Online Homeschooling Resource

As my kids get older, I'm all about them learning things on their own.  Also, as a one income family, I'm also all about things that don't cost a small fortune.  I recently discovered a new homeschooling resource that covers both those bases.  Its called Schoolhouse Teachers.  Its from the folks at The Old Schoolhouse.  They have hundreds of online classes available for all ages.   Pre-K through high school and even classes for adults.  I showed the website to my 16 year old daughter and she even got excited by some of the classes offered.  The best part is that you can try out their site and see what you think for $1 for the first month.  Its just $12.95 per month after that.  Or, you can choose their buy one get one free deal and buy one year and get the second free.  That's awesome!

One thing I appreciate about the site is that its for your entire family.  You pay the fee and anybody and everybody in your home can learn.  They don't charge per child like so many sites do.  To me, this was a no brainer.  Check it out, you might find some classes that get your kids fired up about learning!

Summer Bug Explorations

Boys being boys, and my having two of them means that we've seen a lot of bugs this summer.  We have had so many cicadas in our yard.  You never know where you're going to find their exoskeletons!  We've had them on the side of our garden boots, my husband's car tire, the house, etc.  My son, the expert, tells me these are common Dog Day cicadas.  I have to say, they are huge and quite impressive!  These guys can measure up to 2" in length.  Its especially cool when you find one in the midst of hatching out of its shell.  I found just such a specimen early one morning.

I came across him just as he was starting to emerge.  He's belly up at this point.  My little expert also tells me that this is a male because of his little cymbal flaps for making the super loud noise they're famous for.  Its how he attacks his mate.  Some people say the sound reminds them of a power saw.  It is certainly loud enough.  See how tiny his little wings are?

Just a few minutes later, his wings have fully unfurled and are almost dry.  He also somehow managed to flip over so he's not belly up any longer.

Now he's just waiting to fully dry before flying off, leaving his empty shell behind.  His color will darken and he'll turn either brown or black.  They vary greatly in color.  He will only live for a few weeks at best, but he'll be very busy during that time trying to continue the species.  Very cool!

This particular bug would make a great subject for any budding bug enthusiasts to study.  They are found everywhere, they big and impressive, and they don't bite.  There are lots of different species and some live underground for as many as 17 years!  You could create your own unit study, notebook pages, or even a lap book.  Happy learning!

Homeschooling Words of Wisdom & Encouragement

As this year comes to an end for most of you, I wanted to share some advice that was given to me by a fellow homeschool mom when I was struggling through our first year of homeschooling high school.  I'm a worrier and have had a seriously hard time adjusting to the rigorous amount of work involved in homeschooling my 9th grader.  Thankfully I reached out to some fellow homeschool moms in my tiny Catholic homeschool group and received these words of wisdom.  I am sharing them with you with her permission.

1 - Prayer. Pray alone, together, and as a family.

2 - Family Unity. Enlist your husband's support to back you up emotionally and practically, if possible. Have him help strategize accountability.

3 - Consistency. Be consistent with expectations and consequences. If it is a situation where respect isn't being given, address that issue. If it's underperforming academically, set benchmarks and enforce them.

4 - Communication. Discuss the situation with your child and strategize ways to resolve disconnects. Chances are that not only you are unhappy about the way things are going, but they are as well. They should have a vested interest in helping to solve these challenges with you.

5 - Listen. Listen to God speaking to you through your heart, your intellect, your husband, and others. Then take steps that will best fit your family's unique challenges. For me, it meant choosing a subject a child loved (acting) and immersing her in set design and acting classes for high school credit (which also motivated her to work harder to complete other work so she could pursue her passion). For another, it meant looking beyond the skipping of lessons/ missed class work to determine that child was bored and needed a more engaging way to learn math beyond textbook (it ended with a math tutor for one and online for another). 

