Backwards and Loving it! - Homeschool Blogger

Friends

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:56:00 -0600

Something I have been thinking about recently are friends.

I have made some new friends this year and that makes me happy though I miss the friends I feel I have lost this year along the way. I guess that's what bothers me the most is the feeling of losing friends those who were close physically and emotionally and those who are distant/online. How is it that so many different people can come into one’s life and become so very close only to depart ever so quickly? I have no idea but as I look back over my 38 years my husband is the only friend I have had for more than just a few years. We have been together for 16 years and married for over 14. I don’t understand how people can keep close relationships with friends for their entire lifetime or close to it? I mean I am making some reconnections on facebook with old acquaintances but very few, like 3 maybe, were ever very close. How does a person go from being close (spending huge amounts of time together) to being someone you rarely speak with? I know that people are meant to be in one’s life for one reason or another but, it is sad when the relationship changes to the point where you rarely speak, call or see each other.

I have no idea why I am thinking this except that I am missing my friends, people who like me for no reason other than I am me. I am even missing those who need me for what I can be or do for them. I often have felt a lot of the friends I have had in my life were there because I could help them in some way and have usually been more than happy to do so. Oh well, I guess I am done here. I will go watch my TV and wonder when my next friend will enter or leave.

This is one thing I can say is that I have one good friend, my husband, and the rest are acquaintances, though some of them were very important friends and a large part of my life for a time.

I am back

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 13:52:00 -0500

I am finally back. I will try to keep up with my blogging this year. Thats my new years resolution. We will see how it goes.

So far we have had a good start to the year. We have met our Learning Consultant with the new program we are with. We have met new homeschoolers and the kids are as active and busy as always. I took the month of September to wrap my head around things and just to recover after the summer.

Today we are off to park day with some homeschoolers, then a quiet evening at home.

So talk to you all later. Please leave comments as I do enjoy reading them.

Hello All

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:23:00 -0500

It has been quite some time. I had the chance to talk to a friend online last time for the first time in quite a while. She has promised to KICK me in the rear to post here more often. Hopefully that will be the incentive to post regularly.

Hello,

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:34:00 -0600

Hi All, How have you been. I have been busy as usual. You know how it goes with kids. I have also been playing with another new blog, and we will see. If you are interested in my new blogs address please send me an email.

I have yet to decide if I will Keep both going or not. We will see.

We have been doing the usuall Cubs/Scouts, and Guides/Pathfinders, as well as our Youth embroidery, and Riding lessons. We have picked up fencing and archery starts tomorrow as well as swimming lessons. So we are pretty busy. I have even been a terrible mom and had the kids do some math. I know, I know, how awful can I be. But oh well. LOL they will survive.

Well that is it for now. Just thought I should update things before too long. I am bad at doing this. Hope to get better though.

Talk to you all soon.

Merry Ho Ho!

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:58:00 -0600

Hello All,

Hope everyone had a great Dec 25th. I know some people don't celebrate Christmas, and others celebrate different things.

We celebrate Christmas but not christ. Christmas is a great reason just to spend time with family and friends. Nothe the only reason or time I know but...it works. I know I know it has gotten very comercial, and is an excuse for people to spend money which they may or may not have. But it is a fun time of year.

I love Christmas because it is when we get to see people at fun and social events. People seem to smile more and though they maybe rushed they make time for their family and friends.

We had fun this month with 4 different parties, and an early Chrismas with my mom as they went to see my brother and family for the actual day.

We were able to enjoy a nice quiet day yesterday with just the 5 of us. We opened our presents, not that there were many. The kids mostly got Scholastic books that I have been putting away for the last 3 months. We did get them the Harry Potter 4 video. Santa (yes, I still believe) also came with a nice bike that he found laying around deserted on his trip for the kids. It has some work that need to be done. He also gave the kids some dvd's that we have been wanting to see, including Harry Potter 4. Boy were the kids (especially my 11.5 yr old son who doesn't believe in Santa) surprised when they unwrapped the 2nd HP4 dvd. Poor Trawets face was one of pure shock. LOL We did go across the street with a repaired childs rocking chair and some tarts for our friends. After that we came home and cleaned up the kitchen from when the kids made us breakfast in bed, and made stuffing and put the turkey in the oven. Then I made a bunch of sandwiches, and put out tarts, popcorn, jello and we sat in the livingroom and watched Spiderman 3 and ate. Poor kids dad and I fell asleep during the movie. Then it was time to do the veggies for dinner, and by time that was all done we were eating our turkey dinner in the livingroom again watching Transformers at 9pm.

