I absolutely hate that I have to do this, but I have had to start a new home for our homeschool blog.  I have a few others that I have started, and I think it will be much easier to manage if they are all in one place.  I also think my new blog host is easier to use considering I do not have much experience in the computer world.

     I have already moved my list of blogging friends to the new site, so I will not be gone, really.  I will just have a different "address."  I know I will still be coming by to "random blog" because I have learned so much this way, as well as found some great new friends.  I hope that my friends will change my address on their friends list.  I wish to stay in touch!

New blog site:  www.learningatourhouse.wordpress.com

     We have finally finished our first Boxcar Children book.  We should have been done ages ago, but as I have mentioned before- March was busy!  I was very impressed that when little R and I picked it back up last night, he remembered all the last details where we left off.  We went to the library this afternoon to return and then check out the next Boxcar Children- "Surprise Island."

     I don't remember reading any of these books when I was young.  I don't even remember hearing the titles.  I find it interesting because I have always enjoyed reading;  even at a young age. 

     My boys are having a great time pretending to be the boxcar children.  They have been using their play dishes and food and are pretending to live like the boxcar children did in this first book.  Watching them brings back memories of my own childhood.  What a precious time in life.

I miss hanging out here on homeschoolblogger.  I have gotten myself so busy lately that I have not been able to find time to write.  I am going to make a strong effort to visit more often.

March has proved to be a busy month.  Usually it is the month that takes the longes to pass by since it is like the gateway to spring where I live.  But, this year a lot seemed to fill it up.  The first week started off with an unexpected trip to San Diego California.  I have  an uncle who lives out there.  He had a heart attack, and my mom asked me to make the trip with her.  So, two days later we were on a flight headed across the country.  It was my mom's first time on an airplane.  She did great, though.  My uncle was in the hospital for almost two weeks, but he is home now and doing better.  He needs to make a conscious effort to take better care of himself!  We got to be out there with him for about a week.

The next thing I new, it was time to get ready for Randy's birthday, Easter, then spring break.  I hate when time slips away from me, but at the same time I am glad to be through March. 

I have also been trying to make an effort to get back in shape and lose some extra weight.  I have been writing on another blog about it, and in the process have discovered how much I like writing.  Since then I have started a few more blogs which have been taking up a lot of my extra time. 

I am sorry this entry is a lot of ramble.  I just figured that it would be nice to share a little explanation before I move along.

Wow!  I don't know where March went!  In the midst of it all, my first born turned the big 5!!!  I cannot believe how fast time flies, especially where children are concerned.  Here is my favorite picture of the big day...

     I am sorry for the long absence.  As you all know, life just gets busy sometimes.  We have not done a ton of structured activities in the classroom lately.  We did get up to the letter S in the Veritas curriculum.  Both boys now know all of the letters and their sounds, so doing the work doesn't seem to be as much fun as it once did.  Since we are way ahead of schedule, I have decided to back off a bit for now. 

     We did get some books at the library to explore.  Randy has not developed a taste for any particular type of book as of yet, so I picked out three to try.  They are... "Bridge to Terebithia," "Little House in the Big Woods," and, "The Box Car Children."  My hopes were that he would fall in love with at least one of these, but he has actually got me reading to him from all three!  Being an avid reader myself I find great joy in this.  It will be interesting to see how long it takes for us to get through them.

     Another thing we have been doing lately, mainly to fight the winter blues and cabin fever, is going to the museum.  Our museum has a wonderful children's museum as well.  We can spend hours there at our visits and the boys never seem to get bored!  I have gone ahead and purchased a membership.  I am certain that the museum will prove to be a big part of our learning journey.

     I wish I had more to write about at the moment.  I am sure that if I had more time to sit here and write that I could indeed come up with more.  Hopefully the upcoming weeks will prove to be less busy and that will be the case later.  Thank you for not giving up on me!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

     As soon as I think I have figured out just what kind of learning we will do in our house, I start second guessing myself.  Occasionaly, I go from thoughts of doing school in a box such as Calvert, to putting together my own curriculum.  I am starting to figure out that there is no particular way to learn in which is best.  I am still fighting the style of learning that fits the public school mode;  after all, I did spend a whole thirteen years of my life there!  It is not easy to change habits over night, including habits of thought.

     I have been spending time reading The Charlotte Mason Companion, by Karen Andreola.  At first I did not think it would appeal to me.  I guess my first impression was that school would be very quiet with little else going on.  I don't know why I thought this.  Maybe it is the fact that Charlotte's style of learning focuses on using books and doing a lot of reading.  As I got further into Andreola's book last night, however,  I found that I could not put it down!  I never thought of using living books in addition to a text book, for instance, and doing other projects or field trips to tie in to whatever the topic of learning happens to be.  Often I feel lost when it comes to planning and preparing for school, so the idea of using a text as a guideline was very appealing.  I myself very much enjoy reading, therefore I would love if my boys would learn the habit.

