So, I came up with a catchier title for our school updates.  What do ya' think?  Nevermind...I don't want to know.

This week, week 3 of our school year, I felt like we kinda got into a groove.  The kids knew the schedule of things and had less questions and complaints.  Always a good thing.

Annaleigh doesn't make much of a secret about her adversion to math.  She works it into almost any conversation.

"So, Annaleigh, how's it going today?" a friend might enquire.

"Oh, fine.  By the way, did you know I hate math?" she might answer.

She actually does fairly well though.  This week she made a 98% on her first test.

She's working on a lesson in the above picture.  It doesn't show up well, but I usually chain her to the chair for this.

She completed her first lapbook this week.  Homeschool e-store had a freebie a few weeks ago for an Egyptian mummy lapbook kit from Hands of a Child, so I took advantage of that, and we're both pleased with how it turned out.

The cover.  The title is "Mummies Un-wrapped."  Get it?

The inside

The inside with the flap raised.

And because we just can't do anything in a normal way around here, Annaleigh decided to practice her spelling words this week by making and doing cheers to spell them out, pom-poms and all.

Harrison had a very productive week as well.  He got a 100% on his math test.  He didn't do quite as well on his spelling test.  He decided that all words that start with W also need an H, so he spelled wish, w-h-i-s-h and with, w-h-i-t-h, which was really, really cute, but I still had to mark them wrong.  He took it like a man though.

He's also working on a lapbook.  His is on Charlotte's Web, and I'm pulling a variety of resources together for it.  Here he's cutting out a series of pink pigs for a little booklet that we'll include.

And then here he's displaying the acrostic that he wrote using the letters in Wilbur's name.  He came up with W-wonderful, I-interesting, L-lucky, B-believable, U-unusual, and R-radiant, of course.

Normally, we adhere to the "no-shirt, no-school" policy around here, but this was after his shower, and he was on his way to bed.  He also switched to brown pigs after a while because he decided that pink pigs were too girly for him and his bare chest.

The kids are working on a project together of building a replica of the Nile River, since Annaleigh is in the throes of her Egypt studies and Harrison will soon embark upon them.  Here they are laying down the rocks in the riverbed:

And then Harrison is seen here, flooding the river:

I try to give him the jobs that involve destruction.  He likes that sort of thing.  The idea is to reenact that actual occurrence of yearly flooding on the Nile by watering your river, and thus your grass seed every week.  So far, nothing.  But I'll keep you posted....

And "Rut-Roh"...look what we watched, just for fun!

That's right...no National Geographic movies for us, goofballs that we are.  I haven't seen Scooby in years.  This was a newer one than the 80s fare that I used to watch after school.  And let me just say, Velma has lost weight!  She is definitely giving Daphne a run for her money.  I wonder what she's doing....  Weight Watchers?  Jenny Craig?  C'mon, girl!  Tell us your secret...  I made the mistake of watching some of the credits and was highly disturbed to find out that the same guy who does the voice for Fred, also does Scooby.  I don't know if this was always the case, but that's just wrong!

Ripley started out having a good week.  He took Basket-weaving 101 and made this for his afternoon naps:

That turned out nicely don't you think, especially by a creature that doesn't have prehensible thumbs?  Anyway, after this it got a little ugly, and I had to write him up.

You see, he was disturbed by my picture-taking and hopped out of the basket, the ornery thing.  And then stuck his tongue out at me.  Then it turned violent...

Can you believe that?!  I should expel him from Hilltop Academy!

And that about sums it up.  We're having a ball here!  I hope your educational endeavors are just as fun!  See ya' next time...

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I am going to attempt to post one of these every week...or at least every other week.  If not, then once a month.  Truly, I should not even state my intentions because that's usually the kiss of death for said intentions.  I'm serious.  I can say, "I'll be right back.  I'm going to the mailbox and mail this letter."  And I will walk right outside and throw it in the trash.  Whereas if I had not told anyone what my plans were for the letter, it would be well on its way to the indicated destination.  OK...OK...I'm not that bad!  But I have admitted here before that I'm not a good finisher.  My intentions are good (most of the time).  My stick-to-it-tiveness is bad.

Well, now that I've given you very little hope for seeing this series of posts again, here we go.  My thought is to give an overview of our week, with pictures of course, so that long-distant grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, enemies, bosses, ex-bosses, old teachers, OB/GYNs, ....I think you get the picture....can peek at what we're up to here at Hilltop Academy.

This week I'll start with Harrison.

Harrison is very sharp with math.  I admire this in him because I am not so sharp with math.  He's actually working a grade ahead, using Saxon 3, and I learn little math tricks all the time.  Hey...I admitted to borrowing a friend's toothbrush once, so why not fess up that I learn from a 3rd grade math book?!

Harrison and I discovered long ago that Star Wars figures make the best manipulatives.

