Semi-Wordless Wednesday

Thankful that homeschool allows for varied interests and Wii exercise before school starts!

Studying for Apologia Science test. Dd says drawing pictures helps her remember.

Love this homeschool life we have!

Year Mostly Recapped, and Voila'! I am here!

So, the problem with homeschooling sometimes is that it literally becomes your life. It's not a side hobby at all. You can't really just 'wing it' although I'm fond of saying that. Because of it and a million other things, my blog has been tossed aside like a forgotten book, a moldy cookie, an old receipt. I miss my blogs and talking on them, sharing ideas, lives and such. I really need to pick up where I left off. But you know how it is when you haven't done something in awhile, you berate yourself, 'Oh I really need to get back to doing that (like crocheting or cleaning).' Then the more you don't, the guiltier you feel. Then, you actually start to miss it and Voila'! I am here!

So, how has your year been? We started school in July sometime to supposedly keep up with friends who were also doing Apologia General Science, hoping we'd get to do experiments together. No such luck. We slacked off in November and we've always been 2 weeks behind them ever since! Ah well, best laid plans of mice and men they say...

This was our first junior high year for my youngest. New child, different personality and temperament than the older one. The older one (who graduated 2 years ago) was determined to get all her work done before the day was over. She couldn't stand to leave something unfinished. Probably came from her need to be perfect or a close proximity to such a notion. SO not the same as this younger child. She could care less if she finished anything! She'd rather read 24-7 and if I could find a way to teach upper math, science and latin with just reading, I'd be all over that like a cat with a plate of sushi!

We also lost dictation, copywork, narration and short lessons along the way. I knew we would. I tried, I really tried. I don't know how people get everything done in a year. We did really good most of the year but things that started to feel like fluff (you know, like those extra worksheets teachers give out to keep a child's attention?) were cut. I swear, we're going to be drummed out of the Charlotte Mason community! I will try again this year.

It's been a year of growing up for this 12 1/2 yr old, 7th grade girl. Learning to be more responsible, learning to make smart decisions, learning to navigate the teen group and how to be a real friend and who ARE real friends. She's also gone to being the only child living here. The teen moved out recently to live with co-workers. She only lives 5 mins away and stops by often but we miss her. I have to remember to do more with the little one because she'll get lonely.

Pertaining to homeschooling, one of the new things we tried just recently was making her more responsible for when she does stuff. I made up a new chart for her schoolwork and wrote in all she had to accomplish in a week (in the first column. Would be happy to share if someone wants to see it.) Then she had to decide what days she did what, how many pages to read in a book per day to have it done by the end of the week. Her reward when she got it all done (even if it was Sunday afternoon) was she can watch a bit of TV, read books NOT on her school list, play WII or try out some new educational games I got for her on the computer (Typing Instructor and Crazy Machines.) So far its working swimmingly. She likes the freedom and choice. Crossing fingers it works for us through mid-May...

Chicken Farmers - Update!

The inevitable has happened. We've perused a dozen books (in we, I mean the little one and I, while hubby stood by and shook his head.) about chicken raising. We've picked out and re-picked out what chick breeds we'd like to own, which produce the best, which will lay the longest. We've discussed and sketched and eyed the contents of the house for any stray wood that might go into a chicken tractor. We've even shown the books to the teen who is never here and wouldn't be a part of the care and upkeep of chickens, but none-the-less has picked out what type of chicken she wants.

But finally, behind closed doors without little ears to hear and a convincing whine to color our judgment, the hubby and I have sat down and discussed the possibility of a chicken coop in our yard. The pros and cons have been weighed (I'm an optimist, he's the opposite so you can imagine which side of the room more cons were coming from).We've talked of coops, feed, letting them roam as opposed to being 'cooped' up all day, wintering them, brooders (the little one already set up a homemade one in the basement), having wood to build a coop, what they eat (bugs and scraps, corn and feed) and the types of eggs they produce.

His argument: it will probably be a mistake, things like this usually don't turn out okay.

My argument: it's worth a try, to at least have tried the opportunity, for the little one at least. If all else fails and we hate it or its not for us, we can find a nice farm the chickens can go live on and sell or give away our coop.

With a sigh, a boast that 'of course' he could build a nice coop but that I better find out the code of ordinances for our city, on chickens... hubby agreed for us to become a chicken farming family!  Yay us!

