Momn4boys - Homeschool Blogger

Ok I'll give it a try

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:48:00 -0500

I've been wondering what the difference is in all the blogging sites. So I am going to try out blog spot, or blogger or whatever it is called. I hope it is easier to post pictures. That is my biggest frustration. And I don't think that is the fault of Homeschool blogger. So I hope you jump on over there.

New Momn4boys

You'll have to see a home ec class "boy style".

pencil sketch anyone?

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:22:00 -0500

If you would like to win a pencil sketch of someone you love. Go Here Talent and generosity what a combo!

WW1 continued....

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:40:00 -0500

I am not really into doing lots of worksheets, but I decided to do a search on worksheets WW1 just to see what I came up with. Here are some sites. I may just use some of this to fill in areas that I don't think were covered very well in the books we read. Or then again.... maybe not.

http://www.historyonthenet.com/Lessons/worksheets/ww1.htm

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/gcselinks/wars/firstwwlinks/wwi_worksheets.html

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OK I came back to once more add something else. I found this on my shelf after I posted all the previous information. It is an overview of WW1 and it looks much better than the one we have been reading. Much more information and pictures. I forgot I had this. It is one in a series on wars. I may just skip the rest of the book I have been reading and do this one instead. sigh - only time will tell. LOL

World War 1 http://www.amazon.com/World-War-I-Americas-Wars/dp/1560064064

I think I have too many books.

Sharon - who is wondering if people who get my RSS feed get yet another e-mail when I go back to edit.

WW 1

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:10:00 -0500

We are currently reading about WW1. nsremom of The Learning Never Stops wants to know what wonderful ideas I have for our unit study.

There are no magnificent projects or amazing field trips happening here. We are just reading three books about the war. All three are older books that were given to me.

Book of World War 1 by Louis Snyder (I'm reading this one aloud because it has a chapter at the end about how WONDERFUL the League of Nations is, and how it promises to bring about justice and an end to wars.... Uhh,,, we'll just skip that part)
The Great War by Edward Jablonskin (my boys really liked this one)
Americas First World War (A Landmark) by Henry Castor.

Then I have a documentary that I picked up that we will watch. I am not sure if this will keep the attention of my 2 middle boys. I'd also like to get the movie Sargeant York.

PBS is airing a special Ken Burns Film on WW1. It is scheduled for Sept 23 here. I've seen some Ken Burns films in the past and they were interesting.

For some reason I could not find much material on WW1. WW2 however is a different story. There is a ton of stuff available. Evenwhen I did a search for World War 1 unit study middle school. I got a site or two about WW1 and then a bunch on WW2. Often when I do a search like that it'll give me ideas for stuff to do. Not this time.

So nothing very exciting but the boys wanted to study the wars and this was all I could come up with.

Electronic notebooks - an idea!

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 09:03:00 -0500

Guess what my 12 yr old discovered. Powerpoint! I've often thought of teaching myself how to use this program but just hadn't done it yet. Well he did. I was really surprised at how easy it was to do. He made up a short little slide presentation with pictures he made in our Paint program.

Hmmmmmm this has definite possibilities.

My sons have pretty much lost interest in notebooking. I posted here before about that. And this would be a pretty cool way for them to show what they are learning about. Instead of a notebook page. Get them to do a slide show.

We are reading about WW1 right now.

Step one- find some clip art related to the era. I have Homeschool in the Woods Timeline figures that would probably work. And I'm pretty sure they could do a search online.

Step two- add text for each picture.

Step three - find some music for that era. Hmm this one might be more difficult. Any ideas?

Step four- use powerpoint to put the slides and music together.

Ohhh I just thought of something. There may be clips online of famous speeches that could be incorporated. However as we are on dialup this one might not work for us.

It is also possible to add narration. This could count for speech. We'll have to get a microphone. Ours is lost in lala land.(anyone else have a lala land at thier house?)

Another option is to get together pictures of trips or field trips. (thinking Oregon here) and put together a slide show of our trip. Ohhh how about a family slide show for grandma at Christmas!

Yep definite possibilities.

A bull in a china closet

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:25:00 -0500

A bull in a china closet…. That’s my boy! I have one child who just doesn’t do anything gently or quietly. Keep in mind I have 4 boys. None of them are particularly gentle and meek. They are typical boys. But one in particular is just well….. A bull in a china closet.

I was noticing this morning that he can make more noise and comotion doing simple things like taking out the trash. He doesn’t just pull the bag out and tie it and put in a new bag. Oh no, he pulls and tugs shaking the bag to settle the contents, which of course spreads the wonderful odor of garbage wafting through the kitchen mixing with the sent of the french toast I am making. Then he ties it up and flings it over his shoulder. Sets it back down. He then gets a new bag shaking IT vigorously to get it opened to place in the trash can. Flings the full bag back over his shoulder again. All the while talking and talking and talking. This is first thing in the morning! I am slow in the morning, but his mind goes fast, really fast. All the time. I can see it in his eyes when he is on overdrive and I have to say hey-- stop! take a deep breath,….. Ok slow down a bit.

It gets irritating sometimes and I admit to getting a bit frustrated with him, especially in the morning. Sometimes I wish for the days when mornings will be leisurely and quiet. Then I remind myself how much I’ll miss him. I’ll chuckle at how I would watch him tromping along (he doesn’t walk, he tromps!) talking to himself or shooting at imaginary bad guys.