Today we just get to veg. Dh is working as it is beautiful out and he and his friend have a large landscaping job to do. Hopefully they can finish it soon so we can get paid and pay our Jan rent, hydro and phone before they are all cut off.

I know we have New Years next week and we are as of yet usure of what we are doing. Probably just going to stay and watch movies as usual. Adnarim is hoping to get a call (our phone is out) about babysitting for New Years, at least people know where we live and can stop by and ask her.

Well again I hope all of you had a great day yesterday and a wonderful new year next week. Take care and stay safe. A

Random thoughts

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:06:00 -0600

The following ramblings are some things that have been bothering me for a while. So read at your own risk.

I find that many (not all) christians seem to be controlled by a book written so many hundreds of years ago by a man and not their own thoughts and conscious. I also find many of these same people feel that I and others like me are lost or missing out on something or need to be prayed for or lead to the "truth". I am not lost nor looking for the meaning of what troubles me.

It seems that they are unwilling to believe so many things and they look to a book to answer their problems and tell them what to do.

I guess that is the biggest part of me not believing. It seems to me that people who are religious are not very tolerant of other people, ideas, peoples preferences or lifestyles that are not their own or in the book. I find that this very old book can be interpreted in so many different ways that people are able to make it say what they want it to. Now this is not everyone but it is a lot of people. It is like they are afraid that someone with different ideas will shake their belief. I would have to say that if someone was able to do that then their faith is not very strong.

The kids are going to participate in a Quaker service on Sunday and look forward to the differences between, Christian (previous school), United, Baptist, and home church. They like learning how different people believe different and how those people worship.

As much as they like these activities they tend to think more along the same lines as I do. The earth is thousands of years ago and people have evolved and grown and learned a lot in those years. Including how to work together, write and govern themselves. Ancient civilizations didn’t just happen they are a result of many years of change and growth.

I am also frustrated with the warning emails that go around in the different homeschool groups, both online and offline. If I wanted your opinion on a movie or book then I will ask. Until then keep your emails to yourself. I can not wait to go see the Golden Compass; it looks like a great book and movie. Now if you don’t like the book or movie why is that? Have you read it? Or are you reiterating something in an email that has been spammed out to the entire world wide web? If you want to know more about the book and movie do some research yourself and make up your own mind. READ the book. I wonder if those who send the emails and warnings around realize that they have just boosted the movie ticket, and book sales past what the author has expected. Nothing like making something a big deal out of something to get people interested.

I also am a horrid person because I believe in Magic, witches, and ghosts, and love the Harry Potter movies and books. I also believe in the super natural and aliens and that we are all here as a result of the big bang theory and that god is a theory, a belief that ancient man created to give meaning to the things they didn’t know about or understand. I am not saying that we understand or know all now but we are much more highly evolved now than we were first making tools and creating fire so many thousands of years ago.

Who is to say that we are not some fish in a huge fishbowl, or that we are not puppets on strings? Because sometimes I feel like both.

I don’t know as I said before you read at your own risk.

Wow it has been so long.

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:26:00 -0600

Wow it has been about a month and a half since I have been on to post a blog. I really need to try and keep this up to date. I am unsure of how I will do that.

Our company left after almost 3 months. We all miss them greatly and find the house both pleasantly and eerily quiet. We miss Nonnahs and her kids. But things are going fine for us and we are happily learning as we always do.

We are well under way on learning to knit. Adnarim and I have both completed our washcloths and the other 2 are about half way done, and we are all doing well on our mittens. I have a thumb on one. HEHE. The kids think I am weird for being so proud of my thumb. LOL oh well their loss, just wait till they complete one.

They are also enjoying the Youth Embroidery Guild they belong to. We found out a couple of weeks ago the 12-15 kids (all girls except for my Trawets) are homeschooled. I was very surprised; especially since the adult guild is quite large and the youth guild is held at a time that is convenient for otherwise schooled kids. Araik still has her Kissing Pillow to finish, though she is doing well. They are all working on several projects including a bargello bookmark/bracelet, cross stitch note holder piece, and embroidered pillows. They also have name tags, needle cases and scissor fobs to do for themselves.