6 - Think Outside the Box. If every subject is simply read a chapter and test, that would bore most people. Skip every other chapter test and find another way to pursue learning of those concepts. Write a report on a related project. Cook a meal from a country you are studying. Have them prepare a 4 week exercise routine for you and their siblings to do with them. Watch a documentary and prepare a paper on 10 things learned from that documentary. Research and draw medieval costumes in history. Write a poem about a book they read. Design a PowerPoint presentation about types of mammals in Biology. Pre establish a grading rubric (x points for neatness, x for creativity, x for grammar, x for content, x for using MLA or APA format, etc.), then use these types of projects to break up the testing monotony, and provide other ways to earn grades that aren't solely based on traditional tests.

7 - Keep Goals in Sight. Determine if your goal is college preparatory or not. Do you want to take advantage of free community college classes by grade 11 (only books have to be bought)? If so, make sure they are focusing on those subjects that will best prepare them for their future environment. Reading, writing, and math skills must be strong before entering community college, and a solid science foundation is important as well.

These are some things that come to mind. It's a huge challenge to be seeking ways to challenge and encourage your kids spiritually, academically, emotionally, and socially. 9th grade was a big challenge year for me with my firstborn daughter, 8th and 10th for my son.... Quite honestly, it was prayer, communication, and the support of my husband that got me through it. 
Hang in there, and do what you can to take a step back and re group with your child so that your relationship can grow in a positive way, and you can work together to find ways to make these high school years successful and rewarding for both of you.

Krispy Kreme Field Trip - YUM!

This week my kids and I had a very impromptu and last minute field trip to a local Krispy Kreme Donut factory which is located about 20 minutes from my home.  Let me just say that from the moment you step out of your car in the parking lot, you are hit with the most amazing smell.  I don't know how the people that live near the factory stand it!  I would gain weight on the wonderful smell alone.

Before I get started on the tour photos, I thought I'll share some facts about Krispy Kreme that we learned while visiting.  Krispy Kreme was born in Winston-Salem, NC, in the summer of 1937 by Vernon Rudolph.  He purchased a yeast raised donut recipe from a French chef in New Orleans.  He started selling the donuts to local grocery stores.  The smells permeating the air attracted attention and people wanted to buy the hot donuts they could smell, so he started selling them out of his factory location.  Over the years these donuts became more and more popular.  Shops began popping up all over the southeast.  At the time of Vernon Rudolph's death in 1973, there were 60 shops.  1989 brought the very first Krispy Kreme retail store front located in Greensboro, NC.  Today there are  1000 stores across the county.  They can even be found in Canada and Mexico.

The factory we visited in Concord, NC services the entire north and south east, even Canada.  They produce 300,000 donuts per day 364 days a year.  These donuts are shipped to grocery stores, gas stations and other retail locations.  Now that's a lot of donuts!  We also learned that as an employee of Krispy Kreme, they get all the free donuts they want, along with free Krispy Kreme coffee and Coco-Cola products.  Now you can understand where they get the energy to make that many donuts!

During our tour the line was running filled donuts.  Creme filled, chocolate glazed donuts to be precise.  We started out by viewing the donuts rising inside huge glass ferris wheel type machines.  Up, down and around they go until they have risen to the proper height.

Once they are finished rising, they get dumped out onto a conveyer belt of 350 degree oil.  They cook on one side and then are carefully flipped and cooked on the other side.  Before heading into a cooling compartment along the line.

 

After cooling, any duds are disposed of and two workers stationed on either side of the line carefully use a machine to poke a hole in each donut and fill them with creme.  Each worker fills two donuts at the same time.

 Next the donuts are placed back on the line and go through a machine that gives them their chocolate glaze.  Lastly they are inspected for perfection and placed by hand into their individual sealed boxes. These boxes are stacked at the end up the line and then shipped all over the country.

All of the kids that participated in the tour got to take home a complimentary package of freshly baked donut holes.  I may or may not have made them share. -grins-

All in all its a quick tour that took maybe 30 minutes in all.  But, it was interesting and there were free donut holes.  Win, win!!  Basically, this factory is a larger version of what you would see at one of their franchised retail locations.  If you ever get the chance, check it out!  Its a really "sweet" tour.  Pun intended.  LOL

Struggling with math...

