Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - Homeschooling calls for ...
an easy going spirit...
So, yesterday afternoon, I'm chatting with our ES...supervising snack time...keeping an eye on dinner.... DD1 comes back from taking the dog for a walk, and puts the dog away, then goes to the kitchen sink to wash her hands...or so I thought....until......a GIANT FROG starts jumping around the kitchen, accompanied by screaming and laughing kids! She'd found a huge (5 inches long or so, in the body alone!) frog and brought it home to warm up!!
So, we had a quick look at the frog. All the kids got to inspect it. Then we had a lesson on proper hand washing. And then DD1 and I had a discussion about NOT using my tweezers to remove the WORM poking out of the frogs eye....
The frog is now living in the garden, we hope. I can't wait to see what is next.....
Friday, October 16, 2009 - Amazing TV
Yes, that's right, TV, lol! DD1 and I have been watching "The Amazing Race 15" together, and it's led to some wonderful geography lessons (to be expected of course), but also to some other great history and social studies lessons. Discussions rambling from Vietnam war, POW, terrorism, JFK...poverty, both in 3rd world countries and here in America....religion....it's been wonderful! Each 1 hour episode (ok, 40 minutes after all the commercials, lol) takes us 2 hours or so to watch, with how often we pause it to chat. Gotta love that!
Friday, October 9, 2009 - Settling in....
Well, we're settling in to a routine finally. I had us WAY overwhelmed for a bit, and drama and chorus hadn't even started! So, we've dialed it back a bunch, and it seems to be working better.
I'm trying to lean more towards unschooling, or at least a looser schooling method. I can't get totally comfortable with unschooling entirely, but I also don't want to be "school at home". I'm encouraging the kids to do more projects, like DD2 decided to make a book on the solar system, and DD1 might be doing one on cavies. Sticking with our math curriculum, light grammar and spelling work....adding in lots more reading time....
DD2 has finally finished Beta MUS, and will move on to Gamma next week. She's VERY proud. DD3 is about 2/3 through Alpha, and flying through. And DD1 is halfway through Zeta.
Nothing really interesting here, I guess, but hopefully I can start keeping up with the blog.
Thursday, July 16, 2009 - random thoughts for today
1. Giving kids buckets and rags and saying "go play carwash", and thinking they'll wash the ride on toys.....is silly. What they WILL do is throw buckets of water on each other, on themselves, on the patio furniture.... Yes, I was watching, but it was hot, and they had fun, so it was ok. And the furniture dried...
2. Putting chocolate chips in homemade ice cream is a BAD idea. They are VERY hard when frozen.
3. DO NOT put a built in sandbox up against the house....unless you LIKE sand all over the wall to your house. At least...if you have boys.
Those are all my thoughts for now, which is a sad commentary on my brainpower tonight....
Jul. 8, 2009 - Thought for Today
A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. ~Benjamin Franklin
Jun. 7, 2009 - What a great weekend!
Well, it was a very nice weekend! Saturday, we had friends come to visit in the afternoon. In the morning, I did the grocery shopping, and dh supervised the kids cleaning house. They did a great job! I'm really proud of how well they did. DD3 is only 5, and she cleaned a whole bathroom herself! Then we had a lovely visit with our friends, and their 7 kids. The weather was great, so the kids ran and played and climbed outside for hours, and everyone slept well that night.
Sunday was very productive. We missed church, because I woke with a terrible stomach ache, which went away after a couple hours in bed resting. I probably needed the rest, lol. Then we hit a garage sale, where I got some books, a bunch of great fabric, AND a dresser for DS1, for $10!!
Then it was home, to clean out the shed and rearrange seats in the van. The shed is nice and clean, and has LOTS more room in it. Started sewing a summer dress for me, with a tiered skirt, but don't have enough fabric yet, so need some more tiers. The 2 tiers I've done so far are different fabrics, though they go together nicely. If I can figure out how to post pictures on here, I'll post one when I finish it. I can't wait.
The kids helped with the shed, then they swam and played on the trampoline for the afternoon. All in all, a very nice weekend!
Jun. 4, 2009 - Starting over...
Well, here we go again. Once again, I'm going to try to keep up on my blogging. I enjoy it, when I'm doing it, but if I miss a few days, I forget all about it...
So, it's the beginning of summer. I have decided that we're doing minimal schoolwork through the summer, so that the kids can do do more fun stuff with their friends this summer.They each have a small assignment list to do, about an hour a morning, plus at least a half hour of reading after lunch.
Summer plans include lots of swimming (we got a small above ground pool), arts and crafts, reading...water games...cooking....etc. Lots of popsicles and lazy days on the wicker couches. Lots of time digging in the sandbox... An old fashioned summer, you know? So, tell me your old fashioned summer memories and ideas!
May. 26, 2009 - rain
Rain, rain go away! come again another day, like August when we're needing it!
I thought the saying went March winds and April showers bring May flowers. Here it is the end of May and the rain won't shut off! The May flowers are getting beat down by the constant flow of water.
I've heard it rains constantly in part of Oregon so I keep telling the kids just to pretend we live in Oregon and do what you gotta do in the rain. The kids and I are dealing with it because we have no choice but to make the best of it, but my hubby is such a grouch about all the rain, he acts like he'll melt or something!
We went camping for Memorial day weekend and stayed Saturday night and left Sunday because he was very unhappy with the non stop rain. We camp in a tent so it wasn't too fun, but I was willing to make the best of it for the kids. Men are such babies!
How is the weather in other parts of the country?
Blessings--Jessica
May. 22, 2009 - unschool
I have really been feeling frustrated and overwhelmed lately about homeschooling. I am tired of putting off activities and plans for the kids, to the point where they never get done at all, because the time doesn't seem "perfect" for this or that activity. I have been looking into "unschooling" and think it may be a better route for us because it will loosen the reins, so to speak, and make me feel able to do any craft or experiment at any time. they will still be learning , right? Does it really matter if the experiment doesn't have anything to do with the book you are readig together? I have been asking myself these questions for years and I have finally decided it is time to find the answers to them.
You see, my problem is that I am stuck in the "school" mindset. Isn't that the beauty of homeschooling your children, getting to get away from that? I just am having a hard time being that relaxed, but I know it is just because it is not the way I was programmed going to public school, but I am determined to change my mindset about school.
Any advice would be helpful--
Thank you and God Bless--Jessica
Apr. 10, 2009 - Good Friday
Well here we are again at another good Friday. It doesn't seem like a year has passed since I was stressing about how to celebrate this holiday with my children the way Jesus would want us to.
I don't mean to offend anyone but come on--chocolate bunnies, eggs and baby chicks?! What does that have to do with Jesus and the resurrection? It seems more like a celebration of spring and reproduction to me.
So that is what we do now, just started this year. We have a spring party where we color eggs and do all the "Easter" things. Then on the actual that we are supposed to be celebrating the resurrection of our savior, we will do just that.
This way people can't say that my children are "missing out" on fun in their childhood by not celebrating Easter the traditional way. They still get to do all those things just on a more appropriate day, the first day of Spring. Which I think is a day to celebrate because it means the end of winter!! Yay!!
Anyway, enough rambling. I hope everyone has a great weekend and remembers the real reason for celebration.
Blessings--Jessica
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