M+B=E2O2 - Homeschool Blogger

Please take a look

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:27:00 -0500

Hey friends! I've been playing with a couple of other blog land places and have found a site I really like- I love the ways I can customize the most recent one. Give it a look-see and tell me what cha think. (and add it as a link to your side bar so I can still be just one click away from you!
http://e2o2.typepad.com/my_weblog/

thanks!!!!!

I think I have done it

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:54:00 -0500

I found a way to back up all my blog entries in a very speedy way- and I did have the blog open that had the instructions, but my puter froze up and now I don't remember whose it was- rugbyhs maybe? (a homeschoolblogger). So I got every thing all back up on my puter and I have also c&p them to one post on blogger .com.

I'm off to that blog now to post my first real post- instead of archival ones. I am still in two minds about doing a new blog- but I need to give it a try. I hope the friends I have here still come peek on us- I'll link it from here, but you can also just add my link easily in your profile section (click on edit my profile on the left and scroll to the bottom,add the name of my blog (as you'd like to call it) and put the http. ( http://e2o2.blogspot.com/ )

Hey maybe I am not unschooling!

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 16:55:00 -0500

Maybe I am teaching them using the Thomas Jefferson Education method! I just read a post about this on a notebooking list I am on- and gee if it doens't sound kinda good to me! It gives me at least 2 more years of complete unschooling ish living before adding some self directed study to the day.

Two days down

Wed, 9 Aug 2006 01:03:00 -0500

3 to go and we can go back to our laid back moring routine! yeesh flying out the door at 8 am is hardly my idea of fun. I could no imagine doing this all week lone 181 days out of the year. nope no way. The kids are enjoying VBS, but I do not love driving them. Plus I have to haul the baby and Evan out of the car so I can sign them in- only to go right back to the car- Olivia justloves that! Yah right. Emma was sad today because they had a "movie" day after VBS in the hall and she was so excited to watch a move- figures the movie picked is the one movie that she has developed a fear of and will not watch- even though she has seen it at leat 5 or 6 time- probably more. Finding Nemo. she just decided on day that she was scared of it and will not watch it. So she ended up going to the office and coloringpoor thing. she was so sad about it. Owen has madea firend in the class and tells me they whisper to each other and be silly. He got a bit bummed out when I talked to him about rudeness and thinking with his heart- he I think realized that he was making a bad choice- but I really don't think he;ll remember tomorrow once he has his buddie to be silly with again.

My neighbor is a K teacher and is going through her stuff thinning out- she gave me a whole crate full of books- at least 10 or so books with tapes and a bunch of puzzles!! my kids were sooooo excited! (me too) they love the books with tapes, we have a boom box (who calls them that anymore) set up for them in the downstairs room and that was the first thing Owen did- he picked out a Franklin book and went to listen. Emma grabbed a puzzle and went to work. (she is the puzzle queen!). I had just bought 2 bins on clearance at Target that I figure I'd put toys in or somethign but instead put a bunch of books in one next to Emma's bed and I put the tape books and puzzels in the other downstairs. She had the puzzels in ziplock bags with the box picture cut out and in the bag- brillant- I am going to do the same with all our falling apart smashed up puzzle boxes!!

Oh and just a heads up but Barnes & Nobel University has a How to homeschool course (or something along those lines) set up to start in September. I'm thinking of taking a writing course- we'll see if I actually get a chance to.

Tomorrow we are going to our local fair when Ben get's off work. The kids are super excited, me too, I love the fair. Ben's brother is working the stage area so he has his own golf cart thingy to drive around. He's going to get us tickets and give us a ride as needed! LOL! Thursday my sister is coming to town, she'll be here over the weekend. Friday is the last day of VBS (or as Owen keeps calling it "homeschool bible school") and Ben & I are going to a wine party across the street at our neighbors house ( the one who gave us all the stuff). Saturday and Sunday be has off so we are excited- he was on call this last weekend and had to go to work both days all day- and he got a few 3 am calls as well (didn't have to go in thankfully but still). Oh and on Saturday we are going to a cool local bar with my parents and some of thier friends- it is right on the beach and there is a group of tables out on the sand that you can have your beers at- so it is ok to take the kids- they play parents drink- hmmm that sounds bad, but it is really cool. I spent many a day there in my youth!! The ocean is far enough away (loooooong walk in the soft sand) that the kids can't really go there so they just play in the sand and climb on an old fallen tree. After we are coming back here to BBQ.

