Oct. 6, 2008 - Monday recess
Kids are playing outside and I'm zappin' a cold cup of coffee.
Just beeped; let me go get it.
There's that's better.
Well, we have an event Friday. It is a Mother/Daughter Tea Party. I've got 2 games planned. One game is "What is that Nursery Rhyme?" in which a line from a nursery rhyme is given and participants guess the title of the nursery rhyme. Doesn't that just sound like fun? The other one is "What can we bring to the tea party?" The leader will name some things that can be brought (e.g. spoons, butter, cookies) and other participants come up with something that can be brought. If they give a correct guess (cheese), the leader will say "yes, you can come to the tea party." If they say a wrong item (fruit), "I'm sorry. You cannot bring that." Participation goes around the circle once, then the participants give another correct answer and then can guess as to the rule it follows (double letter). Because there may be young ones there that will need help, older ones are welcome to give clues to help them out.
Also, I've asked a friend to come speak. She is a wonderful woman who I knew in my high school years as a wife and homeschool mother that was in a way a mentor to me. A lot of the mentoring that took place was by example. I loved how her family was--how they related to each other. It seemed like it was the way it was supposed to be. Those were the years that started that desire to homeschool in me. It was because of home, not because of intelligent children (even though hers are), and not because of bad schools (it wasn't all that bad where I was--at least some parts), nor because of support (I knew of no one else in our church that home schooled). She went against the culture I'm sure. This is about home/family--being there and helping each other and learning with each other--doing things together. Certainly God has called me to do this, but how would I have had a picture of what it looked like if I had not ever seen her family, if she had not opened her home and her family to me. I'm very thankful.
Oh and if anyone wants to come to my house--there are no guarantees what it will look like.
Sep. 23, 2008 - Tuesday recess
Let's see: today during recess the kids are outside in the backyard, my husband is working at Home (WAH), and I'm taking a moment to write a blog--something, anything.
My son is doing better going faster in math on the timed problems--I'm very happy about that.
My daughter is struggling to spell. She reads very well, but the same word she just read, she couldn't write down correctly, so we had to go back over her work. I've been very surprised at this.
My 2nd daughter is trying to think of things to do. It has been hard to bounce from 4th grade math to 2nd grade reading to watching the preschoolers sort and make patterns. I want her to learn as much as the other two did during the preschool year, but it just isn't equal time. I have the feeling that others get to this point with baby3, baby4, etc. and turn their plans into curricula that uses more grades at one time. In any case, it is looking more and more like at some point we will turn to that.
In other news, financial worries has everyone on the freak-out point. Hang on guys--this may not end well, but Jesus is still on the throne. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Jul. 1, 2008 - American History Colonial
We worked on our American History some yesterday. I put it on my lapbook page here with photos of how it is going. I made a few comments about it. I'm still trying to figure it all out.
Jun. 9, 2008 - new to lapbooking
I've been trying to figure out lapbooking. In the fall when we start our science, lapbooking will be a helpful tool. So today we were working on American History, I read through the material from last week and made some folded papers. I showed the children what I was looking for them to do.
This American History section was about the Native Americans and the Explorers. So I started with a folder and one cardstock weight paper taped to the top. Under that flap was a "tepee" like folded paper. On the inside, they were supposed to write or draw some of the dwellings that the Native Americans used. They kept asking me what to draw or write and I had to keep reminding them that they were supposed to look in the book for the information or pictures. This seemed good to me as I feel like they were taking that first step of learning on their own.
When the cardstock paper was laid down, they were able to add pictures and information about explorers. I wanted to give them the idea that the Native Americans were here first. I didn't have help or ideas to work with and I thought of that on my own. However, the folds and flaps were from a number of websites and links that I followed up on.
I made a list of the explorers, where they were from, what they found, and what year they did this. The kids copied that. I had asked, especially my oldest, to look for more info and add it to the flaps connected to the explorer's name. Those were added to the sides. Then in the middle on top of the main flap, the kids put a folded paper in the shape of a triangle or a sail and had them draw a boat under it. The triangle/sail booklet was for them to write about Columbus' ships. Again, the oldest only put in more info than just the names of the ships.
