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Archive for April, 2008

Reading, it’s what we do.

{ April 28, 2008 @ 9:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: homeschooling, reading, reading lists } · { Leave a Comment }

We read a lot. No, I mean a LOT. Sometimes several hours out of each day and at least on hour before bed. I read aloud to K still, two to three books at a time. I read to B and M out of four books each night. It can get tiring. It can get boring (especially since M favor’s graphic novels). It can be frustrating (especially when B is rolling all over the floor). I do it anyway because I feel it’s important. If ever I get discouraged, I read this poem:

The Reading Mother by Strickland Gillian

I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of Pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
*Blackbirds* stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe
Which every boy has the right to know.

I had a mother who read me tales,
Of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a mother who read me things
That wholesome life to a boy heart brings-
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer then I you can never be-
I had a mother who read to me.

I makes me teary everytime I read it and I think it applies just fine to girls as well

I have several reading lists that I like to use as reference when I am trying to find a book for K, something to read to B, or even something for myself.

Here are a few of my favorites!

Database of Award Winning children’s Literature

Books to Supplement History

Great books from The Well Trained Mind

Book Girl’s Historical Fiction for Children

Chronological List of Children’s History

Just to make this my official reading themed post, I think I’ll list what we are all currently reading! M is reading on her own, but likes me to read to her as well. B cannot yet read so all his books I am reading to him.

Me:
The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra
A Guinea Pig’s History of Biology by Jim Endersby
Frankenstien by Mary Shelley (aloud to K)
The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley(aloud to K)

K:
Ophelia by Lisa Klein
Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix (almost done!)

M:
Fruit’s Basket Volume 3 by Natsuki Takaya (by me)
One of the Rainbow Faries stories-not sure which(to herself)

B:
Eyewittness Books-Russia
Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osbourne (again)

aloud to B and M:

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol (almost done)
Beowulf, a New Telling by Robert Nye (next on the list)

This is actually a pretty small load. We are missing a history book and a science book for B and M and K is currently between historical fiction since we had break last week. We’ll be making a trip to the library soon!

Field Trip-Maine Wildlife Park

{ April 26, 2008 @ 4:43 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: field trip, homeschooling, native animals, wildlife } · { Leave a Comment }

The Maine Wildlife park is basically a zoo of native animals. All the animals there are either currently being rehabilitated or were previously and are unable to be returned to the wild. In addition to the animals themselves, they have an education building, a tree trail and a native plant garden. They also have a Ranger Museum and a fish hatchery. We try to visit at least once a year and see what kinds of animals they have. The kids really enjoy seeing the animals and learning about native animals and plants.

As the park only opened on Thursday, a lot of the exhibits were either not open (native fish exhibit, plant garden), poorly *stocked* (turtle pond) or the animals were still shy enough to hide (coyote), but we still had a great time!

We saw:

A juvenile male moose and a baby
along with some whitetail deer
some black bears (and yes the brown one is a black bear!)
and a bobcat
There were also lynx, mountain lions, fisher cats, porcupines and ground hogs and I suppose the coyote was in there somewhere!
In the bird section we saw a young bald eagle along with several owls, hawks and some peacocks and turkeys.
Over in the wetlands area we saw some painted turtles and a Canadian goose that I think was just visiting

In the educational area B and K took a quiz
and made prints in the sand
that print came from a stamp labeled Whitetail-big buck
M got tired after we visited the gift shop and took a break with her new stuffed owl

Speaking of the gift shop, K bought herself a bear claw (replica) necklace and B got himself a eagle head on a stick. He can pick things up with the eagles beak! I got some native animal/plant bookmarks and a chart of animal tracks. When asked what they enjoyed most K said her favorite part was the moose, B liked the bears and M liked (you guessed it) the owls!

A new Crabitat!

{ April 18, 2008 @ 3:31 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: hermit crabs } · { Comments (1) }

Last weekend W, the kids and I took a trip to the local mall. At said mall, they have a *crab shack* kiosk. I’ve never stopped at it before, but it caught B’s eye and so we went over to have a look and play with the crabbies.

Ugh. I shouldn’t have. Those crabs were not happy crabs! They had barely any water and some were so big they were literally busting out of their shells! Poor things K was nearly in tears (Ok, maybe she wasn’t that upset but she’s a sensative child) and both she and B were begging me to let them *rescue* one. I caved and let them get one crab, which was sent home in a plastic shopping bag with a scoop of sand (where’s the really angry icon when you need it?).