This and that

Sun, 6 Aug 2006 12:56:00 -0500

I should be picking up things around the house, or mayber shuffling laundry around. However, I miss blogging and I have so many things I have wanted to share that I am going to enjoy Olivias nap and the big kids snacking on veggies by sitting here for a bit.

Owen has started to spell. He is essentially doing it on his own, asking me questions and finding words to copy on his own. I think I mentioned this in a previous post- the whole fat but thing. He is really an amazing combo of both Ben and I. He has my emotional side and Ben's type A compulsions. He is meticulous and neat in most every thing he does (though he doesn't mind a messy room). And like me he wears his softest emotions on his lleeve. WE watched The WIzzard of Oz for the first time last week and when it was over he has tears in his eyes and said, that was good but it was kinda sad too. I think he really felt for Dorthy when it seemed as though no one believed that her tale was true nad not a dream. He is so sweet. Amazing that he can be such a turd sometimes too. Evan has mastered the fine art of making him nuts and does so daily. I feel for him though, my sister did that as well, drove me nuts! LOL!

I am in the process of linking this blog to another site. This is something I have been debating for a long time now, but I think I think it is something I need to do. WHile I appreciate the TOS for this site, I am not being completley myself at times due to either my own censorship of sellf or it being done for me. I am certainly not a trash talking sailor, but sans children I do sport the occasional 4 letter word. I do respect and appreciate why those words are not allowed here, and one thing that has kept me here was the privacy that sort of comes with it. I don't suspect there are many freaks out there reading homeschool blogs hitting the random blog button and finding us, but mayber there is I don't know. Seeing as I have three other sites out there (a photo site, a baby site and an old family site) our family can be quite easily found on the web including links to this site. So my frustration with censorship has finally won the battle in my head and I am in the procees of making a new blog, once that will link to this one, but once I get all the links up on the new on, my new posts will appear there. I don't see the total move taking place for a while though, I started this blog back in November and have only linked my November archives. Anyhoo I thought I'd mention this now for some reason.

So a couple of weeks ago I was driving down our street, it was a Friday and a family was having a yard sale. I am a garage/yard sale junkie though I really don't go often, but I just have a hard time not driving by! So we turned in the direction of the sale and I stopped and looked. THere in the middle of the driveway was a large telescope. Ben has always wnated one so I inquired. They were pricing everything to sell and they wanted $50 for it. it is pristine and as it turns out the guy thought it was a hobby he's really like, but couldn't really figure it out. It is the 2004 model of this telescope. We have tried it out once, but we really need to set it up- it is all electroni, you put in your longituted an latitude and it auto aligns to know stars- theres a bout 60 to pick from I think. The kids are sooo excited about it. We looked at the moon with it on wednesday- sooooo cool amazing how clse it is through the lens.

Our garden is also coming along quite well. we picked a bunch of green beans yesterday and each had a couple wtih our pizzza dinner! Here's some more pictures of our garden. I still have things I want to plant, maybe that is what I should be doing now? I figure this is my year to learn and next summer when Olivia is older I will be able to get more done it the garden. As it is we are having fun with it. I cna't wait until our pupkis start to show! They have sprouted, but no veggies showing yet. We can see ears of corn though and both the tomato plant are getting big. I also got some mint from my MIL and she bout me a sweet basil plant that needs to be planted. We used our lettuce on hamburgers not to long ago too. Fun!

OMGosh and I can't believe I have not shared this bit of news..... Ben bought us a new (to us) 2004 suburban!!! I have never been so in love with a car! Our whole family fits, and we have room for more (don't be getting any baby ideas- no way!). The two dogs fit in the back, I can shop for food and we only have to take one vehicle. awsome awsome awsome! I feel so cool in it too. Shamful I know but I do. It is light silver with grey cloth interior. (leather gives Ben a headache when it is in such an enclosed space- when he gets his dream car - a BMW- he'll have to special order the no leather! LOL!) I haven't taken any pictures of it yet- but I'll do that today and post them later. I don't love the gas on it, but if I fill it when it is at 1/4 full, I put the same amount in as when my van was empty, so I'm gonna try and fool myself that way and fill it at 1/4 full.

Emma decided to make our guest room walls beautiful. I'm surprised we've gone over 6 years and 4 kids with this never happening. Even the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser can't get it off. Good thing we still have some paint left over.

