"KEEPING IT REAL" - Homeschool Blogger

JUsT a LiTtlE UPdaTe !

Fri, 9 Mar 2007 19:32:01 -0600

What a crazy-lazy, sickly week we've had!

But...things are looking up....

Yesterday, I was able to get groceries and take Tommie to his last Lego Robotics class in this session. He really enjoys it and is looking forward to Lego Robotics II. He is showing interest in the Catapults and Seige class as well, so we'll see how that fits into the schedule. His instructor, is a really wonderful man, who come to find out, has worked in the gifted and talented public school programs for most of his 30 year career. I was happy he invited Tommie to participate in his chess tournament on the 27th at Chatfield School. This is with many boys from all different schools. It has been my goal from day one, not to shield him, nor to only expose him to a select group of like-minded people...but rather, to expose him all opportunities...because, in life, I think the sooner you learn to get comfortable in your own skin and learn how to get along in unfamiliar situations and with people that have different personalities, the less hang-ups you'll have in your young adult life or even adult life. I'm thinking this makes sense...at least for us.

Friday: The morning was bright and sunny and the temperatures are rising. It's nice to see grass peeking through the snow! I acutally saw a fly outside? Or some type of insect, flitting around. Tommie enjoyed a good hour outside, this morning, playing on the ice and sliding around...I liked the idea of him getting so much fresh air and sunshine. It's good for kids and I shake my head at the educators who have come up with the idea to limit kids in today's schools to 1/2 hour of recess a day....that's a tough thing for me to grasp.... today was math day, so it was double work and then after a healthy lunch of salad with fresh veggies and protein drink, we both pretended to be Vincent van Gogh...only not so weird. Here's a link to the Van Gogh museum, it's really interesting, and if you have time, just click below:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://people.freenet.de/1604/vincent.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvan%2BGogh%2Bfor%2Bkids%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DG

We worked on his project and both enjoyed painting self-potraits and STARRY NIGHT!

Here's some things about Vincent Van Gogh, I bet you never knew:

*he only had 10 teeth, because of malnutrition and whatever money he had he spent on paint supplies rather then food.

*he gave Rachel his girlfriend, his right earlobe after he cut it off...she of course fainted.

*he only sold one painting while he was alive.

*in 1990 (or there about) one of his paintings sold for 82.5 million, it was a painting of a doctor.

*he only lived to be 37, he ended up shooting himself in the chest.

*he was an epiletic and they say it was from him licking his oil paint brushes clean.

*while in the insane asslymn, his doctors used to make him take baths for therapy, the same tubs he used, are now used outside the hospital as flower planters.

*he died in his brother's arms.

Okay, now scroll back up and take the tour!

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FUN!

Thu, 8 Mar 2007 07:09:00 -0600

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

POPCORN + A GOOD MOVIE!

Still feeling lazy from the wicked flu I had, we flopped on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, homemade coke slushies and a good movie, I picked up at Goodwill, titled, "The Amazing Panda Adventure"...

Thumbs up for this movie....we liked it a lot! I think I would love owning a panda for a pet, if it were legal! This movie did contain guns, a shooting (not at the panda but a human), and two 10 year olds who very innoncently found them selves naked in front of each other...but neither saw anything, it was also about a broken home. I thought I'd give you a heads up, because if you have little kids it may not be appropriate.

YOWZA, BRING ME THE CHICKEN SOUP...

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 14:52:00 -0600

YOWZA! BRING ME THE CHICKEN SOUP, I'M SICK!

WHAT A ROUGH FIVE DAYS I'VE HAD....

.... HAD THE WORST COLD OF MY LIFE....REALLY!

SINCE LATE SATURDAY NIGHT I'VE HAD ON AND OFF FEVER, CHILLS, HORRIBLE COUGH THAT SENDS PEOPLE RUNNING FROM ME....AND, WHEN I COUGH LIKE THIS, I AM INSTANTLY REMINDED OF MY WEAK BLADDER, A MIGRANE, A SINUS HEADACHE, SORE THROAT, THROWING UP AND DID I TELL YOU ABOUT MY WEAK BLADDER FROM MY 5-LB BABY?

THINGS ARE LOOKING BETTER TODAY... I AM JUST SUFFERING FROM THE COUGH, SORE THROAT AND...UMM, YES, THE BLADDER...BUT ASIDE FROM WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH, I FEEL 200% BETTER.

I'M SURE I WAS SENDING BRAD INTO DEPRESSION...I LOOKED LIKE GODZILLA'S BRIDE OR WORSE...I HAD HIS BIG, THICK MAN SOCKS ON, MIS-MATCHED CLOTHES AND HAIR, EVEN WILDER THEN NORMAL.

