Home*School*Home

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Linc's Bad Day

Linc's bad day, part 2.

If you look, you can barely see his head in the fork of the tree on the right. He finally came down after several hours.

Monday, January 30, 2006

It is Monday again. You can tell because nobody has any enthusiasm today. We all want to keep sleeping and not do anything. The tempation is strong, but we must get up and do something, anything! We have a to-do list a mile long. Maybe more coffee would help. At least it would help me. The kids are on their own.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Saturday.

No school today!! I sound more like the kid than the teacher, don't I? Probably the teachers say that too. I don't know. This is the beginning of my second year of teaching homeschool, so I'm not very experienced. Saturday is usually my main work day. I get more work done on Saturdays because of the fact that we have no school, but not today. Today started at 4:00 a.m. with Max, the dog, barking frantically at something in the kitchen. We got up to investigate and found out that the new world map was falling off of the wall. Thanks for letting us know about that Max! Good job protecting us from falling paper!

Then, when I actually got up and started working, I had a computer malfunction. The tech support guy is on vacation this week and so I emailed his substitute. No answer so far. My husband and I made the decision to go ahead and start letting me work on my new computer that I was supposed to start on Tuesday, so we had to set it up. That took hours. Now, finally, I'm able to work but the only keyboard we have for this computer is split aerodynamic keyboard and it and I don't get along all that well.

I guess Sunday will have to be my major workday this week. :-(

I think maybe I need some Calgon.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

The New Schedule.

In my neverending search for the perfect homeschool schedule, I've abandoned the one we've used for the past month (which was very much like the one for the 4 months before that) and just put 2 subjects on each day. Yesterday, we had Spanish and Science. Today, Language Arts and KONOS. I assign more work in each subject, but this way, they get to spend a longer time doing something and hopefully, getting involved in it. The last few days since we've been doing it this way have been great. I'll probably change it in a few weeks, though, knowing me.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

March of the Penguins.

We borrowed March of the Penguins on DVD from our local library last night and watched it. I hadn't seen a lot of information about it, and didn't know what to expect, but it was really good; enjoyable and educational. I had no idea that emperor penguin males stand there with the egg on their feet, right through the antarctic winter, and go without eating for 4 months. Wow. Super Dad. It is very cool. The baby penguins are cute. It is done with a sense of humor too. The DVD also had some bonus educational features too.

Night before last, we watched Everest which is really a great thing to show determination, although sometimes I wonder why. That old "because its there" answer just doesn't get it for me. I'm not climbing it. Still it was educational to watch.

Today, we are going to start reading "Alone Across the Ice" One woman's epic journey by dog team.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Antarctica.

In our study of the character trait of determination, we have moved (temporarily) from the Olympics to a study of polar expeditions, starting with Antarctica. We read a book on Shackleton's Antarctic shipwreck survival story and have been studying about Antarctic plant and animal life. My youngest son, who has been wishing it would snow more here, has suggested that our next vacation, we go to Antarctica. He has it all planned out. He said "We'll go on a 3 day vacation to Antarctica and since days are 6 months long there, we'll be on vacation for a year and a half!" Good plan!

Friday, January 20, 2006

Reading.

My older son's reading really took off a few years ago when he got interested in reading the Harry Potter books. Now he reads really well. My daughter has never wanted to read much but maybe, just maybe, we found something that will help her reading, at the library this week. She is very interested in dogs and cats and this week she picked out 7 or so books on dogs and cats and this afternoon, she read 5 of them. Granted, they aren't large chapter books, but they aren't picture books either. There were quite a few words in all of them. Now, if I can just find the subject that will make my younger son's reading fun for him. Hmmm. Something about Nintendo?

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Happy Birthday!

Please join me in wishing a happy birthday to my husband today! Please leave comments, he reads them. I'll keep my mouth shut about how old he is and hopefully he'll do the same for me. ;-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."