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Homeschooling in Illinois
Aug. 22, 2008
Just Breathe
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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Aug. 19, 2008
We Started!
I hadn't planned on starting school until after labor day, but my mom reminded me that hubby has vacation in September. So, in an effort to get some school work done before October, we started school today. N was excited, D had quite the attitude. Luckily, he got over it quickly.
We got a lot done today. I was shocked. But boy, it's going to be a tiring year. N was great. He had a great attitude, he loved his books, and he worked by himself. Princess C wanted to do school. She was very excited. A little TOO excited. "What now?" was heard over and over again. And Toddler B... oh boy.... He was acting like a 2 year old. Can you believe it? Lil' L behaved quite nicely. She slept the whole time. But I know that's not normal and she will be in the mix tomorrow.
We started with Math. D got to open his new Saxon math book 76. (Bought cheap off Ebay). And since I couldn't get a cheap Saxon math for N, he is using a mix of a half used second grade math book that D used and some extra Abeka sheets from my mom's class last year. And if I need anything else, I'll search the internet for something free. Then I did some First Language Lesson's with N. D listened. Then N grabbed a work book and got to work. He loves workbooks. D worked a little in one of his books - a critical thinking book - then we did history. I really want to buckle down and get a lot of history done this year. We barely touched history last year. I want to finish the Story of the World 1 by Christmas.
For science this year, I want to be diligent with our nature journals and also do a weather study. And that's about all the planning I've done.
After school ended, which was in record time - just after lunch - we headed outside and did some yard work. Quite the productive day. I'm happy.
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Jul. 25, 2008
My School Room
I have a school room! Yippee!!! I'm so happy. It took me so long to finish it. I've been working on it for days. I would get stuck sometimes because I was unsure of where to put things. But, what a relief it is to now have it done.
This is what it used to look like:
After a lot of rearranging and unpacking and making a huge mess because you can't do any cleaning with making a big mess, this is what it looks like now:
I have all the books sorted by general topic. Science, history, etc. Eventually I will have them all sorted into more specific topics to make things easier to find. I have a shelf for books I want the boys to read this year, read aloud books, children's books, and a nature shelf.
I have games and puzzles in the built in, math and science manipulatives under the fish, and in the bookcase I have things that I want to finish up from last year, what I want to work on this year, the kid's notebooks showing some past work, and homeschooling books for my benefit. Above the fish tank I want to get a cork board so I can display some of the kids work. The top of the built in is empty so far. I wanted to put some nice things in there and not just games or books.
That is my nature shelf. My nature box is on the floor my the bookshelf for easy access. The boys can grab it and go. If they ever felt so inclined...
Now, on to the next room. Ugh...
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May. 6, 2008
A Good Reason To Homeschool
A kid on D's baseball team's sister is dating the kid who lives across the street from us. (did you follow that one?) They are 12. 12! And they are in Christian school. Not public. And the 8 year old boy across the street always teases his twin sister whenever she talks to D. He yells, "Is that your boooyfriend!?" And D just doesn't get it. "Why would he say that?" My kids are sheltered, and I love it! 
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Apr. 20, 2008
Cow Bird
I'm so excited. We have a new bird in the neighborhood.
I hear him singing more often than I actually see him. We saw his wife at the feeder. He was on the fence watching her and every so often he would puff up and make his squeaking noise.
We still have dark eyed juncos around. They are around here in the winter. I like them, but I wish they would go away. Still seeing them is making me very nervous. Winter is over, GO AWAY! 
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Apr. 2, 2008
B Counting
Toddler B was counting with hubby the other day. He was doing so good I grabbed the camera. Of course, once you bring out the camera, you can kiss getting anything good on film goodbye. B always wants to see. You will hear him in the video asking to see. He also started getting goofy. But he still did pretty good and it made for a funny video. His voice is just so cute saying the numbers; I LOVE it! Sorry my laughter gets annoying. It's hard to remember not to make any noise when I'm shooting. It always ends up so loud.
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Mar. 4, 2008
The Ice Age and School Updates
We have been reading a book called, Life in the Great Ice Age by Michael and Beverly Oard. The kids are really enjoying it. The first part of the book is in story form and the second part explains why things happened in the story. I really recommend this book. It gives just enough information for the kids so they can learn the facts about the Ice Age without boring them. After this book, we will probably read What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? By Ken Ham. And then after that we will get back into The Story of the World which will pick up at Abraham.
N has finish his math for the year. YIPEEEE!!!! That should free up some time to focus more on science and history. Today, for the first time ever, D did his math this morning before I woke up. That was the best thing ever! Usually it takes him soooo long to finish it and that's after wasting all the time he can before even starting it! I swear he is going to write a book called How to Waste Time and Aggravate Your Mother for Dummies. Well, now that I know he can do his math in the morning, that is going to be required every day. It made today run so much smoother than a normal day.