Math was never my favorite subject in school. It seems like all of my life I've personally struggled with this subject. Because of this I really did my best to prepare my kids to do their best in this subject. Until this year it seemed to have worked. However, this is the year that we started Algebra 1. I loved algebra in school. It was the first time I felt like I truly understood math after so many years of struggling. I actually got an A and enjoyed it so much I decided to take an additional year of math that I wasn't required to take. I should have known better because I took geometry and totally didn't understand that one little bit! Haley is struggling with algebra this year. She has always struggled with math. She probably hates it more than I ever did. But, she's better at it than I was, she doesn't like doing it. For the first time in several years we decided to try something different. We changed to Teaching Textbooks. We are longtime users of Saxon math. Its basic, boring, black and white, but it really gets the job done. But due to the fact that the kids are getting older, I wanted them to be able to do things themselves without me. So, I chose Teaching Textbooks.

The program is great and I love the fact that I don't have to be involved. That part is AMAZING! It really works beautifully for my boys who are in 7th grade. The few times that they've had some question with something they learned, I was able to take a quick look and explain. Easy peasy. Not so with Haley. Its been YEARS since I took algebra! I really don't remember how to do any of it anymore. When she gets stuck I can't just take a look and help her out. Algebra doesn't work like that. My math guru hubby can, but I just can't. So, we have a problem. He's a work when she gets stuck and unless I want to go back and take every single lesson she's already done, and then watch every lesson with her (which defeats the whole purpose of using Teaching Textbooks), we're stuck. This has led to many, many frustrating days. If we're having this many problems with Algebra 1, I shudder to think about doing geometry and algebra 2! Not sure where this leaves us. We may end up back with me teaching Saxon again. I really, really don't want to though. It is so much nicer to have the kids do things on their own letting somebody else explain things. Why can't life ever just be easy? I'll keep you posted on what we end up doing.

Sometimes the grass isn't always greener...

Okay, so school started some time ago, but this year has had its ups and downs. My darling 15 year old decided that this year was the year that she wanted to brave the public school system again. At first I was shocked because this is the child that HATED public school with a passion. She has terrified her little brothers with stories of her trauma in kindergarten and first grade for years. Suddenly she wanted to try it again. We had lots of family discussions, prayers and research, and we ultimately decided that it is her life and she should have a say. All of this was complicated by the fact that I had already purchased all of her VERY expensive curriculum for homeschool. So, we enrolled her in our local high school. It doesn't hurt that we just so happen to live in the best school district in the area. Awesome school which is new and geared toward all things artistic. My sweet girl thought she'd found her happy place. We spent several weeks buying an extensive new school wardrobe, new highly expensive backpack, a phone and phone plan, and lots of miscellaneous school supplies. She even practiced wearing makeup with her cousin, because she really isn't into makeup, but most 9th graders are. We went to orientation, met her teachers, toured the school and she was so incredibly excited. She couldn't wait until her first day! Here she is heading off to school that first morning with high hopes for this new venture in her life.

I dropped her off and cried the whole way home. The hours ticked by that day. It was so quiet at our house without her here! I sat in the school pick up line for almost an hour to make sure she didn't have to wait long to be picked up. As soon as I saw her face I knew something was wrong. Her first words to me were "get me out of here". She said she just didn't fit in and hated it. I did my best to calm her down and find out the root of the problem. Having been homeschooled for the past 7 years, I fully expected that this wasn't going to be easy. I reminded her that this was something she really wanted to do. She begged me not to make her go back. Being the mean mom that I am, I told her she had to go back. You can't make a major decision in just one day. So...she went back the next day. She wasn't in tears that day, but she didn't like it any better. We went to the football game that Friday and cheered for her team. They won! I thought maybe things would get better. They didn't. She suffered through two weeks of school before I finally gave in to her pleading. I removed her from school with a somewhat heavy heart. Not sure if I was making the right decision. Again, we didn't make this decision lightly. We prayed and prayed for guidance. Thankfully I hadn't returned her curriculum so we were able to just jump right in. She has been much better since we let her come back home. She is now satisfied that this is the right decision for her. I'm terrified and feel like I'm back in kindergarten starting out our homeschool journey, but that's a whole other post.

