Ramblings of a Non Traditional Homeschooling Mom http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:41:00 -0500 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:41:00 -0500 Well, I finally decided to just keep Denali home and school her. I am , as I suspected I would be, unhappy with the lack of education offered her in public school. I know she wanted to be a "regular middle school" kid, but I just don't like what she's NOT learned this year. I also have noticed many changes in her attitude. The last straw was a text message I recieved from my daughter Friday: "Mom, I may be late, we are on lockdown. " "WHAAAAAAT???" was my returned text message. Apparently someone robbed a 7-11 and ran with a gun to the Middle School. Terrific. I have never been so scared in my life. They caught the man. Still, I'm done. She's home learning with Aidan and I . She will really miss Dance and Peer Tutoring. I will try to find her a dance class. As for peer tutoring, maybe I can find a place for her to volunteer and help out kids with special needs. She will be starting at home full time next Monday. This week is the Iowa testing and it's required by law in this state.. so I decided just to let her take it at the middle school and then withdraw her. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Hug your kids a little closer today.. for today's world can be scary! I am thankful that Denali and the rest of the students are safe from Friday's scare. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/590453/ Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:41:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/590453/ What I made for dinner tonight : Tilapia with Salsa Butter Yummy fish with a kick! Fast and easy to prepare! 3/4-1 lb tilapia fillets 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1 tablespoon salsa 1 lime, zest of 1-2 clove garlic, minced 1/4 teaspoon cumin   salsa 2 servings Change size or US/metric 18 minutes 10 mins prep Rinse fish and pat dry. Cut into serving sized pieces, if necessary. Set aside. In small bowl, combine butter, 1 tablespoon salsa, lime zest, garlic, and cumin. Place fillets in single layer on foil lined baking sheet with sides. Brush butter mixture over fish. Tuck under any thin edges. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes per inch of thickness or about 8 minutes until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Place on serving platter. Top with additional salsa if desire. Serve immediately. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/588797/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/588797/ Well, my little brother just had his third son yesterday. Austin Walyn Ramsey :) I hope I will be well enough that our family can travel down to AZ to see them this Christmas. I sure love my little nephews! :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/588420/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:54:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/588420/ Well, on Saturday we got some peaches from the Farmer's Market. Aidan and I decided to try and make peach freezer jam. I've only made Strawberry freezer jam before and usually I make cooked peach jam. Well, it did not set. So today, I'm gonna try to fire it up and see if i can turn it into cooked jam. Also we have plenty of gooey ripe peaches left over for eating.. and my keyboard is sticky because of it, lol! Aidan and I tried to make greek yogurt yesterday but it did not turn out whatsoever. Hmmmm not sure why. Back to the drawing board. I eat alot of yogurt due to the medications I am on. It would be nice if we could figure out how make it. Any ideas? We have pear tree in the front yard and I asked Chris to pick some for me last week. They are now ripe enough to work with. My great grandfather used to make the most wonderful Pear Preserves. I remember well putting them on biscuits before and after church. Lucky for me, my great grandfather lived until I was 29 years old so I have many fond memories of him. Here is his recipe we are making today. Enjoy! Pear Preserves Into large kettle measure 5# sugar. Set aside. Begin heating 2C. water. Wash 6# ripe pears. Don’t peel. Cut out blemishes, quarter, core, Cut into 1/8’s. Do quickly just before boiling the syrup so they won’t darken. Add 2C boiling water to sugar. Stir over med. Heat till syrup boils. Add cut pears about 2 cups at a time, then 4-5 sticks cinnamon (broken with masher so in long splinters) and 36 whole cloves. Continue cooking over low heat just hot enough to keep boiling. Cook for 1-1 ½ hours till pears are amber colored and bubbles are large. Remove from heat and put into jars/seal. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/588034/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/588034/ Ok, by now you've probably gathered that we are a very non traditional family. Some families go to movies together (and we do too.. sometimes.. like for Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, Star Wars, LOTR.. stuff like that.. the rest we see on DVD), others may scrapbook, do crafts, enjoy sports etc. Not our family. We are a family of World of Warcraft Addicts. Yes, you read that correctly. My entry into the world of roleplaying games started young. Growing up with two younger brothers we played D and D alot. As a young adult I spent my weekends playing Magic The Gathering. This passed Christmas, with the help of my Mom, the kids recieved computers. Carson asked if he could download the WOW trial. Being