I might try and get some pictures taken and posted in a place called lapbooklessons.ning.com
If I get around to it before we leave on our vacation and that begins tomorrow!!!
TR
May. 25, 2008 - school is finished
We wrapped up our schoolwork on Friday. I try to make our last day of school on Emmy Day. This is a special day we celebrate for our daughter who was born on Dec 23. We get her gifts and make a cake. Only this year we made brownies. Part of the present is the announcement that school is over for the summer. There is always much rejoicing at that, I can tell you. So Emmy Day is "our" holiday--part birthday, part last day of school--100% celebration.
Even though Emmy Day is our last day of school, I'm making plans to do some science, art and Amer.History during the summer months. I realized that as we have focused on World History, the children haven't had a clue as to what the Civil War was. I feel like I had too much American History growing up; in fact, it felt as if all the teachers were in some kind of conspiracy to NEVER talk about history that wasn't Amer.History. I went too far. Now when we visit a historic site such as a battlefield, the children seem so uninterested b/c they haven't a clue about American History. Well, I figured that we have 8 Mondays in the summer available to work on American History. I picked up an Amer. History Encyclopedia from the library and divided the time line until the 1900s (we'll have to do later than that next summer :). I have a few other books to use with it. I plan to take the whole day on Monday to talk about that period, read bios, look at pictures, or whatever can be done. I think it will work, but it will be an experiment on my part.
Art will be on Wednesdays. I plan to do about 3 or 4 lessons during the day using different forms (paint, drawing, markers, etc.). I'm thinking about doing science lessons on Tuesdays or Thursdays. I'm thinking about doing 2 or 3 lessons in the day and if we don't have the materials, we'll go out and get them and come back and finish the lessons. Science we never got to during the school year because of math and reading. I always meant to. In fact, I mean to do all this during the summer and who knows if it will really happen. Funny thing is, my son loves science and always "plays" science projects and knows a lot from the little bitty science Encyclopedia he has. He knows more on his own than anything I've done.
Well, I hope all these plans work out.
Jan. 27, 2008 - study got canceled
Since the previous post, much has happened. The Bible Study that I was going to start on Thursday night was canceled. This ended up being a good thing because the other mom I work with on Thursday at co-op called with a bigger problem than me not having her there to instruct the children in PE activities. It was her turn to lead the next morning and I had nothing planned. Nothing (but her issue was really more important). Then Wednesday, I threw together some games and then had an awful night at AWANA. I suppose it could be worse, but it was very frustrating. More on that some other time.
I had to make the plans and ask for help at the co-op during the PE activities and thankfully they put me with a good friend and she really helped me, not just with crowd control but moral support. However, that morning during "announcements", there was this "announcement" that was meant specifically for me b/c I was the only one who was early b/c my husband was meeting a friend for a ride into work (we were able to spend 10 more minutes together in the car and we prayed together--this is SPECIAL). The announcement was that no one should show up before 8:15am as the kids get tired out quickly and might get into trouble before class starts. AAAHHH.. Why not come to me and find out why I was early and ask if my kids could be given something to do? I don't know. I'm beginning to think I jumped this co-op deal and it's not working out. I feel I'm over-worked and picked on. Maybe it's just the way one of the leaders tries to work things out, but I'm already burnt out and we've been 3 times.
I don't know how I'm going to deal with this.
But this weekend was fun.
Nov. 5, 2007 - Bridge-a-Thon
Back and forth 4 times over this bridge is about 5 miles.
Jan. 10, 2007 - math
According to Saxon 2nd grade math, my second grader should be able to do about 10-15 problems in a minute. This is considered "acceptable." My problem is that his average is about 7 or 8 problems per minute. He gets them all correct, but he just goes so slow. The priority is correctness, I suppose. I guess my only recourse is to do flash cards over and over and find math computer games to play. This seems to just make our school day so much longer. How much should I stress speed? Should we work on flashcards everyday to get him "up to speed"? or should I be more like, "do your best; it'll come" ? I'm most concerned b/c next year is mandatory state testing for grades 3-9 and at the rate he does -everything- he won't make a good score just b/c he won't even get half-way through the test. I just don't know how much pressure to put on him to speed up.