He likes to make up what Saxon calls "some and some more stories" with them.  They go a little something like this:  "Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace Windu and Kit Fisto went to the Jedi temple.  Darth Vadar, Count Dooku and Darth Maul met them there to fight.  How many Star Wars figures are in the temple now?"  Harrison's answer: "Six and a half because Obi-Wan sliced Darth Maul in half with his light saber."  Ohhhh Kaaaay....onto less violent subjects.

Harrison says that this year Spelling is one of his favorites.  Actually he hasn't done a whole lot of formal spelling up to this point.  I was a little surprised by his enthusiasm. Here he's painting his study words for this week:

In History he's been getting kind of an overview of world cultures through the book Peoples of the World by Usborne before we dive into chronological world history.  When we read about different foods earlier this week, the book included a recipe for the Indian yogurt drink called lassi.  He really chugged it down.

"Do you like it Harrison?"

"Yeah...it tastes a lot like yogurt."  Uh....yeah.

The following is a descriptive paragraph he wrote (actually from our first week....but who's keeping track?!). 

My cat's name is Baxter.  He is fat and furry.  He has a pink nose and green eyes.  He is a little stinky.  He has a loud meow and a purr.  He is soft and warm.

He got a 97 on his first math test and 100 on his spelling test today.  I may not always share their grades, but when they're that good, why not?

And now on to Annaleigh....

The big news for our 6th grader is that she had her first tutorial classes earlier this week where she is taking 2 classes, voice and drama.

As homeschoolers we don't always get the chance to take the first-day-of-school-backpack-on-my-shoulder-going-out-the-door shot, so I rose to the occasion.

Here she is busy working on a color-coded Bible project:

In history she's learning about Ancient Egypt right now.  I bought one of those treasure chest thingies for that time period, so today she made some hieroglyphic messages with some stamps that were included.

A couple of the things she wrote were "God Rocks!" and "Johnny Depp."

The next series of photos I'm calling "Indiana Mimi" as they are of my mom, trying to decode Annaleigh's messages.  She told me not to post any of them here, so, of course, I'm posting all of them.

Annaleigh explaining how to use the decoder and Mimi thinking that the print is way too small.

Mimi laughing because I just told her I'm calling these pictures "Indiana Mimi" and she still is not "getting" the decoder.

"OK, I think I've got it," says Indiana Mimi.  "Where, by the way, is my whip?"

Here Indiana Mimi tries to hide behind her decoder, but she should know there is no hiding from the papparazzi.

Annaleigh:  "Look!  It's Indiana Mimi cracking the code!"

Mimi:  "Where are my BC headache powders?"

Stay tuned for the Adventures of Indiana Mimi and the Daycare of Doom....

Alright...enough of that.  Later today Annaleigh did her first science experiment, and I'll just be upfront and say that I really don't know what she was doing.  It involved rubbing alcohol, canola oil and some food coloring.  She used impressive little droppers and made impressive little drawings and notes, so I think I'll give her an A.  Give me a break...my lowest college grade ever was in Chemistry where I went down an entire letter grade every test.  Thankfully there were only 4 tests!

Wouldn't you give her an A?  Look how closely she's examining...whatever it is.

Thankfully, Big D arrived on the scene and was able to have an intelligent discussion about....whatever she was doing.

And then, I kid you not, right in the middle of this big mess on my dining room table, a big storm brewed up and our power went out for about 40 minutes.

Maybe God was saying, "Don't do Chemistry."  Huh...ya' think?  Maybe...please.!!!  For some reason, I see science in her future at that tutorial.  And, yes, Annaleigh is wearing flashlight strapped to her head.  I've tried to tell you we're a little nerdy.  Now, do you believe me?

And, finally, I can't leave out our mascots who learned how to play the congas...

and got steam-cleaned...

I promise the cleaner is NOT on.  And I promise those are not my legs.  Damon just wanted to show Ripley what could happen if he sits on his congas again, and Baxter just volunteered to help out.  He's just that kind of cat.  (Actually, he's about 17 years old, and it's hard to get him to move out of the way!)

I hope you enjoyed this peek into our week.  Happy schooling!

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And, I won't be around for a bit again, but when I return to the computer I plan to post about the mother-of-all-field trips.

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Last year I chronicled our 2nd day of school here at Hilltop Academy.  It was basically a total disaster, so blogging about it was sort of like therapy, since I can't afford to actually see a professional therapist.  This year our 2nd day of school went off without a hitch.  As I lay in bed last night pondering the ease of my 2nd day a disturbing sort of feeling washed over me....always a nice feeling right before you go to sleep, right?  It was sort of the feeling of the calm before the storm because surely not all days are going to go so smoothly, are they? 

Well, in the words of one of my favorite heroines, Scarlett O'hara, "I'll think about that tomorrow..." and I could also add "Fiddle-dee-dee" for good measure.

Since my 2nd day was so boring and non-incidental calm, I'll leave you with a link to my post from last year.  Enjoy...   click here.