the hands on Mom I am, I play everything my kids play and watch everything my kids watch. I also downloaded the trial and became quickly addicted. I am a T6 geared Alliance Holy Paladin and a "hard core" raider raiding Sunwell and Black Temple now. My kids are so proud. Lol! Now every member of our family plays. On weekends we bring my husband's, my daughter's, and one of my son's computers to the kitchen table. My desk is right by it (although currently I'm using Aidan's computer because mine broke... added to Christmas wish list). This way we can play together without screaming across the house. Aidan is really big into making sure we have the snacks that we need to sucessfully play lol. Aidan has a level 65 Warlock he is so proud of. Carson has recently started over (had to ground him from the game for a while this summer), and is playing an undead rogue. Denali, my silly, frilly girl, will only play if the outfits look good on her Blood Elf hunter (yes.. she made a blood elf... I actually made one too to play with her.. and yes they are incredibly silly to play.. but.. at least she plays something with me). Broden even plays sometimes, in a controlled environment. He just likes shooting the pig creatures lol. I also have made Horde to play with my kids. I am loving leveling this Tauren Shammy and Undead Mage. Kinda fun to do DPS instead of heal, heal HEAL! Now, before anyone gets judgemental on me, just stop now and keep your comments to yourself. We PLAY with our children. We know what they are doing, who they are with, and the kind of person they are being. My family loves playing this game together and it fits well with our "Sci-Fi Nut" type of group. The game also gives me incredible power. Text message inappropriately, grounded from WOW for a week. Backmouth much? No playing WOW today. What? I'm not fair? I never buy you anything? Well I guess i'll quit paying $14.99 a month for you to play WOW. Homework done? Yes, you may play for one hour. See what I am saying? And what a feast for the imagination this game is. Who knows.. I may have to make one of those bumper stickers that say "The Family that Raids together......." http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587916/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587916/ As I shared earlier, my children like to act. Here are some of my children, and the movies that they have been in: Aidan's IMDB Page Aidan and Denali on YouTube in Roosevelt: (Denali is Jackie, Aidan is sitting right behind her) Roosevelt Denali on YouTube in Suite 507: Denali in "Shoveling Suburbia"... a film short for the LDS Film Festival Competition Carson in "The Jerk Theory" (coming to Theatres soon). He plays Geek #2. He's the redhead in the background with the black and red coat on. Photo Link Denali's IMDB Page I have some photo's too I will upload as soon as I locate the disc I made of them! (Hard drive crash.. photo's now on disk.. somewhere on desk) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587667/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 19:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587667/ Today Aidan and I decided to make Greek Yogurt or "Yiaourti" (pronounced yee-ah-OOR-tee). We found the recipe at About.com.. Tomorrow Aidan will upload pictures on his blog. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587626/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 17:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587626/ Aidan made his blog. We transferred over his entries from Livejournal. Hopefully this help Aidan with his writing skills. :) Aidan's Alien Hangout http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587591/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 16:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587591/ Today I discovered Aidan really struggles with Grammar. The K12 book assumed he already knew what a Subject and a Predicate was. Here are some links to worksheets that helped me better teach him. Super Teacher Worksheets This site has many printable worksheets as well as the answer keys for free. Grammar Quest Download Free downloadable Grammar game Halloween Predicate Worksheet Fun for Fall http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587550/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 15:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587550/ I first got the notion to homechool when my children started acting. Denali had always begged to be an actress, and around age 10 I finally conceded and found her an agent. Utah, being the squeaky clean environment it is, is a breeding ground for wholesome Disney and Disney-like productions. Denali was quickly cast as extras and featured in one movie after another. After "No Child Left Behind" the schools started cracking down on students who missed school for various reasons, and even though Denali is an honor student and did all of her homework on set, the school started punishing her for her ambitions. Parents of other students thought it unfair that she was making an A in a class she missed while filming. I disagreed. I felt it was harder for Denali to do the work on her own without in class instruction, and deserved the grades she earned. In the end, the teacher bowed to the parents of other students, and refused to give Denali the A she deserved for the work she completed, replacing the A's with C's. The last straw for me was when Denali developed bleeding ulcers. Kids are cruel, and their parents are even more cruel. It's