We have started using IEW TWSS, and SWI B. The kids love the program. We are taking things as they come. They all do their key word outlines and then when it comes to writing their paragraphs Araik and Trawets dictate to Adnarim and I to write for them. This helps things move along and doesn’t take endless hours of writing for the other two. Right now they are each using different books on prehistory and the people who lived then, and doing a report of some of them and an aspect of their lives. We are really enjoying it. I am hoping that we will start unit 3 in January. I consider that we finally got the program at the end of October that we are doing well.

The kids did very well in their swimming lessons and look forward to the next set in February. We have not been part of any co-ops this year and it doesn’t look like any will come around for us either. Araik is still riding though that is over till January; she is also a 3rd yr Cub, and 2nd yr Guide. Adnarim is a 2nd yr Scout and 1st yr Pathfinder. Trawets is a 1st yr Scout. They are all enjoying their activities. Our goals this year as we are not doing music is to learn different types of art. Thus our Knitting, and embroidery/cross stitch and wanting to sew. I don’t know what we will do next but the kids love it and are enjoying these creative outlets. They however are still playing piano on their own terms and enjoying it. They know the basics and more so they have a lot to work with.

We have and are planning on starting quilting and sewing soon. I have spoken to someone who is willing to come here and teach the kids to sew. Now this is something I can do myself but we never seem to find the time, and if they have the basics they can initiate the activity and I can assist as needed. I am looking for a good sewing machine with top stitches for the kids so that they don’t have to use my very expensive machine. Now Quilting is new to me. It is probably very easy but...more research for mom. We will get there. Trawets also wants to try lampwork beading. So we are also on the lookout for a hot torch and glass rods and other equipment.

We have enjoyed the park day with the non-christian based hs group in the area. It is a great group of people. The Xmas party is on the 21st and looks like the turn out will be great. We just participated in the christian groups Xmas party that only 4 of 35 families attended. We had a great time and the others missed out on a lot of fun. This seems to be an ongoing trend with this group low turnout for activities. We have our moms meeting Thursday and are having a cookie exchange. I wonder if more will participate? The 2 groups are great and have a lot of really nice people. And we have a good time at both groups’ activities. I do find that more members of the non-christian group are accepting of people and ideas than the christian group. I call the other group non-christian because religion is not the basis of their group and I love that there is not praying and praising something all the time.

One sad note is that our “teacher” may be leaving our distance learning program. We are very sad about that but she has applied and may get a job as a principle for a gr 5-7 school in Fort Nelson. If she does get the job she leaves at the end of Jan, so I have no idea who we will have to work with for the rest of the year. It definitely won’t be anyone as helpful and understanding as she is. We will miss her greatly but sincerely hope she gets this promotion. She is such a great lady and has given me so much help on the start of our homeschool journey. If only everyone had someone like her. If she is gone we will, and I have waitlisted us, with a different program. If you know anything about the Wondertree Self Design program and have recommendations or comments please let me know. I am also looking for personal comments/recommendations on their learning consultants as I will have to pick between 1 and 3 for us. My two youngest (currently at grades 5, & 6) both have learning challenges so unschooling is very important to us.

Well I guess that is it for now. I will try to keep up to date with my entries from now on. Please send me a note or email if you are missing me and to remind me to post.

Merry Christmas if I don’t talk to you all before then. A

September til now Catch up

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:09:00 -0500

Well here I am again to finish the Saga of the last few months.

As you previously read we were camping on the long weekend and started September off with some relaxation. Remember now that there are 4 extra people in my house.

The first week of September included our homeschool groups "Not Going Back To School Picnic". That was a lot of fun and Nonnahs got to see some friends she didn't get to see when she was out in June. It also gave the kids a chance to reconnect with other homeschoolers (who had not been going to hs baseball through the summer). The next week was our other hs groups picnic. Yes, we belong to 2 local hs groups.

We started back into our school work (or continued from the summer) in our usual style. Cubs/Scouts and Guides/Pathfinders started up again as usual. We went to a hobby shop open house about 20 min north of us and really had a great time seeing all the different things people do. Trawets asked tons of questions and is waiting for us to get the supplies for him to start with Lampwork beads. We will get there. We joined that group as the family cost is good and we will be able to take any classes offered for free, the kids too if the instructor is agreeable.