Note: I added information to the 'Chicken Farmers tab above' on how to find out the Municipal Code of Ordinances for your city, as well as how your house lot is zoned (this info matters as to how many chickens you can legally house.) We're zoned residential and we can have 2. I'm going to call City Hall tomorrow to see if we could have a few more if we paid a licensing fee. That is permitted in other cities, so it doesn't hurt to ask...

Okay, who's ready to throw on some overalls, grab a bale of hay and raise some chickens?! Anyone, anyone, Bueller??!

** Stay tuned for more exciting updates **

A Sorry Day In the Life...

 (Winston)

This is how my day went yesterday...

923 am - I wake to a scraping noise and my brain is trained to think this  might be a dog who needs to go the bathroom and it sure as heck isn't going to be in MY house, so I jump up to let them out. It's a cat playing with a toilet paper tube... I see the child wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, reading her acting script (for a play at church). 

me - 'Good morning, smooch! What are you doing?'

smooch - 'Practicing.'

me - 'How long have you been up?'

smooch - *looks at clock* '23 minutes'.

me - 'have the dogs gone out?'

smooch - 'no.'

me - 'have you fed them?'

smooch - 'no.'

me - *sigh* 'Okay, let's get school started. Grab your blanket and let's go.' I put the dogs out, grab a bag of grapes and head to the bedroom. Pull out my schedule. No child forthcoming. 

me - 'where are you?'

smooch - 'I'm hungry. Going to make food.'

me - 'why didn't you do that when you got up?'

smooch - 'I wasn't hungry then.'

me - 'Grab a cup of cereal, some grapes, some cheese. Let's get started.' I'm in school mode. I'm sick, and want to get some stuff done before I crash back into my pillow again.

smooch - 'I don't want any of that, I want a burger.'

me - 'Okay, pop a burger in the pan, make an extra for the dogs and do your Flash Dash Latin on the computer while you're waiting for it to cook.' Cough, hack, blow my nose, I proceed to lay my head back on the pillow. One hour lapses. I pop up in confusion.

me - 'Smooch? Where are you?'

smooch - 'I'm cooking.'

me - 'It's been an hour. Where have you been?  What have you been doing all this time?'

smoooch - 'Well, I cooked my burger and one for the dogs, and then made some rice. I brushed the dogs hair and put them outside. I went out with them. It's muddy out there.'

me - *sigh* 'Did you do your Latin?'

smooch - 'no.'

me - 'Did you do any reading?'

smooch - 'no.'

me - *double sigh* 'So we haven't started school yet...'

smooch - 'What? None of that counts for school?'

I swear, some day we'll get it right.

(Clementine)

Note - the day did not get any better. Normally, when I'm sick or something she is so good getting stuff done. Today I kept resting while she was doing her schoolwork and she would get sidetracked. We only got half of it done. But sometimes you can't help it when you're sick.

Dilly-Dallying

I discovered a secret yesterday!

As I noted, we've restarted our homeschooling with a different schedule. Monday we were having the worst time with arguing and the basic dilly-dallying that all kids who don't want to do their work like to do. I'll admit I got a bit frustrated. And since I was keeping a minute by minute handwritten schedule that day (basically too lazy to go print a schedule) I announced I was writing down all the times my daughter dilly-dallied. She asked 'what is the purpose of that?' all smart eleck like. I said 'so I can show your daddy just how much time you waste and when you have trouble arguing with me.' Well, she promptly picked up her work and went off to do her math problems. hehe

She had quite a few times of dilly-dallying. I don't think even she realizes how much time she wastes. But at the end of the day I did praise her for all the work she did get done. Her daddy reviewed the list and I think she was properly embarrassed of all the time she wasted.

So today, when I pulled out the notebook to start noting her minute by minute work, she said 'Today I'm not going to dilly dally as much.' She wants to do better than she did yesterday. It's like a challenge to herself against her own self! I found this astounding and very enlightening.

I think the chart will also show me where she has the most problems and I might need to modify the schedule, put in small breaks then, etc... The best thing I can do for her is pray for her continued willingness to work harder and happier.

I'm not telling her that I (unknowingly) tricked her into wanting to do better. I'm just going to enjoy this new drive she has. Thank you Lord.

Frustration

So today I'm blogging my frustration. I'm at the end of my rope. My wits are fried. The devil has ahold of my day and I don't know how to take it back. All of my frustrations are bubbling to the surface and I feel like crying. How do I go on from here? 