I will post about science next time I get a chance. For now, the dryer is calling me.....
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Feb. 11, 2008
Mummy Lapbook
We finished our mummy lapbooks. Yippee!!!
Princess C had a blast just cutting and gluing and basically just making a giant mess.
Do you see someone peeking? 
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Jan. 10, 2008
School Ramblings
Wednesday we dove right into our school work. Well, we tried to at least. I kinda forgot what we normally do. I had a nice routine and then we started Thanksgiving things, then Christmas things, and then took a 2 week break and add that to a pregnant brain and I'm lucky I remembered what grades my kids are in. I had D do some math, because that one was a no brainer. Look in his notebook for the last lesson done, and do the next one. I didn't feel like starting N's math, and he had finished his phonics book, so I was at a loss as to what to do with him. And then I had Princess C begging to do school work and I had nothing for her. Nothing that she could do on her own that is. And then there was Toddler B yelling for a new puzzle every 5 seconds. I was completely overwhelmed. So, I took a shower. I regrouped and figured I must have a schedule or some sort of list of things to do that I made at the beginning of the year. I looked and looked and apparently, I had it all in my head. And it's gone now. So I took the rest of the day printing out guidelines from Ambelside. I tried to figure out what books I wanted the kids to read and what copy work I wanted them working on and all sorts of things. I got some things figured out, but was mostly just overwhelmed. I am not a good organizer. But, it is slowly coming together, and hopefully, it will be all together before I have another complete blank out.
Today we did some history. We read about mummies and I was really excited about that because I have a mummy lapbook and some mummy wetsites I know of. Plus, the lapbook has alot of writing, and since I never figured out what the kids copywork was going to be, that worked out really well for me.
D wants to learn about volcanoes. He watched a show on the Discovery Channel that got him interested in them. So I think I will provide some information about them for him and then let him decide what direction to take. It will be his first step in self teaching.
Oh, I was able to print out some beginning writing pages from DonnaYoung.org, I think it was. I have 20 different pages or so for Princess C to work on. I gave her one today and that mostly satisfied her craving for school. Hubby came up with the idea of putting the little ones behind the couch - our couch is diagonal so there is a huge corner space behind it - to play. I gave them their K'nex to play. Princess C was happy with it, but I had to give Toddler B some animal crackers to keep him happy. And once they ran out, he somehow found a way to escape. It was a good idea in theory. I think I will find all the older kids back there from now on....
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Dec. 10, 2007
St. Nicholas and Christmas
We missed St. Nicholas day. I had planned on learning about him the 6th and then giving the boys a gift. I the Polar Express and I hated to wait until Christmas to give it to them, because then there isn't alot of time left to want to watch Christmas movies. So today I searched the internet trying to find out more about this mysterious Saint and how he became Santa Claus. Do you know that I could hardly find anything about him? Most of what I found sounded like made up stories. From what I remember, he was a generous man who gave to the poor. The stories that told about that were really goofy ones. Who knows if they are even true? And then trying to explain to the kids why someone becomes a siant and then why people pray to them is hard, because that's something I don't understand. So, it was an unproductive day. We did learn one interesting thing. Martin Luther wanted to get people's minds off of St. Nicholas and onto Christ, so he changed the name to Christ Child. But in German, Christ Child sounds like Kris Kringle. How funny is that!! Santa Claus is Jesus. HAHAHAHAH!
We also learned a little bit about how Christmas started. I asked the kids when it started and they said when Jesus was born. Well, that makes sense, but no. I was curious as to why people don't celebrate Christmas. They say it's because it started as a Pagan holiday. I've even heard it said it's the same as if we were to try and make Halloween a Christian holiday. Well, back in the day, the head people wanted to celebrate Christ's birthday and were trying to pick a day. They decided on Dec 25 because people were already celebrating that day because of the sun god. Their reasoning was because they wanted to take the focus off the sun and put it back on the Creator of the sun. Sounds noble. And in the end, it's just a day picked to remember that Jesus came to earth for us. I find no reason not to celebrate Christ's birth. Yes, we should celebrate Jesus all year long, but we celebrate our birthdays with a special day, why not Jesus'? And when we celebrate our birthdays, do we pretend we don't exist the rest of the year? No. Niether do we ignore Jesus the rest of the year. In this holiday season, we make sure our focus is Jesus and not getting things and certainly not a man who children eventually find out is not real.
So, there you have it. My thoughts on Christmas.
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