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Last night as I sat in our school room, frantically making final preparations to begin school this morning, I sort of had a mental breakdown.  I didn't have to go dig out my straight jacket or anything, but I just had the most incredible feeling of being overwhelmed with it all...."all" being the papers, the books, the records, the copies, etc., etc., etc. Now please understand, I only have 2 kids....really GREAT kids.  It's really pretty easy to work with them.  But I have perfectionist tendencies and insecurities to boot.  I want everything to be just right and so-so and all that, but it rarely happens that way.  So basically what I'm saying is that I drive myself crazy.  Period.

Now, how dumb is that?!  I calmed myself down by sitting at the computer and praying for a minute. (Just for the record, I was already sitting at the computer doing some work....I don't normally go to the computer to have my prayer time.)  Soon after I was reminded of this song, a favorite by the artist Plumb (That's not her name.  I don't know what her name is, but this is what she calls herself...not her group, but herself.  Even radio dee-jays call her 'Plumb.'  I have read and re-read the liner notes of her albums trying to figure it all out, but to no avail.  It could drive a person nuts trying to figure out why....but I'm calming down now, so I won't go there.)  Anyway here is a protion of the song that I so clearly identify with...

Here are the lyrics, since I can't figure out how to get the whole song to play:

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My title probably needs an explanation if you do not use Sonlight curriculum.  Over on the Sonlight forum boards they call the day you receive your huge box(es) full of books "Box Day."  It has really become almost a holiday with some people.  For some FedEx people it can be a day of fear, as I'm sure that they are not accustomed to people running out onto their driveways to greet them with a bouquet of flowers or kissing their cheeks or offering to name their next child after them.  We're not that  crazy around here, but we do get excited.  I usually track on-line so I know the day, and then I do listen for the truck on my street.  I have yet to bake a cake or a ham for the delivery person.

Here's the kids (and the cat) after I told them the truck was in front of the house:

They were actually more interested in the delivery man's bright yellow mohawk and multiple piercings than the loot at this point.

Here is a posed picture of them before we open it:

Cheesy, I know, but they both made the catalog this year in a couple of places, so I thought we might try again.  And yes, I realize that Harrison is wearing black shoes with a navy and green outfit, and yes, it was bothering me.  It is still bothering me.  If I knew how to use Photoshop proficiently I would change the color of the shoes to navy.  I would.

Annaleigh is truly excited about the prospect of reading all these books.  She inherited a little nerdiness from me.  I couldn't be in any of these pictures because I had broken out in hives by this point because I was surrounded by good books.  I do that sometimes.  Barnes & Noble can be tricky for me.

And then there was this:

While Annaleigh and I checked off the order form, Harrison had climbed inside the box to look at D'Auliere's Book of Greek Myths.  Harrison usually isn't quite as excited about all the books as Annaleigh and I, and this isn't even his book, so I'm sure there was a sword or javelin picture involved.  Still, that would look nice in next year's catalog, wouldn't it?

And on a side note, I'm going to be away from the computer for a few days.  I should have some interesting subject matter when I return to the blogging world.  Have a great weekend.  Peace out.

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Hoo-ray!!!  It is over!!!

Actually, for us, it's never really over.  For one, I don't really finish things well.  I start really well, and then somewhere mid-way in things I start to flounder.  Finishing things for me is more like muddling through, just trying to keep my head above water.  This goes for school, scrapbook pages, dinner...basically whatever I set my hands to.  So with school we actually have a few more readers to get through, but I've never minded having these to do through the summer.  Harrison didn't complete about 15 or so math lessons, but I did skim them with him.  We do Saxon, so he'll get them again anyway; plus, he's a year ahead in math.  There are a few other odds and ends that sort of get swept under the carpet, but to be perfectly honest, I don't really care.  I don't think in all my years of public school that I ever finished a text book cover to cover, and I turned out ok....sort of.

For another thing, there are a few areas that we need to continue because they need some fine-tuning.  Both kids are going to practice their math facts everyday.  I think I'll just have them quiz each other with flashcards and then maybe take a timed test every once in a while.  Harrison is going to have to work on handwriting.  I think I'm just going to pick up some cheap workbooks from Wal-mart or somewhere and have him do a page a day.  And then of course they are going to read, read, read.  I don't think this is going to be a problem though since they are both frantically trying to earn prizes in our library summer reading program.  My kids are very materialistically motivated.

And then, of course, every summer I say that we are going to do some art and music related things that we never have time for during the school year...and then we never do them during summer either.  So, out of a sense for tradition, I'm saying that we're going to do some art and music related activities this summer too, so we'll see what happens!

Overall, we've had a great school year and are looking forward already to next year...

Here's a picture I took of the kids on August 7, 2006, our first day of school (sorry about the bad lighting):

And then here's a couple I snapped today...

Annaleigh is (gratefully) taking her final math test.  For it not being a favorite subject of hers, she has done very well!

Harrison laying on his bed reading.  This is probably his biggest accomplishment this year, moving from a sounder-outer to a true reader. He already has more than 40 books on his summer book log!

Now to be truly done, I just have to tackle this:

This is a stack of papers that I have to grade, sort, file and report all by the 15th of this month.  Yuck.