TOMMIE MANAGED TO GET A LOT OF PLAY TIME IN...BUT, ALSO DID SOME DRY, DULL BORING WORKSHEETS (REVIEW), THAT I HAD ON THE SHELF....FROM SOME THIRD GRADE SCHOOL WORKBOOK. HE DIDN'T COMPLAIN....INSTEAD HE GOT EVERYTHING DONE WITHIN 20 MINUTES AND BRAD LOOKED AT ME LIKE...NOW WHAT?

BEFORE, GETTING BED-BOUND, ON SATURDAY, I DID MANAGE TO MAKE IT TO MOTT MEDIA, IN FENTON FOR SOME NEW HOMESCHOOL SUPPLIES...I'M EXCITED TO SAY THAT TOMMIE WILL BEGIN 4TH GRADE HORIZON'S MATH IN ABOUT 3 WEEKS. I ALSO MANAGED TO PICK UP THE SPELLING POWER BOOK...HE'S PRETTY WEAK AT SPELLING, SO WE REALLY NEED TO WORK AT THIS. I ALSO, INVESTED IN FLYING CREATURES OF THE FIFTH DAY AND REGRET NOT ENROLLING TOMMIE IN THIS AT CO-OP. THIS SHOULD BE A GOOD PROGRAM FOR SPRING.

OH, AND AT CO-OP, A YOUNG LADY IN OUR CLASS HAD THE GAME "SOME-BODY"... MY FRIEND JACQUE, A R.N AND FELLOW HOMESCHOOL MOM, SAID IT REALLY WAS A GOOD GAME...SO I PICKED THAT UP TOO. WE PLAYED IT THIS MORNING AND I AM VERY IMPRESSED...AND WOULD RECOMMEND THIS, AS WELL. WE PLAYED 2 ROUNDS OF GAME 2 AND LEARNED SO MUCH ABOUT THE SPLEEN, GALL BLADDER, PANCREAS AND MORE. THIS WAS A HIT! AND, MADE TEACHING SOMETHING I KNEW LITTLE ABOUT A BREEZE! AROUND $20.

DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS IS?

Sat, 3 Mar 2007 07:05:00 -0600

DOES ANYONE WANT TO TAKE A GUESS ON WHO THIS FAMOUS PERSON IS?

Tommie has to research and report on him for his next Homeschool Co-op Class.....

No, it's not John James Audubon, either...I was really wishing he would of been assigned him, however, his friend Joel picked this topic, because Tommie was home sick...so it's all a fair deal.

Take a guess....click below and comment!

CHA CHA CHA CHIA and President Bush!

Fri, 2 Mar 2007 06:53:00 -0600

Homeschooling on Thursday...not your typical classroom:

On Thursday, we were in a really good place...everything that I mentally wanted to get done was ahead of schedule, needless to say, I was pleased....but without a one-day plan....I mean you can't really start a unit study, (we ~~have~~ had co-op today...but Tommie is sick with the tummy flu), so Thursday of this week was our last day until Monday. What to do, what to do? And, suddenly.... it all unfolded into a great day!

My mom pulled in and gave us A FREE CHA-CHA-CHA Chia herbal garden, here's Tommie PROUDLY planting it:

That's right....soon we'll have big, healthy basil leaves and fresh cilantro...just like the picture!

After that, he had a good lesson on "alliteration," 2 grammar lessons and is just about finished with his Baden Powell book.

And then, (drum roll).....for handwriting practice he wrote a one page letter to President Bush! He's done this in the past, and always receives a response....good for scrapbooking and to add to your homeschool portfolio.

In case you're intersted, the address is:

President Bush, The White House, 1600 Pensylvania Ave., Washington D.C. 20006

It's rainy and cold and windy and definatley being a lion on the first day of March.... so we had homemade bread and chicken noodle soup, for dinner. Comfort!

HOMEMADE-SNOWMAN BIRDFEEDER....virtually free to do!

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:57:00 -0600

I wanted to share a little mid-day fun, we had on Monday! We hadn't yet built a snowman...and what's winter in Michigan, without a snowman in your yard? We added a little twist to ours, instead of a traditional snowman (the picture above is not ours-my digital doesn't work in snow)... we made 2-foot snowmen and put them up on our patio... we then decorated them with nature-stuff only...twigs and pine needles and lots of birdseed! We used pecans for eyes and peanuts for the mouth....we spread peanutbutter on a large-fat stick and sprinkled birdseed on it for the nose....hoping the birds will come and sit on it! Wouldn't that make an awesome picture?