Its that time again...back to school!

This year was rather uneventful. Every year for the past 7 years, I've been keenly aware of the first day of public school. I guess it was because so many of my neighbors and friends have kids in school, and this made me feel I needed to follow along and start at the same time. We tended to take holidays when they did, and end our school year at about the same time they did. The first day of public school has always been a day where I'm laying in bed as I hear the school bus stop just outside at my next door neighbor's house to pick her kids. I cannot even begin to tell you how liberating it feels to be dozing in bed at 7:00 am when the elementary bus comes by. The middle/high school bus has already been by at this time!

Here, in our new state, new school district and new home, the first day of school passed without fanfare. We started our new school year three weeks ago. I find its much easier to buck the system when you don't have neighbors or friends locally that are in public school. Oddly enough, I didn't even notice any school buses this morning. Had I not looked up the date of the first day of school, I would have missed it entirely.

We have a very rigorous schedule planned this year, as it marks the boys first year of middle school, and Haley's last. I'm trying to foster independent learning, and trying to re-capture some of the joy of learning that we used to have before the subjects got tough. These days I feel like I live by the schedule and school work is something to just "get through" before we can get on to better things in life. I miss all the fun and adventure we used to have and I'm doing my best to re-capture some of it. Finding a balance between tough subjects like middle school math and writing, and fun stuff like science and history, gets much more difficult as my kids get older. I need to once again find my groove. On top of the stresses for this year, I can't tell you how absolutely terrified I am about Haley starting highschool next year! Yikes!! When did she get that old? Regardless, as I've always done, I will keep calm and homeschool on! How was your first day of school?

Introducing the Elements!

I have to admit, while I find chemistry experiments loads of fun, I get lost in the details when it comes to studying things like the Periodic Table. We touched on this subject a bit last week in reading about atoms. Haley got a bit glassy eyed while I was reading, although the boys seemed to understand. Maybe its that whole math thing again. They just seem to "get" math while Haley and I have to actually work at it. Regardless, in my quest to make the elements fun and more approachable, I found this fun song from They Might Be Giants.



I also printed out black and white copies of the Period Table for them to color and have some fun with. I also found a neat website that allows the kids to see the entire table, and by clicking on any of the individual elements they can find out more about it. It gives a picture and description of each one. This really helped in my opinion. All those numbers and symbols is just WAY too confusing in my opinion! Overall, I think that's enough for right now. I mean seriously, I managed to graduate from highschool and I don't think I even knew that much. Regardless, if you happen to be studying chemistry this year as we are, you might want to give some of these ideas a try!

Protons, Neutrons, Electrons and more...Fun with Atoms!

This year we're once again doing our Classically Catholic Memory program.  Last year it was all about earth science and astronomy.  This year we get to delve into the exciting study of chemistry and physics.  We've done some chemistry in the past using Real Science 4 Kids, and really enjoyed it.  We'll be using some of those studies again this year, and adding in lots more. 

Week 1 of our memory work focuses on atoms.  We spent the first two days reading about atoms in our Real Science 4 Kids, Pre-Level 1, and Level 1 books, Fizz, Bubble & Flash chemistry book, and the Usborne Encyclopedia of Science book. On Wednesday and Thursday I decided to do something more interesting and fun.  So, after scouring the internet for resources, here are a few of the fun ones we did.  First and foremost, Bill Nye The Science Guy has a segment on atoms!



Next, we made models of atoms using Play-doh. Adam chose to make a carbon atom. I was seriously amazed at how much he retained from the books we read. He used the Periodic Table of Elements to determine that his atom needed to have 6 protons, which he made out of purple Play-doh. Then, since all elements must have the same number of electrons as protons, he made 6 small balls of light brown Play-doh to zoom around the nucleus of his atom. He then determined that carbon has an atomic weight of 12.011, which allowed him to figure out that he needed 6 neutrons as well. He used mint green Play-doh for this. By the way, he remembered (all by himself), that you take the atomic weight of the element you wanted to make, and subtract the number of protons it has,and you'll know how many neutrons it has. Pretty cool, huh? Why is it that he gets this so easily while Haley and I had to re-read everything multiple times to make sense of it? So not fair!