At any rate, once we got Sir Edmund (what? He likes to climb!) home we were faced with a dilema. The 10 gallon tank we had set up as a Crabitat was barely big enough for the five crabs we had, and Edmund was no tiny crab! Hmmmm…..what to do? While we thought, I put the poor guy in the travel tank.

The solution became obvious soon enough. We had a 29 gallon tank set up as an aquarium that currently housed an ornery cichlid. He refused to share his tank, promptly eating any critter we put in the tank. I figured if he couldn’t share, he’d get the smaller tank! We decided Edmund would be fine spending the night in the travel tank and we would begin the transfer in the morning.

Come morning B and M pitched in and helped W and I put the other five crabs in their travel tank, clean out the 10 gallon, transfer Pierre, clean out the 29 gallon, get it ready for the crabs and (finally) put them in their new home. *phew!* B was very helpful, carrying buckets of water to the sink, helping measure the depth of sand in the large tank and cleaning up spills. M mostly *took care* (read held the travel tank and talked to) the crabs.

After a morning of hard work the transformation is complete! The crabbies now live in the swanky digs you see below and Pierre the cichlid is actually much happier in the smaller tank. Go figure!

The crabs are very much enjoying themselves, moving around the additional space and co-habitating peacefully with their new friend. At least now they are, Edmund buried himself for the first 4 days and only emerged today.

Here’s a pic of the new guy:

Here are the big girls, Irma and Angel, with Mr. Crabs climbing up:

and here is little Pigwidgeon!

and a better picture of Mr. Crabs

Can you tell I just figured out how to use the Macro setting?

Just for the record, I reccomend doing your research before owning hermit crabs. The habitats sold at the kiosk are really not all that suitable. We recently found a very good book on crabs at our library. It is called Keeping Unusual Pets-Hermit Crabs by Tristan Boyer Binns. It gets nearly everything right and is easy for kids to read with lots of pictures and easy to understand directions.

Sequins and Newsprint and Glue…Oh My!

{ April 17, 2008 @ 10:26 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: art, homeschooling, paper mache } · { Leave a Comment }

I know you have all been waiting for it with baited breath, and here it is! A Dennis update!

This time he had his eyes done K and I attached 10mm, opalescent sequins with (lots of) school glue to mimic the multi lens eyes of real dragonflies.

He also got a wing lift. K and I could see that over time the duct tape just wasn’t cutting it. Dennis developed a rather severe droop! So we addressed that issue by balling up some newsprint and sticking it under his wings right where they join his body. Then we took strips of newsprint through some more glue and made him a wing harness. Hopefully that will do the trick!

Overall I think he’s looking really good!

He’s nearly done now! All that’s left to do is attach his legs (which are already constructed out of several peices of 18 gauge wire twisted together) and touch up his paint job. I’m hoping to have him at the library by the end of next week!

UPDATE! Dennis is complete! W took a break from working on the car to drill the holes for Dennis’ legs and then K and I attached them
and drew him a little smile! Here he is complete:

Click here if you want to see Dennis’ humble beginnings or here to see how he got his wings.

Field Trip-Lonach Farm

{ April 14, 2008 @ 11:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: chickens, dogs, donkeys, eggs, farm, field trip, lambs, sheep } · { Leave a Comment }

Lonach Farm is a small farm run by my brother Eric and his wife Mo. Last week three lambs were born so we went to see them on Sunday. Aren’t they adorable?

Of course, while we were there we checked out the other animals as well. There were more sheep, Minature Donkeys,
and several hound dogs to play with.

There were also chickens, which I couldn’t get a good picture of. I did, however, get a good picture of their lovely eggs!

My father sometimes jokingly refers to the farm as The Farm of Useless Animals, which goes back to the days when they *only* had donkeys (and maybe chickens?). The animals are hardly useless! Oh no! Wool is harvested from the flock of sheep, which is then sold or hand spun and knit into lovely creations. The chickens produce eggs and the donkeys and hounds provide entertainment (just ask my kids!). Plus, it’s just a darn fun place to visit!

B has already asked to go back and is willing to show how useful he can be so he can stay longer He really enjoyed himself! I know M is always up for a romp with the hounds as well so hopefully we will be able to go back sooner rather then later.

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If you want to learn more about the fiber arts produced by Lonach Farm visit Wooly Women . Eric is an author as well as a farmer You can read more about that on his blog if the urge strikes you.