Here's to a great summer, ya'll!!!!

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This afternoon I enjoyed a very peaceful lunch.  I sipped my raspberry LaCroix water, ate my curly noodles with sauce, and perused the paper...and no, I was not at an Italian bistro.  I was in my own house, at my own table, and my kids were seated 2 feet from where I was.  And, no again, lunch is not like this at my house everyday.  Sometimes I get indigestion after lunch with my kids.  But today was fine, and this was why....

Ahhh...they were reading, in their own little worlds, totally absorbed, so that I could find myself in my own little world.  Very nice.

Now, this doesn't mean that I don't like to talk to my kids.  I do, actually, very much.  But sometimes when it's lunch time, I've had about enough of them because we've been up since 6am.  I've pulled their teeth already to get them to do their chores.  We've done math, language arts, some reading, a load of laundry or two, and I'm in sore  need of a break.

Harrison has just recently started trying to tackle chapter books.  He begged me to buy him this Pirates one yesterday at B & N.  He's already up to chapter 2, and he's wanting to tell me everything that's happening, which I won't allow because the book is based on the movie, which is not released yet.  Harrison doesn't like surprises that much....but I do!

Annaleigh is reading the comics.  But trust me, this girl READS!  She has recently joined an on-line book club that I'm in with some of Damon's family members.  I was a little skeptical at first, but she's keeping up just fine.  I limit her to the comics of the paper, because I don't necessarily want her to read about the details of the lady who shot her minister husband to death and then ran off with their 3 little girls.  She used to sometimes pick up the paper when I hadn't realized it, and then I would get questions like, "Mom, what is a strip club?"  So now I just hand her the Living section and let her read about Snoopy and Garfield's  latest antics.

So, if you feel like you have the lunch time blues, hand your cohorts a book, and enjoy a leisurely noontime meal!

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Hands down, my favorite thing about homeschooling is reading aloud to my kids.  There are a lot of people out there who are major supporters of this (I'm talking about reading aloud...not homeschooling), ranging from our First Lady, Laura Bush, to Oprah Winfrey and the reasons vary from person to person.  My reasons are pretty simple...

First, it is super easy to do.  All you need is comfortable spot, a good book, and at least one kid, and wa-la!...you're doing it!  Much, much easier than building an ant farm, or making a paper mache model of the Solar System or trying to find Dijibouti on the map (it's in Africa, by the way). 

Secondly, I enjoy it.  I am an avid reader myself.  I, like most public-schooled individuals, was deprived of a lot of the really great classic literature.  I enjoyed reading at an early age, but when I went to the library it was usually to find the latest installment of the Sweet Valley High series...not The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  As I have read to my children over the years, my heart has thrilled to discover all of that which I missed.  As a teacher to my children, give me the choice between dictating a list of spelling words or reading a chapter from Doctor Doolittle, and I will pick the book everytime.

Next, the kids enjoy it.  I have never finished a math lesson with either kid and have them beg me to teach them just one more.  However, I'm regularly assaulted when I attempt to put down our latest read-aloud because I feel an acute case of larangytis coming on.  I have had Annaleigh offer to make me some hot tea in order to continue.  Just this week she was able to manipulate me into finishing the last half of  The Wolves of Willoughby Chase in one sitting.  Actually it wasn't that difficult to twist my arm.  I, myself, was dying to know if Miss Slighcarp was going to get caught in her evil plot.

Finally,  it is not just for entertainment...they are learning something.  I do not agree with the statement, "It doesn't matter what they read, as long as they are reading."  There is  a lot of garbage out there, and I'm not just talking about inappropriate material.  I'm talking about literature that is just useless.  Charlotte Mason, a turn-of-the-century educator, called this type of print "twaddle," which I like.  I have chosen to use Sonlight curriculum because it is literature-based and twaddle-free.  There are some books that will just cause you to think, and those are the ones that I want to read to my children.  I will never forget a few years ago when we were reading Johnny Tremain, and Annaleigh wanted to put duct tape around her fingers for the afternoon to see what it would be like to be Johnny, who had his fingers welded together in a silver-smithing accident.  After reading Apple and the Arrow this year, Harrison went around for about a week with a bow and arrow strapped to his back, pretending to be William Tell.  Somehow I just don't think a history text would spark those kinds of reactions.

My favorite memory from grade school is my 4th grade teacher reading aloud a chapter everyday after lunch from Charlotte's Web.  I can still remember burying my face into the lacquer of my desk so that no one would see me crying.  One of my favorite memories of our family life is my mom reading Carolyn Haywood's Betsy series to me and my sister at night before we went to bed.  One of my favorite memories as a young married couple is reading aloud from several different books to Damon (although, sadly, we don't do this much anymore because he always falls asleep).  One of my favorite memories as a classroom teacher is the kids taking turns reading aloud Romeo and Juliet.  And now, fittingly, one of my favorite memories of raising my children is sitting on our sofa, enjoying the pages of great book together.