Lastly, I found a cute little song that is sung to the tune of The Addams Family theme song.  I'm dating myself here...  My kids had no idea who the Addam's were, so that led to another search to give them little background info.  It really helps if you listen to the original theme song first to get an idea of how to sing this. 


Now that you know the tune, plug in these lyrics and have some fun! Hope your week was as fun as ours!

They're tiny and they're teeny 
Much smaller than a beany,
They never can be seeny,  
The Atoms Family.
 
They are so small. (snap,snap)
They're round like a ball. (snap,snap)
They make up the air.
They're everywhere.  
Can't see them all. (snap,snap)
 
Together they make gases,
And liquids like molasses,
And all the solid masses,  
The Atoms Family
 
They are so small. (snap,snap)
They're round like a ball. (snap,snap)
They make up the air.
They're everywhere.
Can't see them all. (snap,snap)

Neutrons can be found,
Where protons hang around;
Electrons they surround  
The Atoms Family
 
They are so small. (snap,snap)
They're round like a ball. (snap,snap)
They make up the air.
They're everywhere.
Can't see them all. (snap,snap)

Back to School

Where has the summer gone?  It seems like just yesterday we were finishing up last year.  Now we're gearing up for the new school year.  I have several friends that have already started back!  The stores are filled with pencils, crayons, glue sticks and more, and back to school sales are in full swing.

I have big plans for this year.  I really felt like last year was a bad school year for us.  We were involved in a co-op for the first time, and although my kids learned lots and we enjoyed the other families, I feel like we had one of the worst years school wise that we've ever had.  Obviously, having somebody else dictate what and when we're doing doesn't work for me.  I'm the type that needs everything to be cohesive, and when things aren't, I get messed up.  It could have also been the fact that I was involved in WAY too many things.  I was so busy and stressed throughout the year that I let some of my favorite activities go.  We didn't get together with friends like we normally do, or do any of the super fun things we've done in year's past.

So, in planning for next year, I'm staying home and getting back to the things that make homeschooling fun for all of us.  I'm reorganizing the school room, breaking out the work boxes again, and planning ahead for a great year.  I'll be posting shortly on our curriculum choices so stay tuned!

More Curriculum Choices

Yesterday I talked about math and why we are sticking with Saxon. Today I will touch on another favorite piece of curriculum that I have stuck with for the long haul... Story of the World. We started using this Haley's very first year as a homeschooler. No idea what prompted me to make my initial purchase, but its one I've never regretted. It might have been the glowing review in my ginormous Rainbow Resource catalog that never fails to enthrall me with all its awesome, homeschool goodies. Regardless, we are just about to finish the 2nd book in this series, and already have third sitting on my shelf ready to go for next year. Susan Wise Bauer truly brings history alive. She takes what I perceived as a dry, boring subject and makes it exciting and captivating. My kids will sit and listen to chapter after chapter without a complaint. It really does read like a story...hence the name.

Another huge part of the this curriculum that I love is the activity guide. Each chapter features maps, coloring pages, activities, narration activities, discussion questions and so much more. You can do as much or as little as you like. They also offer a test booklet which we used some the first year, but don't use any longer. Let me just say that I was amazed at how much my little 1st or 2nd grader retained and learned just from me reading a chapter out of a book. She's even retained that knowledge years later. She recently impressed the heck out of me during an episode of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader. She was able to recall many facts and names from our ancient history text.

So, if you're looking for a wonderful resource for history, something effective, yet easy to use, look no further than Story of the World.