ok to take up dance, cheer, soccer, baseball, gymnastics, even singing, but take up acting, and people are just plain jealous and mean. Denali didn't want to go back to school, so we took up homeschooling. The first attempt was student led. I picked up some books from Barnes and Noble but mainly Denali chose what she wanted to learn. She was very into global warming and vegitarianism, so we studied it. Every question she had became an assignment; a quest for the answer. Denali is a gifted student, learning to read at age 3, and skipping a grade from Kindergarten to 1st grade when the teacher figured out she could read Charlotte's Web. A student led approach to schooling worked very well with Denali, since she was a little sponge and had the desire to learn. We have a mixed family; blended. A Brady Bunch of 3 girls and 3 boys, 5 of whom lived with us at the time. Our two youngest are 6 weeks apart. Although they are the same age, they are very, very different and have different educational needs. Aidan, the older of the two, has a bit of ADHD but does very well on medication, Broden, is Autistic with Aspberger's Syndrome. As described above, children can be extremely cruel, and Aidan was having a hard time with other kids teasing his Autistic brother. He got angry when they called him "retarded" and burst into tears when people called Broden "crazy". Aidan soon found himself in fights, protecting his brother's honor as well as his own. Since Aidan was also missing school due to his filming schedule, it was decided he'd also homeschool. My first attempt at homeschooling was basically an experiment. Some things went very well, where other ideas fell flat. I feel the children received a great education on history, science and the arts, but my instruction fell short in Math. The kids were raising rabbits, so our science became rabbit genetics. Their 4H project became their Science Fair exhibit. Both children received many ribbons at the county and state fairs. By the end of the year, Denali really wanted to go back to school. She wanted to go to a "real middle school" with dances and the like. Aidan, on the other hand, really wanted to just stay home. In the end I decided to put them both back in school (I have had extreme health issues I'll discuss in a different entry), and enrolled them in a Catholic school. No, we are not Catholic, but I wanted to find them a sheltered environment with a great education. Denali did very well academically, where Aidan did not. Towards Winter, Aidan developed some severe digestion issues and missed a lot of school being sick. He had a hard time catching up. Later on we found out Aidan was being bullied at the school, beat up for bus money, and being called "Nobody". I again have pulled Aidan from traditional schooling. I also tried the Utah Online High School for Allina and Carson. Both were punished by their high school for missing class for being in movies. Carson soon returned to public school when the next semester started. Carson is doing very well, as long as I stay on him and push him in the right direction. Allina, on the other hand, decided school was not for her and received her GED. Allina has always struggled in school, and while not Autistic like her brother, has learning, emotional, and psychological challenges of her own. These challenges made the traditional schooling atmosphere easily to manipulate for Allina, and also allowed her to fall through the cracks. I guess there are worse things in the world, but as a parent, her deciding to quit school at 17 broke my heart. I only hope that someday she sees the importance of education and finishes high school at the very least. While cruising the Internet, I happened upon a fantastic site: K12.com. After reading all of the material, and much research, I decided that this program is FANTASTIC! I was able to order materials for Aidan according to his needs and current level. For instance, he needs extra help with English and Language Arts, so we are stepping back a year to brush up on what he missed while being sick. In two weeks I have already bumped him up a year in Math. I am also using the Rosetta Stone French software to teach Aidan the French Language. So far, so good. After racing through the Math book, we are sending it back and awaiting harder material. Right now, Aidan is thoroughly enjoying Literature, French, Language Arts, Earth Science (they even sent him ROCKS!), US History, and Art. I intend to use this blog to track our trials and tribulations. His sister Denali may shortly follow, as her attitude and behaviour has been hideous since she started regular public school. She is 12 now, almost 13, and I do not like the local middle school whatsoever. She has also become quite lazy, and I am quite unhappy with the lack of education she is receiving. Someday, if this program works out well for Aidan and possibly Denali, Broden may follow as well. Public education is becoming quite a challenge as he progresses through grades, but really stays the age of a 2nd grader. If he is not accepted into cluster school before 7th grade, or if the cluster classroom is not able to meet his needs, he too will be tested for the K12 program. Aidan is also making a blog. He had one on Livejournal before i stumbled upon this site. I will update later with the link :) That's it for now. More to come I'm sure. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587508/ Mon, 8 Sep 2008 14:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hrherika/587508/