I guess it all comes down to this...

One comfy, overstuffed denim sofa:  $1,200

One paperback classic: $5.95

A cup of coffee, a Gatorade, a bottle of water, and two granola bars: oh, maybe 2 bucks or so, since it all came from Costco.

Memories and knowledge to last a lifetime:  PRICELESS

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Yes, as much as I believe that what we are doing here is good and right, there are sometimes occupational hazards that make me take a step back and ponder, "Hmmm..."

Yesterday when I was having some computer time, and the kids were supposed to be getting ready for taekwondo classes, I hear Annaleigh yell, "Ewww....that's so gross!"  She runs into where I am, holding her nose with one hand and a bottle of Harrison's Spiderman bubble bath with the other.  So far, I'm not seeing the connection.

Annaleigh: "Mom, you won't believe what is in this bottle!"  (Actually, it didn't come out quite that clearly because, remember, she's holding her nose.)

Me:  "Ummm...I have no idea, but I'm just taking a wild guess that it's not Spiderman bubblebath."

Annaleigh:  "Mom, it's pee!  PEE!  Harrison has been peeing in this bottle."

Me:  "What?!?"  I then summon the culprit in, not even having a clue how to question him about this.

Me, again:  "Harrison, your sister says there is pee in this bottle.  Why would you do such a disgusting thing?"

Harrison:  with a look of absolute wonder and innocence, "I was just trying to make you some window cleaner."

OK, so you the reader, probably need a rewind here.  A few weeks ago, when Annaleigh was studying the excretory system, we read that urine from a healthy person is actually quite clean and almost bacteria free.  The book said that it is  quite similiar to Windex in its chemical breakdown.  So my guess is that Harrison was listening to that and decided to save me some money on my next trip to Wal-mart.

Needless to say, we dumped his urine and threw away the bottle.  I also had a little talk with him, because I remembered the text also said that some cultures drink their urine during religious ceremonies.  I'm sure his next thought was to bring a little in a water bottle to church!

I think Annaleigh summed up the event well by saying, "Boys are really gross sometimes!"  And to that I might add, "And homeschool moms, be careful what you teach!"

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Sometimes you just have to love home schooling!  A few days ago I realized that Harrison's math lesson for Thursday was baking cookies in order to learn about measurements.  It couldn't have been timed more perfectly because I had almost all of the ingredients, and it happened to fall on a day that we were hosting our small group...so that would take care of my snack contributions.

I thought I would interview Harrison, and let him tell you in his own words, accompanied by pictures, how he made the cookies.

"First we put brown sugar in a bowl with the butter and mixed it up.  Then I cracked an egg open.  I really didn't like this because it's messy, and I had to go wash my hands again. "

"Then I mixed it real good.  I put in cinnamon, flour, baking soda and salt.  I measured them with cups and teaspoons.  Then I put in the apples.  The stirring was not hard to do."

"I made balls of the dough, and I put them on the cookie sheet.  It was kind of gooey."

"I got to lick the dough off the spoon.  It was really, really, really good.  It was my favorite part."

"I put the cookies in the oven for about 13 minutes.  Then they were done.  The pan was a bit heavy and hot.  I had to have something in my hands to keep them cool....I don't know what they are called."

"Me and Sissy got to eat a cookie with milk.  They were yummy.  I thought this lesson was really fun.  I learned how to bake and  use measuring cups."

Annaleigh, who was upstairs the whole time doing her own boring math lesson (until the eating part) has this to say:  "I wish I could cook for math!"

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We started back to school this morning after a little too long of a break. (I had planned to start back last Tuesday, but then got slammed with some unexpected events!)  We are R-U-S-T-Y (which I just imagined was said in a Tow-Mater type voice).

I started out my day well, with some quiet time...reading, praying, journaling.  Things started to go downhill when I got the kids up.  First of all, I woke them a little later than I planned after I got wrapped up in some laundry.  Then I had one of those "straw that breaks my back" moments when I saw Harrison's room.  I lost my temper, and I apologized for it later, but can anyone tell me why this child cannot do the right things with his clothes?  I found probably close to 15 single socks and 3 halves of unmatched PJs in his dresser...not folded, of course, but just wadded up in there.  There were also little legos everywhere, which is another matter altogether.  Things did not improve in Annaleigh's room, where I could not see one square inch of the floor of her closet.

Well, after we got those matter at least partially settled, we had a quick breakfast and began school.  I won't go into details, but I will say that Harrison threw a pencil once, broke into tears at least three times and ended the whole operation by throwing himself on the floor, and wailing, "I haven't done school in a loooong time.  I can't remember this stuff."  Well.  That may be true, but can't we deal with the difficulties in a more civilized manner?  Must we resort to this Broadway type of drama?

I guess I'll take it a little more slowly the rest of the week.  We do have several appointments this week, so I guess there's no sense in stressing everyone out.  I just have to trust that everything will eventually fall back into place.  And if not, how do I overcome the temptation to just take another week off?!?

