Homeschooling in Illinois


Sep. 6, 2008

History

Posted in Our Move
We went to our neighbors house for a weeny roast.  I had never been to one before, and now I want some sticks so we can have our own.  And often.  Weeny roasts are great!  I love the country, outdoors, fire, and hotdogs.  Put them all together and you have great memories. 
Anyway, that's not the point of this post.  As we sat and chatted we got to hear some history of our house.  The neighbors have lived there for some 30 or 40 years, so they knew a lot.  And then, Jim's family have always been in the area so he really knows a lot.  One of Jim's boys, now a grown man, was telling us that he used to be best friends with one of the boys who lived in our house.  He told us a story of a big lean-to that they built.  And he also mentioned a platform they built in a tree. 

Yup, that's the platform.  It's 20-some years old.  Not in the best shape.  Pretty rotted.  But still there.  Pretty cool, huh?
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Sep. 5, 2008

Book Giveaway

Over at A Pondering Heart, she is giving away the newest addition to the Kingdom Series.  D read the first book and loved it.  He keeps begging me to get the next one from the library. 



Click here, or on the button to go enter. 
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Sep. 3, 2008

(Twilight Zone Music)

Posted in Family
An alien came and switched Toddler B with some other child. 
I was changing him this morning and I asked the same question I do every morning.  "Are you going to sit on the potty today?"  Only today, he said yes!  I thought I heard wrong so I asked again.  "You want to sit on the potty?"  He said yes.  So off he went to sit on the potty.  He sat for a few seconds and said, "It's not coming."  I let him get off and decided to ask if he wanted to wear undies and to my surprise, he said yes!  I was shocked.  I figured he really didn't know what was going on being that he said, "It's not coming," and actually looked confused as to why it wasn't.  But I know 90% of the battle was getting him to actually want to use the potty.  To my even greater surprise, he did extremely well.  He had two small accidents, but he was able to hold it back and get to the potty to finish.  And the poor thing, had a fever!  He ended up falling asleep on the couch:

And he even stayed dry the whole time!  By that time though, I had to give him Tylenol because he was so hot. 
In the evening he was battling the #2 urge but eventually, he went on the potty!  I think this is the strangest day I have ever had in 10 years of parenting. 
Yesterday, we were at my sil house.  Her two year old is potty trained.  I keep telling Toddler B about him.  "Look.  Carter goes on the potty.  Isn't he a big boy?  Do you want to go on the potty?"
"No."
So I was very jealous and had some harsh feelings toward them, but now I think I owe B's "early" (for the boys in our family) potty training to them.  He was watching Carter in interest yesterday.  And today when he got dressed he found the shirt Carter gave him and wanted to wear it.  He often says, "I'm Carter." 
Sorry Michelle for saying I hate you!  hehe....
Now, I hope tomorrow goes just as well.  Hopefully Toddler B won't be back to his normal self.  I do hope he isn't sick, but hopefully being well doesn't mean he is back to being stubborn! 
Oh and one more strange thing.  I sent the other kids to bed but kept him up since he had a nap.  He almost followed them up.  I had to call him back and tell him he didn't have to go to bed yet.  I said, "You don't even have your pj's on  yet."  So he went and got his pjs and a diaper and started getting himself ready for bed.  And after he was ready, he played for a few minutes and then came over, gave me a kiss, and then headed up to bed.  He got up there and was calling for me to put him to bed.  And then, after I put him to bed, he stayed in bed!  Do you hear the twighlight zone music yet?!  Strange, yet glorious...
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Sep. 1, 2008

Sunset

Posted in Our Move
I don't have a west facing house like I would love to have.  In fact, I only have one window that faces the west, and it is all the way upstairs.  But, I still get a beautiful view out of my front window:

Who knew that corn could hold the beautiful colors of a sunset?
As I opened the door to take this picture, a hawk flew out of the tree across the street.  He is our resident hawk.  I walked all over in my bare feet trying to get a picture of him to no avail.  But I did get this picture:

I live there!
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Aug. 29, 2008

Cricket?

Posted in Nature
Any one know what this is?

I was sweeping out my garage of all the crickets and this was with them.  I don't know if crickets have queens?  The wings are so tiny.  I also saw a big grub.  Like the size of a cricket.  Do crickets start out as big grubs?  I can't seem to find any info on the internet.
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Aug. 29, 2008

The Bus Driver

Posted in Our Move
One morning, a truck pulled into our driveway, and the guy who got out introduced himself as Don, our bus driver.  He had heard that there were kids living in the house and he wondered why there were no new kids on his bus route.  After we informed him we homeschooled, he let us know that was "fine".  Umm... Thanks.   
We chatted with him for awhile.  He asked hubby if he was still working up north and he said, "yes".  And then hubby asked, "How did you know I was working up north?"  To which he informed us that our neighbor, Don (is everyone named that around here?) let him know.  That was quite interesting being that we've never even met him!  Apparently, we are the talk of the town. 
Oh, and another thing.  The people who lived here before us weren't very well know.  Even though they lived here for 12 years, when people find out where we live, they don't say, Don's place (yes another Don).  They say the old Marty place. 
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Aug. 27, 2008

A New Four Year Old

Posted in Family
Princess C turned four on the 24th.  My baby.  My 1st Princess. 
On Sat, we went to my SIL and celebrated there:


Then on Sunday, she helped make her cupcakes.

And opened more presents.

I asked her what she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner.  I figured she was old enough to start choosing.  She chose, "Eggies, pizza, popsicles, ice cream and cake."  She got eggs for breakfast, pizza for dinner and cake.  She was happy.  She forgot her other requests.  Hehe...
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Aug. 26, 2008

Whose Kids?

To read a funny, scary and gross post about my kids, visit HERE.
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Aug. 23, 2008

Blog Around the World





This lady is giving away something I just had to try and win.  Plus, you can sign up your blog in your state and see who else is blogging in your state.  Now I think that is cool.  I need to meet someone in my neck of the woods.  I know to many awesome bloggers that live too far away to visit.   

Can't talk any more.  Broken glass.... ugh....
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Aug. 22, 2008

Just Breathe

Posted in Schooling
I want to teach my kids about the weather this year.  My only problem is, HOW?  I have a stack of books that I don't know what to do with.  Do I make a lapbook?  If so, how?  Do I just make a weather notebook?  How do I plan this?  How can it be organized?  What paper should I use to write on?  I'm having heart palpitations just thinking about it! 
So, instead of figuring it out - since I CAN'T, I am playing dice with D.  And I am slaughtering him!  Poor kid.  But, I can't really enjoy it because I am still nervous about the weather study!  I can't even fully enjoy my ice cream.  I don't know what it is about this that is getting me so unnerved.  Breathe in, breathe out....
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About Me

Oh, the crazy things that happen in my house.... I am the wife of M for 7 years now. I am the mother of a 9 yo boy - D, 6 yo boy - N, 3 yo girl - Princess C, 2 yo boy -Toddler B, and girl Lil' L born May 18. I've been homeschooling since 2003. I lean towards a Charlotte Mason approach, but more often than not, it's "whatever works".







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(Twilight Zone Music)
Sunset
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