Curriculum Choices

Its that time of year again...the time when I start thinking and planning for next year. In doing so, I thought I would share some of my favorite, no brainer, curriculum choices. Before I do so, let me just say that I am one of those people who loves trying different things. I'm always trying new products, ideas, and ways of teaching. There are only a handful of curriculum choices that I have stuck with and love from day one. This is not to say that I haven't tried to find something different, it just means that I have yet to find something that I like better. Because some of my ideas on certain curriculum choices could be quite extensive, I'll do this by touching on one product or subject per day. I'll start with my (and Haley's) least favorite subject...math.

Saxon Math - This is one area that I can say that I have explored extensively. You name it, we've tried it, seen it, heard about it, or currently own it. Here's just a few of the math programs we've tried: Horizons Math, Math U See, Teaching Textbooks, and Math Mammoth. No matter how good the program seems, or how much my kids liked or disliked it, we've always come back to Saxon. Why, you ask? Bottom line...it works! It might not have all the bells and whistles of some of the other, fancier programs, but it has proven effective and solid in my household. I recently added the DIVE CD for Saxon 5/4 to our math lessons, and so far we're loving it. I looked at both the teacher CD's that Saxon offers and the DIVE CD's, and chose to go with DIVE. I really like the fact that he explains it in his own way. He uses different examples from those found in the text. The Saxon CD's are just going over exactly what's in the text itself. I can do that. The DIVE CD's are using the same method's but different problems. This way we can read over the lesson in the book, listen to the DIVE CD lesson, and then work through the problems. Its just an additional tool that works great for auditory or visual learners. It has greatly reduced the complaining about math in my home!

In summary, Saxon is a well rounded, solid, proven, spiral method of teaching math. I feel it prepares them well for standardized testing, which some of the others don't in my opinion. I've heard people complain about the extensiveness of the lessons. In the K through 3 program, we simply skipped portions of it. I never did the daily meetings, the second worksheet, and skipped anything my kids were already proficient in doing. This really cut down the time it takes to complete the lessons. Keep in mind, nobody is policing you...you really don't have to do everything in the lessons. Some people try to do everything and burn out quickly. The teacher text is a guideline...not something you have to complete and do from cover to cover. So, even though we've looked and tried so many math programs, we're sticking with Saxon. Next year we'll be doing Saxon 6/5 and most likely using the DIVE CD's again.

Time 4 Learning

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

All About Spelling/All About Reading Giveaway!

Having personally used All About Spelling, I can attest to the fact that this product works.  By now, you'd just about have to live under a rock to have not heard something about it.  Its simple, effective, and guaranteed to teach the teacher something new as well!  Better yet, you can enter to win a $50 gift certificate to use towards the purchase of either product.  So head over to All About Learning Press and enter to win.  This contest ends at 12:01 am EST on Tuesday, March 12, 2012.  The winner will be announced later that day.

Preparing for Lent

Its truly hard to believe, but the season of Lent is almost upon us.  Where did the time go?  I feel like we just celebrated Christmas and now its already time to prepare for Easter!  I have been sick for over a week now, along with my entire family at one time or another.  At the moment its just two of us and everyone else is feeling much better.  Feeling so bad and spending way too much time in my PJ's laying in bed has given me the time I need to do some planning.  In looking through curriculum for next year and for the remainder of this year I stumbled across a wonderful resource for Catholic lapbooks.  Its called Lapbooks for Catholics.  It was really, really hard to choose just one to do for now, but since Lent is almost here, I decided to start with that.  Here's a summary of what's included with the Lent: A Journey Towards Easter Double Faith Folder.  I'll keep you posted on how we like it!

• Decorative Front Cover
• "The History of Lent in the Catholic Church" Book
• "Words We Hear During Lent" Folder Book
• "Lenten Customs" Open-Up Book Set
• "Ash Wednesday" Unfolding Rectangle Book
• "Palm Sunday" Palm Branch Shape Book
• "Triduum" Triple-Decker Book
• "Growing Spiritually With Common Lenten Practices" Multiple Tabs Book
• "Stations of the Cross" Graduated Pages Book
• "Confession" Pocket with Cards
• "Scripture and Prayers for the Days of Lent" Book Set with Pocket
• "Saints of the Lenten Season" Pick-a-Tab Book
• "Lenten Calendar Count Down"
• "Questions and Answers About Lent" Pick-a-Flap Book
• "My Lenten Commitments" List
• "My Lenten Tree of Spiritual Growth" Back Cover
• Assembly Instructions
• Sample Pictures

Mercury Models!