I can't think of a title

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:52:00 -0500

OK, I am alive. We are alive and well. Hot, sticky, often a bit grumpy, but here we are. I can't get over the heat we've had lately. I am soooo glad we are not in LA this summer, but really the ocean has not offered up its cool breeze during the day. It is starting to really cool down now at night but the last few weeks even the nights had a humid sticky feel. So what have we been doing?

Playing in the backyard a lot, spinklers, blow up pool, blow up slide, slip and slide, watching movies, hanging out. I've been working on our garage, trying to empty it of boxes from the move. I am almost done with it. The Rescue Mission is coming Friday to pick up a bunch of our give away stuff, once that is gone there will me a nice chucnk of space opened on one wall. We also used to get water delivered but not any more, but I have 9 empty water bottles in my garage waiteng to get picked up- that will clear up a nice space too.

We went to a Dodger game last week, I took Emma, Owen and thier cousin Paublo. Emma and Owen got to particpate in a pregame gymnastics show. We did it last year too, it was very cool. I was really worried aobut the heat- I figured we'd be baking up in the stands, but it wan to at all bad. the place it was yucky was when you went up to the consessions area- then it was hot and sticky. Here's a few more pics of the kids. Last year Emma was only able to handle the first 3 innings- then it got to be to loud for her. WE made it to 7 innings this time. What I figured out was that it is not the loud noise of the croud- she was totally into all the cheering and yelling. but what she does not like (and last year the first time they did it was in the 3rd inning, this year it wasn't until about the 5th or so), is the horns that preceed the word "CHARGE!" You know da da da dant da dant (am I a musical genius or what!??) She was a trooper through ti though and while she didn't like that particular sound, she didn't freak out about it and was happy enough to stay an dwatch some more. But we we getting tired and the drive home was about an hour so inning 7 was as good as any to go. I am looking forward to taking Evan to a game next year- he is such a sport nut. I've never liked watching basseball on TV, love playing it, and now I am definately a fan of going to a game. such a good time.

Owen is teaching himself how to read and write. in this last week he has taken a huge interest in writing words. The slip and slide we have is a Star Wars one, he copied "star Wars" and now writes it every chance he gets. He also figured out the "at" words, Sat, hat, bat, cat etc. so he writes thme every chance he can as well. At my moms today he was writing them out on the sidewalk , he wrote the word "fat" them startied giggling and calls out "mom, I wrote 'fat but' he figured out how to spell "but" on his own- I decided not to tell him at this time that the "but" he is thinking of has two t's. Later at home he was showing off for daddy and spelled all his words on our dry erase board and he saw one of his toy guns and figured out how to spell gun- based on his 'but' discovery. Emma wants to be able to spell too, but she hasn't quite grasped the concpts that Owne has. But (heheh I said but)she is really not far behind him- funny how one kid sparks the other's interest.

Ok, I do have more to say, but (heheheh) It is late and I need to sleep. I'll try to write again soon! 11 days without blogging- bad blogger- I hope to get back into the swing of tings someday.

Another site to check out

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 01:36:00 -0500

The blog is called The Shape of a Mother . What a great blog! Real women, real mothers, real saggy bellys! Be warned that there are some bellys with um baby feeders(guess I can't use the boo wihth another b word here hehehe!)- so you mighn't want to view this at work!!

I do have homeschool-ish stuff to say too- but I'll do a separate entry for that. Maybe tonight- but prolly not!

WoW!

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 00:43:00 -0500

Ok you MUST go check this out! Until AUgust 4th (I think) there is a world ebok fair going on where you can download bazillions of ebooks in PDF format, and they have an MP3 collection! I have about 15 tabs open right now that I am going to browse through- scicence collections, religion, classic lit, childrens lit. My oh my how fun will this be!!!

Sick and tired

Sat, 8 Jul 2006 10:55:00 -0500

I have had an awful head cold for the last 5 days. It came on slow and strong. I think Owen may be getting it now. It, unfortunatly, coinsided with Ben starting his new job. His new job with long hours. Very bad timing indeed! I *think* I may be getting better- but it's hard to say. Olivia has decided to wake several times at night these last 3 nights too- really fun.

We got some of our amazon order a couple of days ago. The kids got thier game- I really like it. it is called Blokus. It is a very cool game- I definately reccomend it. The kids like to play with it and just fit the pieces together in patterns and stuff- I can see a number of concepts being learned from it. Ben & I played a game last night after the kids went to bed (and then I went to bed too!)