My latest project-Our Yearbook

{ April 11, 2008 @ 1:24 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: homeschooling, scrapbooking, yearbook } · { Comments (2) }

I have been pulling together stuff for our end of the year review (yes, I know it’s not until early June, but it takes me awhile to remember everything ) and that includes making our yearbook. Last year the yearbook was a photo memory book from Wal~mart. It came out looking great, but there were a few issues. First, there was limited space for text so I had to change or cut back what I wanted to say. Also, even with a great selection of templates, I found that I couldn’t put pictures where I wanted to. The biggest problem though, was trying to write the text. The boxes were very small. Small enough that you couldn’t really see what you were typing, and since there was no spell check, a lot of typos got through You really don’t want typos in your homeschooling yearbook!

Anyway…I decided to do things a little differently this year. I decided to make a scrapbook of our year. K was phsyched about this idea and wanted to help, so she and I went off to the craft store (or actually Target) to get a book, some paper and other supplies. We started the project this week and I think it’s looking pretty good so far!

We are very much beginners, please be kind!

Title page and intro:

Each *student* will get a two page spread, the second page will have photos (once I get them printed).

Each section of the yearbook will have it’s own title page:

So far we have sections for; students, sports, field trips and academics. I am planning a trip to get more pictures printed and hopefully have most of it finished this weekend. K’s sports page will have to wait until after her recital, as will several field trip pages (since we haven’t taken the trips yet LOL!).

Home Education Week Catch Up-Looking Back

{ April 6, 2008 @ 4:11 pm } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: home education week, looking back } · { Leave a Comment }

This is the last one I swear! Once again, this comes from Principled Discovery where Dana had listed a series of prompts for bloggers to use to celebrate Home Education Week.

This was actually the first prompt that was intended for last Sunday which means I am officially a week late. Here it is:

Share your personal history…before you were a home educator. What was life like. Think about things you miss and things you and your family have gained.

How far back should I go? I was your typical college tracked kid in a PS high school in a college town. I attended college for 3 years with the intent to get a degree in Biology but became disillusioned and quit to marry W. Never did get that degree but still have a passion for science! I thought I would study early childhood ed and get my teaching degree so I could teach science. I actually took ECE classes for awhile and worked daycare but found I really didn’t like the atmosphere in centers. Once I had my own kids I just wanted to stay home and take care of them. W got a job when M was a year old which allowed me to do that.

I hate to admit this, but before I started homeschooling I was one of those parents who thought homeschooling was…well…a little nutty. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to homeschool and really thought that there were things my DDs was getting at school that *I* couldn’t possibly provide. Our family was (and is) a blue color, working family who was always right on the edge financially. We’d done the preschool thing with DD and it was very difficult financially so Public School seemed to me to be a place where my kids could have a good educational experience and I wouldn’t have to pay for it. I did struggle with sending K to school because I had a terrible time there myself as a child, but figured that was my issue and I shouldn *project* it onto her. So off K went on the Kindergarten bus at the tender age of 4. She had a wonderful teacher and K was only (ha!) a 1/2 day then so she was fine.

This same year M was diagnosed with autism and placed in a specialized program at a local preschool so by fall I had half my days home with only B. By now though K was being labeled as *behind* in reading. Also, her 1 st grade teacher was NOT a good match for her and she was really struggling. To make a long story short, I should have pulled her that year but I was too afraid.

The next two years were better and by this time B had been identified as being *at risk* and was attending the same preschool as M. Suddenly I had several mornings a week all to myself! I was told I should feel free and happy! I had *me time*! W and I took advantage of this by going out to breakfast alone and spending other quality time alone That was fun, but he wasn’t home all the time and mostly I just felt…alone. Things were so crazy too, getting the girls on and off their buses (when the bus stop was at the end of our road and they took two different buses) with a toddler that still napped and then getting B to preschool was a PITA.

By the end of that year K had reached the breaking point and since we couldn’t afford private school I was *forced* to consider homeschooling. We did end up pulling K and by the end of that next year (K’s first at home) I was fully converted and decided to keep B out of PS altogether.

What have I lost? I supposed those mornings at home with W, but we still mange one every now and again. Also that coveted *me* time, but again, since the kids area older now they do their own thing quite a bit. It’s so different having older kids at home then it is toddlers and preschoolers! I can read, work on the computer, knit and write while they are here with me, probably working at one of their own hobbies.

What have I gained? Peace, both in mind and schedule. Sure, we have lots to do now but it’s Our choice to do them. If they are too much we drop something or skip a day without worrying about he truant officer or getting a doctor’s note. SO , I guess we’ve gained choice too! We have also gained a superior education, and I’m not just talking about the kids. I feel I know them so much better now! I still remember how I would ask K what she did in school that day and she would say *I don’t know* and slouch off to her room. Now she really talks to me! She still slouches off to her room sometimes though

All in all a fair trade!