We had three starlings flittering around, eating up all the pecans...and bluejays loving the peanuts!

It's been really fun to watch!

Project complete!

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:37:00 -0600

HERE'S HOW THE KIDNEY PROJECT LOOKS WHEN IT'S FINISHED:

*note...two popcans hot-glued signify how much our bladders can hold

*one spaghetti jar is how much is elimated (urine!) each day...actually, for adults it's 1 1/2 quart jars full (note, Tommie thought it would be really cool to fill the jar with water and yellow food coloring!) I thought stuffing yellow tissue paper in the jar would be better and not gross everyone out. BOYS!

KIDNEY PROJECT!

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:20:00 -0600

Today we wrapped up a 2-day unit on kidney's, for Tommies class at co-op! This was an especially good topic, since my dad had a kidney transplant and many complications with his kidneys and kidney cancer...it was a great opportunity for me to explain to him about his grandpa Tom's kidney donor, who was a 7 year old bicycle accident victim....and the generous donation that family made.

We both think God was pretty clever...he has everything laid out just perfect! Our bodies are truely amazing!

I have a garden in February!

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:09:00 -0600

Here's a peek at our crystal garden...I've been wanting to make one of these for so long! We used charcoal, but it works even better with a sponge!

Up close it looks like colored cauliflower!

Here's the recipe: 6 Tbsp salt, 6Tbs. liquid blueing, 6 Tbs. water, 1 Tbs amonia...mix it all up, drop by spoonfuls over charcoal, rocks, sponge or broken bricks....squeeze food coloring on top and after about 20 minutes, the crystals will begin to form. Repeat the next day!

WHAT'S IN YOUR BOOK BASKET THIS WEEK?!

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:31:00 -0600

I'm always on the lookout for colorful stories.... so, what's in your book basket this week? Just feel free to scroll down, click comment and add your's....that way I know someone out there is reading this blog.....

Brad's reading: The bio of Andrew Jackson

Tommie's reading: Michigan Chillers: Terror in Traverse City and will start Baden Powell, Chief Scout of the World

I'm Reading: The Runes of Isle Royale

Daytime Read-aloud: Toliver's Secret...this sounds excellent! Can't wait to start it! It's about an 11 yr. old girl who has to deliver a secret messege that is baked in a loaf of bread, for her grandfather and give it to George Washinton.

Night time Read Aloud: Thorton Burgess' "Lightfoot the Deer"

PAUL REVERE'S DAY BOOK

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:45:00 -0600

Here's how the finished "drop and dip paper-in-coffee" project turned out for Tommie's, Paul Revere's Day Book... book project, for out homeschool co-op class. Inside this day book, there are about 6 to 8 pages of wild facts, maps and artwork, he's worked on this week.

Below is the cover...we took our drop and dip paper, dried it, ironed it and then had fun decopaging a pizza box lids, to cover it. We added buttons to secure the binding (thanks to my friend Sallie!), and the most fun, was Tommie operating his dad's power drill to make holes in the binding!....We chalk that up to "wood-shop 101"...

"NO SENSE IN BEING A DOWNER...."

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 06:55:00 -0600

WEEK OF WINTER FUN!

I confess, I really dislike the snow and cold, and walking on ice. I get colder quicker, the bright sun bothers my eyes and my nose can never get warm enough....this year, instead of fighting the current, I thought I'd row with it... makes life a lot nicer for everyone, then complaining about it. I quote one of my late father's friends...a diamond in the rough...Bill Gerlach (yes, the one of the original owners of Gerlach's bowling alley), and that is.... "No sense in being a downer...nobody will want to be around you, and then you'll have no friends!"...I often share this with Tommie...who's taken the bait...but, shouldn't I be practicing what I'm teaching him? Yeah, I think so, too.

Back to winter fun....

In spite of a hum-dinger cold...no fever-- just bad cough... I sent out a group email to our homeschool co-op, inviting everyone to "Recess on Wednesday at the Sledding Hill"... it was a beautiful day- sunshine and pretty warm. We didn't have a big turn-out, but sometimes that's how it goes. The families that did show up had a blast and we had lots of good conversations...walking away and feeling re-charged, from the inspiration! It was good for everyone!

We also had the opportunity to go cross-country skiing with our Cub Scout den right here, at beautiful Camp Holaka. One of our Cub mom's is a teacher and had access to 10 pair of ski's and boots and generously offered them to us! The boys earned their ski beltloop, burned off some boy-energy and ate pizza from Little Squeezers...also had hot chocolate afterwards... I know, hot chocolate and pizza? Great combo...but, remember these are tough little boys!