We also started taking knitting classes and joined the Youth Embroidery Guild. So the kids are now learning to cross-stitch as well. We are waiting to get things settled so that we can take quilting lessons. The kids also have decided that they wanted to make themselves embroidered pillows. So I cut 3 sets of 10x10 fabric of their choice from my stash and gave them my stitch books and off they went with spare floss I have. They are very happy with what they are doing.

Nonnahs two older kids went and stayed with their grandparents for 2 weeks and she started working at the bakery she used to work at years ago.

The 2 of us managed to get a day to ourselves in early Sept when we did a bread delivery for the bakery down Island and spent the rest of that day just being without kids (who we left at home). Man it was sooo nice and well deserved.

Sharing the house with 4 others has not always been easy. The kids get on each others nerves and fights break out. But all in all things have been good. No one has killed anyone else and fights usually don't last very long, and then they are playing again.

School has been interesting with 3 extra kids in the house. Did I forget to mention they are also homeschoolers. LOL

October started swimming lessons for us, and they finish up this week. Araik started riding her horse again and they are working towards her being a solo rider in the next few weeks. She is so proud of herself.

Well at the moment I think that is enough. I will have to look back at my learning notes to see if there is anything else important to include in my ramblings. There probably is but I can't remember at the moment. Though I have been keeping a loose record of what the kids are doing.

Talk to you all soon.

Our Holiday & August

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 10:35:00 -0500

Hello Everyone,

It has been 3 months since I have last blogged. It has been a very busy 3 months.

First Adnarim came back from SOAR her week long international Guide camp. A day later we left for our holiday. To start off we had a 4 hour wait to get off our island. That was not fun, but we met some very nice people and their children. We headed out to see Acraisydaisy and her family in the next province. So we got to see the beauty of our own province on the way. There is so much history and geography to see it was great. The kids took tons of pictures as we drove through the mountians, so did we.

We finally hit our neighbouring province late at night the day after we left. We stopped at a truck stop and had a sleep in the van while the skies opened up and poured. The next morning I got up and started to our destination. We made it to Nonnahs by 8am, before her kids were even up. They didn't know we were coming so we sat in the livingroom while she woke up her kids and sent them out to eat. Boy did they ever get a surprise.

We had a great week out there. We took the kids to the West Edmonton Mall for a day and we got to see the sights and take cool pictures. We experienced an Alberta thunderstorm, and saw the outragious food prices for ourselves. 2L of milk was almost $4 we only spend $4 on 4L. The fruit prices were out of this world. It was a good thing we brought most of our food.

As we were heading home back to BC we drove through Banff and Jasper National parks. Did you know you have to pay to drive through the parks? Well you do. We were shocked and not impressed with that.

We saw some amazing things on our drive. We saw the Athabascan Falls which have been eating away at the rocks for thousands of years as the glacier melts. We got to walk on the Athabasca Glacier that as it melts feeds many rivers in Canada and 3 oceans. We saw and took many pictures of the glaciers. We went to Lake Louise which was very cool as well. As we got back into BC we stopped and saw the Spiral Tunnels at Kicking Horse Pass, and drove along all the road construction from Ab to Revelstoke, BC. Man it is a bit freaky to be driving on those very narrow mountian roads while there is road work.

We made it to Penticton after a 2 day leisurely trip from Central Alberta. We got fresh fruit at nice prices and just enjoyed ourselves for a few days, did some square dancing and vegged. 2 days before we were due to leave Penticton Nonnahs and her 3 kids met us and camped. Then we brought them back to the island with us. My mom and step dad (who we met in Penticton) let the kids take turns riding back to Hope in their motor home and kept the 2 older girls for an extra night out while we went back to the island. This was good as our poor van was way over loaded with the belongings of 9 people and 7 bodies, and 50lbs of fruit we brought home.

We made it home very late on Aug 12. Kcorb headed out the next morning for an Advanced Inclusive Leadership Workshop on the 13th, and the girls were dropped off by my mom as well. Dh came home on the 17th and then my youngest 2 went to Cub Camp from the 19-26th upisland. We picked them up on the 26th and went back up for a long weekend square dance on the 30th, with my moms clothing store as they were in Calgary with the majority of the shop. Our house guests stayed at home for some quiet family time while we were gone for the weekend.

Well that is August, I don't think I forgot anything but I may have.

How Do I Remember?

