Thursday Ramblings

(lush green backyard pic from last summer)

Spring is here. It makes me want to take walks, pick up leaves and flowers, pull out the bug/flower/tree identifier books and have a picnic. Instead we spent yesterday indoors doing our normal list of schoolwork. I wonder which way we would actually have learned more. It's so easy for me to just stick to our lists, and textbooks and videos so I can visually see what we are learning by the amount of papers piling up. But are we retaining anything? I wonder. I think I need to loosen up and stop worrying about hours and courses, and daily logs so much and live a little.

The teen received her ACT scores back. We're so proud. While it isn't the 30 she wants, its higher than a 20 so we're very proud for her first time taking it. She was convinced she would receive a 10 or 15 so she was overjoyed and didn't believe us until we showed her the official print out from ACT. I think she is beginning to study for the next one in June. We were looking at the requirements for getting into KCAI school and they only require a 20 ACT score. She needs to work on 20+ pieces of art to include in a portfolio that has to be evaluated by any art school she might attend. I'm a bit selfish. I'd love to have her nearby at KCAI, plus its a fabulous school. I want to attend there after we have finished paying for her.

Am I the only homeschooling mom that changes plans mid stream? I can't seem to stop doing that. It's just that when I see something going downhill and the kids eyes glazing over, I want to change it all up to make it more interesting. I think sometimes that can be a bad thing. I don't know. Half way through the teen's World History course we realized she was retaining nothing through the textbook and bored out of her mind. So I sat down, made a list according to history subject and ordered videos covering all aspects of World History through the library. They were glad to see DH this week when he went to pick up our pile; 60 videos, to last us the month. It's kind of an exciting way to learn history. She's a visual learner and picks up so much through the videos. We're taking notes and discussing them as well.

I think today we made go outside to draw. It's too beautiful a day given to us by God, to waste it.