The child is a walking contradiction today. Everything is making her upset, every subject is the one she hates 'the most'. I'll explain what to do and she'll say 'what? I don't know what you mean?' or 'I didn't hear you." when I clearly know she did. She is trying to make me insane. It is definitely a test of wills.

It's at these moments I don't know what to do. My tendency is to talk to her about her attitude, which she resists. I then assign a punishment for the continued problem (ie: extra chores, grounding) and I try to move on. I finally gave up today and said school was done until she got up and did all her chores. And maybe the chores would work the attitude right out of her. Then she is like 'okay, I'll do them.' I don't know how to respond to that. She is talking in a manner of 'no problem, I don't care what you say, you're not upsetting me with chores.' You know the attitude. UGH. She wasn't saying 'okay' because she was happy.

Every time she has a problem with her schooling and attitude I'm at a loss. I feel like stopping the subject she doesn't want to work on is like affirming her attitude as a good thing. Like I'm approving of it. Yet pushing on through the subject is torture at its best. And before someone tells me its the subject and maybe i need to change up what we do in it; It's not. She is having attitude about every thing.

I'm going to go ball up in a corner to cry and pray. Where is my chocolate?

Thrifting With Attitude

Yesterday was a whirlwind day spent with family, lunch and dinner out, running errands, thrifty shopping, grocery shopping, party planning. I'm dead on my feet and we have 40 guests coming in a few hours for a fun birthday party for the 11 yr old. I'll have all afternoon tomorrow to recover I guess and then Monday we start school! Yay! I think I'm excited again! Sorta. I was getting all jazzed about homeschool because now I've got a PLAN and we're trying new things (latin and french being 2 of them) and I think it might all work out.

And then... duh duh duh dun... (insert scary music), the child has had about 4 days of terrible moods. I'm getting scared she is moving into the horrifying stage of hormones! Someone save me! I don't think I can go through puberty with another girl. I'm so not worthy! We've already had to have a talk about attitude. Like when we were in the middle of the thrift store trying on clothes and she really didn't want to do this, especially in the mood she's in, so anything with any pink on it (her favorite color) she announces loudly that she HATES pink and doesn't WANT to try it on. I finally said, 'You're gonna', because me, being the mom, knows she is just in a mood and will love the pink clothes later. So she stomps off into the dressing room where I (and all the patrons around me hear) 'Well, I'm not gonna wear it even if you buy it!' Such sass! What a mood! What a chuckle this got from several moms, who nodded their heads and one said "I know what you're going through" laughing while she said it. URGH!

The thrift store shopping was still successful as evidenced by the pile in the picture above. The clothes episode went okay. We came home with 4 brown shirts, 1 black shirt, 1 khaki skirt, 1 pair jeans and shocker... 1 hot pink shirt. No meltdown when I put it on the counter either. Needless to say, it was a long day.

The books were a great find. Here is what we found:

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (on my reading list)

A Series of Unfortunate Events, Vol. 1 (to replace a ruined copy)

Star Wars Galaxy of Fear, Nightmare Machine (dd loves reading Star Wars)

Star Wars Jedi Apprentice #1 (dd's book)

Angela Carter's Book of Fairytales (to be used for copywork/dictation)
The Fables of Aesop (to be used for copywork/dictation)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (on my reading list)

Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace (dd's book)

Igraine the Brave (Cornelia Funke is a fav author of the teen, this is one of her younger books)

ROAR! A Christian Family Guide to the Chronicles of Narnia (Someone just mentioned this on a forums board I frequent and that its a great supplement to reading the Chronicles of Narnia series. You can get this book at ChristianBook.com right now in clearance for $0.99!)

Learn At Home, Grade 6 (I just bought this as a supplement of occasional workpages for reviewing)

Wish us luck on the party. We invited 6 families over to our house, plus 5 teenagers to keep the teen busy. About 40 people in all, with plans to just plop chairs down in the backyard, play games in the grass and have a good ole' fashioned fun time. DH informs me tonight that the mosquitoes in the woodsy backyard are running rampant and its not wise to be outside. Great. Where am I going to put 40 people in my house?! Help!

P.S. Can you guess the theme of dd's party? I've given you a hint (in a roundabout way. hehe)

Weekly Snippets & Facebook

Just wanted to let anyone know who cares about reading my blurbles, this blog is on Facebook now (I will still continue to post here.) If you're lazy like me and like all your eggs in one basket so you don't have to hop around to other places, you can join my networked blogs thingie (over in the left column) and then when I post new posts here, a little link will pop up on Facebook for ya. Just in case you're a kindred lazy spirit, like me. Just sayin'...