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 10:04:00 -0500

Hi Everyone, After my last post I was asked how I remember all that stuff. Well here is my answer. Well I have a calendar. Now several. I usually keep a pretty detailed calendar on my computer but that has temporarily stopped as my computer kept crashing. So I have caendars in a couple places around the house. And some of the stuff is too memorable to forget. Regardless of it all it is all our school. All life lessons and activities. I didnt list and dont remember much of the other stuff that happened in those past weeks. I only just listed the biggest events/happenings. Some was unimportant, some was private and some was same ol-same ol stuff. So I hope that helps answer how I was able to remember all that stuff.

Where Oh Where did I go??

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:44:00 -0500

Hello one and all. I have been busy for the last couple months and have not updated my blog. Hope you didn't think I disappeared completely. My last update was after I got back from my trip with my step dad and step sister. We had a good time.

Well here is the update from then to now.

The May long weekend (in Canada) we took our Cub pack to a local provincial park, which happens to be an island with our bikes. We had a great time biking and hiking around the island. We also did our last major badge testing.

The following weekend Adnarim went to the last Scout camp of the year, Araik had a sleepover with her friend and Trawets stayed home while dh and I went to our homeschool parents social for the evening. It was his first time home alone and he did really well.

The first weekend of June dh and the older 2 took the StreamKeepers course, Araik went to Guide camp and I had a nice Saturday. On Sunday she had her ride-a-thon to raise money for the theraputic program she is in and we picked up dh and the other 2 and went to their Music recital. We also had friends come out from Alberta for a surprise visit. On Tuesday that week we picked up these friends and my kids were speechless when they were surprised and went out to our hs groups yearly sports day. That Wednesday Araik had an appt with a specialist and so we had to go to that then spent more time with our friends before they left Thursday. Friday June 8, we went to the Titanic exhibit at the museum with our friends who are moving away and had a wonderful time. What a neat thing to see. Then my sons friends showed up for his 11th birthday. Saturday we did something but I cant remember what, and on the Sunday we went to a party for someone dh works with.

The next week was pretty quiet. We had a visit with our teacher, the girls had their last Guide meeting and we were workng on putting together or lapbooks. On Saturday Araik went to the early bday party for her friend who moved to Ontario the following weekend, and we went to a Scouting farwell party for the same family.

The week of June 18 was busy, Araik had an appointment at the childrens centre. We had our year end Scouting Picnic. The next day Araik crashed her bike and knocked herself out. We spent 2 hrs at the local hospital where they cleaned her up, checked her out and xrayed her face to see if she broke anything. She did a bang up job, so much so that the dr made an appointment for her to have an EEG at the hospital down Island. She looked like a walking mummy as she banged herself up pretty good. She and Adnarim had a final sleepover with the sisters who moved away. The 4 girls had a great time but parting is very sad. Especially when best friends move across the country, it might as well be to the far ends of the world. We will all miss this family very much. The mother and I got along well as did the girls. And the dad is very nice and the Scout troop will lack as a result of his absence. That friday we took our Cub pack to our year end Area camp. We had a good time.

The following week was pretty quiet. We have started going to baseball Wednesday am with one hs group and alternating afternoons with the 2 groups park days. Araik ended the week (July 1st) by being attacked by a dog down the street and getting a pretty good bite to the back of her right thigh. When will it end? The first week in July was pretty uneventful, it was soo nice not to leave home for 6 days. What a change.

Now we are at last week, Araik had her EEG and the Tech thinks that everything is ok but we are waiting for official results. Park day as usual. Adnarim and her friend took the St. John's Ambulance babysitting course. We bought a new tent for camping on Saturday. The kids put the tent up yesterday and they all slept in it last night. It is now raining, which is nice after last weeks 36C temps (that is about 100F).

Now for the remaing of the summer we are busy. As of this Saturday one or all of our family will be away until the end of Aug. Adnarim is heading to SOAR (Guide camp) on Sat for a week, then we head out for a bit of a holiday with my mom. We will be bringing friends back with us for a visit. After we get back Dh is at a leadership training camp, and when he comes back Trawets and Araik head to Cub camp for a week. Then over the long weekend we are camping and taking my moms store and running it as they will be somewhere else with most of the stock. At that point we are again in September.

Wow where will the summer have gone? I love my summers as they are unplanned and open for options. Not this year. We are soo busy it wont be funny. Fun yes but... I like my open schedulals, that just aren there in the "school year". Oh well I guess we will survive.

