 2100.  As we were walking in  yesterday, she says, "Oh, a twelve!"

So, she's close.  Still, it was so exciting to hear!

Life is just rolling along here.  We've been sick- I mean, SICK! all year.  Today we're feeling semi-normal, and the weather warmed up just a bit.  We got out of the house, which was SO nice.  R and D colored with their sidewalk chalk and rode their bikes.  They've been begging to do both since Christmas.

I found the greatest notebooks at Wal-Mart.  It's a primary notebook, with a space at the top for a drawing, and then lines for early-writing (I don't know what they call that) on the bottom half.

So fun!  I read Rachel a poem, then she draws a picture and narrates a bit- in her own writing!- at the bottom.  (I'd let her read it herself, but there's usually pictures, and I'd like it to be her own design!)

Danielle is actually my bigger focus right now.  We're working on emotional stuff- self-expression, boundaries and such.  Also, confidence type-stuff.  Can you tell what we've been struggling with recently?
I won't say we're doing *formal* schooling, but certainly more structured than the totally free-form stuff she was doing up until now.

Even just chalk drawing is frustrating and difficult for her now.  So, I drew, she directed.  This way, I get to encourage her to think it out, lead her imagination.  She's such a follower (of Rachel, usually) that she's not developed the individuality bits as well as Rachel did.  I'm not worried, but I'm making it a point to grab those teachable moments when I can.

Speaking of teaching... here's one situation:  Danielle is a touchy-feeling person.  She's always in touch with someone, and right now, it's rarely NICE touching!  hee
Well, again, I think she just needs guidance.  We established a boundaries rule yesterday- please ask before hugging, poking, hair-petting someone.  It will take more reinforcement, but I think it will help, in the long run.  Then, it seems, she needs specific physical interaction with each of us daily.

They're all different, aren't they?  It's been such a turn of events this month.  She's not usually one to volunteer to sleep, and not cuddly, either.  But, the stomach virus and fevers and ear infections (yes, it's been THAT bad!) have turned the tide.  Enjoy it while I can, I suppose, because I know she's growing up too fast.

A bit about Carol!  I'm having so much fun playing "in and out" with her.  This is one of my favorite ages.  :-D  I love how she'll give me anything if I appreciate it, and coo over it, and smile.  If I try to TAKE it, though, WATCH OUT!

Writing Canvas is giving away a book!  Family Driven Faith sounds like a fabulous book, and I just had to enter the drawing!

Find the post here.

Rachel has been practicing a bit on the piano in the last few months.  Today she said she wanted to learn how to play "O, Christmas Tree."  So, I taught her.

Now that she's got the hang of it, she's experimenting with other 'versions'.  The moo version.  The dog version.  The "grumpy loud version."  HA!

On Thursday, I bought pipe cleaners that were made to look like evergreen branches.  They're pretty cool.  I made a couple of wreaths about 4 inches in diameter, and added a few mini-pine cones for decoration.  Rachel made a Christmas tree shaped wreath.

These are the times when I know she'd be punished for her creativity in school.  If the instructions were to make a wreath, and she makes a tree, she's failed.  I'm so happy to have her home where she can create to her heart's desire.

Rachel caught a brief snatch of off-limits TV today.  I should check the parental lock and see what went wrong.

She saw an episode of the tv version of The Little Mermaid.  She's always challenged my condemnation of such stupidity.  So, I let her talk about it with me, so we can determine together what's wrong with it.

This particular show had Ariel responsible for a set of twins.  From what she told me, I pieced together that she lost track of the twins, who went to a ship, something about a shark, and rocks fell down but the twins were safe.

There.  It all ended well, so everything was fine, by Rachel's standards.  I helped her see that the twins weren't really safe, but they were lucky.  That Ariel was responsible for them, and she made a big mistake.  That the show convinces her that it's ok to break the rules (stay away from the rocks). 

She seemed... shocked that all that bad stuff came from a good show.  I know she didn't really understand the whole picture, though.  We've done this before, and she focuses on the particulars of the show, not the whole thing.  I think that will take a few years.  Until then, I have to be resilient in protecting her from evils she can't understand.

We've been homeschooling officially for three months now.  Rachel's reading well, adding well and she loves History.  A while back, I cut out phonics (we worked our way out of the book and I haven't found another to use yet) and added an in depth reading of the story of Joseph.  It seems when we've reached the point where Rachel's proficient, we don't homeschool as often.

For me, this is a sign that we're ready for something new.  It occurs to me as I'm writing that this seems to be a unit-study kind of style.  Anyway, I'm planning for some new activities.  With the holidays, it's easier for me to focus on art and music and cooking!  We have a little to brush up in Math, but no new concepts are calling my attention.  We may focus on poetry a little more, too.  Make that, I need to work on poetry.  ;)  Rachel has a Richard Scarry anthology she carried around the house.  Oh, and handwriting, but nothing heavy.  She's good enough to just keep practicing what she knows already.

