Home*School*Home

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Saturday, April 07, 2012

The kids were trying to finish up their schoolwork (still late, but not as late as last week.) and the girl has an excuse because she was on the road with me all day. She wanted to make raspberry tea but had too much to do, so she asked if making raspberry tea would count as cleaning in the kitchen (in what universe?) anyway, I said no. Then a few minutes later, her brother asked if he made her raspberry tea for her, would that count as cleaning. She said "No, I already asked." I guess it was worth a try.

Raspberry tea.

I hope our raspberry plants survived the winter and grow!

Friday, April 06, 2012

A busier day than we planned.

Today I had to work and my daughter had her spine center checkup at 2. I was talking on the phone to a friend and suddenly realized that it was 1:00 so we ran out the door. After we got on the road, I realized that her shorts had a hole in them, so we stopped and bought her new pants. We were very, very quick and got right back on the road and should have been within a couple of minutes of getting there on time but then we ran into a traffic jam. We ended up being half an hour late, but we had called and so they went ahead and saw us. Oh, and I forgot to mention, while we were in the traffic jam, the engine needs coolant light came on and so I called my husband and he said that after the doctors appointment, just to wait in the parking garage and he'd come and put coolant in. Then we went across town (basically) and out to dinner, then to the grocery and then finally, at long, long last (I'm talking 7 hours!) we got HOME. Then I had to finish work and the girl had to finish school.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Slacking.

My youngest son has been procrastinating about math this

week, but today he did 4 math lessons in a row, so he only has to do 1 tomorrow and then he'll be done for the week. He told me that he wasn't going to do that last lesson because he'd "been working hard all day, except when I was slacking. And, just so you know, the slacking was really fun and I did a lot of it." At least he's honest. :-P

Counting Down the Days till Summer.

We have 28 more days of school to do this year. We are way ahead of our usual schedule, even with taking a spring break. The reason is, I think, that because the kids are so independent with their studies, they do them even when I'm gone someplace and so we don't miss as many days. Now that it's started getting warm, I hope it goes ahead and warms right on up because our pool is up and I want to get in it, but I want the water temperature to be at least 80. Right now it's in the mid 70s with a solar cover. Too cold. I am planning on focusing on losing some more weight and getting in better shape as part of my post-Easter resolution so I want to be able to get in the pool and exercise. I think I might have to make my post-Easter resolution a 2 or 3 days after Easter resolution since I anticipate receiving some chocolate bunnies and stuff and will need to get them eaten before I start on any diets. :-)

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Back to school and a mom's night out (again).

We're back to school this week after a week of spring break last week. We didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but we never do, really, so I'm fine with what we did get done. I plan on doing spring cleaning/painting activities in June like we did last year. I know everyone will be happy about that. The trouble is, I'm working a couple hours more per day than I was last year, so I have more trouble fitting everything in. But, on the other hand, the kids are a year older and better at helping out, so they can do more. We started back to school yesterday with a minimum of whining, but also I think they did the bare minimum of work, so we'll have to see how the week goes. I had another mom's night out last night. I met up with some old friends and we talked and laughed for 2 1/2 hours at Cracker Barrel. It was such a nice evening. We should do that more often. In other news, both of my younger 2 kids won "top prizes" in the 4H poster contest and won 8 dollars. I was very excited for them. It's fun to win.

Monday, April 02, 2012

I've invented a sandwich (cross posted from my gluten free cooking blog.)

This sandwich is very, very, very popular at my house. I invented it on Friday, grocery day. We were out of cheese and so I was trying to make something besides a grilled cheese. I needed it to be completely gluten free. This is what I came up with. You'll need:

Butter.

Rudi's multigrain bread.

Deli Cuts Roasted Turkey

KRAFT Miracle Whip Mayonnaise

Hormel bacon bits and lettuce.

I heat up a skillet and put in a teaspoon of butter. Add 2 slices of Rudis multigrain bread and fry until the bread is crispy and turning golden brown. Then, I remove the pan from the heat, turn the stove off, put the bread on a plate, spread the miracle whip, put on the turkey, bacon bits and lettuce and enjoy. My daughter especially has been begging me to make these. Finally last night I taught her how to make her own. She decided today that having tried it with both regular bread and gluten free bread, it's better with the gluten free bread. They're yummy. Now to think of a name for them? Any suggestions?

Sunday, April 01, 2012

April Fool's Day!

I had fun with April Fool's today. I put balloons in shoes, balloons in backpacks, a slinky in the dishwasher and jello in the tea. We took one of our fake spills to church and sprung the joke on 5 or 6 unsuspecting people. It was great fun, for me anyway. I'm not sure the 2 people who tried to pour half congealed jello/tea enjoyed it. :-P

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."