     So far, I like using the Veritas Phonics Museum, (with the exception of the D'Nelian style of printing, though my son doesn't seem to mind), and Saxon math.  In the fall I would like to add to our list.  I am thinking about using the Charlotte Mason style and putting our focus into reading about history and science (following the trivium?)  

     Hmm... I guess I just answered my own question.  What I still need to figure out, though, are what books will be part of the History and Science lessons.  I would love to get some feed back on this.  I know the first year of the first cycle of the trivium is all about ancient history.  I think that would be perfect being that my son is very interested in mummies and pyramids (thanks to a Reading Rainbow show he recently watched...lol!) 

     Okay, Daddy's birthday was before Carson's, but better late than never, right?

     I can't believe my baby is three!  Time sure goes fast.  I am a few days late in posting, but here is his birthday picture.

(I know, a sad looking cake.... he will have his official birthday party with a much better cake this coming weekend.)

     I feel so special!  I have gotten my first blogging award from naturalpaths.

     I am now suppose to give the award to ten others who I feel deserve the excellent blog award.  For all I know you all may already have the award, but here goes....

westward

momco3

HisPoiema

Tearinn

Icecastle

4sweetums

TwaddleMeNot

Drewsfamilytx

littleeblingsacademy

sixfolks

     Thanks to HisPoiema,  I have been introduced to "Raising Godly Tomatoes," by L. Elizabeth Krueger.  There is a website where you can read from the different chapters in the book, but I have ordered my copy and am patiently waiting for it's arrival. 

     I really like what I have read so far.  Krueger compares raising children to raising tomatoes in that if you pay attention to your tomato garden and stay involved with it, you should have a successful harvest.  I particularly like her version of tomato staking.  Here she says that you have to keep your children with you at all times, especially while they are very young.  This is not just so you can see and hear what they are up to, but so that you can quickly intervene when necessary.  It is important to be consistant with the training/discipline process. 

     I am fascinated with philosophy, and I am anxious to read more of the book.  I have a feeling I will be stuck on chapter one for quite awhile (I desparately need to work on the intervening immediately part...lol), but I plan on writing updates of my own journey staking tomatoes.

     We recieved our shipment from Veritas Press very rapidly.  I really didn't expect it to arrive for quite awhile, being that we are in the holiday season and all.  I was very excited once it arrived!

     I am very anxious to get started with the Phonics Museum.  There are a ton of hands on activites involved.  I think it will help to make it more fun.  Both of my children seem to enjoy the hands on approach to learning.  I guess it has a lot to do with their ages.  There are phonics flash cards that do have pictures on them.  The picutures are great works of art.  I found it a refreshing change from the usual plain pictures that are more commonly used.  I pulled them out the other day to show my almost three-year old.  I found it interesting how he would spend more time looking at each card.  What a clever approach to teaching beginning letter sounds!  I was also surprised to find that he already knows the letters in the alphabet by appearance!  I have not spent any time teaching him, but I guess he just picked it up by listening to me teach his older brother.  It is amazing how like sponges they really are!

     I also think the Saxon math program looks good.  I decided to start with the kindergarten level, mainly because I don't want to skip too far ahead.  Randy is not suppose to officially start kindergarten until fall of 2008.  Starting now gives me a good head start to get my bearings.  (I have had some bouts of anxiety recently due to feelings of "Can I really do this???")

     I absolutely love the "Beethovan lives upstairs!"  I think it is a wonderful approach to introducing the history of the composers and their music.  I was surprised, again, that my children seemed to already be familiar with some of the music .  We do not have a habit of listening to classical music, but they have been introduced to it through such things as "The Little Einstiens," and our "Charlie Brown's Christmas" cd, among other things.

     We also have the Veritas Art Primer Collection.  It is a small collection of books that introduce the names of a few great artists through interesting stories.  I like it, but for some reason I was thinking there would be more in the way of activities.  So, I am left with putting together some kind of art program.  I am thinking of using each book, one per week.  Spending time that week to learn about the artist and doing a few art acitvities that coincide with that particular artist's style. 

     Lastly, we have the "Children's Illustrated Bible."  I like it a lot.  The stories are kept somewhat simple, though the language is a bit above that of my almost five-year old, Randy.  We started with it already, and I think we will make it a point to continue.  I think that due to the fact that it appears to be on the higher level, we will be able to use it again through the next years to come.  Afterall, it never hurts to repeat stories such as those.

     As of right now, we are getting busier by the day with our holiday activities.  I love the special moments the holidays bring, but the chaos I could do without!  But, I know that Christmas will be over all too soon, then we will have to deal with the holiday let down that inevitably comes.  Hopefully, the start of our school year will keep us busy enough that we won't think too much about it!

I have been tagged by icecastle.

The game is called scattergories. Use the first letter of your name and find words with that letter. The number of letters in your name determines how many people you can tag.