Hmmm... I just thought of something, this is the same child who came to me the other day because he REALLY didn't like the program he was doing for Bible. We were given Switched on Schoolhouse Bible for 7th grade. I thought maybe they'd enjoy something on the computer.... nope not even a little. REALLY disliked it. Both boys. So I asked him "well, what would you like to do instead?" His response "can't I just read the bible?" My response " oh" now why didn't I think of that?! How simple and pure can you get.

Yep a bull in a china closet - gotta love em!

Prayer needed!

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:51:00 -0500

I mentioned quite a while ago my friend Jane. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer in his lungs and kidney. They removed one kidney and he has been undergoing some kind of trial treatment for his lungs. When he went in for his recent checkup they let him know that the cancer in his lungs has taken a turn for the worse. The tumors have grown and there are more.

Please pray for this whole family. They are homeschooling their 6 sons, youngest is 6 the oldest is 17.

I can't imagine the emotions that must be going on in that house.

Book Samaritan

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:45:00 -0500

If you are in a tight situation financially. You should check out this link. This organization will get you materials for free. All they ask is that you either get it back when you are done or pass it along FREE to another homeschooling family.

I have not checked them out but it seems legit and would encourage anyone to take a look. Be sure and check them out before sending money. But it sure can't hurt to ask for materials!

Book Samaritan.

Article for veteran homeschoolers

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:50:00 -0500

Freshening the Homeschool Plan

quote - " This post is for the veteran - the homeschooler who can teach a child to read while stir frying dinner, who has more books in her bookcases than she could ever use, the mom who multi-tasks (violin lesson for one child, reading with another while waiting, picking up yet another child from soccer practice on the way home).

This post is also for the mother who is tired."

One of the suggestions in this post hit me.

quote - what you love to do, every week. That sounds obvious, but usually the first thing to go in a family’s togetherness program is a mother’s passions.

Recently I quit some activities that I really LOVE to do. All in the name of being available more for my family. These are things that I do for ME. I felt a bit selfish doing them. Maybe I need to rethink this decision. Because I really miss it.

Oregon

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:53:00 -0500

CreativeLearning Tagged me and since I have yet to post about our WONDERFUL second trip to Oregon I'll just choose 8 random facts about our trip.

1- When you go on a trip to the Oregon coast ALWAYS pack for cold weather, including a hooded jacket. (you'd think I'd would have learned this one LAST year)

2- We saw real live wild whales and seals. We saw a seal while we were playing on the rocks, He was watching us and waiting for us to leave so he could come up on shore. pretty cool! My husband also said he saw one swim between our two boys who were playing in the surf... I tell ya what, THIS momma was ready to pull the boys OUT of the water. Here is a question for you Oregon folks. Do seals attack people? Like little swimming legs!?

3- Our plan was to spend three days driving down the coast then turn inland. It was cold and windy weather the first two days. Finally the third day and our last afternoon the sun came out and we napped on the beach while the boys made sand castles. AAhhhhhhh.....

4-We also found an off the beaten path beach where there were fishermen. We got to talking to one and he showed us how to fish from the shore. He caught a few fish. Nothing huge but I had never seen a flounder before, very weird looking fish. I can't remember the name of the other kind of fish that he was after. As he caught them he threw them in a bucket. Brett was poking at one (not a flounder, the other kind) and you can't believe what happened. Babies came out. My boys then had to spend time squeezing this dead fish and "rescue the babies". We threw them back in the water.... I don't think any of them were alive. The fishermen probably thought we were crazy. He was a neat guy though and didn't seem to mind the boys.

5-We had a close call when Brett stepped in a yellow jacket nest while hiking through a wooded area. Tim turned around and a swarm was just rising from the ground at Brett's feet. He reached over yanked him outa there. Thank goodness they didn't decide to attack and no one got stung.

6- Blueberries grow wild in Oregon. Like the ones you pay big bucks for in Safeway. YUM. And our friend has raspberry bushes and several other berry bushes. Oh I LOVE berries.

7- Remember last year we got to volunteer to stay off an overbooked flight and got round trip tickets in return? Thus this year’s trip was possible. This year, our flight was cancelled. What did we get? Nuthin. They did put us up at a hotel for the night, but no tickets. Bummer. The hotel they sent us to was NOT ready for the extra people. At the restaurant we waited an hour for our food. Ever sit in a restaurant with 3 tired cranky children (not to mention the momma) for an hour? Not fun. Though I have to compliment my children, they actually did behave pretty well under the circumstances.

8- It is true. I’ve just proved that a 4 yr old can sleep anywhere when he is truly tired. Any of you been at Denver International Airport? You know the area where one waits for the shuttle to take you to your hotel? “Island 3” . It’s this little cement island between lanes of traffic. There are busses and shuttles going past on both sides of you. It is noisy, confusing and people are everywhere. This is an area of complete chaos to my small town mind. Remember I live near a town that boasts ONE stop light. My Brett fell asleep lying on the cement with his head partly on my foot and partly on a suitcase. I’m thinkin THIS is a blog entry for sure. My camera battery was dead……. Oh how I wish I had a picture.