T-bird (Tommie) had a rough night of hacking and coughing and is sleeping as I write... I plan to give him a light day...which includes: making a crystal garden out of charcoal and food coloring (I've been wanting to do this forever), finishing up The Whipping Boy, having him wind up one of his American Chillers books, watching a movie on George Washington and "hopefully".... sketching out his body on a big piece of paper and begin to fill in body parts. He is doing a report on kidney's for his homeschool class....

I am in the mood to scrapbook!

My house sure smells like Starbucks!

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:04:00 -0600

Happy President's Day!

George Washington turns 275 years old on Thursday!

This week, we'll be learning about Paul Revere....in Tommie's Book Club, his required reading is...."And, Then What Happened, Paul Revere?"....a very, very good book, with plenty of belly laughs....always a sure-sign that reading comprehension is successful!

I am coordinating it with Five in a Row's, "Paul Revere's Ride."

Below, I thought I'd share a picture of my little Revolutionary boy making paper...he's actually dyeing wadded up butcher paper, in 7 Tablespoons of boiling coffee, to give it an old look. We'll either turn this into a Paul Revere newspaper or a Day Book, like Paul carried...for Tommie to use for his class.

The house sure smelled like a Starbucks...

Also in the day: started putting together a 300 piece United States Puzzle of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandieago"....you put the puzzle together and then there's a booklet of clues for you to figure out... walked 4 miles on the treadmill, made bbq chicken and baked potato's for dinner, scrapbooked 4 pages, made calls--trying to coordinate our skiing outing with our Cub Scout den, read three chapters of our read-aloud, "The Whipping Boy"...this is a pretty dark book....

NEGATIVE...BUT, WE TRIED NOT TO BE....

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:20:00 -0600

A pretty dull weekend...warning, this may take on a negative tone...I'm not feeling negative, I'm actually in a great mood...but, our weekend, was what it was...dull!

SATURDAY: BAKED A MEAN CHERRY COBBLER TO TAKE TO MY SISTER-IN-LAW'S HOUSE...WE CELEBRATED MY FATHER -IN-LAW'S 75TH BIRTHDAY. UNFORTUNATLY, THEY KEEP THEIR HEAT AT 62 DEGREES AND WE FROZE...BUT THEN WE HEATED UP WITH AN INTENSE CONVERSATION ABOUT FOLK MUSIC VS. RAP MUSIC. I DECIDED THIS CONVERSATION WAS COMPARABLE TO CHEWING OLD, STALE BUBBLE GUM. THE CONVERSATION ALSO INCLUDED A BIG DEBATE ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SINKING FUND AND THE NEW BOND ISSUES, SINCE MY BROTHER-IN-LAW WORKS FOR THE SCHOOLS AND LEANS LEFT, AND US, BEING OBLIVIOUS TO ANYTHING HAPPENING WITHIN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, WE JUST DID A LOT OF "UH-HUH'S AND ATE OUR PULLED PORK SANDWHICH'S....WELL, NOT ME...I DIDN'T EAT THE PULLED-PORK..." BUT, I DID SAY "I, SEE AND UH-HUH" A LOT.

CAME HOME AND MADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP AND HOMEMADE BREAD AND PLAYED THE GAME LIFE. YES, BRAD WON AGAIN.

FELL ASLEEP ON THE COUCH.

SUNDAY: WORKED OUT IN THE MORNING, THEN HEADED TO DAVISBURG, TO A CIVIL WAR EXHIBIT...A LIVING HISTORY EXPO. IT TOOK US ABOUT 12 MINUTES TO HUSTLE THRU...FUNNY THING, WE ALL MAINTAINED REALLY GOOD ATTITUDES AND ACTED LIKE IT WAS JUST GREAT...THEN WE GOT IN THE CAR AND TOMMIIE SAID, "WELL, THAT WAS A WASTE OF A DAY".... BRAD HAD A CONVERSATION WITH A MAN WHO HAD REALLY TERRIBLE BREATH AND HE COULDN'T GET OUT OF THE CONVERSATION....BRAD KEPT STEPPING BACK, BUT THE MAN KEPT GETTING IN HIS SPACE.

OUR BIG FANCY-SCHMANCY FINISH TO THE WEEKEND, IS ENDING UP WITH BRAD PULLING TOMMIE ON A SLED BEHIND THE TRACTOR, OUT IN THE FIELD AND ME CLEANING THE HOUSE...AND MAKING GRILLED CHEESE SANDWHICH'S FOR DINNER.

EBAY WAS TOUGH THIS WEEK.