So if I dont update my blog between now and September you know why. We are busy and will continue to be so. I guess it keeps us out of trouble. Or DOES IT?? It remains to be seen.

I hope you all enjoy yourselves and have a great summer with your families. A

Trip

Thu, 17 May 2007 16:08:00 -0500

Hello Everyone,

I was gone for a week on my trip with my Step dad and Step sister. What fun we had. It was a working holiday as we took their Sqare Dance shop to a 50th birthday dance for a club in the interior of BC. It is a very LONG drive up there. We broke it up with a stop in Clinton for the night to stay with a friend of my mom. Then it was off to Prince George. There are still piles of snow in the camp groupnd where we stayed but spring is slow in arriving up there.

The weather is early spring, weather (for us) but was nice. The trip was pretty. Driving through the mountians, most decidious trees are still bare and that is weird to see. Looking out over the mountians and seeing evergreen trees here and there then grey sticks reaching into the sky. Our trees here are all in full blook and very green.

In Clinton we were taken up to the top of the mountian and were able to see the Fraser River snaking its way through the valley and had our pictures taken standing in the snow to show the kids.

We got to drive through tunnels in the side of the mountian, and count the endlessly long trains. One we stopped to take pictures of and count for the kids was 152 cars long. Some trains are even double stacked. Where we live the trains are small, 2 engins and 4 freight cars, or the one car dayliner that travels up and down our island everyday.

All in all our trip was 7 days long and a couple thousand kilometers. It is nice to be home. I needed a few days to rest up after all that driving.

Hi I am still here.

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:01:00 -0500

Hi Everyone, I am still here. I have had computer problems the last couple weeks with the new windows update not liking either hardware or program on my computer. Luckily all was not lost. After a $70 dollar bill the computer tecks at a local computer store were able to salvage my files. This was well worth the bill as I am unable to replace those files.

I hope that this time around things will work. I have reformatted my computer and reinstalled everything 3 times now. GRRRR

I am in the process of getting things ready for my working vacation with my step dad and sister. We are going without kids. Dh will have to be Mr. Mom for a week. Luckily the kids do the chores and a lot of the cooking so he just has to supervise. He is working hard on starting up his home maitenance business, so he is often gone. He will have to do the chauffering while I am away but they will all have fun.

I think I have gotten Adnarim a babysitting job on weekdays during the week. This will be interesting. It is for a family with 3 boys aged 8 and 4 yr old twins. She will be thrilled. She is trying to earn money to pay for her SOAR camp with the Guides. She has been a busy girl with taking workshops at the Aborigional Film Festival in town. She took Working in Radio yesterday, and Voice Over Annimation today. There was Opening Cerimonies last night and she has had fun. Today there is an awards Cerimony and the group she was with in October doing an Anti Racism/Anti Bullying video course is receiving an award for their 1 minute videos.

This is great for her as it is making her look at the different things she may be interested in doing as she gets older. Maybe she will really focus her learning towards video or radio productions. I may have to teach her how to do podcasts as she would like to volunteer in a Radio Station but we only have one around.

Well I guess that is it for now. Take care and have fun. A

I think I did it!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:38:00 -0500

Well I think I fixed my blog. Please let me know what you think. I have a new visitor counter on the left side but not totally thrilled with it because it keeps counting the same visitors, the website says that it won't do that, but it is. GRRRRR I have the sidebars like I want but am unable to change anything in the middle. Many of my Category pages are screwed up. They have the side bars but the center section is either the right size, or it is squished or expanded. The Comment pages have 4 columns with the blog column being very squished. GRRRRRRRRRRR

If only I could figure out how to fix that. I guess it is one thing at a time and i have spent a lot of time just getting this far.

Have fun and please let me know what you think of my new blog setup.

Technical Difficulties - Part Deux

Mon, 9 Apr 2007 04:08:00 -0500

Well I finally got an email back from HSB and there is NOTHING they can do about my blog being screwed up. I was told to start over and figure out any miscoding I made. Well I spent hours and days making it the way I wanted in December and it was fine for about 3 months until something happened at HSB that effected several blogs. So armed with NO help from HSB in regards to their screw up I have spent several hours today working on my blog. You will notice that there are several parts that are repeated but it has taken me several hours to get to this point and I needed something to see the column I wanted. I will attempt to work on it again tomorrow and get it back to the way it was. Please let me know what you think. I am afraid that I will loose my map and my site counter which sucks as I enjoyed seeing how many people visited and where they were from. If anyone knows of a better map (if it will work) please let me know.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

April

Tue, 3 Apr 2007 17:11:00 -0500

Wow can you believe it is April already? Man this year has gone awfully fast. The kids are in yet another session of swim lessons in levels 4, 8 and 9 they are hoping all to move on to the next level by the end of the month. They have all done so well in swimming this year.