Snippets of our week:
1. I need to expect the unexpected more. I get to planning all we need to get done in a week, fretting that we won't finish it all and then things happen. Like this week, 2 kids sick, one by Thursday, the other by Friday. The teen didn't do homeschool after Wed, the little one didn't on Friday. Trying not to panic about all we didn't get done. Go with the flow is my new supposed mantra.
2. My Bachelorette Living is off to a rocky start. I need to make a plan. The problem is she knows so much already because we already cook, clean, and sew some. Need to mix it up and make interesting, and have supplies or whatever on hand. Trying to think of how we can also mix in some volunteering or donating things (like helping cook at a homeless shelter, or learning to knit or sew and donating to the local pregnant teens home, etc...) Planning ahead can sometimes be a bonus. Imagine that!
3. We've switched from using a boring 1980's textbook series on Government to watching videos on Government, after the teen flunked the chapter test, twice. She's taking notes, planning 2 reports and a field trip for the semester. She is already retaining more in the few days watching videos than she did the first 2 weeks out of a book.
4. After reading Martinzoo's blog, I went hopping over to Craigslist to find a fish tank and stand. Might pick up one this week. I wanna grow tadpoles with the kids. Of course now the teen informs me she hates frogs, has a phobia because a little kid in New Mexico chased her around with a frog while they were there on Mission Trip. Dramatic child I have. *sigh* That's like when DH told me we couldn't name one of our children Elizabeth, because a little girl named Elizabeth used to chase him around the block in 2nd grade. *eyeroll*
5. I've been refreshing my brain on Algebra 2. The teen and I sit down every day for 2 hours and do a whole lesson. Every problem, I do with her. It's as much a learning time for me as for her.
6. The teen had her 3rd week of college classes and actually fit in her homeschool work as well. I think we're progressing.
7. The little one has done very well with division. Previous weeks were touch and go, many meltdowns. This week it seemed to flow.
8. This week was a little too like my previous years of homeschooling, ie: textbooks, math drills, etc... I'm supposed to be working my way toward unschooling, not the other way around. Be flexible, is my 2nd new mantra.
9. The little one has been begging all week to bake sweets. I've been nixing the idea, and have lost weight all week instead of gaining like I do every other week she bakes. Now WHY did I buy her all that baking stuff for her birthday? I really didn't think it through.

10. Both the new kitten and the dog have decided on their costumes for Halloween (via the little one.) So glad they're both girls (the jury might still be out on the kitten though...) The little one asked me if there was a way to count dressing up the kitten & dog and grooming them, as a homeschool subject. *sigh*

Recital & Wrap It Up Already!

The girls started taking piano lessons in January with a friend. They had their first recital on Tuesday. We are so proud of them! The little one has never had lessons before and the teen had a couple years of lessons so long ago, it's almost like starting over again. We have been using a keyboard forever but finally picked up an upright piano at a garage sale last week for $50! It's a beautiful blond wood color too! The teen played Hungarian Dance, No. 1 by Brahms. The little one played 2 pieces; Surprise Symphony by Haydn and Down In The Valley (a song I sang to them often when they were babies.)

Here's pics of the girls playing in their recital. Growing up quickly... sigh.


I'm to the point in our year of homeschool that I'm done. Finito, Kuput. It's increasingly hard to say 'do one more chapter, just so I can have more paperwork or so I can call the book finished.' I mean, who cares if we did every page? 'Not I,' said the blind man.

The kids have been doing alternative things this week instead of books books books. Board games for math and english, videos for art and history, outdoors visiting for science, lots of piano playing. Why don't I do this all year long? It feels like cheating. Although I know of people who this is how they live and do school and they learn so much! I just don't know how to switch to a no textbook way of life and feel okay with it.

Anyway, this week I've been planning for next year's schooling instead of waiting til the last minute. Always better that way. Then I don't worry all summer. The 4th grader asked if she could take a year off from school.
I said, 'What ever for?'
'Just to do things. I hate school.' she explained.
'Like what things?'
'Play with Capsela, draw outdoors, play math games, build things with Legos.'

Apparently I have sucked all the fun out of school. I'm a fun sucker. I may be changing up my school planning a bit. I don't want kids hating school already! The teen doesn't particularly like textbooks but she is looking forward to next year's school. She might be taking some college classes and plans to graduate next year. I hope I can make it a fun, memorable last year for her...