Any thoughts?
Sep. 22, 2006 - Fire station day
The children and I went to the Fire Station today as a planned event through our local group. Besides my little ones, my friend brought one of hers, and 3 other moms came with their little ones. The fireman who showed us around was great and the kids seemed to like it, but they didn't ask questions like I thought they might. The moms didn't really talk to each other and my friend and I just had our cameras with us and that's what we came to do (yearbook and newsletter purposes).
It's too bad that there was not some deeper connection with these ladies/moms. I don't know if any of us knew each other except my friend and I. It think I want to explain this to the Event Coordinator of our group--that, after we get the fire station tour, we ought all to meet at the park to get to know each other better. Might help some of the "what-do-we-do-now" looks.
Other than that, I had fun.
:)
Aug. 28, 2006 - Rod & Staff and a little me
We had a really good school day. Last night, I was looking over the lessons for today and saw that today's science lesson (in the Rod and Staff 2nd grade science book) was on seeds. Sure I was tempted to just read the story and work the questions with him. Maybe go outside and find out what seeds are in our own overgrown weedy yard. I had collected Strawberry seeds, blueberry seeds and pineapple seeds from some recipes early this month. I have been reading online about this new, cool thing called Lapbooks, and I myself like to scrapbook, so I thought "I wonder if for this lesson we can scrapbook our seeds." So from the lesson I came up with a way to scrapbook in a folder the seeds I'd collected. I wrote out the facts from the lesson and the Bible verse. I took a picture of our huge oak tree and found a small acorn. I taped all this together and showed it to him this morning. I left him to work on it this afternoon and he was so excited about this project. It was really fun. I am glad I had a sample to show him--I think that made a big difference--he could see the end result or goal of what I was asking of him.
Jul. 11, 2006 - newsletter
I was surprised that the last entry was July 5th. Wow, it's been awhile. I have been trying to get the Homeschool Newsletter ready to go. The deadline for stories is Saturday, and almost all the space is filled. It will be hard for me to take out stuff that doesn't matter or is less important. I know that I can send an email announcement about a lot of these things that won't fit. In that sense, I'm glad I have a computer with internet and stuff like that. I'm also thankful that I can do my layouts on the computer instead of by hand like we used to in high school. My, how times have changed.
I've really been enjoying this in a strange way. I'm nervous about the first issue b/c in all truthfulness, I don't want the newsletter to reflect me as a bad person but also I don't want the newsletter to be junk mail for the members of our homeschooling group. There is the pressure of real people who don't know me seeing this paper and forming opinions about me or the others of the group. I'm nervous I'll make a mistake. Actually, I hope I make a good, harmless one right at first so that everyone knows I'm just human (like themselves) and make mistakes. That would probably relieve some tension. I'm excited about the editor task b/c I enjoy the layout part and the planning part, and getting my vision of news and information on paper (or screen :) for others to see. I've been doing newspaper for a long time it seems and I feel comfortable in this role. I THINK that when one starts looking at a project in a way that he finds himself saying (to himself, I should add) "I would do it this way or that way." Not so much to just be critical but to really add value, then he should consider if God is calling him to be a part of that task. I say "consider" because some folks are so good at so many things that the person couldn't be a part of every task without being mediocre in most areas.
Having gone on about that, I should just say, "I'm excited and nervous." Now, I have another problem. I'm so focused (at least, lately) on the newsletter issues that I haven't thought much about the plans for next year. I haven't got all the books in yet, but when I sat down to look through the ones I do have, it hit me. HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO TEACH TWO? What can one do while I focus on the other? What is the 3 year old going to do? This doesn't seem like a very peaceful prospect. It seems like planning will be shot out the window. I can't have that. Oh boy, I'm thinking about last minute homeschool details too much and panicking. Well, we'll see...
Apr. 10, 2006 - Our school room
We got a picture of our school room on a bad day. Maybe we should be using Handwriting Without Tears rather than A Reason for Handwriting. 