What is your name?:  Amy
4 letter word:  Also
Vehicle:  Avenger (Dodge)
City:  Atlanta
Boy's name:  Adam
Girl's name:  Anna
Movie:  A Room With A View
Occupation:  accountant
Something you wear:  Anne Klein brand
Celebrity:  Affleck, Ben
Food:  apple
Something found in a kitchen:  apples
Something found in a bathroom:  a mess!(at least in the boys')
Reason for being late:  a bad night's sleep
Cartoon character:  Arthur
Something you shout:  AAHHH!
Animal:  alligator
Body part:  arm
Word to describe you:  always happy

People I have tagged tearinn, His poiema, Drewsfamilytx. (Only if you wish to play!)

The theme of our Literature Pocket Lesson each week is centered around nursery rhymes.  This week's nursery rhyme is "Little Miss Muffet."  The week started out making the new label for our new pocket, followed by a fun flip book activity.  Today's activity is the one I wish to share.  There is something about little one's, or maybe just little boys, that seem to make just about any activity become interesting!  I just don't know what I am going to do with that Carson!

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet

eating her curds and whey.

Along came a spider

that sat down beside her

and frightened Miss Muffet away!

Now, for a closer look.......

Carson, dear, what is that on your face?????

"Uhh...Uhh....Uhh....,"  answered Carson (his typical response...lol.) "But, I did color the spider, too."

It appears that we will have one fun phonics lesson per week, hence last week's mask and now today's which was making butter for the letter 'b.'  The boys had fun making their labels and then making the butter as you can see.....

First the instructions:

Next, making the labels.

As you can see, the boys are not much for coloring pictures...ugh! 

Now, for the fun part!  First gathering the items needed.

Now, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE, (DOES THIS EVER END???), SHAKE......

UGH, MORE SHAKING AND SHAKING AND SHAKING, AND SHAKING........

Until....FINALLY!!!!!!  We have butter!!!  (Except, it doesn't taste like what we are used to...LOL!)

Recently I made a decision to put all of our fruit out on the counter cleaned and ready for consumption in an effort to encourage my children to grab a healthy snack when they feel the need.  Lately, though, we have been having a problem with my new choice.  Since pictures speak louder than words......

My husband asks, "Honey, why are these apples partially eaten, and who would do this?!"

More evidence.... now, if we could just find the culprit!

Ahh Ha!  I had a funny feeling it was you.  (Is that a guilty face, or what?)

Well, it could be worse, I guess.  At least he is gnawing on something healthy...LOL!

     We are loving Veritas' The Phonics Museum.  We have been working on letter "m" this week.  Today they got to make masks, and I thought it was too cute.  I decided to take a picture and post it here for all to see!

Carson, Sam, and Randy

     This past Friday night little Randy and I had the opportunity to visit a highschool basketball game.  During half time, my seven year old nephew got to play a short game on the "big" court. 

     While sitting in the bleachers, little Randy got to meet a fellow alum that I grew up going to school with.  This poor fellow always seemed to have a rough time growing up, and I never learned of the true cause.  Anyway, the unfortunate first thing anyone could notice about this nice man was that he had very rotten teeth!

     The next day, little Randy asked me about the man and why his teeth were so rotten.  I decided to use it to my advantage and I explained to Randy that it would happen if a person failed to take care of their teeth, including brushing on a regular basis.

     Last night, as I was just getting home from a book club meeting, I heard little Randy upstairs with his dad talking about something tooth related.  I went up to tell him goodnight, and he started bombarding me with more questions about poor Tony.  Our dialogue is as follows:

Randy: "I told dad about your friend Tony."

Me: "Oh yeah?  What did you tell him?"

Randy: "That he has rotten teeth.  I almost went to bed without brushing my teeth, but I  told dad about Tony and he said okay."

Me: "So, you are still thinking about Tony?"

Randy: "Yeah, why doesn't he brush his teeth?"

Me: "Well, like I told you before, maybe his parents didn't teach him to brush when he was a kid."

Randy: "The next time I see him I am going to teach him about brushing.  Maybe you could buy him a tooth brush and tell him how to use it."

Me: "Well, that is very thoughtful of you.  But, it might not be polite to tell him about how rotten his teeth are.  It might hurt his feelings."

Randy:  "Maybe we could just tell him about going to the dentist then."

Me: "Not everyone has enough money to go to the dentist."

Randy: "Well, you and dad do!  You should give him some of your money to go to the dentist."

     Luckily this is when my dear husband walked in......  I filled him in on what we were talking about and he said...

dad: "Why don't we just pray for Tony?  Would that make you feel better?"

Randy: "Okay."

so we said a prayer for Tony.

Me: "Does that make you feel better Randy?"

Randy: "Not quite.  I think we need to pray every night."

Me and dad: "Okay!"

Our Classroom!

 The Phonics Museum Display... William, Percival, and William's parents.  Note the painting we hung of the Apple Harvest along with the items the boys found that represent the short "a" sound. 

 And, of course, I had to add a picture of the boys working hard on their letters....

(The top Picture is Carson, the bottom is Randy)