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Two stories here, one for each kid.  I'll start with Annaleigh.

The other day my Mom was here for lunch, and the three of us, Mom, Annaleigh and I, were sitting at the table talking.  Annaleigh took a drink of water and sort of gagged.  When she got to where she could talk, she said, "Oh my!  I was laughing and my epiglottis must have been open because the water went down my windpipe instead of my esophagus!"  My Mom nearly died laughing.  After she recovered, she said, "Most people would just say, 'I choked.'"

And here's Harrison's...

We're studying plants in science.  After reading about bulbs, I saw an amaryllis bulb at Wal-mart and bought one so he could grow one for a science experiment.  When I got home and was unloading the car, I told him to go put the bulb in the house.  Well, I completely forgot about it.  A few days later, I remembered and realized I hadn't seen the amaryllis bulb.  I asked Harrison where he put it, and he said, "With the other bulbs, of course."  And where would that be I wondered.  How many other kinds of bulbs do we have in this house?  "It's with the onions," he further explained.  I had to chuckle as I realized his train of thought in putting away the bulb.

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Hi everyone!  The lapbooks I'm showing you are acutally not our most recent, but they are some of my favorites so far, so I wanted to make sure they didn't go unnoticed!

First, as I've mentioned before, Annaleigh is studying the 10-40 window, and while Antarctica is not really a part of that, it is included briefly in her  curriculum.  She really enjoyed this study, and we were able to find many little cool activities on-line (thanks to recent movies such as, Eight Below and  March of the Penguins!).  She did most of this lapbook herself, and I think it's one of her best yet.  Here's what the cover looks like.  Cute, isn't it?

Here's the inside.  We included a lift-the-flap of some arctic and antarctic animals, a timeline of Antarctic events on  a pretty icicle picture, a report on the life cycle of a penguin, a map puzzle, a mini book of Antarctic explorers and a word search on the back.

Harrison's lapbook was on a favorite read-aloud, My Father's Dragon.  On the cover, he drew a picture of the dragon, based on the author's description.

The inside was really fun!  We printed out a picture of Elmer's knapsack then put pictures or the objects themselves in the lapbook.  These were the items that Elmer packed to take to Wild Island.  On the side flaps we have pictures of the animals he encountered.  Then Harrison drew lines to who used what out of the knapsack.  He loved doing this!  The line-drawing got a little hairy, so I listed below the animal pictures what they used.  For example, under tigers it says 'gum.'  On the bottom we attached a mini-book with printouts and coloring pictures of all the animals in the book.

On the back we put a map of the island, colored it and circled where the dragon was located.

And that's about it!  This is such a fun way to learn.  I'm glad the kids enjoy them.  Stay tuned for pictures of Harrison's Johnny Appleseed  and Annaleigh's China lapbooks....

Oh, and by the way, did you notice I got my picture-sizing issues resolved?  Yay!!!

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OK...so I get this little survey in one of my comments.  So I  will try my best to answer.  There were no instructions, so I'm guessing I answer in the form of a blog entry.  I truly hope this is not my most boring post ever, but here goes...

1) One homeschooling book you have enjoyed

    I loved Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola.  I loved that she wrote a homeschooling how-to book of sorts like a novel.  I really fell in love with the fictional family that she invented.  I loved her homeschooling methods and I learned a lot about the Charlotte Mason style.  I loved that this was just a cozy, fun book.  I highly recommend it!

2) One resource you wouldn't be without.

My computer is an absolute given, but I will try to be a bit more creative here.  Hmmm...well, ok...this isn't that creative either, but I'm going to say my mounted whiteboard and markers.  I do absolutely no teaching using this, but everyday I write down my kids to-do lists on it.  It's right in front of their faces all day.  They'd be lost without it...and so would I!

3) One resource you wish you had never bought.

Oh man...a lot!  How do I narrow this down?  Every year I spend money on  things that I don't end up using.  I guess one of the more expensive things was the Explode the Code wall chart with little felt toys.  It's cute, but we never really used it much.  It's still hanging on the wall though because like I said, it's really cute.  Plus it lends credibility to our schoolroom.  It's one of those things that strangers that walk in here will look at and think, "Wow....what a neat room!  They must really learn a lot in here!"

4) One resource you enjoyed last year.

Surprisingly, I would say Winston Grammar.  I bought this at a yard sale for $1.  I never really thought it would be such a hit, but my daughter really liked it.  For my son it would be Sing, Spell, Read Write.  We had tried the pre-school version and it never really got off the ground.  A friend is letting us borrow the next level, and we all really like it.  I think it's an excellent program!

5) One resource you will be using next year.

I have no idea beyond Sonlight Core 1 and 6.  I never know until I get my Rainbow catalog to see what goodies are in there.

6) One resource you would like to buy.

The Cricut diecut machine.  Oh, did you mean for homeschooling?  Well, I would let the kids use it to make lapbooks....I promise!

I guess for homeschooling, it would have to be more bookshelves.  Or a new house with an extra room for a library.