And a nice picture of our school sofa with us still in our pajamas. 
We play silly games sometimes.
Mar. 23, 2006 - can't quite figure out the best
A friend on the church staff brought up this situation to me that happened to her this week. She interviews people who have asked the church for "benevolence." This particular incident involved a grandma, mom, and 8 yr old daughter who needed help. My friend said the mom homeschooled her daughter, but the girl wasn't getting what she needed (as far as education, in this sense). The girl was running around and not behaving. My friend didn't think she could read or anything. The first thing my friend asked, though, was who is in charge of all the homeschoolers in the area. "Who makes sure they are tested?" Arkansas laws don't require testing until 3rd grade. My friend was afraid the girl was getting behind and would be ostracized (sp?) for not having an education. She also mentioned things about the family, like the mom was afraid to get a job b/c of a scary email, and my guess is that that is why she keeps her daughter home as well. My friend told me that she gave a recommendation to this family for the mom to put her daughter in school and for her to apply for some jobs. I think the church might have given some temporary help. What a hard place to be in. I don't know what I would have said or done in that situation. It seems like the mom needs Jesus so she doesn't live in fear and then she needs to change the reasons why she homeschools. I'm wondering if the reasons for why a family homeschools makes or breaks the success of the children's education.Mar. 8, 2006 - homeschool yearbook
today we had another meeting to put together our homeschooling yearbook. We are almost done. Usually three momma's come and one high schooler. We have other high schoolers on the yearbook team, but they don't usually come to the layout meetings. Now, we've had a hard time with folks responding to our pleas to buy a yearbook. We need 100 orders for yearbooks and we only have 57. We have 180 families in our local "support" group. We were talking today about the whys of families not wanting to "support" us. We don't understand. We buy the girl scout cookies they ask us about and the fundraisers for band and basketball teams. I think we are a very disconnected and un-unified. I wish I could find the kind of close friends and support groups I long for. I wonder how all this is connected. Do we have prejudices--religious, I mean? What keeps everyone from so far apart? Cell phones? I don't know, I'm just wondering out loud.Feb. 28, 2006 - well, rules meant to be tested
I wasn't able to finish my daily chores or school, but I really wanted to type something out before I forgot. I am scared of this new section in science. I don't think it will go very well. I didn't have a clear path for the year from the beginning, but managed fairly well with studying animals and the human body. These subjects seem easier to me, but when we start talking "grow some plants" for observations--I get scared. I seem to kill everything I want to grow. This is why I had articifial plants at my wedding. This is why I llike to do floral arrangements with artificial plants. This is why I sped through college biology in a two week intensive summer course, so I wouldn't have to think about it long. I don't like getting my hands dirty or running into creepy crawlys. I never remember about watering, figuring it'll get enough if it would ever rain. BUT I don't want my little ones to miss out on the unfolding of spring. So I'm not sure what to do. I wish I could skip over this stuff, but that would be the greater tragedy.Feb. 22, 2006 - some more about me
I was born in Texas, grew up in Louisiana schools and finally went to high school and college in Arkansas. I met a family while in high school that homeschooled. I thought their family was so neat, and it got me thinking all about homeschooling. When my husband and I were dating in college, we talked about school. I knew he had a good experience in the public school and saw no reason to homeschool once we had children. My first son was born about 2 years after we were married and I had still hoped to homeschool, so I prayed "Lord, change his heart or change mine." When my son was 3 years old and my daughter was 1, I felt like God had answered my prayer--He changed both our hearts. I no longer cared to be with my children all day long and teach them because at 3 yrs old, my son wasn't "cooperating" (he wasn't learning i.e. he was being 3). This happened at the same time my husband was saying, "oh, I think homeschooling is a great idea." My husband encouraged me to just be patient and see how it goes. A kindergartener learns so much easier than a 3 yr old. So I'm glad it all worked out. I love homeschooling. I don't know if my children will always love it, and I know we'll go through difficult times of school not being as much fun as others. I'm just so glad I get to. I'm glad we have this freedom here in this country.