Emerging From Winter

borrowed from fieldandswamp.com

Where has the time gone since my last post? Homeschool is back on track. We have been hunkered down during the winter months catching up on schoolwork. It seems, according to my hourly charts, that the end of November through mid-January were hit and miss as far as getting anything done. Some weeks, great! Some weeks, oh my goodness. We might as well have taken them off. And we did take off several for holidays and vacations. The last 7 weeks have been spent reevaluating where we are at in every subject, seeing what needs to be accomplished, seeing who is lacking in what.

The little one (4th grade): She FINALLY has her times tables down. Kind of. She can't spout them out immediately like she can her list of favorite cartoon shows but she knows them well enough to do all her math. For science we quit winging it because she couldn't decide on a subject to study and we opened a book I had that is quite colorful and direct. We've been studying volcanoes, earth, and fossils. I may have to give in this week and build a volcano and grow some crystals like a good homeschool mom should. Ugh.

The piano lessons she started taking in January are going so well. At least I think so. She loves her teacher (who wouldn't) and it just squeezes my little ole' heart when her dainty fingers reach out to make chords in a song. All week we've been belting out 'Down In The Valley' while she plays. I'm so proud.

The teen (11th grade): has been ACT driven. Almost all schoolwork went by the wayside while we brushed up on every subject known to man for the ACT. She took it last week. Up til the test we didn't feel confident about her knowledge at all even though we had studied non-stop. But after the test she was all smiles. We don't really care what she gets this time. It's the experience of test taking that we care about. She can take it many times during the next year.

She has been reading all over the board for World Lit. She read a lot of Grapes of Wrath, really getting the gist of the time period. I didn't require her to finish it. Maybe she will over the summer. Right now she is engrossed in Watership Down.
I love to see my kids huddled in bed, glassed perched on noses, reading big books. Last night she couldn't sleep until she had found out what happened to BigWig (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the book!) After she is done I plan to rent the movie for her to watch.
This week has been all about painting. We've just felt like it. The teen takes watercolor painting instruction from a very talented friend of mine. Every week we meet and they paint and talk. Good relationship being built there as well. Always good for the teen to have good christian mentors outside of her parents. Anyway, her painting is improving drastically.





The little one has been watching videos I picked up from the library for her art; Art Lessons for Children (several volumes) by Donna Hugh. I've order Ms. Hugh's Drawing Lessons for Beginners as well. Excellent video series. I've seen her painting improve immensely!




The little one was so excited about what she is learning that when DH came home early from work today, she sat him down and taught him how to paint a chinese dragon. So cute!

DD's painting, DH's painting



We've also started doing the Illustration Friday prompt each week. See my blog here, here and here for the newest examples, or search my art blog for 'illustration friday'.

I think that's enough of an update. I'll be back soon. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're in the homestretch. Seven more weeks until Summer break! Hallelujah. I think we all need it.

Sickies Homeschool

What do you do when everyone is sick? My tendency is to let all lay around and not do anything. But I always feel like we could be doing 'something' so I try to have kids read, watch science videos. SOMEthing so I can count it for school. I know, I'm a mean mom. I'm thinking if I always let them do fun things when they're 'sick' they'll want to be sick more often! ha We do sit and watch a movie together sometimes. Can you tell I'm wishy-washy on the subject? It's hard to get the almighty homeschool-hours-counter out of my head... (in our state we have to keep track of hours.)

This is where we're at today. A whole household full of sickies with the flu including DH and me. I let them sleep in while I'm up catching up on paperwork, making calls, packing some packages, scheduling repair & installation people (shower and cable.) Is a mother's work never done? I'm ready for a nap.

(Clemie the rotisserie chicken dog.)

Tableau Thursday

Tableau: A still image, a frozen moment or "a photograph."

1. Dog receiving a bath, whether she wants it or not.
2. Teen is building a house of cardboard so little dd wanted to make one too.
3. DD working on her time table wrap-ups.
4. Interloper found under my art table shoved into the box. (notice how its bulging? She's fat!)
5. The teen working diligently on her English, wearing the same shirt she seems to have on everytime I take her picture.

Tableau Thursday

Tableau: A still image, a frozen moment or "a photograph."

Today's break time activities.
1 - Learning 'Do-Re-Me'
2 - Playing Sandwich w/dog
3 - Tired out pooch