I got and started reading one of the two books I ordered. I was really excited to get it- but I have to say it is not really all I hoped it would be. It is called The Unprocessed Child - Living Without School. Since I consided us to be a sort of unschooling type family for now- I was very excited to read the tale of one successful unschooling family. The term radical unschooling just barely describes them. I'd say they unparent, undiscipline and un just about all things in life. One thing I really dislike is when someone makes blanket statements about groups or situations. I will grant that in life there are many generalizations that can be made. But even if a generalization is true 99% of the time- I try- really try to not use words such as aways or never. If I do I tend to add in a disclaimer. The problem I am having with this book- with this mom/author is that so far in each chapter she makes a blanket stament about parents, parenting, children or whatever. She has taken her one expierence with her one and only child and makes claims about all children and parenting. What she did worked for her, worked for her girl. I wonder how it would have worked had they had more than one child. (My assumption is that they did not since they never speak of any other children). Or I wonder how things would have worked if she had had a boy. I am about half way throughthe book, but it keeps making me a bit frustrated so I don't really jump back into it with joy- but I will finish it.

I got my other book in the mail today How Children Fail It is foing to be hard for me to not start reading that one- until I finish the other one. I just fear I"ll never finish the other and I am really curious about how the girls life was- and they do take you through that.
Well there are many things I want to blog about- our corn is over a foot tall, we planted more beans to make up for the ones the snails ate, our lettuce and tomatoes are coming in, we got a cool new swing in the backyard, oh lots of things I have blogged in my head about this last week that I just haven't gotten here to put it down, and now I am going to head off to bed so yet again I won't get to share it all! I can not wait for this darn cold to leave my body. BTW I started this post Saturday- it is now Monday- day 7 of feeling like crap, hardly able to swallow. *sigh* oh and Evan seems to be getting sick now too........

The hunt is on!

Sun, 2 Jul 2006 23:50:00 -0500

So Ben and I were watiching a movie last night (The Family Stone), it was nearly over and getting late when in the dim light I happened to look toward the far wall. Running along the wall right into our bathroom was a mouse. A little grey mouse. Bleck! So we trapped it in the bathroom and after several minutes of trying Ben got the little thing into a box. Then we didn't know what to do- we didn't want it here or coming back, outright killing it didn't appeal, so in the end Ben walked down the street and when he got to the corner he saw a big fat cat so he tossed it in that direction. Now we have to have someone come out to make sure we don't have any other "friends" living here.

Evan fell and needed 3 stitches in his head. The kids were playing out back - using the hose and just running around. He was done and wanted to be wrapped up in a towel. I did too good of a job and he tried to take too big of a step and face planted on the sliding glass door track. He is an amazing kid I tell ya. He cried for less than 3 minutes I think. Then was telling me that he was ok and "I got blood on my head mommy"- but you see at times he uses a typical little kid voice, others he deepens it dramatically and talks really gruff. That is how he would say it. Ben trucked him off to the ER and he came home 3 hours later with 3 stitches. In the mean time we had some friends who were up for the weekend visiting family come over for a visit. This is another long time friend- I knew her in high school, but we really became friends in college. They have an almost 3 year old boy. The kids had a blast playing again and I had the pleasure of another good chat with a friend. Evan went on with life as though nothing had happened. Though he would occasionally let anyone nearby know that he had an "owie on my head".

I just orded two books off amazon- one is the book Jenny mentioned in a recent post. That post has been on my mind often lately- as I notice how often I caution my children. Apparently it matters not since I said nothing to poor evan and let him fall flat on his face! Really though both of us seem to tell them they are going to .....whatever..... Anyhow- I got How Children Fail so I can possibly make some changes- or not. heck my kids have each had a trip to the ER- all around the age of 2. Wonder if Olivia will follow the pattern.

Re: Emma and her locked door. I talked to our ped about it- her main concern was the same as mine (and some of yours). Fire. However she too concluded that the fire might be more likely if we let her have free range. She did give me some ideas though. I have been thinking a lot about it and have decided to try a few things. First of all I am going to buy a clock for her room. I want her to stay in her room until 7 am or until I let her know I"m awake. I am going to put a sign on her door at her eye level reminding her of this rule. I am going to come up with some sort of positive reward for doing so at least until it becomes more or less a habit for her. But for now- she is locked in. I am hoping ot be able to get a clock in the next week.