Home*School*Home

Friday, May 06, 2005

We didn't see it.

Home*School*Home

We went outside to look for the space station but we didn't see it. We'll try again tomorrow night if we think about it. Maybe this will be a good lesson for the kids on how life just doesn't go according to plan most of the time. At least, mine doesn't.

The space station. (I just wanted to see if I could figure out how to put a picture on here!) Photo by NASA.

View the International Space Station!

Did you know you can view the International Space Station from your home with the naked eye? I found this bit of information on the back of one of the Usborne Books on outer space that we have out of the library right now. We're going to try and get a glimpse of it tonight. Here's the link.

http://esa.heavens-above.com/esa/iss_step1.asp?nored=1

You just put in your home town and it tells you where to look, at what time to look and you can print out a star chart that will help you tell the path it is taking. I'm all excited about this, can you tell? This is something we probably never would have known if we hadn't decided to start on homeschooling and do a unit on space.

Money

My hand is itching this morning. I've heard that it is a superstition that if your hand itches, someone is going to give you money. But my son says that if you scratch the itch, you don't get any money. This is apparently where I've gone wrong in my financial life. :-)

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Conversations in the Car.

Home*School*Home

On the way home from the park, my 6-year-old and my 8-year-old were sitting in the back seat. We had stopped to buy ice cream on the way home. My 8-year-old daughter remarked that she was full of ice cream, but empty of pizza. While we thought this over and wondered how it could be possible, my 6-year-old started making barfy noises because of the kind of pizza she wanted, plain cheese with a cheese filled crust. She said "he's stupid." I said "don't call someone stupid because they hold a different opinion than you do, even if they are not expressing it in a nice way." At that he stopped expressing it so loudly and she said very quietly "he's weird though."

Even the best laid plans ...

Home*School*Home

Well, nevermind the stay at home day, one of our homeschool groups is doing a park day this afternoon. It is our first one and we want to go, so we're off to the park this afternoon. Consequently, I have to work this morning before we go and this evening, when we get back. I'm glad my job is flexible. Can you see why I don't get my housework done?

Home. Home. Home.

Home*School*Home
Thursday is the day of the week we try to stay home all day long (just to see if it is possible, I guess.) Every other day of the week, we have something to do out in the real world, but today we don't. I do have a library movie due back today, but I'll probably keep it the extra day and pay the fine, just to stay home.

We'll spend the morning on school and I'll spend the afternoon working and the later, I'll sit down and watch The Apprentice tonight. Hopefully, a no-stress, laid-back kind of day.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Be careful what you wish for ...

Home*School*Home

Yesterday, I was thinking how I'd like to get out of the house more, dress up, go to an office etc. Well, I got a taste of it today. I had a doctor's appointment in a city about an hour away from here. I got to dress a little nice (nicer than my home stuff anyway), take the kids to grandma's, get in the car and drive for an hour, circle the block 4 times looking for this address (which was in not the usual building), park in a parking garage, walk half a block, take the elevator, then walk another half a block indoors, sit in a waiting room for an hour and a half, see the doctor for 5 minutes, then reverse the process until I was home again. I think it will be a while before I get the urge to work in an office again. I like earning my living barefoot, in the comfort of my own home.

Homeschooling Advice.

1. Try it. You might enjoy it. It might change your life. It might not be your thing, but you won't know if you don't ever try.

2. Find out what your state (or country) requires, the bare minimum. Do this and then with the rest of it, have fun with it. It doesn't have to be all serious and it doesn't have to look like the inside of a classroom. You're at home. Relax. Play. Read. Learn together. Enjoy your kids. They grow up way too fast.

3. Don't let a written curriculum boss you around. If it works, great. If it's not working for you, throw it out. If only parts of it work, use those and throw the rest out. It's not the boss of you. When shopping for curriculum, read reviews. Try to go somewhere where you can actually hold the book in your hands and look through it. Print out a sample day or week and try and implement it or borrow it before buying. It's kind of hit and miss buying books without being able to see them.

4. Find a homeschool support group. Or two. If you can't find one in real life, find one online. Get support where ever you can.

5. Make a mess now and then. Go outside and put some mentos in coke. Make alka-seltzer rockets. Make some great art. Make a timeline and a map. Grow some borax crystals. Use levers to lift things. Make a trebuchet out of whatever you can find around the house.

6. Go on as many field trips as you can.

The point of this blog.

"there is a theme, if you read, you'll get a growing conviction that homeschooling is a lifestyle that is worthwhile, that it is extremely good for kids and families, that it promotes bonding, is a personalized education that is superior to what you can get anywhere else for your kids, is fun and can be done even if you have a 400 track mind, no math skills (thankfully my husband does though), through working, job changes, bad hair days, home remodeling, deaths, illness, surgery, broken bones and various other things and it actually makes dealing with these things easier, not harder, than it was when we were in the public schools, because homeschooling is so incredibly flexible. That's the point I've been trying to make for the last 5 years or so."