7) One resource you wish existed.

Maybe some type of palm pilot type thing especially designed with homeschoolers in mind, with only the features that you would need.I realize that these are probably

fairly customizable already but I'm afraid of gadgets like that.  I want one that 's simple and to the point.

8) One homeschooling catalog you enjoy reading.

Although I'm a diehard Sonlight fan, I must say I just drool over the 1000 page Rainbow catalog.  And you can't beat their prices!

9) One homeschooling website you use regularly

Sonlight's forums.  You get great ideas and support there for a rather unique curriculum.

10)How many days under your belt this year?

Oh let's see...we start our 9th week of homeschooling tomorrow, so how many days is that?  40 days?  Is that all?!  Good grief...

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Lapbooking is something I discovered about a year or so ago, and it has been THE perfect learning tool for our family.  They are hands-on projects, but yet they still have a purpose.  Generally we use them as a culminating activity for a particular topic that we've been studying.  If this is something that is new to you, I would recommend doing a google search on the topic...you find loads of material on it.  A very visual website that I've found is www.scrapbookingtolearn.com  .  They have a lot of examples and how-tos to get you started.

For Harrison's first lapbook this year, we did early civilizations, focusing on prehistoric, Egyptian and Roman societies.  In the first picture you can see his cover.  We decorated it to look like a time machine, and before anyone opens it, Harrison makes quite a production of pushing and bleeping the buttons he attached.  The 2nd photo shows the inside.  We've included a caveman shape book where he dictated facts he learned about them, a cave painting (his is a buffalo and a sun) and examples of now-extinct animals.  For Egypt we wrote his name in hieroglyphics, a mini coloring book with images such as a mummy, a pyramid, etc, and then on the back there are 2 Egyptian games that we printed out, colored and played.  The Roman section includes another mini coloring book, a maze, and a Roman soldier paper doll (his favorite because it comes with a weapon!).

Annaleigh is studying the Eastern Hemishere this year, and for each area we're studying, she is going to complete a lapbook.  Her first was on the Pacific Islands.  The first picture is her cover, where she includes 2 tickets for your island adventure.  The next 2 photos are the inside, which include a palm tree timeline, a very detailed map, an animal mini book, and a fish-shaped mini book, which tells the story of what she would do if she were trapped on a deserted island.  The back has an envelope that includes her Pacific Island paper dolls that she spent two weeks meticulously cutting out!

And there you have it!  I'm sorry the pictures are so small.  Although I've figured out how to post, I'm still having all kinds of glitches in the sizing.  They either end up huge like the birthday ones from yesterday or pretty small like today's.  Maybe I'll eventually figure it out...

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Can you believe it?  Photos on my blog page!!!  Well, I've been at this all day, and I am now exhausted as it is very late.  More later...

Here is Harrison doing his science activity sheets.  He's coloring in the rainbow.

Annaleigh is helping Harrison with a science experiment on how warm air expands.  Don't you just love that we can homeschool in our bathing suits?!

Annaleigh is loving all of her computer work this year.  She is getting very proficient at using her World Book CD to research all of her countries in the Eastern Hemisphere Explorer.

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Arrrghhhh!  I sort of have a love/hate relationship with my computer.  It is brand new, a Dell, has a large, flat screen monitor.  We also recently just went to a cable modem, wireless connection, and after years of dial-up purgatory, I feel giddy as I watch the pages load at lightening speed.  As I sit down in front of it, it seems to purr at me, "So, what's not to love?"  The answer is simply, "I don't understand you!!!" 

 I have not blogged in over a week because I have been wanting to post some pictures.  I have pictures of me at a recent American Idol concert, pictures of Annaleigh's aboriginal art, of Harrison's science notebook, our schoolroom....all waiting to be viewed by you.  But can I, like millions of other people, post them to my blog for the world to see?  Heck, no!  Actually I did get one picture loaded...the one of me at the concert...but it was beyond huge, and I'm not sure why.  One look at my gargantuan arm, and I pounded the delete button, closed the page, and I haven't been back since until today.  I told Damon my woes, to which he replied, "Well, we need to resize the pictures."  Ummm...duh.  Yes, I would like for my nostril to not be the size of the Grand Canyon.  I'm afraid I just don't know how to make that happen.  {sigh}

So anyways, until I can get my technological issues figured out, you will have to use your imagination to see into the workings of my life.  I think the "you" in that sentence is about 5 or less people, so I guess it's not all that earth-shattering.

Here's what's been going on since I so rudely departed from blogging life....

We have started our 4th week of homeschooling, and it is all flying by.  Annaleigh finished up studying the Pacific Islands.  She made a nice lapbook including a lot of the elements from her Eastern Hemisphere Explorer workbook.  (Don't you wish there was a picture of it here?)  We also had a luau complete with marinated pork, pacific rim green beans and baked bananas...delicious.  Again, I have a picture of us all decked out in our leis, but just visualize for now! 