We have been working on Fractions in math. All 3 kids are doing them and really enjoying what we are learning. Fractions is one part of math that has always confused me. I get the basic concepts but more than that has me lost. So hopefully I will better understand as well when we finish our work.

We have our weather co-op with another family on Wednesdays and look forward to seeing the girls tomorrow. I have to decide what we are working on and get the kids to make their rain guage. Now that it has stopped raining. LOL

The kids continue to enjoy doing art on their computers. And I just installed a program on Trawets computer that he won last fall in an art contest. He really likes it. I can't wait to see what he will create now.

The kids are also enjoying the nicer weather. They are able to go for bike rides to the ball park, play with the little kids across the street and just plain be outside much more often.

That's it for now. Hopefully HSB will respond to me email for blog help and things will look right soon.

Technical Difficulties

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 23:36:00 -0500

I don't know but my blog seems to have a mind of its own. At some point this week I realized my blog has gotten messed up. I have no idea how or why but have not had the chance to figure it out either. Not that I have the time at the moment but I will try to figure out why it has decided to change itself without my say so. I spent sooo long setting it up the way it was. GRRRRRR Oh well. I will try.

Kids Blogs

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:35:00 -0500

Well I finally did it. My kids have been bugging me for months to set them up with blogs of their own. So I have.

Adnarim's

Trawets'

Araik's

I hope that you enjoy what they have to say. This will count towards their Language Arts and other subjects.

Well we have been busy again!

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:22:00 -0500

Well we have been busy again. But then aren't we always busy. It sure seems so.

Friday we went to one of the Cub Leaders houses for our annual INDY Camp. After a week of having no voice, it still had not returned. Thankfully it showed up Saturday. The Cubs spent Saturday finishing putting the Soap Box cars together (we have 4 in our pack) then painted them. They cooked their own lunch over the campfire (hotdogs and Smors). They were then given the challenge by Rikki-Tikki (we were at his house) to set his brush pile on fire. Now this pile has been growing for the past year and a half and it has been one wet winter. So the kids took to the task with gusto and did a good job of working together. One group managed to get a nice fire started that kept going. The other fires just didn't want to take. Rikki-Tikki then put his tiger torch to the pile and we had fun. Baloo's wife brought us a yummy Mac and cheese for dinner, what a treat not to have to worry about cooking a camp meal. Then we went inside the basement and learned about some knots while we warmed up, or should I say COOKED, by the wood stove. It had been a pretty wet weekend up to that point. We then took the kids out to the campfire and had a nice time before going back inside and watching Flushed Away projected on the wall. It isn't often that we watch a movie at camp but it is a nice treat. I think we sent the kids to bed around 11:30 or so. Then Sunday, I banged my pot and lid together to wake everyone up around 7:30 because the kids had to have their gear packed and tents empty before having breakfast. Because at 10am we were having our races. Parents started showing up and we took a bunch of pictures. Then took the cars to the side road that has a nice slope and set to giving them the race rules. All 18 kids and it was fun. This year the Green car won, with the Orange coming in 2nd and the Black and Blue cars tying for 3rd. It doesn't really matter what car won the kids all had a good time. What a fun way to work on their Carpenter and Handicraft badges. I wonder how the cars will be painted next year. The neat thing about the races is that the a local paper photographer showed up as we were finishing and took pictures of the kids racing (we had to add a couple extra runs) and even 2 of the leaders were elected to run races, they didn't know they were going to. LOL What fun. I will have to watch the paper this week to see if they made it in.

After all the kids left we finished packing up our gear and taking down the tents and tarps. Then we headed home. The dog was happy to see us. He doesn't like being left alone for the weekend but he is a good puppy.