I feel that Rachel is doing really well right now.  I'd like to double check the standards, but if she's meeting what's appropriate for her age level, I don't see the need to push her.  She's having a great time playing with her younger sisters, and learning all the while.  This week I got to play cashier and 'scan' the food she was buying.  We checked out a load of books from the library, and Danielle has given plenty of opportunity for Rachel to practice reading aloud.  We're reading A Little Princess right now.

I felt that God lead us into this for the purpose of uniting our family, bringing us closer, helping us grow, and to focus our lives on Him.  God knew what he was doing, I think.

"688 hours (or) 4 hours per day, 172 days per year."  That's Colorado statute for the minimum number of homeschool hours.  Of course, they don't require records, so what's it to them?

Four hours a day in a regular school year seems daunting.  What about two hours a day, 344 days a year?  If you're a traditional schooler, that seems way too much, and it probably is for you.  If you're more eclectic or an unschooler, that seems just about right. 

Is there ever a day when your child does absolutely nothing?  No learning at all?  Hmm, for an average family, I suppose there could be 12 days a year when one might be sick enough to not learn anything.

Is there ever a day when your child is learning all.day.long?  A trip to the zoo, perhaps.  Or, a beautiful fall day outside learning about bugs and leaves, clouds and maybe even meal planning or nutrition (a picnic).

All in all, 688 hours isn't much to stress about.  In last week's Homeschool Carnival, I read a blog by April who suggested learning is like eating.  Doing the math, a person who eats three meals a day, 365 days a year eats 1095 meals!  That's nearly twice the amount of school hours required by the state.  You're sitting at the table of learning!  Eat up!

Timothy Power at Sometimes I'm Actually Coherent (gotta love that name) has an excellent post about Whole Learning vs Phonics.  Enjoy!

First of all, the carnival is up at Consent of the Governed.  I've been reading a few here and there, and there's just so much to share, I don't know if I can do it.  Good food for thought, at least.

I especially like SalmonMe's thoughts about teaching a preschooler, specifically two-year olds.  I will only have a two year old for twenty-some more days.  *sniff*  However, her thoughts ring true from my experiences with 5-year-old Rachel and soon-to-be 3yo Danielle.  I had to wonder if there was something 'wrong' with my children for knowing more than their peers.  Of course, I know there's nothing wrong, that they lean toward giftedness, but really, it just seems so simple to me.

Isn't it?  If you actually TALK to your children, hug them, respond to them, open the doors to their interests, it just happens!  How is that hard?

I was a bit irritated with the homeschool conference speakers for saying things like "How To Teach a Literature" and then not actually explain how to do it.  Yet, I think SalmonMe pulls it off brilliantly.  This isn't really about how to teach, but how to be ever-present and willing in your child's life.  This is such a great experience as a parent.  And then, when they read at a third grade level at five years old, you're not bragging, but celebrating the gift of learning and love of life that you've been able to give your child.

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A few other things to share...
Rachel has absolutely no fear in telling people that she's homeschooled.  Even though her every desire was to go on a bus and take a lunch and backpack to school, this is all she knows.  More importantly, I take it as a sign that she's HAPPY.  She's thriving and loving to learn at home.  It's such a blessing to see.  It's also a major challenge!  Can you imagine telling the local principal that lives on our block that we're homeschoolers? *gulp*

As it is, we haven't been super consistent about strict lessons every day, every week.  I keep saying we'll get there, but... we're not, and I'm not sure we should.  Anyway, when we do lessons, we're all feeling pulled toward more Biblical and character education over reading, spelling and math.

We start with a devotion.  This usually leads to conversations about the topic, rather than a lecture.  This is more than fine with me.  The devotional prayer, a song, a prayer from me- always thanking God for the great blessing we have to keep our children close to us.  Then, Rachel has been asking for history lessons first.  We're using CLP's Little Pilgrims.  It's not my favorite, but it's serviceable.  More than that, at this point, it's still tied to Biblical history (YAY for Christian timelines!) and we end up going BACK to the devotion, then the history lesson, and we have to pull out her Beginner's Bible, too, to read the story there.  What's 'worse', I ordered ANOTHER Bible for her that's being mailed today.  A real every-scripture Bible that's written at her level and in a good sized font.

Devotions have gone from five minutes to at least a half hour.  The only problem I see is that she really loves, absorbs, and needs the other lessons, too.  Let me tell you, this is NOT a problem I anticipated six months ago.  ;)

OH!  Lest I forget, we went to the zoo this weekend.  I didn't make it high pressure, I didn't even read most of the placards in front of the cages.  It just needs to be *real* for them to learn.  They've talked and talked and told every stranger they've met about the zoo.  When Danielle wakes up in the morning, the first thing she says is that we 'went to see the kangaroos, the hippos, the SNAKES!, the monkeys..." etc, etc.

I have to say, the zoo was pretty cool.  There's a free day coming up in October to another zoo, and it would be nice to go again!

I bought a new print/copy/scan printer today.  I am SO EXCITED!  How sad is that?  We needed a new printer, and I know I will get good use out of the copier.  YAY!