************************************************************

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 2007

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 06:22:00 -0600

VALENTINE'S DAY 2007

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays! I love the way it just sort of gives you the boost you need for this time of year! I also enjoyed reading about how this holiday originated and happy to have read about it...

http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm

We decorated for it, by stuffing a couple of branches in a pretty vase, red Christmas lights and homemade hearts attatched to it. I also hung pink, white and red balloons from Tommie's ceiling and doorway, so when he wakes up, he'll have something pleasant to start his day! We'll celebrate the day, by having lunch at Applebee's with my mom, a Valentine Scavenger Hunt to find his Valentine prize, tonight, and then watch our traditional Valentine Night movie: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!

How's this for romantic? I purchased a pair of good-durable snow boots for Brad at TSC, for his Valentine gift! He really needs them and will definatley use them...

In lieu of flowers, I am asking for a Toby Keith cd. He sings a controversial song about the war...and it gives me goose bumps whenever I hear it.

TSC had a sale of 60% off toys, so I was able to pick up a toy, Tommie had been wanting...plus, a nice sweatshirt with tractors on it. Oh, and wrenches.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

***************************

NOT-REALLY-A-LAP-BOOK....BUT SORT-OF?

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 07:27:00 -0600

For Tommie's Book Report Club, at our Homeschool Co-op, he was required to read and report on, "The Bears on Hemlock Mountain,"....I usually like to take advantage of these opportunities, so I encouraged him to make this visual aide for his class. On the back of the black culdron, is a homemade file-holder for holding these and other pages, relating to his project. I am happy to be able to squeeze additional lessons into projects like these! It makes homeschooling, even more fun, then it already is!

WANT YOUR CHILD TO LEARN SIX PARTS OF SPEECH in less then 1/2 hour?

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 07:03:00 -0600

Here's a virtually free grammar game, that I really enjoyed making and Tommie really enjoyed playing....

Since, we recycle everything (almost), I took a pizza lid, hot glued 6 boxes checks come in to the top, and made little index cards (the florescent kind...because they're happy looking!) and printed six different parts of speech/grammar titles on them...I also put the defination on the cards, incase Tommie got mixed up.... I then made a stack of maybe 100 different card strips, with the words that apply to the index cards...I then put, the 100 words in a basket, mixed them up, sat him on the floor, with our Nest video of Abraham Lincoln, playing and he worked independently on his grammar, while watching the movie...while I ran on the treadmill!

Happy to report....he got all but two of them correct...in about 20 minutes. Of course, we'll have to review...but I think it will be a "welcome review!"

I plan to use this game, again...only replace the index cards with irregular verbs, possesive pronouns, etc. And, now my mind is spinning about what eles I can create!

Thought I'd share this...because it was free, fast and effective! And, not workbook dry!

P.S. Yes, that's our perfect family pet, sticking her head in the picture!

A WHOLE LOT OF FUN WITH .33 cents!

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 06:45:00 -0600

This week, we'll be learning all about Abraham Lincoln...I take great pride, in announcing, I found an awesome vintage chapter book, titled "Meet Abraham Lincoln" by Barbara Cary...at Goodwill for .33 cents! Not only that...but get this...it has a two built-in Civil War maps and a small introduction to the government in the back! Plus, it is on Tommie's reading level. It's amazing how much fun you can have with .33 cents, isn't it?

Happy Birthday Honest Abe....you were a wonderful man!

VIRTUAL LEGO TOUR

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 07:38:00 -0600

Ever wonder how LEGO'S are made? This is a pretty interesting virtual tour of their factory:

http://www.lego.com/eng/info/howLEGOismade.asp

CHEAP SCIENCE EXPERIMENT!

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:24:00 -0600

Here's a fun science experiment, that we tried this week...

HOW TO REMOVE AN EGGSHELL FROM AN UNCOOKED EGG:

Take an uncooked egg, put it in a ziplock bag, add 16 oz. white vinegar. See the carbon dioxide bubbles? Just like in soda pop! The acid in the vinegar is dissolving the calcium of the eggshell...tuck the baggy in a glass...this way the egg will be submerged in the vinegar...wait two days and all you'll have left is a water-balloon type egg....you can feel and see the membrane and yolk!

HOW TO SHRINK THE EGG:

Gently empty the ziplock baggy and rinse it out....drop the egg back in the bag and cover the egg with enough clear corn syrup...tuck it back into your glass.... watch it for 5 days and you'll see the egg shrinking! The liquid inside the egg is slowly coming out and the syrup is not going in!

*You know, after seeing what vinegar can do...I mean completely dissolve an entire eggshell....makes me rethink my choice of vinegar and oil salad dressing?