Home Education Week Catch Up- My biggest boo-boo

{ April 6, 2008 @ 12:47 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: home education week, mistakes, schedules } · { Comments (1) }

This is my entry in the Home Education Week challange on Principled Discovery.

It was our third year homeschooling and I though I’d found the perfect curriculum. Alas it was not to be! I will not mention what we used because what went wrong is not the fault of the curriculum. Oh no, it is entirely my fault! I take the blame. It was I, and I alone, who fell prey to THE SCHEDULE.

Seriously, it was like a horror movie. Screaming kids, crying mother, hair being torn out. All because I got obsessed with THE SCHEDULE. I was frantic about checking off boxes, I was anxious if I didn’t get all our reading done, I made K listen to The Bronze Bow all the way through even though it made her eyes glaze over. I actually said to her once *I know you don’t like this book but we have to read three chapters tonight because the schedule says so*. I was a woman possessed (by THE SCHEDULE-OK I’ll stop now) and nobody was having any fun.

I did learn something very valuable that year though. Nobody know what is going to work for us but us. A program can be the best in the world to someone else and not right for us or it could be right for us…with some tweaking. Either way being a schedule slave is NOT for me!

Home Education Week Catch Up-In Their Own Words

{ April 6, 2008 @ 12:32 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: home education week, homeschooling, their own words } · { Leave a Comment }

This one is going to be short and sweet as my children are not feeling communicative this evening! Once again, in responce to the Home Education Week meme at Principled Discovery.

K wants me to include these quotes:

School is for fish

Normal is so vastly overrated.

and the following quote from William Blake:

How can a bird that is born for joy,

Sit in a cage and sing?

How can a child when fears annoy, but droop his tender wing,

And forget his youthful spring!

She would also like me to tell you all that her favorite genius is Albert Einstein and that she has no desire to go back to school.

B has even less to say. His contribution was this:

“I like being homeschooled because I get to play outside and can play the X-box and with my cars. I like to learn about dinosaurs and math is kind of fun. Being in school all day would be boring.”

There you have it. Profound wisdom from my children (where is the eye rolling smiley when you need it?).

Home Education Week Catch Up-Show and Tell

{ April 6, 2008 @ 12:20 am } · { Uncategorized }
{ Tags: brags, home education week } · { Leave a Comment }

Ok, I’m playing catch up! This was Thursday’s prompt from Principled Discovery:

Show off those talents. Share a story, a special Moment, a peice of artwork. Any accomplishment, great or small, is fair game.

OK I’ll start with myself this time just to shake things up a bit! I’ve been told I’m wise, but I’m not sure I agree with that. I’m definitely not known for my patience (ha!). I guess if I had to pick something to brag about it would be my GFCF baking ability. Yup, I can whip up tasty cupcakes with no gluten or dairy containing ingredients. My cookies are pretty darn good and I can even do cut out cookies that hold together (which I have been told is pretty amazing) in both sugar and molasses varieties. Chocolate cake is my specialty and I always make it for M on she and B’s combo birthday party. It’s getting so people actually ask for it even though there is a *real* bakery cake there as well (for B).

W has this amazing ability to just whip stuff up, construction wise I mean. He once made a rabbit hutch from spare lumber, freehand. If you need something, he can make it, and probably with whatever he’s got laying around.

K..ah K. She is so brave. Despite being one of the shyest people I have met she has done things like football halftime shows, cheer competitions with over 5000 people in the audience, dance shows and several oral presentations to our homeschool group where she managed to speak knowledgeably and eloquently and then answer questions. Here’s a picture of her right after leaving the floor at her first competition ever!

You can see how happy and proud she it, and she deserved to be!

In terms of something more academic, she has an amazing ability to pick up on themes in literature and to really see all aspects of different characters. As an indication, her favorite Harry Potter character is Severus Snape. She truly feels for him although she never denies he is not likable, nor does he have very many tangibly good qualities.

She’s also a darn good photographer!

B just has this joy about him. He is usually singing or dancing around or talking your ear off. Everything is so exciting! and he just can’t wait! He throws himself in wholeheartedly and gives everything his all, even if he isn’t very good at it (LOL!). Here his is playing soccer, one of his most favorite things to do in the whole world!

He is also an awesome caretaker of his pets

M is quite the little artist, but wouldn’t you know it I can’t get my hands on any of her paintings right now! That’s what being organized and filing away all their papers gets me! Ah well, you’ll just have to take my word for it! She doesn’t paint pictures of things really, more how she feels. She tends to use small paint strokes and fills the page. Her paintings are quite beautiful really. Here is a nice picture of her to make up for the fact that I don’t have any of her paintings to show you! and one that shows her personality better

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