http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/drewdlums/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:38:00 -0500 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:38:00 -0500 It has been awhile since I have posted but I have a busy homeschoolin' mama!!! The weather is finally nice after a very long winter. The kiddos and I spent about two hours planting seeds today. We planted organic vegetables in one flat and flowers in another. While the seeds are busy sprouting, I will be busy praparing my raised bed for the vegetables in the back yard. I bought organic garden soil, and I need to make a trip to the local nursery in search of earthworms. While on the internet last night looking for a few last minute curriculum choices, I discovered an amazing website dedicated to children and science, mainly plants and animals. It is www.kidsgardeningstore.com  You can buy lady bug larvae and watch it transform. When they have hatched? (or whatever it is ladybugs do - I guess we will find out as soon as they arrive) you can release them into your Garden to go aphid hunting!!! Seeing all of the fun projects that can be done outdoors, I am readjusting my homeschool plan. I have decided to focus on life science for the summer. We will still keep up with reading and do math on rainy days, but everything else is getting shelved for summer! I am even going to focus our Bible reading on creation, and how certain things can be compared to things that can happen in nature - such as a caterpillar's metamorphis can be compared to receiving a new life in Christ when we become Christians. Here in Alaska there is more than enough time during the winter months and even some of the spring and fall months to do everything else. Lateley, I have also been taking some time to do some spring cleaning of my own. We recently moved, and I have been faithful not to unpack a box without having it have a definite spot. If I can't readily find a spot for it, I put it in the spare bedroom to deal with later. So everything that I am not sure what to do with is all condensed to one place where I can go through it at my leisure. I  am also taking the time to get rid of anything that I do not need anymore, regardless of what I paid for it. This has been extremely difficult in the past because I would rationalize, " But I paid XX amount of dollars for it .I have to keep it." But now I am just focused on going through everything we own with a fine toothed comb. So I am looking at my 8 very large boxes of things to give away and I am disgusted at how much money is sitting there. I didn't even realize I was doing it because it was one item, here and there. Now I am making lists and sticking to them when I go to the store. The one upside is that I am getting the warm fuzzies about dropping my boxes at the Give and Take ministry at the church we used to attend before we moved. At least someone else will be able to be blessed. This has also got me thinking about other things, such as, do my kids really need 15 shirts when there are only 7 days of the week? Do I really need "bathroom cleaner" when the all purpose cleaner works just as well? So I am going through and streamlining the things we use on a regular basis sticking to one cleaner and reducing the amount of clothes each child has. One thing that has helped tremendously in the kids clothing area is that I do all of their shopping at one time, twice a year. When I notice that one child is outgrowing trheir clothes, I take a trip to the mall (by myself) and spend about two hours buying for three children in one store. This has greatly reduced on the amount of clothing they end up with - we have probably all done this "Oh that is such a cute outfit for child 2" and bought it. Even so, I am going to make a list when I go again in the fall so that I don't end up with more than I need. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/drewdlums/545460/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:38:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/drewdlums/545460/ Hi My name is Brenda and I am a homeschooling mommy in Eagle River, Alaska to three sweeties all under five years old. I am starting this blog mainly as a way to track my progress as well as my children's. I am hoping to be able to go back through it at the end of the year and see what we have learned and how we have grown.  I am also hoping that it will serve as encouragement to my other friends who do not homeschool but are thinking about it.  A little bit about me,I have been married to my husband for five years and we have three children. Deanna will be five next month, Ashton is 2 and Addison is 3 months. We live in Alaska, where my husband is serving full time in the Alaska Army National Guard. We just recently moved to Eagle River, about 10 minutes north of Anchorage.  Although we have been teaching our kiddos since birth, this will be our first "official" year of school, with Deanna being eligible for Kindergarten in the Fall. However, because living in Alaska is a bit different from the rest of the United States, or "lower 48", I have decided to start our school years in the spring after all of the snow has melted, instead of in the fall. We have very long winters here, and for me it makes sense to plan during the long winter months and execute during the spring and summer.  For this year, I am focusing primarily on teaching Deanna to read and write, with a little math thrown in. I am using Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt and the Italic Handwriting Series, published by Portland State University. For math I am using the Critical Thinking Company's Mathematical Reasoning Series, hoping that by the time we are finished, Teaching Textbooks will have come out with some more younger grade curriculum. For Ashton, I am going through our current collection of toys and getting rid of the ones that are no longer played with or that are "overly plastic". We don't buy our kids any licensing merchandise or commercialized toys such as Barbie or anything, but I am finding that they play more with the toys that are made of wood, and that do not have such bright colors and are not overly stimulating, ie sound and lights. So I have been frequenting the couple of educational toy stores we have for birthday and Christmas ideas, which is really the only time our kids get toys. Ashton is my hands on learner, so letting him sit quietly and play while I work with Deanna will be easy. We recently got rid of our television, and it has been quite the experience. Our decision came, when in 2006 my husband and I agreed that if I was getting a brand new minivan, that he was going to get a brand new television. Of course with hubbys and electronics, the bigger the better, so our monthly trip to Costco yielded not only a month's worth of food but a Sony 50 inch LCD television with a Dish Network subscription to boot. This thing was huge and it was the focal point of the living room. After the "honeymoon period', I started noticing it's flaws. It was always the center of attention, even if it wasn't on. I nicknamed it the black hole when it was off. My husband is addicted to the news, so CNN was always on. If you have seen CNN you know that it is extrememly derogotory, and VERY repetitive. The kids would fight over what to watch. I would only allow them to watch a handfull of PBS shows, so most of the time it was DVD's, but even then it was over which DVD. Talking over the TV was something that I always felt I was doing, like I was competing with it for my family's attention. Then there were the times my hubby would watch the kids so I could do some errands sans kids, and I would come to Cartoon Network, which is totally inappropriate for young kids. His response when I would question his sanity? "I watched cartoons when I was a kid and I turned out okay. " And even if the show or program is excellent the commercials were not. Sometimes I would have to have the kids close their eyes, and muting the commercials became an automatic thing for me. I felt like I was forced to live with an unwelcome houseguest, so I called dish network and after my initial contract expired, I cancelled my service. I am soooo proud of my husband for going along with this. I really think that the eighteen months we had satellite God changed our hearts about what we allow into our homes and allow our children to see. He also showed us how much of our time was wasted or idle. He showed us that even though we were conservative in what we watched in relation to mainstream America, It still was not conservative enough for Him. As our Children get older, there will probably be room for a small television and DVD player to watch educational programs related to what we are studying, but as far as replacing our TV, not likely. My husband and I are having too much fun building relationships with our children and with each other.  My chldren have not even missed it. They do not ask about where it went or where their DVD's are. Making this decision has also led us to question other areas of our life or how we do things and make some changes.... But more on that later http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/drewdlums/531135/ Mon, 12 May 2008 15:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/drewdlums/531135/