This particular activity didn't exactly turn out as planned, but the boy's enjoyed it none the less, so I guess we'll call it a success.  We're studying the planets again this year along with lots of other fun earth and space science.  This week we learned about Mercury.  Since Haley was taking AGES to finish up her math, the boys and I did this particular activity without her. 

First, we mixed up a big batch of salt dough from a recipe in the textbook.  I suppose it should have been thicker and maybe it would've worked better.  We were supposed to have balls, but ours looked like blobs.  The dough was just too soft to hold the sphere shape needed for Mercury.  So, we considered it half of Mercury.

Then, once we had our Mercury model to work with, the boys proceeded to make craters of all depths and sizes to recreate the surface of  Mercury.  You may have noticed that they are in their pajamas...yes, that's a big perk of homeschooling.  They don't have to get dressed!  Nothing says school time like PJ's. 

The boys really had fun figuring out all kinds of objects to make different types of craters.  Pencils, crayons, and even odd shaped Legos were used.  We sat the models aside to dry for a few hours and to share with daddy when he came home.  As I said before, I obviously need more practice on salt dough, because the models dried on the outside, but stayed gooey inside.  We finally gave up and simply threw them away. 

Busy days...

Well, as you may have guessed from my lack of posting, I've been super busy.  Just to catch you up on what's been happening in our lives, we've been keeping up with school work, Haley's choir class started back, we are participating in a weekly co-op using a Catholic classical style curriculum, I'm teaching science for this co-op, our church's Parish School of Religion is starting back, so I've been gearing up for that, I've been adding Friday get together and PE activities to my homeschool group's website, handling membership for that same group, running my bow business, re-signing the boy's up for Cub Scouts, becoming a leader for a brand new American Heritage Girls troop just for homeschooled girls (Haley is now a member), going on vacation to Florida for my family's annual family reunion and a quick trip to Ft. Myers Beach (I'll post pictures ASAP), oh and lets not forget my falling down the stairs the night before we left for Florida and spraining both ankles.  Thankfully only my right ankle is still giving me trouble.  I am feeling quite lucky that it didn't get broken, considering how bad it hurt and how hard I fell.

So, as you can see, we're really, really busy right now.  As I write this my kids are tearing newspaper into strips preparing to make two volcanoes that the kids in our co-op can paint on Friday.  I'm just praying that paper mache' dries really fast so that its ready for paint on Friday!  Anybody else feeling rather overwhelmed?

Making Volcanoes!

My children and I are participating in a homeschool co-op for the first time in many years.  We're using a Catholic Classical memorization program called Classically Catholic Memory.  We meet once a week on Fridays with a bunch of other Catholic families.  I'm  teaching science for the co-op and we're getting ready to study volcanoes.  So, to prepare for our lesson and activity this week, my kids and I had the fun task of making a paper mache' volcano.  I've only done paper mache' once in my life, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out.  Here are the kids having fun making a HUGE mess in my driveway.

Here are the two finished volcanoes.  This week we'll be painting them in preparation for the following week when we'll explode them!  The kids are all SO exicted!

They turned out pretty good I thought.  Now if I can just get the eruption to be impressive enough for the kids to be impressed.  I think they have visions of lava shooting up several feet.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thankful Thursdays

Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the day to day monotony of our lives that we forget to be thankful for all that we've been given.  I know I am very guilty of this.  We, as homeschoolers, have been given one of the greatest gifts of all...time. 

Take a minute and think about what your life might look like if your children were gone to school all day.   I know some days that very thought can be very appealing!  But seriously, imagine your day.  Having spent the better part of two public school years with my daughter, I'm well aware of just what it entails.  Here's a sampling from an average day in my former life.  Keep in mind this was kindergarten and first grade.  It gets worse as they get older!