Yesterday we had a quiet day at home. Sleeping in and relaxing. The kids all have another camp in 2 weeks, that makes 3 this month. I then went to the moms meeting at the other hs group around where we live and when I got home dh went out and did some work for an old friend. Trawets had a friend over, it was a complete surprise and he didn't know he was coming but it has been so long since they played together we made it happen. I then let Adnarim sleep over for 2 nights at a friends. Today was a veggie day around here. But Araik and Trawets went for a bike ride to the ball park, then to the post office to check the mail. They played on their computers and did some chores.

Tomorrow we have friends coming over in the am to work on our Weather lapbooks. I forgot to get the cotton balls and will have to run out first thing in the am to do it. Adnarim will be home and dh will pick up Trawets friend on the way back home. This week is spring break for the school kids in the area.

Thursday dh is taking an info session on starting his own business. He is looking at taking part in a program that will help him get started. He is looking at doing handy man stuff, as well as building cabinets, furniture and even windows and doors.

Friday my friend is coming over on the ferry. We saw her and the kids last in Aug. So this is fun. I haven't told the kids they are coming I will just go get them and bring them home and SURPRISE.

Well I guess that is all for now. I think I have gone on long enough. Take care all. A

Timelines

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:49:00 -0500

Well I finally got it done. I have been reading about timelines for over 3 years now and wanting so badly to do one for the kids. But I have never had the courage to up and do it, let alone the space (wall or shelf). Well a few weeks ago I went and looked at all the timelines I could find to see what I really wanted ours to look like. I found one close to what I wanted but it had lines across the pages, I assume to write on. I definatly didn't want lines. I also searched for the different "Eras" that I needed to represent and how others divided them. So I used the set up of that and made my own timeline in Word. My timeline has 7 Eras and no lines. The timeline runs through the center of the landscaped page and is 91 pages long. It runs from 5000 BC to 2015.

I knew that I wanted one on the wall. We have a long hallway wall that backs the kitchen. It is about...... long between the kitchen and bathroom doorways. This I knew was the home of our family timeline. I also knew that I wanted each of the kids to have their own personal timeline. So I went out and got enough colored paper to do 4 timelines in 7 colors, then I went to a local office store and bought 7 different colors of Bristol board, to go with the colors of paper I had bought. I think I came home with 25 pieces of Bristol board, about 700 pieces of paper, and 2 boxes of brass thumb tacks.

I then decided which Era was getting which color and set to printing. That took about an hour or so. Then I hole punched the kids personal ones and put them in binders I have. I will eventually take the kids to the store to buy good D-ring binders of their choice that have covers so the kids can personalize them even more. I also printed out a cover sheet for each Era in a different color with the Eras name and dates that it encompasses. The binder timelines were quick and easy to do.

Then I ran out of steam for doing my wall timeline. So finally on Sunday after watching Secrets of the Deep with the kids on the Discovery Channel then Myth Busters I started to work at Midnight. I decided that I needed to cut each of the pieces of Bristol board in half length wise. So I measured them and marked the board I was using to cut on. Dh and I cut 19 pieces of board I think. Then I had to decide how many I could get across the wall. Now I have to keep in mind that I have a black Bristol board on the wall at the top at the start of my timeline. This is for my prehistory timeline, I have yet to figure out how I want that one to look. So I taped together my pieces of board then used my glue stick and glued the pages on. I found I could get 5 pages across 2 lengths of board. So Dh and I pinned the first one up a few inches from the ceiling. Then I did the next set and we pinned that a couple inches lower. This went on until we had 3 rows up. Then figured that I could not get another 5 rows down the wall, I had figured on 8 rows. So we moved the 3 rows up. Touching the ceiling and each row directly below the next. We got 3 more rows up and I realized we still had 3 full rows to go and it was again not going to fit. So we overlapped each of the rows by about an inch. After we stepped back we said "WOW that really has a nice finished look". I think it was about 4 am and the windstorm outside was still going full force and after helping me put up the 7th row dh went to bed. Poor guy I kept him up very late. He is one of those people who can sleep for 20 hours and still be tired. After he went I finished taping and gluing the last 2 rows, for a total of 9, and put them up. Man does the timeline ever look good. I am so thrilled with how it looks. So I went to bed at 5 and got 4 hours sleep before getting up for the day. I was sooo tired on Monday but it's done. It looks really sharp and the kids were so excited when they saw it in the morning.

I would love to post pictures of my timeline but have yet to figure out how to do that. As soon as I do I will post them.