Since finishing that, she has started Australia and NewZealand, which we are sort of combining.  We watched The Rabbit Proof Fence, which was a wonderful view into the aboriginal world, not to mention a very touching story.  We are also going to try to squeeze in the Snowy River movies, and Australian IMAX, possibly Whale Rider, and finally we may view the making-of discs of our Lord of the Rings which show some amazing footage of New Zealand where they were filmed.  And as cheesy as it sounds, we are going to Outback Steakhouse in lieu of our culminating cooking activity this Friday.  Australian food is not as interesting, and the luau sort of wore us out.

She is loving her study of Human Anatomy.  I can tell she's learning a lot by all of the somewhat gross facts that she keeps throwing around to all who will listen.  In some ways she kind of reminds of that kid from the Jerry Maguire movie.

Harrison is pretty enthusiastic about all of his studies.  He was enthralled by Boxcar Children, so I think we will read some of the others in that series.  The Apple and the Arrow, which we are reading now about William Tell, is much deeper, so I was concerned that the gist of it really wasn't sinking in, but so far he's been able to answer all of my questions and does a decent job of narrating it back.  We are reading much more than the schedule requires, so we will be ahead.  He is also loving science.  We are now studying flowers and plants.  We did a lot extra during his most recent science experiment, and he is very observant.  We made a page for his notebook, and he really did a great job of drawing and labeling a rose. Stay tuned for a picture...maybe...

He's also memorized his first poem, "The Caterpillar" by Christina Rosetti, which we made a cute little display for.  A picture of it would look nice here, don't you think?

Overall, I think we've all fallen nicely into a do-able routine.  I am emotionally exhausted sometimes in the afternoons after going back and forth all day, but such is life, I guess.  I could have chosen an easier curriculum for parents, but I love what we do, and feel it is the best for our family, so I suffer the consequences.   And here, I'm thankful I have no idea how to insert a picture of me lying prostrate on the couch! 

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The other day a funny thing happened.  I was doing a grammar lesson with Harrison.  I had written a mixed up sentence on his white board.  It said: 

                   rug.  Mom dust the will

I had him read the words, and then I said, "Now that doesn't make sense does it?  How can you change the words so that will make sense?"  He screwed up his face a bit, while thinking, and finally said, "How about  'Mom will bite the dust?"  I nearly fell out of my chair laughing!  After  I was able to control my hilarity I explained that he can't change the words, just the order, and then he got it right, but still didn't think it was a great sentence.   I think perhaps I probably need to do a little more cleaning and a little less karaoke...a little more grammar and a little less Queen!

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I was a classroom teacher years ago...about a decade, as a matter of fact...so I well remember the back-to-school angst that parents and students feel. (Although I taught junior high and high school, so I always got the feeling that the parents were sort of shoving them through my doors!)  I have always thought had I chosen to send my children to a school, whether public or private, that I would have a hard time, emotionally, with that.  I think especially in the early elementary grades.  So, earlier this week, when I was perusing the newspaper, the title of "Boo-hoo Breakfast" caught my eye.  Basically, this is an event hosted by a local elementary school for parents and children to ease the tradition on their first day back to their educational institution.  I chuckled a bit to learn that they have a completely separate meal for the kindergartners and their families, as the rest of the school all eats together.  Apparently, the emotions of those leaving their babies for the first time is a bit raw.  I stopped smiling however when I kept reading and came across this comment of a kindergartner's mother:  "Every time I think about it, I feel like crying.  I don't know what to feel, " she says.  She continues with, "He is going to be here with all of these different kids from other homes.  He's going to have to stand up and think for himself."  Now that's just sad.  The child she's talking about is five.  These are the feelings that I'm expecting to have when mine leave for college.  The part of thinking for himself really got to me.  Is that what they have to do in a classroom setting?!  Mine can never go then.  Thinking for themselves involves all-day imaginary battles with wooden swords, watching  Princess Diaries  over and over again and eating Teddy Grahams and chocolate milk for lunch.  I really don't mean to belittle or be condescending about or to these parents.  I just sometimes wonder about these women who have a hard time letting go, if maybe homeschooling isn't the road they should be taking.  I have found in my few years experience that so many think it's a very good idea, but they just don't think they are capable of it.  I've been told various reasons---lack of knowledge, lack of time, lack of patience....whatever.  And I have no doubt that these fears are real, as I had some of these myself.  But at the same time, I badly want to articulate to them that those things really don't matter.  I want to say, "Don't worry.  You will figure out what you're doing.  You have plenty of time because it really doesn't take the whole traditional school day to teach your children what they need to know.  You will lose your patience, but that's ok.  You'll get it back, and your kids will still love you."  That's a lot to explain though, and in casual conversation, it is hard to convey convincingly.  I had to pause during my coffee that morning to really be thankful that I didn't allow my fears and shortcomings to deter me from what I knew was God's purpose for our family.  I also found myself praying for those heart-broken mothers who just dropped off their precious little ones for the first time...that God would hold them and their children close to His heart.

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