7:00 - Wake up seriously grumpy children and drag them to the kitchen for breakfast.

7:15 - Prepare and eat said breakfast.

7:30 - Brush teeth and hair and get dressed.

7:45 - Hop in the car for the short ride to school.

7:50 - Sit in car line waiting to drop off my child.  Watch with some apprehension as my precious little girl walks off into the great unknown of the elementary school.  Hope and pray she goes right to her classroom and doesn't wander off on her way there.

7:55 - Arrive back home for the bulk of the day to do housework, run my business, and take care of her two younger brothers that are thankfully still with me.  Some days I go back to school to eat lunch with my daughter and to help out in her classroom.  This allows me to spend more time with her even while she's at school.

3:00 - Watch with anticipation as the big yellow school bus comes up our street to bring her safely home to me.  She's tired from her day, but hands me her daily journal so I can see any notes her teacher has for me.  This also lists what homework she has to complete tonight.  Most days I get notes about bad behavior during the day.  My daughter is gifted and has ADD.  Not the best combination for classroom behavior.  I get her a quick snack, and allow her to unwind a bit before we move on to tackling the homework (usually math and spelling) that we have to complete before tomorrow.

4:00 - We sit at the kitchen table to do homework.

5:00 - Free time to play while I start getting dinner ready.

6:00 - Dinner time.

6:30 - Get ready to go to scouts/soccer practice.  You can insert whatever works here.

7:00 - Practice time.

8:00 - Head home to get ready for another day tomorrow.

8:30 - Take bath/shower, brush teeth and put on PJ's.  Bedtime prayers, hugs and kisses.

8:45 - I'm trying to figure out what she'll wear to school tomorrow and lay it out for her.  Possibly pack her lunch or get her lunch money ready, and sign her journal to show that I've seen it.  Get everything ready to go for the next day.

10:00 Finally go to bed myself.

Now does this sound like a fun day?  Not to me!  Our homeschool days are spent together, not apart.  We wake up naturally whenever our internal clocks get us up.  We have breakfast together, we talk, we laugh, and we spend our day learning together, not apart.  My children's closest playmates are each other.  I am blessed to witness every "light bulb" moment as it happens.  I have the joy and honor of being the one that helped them achieve that moment.  I get to watch them grow, mature, and learn each and every day of our lives.  Sure, we do lots of outside activities...some days more than I would care to, but we still spend HUGE amounts of time together.  Am I saying my kids don't misbehave?  No!  Am I saying that there aren't days when I wouldn't love to spend some alone time?  No!  Am I saying I think my life is perfect?  No!  However, I am saying that I am truly, 100% thankful for the gift God has given me in my three children.  I am thankful for the time I get to spend with them each day.  I am so very thankful that my husband works hard to provide for us as a family so that we have these days.  Because, as we all know, this time will be gone in the blink of an eye.

So today, when your children are driving you crazy, think about what life might be like if they weren't there.  Think about life as a public school family.  I really think you'll find that this is the better way.  Today, I take a moment to say thank you to God for allowing me this opportunity.

So tell me...what are you thankful for?

Back to School...

Today is officially the big day for us...first day back to school, or not back to school, if you want to get technical.  I had grand plans to start two weeks ago, and we accomplished a few days before I just gave up.  To many distractions when nobody else is doing school.  At least by now most of our fellow homeschool friends are starting back as well.  That should help tremendously.  We still have the problem of the public schools being out until September.  I'm not cluing my children in to that fact though.  Most schools in the area have started back by now, but our county has been delayed due to the fact that the tornado that ripped through town in April just about completely destroyed two of our schools.  They had to delay the return to school to allow them enough time to rebuild.  I believe they start back just after Labor Day. 

So...we're now breaking for lunch and have only managed to cover 3 out of 10 workboxes scheduled for the day.  We're getting there...slowly but surely.  Wish us luck!!!