Another Conversation.

Home*School*Home
My two youngest kids are at it again. They are playing make-believe something. I went into the living room just now and heard my daughter say "Johnny, do you want to play on the floor?" and my youngest son (who isn't named Johnny, BTW) said "Oh boy, the floor, the floor, I love the floor!"

Summer Thoughts

Home*School*Home
I've been reading through my KONOS curriculum book (volume 3) to see if what it is like and try to make some more concrete plans about how we will get started in the fall (or later in the summer). I want to start with the unit on Resourcefulness sometime during the summer. Summertime will be a great time to learn about pioneers and how they preserved food and built shelters. I would like to build a log cabin shelter for our dogs and make some blackberry preserves this summer. That seems very homeschooler-ish, doesn't it? This book is full of fun ideas like that. I feel a little overwhelmed about everything, though, today. My job seems to be taking up all of my time lately and I wonder how I'm going to be able to give my kids as much time as they need. I guess I'd better get some more coffee now and just do it.

Working At Home.

Home*School*Home
I have been a medical transcriptionist for 10 years. I started studying through a correspondence course when my oldest son was a baby. I hated to leave him all the time and go to work. I worked in a hospital for a few years and when my youngest was born, I started working at home. I felt like it would be easier to work at home than it would be to work outside the home and not working has never been an option for me. I'd just like to say to all those moms who are thinking about working at home, thinking that you'll get to spend more time with your babies, you will, some, because you won't have to commute but medical transcription is a difficult job to do with young children around. I know the advertisers show a mom typing and her child standing beside her, quietly playing, but that has never been how it has worked for me. I was very fortunate to have my mom as a babysitter when my kids were little. Now that they are middle sized, I still sometimes find it hard to work with them home because of the noise level. It is hard to understand dictation when it is accompanied by very loud, kind of off key, singing of Ned Nostril, Eric the Awful or The Mississippi Squirrel Revival. Trust me. I know.

Nobody Will Play With Me.

Home*School*Home

We need to get another girl to even things up around here. Even though the boys are 6 years apart, they seem to have a lot more in common with each other than with the girl. She isn't into the video games or going outside and playing with sticks, so she gets left out. My friend keeps offering to send me her 6 year old, but I don't think she really means it. :-(

The Actual Summer Media Schedule.

Okay. I admit it. There isn't one. I let the preteen win. Actually, I just said that if my schedule upset him so much that he had to come up with a better one or regulate his own video gaming and tv viewing. So far, he has done well. All of the kids have been outside a lot the past few days, actively playing for hours at a time. The oldest has been encouraging the younger two to go outside with him. This is what I wanted them to do and they are doing it their own way. Maybe the threat of having to go back on mom's schedule is why they are doing it? Maybe just because the weather has been so nice? Maybe my speech on how TV makes people fat?* I don't know, but I'm happy.

*I once read that a person staring at a blank wall burns significantly more calories per hour than a person watching television. Why? Because their brain is working.

We're Free! Kind of.

Home*School*Home

Yesterday, we all had our 6 month dental exams and cleanings. When we started to schedule for next time, the receptionist asked what would be a good time of day and I said that it doesn't matter. We are completely free to schedule appointments when we want. Because of the nature of my work and because the kids are homeschooled, we are now easy patients for our doctor and dentist, scheduling-wise, anyway.

What this means to me, is that our whole lives, my work, the kids school, everything important, is now dependent on me having self discipline. Me. Self-discipline. It is a scary thought. Every day, I have to be disciplined enough to sit down and work at my job even though no one is standing over me and asking me to do it. (I did ask my supervisor to start assigning me work early every morning, so I will get started sooner.) Every day, I also have to oversee the kids education. Most days, I manage to do both. Some days, neither. Hopefully, it works out.

1 week and 2 days until the day before vacation.

Home*School*Home
My daughter keeps walking around the house announcing to anyone who will listen that it is 1 week and 2 days until the day before vacation. I'm not sure why we are counting to the day before vacation, but we are. I've mentioned before that we don't have a lot of spare cash and vacations are our one little splurge. We are going about an hour away from home to stay in a hotel that I got a great deal on through hotwire, swim in the pool and visit the children's museum. Simple, easy, inexpensive, but the kids are so excited, you'd think we were going to the moon. There are already 2 children's suitcases packed. I hope the little trip is as fun as they anticipate it will be. Or even half as fun!

Links.

Home*School*Home

While my brain is on holiday, I will share some of the links I've collected. Here are a couple for math worksheets.
Superkids.
Math Problems

Here is a fun geography game (thanks Lisa)!
Geosense

Here are some great graphic organizers from EdHelper.
EdHelper